New Zealand Part II, Political Unitarians, Project Management etc.

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The visit to Dunedin has been a success. We've changed agents to PropertyScouts who seem to be taking better care (and communication) and have listed our South Pacific secret base on Trademe (albeit at an absolute steal of a rental price). Spent caseopaya's birthday with dinner at Etrusco, a favoured dining establishment in the art noveau Savoy Building. We stayed at the beautiful deco Law Courts Hotel. For a compact city, Dunedin is a dream location if you're the sort of person that has preference for buildings of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Also managed to visit the office of the Dunedin North MP for some party contacts, followed by a visit to Rev. Dr. Sarah Micthell of the Knox Presbytarian Church. We had a delightful conversation about religious liberalism (the South Island Presbytarians are very liberal), and our respective churches - she seemed very pleased to hear that the Melbourone Atheists met at the Unitarian Church!

After Dunedin we returned briefly to Oamaru to meet up wih Nicolás Erdödy from Open Parallel, to discuss the development of the multicore community and future conferences; I was particularly pushing for the NZ emphasis. After that we made our way across central North Otago, which is home to the rather spectacular Aviemore and Benmore Dams. After this we began our journey towards Westland, stopping at the small community of Tarras. Behind a diner there was an innocuous sign for "Shrek"; intrigued by this I ventured forth to discover a charming two-room museum dedicated to Shrek The Sheep, a local of the region. Making our way between Lakes Wanaka and Hawea and through Haast Pass, past the Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers to stop at Hokitika, where we sampled local fare (whitebait pizza?). Hoki has grown substantially since our last visit, and this time we had the opportunity to visit its quite impressive museum. From Hoki we made our way through more national parks than I care to mention before making our way to Havelock, a under-rated township in the midst of the Marlborough Sounds. We took an evening walk to see some glowworms than inhabit some nearby cliffaces. From Havelock we returned to Picton, spent time at their aquarium (which included a recovering penguin), before crossing the Cook St. to return to Wellington and then Melbourne.

During the journey around New Zealand I wrote an address on "Great Unitarian Political Leaders of Australia and New Zealand", which I gave at the Melbourne church, the morning after our return. Of particular note are Catherine Spence, Chris Watson and Robert Stout. Also written on the journey (and emailed one night whilst parked outside a closed cafe near the beach of Hokitika with wireless access), was my major assignment for Advanced Project Management. Returning to Melbourne I also had to complete a slightly shorter assignment for Project Management, which I am doing concurrently. A major realisation I am getting from these studies is a systems approach to projects and the realisation of how little formal documentation my workplace has on such matters and how a proposed structural change from some two years ago was not implemented correctly - despite projects being an increasing source of revenue. To finish off the return week to Melbourne, another highlight was recumbenteer running Space:1889 set in Melbourne with a strong political theme. I'm playing a fictionalised version of David Andrade; in the first session we had the Sunday Liberation Society take control of the State Library, only to face the wrath of the Sunday Protection League - which wasn't too far from actual incidents.

Comments

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There is an extraordinary myth that there is "an" aboriginal culture in Australia. It is extremely diverse, consisting of scores of different languages, and even different language families, especially in the north where it becomes extremely complex. Many are, however, extinct or near extinct - which too me equates the end of cultural independence.

[fluffyblanket.livejournal.com]

The programme pointed out the diversity but showed how the original Australians are teaching their children their languages and cultures . I feel that they sometimes have a depth beyond the rather superficial mainstream lifestyle - especially the vision quest . At least mothers have their children with them now . We Westerners/Easterners(?) have a lot to answer for - ditto the original Americans . My Australian uncle was deeply interested in their spirituality .
Aljazeera is excellent . A recent slogan was , "Guilty until proven rich ."

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, certainly there has been a move to reinvigorating indigenous languages (I do confess in playing a very small part in this myself way back in the early 2000s), which of course was unofficially carried out for generations after the invasion. Nevertheless this is not yet mainstream by any stretch of the imagination, let alone spiritual concerns.

Although sometimes they do get their own back....

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/lets-have-fun-said-some-and-name-a-festival-up-your-bum/2008/03/07/1204780065992.html

[fluffyblanket.livejournal.com]

Hahaa - good onya !