Things I Like about NZ, Part 3

The cops apparently don't wear guns here! I just noticed that today as I was walking down to the harbor to check out the opening ceremony to the month-long NZ International Arts Festival. (Biggest music name: Pat Metheny, who is very long on talent and very short on taste, but he's playing with Christian McBride on bass, so I might just have to check that out.) Anyway, a cop had made a traffic stop, and whadaya know? No firearm, no holster, no nothing. Amazing. They must keep one in the car or something, though, since there is some violence that they have to try to stop.

In general, people occasionally complain about crime being on the rise here. Apparently theft is kind of common. But after living in the US, it seems nearly non-existent to me. And the women I know often remark that one thing they definitely like about living here is being able to feel safe walking around alone.

That point definitely goes in the Kiwi column.

Putangirua Pinnacles

Way back when, Ann and I got rained out of our trip to Pinnacles, and instead drank wine in Martinborough. This time, Stuart, Nick, and I succeeded. Turns out it's fantastic. It was a beautiful day, sunny and warm, and the ocean colors were great. In fact, the whole southeast corner of the North Island is quite gorgeous. I didn't even realize we had this great part of the country so close (1.5 hours, roughly). Anyway, we did the fairly rough hike to, and scramble through, the Pinnacles, and then, instead of going to Martinborough, we headed to Lake Ferry for a beer at the pub--which has a nice seafood menu. Great way to spend a day, if you're ever here. There are lots of beaches nearby (on the road...the only road), with some of New Zealand's best surfing, if that's your thing.

We also got lost several times. First of all, we somehow missed the turnoff for the Pinnacles (tip: it's before the fishing town of Ngawi--the one with all the tractors pulling the fishing boats out of the water). So we drove up and down the coast, clearly lost, and even headed up a ridiculously unsafe goat path of a "road." The virtue of this is that you get to see lots of beaches. Then, on the Pinnacles themselves, we headed up between a couple of fins, thinking we were on the right path. We weren't. We still don't know where the trail actually goes. But we had a good time.

Site Feed

Okay, I think I've finally figured out how to fulfill a request I've gotten from a couple of folks: how to get new posts sent directly to their e-mail (or phones, or whatever). If you want this, click on the "Site Feed" link to your right, and click on the directions at the top, then follow the links to one of the newsreaders.

Let me know if it doesn't work, and I'll scream in powerless frustration at the computer gods for you.

Handicapped!

No, I haven't been paid a visit by Jeff Gillooly. Rather, I've been handicapped by the NZPGA. I've played mostly awful golf since I got here, and in case you want to see for yourself, here's a listing with my handicap. Maxed out at 24.8. Sad. The good news is that not all my scores are there. The bad news is that that wouldn't have made much difference. One bright spot: the other day I hit a 330-yard drive (downhill, but with a slight fade). That felt good.

While I wasn't visited by the former Mr. Tonya Harding, I do have a word of caution: don't walk on busy downtown streets while reading new books on moral theory. I decided to do that last week, and I consequently slipped into a crevice between the sidewalk's edge and the adjacent but disconnected driveway's slope, tearing off a huge chunk of skin right on the outside of my ankle. The tissue was all gone, all the way down to the bone.

Just the kind of story you were looking for, I'm sure. But that's my excuse if I continue to play poor golf. And, after hobbling home, I ended up with a dead ringer for Curt Schilling's World Series sock. E-Bay, perhaps?