Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Nobody wanted #EQNZ for Christmas

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  • Hebe, in reply to Rob Stowell,

    Christchurch has done well in retaining core assets,

    And we don't have to weld down our manhole covers in the street to stop them blowing because the pipes fail so regularly.

    If the Government thinks the natives here are grumpy now, just watch us when they try to sell off the family silver. It goes against the grain, even for conservatives in this city.

    Christchurch • Since May 2011 • 2899 posts Report Reply

  • Hebe, in reply to Islander,

    Moeraki IS nice...

    Christchurch • Since May 2011 • 2899 posts Report Reply

  • Islander, in reply to Hebe,

    Not wrong!
    And has an excellent campground, cribs, a good motel…fishing trips! Someone who will gut and fillet your blue cod/whatevers/*AND* cook’em to perfection – because I like to do that kind of stuff…
    Heartland chips? The Hampden hotel? Just relax & lie back & ease out & enjoy?
    Beautiful beautyfull beaches? Startlingly fresh kina? You ever tasted kareko fresh from the sea?*

    *Actually, it is best washed & sundried and __then__steamed - but hey!

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

  • Hebe, in reply to Islander,

    I like the swimming, walking and cooking and eating bits; must venture down again soon. That area is part of my childhood: I was a dam baby, born in a town up the Waitaki where I spent my first seven or eight years. The hills got me. So much so that when I had been living in London for years I went to a movie shot in Otago about an itinerant and a young girl. Came out, said to husband over dinner in Soho,"I'm going home." Six weeks later I was back, he was not. The land has always called me back to the South Island, whispering and enticing and hearing the wind when I was ten thousand miles from home.

    Christchurch • Since May 2011 • 2899 posts Report Reply

  • Hebe, in reply to Islander,

    kareko

    What is it?

    Christchurch • Since May 2011 • 2899 posts Report Reply

  • Islander, in reply to Hebe,

    parengo/karengo in the north – nori in Japan – here, Porphrya columbina (I think-away from seafood shelves at the moment) = kareko. Used to be called Maori cabbage(by southern Pakeha) but it is
    waaay good-

    know what you mean about the hills/seas/south calling...I've never been able to live out of the south for long. Best I managed was a year & a half in Wellington & the nightmarish short stories I wrote during that time sure as shit show it...I am a Southerner made over many many generations and my bones know that-

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

  • Hebe, in reply to Islander,

    Yes, we all like it, dog included. I get Kaikoura dried karengo.

    Christchurch • Since May 2011 • 2899 posts Report Reply

  • Islander, in reply to Hebe,

    Cats will like crispy bits!
    I gather Moeraki/Purakaunui (or Colac bay) kareko in August - dried, it lasts for well over a year...

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

  • Joe Wylie, in reply to Hebe,

    Moeraki IS nice...

    Moeraki is where I saw my one & only spoonbill in NZ, flying along the line of the beach, over the dunes. Magic minutes.

    Licking their lips

    Spongebastards.

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report Reply

  • Islander, in reply to Joe Wylie,

    Joe – they breed on the wee island Maukiekie off my kaik’ beach (which is slightly wonderful in as much they also breed in the kotuku colony at Waitangikiroto just up the lagoon.) Fascinating birds…unlike kotuku, they dont come round the settlement here-
    not sure where the dunes would be round Moeraki – unless, maybe, you were round Shag River/ Point area? Spoonbill/kotukungutupapa are also rumoured to breed in a Nelson area, but I’ve never ascertained where…other than that, Okarito and Moeraki is all-

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

  • Joe Wylie, in reply to Islander,

    More the vegetation above the high tide mark. It was about five minutes walk south of the car park, in 1998. I thought what the hell is that, it's a bloody SPOONBILL, and so it was, heading North. Not a superfast flier, so I got a really good look.

    BTW, best false exotic bird sighting: On the North Coast of NSW a few years ago, a large black bird in flight with an enormous toucan-like bill. Stop the car, curse the lack of a camera, it's a crow with a McDonalds carton.

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report Reply

  • Islander,

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

  • Islander, in reply to Joe Wylie,

    That would figure - they've been around since the mid-1980s - especially if the car-park was around where Fleur's is now.
    They're a clumsy flyer (compared ,say,with yer average kotuku) but a fascinating bird. Yet another self-introduced erstwhile Oz citizen...

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

  • Islander, in reply to Joe Wylie,

    Almost spat out some of my tea, laughing!

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

  • Hebe, in reply to Hebe,

    eyeing up
    Licking their lips

    I'll correct that: they are further along than window-shopping; now at the measuring up for new curtains stage. Sad thing is that the softening-up part of the Christchurch asset sale process is like blowtorching a marshmallow in this decimated city.

    Christchurch • Since May 2011 • 2899 posts Report Reply

  • Lilith __,

    Joe – there are a set of spoonbills that hang out in McCormacks Bay for part of the year. You can often see them standing around on one of those artificial islands. They also sometimes go to the mouth of the Avon (just upstream of Bridge St) and fish in the shallows there.

    Dunedin • Since Jul 2010 • 3895 posts Report Reply

  • Islander, in reply to Lilith __,

    Spoonbills will fly long distances for good feeding areas...breeding areas are another matter (it's like kotuku - scatters as far the Chathams - comes back to the Waitakikiroto to breed-)

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

  • Ian Dalziel, in reply to Joe Wylie,

    si si si...

    spongebastards

    Magic!

    I Believe in Magic
    (by the Lovin Spoonbills..)
    or was it that other song...

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report Reply

  • merc,

    Since Dec 2006 • 2471 posts Report Reply

  • Hebe,

    An uplifting feb 22 commemoration idea: dropping flowers in the rivers at various spots around town to create a "river of flowers". I like this idea: an opportunity to stop and reflect, without being mawkish and over-long.

    http://www.healthychristchurch.org.nz/river-of-flowers.aspx

    The River of Flowers project is being lead by Healthy Christchurch and the Avon-Otakaro Network (AvON). The project grew from a Healthy Christchurch and CERA poll late last year on how Cantabrians wanted to commemorate the first anniversary of February 22nd 2011.

    The poll showed that many Cantabrians expected an event in Hagley Park similar to the memorial service held previously. A significant number of respondents however supported having local events that allow communities to be together to commemorate, and to look to the future.

    The River of Flowers is our collaborative attempt to provide these opportunities for people to commemorate the day in their own way and with their community.

    On 22 February 2012 from 8am to 8pm, people will be able to drop a flower in the River and write a message for a Tree of Hope. From 12:30 to 1:30pm, local community groups will host the sites. At 12:51 two minutes silence will be held, followed by the release of red helium-filled biodegradable balloons

    Christchurch • Since May 2011 • 2899 posts Report Reply

  • Joe Wylie,

    Attachment

    I wouldn't trust Gerry with a spoonbill.

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report Reply

  • Hebe, in reply to Joe Wylie,

    Chills my spine that does.

    Christchurch • Since May 2011 • 2899 posts Report Reply

  • Joe Wylie,

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report Reply

  • Kumara Republic, in reply to Joe Wylie,

    Cantabrians Unite is up.

    Interesting how strange bedfellows - Left and Right alike - can band together if the enemy is morally indefensible enough.

    The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report Reply

  • merc,

    I hope to see Bouncer gone by lunchtime, I really do. He will of course have a few others to sacrifice before him.

    Since Dec 2006 • 2471 posts Report Reply

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