Posts by Stewart
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As a kiwi who wasn't born in Aotearoa I really like Waitangi Day - despite the politics and the argy-bargy that goes on it shows a degree of maturity as a nation that I find very appealing & reassuring. We know we don't get race relations right 100% of the time but we are streets ahead of most countries, esp those where the indigenous peoples have become disadvantaged within society.
I like the diversity and the tolerance; I understand some of the older people's viewpoint (as mentioned up-thread) but regard that as a historical and passing perspective and I don't share it. I am happy to conform to others cultural expectations as long as they are equally happy to conform to mine and I am proud to be a kiwi.
I'm glad they renamed it as Waitangi Day and I would be happy to fly the tino rangatiratanga flag (did I get that right?). One nation of multiple ethnicities is just fine by me.
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Emma, this Valentines Day is also my brother's 50th birthday and yet I am not you. And you are not my sister... or are you?
Not that big of a coincidence, I guess, but still...
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I've read through most of this (excepting a slew of the more technical posts) and it has been interesting. As one of the older - aged - PAS posters I haven't been brought up to have any fluency in te reo and I haven't been sufficiently motivated to educate myself along those lines. For me, the main point regarding the use of macrons (or other indicatives) is that they are not readliy available on the keyboards of the computers I use.
If they were easily available then I would be happy to use them, but if they are conjured up using some arcane combination of keystrokes then I am unlikely to do so and I wouldn't expect the majority of people to use them either. (I have learned that using 'alt' and some 3-digit codes will give rise to copyright or trade-mark symbols - is there a similar combination for macrons, umlauts, etc?)
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I'm going to have to do a bit of cut&paste-ing and save all these good hints so we can take them with us. It's silly, I know, but I hadn't even considered the museum in Ch'ch but I think Bob's swayed me on that, and the conjunction with the buskers festival will certainly feature.
And Maruia Springs might be a good contrast to tyhe only other time I was there, on a motor-bike tour around August (years ago), when we stopped at the pub & spent about 10 minutes running warm water over our hands to thaw them out a bit.
Some of these might be a bit 'iffy' depending on how the driving goes, but I'm keen to see as much as we can.
Thanks again, everyone.
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We are planning on visiting Akaroa for a continental style lunch and to take in some of the French ambience as well as seeing some of the scenery.
Cheese is good. Might get some to take to my mate in Makikihi. Haven't seen him since September 1978.
Another thanks for the suggestions.
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Thanks for those suggestions Kyle, Emma & Raymond.
I went to varsity in Dunedin but that was back in the 70's so I'll be checking out memory-lane as well as finding new stuff that will be of some interest to my better-half.
The Moeraki boulders is already on our mental to-do list (mental because it's not written down, not cos we're a couple of mad young things...) and I am keen to view wildlife that is not within the confines of the Captain Cook or the Robbie Burns. I think she fancies a trip round cadburys which isn't my cup of tea, but hey, it's her holiday too.
The wallabies and the cave paintings sound great and suggestions that include words like 'lunch' and 'riesling' are always going to get my attention.Thanks again.
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My sweetheart and I are going to have a driving holiday in the South Island in a couple of weeks and I was wondering if the wonderful folks at PAS would like to have some influence over where we stop and what we do.
We stay overnight in the places in bold in this next part...
We will fly into Ch'ch and spend a couple of days there before heading in a generally clockwise tour of the island.
We are heading for Waimate (via the Mackenzie country) then on to Dunedin for a couple of nights, down to Invercargill and round to Te Anau.
From there we head to Queenstown for a couple of nights before heading through to Franz Josef, up to Westport and on to Nelson.
From there we are due to drive around the top end and down to Kaikoura for a spot of whale/dolphin watching before returning to Ch'ch airport & the flight home.So if any of you good folks have some good tips on "what to see & do" we would be happy to know about them.
Thus far we have arranged a day-trip to Greymouth on the TranzAlpine train and are planning on heading to Akaroa for a look-see (& lunch) on the Monday. Our Westport stop is actually at Punakaiki so we will see the pancake rocks and stop at teh glass-bead place. I have a friend at Te Mahia in the Sounds so will stop off to see him & his family between Nelson & Kaikoura. Also stopping to see a friend just north of Waimate, in Makikihi where, as I recall, they really should have "Welcome to Makikihi" on both sides of a single sign. It is (was?) one of those crossroad towns with a pub & a couple of shops and that's about it.
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Apologies for sounding like (your idea of) God, Ben. I was merely trying to indicate that you had provided no credible evidence to support your assertion. Not my assertion so I see no need to do your research for you.
I'm really not the argumentative type...
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Ben,
it's your argument to & so up to you to provide evidence (other than the anecdotal stuff proffered thus far). And re the coffee thing - yes, that's exactly what I'm telling you...I started drinking black coffee aged 16, having disliked it (coffee) previously and I have never perceived any 'buzz' from coffee.
I appreciate your point about young people having to persevere with alcohol (drinking for the effect rather than the taste) but that's far more to do with peer pressure than taste. And I salute your rather brutal honesty about the fact that you drink for the effect. I also drank mostly for the effect for some time but have grown out of that & now drink alcoholic drinks for the effect and the taste.
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Ben, unless you offer up some physiology-stylee evidence that "basically no children like the taste of alcohol" you are making your own position untenable. You are conflating personal experience and anecdote and trying to tell everyone here that you are right. It's not going to work, buddy.
And your hypothesis (to give it way more gravitas than it deserves) would fail to account for the fact that I didn't like coffee when I was younger and I started drinking it at age 16 but not with milk. And I've never consciously registered any alteration in my consciousness from drinking coffee. (Unless it was laced with alcohol, but that is another story.)