Posts by Bob Munro

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  • Current Status: Holidays,

    In my case, I think that's best. I wouldn't want to cause anyone else on the beach that kind of distress just before Christmas. It's cruel!

    So you don't think you could handle a trip in to Welcome Flat with these guys Danielle?

    had a great time up there, spent over 36 hours in the pools over the 2 days we were there.....and hiked the whole way out naked as it was naked hiking day, or so our new zealand friend told us. but a beautiful hike with amazing scenery. highly recommended if you can handle the walk in!!!!

    Christchurch • Since Aug 2007 • 418 posts Report

  • Current Status: Holidays,

    I dug little hot pools for myself on the beach and looked fondly at crazily blooming pohutukawas. I leapt into the water two or three times a day.

    I have friends who are Coramandel old timers who don’t go to Hot Water beach on principle because you now have to wear clothing in the self dug pools.

    I have a similar attitude to visiting Welcome Flat in the Copland valley.

    Christchurch • Since Aug 2007 • 418 posts Report

  • Hard News: Need to Know,

    Unfortunately for Nevil Gibson, "endangering exports" is not grounds for police action.

    I think we covered this issue during the Te Queda raids last year. I can't remember the ins and outs of it all but SIG were involved in investigating the incident near Ashburton where a worker poisoned the milk from a farm (as a personal dispute, not a political action). The point being that if the poison had made it's way into export milk products it could have effected NZ's reputation. Ditto for the GM/organic onions example. Planting organic ones as a symbolic gesture may not make the grade but destroying a research crop that perhaps has taken years to develop and may mean the country losing export competitive advantage is in fact grounds for police action.

    Like I say, I can't remember all the legal details as they were brought out in the discussion but I think we established pretty clearly that 'endangering exports' was in fact taken very seriously and the penalties pretty stiff.

    Christchurch • Since Aug 2007 • 418 posts Report

  • Hard News: Need to Know,

    Have you been taking morning tea with Craig, Bob?

    Perhaps metaphorically I have :)

    There's a long history of protest groups being infiltrated by officialdom. It was taken as read in the HART group I was part of in the seventies. I certainly agree that there is false equivalence between civil disobedience within a protest group and the regular criminal activities of a gang - still state paranoia is a wonderful thing to mock when it gets exposed, so maybe we should be thankful for these small mercies on a Friday afternoon? :)

    Christchurch • Since Aug 2007 • 418 posts Report

  • Hard News: Need to Know,

    Paul Buchanan has an article up on Scoop placing police surveillance operations in context.

    Christchurch • Since Aug 2007 • 418 posts Report

  • Random Play: The movie that cried out to…,

    I worked on the safety crew for a De Beer’s diamonds commercial once. They had chosen the endless rocky moraines of the lower Tasman Glacier. There is just hills of black rock with the occasional piece of dirty ice sticking out, stretching for kilometres in every direction. Perfect place to depict a primeval diamond forming landscape.

    It was a bugger of a place to work. A lot of the rock is quite thin in places and you can slip on the underlying ice. The director wanted a moody cloudscape and sure enough on the main day of filming a southerly front arrived and the cloud lowered to just a couple of hundred feet above the moraines. All access was by helicopter and we were watching closely the safety margins. The director was loving it. Then it started to drizzle.

    That was enough for us and we called the shoot off and bundled the relieved actors and the disgruntled director into the helicopters and started relaying them out of there.

    By the time we climbed into the last machine, underfoot conditions were treacherous from the wet rocks over the slippery ice and the tops of the dark moraine hills were blending into the grey forbidding sky. Just as we lifted off one of the riggers turned to me and said rather admiringly “Vincent would just be coming in about now”.

    Christchurch • Since Aug 2007 • 418 posts Report

  • Hard News: Debacles and Disgraces,

    Yachts are money sinks. You buy them because you love what they give you, and don't mind the thousands of dollars they cost to keep 'ship-shape'.

    A friend of mine once had an ocean going yacht he named 'Penury' to remind himself where it was taking him.

    Christchurch • Since Aug 2007 • 418 posts Report

  • Hard News: Debacles and Disgraces,

    Danyl, it's all well and fine to be critical after the shit has publicly hit the fan, but where was the coverage before now?

    Chris Lee, the Kapiti Coast investment adviser has been on the finance companies case for years.

    Just a random click on his September 2007 archive shows him referencing articles in The NBR about nefarious goings on connected to Bridgecorp.

    Christchurch • Since Aug 2007 • 418 posts Report

  • Random Play: Following The Songlines,

    If I break a leg or get called away somewhere, I am happy to let you have my ticket. To date, however, I have every intention of getting to the Jan 22 concert.

    If It comes off as well as Gerry Smith found the London Concert it sounds like it will be worth the (considerable) outlay.

    The show was outstanding – a great setlist and Cohen performance helped, but it was outstanding technically, too: crystal clear sound, probably the best I’ve heard outside a village hall; three enormous video screens, filled all night with broadcast-quality pictures; and beautiful lighting.
    A mighty gig – in an arena: I was mightily surprised. The show was obviously a Leonard organisation production. But the point is – the O2 Arena accommodated it, comfortably.

    Christchurch • Since Aug 2007 • 418 posts Report

  • Random Play: Following The Songlines,

    If that doesn't make you shake something, you're a zombie.

    Martha Reeves is still shaking it. She’s 67, a Detroit councilwoman and still performs with a version of the Vandellas. She’s on the 2007 'Get Ready' album by Australian motown covers group Human Nature singing (Love is Like) a Heat Wave , recorded at the original motown studios.

    Christchurch • Since Aug 2007 • 418 posts Report

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