ehh… hi!
one… two… test… is this thing on?
Ah yes. Hi! We’re still here! We’ve been here for a year and nine months now, so the fresh-off-the-boat feeling has subsided somewhat, which is why we’re not posting on Ye Olde Blog that often… that’s what you could expect I guess…
Anyway, things are still pretty good here. Sure, we have our crappy days, and every now and then we still freak out when it suddenly hits us how bloody far away we are from our family and the place where we grew up, but these things are terribly difficult to express in words, let alone write about on a light and fluffy weblog, so let’s not go there - I’ll keep it simple.
We’ve had a fabulous and almost endless summer. Willemijn’s parents came over, stayed for a month and had a fantastic time, it was great to see them again and to be able to share our new life with them. Around the same time, our friends and former neighbours Norbert and Muriel visited us and that was awesome. It was really cool to see them again and to show them our new home. We traveled to Rotorua and Taupo with them and saw mud pools, volcanos and Desert Road.
We met some really cool dutchies, Aukje and Gerbrand, who moved to Wellington about six months ago. They’re from Utrecht as well! We appear to have many things in common, such as a love for loud shirts.
Because we were so busy exploring and settling in on our own when we moved here, we weren’t particularly interested in hanging out with Dutch people, but Aukje and Gerbrand happen to be awesome, so that principle went out the window quite easily.
It’s June now, and we’re starting to see some really wintry weather. Freezing southerlies, which means having to wear merinos and two jerseys at home and sleeping with a pair of socks under a duvet and two sleeping bags… Please New Zealand, please don’t be offended, but even though you’re technically a Pacific Island (several islands even), you’re not in the same league as Tonga, Samoa or Fiji. It’s just too damn cold for the kind of houses you have. There are other places with a similar climate in this world, and they have interesting things such as insulation, double glazing and central heating. For a reason.
Anyway, even though it can get a bit chilly in the house, the wild weather is quite spectacular. There’s snow on the Kaikoura ranges across Cook Straight, and we still get plenty beautiful clear days, with awesome sunrises and sunsets.
And now for something completely different… A while ago, I ordered an Arduino clone, the iDuino!
This is a little electronic device that connects to your computer with a USB cable. The little electronic device is called a microcontroller, and it is basically a tiny computer on a chip with a lot of connectors for input and output. You can connect lights, motors and sensors and you can upload programs to the microcontroller to make it do all kinds of cool stuff.
I ordered the iDuino as a kit an received it today. I soldered all the parts on the board, laid out some leds and other components on a breadboard, hooked it up to my trusty old Powerbook and created a first, completely useless, program: Blinkenlights!
My first real purpose for the iDuino is to control a motorised XY-stage for an optical test for the telescope that I’m (still, after 10 years) building.
Aaaanyway… It’s also Matariki, which is Māori new year, and it was UN World Environment Day last Thursday. This year’s WED was hosted in Wellington. Many things were happening, such as an event at the Manawa Karioi ecologial restauration project at the Tapu Te Ranga Marae in Island Bay. We spread the word quite literally by posting flyers to invite people to the event, and Willemijn was at Manawa Karioi all day to help out. It’s a beautiful place and it’s good to see native plants slowly taking over again. Willemijn says: “About a hundred people visited and had a look around at the site today. People were a bit shy at first but left with big smiles on their faces. I believe the place is quite magical. Maybe it’s the combination of the Marae and the reestablishment of native bush. From the hills you can see more than half of Wellington, while still feeling sheltered. A very special place.”
Soo… I hope this long post made up for the lack of news. Big hugs! Kia ora tatou!
