Hiking on Mt. Taranaki

On Sunday we went to the North Egmont entrance to Taranaki National Park. There are several great hikes emanating from the visitor's center about half way up the mountain. We took two short loops, of which this photo is typical. The foliage is very dense and luxurious. Every 100 meters along the trails there are stoat traps, wooden boxes with entries but no exit. There is an egg in the center to entice the stoat into the trap. Stoats are in the weasel family, and are some of the many non-native land mammals that man has introduced. Stoats and rats are responsible for the endagered status of the kiwi. The birds in NZ did not evolve to escape predators on the ground. Another big pest is the possum. Some forward thinker introduced the possum thinking it would create a fur industry for NZ..... and it has to some extent, but at a great price to the flora of the country. The possum is indigenous to Australia and is very different from the North American variety, and the fir is nice. You can get lots of possum-based items locally.

On the walk up to the Manganui Ski Fields

We hiked up to the Ski Fields above Stratford on Saturday afternoon. It was 70 degrees in Stratford, and 40 degrees at 4000 feet. And windy as hell. The ski season is over and the snow is mostly gone. To go skiing there one has to park and walk about 40 minutes. There is a small cable gondola about half way up, upon which you can send over your skis and boots. There are tow cables only. This is a club run ski resort. There are commercial resorts nearby as well.

our new car

Our little farm cottage ... small but plenty of room for visitors

This photo was taken approximately 15 minutes before I was forced to ponder the question, "where exactly would be the best place for me to puke, without fouling the glider or overly offending Peter (the very pleasant and helpful vice president of the Taranaki Glider Club)?" I concluded that it would be best to go for the neck of my t-shirt, but fortunately that proved unecessary. Gliding was certainly interesting and gave me a great vantage point, but was not the gentle downward glide that I had imagined. If I go again, it will be on the tail end of a three day fast.

Clear skies, cold water, green green grass and lots of sheep.

Not to worry -- mostly pictures.

My favorite: rolling green hills and baby lambs.

Beaches around the mountain

There is a road that you can take that goes around the base of the mountain through the towns. Each town along the coast has a beach. The beaches around Stratford where we live all have black sand and rocks due to the mountain, which is actually a dormant volcano. We will definitely go swimming there as soon as it warms up and is probably about 30 minutes away.

This is RAB writing now: Practicing medicine is quite different in NZ (pronounced "En Zed" by Kiwis). The office where I am working is Avon Medical Care Centre in Stratford. The practice is privately owned, and doctors are paid via a very complex capitation formula, dependent on our rural location, age of patients, etc..... We also get paid for accidents of any sort (car, self-induced, medical misadventures, work related) on a fee for service basis. Costs are controlled by the government by limiting access to testing and specialty care, and by having a very limited formulary of medications that are covered. So, it is kind of like a big national HMO. You can also go "private" if you like, by paying out of pocket for private doctors or having a secondary private insurance. The private insurance basically puts you at the front of the line for elective surgical procedures. We do not screen for prostate or colon cancer in NZ, and pap smears are done only every 3 years. Mammography starts at 50 and is done every other year at most. We do not do routine labs or dexascans or recommend aspirin to every 50 year old male. All prescriptions are good for 90 days only, and anyone on a chronic medication must come in every 90 days.

When I am on call, I have to back-up the ambulance service. This means I have to go to the Shell Station at the roundabout in the middle of town and pick up a portable defibrillator and a backpack with an assortment of medical equipment. I have a tackle box full of drugs and chest tubes and gloves (and prayers) that stays with me in my car. I got called to a farm WAY out in the country last weekend, for a syncopal 66 year old woman. When I finally found the place, the solo female ambulance driver was very happy to see me. The patient had been brought from the paddock where she was working when she fainted in the bucket of a front end loader. She then took off her gum boots (wellies) before climbing into the ambulance. So I got there to find a pair of boots in front of an open ambulance. The patient was well attended to and the driver gave me a great presentation, vital signs and rhythm strip. She then went to the hospital, 40 minutes away. If she had been really ill I would have gone with them to take care of her during the ride. I am definately out of my comfort zone... which I reckon is a good place to be since that is when I learn the most.

In the office I get to see lots of children, which I enjoy. Asthmaand eczema are very common for some reason, as are scabies, chicken pox and impetigo. Yesterday I sewed together a four year old's middle finger that had been slammed in a door -- the nail was avulsed as was 40% of the pad. This would have gone to a hand surgeon in Easton, but I got to repair it, which was fun (for me, not the little girl). In after hours today I did a layered closure of a to-the-bone laceration on a 19 year old's forehead. Also fun and interesting. This would have gone to the ER in Easton. Don't know how much the Kiwis are getting out of it, but the experience is great for me.

Hope has done a great job making our new little farm cottage into a home. She has lots of new bovine friends. This weekend we are going on an office exercise jaunt -- 9 kilometers walking -- as a way of encouraging exercise. I would have a heart attack if I saw the RFP staff walking that far! We are starting at 7 am, and finishing at someone's farm for a big "fry up" breakfast of bacon and eggs and pork chops, so the effort will have some reward! RAB

Damper Falls

Damper Falls is the largest waterfall in the north island and only an hour and a half away, so we decided to check it out. You take the forgotten world highway (and that is the actual name of the road) over rolling hills and into the winding mountain roads. Out here the animals run free or have escaped, so need to be especially careful around the turns. Once we got there, we walked through a field where the sheep were grazing and I took the sweetest photo of a lamb. They are tough to get close to, but I got lucky. I was pretty much stalking them and they were quite suspicious of me. All I wanted was a photo, but they thought that I wanted their wool, I'm sure.

Anyway, we got on the trail and walked down to the falls which were incredible. Rick decided to get a different perspective of the falls so we veered off the trail a bit. The detour was a bit slippery so Rick suggested that it would be better to go directly up the side of the mountain to get back on the trail, so I said "sure, if I was a mountain goat!" So up I went parallel with the mountain side grabbing hand fulls of grass to pull myself up. All I could think was don't look back and don't look down. It was only about twenty feet, but if you asked me I'd say it was a hundred!I just want to make sure that you take a close look at the side of that damn mountain that I had to climb thanks to Rick's sense of adventure.

We made it!

Hi Everyone! Our first couple of weeks have been exciting! The landscape is just incredible. Rolling green hills, beaches a couple of minutes away, and a huge mountain in the backyard. It rained the first couple of days, but as soon as the sun came out and the clouds cleared.... this incredible mountain appeared. Many rainbows! They say you can experience 3 seasons in one day. The weather is very unpredictable, but mild.

Lets talk about food - they have everything we have, but don't let them fool you. Everything is a little bit different. The first time Rick ordered a hamburger, beets came on it. He said "what the hell is this!" I just laughed until I got my cheese steak sandwich covered in horseradish. I tasted horseradish for a week. We are catching on though.... I ordered french toast with bacon and thank god I asked for the syrup on the side, because they had stacked it all on top of each other and even my bacon would have been drowned in syrup. The last burger Rick ordered had an egg on top of it. We just laughed, but he said that it was surprisingly good.

Now... lets talk about the driving. The steering wheel is on the passenger's side and we need to drive on the opposite side of the road. They have a lot of round abouts instead of 4 way intersections with stop lights, which is a good system, but you definitely need to know when it is your turn to go. The rule is yield to everyone on your right! I just yield to everyone. Safe bet for now. Its not too bad, but if you are not completely concentrating, you find yourself drifting into the other lane, which could lead to big trouble. I just keep thinking stay to the left, stay to the left and hold my breath.

Thanks for checking things out and I hope to gets some more photos up soon! Let me know what you think.