Trip to Rotorua

Last week I went to Rotorua for a conference. I drove down Thursday morning (about a 2.5 hour drive from Auckland) went to the conference Thursday and Friday, then stayed on for the weekend to check out the tourist sites.

The conference was the 2nd Annual Traffic Simulation Conference and I presented my research "Incident Modelling with Paramics and FUSE". The idea of my research is to investigate the use of SCATS (adaptive signal control) to handle the change in demand due to incidents. This is exciting because I get to use microsimulation liked directly to SCATS. I've also been lucky enough to work in the Auckland traffic control room as a SCATS operator which has a great way to learn SCATS as well as see how incidents are managed.

Now, on to the fun stuff. I stayed at a backpacker, nothing flash, but it was cheap, had it's own restaurant, thermal pool, bar and lounge (to watch rugby). I went to a spa where I had a soak in the thermal pools in a beautiful setting, followed by a mud wrap and a massage. It was absolutely heavenly. Then I headed over to the agrodome for the sheep show and farm tour.

The place was packed full of people from tour buses, even though it was an overcast wintry day. They brought out all the different breeds of sheep, did a shearing demo and then came the dogs. They had a NZ heading dog (like Tui) herding some ducks, and then she did a sheep trialing demo outside. The NZ huntaways (who use their bark instead of their eyes to herd the sheep) barked their heads off and literally ran all over the sheep. It was very cute.

The farm tour was interesting as it's actually a working farm with all sorts of interesting animals. We kept stopping to hand feed the sheep, lamas and pigs. We also saw kiwi fruit trees and had some kiwifruit wine.

The next day I went to a Maori exhibit at Te Puia. There is a large Maori community in Rotorua as well as extensive geothermal activity. I learned about the Maori history and culture, which is really quite fascinating. The geysers and mud pools are beautiful.

I had a fun weekend, but am actually keen to return to Rotorua to see some more when my friends come to visit NZ (hint hint).

First Day of Spring

For some reason Kiwis insist that Sept 1st is the first day of spring. It sure feels like spring and I'm sick of debating this issue. So it's spring! Bring it on.

Lunar Eclipse

There was a lunar eclipse over NZ tonight and the clouds cleared just in time to watch. Megan and I watched from our porch. Here's a pic from NZ Herald.

The Telephone

Sometimes I find it takes people a little while to figure out my accent. This is more of a problem on the phone. People are expecting to talk to a Kiwi (or maybe a Britt) but not a Canadian. So often I make my first sentence longer than it needs to be. Like my name is Susan McMillan and I was just calling to speak with ****, or something like that. Well, unless the person knows me, in which case I don't have to introduce myself at all cause they know who it is as soon as they hear my accent. I am getting MUCH better at understanding Kiwis on the phone and rarely have to ask them to repeat themselves.
I did run into a problem on the phone the other day when I called Telecom because I was having a problem with my home phone. Their help line is automated with voice recognition. They ask you what your problem is and then to answer a few short questions to automatically direct you to the correct person. I was doing pretty good until they asked me if I had tried a certain test on my phone, to which I replied "no".
"I'm sorry your answer was not understood. Have you tried this test?"
"No."
"I'm sorry your answer was not understood. Have you tried this test?"
"No."
"I'm sorry your answer was not understood. Have you tried this test?"
At which point I figured out that it couldn't understand my accent. Kiwis say "no" like it's a two syllable word, something that I can't manage to do. I started to laugh, which apparently was good enough to get my transferred directly to a real person.
Oh, it can be rough being a foreigner.

Kiwi Pharmacy

I'm sick. It's winter (although the leaves and flowers are out) and everyone at work is sick and I managed to pick up a cold. I'm home from work today feeling sorry for myself. Yes, people actually take sick days here when they are sick, unlike in the states where people come to work sick and infect everyone else. So I went to the pharmacy to get some medicine and the experience was so nice I thought I'd share.
Kiwi's can be a little mixed up with language. Some things are said the British way, some things the Canadian way and some things the Kiwi way. Usually any of the above will do and they like to mix things up just to keep you on your toes. But more on that another day. This post is about the pharmacy, or the chemist (but not the drug store). Pharmacies here are generally quite small (no Shoppers Drug Mart) and generally only have pharmacy type things, plus some cosmetics. They don't have pharmacies in grocery stores (I can't remember what they call grocery stores) but just a small section of medicine.
OK, back to the pharmacy. As soon as you walk in some friendly person (the pharmacist usually) asks if they can help you and instead of just hunting through the shelves on my own I tell them what I'm looking for. Often you have to ask because more things are behind the counter here (I have an interesting story about "thrush"). But you can get more things over the counter here (like codeine, which is prescription only in the states). They ask about your medication and symptoms and find just the thing for you. It's great service, but often quite expensive. Worth it though, I'd say.

Tui's Family

Megan and I went to the Pukekohe agility trial today to meet some of Tui's family. They are all lovely dogs. We also watched Roy run and he is beautiful. He runs so smoothly that you don't realize just how fast he's moving. Although the grounds were muddy from all of the rain we've had lately, the sun came out for us today.
From left to right: Speedy (sister), Roy (father), Finn (brother), Tui












Winter in Auckland.



















The grass is green and the sheep don't need a barn.


















In fact everything is green.


















And although Howie's not a reliable source on water temperature, he says it's actually not too bad and has seen people swimming in the sea without wet suits.

Things I Hate About Winter

1) Soggy, muddy lawns
2) Cold, damp house
3) Mould everywhere in the house
4) High electric bills
5) Expensive fresh veggies
6) No snow
7) Towels that never dry
8) Wet muddy dogs