Koromiko newsletter 2008
SOUTH AMERICA
Instead of the more usual trip to the UK during the southern hemisphere winter, Chris and Andy spent three months visiting the central Andes of Peru, Bolivia and a little bit of Chile, plus nearby Amazon jungle and Atacama desert. A full blow by blow account of the epic journeys can be read at www.andeanramblings.blogspot.com, along with some pretty pictures (Andy's photos, Chris's photos) of it all. More briefly, our travels took us from sea level to a breathtaking 6439m, from desert with rainfall only once every 15 years or so to rainforest nearly as wet as Wellington, often in just a few hours. We swam in rivers infested with pink river dolphin, alligators and piranhas (and wasn’t eaten - we didn’t meet anyone who had been eaten by either). Andy was parasitised by a human botfly in the jungle though, which ate a little bit of his arm before he managed to kill it. Andy and Chris also managed to filmed for a Peruvian music video. (Andy appears for 3/4 of a second at 1:33 and Chris appears for half a second at 4:02!!).
AROUND THE WORLD
Kris headed off around the world in October to Australia, India, Denmark and the USA to, respectively, take part in a paragliding competition (Canungra Cup), paragliding in the Indian Himalayas, visit relations and visit friends. Full details at www.kris-around-the-world.blogspot.com and lots of photos...
RAROTONGA
We all went off to Rarotonga in May to visit Yolanda, Rosemary and the children - they had "relocated" there for three months. Everyone, except Ella, thought that living on a Pacific island was a great idea! While there we went scuba diving, snorkelling and walking. The rain gods thought they would celebrate Andy's presence by giving us rain every day that we were there! Photos....
THE BACH
The other big news story in our world is the new bach (holiday cottage) at Horopito, next to Mt Ruapehu, the big volcano thingy in the middle of the North Island. More....
ANDY'S YEAR & SUBANTARCTIC
Andy lead a Department of Conservation expedition to Campbell Island, doing a survey of New Zealand sea lions. More on this and the rest of Andy's year here. Andy's best Campbell Island photos. Photos of Andy's family. Video of Andy playing the Yidaki (didgeridoo).
CHRIS'S YEAR
Chris's take on the year - working for MAF, Horopito cottage and trips....
NZ AIR GAMES
For a couple of months at the end of 2007 Kris was "Sports and Events Manager" for Flying NZ, which involved coordinating most of the air sports groups to the participate in NZ Air Games, plus managing the ground infrastructure at Wanaka Airport. Promo video of the air games concept (Kris appears v. briefly at 0:40) and promo for the NZ Air Games. Archive site for Air Sports Live. It was a lot of fun - and a LOT of stress!!
CAPE CAMPBELL & WHANGANUI RIVER
Andy and Chris had two domestic trips away.... A week on the Cape Campbell Walkway
(capecampbellwalkway.co.nz) with Rosemary, and Andy's two eldest kids, Ella and Asher (Andy's photos & Chris's photos), and a week kayaking the Whanganui River (Chris's photos & Andy's photos). Here is the DOC information page on the river trip.
THEO'S ART
Kris is taking his son Theo along to art lessons every so often. Some examples. Kris is trying to collect as many pieces now - while he's still affordable! Theo turned eight on 16 January....
WORLD OF WEARABLE ART
Having thought about it for three years Kris finally got around to creating an entry for the World of Wearable Art. Just getting an entry accepted into the competition is an achievement! Photos of the "proof of concept", construction and finished product. Mentioned in Footnotes, the Wellington DOC newsletter, and Victoria News.
BATS THEATRE
Chris and Kris do volunteer bar duty at BATS Theatre, so when Kris saw three excellent "Go Solo" show at the Toi Whakaari School of Drama he suggested that they do a show during the Fringe Festival. In February Kris tried his hand at being an Arts Philanthropist by supporting "The Man, the Pie, and the Taxi Guy" with a small donation. It received good reviews from several papers! It even had its own Facebook page....
WWOOFERS & HOMESTAY
PARAGLIDING
Kris:
Came 21st (out of 43 pilots) in the NZ Nationals in Nelson in January 2008. only be be done occasionally when the weather conditions are right....January 2009.Andy was too busy doing other things to do much flying....
GARDEN & HOUSE
Google Maps link via TinyURL: www.tinyurl.com/11KoromikoRdWellington
LINKS
Our Facebook profiles are:
Friends web links:
NZ Air Games promo....
Peruvian music video that Chris and Andy appear in!
Paragliding at Bir
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| From Rarotonga |
