Summer is Here! October 19, 2010

Summer has definitely arrived here in Christchurch! The trees are blooming (LOTS of spring-flowering trees here), the cherry trees are almost done flowering, the sky is blue! The weather is really wind-direction dependent, though - when the wind is from the south, it is about 6C cooler than if the wind is from the north, regardless of how sunny it is. When the wind is from the north-west, the weather is very windy, very sunny. From the north-east (off the ocean), the weather is warm, but with showers. It is actually nice to have that degree of predictability - just look out the window at the weathervane on the house across the street.

I gave a lecture last week in the Freshwater Ecosystems course here at the University of Canterbury. It was on Ecohydraulics, or how flow controls various population and ecosystem processes. Originally, it was supposed to be two lectures, but the earthquake here effectively reduced the semester length by a week. Although somewhat time-consuming, it was still nice to give a lecture.

Aya and Rowan are really enjoying the spring weather. They would spend all their time outside if they could. It is gardening season, and they are very into watering. VERY. Water cans, buckets, hoses - they really love watering. Soon we'll have to break out a bucket big enough for them to fit into, so they can have impromptu swims in the yard.

SerH's research is going well, but she is starting to get eyestrain from working at a computer screen for so long. It'll get better, presumably, when she starts field work, which should be in a month or so. She's planning on doing some work on the west coast of the south island, so that will be fun for her!

We went to climbing to Castle Hill a few weekends ago. Such an amazing place! It was really my first day of climbing here in New Zealand. I had hoped to get a lot of climbing in here in NZ, but my neck injury really put a damper on that type of activity. Luckily, my neck is getting better (almost healed?), and I can climb again. I also went bouldering at Cave Rock at Sumner Beach on the weekend for a couple of hours - found a nice traverse (24 moves) in a steep little cave. Wicked holds, nice moves, and the surf pounding in the background. Very nice!

One thing I would like to wax enthusiastic about is the night sky in New Zealand. Even in the city, with all its attendant light pollution, a view of the night sky is amazing. I'm sure you could easily sit and read a newspaper by the light of the full moon, and Mars and Venus are CLEARLY not stars when seen in the night sky. The seem huge. I am looking forward to getting out of the city at night, and seeing the constellations and galaxies across the sky.

We'll get some more pictures posted in the next day or so.

Until then, Kia ora!