Knocked down at half time

The young Australian sailor Jessica Watson is 100 days and 11,000 nautical miles into her attempt to be the youngest person ever to circumnavigate the globe non-stop, solo and unassisted.

In the last 24 hours she has experienced her first severe weather of the journey in the southern Atlantic. During the night Jessica and her yacht, Ella’s Pink Lady, weathered four knockdowns during an eight hour storm after being hit by a series of rogue waves up to ten metres high whipped up by hurricane force winds. A knockdown is where the mast goes below horizontal and into the sea.

Here’s the story on her website and here’s her blog if you’re interested in learning more about Jessica and her amazing adventure. Whether or not you agree that a 16 year old should be undertaking such a dangerous voyage, it certainly does make for a fascinating tale. Jessica is a young woman of extraordinary competence and mettle. She writes well and her blog updates are enjoyable and informative. Cool photos too.

Rory and I wish her the very, very best of luck for the second half of her journey. We hope the winds are fair from now on and the sun is warm and that her little boat stays safe and sound. 

Click to view and enlarge Jessica’s GPS tracking in a new window.

Another decade down

I know that purists will say that the decade isn’t over until the end of 2010 but it’s my blog and I say now’s the right time for a review of the first decade of the 21st century.

Here are some of the highlights according to Louise.

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2000: I started the year in between jobs but with definite prospects so no real concerns. I had a 7 year old son, no man (some things never change) and I had my eye on a house that I coveted for my very first ownership experience.  At one stage that year Rory got airlifted off his dad’s yacht after getting hit in the head by the boom – scary stuff, he didn’t know anyone for hours afterwards. The year ended with me and Rory settled into the new house, a promotion at work, a boyfriend of sorts and a brand new nephew. A perplexing choice (in my opinion) was made made by the American electorate but it was a very good year all in all.

2001: My best friend moved to Australia and the boyfriend became an ex. Horrible happenings in the US. The only bright side was that a lovely puppy, later named Bonnie, was born and adopted by yours truly. I quit smoking that year and lasted 8 months before falling off the wagon. Rory racked up over 40,000 kilometres in flights between Auckland and his dad’s place in Perth, Western Australia. I went nowhere.

2002: Met another cheating jerk. Swore off men forever.

2003: Menopause. At 37 years old. Rory turned 10 and to celebrate his dad took him to Africa to explore for 3 months. I cried myself to sleep every night from missing him though the grief did great things for my career as I worked 15 hours a day and earned another promotion. The US declared war on Iraq – I remember something about WMD? My older sister was very ill but thankfully recovered fully. I got away briefly at the end of the year to spend time (and money) with my friend in Victoria, Australia.

2004: Got to Thailand again this year – one of my very fave places to escape the kiwi winter. Also got in another visit to Victoria. Another nephew born – that made four but still no nieces. Everything else was bad that year - horrible happenings, this time in Spain and atrocities continued in Darfur. And then that catastrophic tsunami on Boxing Day to finish the year.

2005: Finally quit chewing my nails to mark my 40th birthday. Katrina struck. It was 10 years since we lost my sister so we had a party to remember her by. Rory spent Christmas snowboarding in Japan with his dad – it was my first Christmas without him and it was hard.

2006: Rory started high school. Saddam Hussein was hanged and Steve Irwin got stabbed by a stingray. Crikey.

2007: Sinn Fein and the DUP hammered out an agreement for a power-sharing government in northern Ireland. Benazir Bhutto was assassinated. Rory’s dad moved back to NZ and for the first time ever we did the every second weekend part time dad thing – I started to remember what a real social life was like. I drank too much.

2008: Quit smoking again (18 months now and still going strong). Got addicted to Facebook. The Kiwis won the Rugby League World Cup and the hottest tennis player ever, Rafael Nadal, is ranked #1. Somali entrepreneurs found their niche in the piracy business. I met a man with real potential until the day he slammed Rory against a wall for looking at him sideways. Got a couple of long weekends away in Australia. Started new role managing projects at work and commuting to Wellington city twice a week.  Rory had a tumour removed from inside his jaw – it was benign. I spent most of the year exhausted. Bought new house and moved in just before Christmas. Whew, what  a year!

2009: Started the year with a new pastime – blogging. Met lots of wonderful new friends. There were terrible bushfires in Victoria so I went to console my friend. Witnessed a terrible car accident. Started reading about Tao Buddhism. Centre-right government elected in NZ for the first time in many years. I bought a lovely new car. A never ending cycle of study. Rory turned 16 and attended his first school ball, my mum and dad both turned 70, dad retired finally and my youngest nephew started school – still no nieces, have given up on that ever happening now. 

 

 

 

 

 

…and here we are nearly at the very end of 2009. That was my decade in brief; how about sharing yours?

 

 

Happy Christmas everyone.

Noooooooooo

An Australian tourist accidentally smuggled a poisonous cane toad into Queenstown inside the hiking boots in her bag last week.

New Zealand Herald article here.

The disgusting critter was discovered after hopping out of the Cairns woman's bag when she stopped by Ultimate Hikes shop ahead of the walk on the Milford Track.

Somehow our Ministry of Ag & Fish officers at Auckland airport missed it. WTF? Please TRY HARDER people. Yuck!

 

Photo from news.mongabay.com and courtesy of FrogWatch, an Australian environmental group that wants to kill all cane toads. Click on the picture for the full July 2008 story.

625 comments

I mentioned in a post the other day about young Australian Jessica Watson and the website and blog chronicling her attempt to become the youngest person to sail solo, non-stop and unassisted around the globe. She’s 16 and the voyage is 38,000 kilometres (23,000 nautical miles) in some of the most ferocious seas on the globe.

Photo by Jessica Watson

It’s a hugely popular blog and she gets around 250 – 300 comments each day as people wish her the best. Well, Jessica crossed the equator the other day and she posted an update on her blog to let everyone know – she got 625 comments on the post. That’s right, 625 comments. That is mind blowing, apparently it’s the most read blog in Australia right now, and for good reason. She’s seems like a lovely kid who’s doing something incredibly brave and plus she’s a great writer. Her updates are a pleasure to read.

The website is http://www.jessicawatson.com.au/

Her blog http://youngestround.blogspot.com/

Her course and current location is recorded here http://www.jessicawatson.com.au/the-voyage

I understand she’s now passed Kiribati and will soon be turning around and heading back under the equator to round Cape Horn (southern tip of South America). Although she’s circumnavigating the globe in the southern oceans, in order to break the record she must cross the equator at least once so that’s what she has been doing since she left Sydney in October.

Check it out. It’s a fascinating read.

Bon Voyage

I’m enjoying watching the progress and reading the daily posts of young Australian adventurer Jessica Watson who is attempting to become the youngest person to sail solo, nonstop and unassisted around the world. She’s 16.

Check out her website here http://www.jessicawatson.com.au/ and her blog here http://www.youngestround.blogspot.com/

There was considerable controversy about whether the voyage was a good idea but that’s now moot so I just hope she stays safe and doesn’t encounter anything she can’t cope with. She’s gotten as far as Tonga to date and is making reasonable time.

I wish her the very best of luck. She’s very brave.

 Self Portrait taken 29 October at sea.

Sharing the love

New Zealand and Australia have a reciprocal open immigration agreement between our citizens though it must be said that the traffic is mostly one way, Kiwis seeking adventure and opportunity and the bright lights of Sydney and Melbourne and in more recent years, Brisbane. We’re a reasonably well behaved and hard working bunch generally so it mostly works out pretty well for all concerned.

There’s a recent high profile exception to that rule.

In 1977 at the tender age of 12 months old, Patricia Carol Toia moved to Australia from New Zealand with her family.

In the 30 years since that time the delightful Ms Toia, who is a heroin addict, has racked up a truly impressive rap sheet  - she’s been convicted of hundreds of crimes and has done an impressive 30 stints in Australian jails. In fact 56 of her convictions relate to crimes she committed while in jail. Toia has never held a driver licence but has so many driving convictions that she’s been banned from driving until 2060.

Anyway, the game is now up and the Australian government wants rid of her.

Toia appealed deportation to New Zealand on the grounds that she has no family nor friends here, in fact no connections of any kind. She’s never been back to NZ in 30 years. Too bad says the Administrative Appeals Tribunal which recently voted to uphold the original 2004 deportation decision and return Ms Toia to the land of the long white cloud.  

"She is a threat to the Australian community and Australia deserves protection against her given that the risk of recidivism is, as must be obvious, very substantial indeed.”

Last week Toia was flown ‘home’ to her country of birth on a charter jet. She was accompanied by three New South Wales security officers and two departmental officials.

Welcome home honey.

I understand that when we’re visitors anywhere we should behave nicely and obey the rules but surely it can be said that Toia is an Australian for all intents and purposes. She lived there all her life and despite the fact her parents never applied for citizenship for her, as they were entitled to do on her behalf at anytime through her childhood, she is certainly more Australian than Kiwi.

Bad call Immigration Minister Mr Chris Evans.

The Beef of the Sea

No time for a proper post again today. Instead another really good ad made for a challenge on The Gruen Transfer, a very clever and hilarious Australian TV show on advertising. 

The marketing brief was to create an ad to sell whale meat for human consumption. Enjoy a laugh.

Check out more of their videos on YouTube – funny, funny. By the way it was sas that recommended I check out The Gruen Transfer.

 

Final poll votes please! 

Brotherly love – yeah right!

I cannot believe I haven’t seen or even heard of this before. I came across it on YouTube quite by accident.  For those who don’t know, the second part of this ad is a spoof of a NZ advertising campaign trying to get Australians to holiday here.

Did this really air on Australian TV?

I’ve been sharing it with some Kiwi friends and no-one I know has ever seen it before. Is very very funny. Love it. There’s no denying that Australians have a great sense of humour and especially so when it involves taking the piss out of Kiwi’s.

That’s all for today folks as I am shattered. I had to commute to Wellington twice this week which makes a 15 hour work day each time on top of the rest of a very stressful and busy week.

Heading to bed now to watch a bit of TV and read a couple of chapters of my book before sleep time.  Totally out of control social life ay? 

TGIF       

Flying, shopping, flying

Hope everyone’s weekend was great.

I am back in NZ after a flying visit to Victoria to catch up with my girlfriend who’s still freaked about the fire getting so close to her place. She still refuses to unpack her car despite the reasonable amount of rain they’ve had there and the subsequent reduction in the fire risk.

To help her relax, we decided that a spot of shopping was the order of the day so we headed down to Melbourne for some serious retail therapy.

We started with pedicures as it’s just not fair to inflict ugly feet on shoe salespersons and then after a coffee break we headed to Myer for a look and a dream over the Blahniks.

I needed a new pair of black courts with winter on the way and there was one pair I particularly loved (see picture) but at AUS$895 there was no way in hell.  Man they looked gorgeous on my feet though.

Not one to be daunted so easily, I went looking for something similar but at about the necessary 15-20% of the cost…and I found them.

Please excuse my less that professional shoe photography.

These were much more in my price range and I absolutely love them.  The Italian leather is so supple and soft, its a minor miracle and they’re a perfect height heel for me to wear to work – 3 inches which means I can wear them all day without too much foot angst.

My next purchase was a beautiful leather overnight bag as my current one is looking rather scruffy and needed replacing. This photo makes it look quite navy but it’s actually a midnight blue – so dark it almost looks black except when the light hits it. It’s the perfect size for overnight necessities and I feel like Audrey Hepburn when I carry it :-)

That was my shopping budget totally blown but then I saw a handbag that I just couldn’t resist.

The whole ‘alligator skin’ leather is starting to sound somewhat like a fetish (and if I am honest it probably is lately) but I have been looking for a red bag to match some gorgeous red boots I bought a couple of weeks ago.

Anyway here it is!

Photographed along side my overnight bag so you get a feel for the size of them both.

Ahhh life is good!

After dinner and 2 bottles of wine in Lygon Street and a great days shopping, I really felt that BFF was finally relaxing and feeling more in control of her life again.

She’s now rethinking where she’s chosen to live and I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a move out of the bush on the horizon for her. I know I’d feel much happier if she wasn’t living there by next summer though I’ll miss the place.

It’s good to be home – am much poorer after shopping, eating and drinking and flights but I’m glad I went for her sake. Back to work tomorrow to pay for it all.

Heading bush

Quick post from Tullamarine Airport before heading north west to BFF’s place. Bracing myself slightly for what I might see changed since my last visit 3 months ago. I’ll catch up on posts when I get home in a couple of days. This is a flying visit only.