Wake up, Dunedin.

[Photo from The Age]

The appearence of a floatilla of icebergs just off the Dunedin coast has resulted in a spate of chartered helicopter flights and excited Letters to the Editor. Al's got a great pic on his blog. It's being described as a once-in-a-lifetime event. Wake up, Dunedin. Who here has heard of climate change?

A number of citizens wanting to see a more positive response to the challenges posed to Dunedin and its environs by peak oil and climate change will hold a public meeting in the Hutton Lecture Theatre of the Otago Museum on Thursday 30 November 2006 at 7pm. All interested people are invited to participate.

Speakers Bob Lloyd and Leah McBey will outline the scientific and practical issues, followed by discussion. Plans will be discussed to set up a Society or Trust along the lines of the recent Hampden community initiative, to work on creating a more secure, self-reliant and vibrant community that is better prepared to sustain itself, meet the essential needs of future generations, and encourage new sustainable opportunities.

The organisers, who include Bob Lloyd, Anton Oliver, Chris Perley, Geoff Craig, Jean Harris, Jinty MacTavish, John Cocks, Marc Schallenberg, Mark Haggerty, Mark Jackson, William Clifford, Jocelyn Harris, will invite ideas from all sectors of the community so that a plan of action can be developed.

Now that's a phenomenon worth investigating...

We all know that Cromwell is home to two things.


A) Oversized plastic fruit, slightly faded by years enduring a merciless Central Otago sun.
B) Our film's hero.

However, there are stange goings-on in Cromwell. There is something in the air. Something that makes hedgehogs want to fly. Or commit suicide. In any case, indulge in scaling of 4-metre high orchard bird netting.



Never fear, animal lovers! Our knight in shining armour saved it. The hedgehog-lover in me wrestled with that other half (the New Zealand ecologist) and - rather surprisingly - won. I am secretly rather pleased to think of it still snuffling around the orchards up there. But shhh! Don't tell anyone!

A bird in the hand...

..is not something easily obtainable, if godwit cannon-netting is anything to go by! We had a lesson in the vagueries of wildlife-film-making last Monday, when we all went our to lend Otago's Ornothological Society a hand with their godwit netting and banding.

The aim: to catch godwits in a cannon-net, and band 'em up. And catch it on film, preferably.
The bird: a little 'un that flies all the way from Alaska every year, in one continuous flight. Incredible.
The reason: they're worried about numbers, as habitat disappears and threats for birds like this one mount the world over.
The camera: Jules. Thanks hon!
The result: We learnt a lot about setting up cannon-nets, sitting low in the sand-dunes for a few hours...and about how cannon-nets are MEANT to work. Unfortunately the only catch on the day was two leggy oystercatchers - the critical side of the net failed when the cannons were detonated, and the godwits got away band-less...! All the same, we had fun, huh guys?!

Ooo now THATS a good-looking team...

Lu and Julia sharing godwit love.

At some stage the cold started driving people balmy.

Filming...well, kinda. Detonator+He Who Detonates in back-ground.

What can I say? Bill left, taking the camera!

Post-detonation: the unfortunate oystercatchers and saddened orno's.

Volunteering Himalaya: Calendar 2007

Oh, the joys of stubbornly trying to be charitable. Oh, the joys of not knowing how to be efficient. Hours of screwing up (again....and again). Hours of dreading ringing my ever-so-patient type-setter to tell him yes, I'm sorry (my fault) but can you please do that again?

But it is almost finished. Oh-so-close to being finished, and I am very very happy. Just awaiting the final proof, then we're into the print run, and then it's just sales. Lots of them, hopefully, and a Christmas not just for us Kiwis, but also all those in India from whom I learnt so much earlier this year.

The deal? Well, at this stage -

• $10 a calendar.
• the (approx) $4 proceeds from each calendar will go to Oxfam Water for Survival/RUCHI and ISEC in a 3:1 split.
• they'll be for sale through me, in the Zoology tearoom, at the Dunedin Farmer's Market on December the 17th and possibly (hopefully!) at (all good) businesses around Dunedin.
• keep watching this space for more details!
  

Oh garn.

I caught Lu in the act: she's filming an iron wall. There's trouble.

Such good intentions. Fell by the wayside. Oh woe. Woe is me. Apologies to those who have been visiting Onekakara Films faithfully, only to find that the film-maker has done a disappearing act. But - [insert flash of Magic Dust right here] - I'm back!

In the last...hmmm...month?! What have we been up to?

Julia and I have -

• discovered that filming animals is a relatively complicated process. Not perhaps the actual filming part (we wouldn't know - we haven't got there yet) but the bit that comes before that. The bit that involves permits and paper and a lot of talking to a lot of people.

• been in touch with some amazing people. Wonderfully helpful people at DoC, gecko experts at Zoology, lecturers and film-makers, EPs, and the one-and-only Field Store Ed (DIY genius). We've picked their brains almost clean in an attempt to design a set (or three), get a collecting permit...and a holding permit...and a releasing permit...and a filming permit, submit an Animal Ethics Comittee protocol. Oh, and we haven't even started that darn shooting script.

• visited Tony! And gone gecko hunting with him. He's a great guy - very kind, very gentle, very knowledgable when it comes to geckos. An interesting character...! And a gecko is a beautiful animal. I am now a huge fan! We filmed a bit up there too...and were relieved when, on returning to Dunedin and presenting the material to Those with More Experience, we given the thumbs up.

So what's next? Another trip to Cromwell, this time to try to try filming in the dark. Ed has been filling us with excitement by letting us in on the secrets of NHNZ's infra-red equipment. How about this for a possibility - using an endoprobe to film beneath the gecko's retreat rocks...in the field!!