Ships and Politics

We’ve been out to Lyttelton (a suburb of Christchurch, on a bay connected to the ocean) to the Saturday Farmers Market.  It’s fun to see ships in port to pick up logs and to see the stacks of logs – we don’t get to see ships of this size anywhere near us at home in Wisconsin.

Paul was disappointed that his favorite food vendor, Sherpa Kai, wasn’t at the Lyttelton Farmers Market, but as we left to walk to our bus, he spotted the trailer that had moved to a permanent spot away from the market.  Yea!

Friendly folks serving Nepalese and other Asian food

Back in our Christchurch house we planned to make Leek Cheese Flan, but didn’t have a rolling pin.  A wine bottle came to the rescue and worked quite well.  Cindy made the crust, Paul made the filling and the result was excellent. 

We both went on the tramping outing on Thursday, but the tramp was around a hilly residential area since the hill tracks are still closed because of so much rain.  The Cashmere section of Christchurch had plenty of hills to walk up and down though.  Some of the sights were a set of stairways numbered in Roman numerals, an “elephant tree” with roots popping up, a fishy manhole cover and a gorgeous protea bush.  “Gorgeous” is an adjective that is frequently used here to describe everything from babies to tea cakes.

 

Protea bloom

The Antarctic Society sponsored a talk by Anthony Powell, an award winning filmmaker.   His film “Antarctica: a Year on Ice” produced in 2015 would be good to check out at your library (Eau Claire has it) or on Netflix.  Anthony and his wife Christine (from California) shared stories and photos of one end of the world. 

Christine and Anthony Powell

Politics have started to become more evident in New Zealand as the elections for MP (members of Parliament) occur in about 50 days.  New Zealand has a multi-party system, with seven parties currently represented in Parliament - National, Labour, Green, New Zealand First, Maori, ACT, and United Future, and government is generally by coalition as no single party gets a majority of the Parliament seats.

The Green party has been prominent because Metiria Turei, co-leader of the Greens, wants to increase benefits to low income parents, but she disclosed that in the 1990’s she misrepresented her living situation when applying for benefits as a single parent.  Two other fellow MPs in the Green party have quit under protest, but the other twenty MP Greens have stood by her.  

James Shaw and Metiria Turei of the Green Party

Breaking news though is that Metiria is resigning because of the scrutiny her family has been under.

Meanwhile Andrew Little, leader of the Labour party, resigned when recent polls showed the party has been losing support among voters.  The former Deputy Director, Jacinda Ardern, is now taking over as leader, and Labour appears to be regaining support in the last few days.

Jacinda Ardern and Andrew Little of the Labour Party

Posters are not updated yet.

Saturday we attended a Vegetarian Society potluck and got to hear Mojo Mathers, another MP from the Green Party.  Mojo is the first deaf member of the New Zealand Parliament.  She is a spokesperson for conservation, animal welfare and disability issues.  

Mojo Mathers and partner