On getting up I ate the welcome present, then went over to the venue
to get my email. I was also invited to the AKOROA trip with the wives
of the councilors, whilst the council met. I was invited at the same
time that Lyle arrived. I finally got to meet him – and we had not met
before.<\/p>\n
I was told 10:00 for the Akoroa trip, whilst others were
told 9:30. The transport arrived at 10:15. Basically this is New Zealand
time. I got into the car with Gareth with two of the
women. The other car was driven by Winton and had two of the other women.<\/p>\n
We took the scenic route to Akoroa, via the local substations,
inspecting the grounds. This is because Gareth wanted to claim the fuel.
It was really scenic. We arrived at Akoroa around midday and
looked round the city. City is perhaps the wrong word. It is more like I
suppose what Dawson’s Creek would look like – It is only a summer city
really. On looking through the city we finally saw Winton and
then found the local community radio station open. The station
used transmitting equipment leased from one of the Auckland hams.<\/p>\n
Following that we went onto the warf for lunch. That was nice.
It was a bit expensive, but was a nice wooden building. We heard about the
poor driving of Winton. After lunch we made our way back to Christchurch
over the mountain. This provided some good views. We also
went via the local cheese factory, but it only had a shop
open – the factory was closed for the season.<\/p>\n
In the evening I went to the
conference venue and found a phone line. I needed to use an implement to
unplug the phone but at least I could log in. It was actually a free local
phone. I then picked up my attendance badge and my
conference pack. After getting my nametag I walked back to the
hotel, and got some tea.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On getting up I ate the welcome present, then went over to the venueto get my email. I was also invited to the AKOROA trip with the wivesof the councilors, whilst the council met. I was invited at the sametime …<\/p>\n