Family reunion

While in New Zealand several members of the family came together for an impromptu reunion.  The occasion was made all the more special given that most of us had travelled from afar. Auntie Shirley and Cousin Hilary flew in from the UK, Cousin Chris and her partner Steven drove five hours from Wanganui and I flew across the Tasman via Wellington.

We enjoyed an afternoon of coffee, cake and laughter on the patio of my parent's home in Mount Maunganui. The weather was sunny and warm.  My father made a welcome appearance, joining Mum and the rest of us, swathed in a warm rug and seated in a comfortable armchair. Dad finds the outdoors too cold most days, leaving him largely house-bound. However, he loved the experience, making the gathering all the more special.

 

My Dad's home

It's been eventful week. On Monday I flew to Melbourne to present at a national public relations conference. I hosted a breakfast session, sharing thoughts on commerical best practice in the Australian industry. We had about 70 people attend. Feedback afterwards was very flattering; some kindly described it as the best session they'd attended.

My post-event high was dampened by news that my father had been rushed to hospital after collapsing at home. This is second such incident in a month. Fortunately, on both occasions he'd just become very dehydrated, and nothing worse.

As I've mentioned in a recent post, I'd already scheduled a brief trip to New Zealand to see my parents this week. The timing proved very fortuitous as my father came home from hospital shortly before my flight landed in Tauranga, New Zealand.

 

By pure chance my flight was unexpectedly delayed long enough for Mum to take Dad home before heading off to the airport to collect me.  The delay was caused by Mount Tongariro erupting without warning two hours earlier.  The resulting ash cloud temporarily closed flight paths across the central North Island.  The photo of Mount Ruapheu, above, was taken on my return flight.

 

Ultimately, my trip proved well timed as it was clear my parents needed help getting back into a routine. Each hospital visit creates an unfortunate cascade of neglected chores and life activities. As a result I've been busy cooking meals, buying pantry supplies and sitting with Dad while Mum pops out to attend to personal needs.

As the future become uncertain we're increasingly grateful for the simplest of pleasures. For example, my father's happy to be back home, sitting in the sun's daily warmth. As you can see from the photo above magnificant Mount Maunganui simply sparkled in today's sunshine. For now, that's all that really matters.

Melbourne

Just arrived in Melbourne. I'll be speaking at the World PR Forum tomorrow morning. I've got a spectacular view of Port Phillip Bay from my hotel room. I can also see the conference venue where my presentation will take place.

Breathtaking!

I've just witnessed one of the most extraordinary phenomena in nature. At exactly 6:38am this morning the Far North Coast of Queensland was bathed in the eerie twilight of a total eclipse for two minutes and five seconds. Without a doubt, the entire experience was worth a 24-hour dash to Port Douglas!

The experience was exactly as the photos depict it.  However, I cannot begin to describe the sensation that accompanies totality.  The sky turns a dull blue/black, followed by the sudden appearance of a glowing white ring in place of the sun's dazzling disk. It's all very surreal and truly breathtaking. Surprisingly the eclipsed disk is far larger than you expect. The sun's relative size in the sky is clearly masked by its normal, blinding glare.

I arrived in Port Douglas shortly after lunch yesterday. The town was already buzzing with anticipation.  Tourists were pouring in to witness the eclipse, including two large cruise ships, anchored just offshore. In fact, everyone on my flight from Sydney seemed to be travelling north for the same purpose.  I had originally planned to watch the eclipse from Four Mile Beach.  However, I recently learnt that the approaching high tide was likely to cover most of the shore. 

As a result, I booked a ticket on Calypso, a local tour boat.  With the weather forecast warning of intermittent cloud, a mobile viewing platform also seemed the safest bet.  This certainly proved true as clouds played havoc with our view right up until totality started.  Fortunately, the clouds parted in the final minute providing an unobstructed view of the famous diamond ring phenomenon. A minute or so later clouds swept across the sun's disk and we lost sight of the sun on the final minute of totality. We heard later the southern end of Four Mile Beach enjoyed an unobstructed view of the entire event.

As the clouds rolled in those of us on the boat used the remaining period of totality to soak up the scene around us. As we turned towards the beach, we witnessed thousands of camera flashes burst into life along the entire shoreline.  This spectacle, in the eerie twilight, was almost as stunning as the eclipse itself.  An estimated 10,000 people had gathered along the beach.  You can see them in the photo above about half an hour before the event. Everyone was clearly getting their money's worth!  

I'm totally hooked. I want to see another one. Sadly we'll have to wait until 2028 for the next eclipse visible from Australia. On July 22 at approximately 4:00pm the moon's shadow will once again sweep across Australia on a path that crosses the city of Sydney. It's incredible that astronomers can calculate its appearance literally to the second, 16 years in advance.

 

Eclipse photos: Shane Branch, Director, Hibiscus Resort & Spa

Making every day count

The end of the year is approaching rapidly. News stories covering the US economy’s “fiscal cliff” ominously note that January 1 is less than seven weeks away. Between now and then I have four separate trips planned. It seems my days of regular travel aren’t quite done.

On Tuesday I fly to Port Douglas to witness a solar eclipse sweeping across northern Queensland shortly after dawn on November 14. This will be a quick excursion, lasting just 24 hours. Currently the weather is forecast to be partly sunny. Not ideal conditions to watch the sun disappear for two minutes and five seconds.

A week later I fly to Melbourne for another 24 hour excursion. I’m scheduled to host a breakfast presentation at the World PR Forum, a global public relations conference. I’ll be recommending strategic actions that local business owners should prioritize in 2013. Two days later I then head to New Zealand for five days to spend time with my parents.

Sadly, my father is slowly losing his five year battle with cancer. Tumors are spreading through his body so we know that his time with us is limited. His older sister (my aunt), is flying out from the UK to visit him next weekend, along with my cousin Hilary. While I’m in town my brother Matt will bring his family down from Auckland and another cousin I’ve not seen for years is also making her own pilgrimage. It’ll be a moving family reunion of sorts.

My father’s growing vulnerability has stirred an unexpectedly tender, almost protective, chord. I find myself moved deeply by his plight. I’m increasingly compelled to share as many special moments as possible in a genuine expression of love. It’s as if my inner being intuitively knows it must act now; that a unique window of opportunity will soon pass forever.

Then finally, in mid-December, my brother and his family in Austria relocate to New Zealand. They arrive on December 12. Garry and I will fly in ten days later. Our arrival heralds the start of one last Christmas reunion for the immediate family. 2012 has turned into an unusual year in more ways than one.

Oh yes, the photo that opened this post? It's a BridgeClimb to the top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge that I took with my parents back in 2001. We're the group of four on the far right. Mum thinks it was a birthday present for my Dad. I cannot recall this but do remember it was a glorious day to be on the harbour. May the memories continue to roll.

Panorama fiesta

I've spent this evening creating a few panorama images from recent vacations in Canada and New York.  Be sure to click on each image to get the full scenic impact that smaller images don't really do justice to.  The post opens with a view of Niagara Falls, followed by a couple of stunning panoramas from the Canadian Rockies.  I've then finished the post with a view of Yosemite Valley.

 

Up close and personal with the U.P.C

George J. Laurer is considered the inventor of U.P.C. or Uniform Product Code, more commonly known as the scanner barcode.  His linear design of fat and thin lines was launched in 1973, adapting an earlier bullseye-shaped design developed by Bernard Silver and Norman Woodland in 1948. Interestingly, none of these inventors successfully commericalised their creation. It took the likes of IBM to transform the barcode into the tool it is today. Although Woodland ultimately joined IBM helping it embed barcodes into the pioneering reaches of the retail trade.

Fast forward two score years and it's  hard to imagine modern commerce without such a ubiquitous symbol. These days you cannot buy a grocery product without a barcode and their use has spread well beyond retail. You'll find barcodes now managing worldwide freight shipping, preserving national archives and protecting sensitive hospital data.  I've even noticed them make an appearance on airport boarding passes and bus tickets.

Why a blog post on barcodes?  For the last two weeks I've been helping Garry plaster barcode stickers on much of his company's inventory. Garry's decided to outsource its warehouse logistics, which in turn requires each stock item to have a unique code.  Frustratingly, most of the stock he acquired lacks this fundamental item.  As a result, we've been forced to individually "touch" tens of thousands of products, adding coded stickers before they can be shifted to a third-party warehouse. It's certainly made for an intensive, but highly accurate, stock take.

I must confess that the focus on barcoding stock has distracted me from serious job hunting.  However, I've had more than one headhunter tell me that the market is unusually quiet.  They feel things are unlikely to pick up until the New Year. I'm now switching my focus to building out my professional network. While it's early days I'm somewhat encouraged by the connections I've started making.

Rockies postscript

As promised a few additional photos from our two-day excursion by train through the Rocky Mountains of Canada.  I've opened the photo with a couple of images from Vancouver, before taking you east with the Rocky Mountaineer's GoldLeaf Class carriage.  That's the Olympic flame from the 2010 Winter Olympics behind my parents.

In between the reflecting lakes is the famous "last spike" memorial.  The stone cairn commemorates the completion of the first trans-continental railway linking Canada's east and west coast.  The new line fulfilled a promise to British Columbia that ultimately encouraged it to join the Canadian Confederation, rather than respond to overtures to join the USA.  The last spike was driven on November 7, 1885.

Finally, a random images of trains and canyons that simply swept into view on every turn.  It really was a breath-takingly scenic journey.

Canada in pictures

We took literally thousands of photos during our Canada vacation. Here's a few that didn't made it into earlier blog posts. Enjoy!

The post opens with a wonderful shot of Mum and Dad in Manhattan as we were about to board our helicopter flight in perfect flying weather.  You can then see my parents in the helicopter waiting to take off.  The yellow objects are life vests that we'd have to pull over our heads in an emergency. 

Below are photos from Niagara Falls including a wonderful shot of my parents standing at the edge of the Canadian Horseshoe Falls.  Dad thought these were by far the best of the three falls that make up the Falls area. I couldn't agree more which is why we made it our first stop of the day.

The next three photos were taken in Vancouver at the Capilano Suspension Bridge, which includes a fascinating tree-top walkway. Can you spot my father in the second image?

Here's Mum dropping in for a quick coffee with the Canadian Suffragettes in Ottawa. Sadly, her extra large Long Black was made entirely of bronze.

Marman, the sculpture that dominates the plaza outside the National Gallery in Ottawa makes for a great image no matter which angle you choose.  Sadly, we were a week too early to see the best of the autumn colours in the Thousand Islands, but do revisit these fantastic autumn images we captured in Ottawa.

Liberty Enlightening the World is the perfect model. She never moves and her pose is always consistent.

Here's the George Washington Bridge; a real highlight of our Manhattan helicopter tour, followed by Central Park from the north and a classic view of the island's wall of skyscrapers.

The 9/11 memorial was a sobering reminder of the tradegy that enveloped the city eleven years ago.  I was suprised how closely my photos resembled artist impressions that were published when the design was first announced.  As you can see in the middle photo, the memorial includes the name of every person who died on 9/11, along with those killed in the 1993 bombing of the North Tower.  Ladder 24 was a fire house whose men responded to burning South Tower.

Stay tuned for more images from our Rocky Mountain train journey. Some of the images are breath-taking.

All duties completed

My tour guide duties have officially ended. Thirty minutes ago my parent's flight departed Toronto airport bound for Vancouver. Poor Dad looks totally exhausted but he swears he's had a wonderful vacation.

It's certainly been a special time for everyone.  I'm thrilled it's all gone to plan and ultimately exceeded expectations all round.  My parents loved the itinerary I pulled together for them.  The weather has also played it part. We've enjoyed daily sunshine with only two rainy day, both of which had indoor itineraries scheduled. To be honest I'm astonished that the activity I planned consistently delivered memorable highlights every day. Nothing proved a dud choice.

I'm now monitoring their flight's progress using an app on my iPhone called Flight Aware. It literally shows the plane's progress in real time, including any route changes mid flight. For example, I know that they've just changed altitude and are currently cruising at 37,500 feet over Lake Michigan. It's astonishing what you can do via the internet these days.

As for me, my flight to Los Angeles departs about 90 minutes from now. I've also heard overnight that my seat from Los Angeles to Sydney was upgraded to business class. A lie-flat bed will be the perfect way to rest and recover after an intensive tour guide gig.

UPDATE: September 30
We've all arrived safely home.  My brother tells me my Dad is in good spirits and full of stories about his adventures in Canada.

A trip down memory lane (aka Interstate 81)

In July 1983 I travelled to the United States of America to spend a year as an exchange student. For almost 12 months I lived with a regular middle-class family in the city of Syracuse. It's a small regional city located in upstate New York, about 6.5 hours north of New York City itself. The experience was life-changing.  My mother has often said I left New Zealand as a boy and returned home as a young man.

Since 1984 I've returned just once to see my teenage hometown.  I made a weekend excursion to Syracuse in early 2001 courtesy of the then-recently launched budget airline, JetBlue. Today I returned for a second visit, this time my parents came along for the ride. It seemed the obvious thing to do while we were staying in Gananoque, Ontario. Syracuse lies only 110 miles south of the border, an easy drive straight down Interstate 81.

We began our day with a brief stop at the Skydeck on Hill Island, one of the 1800 islands that give the Thousand Island region its name.  The Skydeck is an observation tower, a mere 500 metres from the Canadian border, that offers spectacular views of this incredibly scenic location. My parents loved the vista, as did I. The tour guide that escorted us was even able to help Mum spot a distant freighter traveling through the St Lawrence Seaway towards Lake Ontario.

We then crossed the border into the USA. The crossing was quick and easy with only a few cursory questions about our intentions before we were on our way.  Two hours later we found ourselves wrestling with a confusing maze of freeways that encircle Syracuse. As my navigator, Mum's had to learn how to use software maps on a tablet computer in real-time.

I made our first stop the Fairmont Mall, one of my favourite teenage haunts, before heading across the parking lot to Wegmans Supermarket to buy lunch. The supermarket was just as I remembered it.  For a young man from a small country town in New Zealand, its mind-blogging array of groceries and fresh food was an awe-inspiring testament to the power of American capitalism.

It was then on to the quiet, leafy suburbs of Westvale where my host family once lived. They've long since relocated but remarkably their house is still there, looking just as it did almost thirty years ago. As we sat looking at the home I surprised my parents with an album of photos depicting the exact same view. My mother was delighted as you can see from the photo that opens this post.

Perhaps the most memorable incident of the day occurred when I inadvertently missed a stop sign in Westvale. Within seconds of gliding through the empty intersection, I had blue and red lights flashing in my rear vision mirror. The local sheriff pulled me over and we had a brief road safety discussion before the conversation turned to my life as an exchange student. He sent us on our way with a quiet warning.  Mum later wished she'd had the forethought to ask the sheriff for a quick photo opportunity.

As you can see, we stopped outside my old home for a quick photo shoot. I'm sure that had the neighbours scratching their heads.  We then continued on to my old high school before venturing across town to see the Carrier Dome.  The dome is an indoor stadium that seats 55,000 people. I'd once watched a thrilling college basketball game here and our high school played a regional football championship in its empty confines.

Dad was keen to see downtown.  So our last excursion for the day was a brief tour through the city's civic centre. Unlike cities in Europe and Australia, Syracuse lacks a cohesive central business district and so the heart of downtown is rather soulless.  However, I did my best to show Dad some highlights I recalled from my teenage years. A final stop outside Founder's Park for a few quick photos completed our trip down memory lane.

Today was also our last full day in Canada (and the USA). Tomorrow we drive 300 km to Toronto to catch our respective flights back to New Zealand and Australia. It's been an incredible vacation, one that's exceeded my parent's wildest dreams. We'll return home with more wonderful memories and my father's bucket list is all but complete.