Weekend in Wellington

Well, my weekend in Wellington turned out to be neither wet nor windy. I'll have to try again. I've had a good time, but unfortunately took no photos! I simply forgot to take my camera anywhere.

I had a look round the menswear shops on Lambton Quay and environs on Friday afternoon after a sandwich (and a walnut twist) at a bakery called Pomodoro. Clothing here, not surprisingly, is very similar to what's found in the US. Ending up in the vicinity of the city gallery, I popped in to see what was to be seen. But ended up spending more time hearing what to be heard. The groud floor hosted a musical exhibit which I found compelling: the 40 voices from a 17th century choral piece had been recorded with personal microphones, and each singer was represented in the gallery by a stand-mounted loudspeaker. The speakers were places in an oval, in eight groups of five---the same grouping as the eight choirs singing the piece. Sitting in the center of the speaker array, I felt rather more immersed in the music that in the typical arrangement. But the real novely was being able to walk amongst the choir, focus on individual voices, and feel the movement of the music from one part of the room to another. The music, of course, was composed without this in mind, but I can imagine a composer using this extra dimension to great advantage. Sometimes the quality of the sound seemed less than perfect. Whether because of resonances in the room, quality of the speakers, quality of the recording, or just because the music was played too loundly, I'm not sure.

On Saturday I made pizzas for dinner, using a recipe from the book Dough. they turned out quite well, though a pizza stone (or at least a pre-heated baking sheet) might have made for a crunchier crust (I could also have made it a bit thinner). I highly recommend the tomato sauce method used in the book: oven-dry quartered tomatoes in a 100C oven for two hours. Before putting them in the over, I seasoned the tomatoes with salt, pepper, rosemary, and a teaspoon of sugar. The latter was probable not necessary, as the tomatoes were quite sweet. Then put them in the blender until sauced.

Sunday morning I spent shopping, and in the afternoon my aunt and uncle took me to the Karori Sanctuary (also know by the Disneylandier name Zealandia), a nature preserve built to support the rejuvination of native flora and fauna. The place is surrounded by a fence that delves deep below ground level to keeep out any imported predators that might be inclined to burrow in search of a tasty New Zealand bird---the Kiwi, for example, or perhaps a dopey, lumbering wood pidgeon. We saw quite a few birds---suggesting the program is working---but also quite a few traps, suggesting the foreign beastie problem is not quite solved. We had a nice walk, and feature attractions included an old (and unsuccessful) goldmine chock full of creepy cave Wetas, and a short boat ride across the lake. I'm sorry I have to photos! (Though given the delay between button-pushing and picture-taking on my camera, bird pictures probably would not have turned out very well anyway.)

I am writing this on the train back to Carterton where, I hope, a ride will be wating to take me back the vineyard. And tomorrow: more picking!