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Kiwis and Kangaroos
a travel blog by
exumenius
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Down Normandale Road - Night 52
Wellington
,
New Zealand
Another gorgeous New Zealand day brought
Kowhai House
sunshine through my bedroom window much too early. After a second long day in a row, I desperately desired to sleep in, but as I am completely incapable of staying in bed past 7 am, the morning sun likely only cost me 45 minutes of actual sleep. The morning was spent arranging my personal accoutrements and doing some general reconnaissance of the house.
Around eleven I decided to hike down into the valley to check out all that is the City of Lower Hutt. Three blocks from the house a trail begins that switchbacks down the hill past waterfalls and mammoth trees of a variety unknown to this Northerner. A great little piece of nature just off of NZ Highway 2. Situated near the mouth of the Hutt River, the city itself, while reeking slightly of suburban décor and an abject automobile culture, had a surprisingly energetic downtown as well as a large three story mall complete with multiplex. A lap and a half around town found me a less than delicious Kebab and some bath supplies for back at the house. Hiking back up the trail I was nearly killed by a mountain biker screaming down the sinuous track. Ah, the perils of urban hiking.
The better part of the afternoon was spent aiding Lauren in attempting to weed the house garden, which had become tragically overgrown in weeds and rouge vegetables that had apparently taken seed from the compost spread about a few months prior. The first and most difficult task was determining what exactly was planted and what not. In the end, anything interesting looking or otherwise rare was allowed to continue living, all else was ravenous ripped out by the roots.
Our evening meal was barbecued chicken, burgers, coleslaw, garlic bread, and salad. Exhausted, I retired to reading after the feast.
What I Learned Today: I am beginning to belief the assertion made by some of my dearest friends: Mainly, that my neurosis is spiraling ever upward…and I couldn’t be happier about it.
written by
exumenius
on December 1, 2007
from
Wellington
,
New Zealand
from the travel blog:
Kiwis and Kangaroos
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Up Normandale Road - Night 53
Wellington
,
New Zealand
I awoke to a cloud filled sky, the first since my arrival in NZ. Entrenched in finishing Luke Rinehart masterpiece, The Dice Man, I spent the morning voraciously inhaling chapter after chapter of his daring prose. Around 11 am, exactly the time I finished the book, the clouds broke and the sun again showed itself. In a direct reversal of yesterday’s wandering, this time I hiked up
View from Belmont Park
Normandale road, having been told that the large
Belmont
Regional Park lies at the end of it. One wrong turn and an hour later I found a trailhead leading into the park. After a short hike, I located a small grassy knoll upon which to sprawl out and commence reading Tim Flannery’s best seller on climate change, The Weathermakers. As I’ve failed to mention before, the house has a vast library of quality contemporary literature and I desperately look forward to devouring as much of it as possible in my short month here.
The
Belmont
park is an amazing slice of nature located so near to downtown
Wellington
. Were it not for the set of powerlines traversing the main spine, one couldn’t identify a single sign of civilization. I returned home around 4 pm and set to work on some more weeding.
A day of hiking and reading. If there is such a thing as a perfectly relaxing day, this could have been it.
What I Learned Today: Worrying is nothing more than misplaced concern and anxiety over things which you cannot control. As such, it is a most useless and debilitating activity.
written by
exumenius
on December 2, 2007
from
Wellington
,
New Zealand
from the travel blog:
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Cleaning the Pauatahanui - Night 54
Wellington
,
New Zealand
Thicker clouds filled the morning sky, for this, our first day of volunteer work. After a short introduction session by Toby and Rachel (Ray), our team leaders, we packed our lunches and loaded up the van for a drive to Pauatahanui Wildlife Reserve. A salt-marsh wetland, the Pauatahanui was rescued from industrial and commercial purposes back in the early 1980s, so it is a still a work in progress. Slowly, but surely, native plants are being reintroduced and channels are being dug; a massive effort to remedy the cutting and leveling that was once done. Running the show at Pauatahanui are the local elders. Seriously, the volunteer core consists entirely of retirees, many of whom are shockingly adept at ecological and horticultural matters.
We (Jake, Melissa, Kathleen and I) spent the
Pauatahanui Park Headquarters
morning hours rearranging the nursery, while the other group dug up a noxious weed similar to North American celery. After lunch we began tree releasing, which is just a fancy word for weeding around the tree so that it can grow during the approaching dry season. Later in the day, Jake and I repaired some riparian erosion by planting some reeds along the bank.
The retirees don’t like to work too late, so by 2:30 clean-up was called for and we all headed home. The sun had broken through by this point, so I decided on hiking down to Korakora Dam once we arrived home. A small, insignificant dam, whose purpose I could not determine, the disappointment was moderated somewhat by the fake rapids built into the spillway (likely a poor substitute for the natural falls it destroyed) that created a pleasant sound and view.
The Korakora Dam
In evening Lauren drove the van into the city to attend a talk on an exhibition to Antarctica. Put on by the Wellington Alpine Club, it featured a presentation by a member from Christchurch who had chartered a boat with 8 others and spent seven weeks hiking and skiing the Antarctic Peninsula. For just a $2 donation, we each received a beer and some snacks during the presentation. By far the cheapest beer I’ve purchased in New Zealand. The actual presentation was great, amazing pictures and stories all told with proper Kiwi sarcasm and wit. When someone asked him how much it cost, he replied “You couldn’t get pissed (drunk) on the change from 20 K.”
What I Learned Today: Although I do very much enjoy going to such presentations as this, the worst part is that they add another option to the choices of what to do next with my life. It makes me realize (in case I had forgotten) that there is so much out there and I have so little time to do it all. I guess life is all about prioritizing, but after watching this ( or reading about that, or experiencing a little bit of this other thing) how can I ever be expected to prioritize sitting in an office again? Answer: I don’t know that I can.
written by
exumenius
on December 3, 2007
from
Wellington
,
New Zealand
from the travel blog:
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Maintaining Makara Peak - Night 55
Wellington
,
New Zealand
View from Makara Peak
Toby arrived at the house around 9 and we all piled into the red van for a drive up to Makara Peak. Today’s work would include track work and weeding at the Makara Peak, the City of Wellington’s world famous (at least in biking circles) mountain bike park located just minutes from downtown. Along the way, we picked up our city liaison, Jonathan. A trained ecologist, Jonathan
Makara Peak
now works part-time for the city maintaining the Makara Peak park, publishes biking books with his brother, and has begun to dabble in carbon farming. New Zealand, being environmentally innovative, has implemented carbon trading as a method to dissuade polluters and persuade land owners to retain native (or planted) forests. Basically, Jonathan’s land, which is forested, is worth a certain number of carbon credits which he can sell to local industries at an agreed upon price – currently around $25 a hectare per year. He and his associates are chancing on an increased demand for credits and, thus, they are in the process of looking for more forested land to buy on the south island. He and I spent much of the afternoon picking each other’s brains on the state of the others country’s feelings on climate change, farm subsidies, and politics in general.
Group Photo at Makara
Since the weather was abnormally calm we spent the entire morning removing rocks and fixing ruts along one of the many bike tracks leading down from the peak. The afternoon saw us weeding the southern slope of the summit which had become overrun with invasive gorse and Dutch holly. Both plants are incredibly persistent and need to be dabbed with gelatin poison within one minute of cutting their stems. Interestingly, a bit of controversy surrounds the gorse plant. While certainly a prolific spreader and an exotic plant from South America (not to mention the sharp spikes covering the entire plant), the gorse is a nitrogen fixer and provides great growing conditions for smaller native trees. As such, many ecologists suggest leaving the gorse plant stay unless it is direct conflict with rare native species.
It was a good, hard day on the mountain. Our reward was a build your own pizza night. After dinner, we sat down for a nice family viewing of the movie ‘300’. A tale of the small group of Spartans’ stand against the mighty Persian armies of Xerxes, the film was every bit as gory as the DVD cover indicated. A masterpiece of computer graphics and cinematography, the plot in and of itself was rather weak. But then again, this movie wasn’t about plot, it was about the glorification of sacrifice and stubbornness (and xenophobia)…and in that it succeeded. All critical comments aside, the historical significance of the event should not be forgotten, for many scholars attribute the continuance of the Greek society and thus the rise of all of Western Civilization to the bravery of these 300 men. For without their having stood against Xerxes, all of Europe would likely have been eventually developed as Middle Eastern societies.
What I Learned Today: With Kevin Rudd’s victory over John Howard in the Australian election last week, Australia is certain to sign the Kyoto Protocol, leaving only the United States as the lone non-signatory. Granted, I will be the first one to admit that a treaty that doesn’t require any emissions regulation for China or India cannot be the final answer to climate change, it is, nonetheless, a start. Our signing of the treaty would show that we as a nation have accepted anthropogenic climate change as a fact and are beginning to work towards correcting the problem. Whether or not this is possible in our country filled with 300 million people -- most of who want to live like kings -- has yet to be seen, but as an old Chinese man once said: the longest of journeys starts with the single step.
The reason I bring this up is that, though likely all of you back home may not think about the Kyoto Protocol on a daily basis, many may not even know what it is; the rest of the world is more than concerned about it. Because of this very fact, being an American overseas we must answer to our nation’s failure to act on the issue. The most prevalent comment is a question “why are the citizens of your country not calling for action on climate change?” A great question indeed. Yes, some are, but others stand firmly in the camp of “let’s wait for more data.” Thirty years of studies, thousands of reports, 99% of which support anthropogenic climate change, and now, actual action/non-action scenario studies…scary scenario studies showing that much can be saved in way of lives and money if we act sooner rather than later. Yet this is not enough for some…for many, in fact, many of whom believe in great miracles and mysteries ‘recorded’ by goat herders two thousand years ago, but yet adamantly doubt thousands of scientific studies performed in the last few years -- the same science that powers their cars, heats their homes, and transmits live signals to their televisions. I now see why citizens of other nations look upon us and wonder what exactly is going on in America.
written by
exumenius
on December 4, 2007
from
Wellington
,
New Zealand
from the travel blog:
Kiwis and Kangaroos
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Eastbourne Dunes - Night 56
Wellington
,
New Zealand
Today’s project took us to the east coast
Weeding at Eastbourne
of
Wellington
Bay to the town of
Eastbourne
. Much like West
Seattle
,
Eastbourne
offers stunning views of the city skyline from across the water. The work itself, however, was less than stunning. Hours of weeding the sand dunes was quite boring – though it did hold a certain therapeutic quality to it. Our lunch was taken at a spectacular ultra-modern house over looking the bay. Designed by some famous architect, whose name escapes me, the place fit perfectly into the rock wall and was composed primarily of a glass and steel exterior, with all wood interiors. A nice place to say the least.
Ray's House
On the way home we stopped at our Team Leader Ray’s house so she could change for the beach. Not to be outdone, the place she rents is every bit as spectacular as the home we dined at for lunch, only in a much more peculiar way. It looks like something a witch might live in. Once at the beach, Jake and I fulfilled our GVN rite of passage by diving off of the
Eastbourne
Pier into the freezing cold bay. Althouth not quite as cold as the Puget Sound, the bay still gave you quite a shock once you hit the water.
Tonight was mine and Nikos’s turn to cook. He delivered some pork and tofu schnitzels, while I offered up some of dad’s potatoes along with a large toss salad.
Diving off the Eastbourne Pier
What I Learned Today: Do not try to cook Dan Krause’s famous Parmesan Potatoes in a Chinese Wok.
Sunset in New Zealand
written by
exumenius
on December 5, 2007
from
Wellington
,
New Zealand
from the travel blog:
Kiwis and Kangaroos
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Otari Wilson's Bush - Night 57
Wellington
,
New Zealand
We awoke to a dark sky and howling winds. It looked, smelled, and sounded like rain, but as fate would have it, New Zealand is in a drought and no rain would fall today. We drove to Otari Wilson’s Bush, one of the last remaining stands of native timber in the Wellington. Our morning chores involved a lengthy hike on which we checked the status of numerous rat traps throughout the reserve.
Resetting the Trap
All seventeen stations remained free of victims. According to the team leaders, the rat trapping program at Otari Wilson hasn’t exactly been all that successful. The time wasn’t a complete waste though as the hike was great exercise and took us through some amazing forests, including underneath a massive 800-year old Remu tree, one of few such remaining behemoths in the area.
The wind continued to blow violently all day, but we didn’t notice it until we came out of the bush for lunch. Beneath our sweat-laden clothes, the brisk wind chilled our bones and
An 800-year old Monster
we quickly ate and rushed off to our afternoon activity. We split into two groups, one group weeding, while the other measured a section of planted trees in order to monitor growth. An hour later we swapped positions. On the way home, we took a detour through Jubilee Park in hopes of finding a Christmas tree, but none such luck would be had. We may have to break down and purchase one this weekend, for a home is not a home in December without the smell of a Christmas tree.
What I Learned Today: At times in my life I have been imbued with an atavistic, almost animal, sense of energy, a seemingly unstoppably need to run through the woods, climb trees, splash in the water…you know the feeling. Today was another one of those times. It could be the cool wind, the amazing natural setting, and the overall relaxation and joy that I have been experiencing over the past few months that have released this internal fire in me, but, regardless of the reason, lately I’ve been having this feeling much more often. I truly feel more in touch with some innate, often hidden side of human nature….and this is a good thing.
written by
exumenius
on December 6, 2007
from
Wellington
,
New Zealand
from the travel blog:
Kiwis and Kangaroos
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Trash Palace - Night 58
Wellington
,
New Zealand
Rather than our usual natural conservation
The Trash Palace
activities, today’s job occurred on the other end of the human material consumption spectrum: recycling wastes. The Trash Palace is an electronic waste refurbishment and recycling center owned and operated by a non-profit entity. Working in conjunction with the Wellington Council Mental Health Division, the Trash Palace also employs a number of mentally-handicapped individuals. The site manager, Rob, was everything you would expect from a man in his position; cheerful, energetic, and genuinely just a nice guy.
Destroying a Computer
The Trash Palace’s goal of reducing, and eventually eliminating, most forms of e-waste from Wellington’s landfills is progressing much better than expected, as evidenced by their backlog of wastes and ever growing facility. Here is where the GVN volunteers come in. Computer towers, monitors, and printers are some of Trash Palace’s most common items. These outdated ubiquitous technological centerpieces have been piling up at the Palace; it is our job to take a chunk out of said pile. Stuart, the electronic materials recovery boss, gave us a quick rundown of what jobs were available and we split up according to preference. Nikos and Toby grabbed old monitors off of a heap and smashed them to the ground, opened them up and removed graphite and copper pieces. Patricia and I, farther down the line, took old CPU motherboards and monitor innards, stripped them of all the copper motor coils, wire, and aluminum. In another room Jake was busy removing magnets from microwaves. Stuart noted that 90% of school science teachers in the southern part of the North Island buy magnets from the Trash Palace. The girls gathered in the main garage to gossip and strip copper wire.
In the evening, the television sat dormant (for once) and we all sat around and played cards. I emerged victorious from a nearly violent game of spoons. As I’ve mentioned before, the GVN volunteer house here in Wellington is many times nicer than the accommodations in Brisbane, however, the functioning TV and DVD player seem to be a curse in disguise. I guess having weaned myself from the idiot box many years ago I am a bit shocked at how much TV people can watch in a day. From the moment we get home until 11 or 12 at night, the evening revolves around the television. The weekends are even worse. This should come as no surprise to me, but it does. While I suppose it doesn’t help that we are a bit stranded in suburbia, I truly thought that the type of people who signed up for conservation volunteering would be of a bit different persuasion.
What I Learned Today: Ever since my graduate school research into Industrial Ecology I’ve been interested in closing material loops. A tenet of sustainability, recreating nature’s cyclical processes must be the end goal of civilization’s production and consumption cycle. For most of us, the minute it leaves our house, garbage is no longer an issue. Spending a day at a material’s recovery site can greatly change your outlook, so much so, that I think rather than taking school children to amusement parks and theatres, we should be bringing them to garbage dumps and wastewater treatment plants. Give them a quick peek into the belly of modern civilization. All ideological musings aside, I learned from Stuart that for every kilogram of copper we salvaged from the computers saved numerous tons of excavation. Not to put a damper on the weeding and planting that we do, but in all actuality we probably saved more habitat and reduced more carbon output today by salvaging copper than in the previous four days of performing more conventional conservation work.
written by
exumenius
on December 7, 2007
from
Wellington
,
New Zealand
from the travel blog:
Kiwis and Kangaroos
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Exploring Wellington - Night 59
Wellington
,
New Zealand
I decided to do the proper tourist thing today and explore downtown Wellington. The morning air was calm and pleasant, so rather than bus it, I happily hoofed it the 40 minutes to the Central Hutt train station where I caught the 8:33 into the city. As any guide book will tell you, you should start a
Te Papa
tour of Wellington with a walk along the harbor on your way to Te Papa, the New Zealand national museum. So I did. Wellington reminds me of a mini-Seattle; a curved waterfront, hilly streets, cruise ships, industrial harbor operations, mountains in the distance, and a subtle aura of cultural refinement. Te Papa is a massive museum and since entry is free, I wandered only the first three floors on this trip, leaving the remaining exhibits for future visits. One can only read and contemplate museum type illustrations for so long – my experience has shown this to be about 2.5 hours.
The Wellington Waterfront
After a delicious Malaysian lunch, I just sort of meandered the streets for a while, exploring used book and clothing stores, taking some photos, and generally trying to get lost. Around 2pm I stumbled across a Climate Change Fair occurring in the Civic Centre. Perusing the exhibits, I found that there would be a special showing of the 11th Hour today at 3pm. I missed this film in the US and have been trying to locate a showing venue ever since I’ve been overseas so it was my lucky day. I purchased a ticket and made my way to the theatre, located on the corner of Taranaki and Ghunzee Streets. Narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio, the 11th Hour picked up where The Inconvenient Truth left off. Rather than showing a young Al Gore and meaningless family photos, the 11th Hour concentrated on the wealth of data, actual expert interviews, and, most importantly, some solutions to anthropogenic climate change. It is hard not to feel empowered, though with a slight sense of urgency, after seeing this film. A shame that the DVD will not be out by Christmas.
I returned home and spent much of the evening weeding the garden (my assigned chore for the week). Exhausted from a long day of walking, my Saturday night turned out quite uneventful, as I lay in bed reading until about 10pm. Sometimes my actions are entirely unbecoming for my age.
What I Learned Today: Man’s capacity for innovation and genius appears only to be matched by our stubbornness and greed.
written by
exumenius
on December 8, 2007
from
Wellington
,
New Zealand
from the travel blog:
Kiwis and Kangaroos
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A Long Walkabout - Night 60
Wellington
,
New Zealand
Belmont Trig
Although our location here in Lower Hutt, a suburb of Wellington, does not offer easy access to the central city, it more than makes up for it with proximity to some truly great natural areas. Not to allow these opportunities to go to waste, I spent the morning and early afternoon hiking through the southern portion of the massive Belmont Regional Park. My trek began along the sinuous Korakora Dam trail leading up to Belmont Trig, the second highest peak in the park. After a brief rest at the top, I avoided the main trail on the way down and took the looping Horokiwi path on my descent back into the valley. Obviously very rarely traveled, the grass was hardly matted down and keeping to the path was at times difficult. The solitude and silence of it all easily offset the navigational difficulties.
At Baked Beans Bend (the etymology of this particular nomenclature remains unclear to me) I met back up with the main trail and with what was to be the first of a large race taking place on the trail. Having no other way to get back to civilization, I had to fight my way back along the narrow track against this running, jogging, and walking mass of humanity. Though I eventually lost count, the
View from Belmont Trig Peak
number was easily over 200 hundred participants. Viewing a race from this perspective turned out to be quite interesting and in the end I was glad I happened upon the event. At first you pass the serious racers, moving at good speed, faces full of grit and determination. Mostly under 40 males, with a few females mixed in. Nary a smile in the group. Next came the older ex-athletes, younger relatively fit couples in which one member convinced the other to do this, and the fathers with teenage sons trying to teach them the joys of physical competition. This group proved a bit more relaxed and friendly, though it was very easy to tell which member of the couple was the driving force behind their entry. Finally at the end came the old, the young and the fat. Their pace was a slow stroll, their faces all smiles. Just a group of out of shape individuals enjoying a beautiful New Zealand day in the woods. It was much like progressing from shopping at REI to Eddie Bauer to Walmart. Or like driving from Seattle to Kansas City to New Orleans.
I exited the trail in Petone, which some
A Meal at BurgerWisconsin
early morning research told me was the home of a BurgerWisconsin franchise. I arrived a bit early (they opened at 12) and killed some time watching a cricket game in the park. The rules of cricket have been explained to me more than a few times since I’ve been here and I think I am beginning to understand, however, I cannot get over the crushing boredom of actually watching the game. I would honestly rather sit down in front of the TV for the Senior Women’s Golf Tour or Professional Bowling than a live Cricket match. Perhaps it is the fact that grown men are dressed in white pants and ridiculous sweater vests while engaged in what appears to be stiff athletic competition. I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if the Tweedledee, Tweedledum and large human playing cards came tramping out from under the grandstand.
Back at the BurgerWisconsin restaurant I order a Bacon and Avocado burger. When my food arrived the bun was massive dwarfing the burger inside. In all honesty it was a damned good burger, but not the world’s best, as advertised on the sign. The waitress/cook was who was wearing a BurgerWisconsin shirt informed me that I could not buy one on the premises. She suggested perhaps emailing someone off of the website. English was not her first language nor was pleased to be working all by herself on a Sunday afternoon.
What I Learned Today: While being 7,000 miles away from home for the holidays will likely be a bit trying, it sure has made Christmas shopping easy. Having already purchased the box to send home selecting gifts was easy: the smallest and lightest things possible. Everything has to fit in this box and the more it weighs the more expensive it is. With this in mind my Christmas shopping commenced at 2:30 and was promptly finished at 3:15. 45 minutes, my new personal best. This is not to say the gifts possesses any less meaning than in years past, rather, they are simply less materially substantial.
written by
exumenius
on December 9, 2007
from
Wellington
,
New Zealand
from the travel blog:
Kiwis and Kangaroos
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Restoration in Paraparaumu - Night 61
Wellington
,
New Zealand
An hour long drive landed us just north of
Lunch on the Porch
Paraparaumu at a privately-owned marshland restoration project. Held under the Queen Elizabeth II Land Trust, the land has been placed under covenants that will retain it in its undeveloped nature for perpetuity. The two owners of the land have been removing non-native pine trees and replanting paddocks with native marsh plants for nearly five years now. Progress is coming along as one would expect with nature; slowly but surely. Located only 500 meters from the coast, the property offers spectacular views of Kapiti Island, the largest island off of this section of the North Island’s west coast – also held as a nature reserve.
Kapiti Island in the Distance
Again we found ourselves ‘releasing’ plants for the duration of the morning. As it happens, this time of year in New Zealand is often too dry to plant so conservation volunteers end up doing a fair share of weeding, with the hope that the ‘released’ plants will be better able to survive the warm, dry summer without the competition from nearby weeds. As I’ve mentioned before, the entire North Island is in a serious drought so we spent the afternoon watering and applying organic B&B (blood and bone) fertilizer to the plants. With eleven volunteers and only two water hoses, a bottleneck occurred at the watering stations. To cope with such inefficiency I snuck off and took a rather undeserved nap in the weeds.
What I Learned Today: I consider myself fairly open-minded with respects to people involved in non-conventional relationships. However, upon arriving at the volunteer location today the minute I found out that the two elderly women (late 60s/early 70s) cohabitated in the house my mind immediately jumped to the conclusion that they were lesbians. This assumption was made almost subconsciously and certainly without malice. Why, though? Are we really that conditioned to judge as such anyone not living in a normal (or rather, typical, for what exactly is normal?) situation? In all actuality, they are probably widows living together to share the high cost of home ownership and to retain companionship in their old age. Try and try as we might, we seem to be incapable of escaping our prejudicial natures.
written by
exumenius
on December 10, 2007
from
Wellington
,
New Zealand
from the travel blog:
Kiwis and Kangaroos
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