APSE OF SANT CLIMENT DE TAÜLL, 'EGO SUM LUX MUNDI'

Christmas is a time for reunions, especially for those friends who live far away and you don't get to see them very often. Tonyi Tamaki and Joseph de Ca'th Lon are already in Barcelona. They have arrived from Auckland and Basel to spend the holidays with their friends. One of their favourite traditions is to make Tió poop. Traditionally, Tió (who you've been feeding for many weeks) poops on Christmas Eve, but they always celebrate it on the night of December 22nd.

The Grandma is absolutely in love with all the gifts that Tió has pooped her and wants to thank all her friends who have thought of her, and once again, they have been completely right, although, as we already know, beyond the gift itself, the most wonderful thing is the time you can spend with them and the moments you enjoy that will never come back.

All the gifts have been wonderful -the Harry Potter books in Latin, Agatha Christie's Trivia, Robert Graves' Mallorcan fables, Jane Austin's memory game and the Pantocrator puzzle of Sant Climent de Taüll, which reminds us every day that he is the light (EGO SUM LUX MUNDI), a light that the rest of us will take care of so that it never stops shining in present and later generations.

In this world, increasingly difficult to understand and where surviving becomes a revolutionary act of resistance, it is extremely important to always position ourselves on the correct side of history -the side of light, culture, science, critical thinking and humanities. 

The Apse of Sant Climent de Taüll, in Catalan l'Absis de Sant Climent de Taüll, is a Romanesque fresco in the National Art Museum of Catalonia, Barcelona. 

The fresco is one of the masterpieces of the European Romanesque, from which the unknown Master of Taüll takes his name. It was painted in the early 12th century in the church of Sant Climent de Taüll in the Vall de Boí, Alta Ribagorça in the Catalan Pyrenees. 

The mural covered the apse of the church. In 1919-1923 it was moved, along with other parts of the fresco decoration, to Barcelona, in an attempt to preserve the murals in a stable, secure museum setting.

The mural was replaced by a replica, but some original decorations remain on the church walls. MNAC Barcelona also has the paintings from the triumphal arches, a side apse, the consecration inscription and an earlier window.

Its genius lies in the way it combines elements from different Biblical visions (Revelation, Isaiah and Ezekiel) to present the Christ of the Day of Judgement. Christ appears from the background causing a movement outwards from the centre of the composition, which is presided by the ornamental sense of the outlines and the skilful use of colour to create volume. The exceptional nature of this work and its pictorial strength have reached out to modernity and fascinated twentieth-century avant-garde artists like Picasso and Francis Picabia.

The round surface beneath Christ's feet represents the earth and the halo on his head represents divinity. Christ's right hand symbolizes blessing, and in his left hand he holds a book with the words EGO SUM LUX MUNDI, which translates in English to I am the light of the world. 

The symbols of Alpha and Omega hanging like lamps on either side of Christ, symbolize the beginning and end. The fourfold images represent four evangelists. To the right, an angel is seen beside the lion holding one of its hind legs, which is a symbol of St. Mark. To the left, an angel holding the tail of the bull is a symbol of St. Luke. The other two evangelists fit into the triangular space on either side of the mandorla. An angel holding the Gospel Book represents St. Matthew, and the other angel is St. John holding an eagle in his arms. Below the mural painting of Christ in the mandorla is St Thomas, St Bartholomew, Mother of God, St. John the Evangelist, St. James and San Felipe. The Mother of God holds a bowl where red rays emerge from it, which symbolize the blood of Christ.

The paintings in the central apse of Sant Climent in Taüll are the most emblematic in the Museum's collection of Romanesque art and make up one of the most representative and one of the finest works of Romanesque art.

The central theme of the apse is a Theophany, or vision of God, at the end of time, based mainly on the text of Revelation. In the middle, Christ in Majesty inscribed in a mandorla, seated on the arc of Heaven and with the Earth at his feet, blesses with his right hand, while his left holds a book with the inscription EGO SUM LUX MUNDI (I am the light of the world). On either side are the Alpha and the Omega, symbols that God is the beginning and the end of all things. He is surrounded by the four Evangelists. Saints, apostles and the Virgin Mary occupy the semi-cylinder and several scenes from the Old and New Testaments are depicted on the arches over the entrance to the apse. One scene that stands out is of Lazarus the beggar at the door of the rich man Epulon's house, on the intrados of the arch, and at the top, the hand of God and the Agnus Dei (the Lamb of God), symbolising the death and resurrection of Christ (Rev 5, 6-14).

The style combines the geometricisation of forms and the general symmetry of the composition with the decorativism in the details and ornamental elements.

The volume of the pronounced drapery is geometrical, emphasised by coloured lines and glazing, contrasting with the flat tones of the background. In addition, the symmetry, frontality, hieratic nature and the very representation of God could derive from Byzantine art, possibly via Italy. The bands of colour in the backgrounds, present in many Catalan Romanesque paintings, could remind us of what is known as Mozarabic illumination in tenth-century Hispanic manuscripts.

The exceptional artistic nature and the high quality of these paintings have been corroborated by the study of the pigments, which are of better quality and preparation than in other Catalan churches. Some imported pigments have even been found. Through the use of superimposed layers, the painter obtains more intense chromatic effects. Thus blue, obtained from aerinite, is applied over a layer of black, and cinnabar is applied over haematite to get red.

Painted on one of the columns of the nave is the church's inscription of consecration by bishop Ramon de Roda from Ribagorça on 10 December 1123. This reference is fundamental for dating the paintings, of which there are still remains in situ.

More information: MNAC

Externally nothing much is altered for the present; 
the basic tendency of Romanesque art 
remains anti-naturalistic and hieratic.

Arnold Hauser

EMMELINE FREDA DU FAUR, THE PASSION FOR CLIMBING

Today, The Grandma has received wonderful news of one of her closest friends, Tonyi Tamaki, the Kiwi from Rotorua.

It's been two long years since The Grandma visited her in Auckland, coinciding with the FIFA Women's World Cup. Now it's summer in Aotearoa/New Zealand and Tonyi has decided to spend the Christmas holidays with her Catalan friends whom she has known since one day she landed in Barcelona in 2018 to play rugby in a very nearby town, cradle of this sport in Catalan lands.

The Grandma is very happy with this upcoming visit and is already preparing a series of activities to enjoy a wonderful Christmas on the European continent visiting France and Switzerland, where Joseph de Ca'th Lon awaits them.

Tonyi lives in a country where nature is present in every corner and as a great lover of mountains, she likes climbing and hiking, a hobby she shares with The Grandma and Claire Fontaine, as well as ornithology and scuba diving.

Precisely, on a day like today in 1910, Emmeline Freda Du Faur, the Australian mountaineer, was credited as the first woman to climb Aoraki/Mount Cook, the New Zealand's tallest mountain.

More information: Wild

Emmeline Freda Du Faur (16 September 1882-13 September 1935) was an Australian mountaineer, credited as the first woman to climb New Zealand's tallest mountain, Aoraki/Mount Cook. 

Du Faur was a leading amateur climber of her day. She was the first female high mountaineer known to be active in New Zealand, although she never lived there.

Du Faur was born in Croydon, Sydney, on 16 September 1882. She was the daughter of Frederick Eccleston Du Faur (1832-1915), a public servant who, after retirement, became a stock, station, and land agent, and patron of the arts, and his second wife, Blanche Mary Elizabeth Woolley (1845–1906), daughter of Professor John Woolley and sister of Emmeline M. D. Woolley.

Du Faur was educated at Sydney Church of England Girls Grammar School. She probably developed her passion for mountaineering when she lived with her family near the Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. As a young woman, she explored the area and taught herself to rock climb. She did not finish nursing training due to her sensitive and highly-strung nature. Thanks to an inheritance from her aunt Emmeline, she had an independent income that enabled her to travel and climb.

Du Faur summered in New Zealand. In late 1906, she saw photographs of Aoraki/Mount Cook at the New Zealand International Exhibition in Christchurch. This prompted her to travel to the Hermitage hotel at Mount Cook Village, where she became determined to climb to the snow-capped summit, managing to do so four years later.

In 1908, a second trip to Aoraki/Mount Cook led to Du Faur's introduction to a New Zealand guide, Peter Graham. Graham agreed to teach Du Faur ropework and add snow and ice climbing to her skill on rocks. Du Faur found this freedom an enjoyable escape from the constraints and frustrations of family and society.

In 1909, Du Faur returned to undertake several climbs of increasing difficulty, the first of which was a significant ascent of Mount Sealy on 19 December 1909. Though these climbs were intended to be just Graham and Du Faur, social norms of propriety at the time did not look kindly on an overnight climbing expedition composed solely of an unmarried woman and a male guide. Thus, a chaperone was enlisted, and Du Faur committed to wearing a skirt to just below the knee over knickerbockers and long puttees while she climbed. Still, she received criticism from both men and women for her choices in athleticism and dress.

Following her notoriety, she would dispense with a chaperone but retain her customary climbing attire. It pleased her that her attire afforded an element of femininity to upset critics and challenge existing stereotypes of physically active women.

In 1910, Du Faur spent three months at the Dupain Institute of Physical Education in Sydney training with Muriel "Minnie" Cadogan (1885-1929), who became her life partner. After the training, Du Faur returned to Aoraki/Mount Cook in November 1910.

On 3 December 1910, Du Faur became the first woman to climb to the summit of Aoraki/Mount Cook, New Zealand's highest peak at 3,760 metres. Her guides included Peter and Alex (Alec) Graham, and together they ascended in a record six hours.

On the return trip from the summit, Du Faur was photographed in front of a boulder to commemorate the historic climb. The boulder, now called Freda's Rock is located approximately 200 metres into the Hooker Valley Track at Mount Cook National Park.

Du Faur made many other noteworthy climbs. In the same season as her Aoraki/Mount Cook ascent in 1910, she climbed Mounts De la Beche (2,979 metres) and Green (2,828 metres), and was the first person to climb Chudleigh (2,944 metres).

In the next climbing season, she scaled a virgin peak now named Du Faur Peak (2,330 metres) after her. She also made the first ascents of Nazomi (2,925 metres) and Mount Dampier (3,420 metres), and the second ascents of Mount Tasman (3,497 metres) and Mount Lendenfeld (3,192 metres).

In her final season, she made the first ascents of Mount Pibrac (2,567 metres) and Mount Cadogan (2,398 metres)), both of which she named. Perhaps her most notable climb was in January 1913 with Peter Graham and David (Darby) Thomson, when they made the first grand traverse of all three peaks of Aoraki/Mount Cook. This grand travers' is now regarded as a classic climb of New Zealand's Southern Alps and continues to be associated with Du Faur's name.

On 10 February 1913, the same climbing party made the first traverse of Mount Sefton (3,149 metres). Du Faur stopped climbing the next month.

Du Faur and her partner, Muriel Cadogan, moved to England in 1914, spending time in Bournemouth. Though they had intended to climb the European Alps, Canada, and the Himalayas, World War I put an end to their plans. The following year, Du Faur published her book The Conquest of Mount Cook in London. It proved important for its record of her mountaineering feats and her approach to climbing.

In June 1929, Cadogan died. Du Faur returned to Australia, where she lived in Dee Why, Sydney. At first, she lived with her brother's family and later in her own cottage. Her main interest was bushwalking in Dee Why and Collaroy. She suffered from depression at the loss of Cadogan, and on 13 September 1935, she fatally poisoned herself by inhaling a quantity of coal gas.

She had been, in 1908, the principal beneficiary of her aunt Emmeline's will and her own will, benefiting Jean Lord, was contested by relatives who disputed her sanity. The Coroner, after examining Du Faur's notebook and several letters, denied the claim, finding her the opposite of insane.

Du Faur was privately interred in the Church of England cemetery at Manly, Sydney.

More information: Stories Of Her

I was the first unmarried woman to climb 
in New Zealand and in consequence, 
I received all the hard knocks, 
until one day when I awoke more or less famous 
in the mountaineering world, 
after which I could and I’d do exactly 
as seemed to me best… I gained the summit… 
feeling very little, very lonely and much inclined to cry.

Emmeline Freda du Faur 

'SQUEEZE THE ORANGE', THE BIODEGRADABLE FASHION

Today, The Grandma has visited the Ateneu de Fabricació de Gràcia in Barcelona with her closest friends Tonyi Tamaki and Claire Fontaine. They have been invited by Susana Squeeze and Elisenda Orange, creators of Squeeze the Orange, who are working strongly in creating biodegradable fashion made with oranges. It has been an amazing visit to learn about materials and take conscience about where and how clothes are made.

The orange, also called sweet orange to distinguish it from the bitter orange (Citrus × aurantium), is the fruit of a tree in the family Rutaceae. Botanically, this is the hybrid Citrus × sinensis, between the pomelo (Citrus maxima) and the mandarin orange (Citrus reticulata). The chloroplast genome, and therefore the maternal line, is that of pomelo. There are many related hybrids including of mandarins and sweet orange. The sweet orange has had its full genome sequenced.

The orange originated in a region encompassing Southern China, Northeast India, and Myanmar; the earliest mention of the sweet orange was in Chinese literature in 314 BC. Orange trees are widely grown in tropical and subtropical areas for their sweet fruit. The fruit of the orange tree can be eaten fresh or processed for its juice or fragrant peel. 

Oranges, variously understood, have featured in human culture since ancient times. They first appear in Western art in the Arnolfini Portrait by Jan van Eyck, but they had been depicted in Chinese art centuries earlier, as in Zhao Lingrang's Song dynasty fan painting Yellow Oranges and Green Tangerines. By the 17th century, an orangery had become an item of prestige in Europe, as seen at the Versailles Orangerie. More recently, artists such as Vincent van Gogh, John Sloan, and Henri Matisse included oranges in their paintings.

The orange tree is a relatively small evergreen, flowering tree, with an average height of 9 to 10 m, although some very old specimens can reach 15 m. Its oval leaves, which are alternately arranged, are 4 to 10 cm long and have crenulate margins.  

Sweet oranges grow in a range of different sizes, and shapes varying from spherical to oblong. Inside and attached to the rind is a porous white tissue, the white, bitter mesocarp or albedo (pith). The orange contains a number of distinct carpels (segments or pigs, botanically the fruits) inside, typically about ten, each delimited by a membrane and containing many juice-filled vesicles and usually a few pips. When unripe, the fruit is green. The grainy irregular rind of the ripe fruit can range from bright orange to yellow-orange, but frequently retains green patches or, under warm climate conditions, remains entirely green. Like all other citrus fruits, the sweet orange is non-climacteric, not ripening off the tree. The Citrus sinensis group is subdivided into four classes with distinct characteristics: common oranges, blood or pigmented oranges, navel oranges, and acidless oranges. The fruit is a hesperidium, a modified berry; it is covered by a rind formed by a rugged thickening of the ovary wall.

The word orange derives from Sanskrit  (nāraṅga), meaning orange tree. The Sanskrit word reached European languages through Persian نارنگ (nārang) and its Arabic derivative نارنج (nāranj). The word entered Late Middle English in the 14th century via Old French pomme d'orenge. Other forms include Old Provençal auranja, Italian arancia, formerly narancia. In several languages, the initial n present in earlier forms of the word dropped off because it may have been mistaken as part of an indefinite article ending in an n sound. In French, for example, une norenge may have been heard as une orenge. This linguistic change is called juncture loss. The color was named after the fruit, with the first recorded use of orange as a color name in English in 1512.

More information: NextGen Design

Biodegradation is the breakdown of organic matter by microorganisms, such as bacteria and fungi. It is generally assumed to be a natural process, which differentiates it from composting.

Composting is a human-driven process in which biodegradation occurs under a specific set of circumstances.

The process of biodegradation is threefold: first an object undergoes biodeterioration, which is the mechanical weakening of its structure; then follows biofragmentation, which is the breakdown of materials by microorganisms; and finally assimilation, which is the incorporation of the old material into new cells.

In practice, almost all chemical compounds and materials are subject to biodegradation, the key element being time. Things like vegetables may degrade within days, while glass and some plastics take many millennia to decompose. A standard for biodegradability used by the European Union is that greater than 90% of the original material must be converted into CO2, water and minerals by biological processes within 6 months.

The process of biodegradation can be divided into three stages: biodeterioration, biofragmentation, and assimilation. Biodeterioration is sometimes described as a surface-level degradation that modifies the mechanical, physical and chemical properties of the material. This stage occurs when the material is exposed to abiotic factors in the outdoor environment and allows for further degradation by weakening the material's structure. Some abiotic factors that influence these initial changes are compression (mechanical), light, temperature and chemicals in the environment. 

More information: Instagram-Squeeze The Orange

While biodeterioration typically occurs as the first stage of biodegradation, it can in some cases be parallel to biofragmentation. Hueck, however, defined Biodeterioration as the undesirable action of living organisms on Man's materials, involving such things as breakdown of stone facades of buildings, corrosion of metals by microorganisms or merely the esthetic changes induced on man-made structures by the growth of living organisms.

Biofragmentation of a polymer is the lytic process in which bonds within a polymer are cleaved, generating oligomers and monomers in its place. The steps taken to fragment these materials also differ based on the presence of oxygen in the system. The breakdown of materials by microorganisms when oxygen is present is aerobic digestion, and the breakdown of materials when oxygen is not present is anaerobic digestion. The main difference between these processes is that anaerobic reactions produce methane, while aerobic reactions do not (however, both reactions produce carbon dioxide, water, some type of residue, and a new biomass).

In addition, aerobic digestion typically occurs more rapidly than anaerobic digestion, while anaerobic digestion does a better job reducing the volume and mass of the material. Due to anaerobic digestion's ability to reduce the volume and mass of waste materials and produce a natural gas, anaerobic digestion technology is widely used for waste management systems and as a source of local, renewable energy.

In the assimilation stage, the resulting products from biofragmentation are then integrated into microbial cells. Some of the products from fragmentation are easily transported within the cell by membrane carriers. However, others still have to undergo biotransformation reactions to yield products that can then be transported inside the cell. Once inside the cell, the products enter catabolic pathways that either lead to the production of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) or elements of the cells structure.

More information: Wikifactory

Once shoppers become empowered,
we will facilitate industries thinking
in completely new terms; for example,
making products that are totally biodegradable.

Daniel Goleman

FOX & FRANZ JOSEF GLACIERS, WESTLAND TAI POUTINI

Today, The Winsors and The Grandma are flying to Barcelona where they are going to do an A2 Cambridge exam tomorrow morning. It is long flight and they are seeing some photos sent by Tonyi Tamaki, who is spending her day visiting Fox Glacier/Te Moeka o Tuawe.

The family has thanked Tonyi for her company during this amazing travel to New Zealand that has been an unforgettable experience.

After this, they are going to sleep a little and later they are going to practise their last A2 Cambridge test on line.

More information: Cambridge Assessment

 

Fox Glacier/Te Moeka o Tuawe is a 13-kilometre-long temperate maritime glacier located in Westland Tai Poutini National Park on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island.

It was named in 1872 after a visit by then Prime Minister of New Zealand Sir William Fox. Following the passage of the Ngai Tahu Claims Settlement Act 1998, the name of the glacier was officially altered to Fox Glacier/Te Moeka o Tuawe.

More information: Department of Conservation-Te Papa Atawhai

Fed by four alpine glaciers, Fox Glacier falls 2,600 m on its 13 km journey from the Southern Alps down to the coast, with it having the distinction of being one of the few glaciers to end among lush rainforest only 300 metres above sea level. 

The glacier was advancing between 1985 and 2009, although retreating throughout most of the last 100 years. In 2006 the average rate of advance was about a metre a week.

In January 2009, the terminal face of the glacier was still advancing and had vertical or overhanging faces which were continually collapsing. Since then there has been a significant retreat, with the 2009 high level clearly visible as vegetation line on the southern slope above what is left of the lower glacier today.

The outflow of the glacier forms the Fox River. During the last ice age, its ice reached beyond the present coastline, and the glacier left behind many moraines during its retreat. Lake Matheson formed as a kettle lake within one of these.

More information: New Zealand

Franz Josef Glacier/Kā Roimata o Hine Hukatere is a 12 km long temperate maritime glacier located in Westland Tai Poutini National Park on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island. Together with the Fox Glacier 20 km to the south, and a third glacier, it descends from the Southern Alps to less than 300 metres above sea level.

The area surrounding the two glaciers is part of Te Wahipounamu, a World Heritage Site park. The river emerging from the glacier terminal of Franz Josef is known as the Waiho River.

The first European description of one of the west coast glaciers, believed to be Franz Josef, was made in the log of the ship Mary Louisa in 1859. The glacier was later named after Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria by the German explorer, Julius von Haast in 1865.

The Māori name for the glacier is Kā Roimata o Hine Hukatere, The tears of Hine Hukatere, arising from a local legend: Hine Hukatere loved climbing in the mountains and persuaded her lover, Wawe, to climb with her. Wawe was a less experienced climber than Hine Hukatere but loved to accompany her until an avalanche swept Wawe from the peaks to his death. Hine Hukatere was broken-hearted and her many, many tears flowed down the mountain and froze to form the glacier. Following the passage of the Ngai Tahu Claims Settlement Act 1998, the name of the glacier was officially altered to Franz Josef Glacier/Kā Roimata o Hine Hukatere.

More information: Department of Conservation-Te Papa Atawhai

Franz Josef Glacier is currently 12 km long and terminates 19 km from the Tasman Sea. Fed by a 20-square-kilometre large snowfield at high altitude, it exhibits a cyclic pattern of advance and retreat, driven by differences between the volume of meltwater at the foot of the glacier and volume of snowfall feeding the névé.

The glacier advanced rapidly during the Little Ice Age, reaching a maximum in the early eighteenth century. Having retreated several kilometres between the 1940s and 1980s, the glacier entered an advancing phase in 1984 and at times has advanced at the phenomenal, by glacial standards, rate of 70 cm a day.

The flow rate is about 10 times that of typical glaciers. Over the longer term, the glacier has retreated since the last ice age, and it is believed that it extended into the sea some 10,000 to 15,000 years ago.

This cyclic behaviour is well illustrated by a postage stamp issued in 1946, depicting the view from St James Anglican Church. The church was built in 1931, with a panoramic altar window to take advantage of its location. By 1954, the glacier had disappeared from view from the church, but it reappeared in 1997. This is due to the highly variable conditions on the snowfield, which take around 5–6 years before they result in changes in the terminus location.

More information: New Zealand

The glacier was still advancing until 2008, but since then it has entered a very rapid phase of retreat. As of 2018 it is again rapidly advancing. As is the case for most other New Zealand glaciers which are mainly found on the eastern side of the southern alps, the shrinking process is attributed to global warming.

There have been some incidents of jökulhlaups, outbreak floods from water-filled ice tunnels, at the glacier, with one destroying a bridge on the access route in 1989. Based on past variations, scientists expect that Franz Josef Glacier will retreat 5 km and lose 38% of its mass by 2100 in a mid-range scenario of warming.

The Waiho Loop is the terminal moraine of the glacier, and indicates the extent of the Franz Josef Glacier, about 12,000 years ago. Too rugged to be cleared for farming it remains covered in native forest.

More information: Glacier Country

 

The alpine environment is very delicate. 

I've been able to see change in the mountains 

in the 20 years that I've been climbing full-time. 

Glaciers have receded. The tree-line is changing. 

That's very rapid to see nature 

changing in a 20-year period.

Conrad Anker

VISITING ABEL TASMAN NATIONAL PARK & COAST TRACK

Today, The Winsors and The Grandma want to visit Abel Tasman National Park at the north end of the South Island guided by Tonyi Tamaki.

They want to kayak. They are spending the last days in New Zealand and they want to discover some natural places that they haven't visited yet.

They have got only one day to visit this wonderful site and they have decided to rent a helicopter to fly over the Abel Tasman Coast Track, a 60 kilometres long walking track within the Abel Tasman National Park.

 

During the travel to the National Park, the family has been practising a new A2 Cambridge test on line.

 

More information: Cambridge Assessment

 

Abel Tasman National Park is a New Zealand national park located between Golden Bay and Tasman Bay at the north end of the South Island. It is named after Abel Tasman, who in 1642 became the first European explorer to sight New Zealand and who anchored nearby in Golden Bay.

The park was founded in 1942, largely through the efforts of ornithologist and author Pérrine Moncrieff to have land reserved for the purpose. Moncrieff served on the park board from 1943 to 1974.

The park was opened on the 18 December 1942 to mark the 300th anniversary of Abel Tasman's visit. Those in attendance at the opening ceremony at Tarakohe included Charles van der Plas, as personal representative of the Netherlands' Queen, Wilhelmina. The Queen was made Patron of the park.

The idea for the park had been under consideration since June 1938. The Crown set aside 15,225 hectares, comprising 8,900 hectares of proposed state forest, 5,809 hectares of Crown land and 554 hectares of other reserve land for the national park. The Golden Bay Cement Company donated the land where the memorial plaque was sited. The area's primary historic interest was the visit of Tasman in 1642, D'Urville in 1827, and the New Zealand Company barques Whitby and Will Watch, and brig Arrow in 1841. The site was also of significant botanical interest.

More information: Department of Conservation-Te Papa Atawhai

By 1946 the park had reached 15,534 hectares in area with additional land purchases. A further 844 hectares at Totaranui, formerly owned by William Gibbs, was acquired from J S Campbell in 1949 and added to the park. About 6,100 hectares have been added since. In 2008 an extra 7.9 km2, including the formerly private land known as Hadfields Clearing, were added to the park.

Covering an area of 237 km2, the park is the smallest of New Zealand's national parks. It consists of forested, hilly country to the north of the valleys of the Takaka and Riwaka Rivers, and is bounded to the north by the waters of Golden Bay and Tasman Bay. It contains some of the islands off the coast including the Tata Islands in Golden Bay, and Tonga Island, Adele Island, and Fisherman Island in Tasman Bay.

The park does not extend beyond Mean High Water Mark on the adjacent coast. Between Mean High Water and Mean Low Water Springs, the beaches are gazetted as a Scenic Reserve, covering 7.74 km2 in total. The Tonga Island Marine Reserve adjoins part of the park.

Some of the birds that frequent the park are petrels, shags, penguins, gulls, terns, and herons. Possums, wild pigs, deer, and goats also frequent the park.

 

More information  Department of Conservation-Te Papa Atawhai

 

The Abel Tasman Coast Track is a popular tramping track that follows the coastline and is one of the Department of Conservation's Great Walks; the Abel Tasman Inland Track is less frequented. Other walks in the park, such as the Wainui Falls Track are considered short walks.

Access to the park is usually via the small settlement of Marahau. The nearest large town is Motueka, 20 kilometres to the south.

The Abel Tasman Coast Track is a 60 kilometres long walking track within the Abel Tasman National Park in New Zealand. It extends from Marahau in the south to Wainui in the north, with many side tracks. It is one of two main tracks through the park, the other being the Abel Tasman Inland Track, which stretches for 38 km between Tinline Bay and Torrent Bay off the main coastal track. The coastal track is well sheltered, and with mild weather in all seasons, it is accessible and open throughout the year.

As one of the New Zealand Department of Conservation (DOC) Great Walks, the coastal track is well formed and easy to follow. It is the most popular tramping track in New Zealand, with most of the approximately 200,000 visitors to Abel Tasman National Park walking at least part of the track.

 

More information: New Zealand

It can be walked independently or with commercial operators with guiding, camping, lodge stay and boat stay options. Following a protected coastline, many people combine walking and sea kayaking in Abel Tasman National Park.

To walk the entire track takes from 3 to 5 days. Single-day walks are popular, as many points are accessible by boat from beaches along the track. The only road access other than the start and end points, is at Totaranui. One of the most popular sections for walkers with limited time is from Bark Bay to Torrent Bay, a distance of 7.8 kilometres, which incorporates some steep paths, beautiful views over the two bays and a crossing of the Falls River by a 47 m swing bridge.

To stay overnight in the National Park, visitors must use officially recognised accommodations. Independent travellers use DOC campsites and huts that must be reserved in advance during the most popular months. A small number of commercial properties occupy parcels of private land within the boundaries of the National Park and provide lodge-style accommodation. Some backpacker accommodation is provided by boats moored off the coast.

With one of the largest tidal ranges in New Zealand, the coastal track includes some tidal crossings that can only be negotiated at low tide. Independent walkers and sea kayakers need to have information on tides in the area to plan their trips.

More information: New Zealand

I always like to look for adventure when I go away. 

I have gone on several horse adventures with my wife. 

We also went along the Hurunui River 

on horseback in the South Island of New Zealand.

Antony Gormley

HOBBITON, ENTERING IN THE WORLD OF J.R.R.TOLKIEN

April 23, is Sant George, so Sant Jordi in Catalonia. It is a Catalan Cultural Festivity. The Grandma, Tonyi Tamaki and The Winsors want to celebrate this important day with the Catalan Community in Auckland. 

In New Zealand, there are four Catalan Communities: Auckland, Christchurch, Tauranga and Wellington. All of them are formed by Catalan expatriats and New Zealanders who are interested in Catalan culture.

 

After meeting with the Catalan community, they have travelled to Hobbiton. The Grandma is a great fan of J.R.R.Tolkien and she's very excited today visiting the world of the Hobbits.

 

More information: April, 23. Saint George, Books & Roses in Catalonia

 

During the travel, the family has practised some writings on line to prepare their new A2 Cambridge Exam test. 

 

More information: Write & Improve with Cambridge

Hobbits are a fictional, diminutive, humanoid race who inhabit the lands of Middle-earth in J.R.R. Tolkien’s fiction. They are also referred to as Halflings.

Hobbits first appeared in the novel The Hobbit, whose titular hobbit is the protagonist Bilbo Baggins. The novel The Lord of the Rings includes as major characters the hobbits Frodo Baggins, Samwise Gamgee, Peregrin Took, and Meriadoc Brandybuck, as well as several other minor hobbit characters. Hobbits are also briefly mentioned in The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales.

According to the author in the prologue to The Lord of the Rings, hobbits are relatives of the race of Men. Elsewhere, Tolkien describes Hobbits as a variety or separate branch of humans. Within the story, hobbits and other races seem aware of the similarities, hence the colloquial terms Big People and Little People used in Bree. Hobbits considered themselves a separate people.

At the time of the events in The Lord of the Rings, hobbits lived in the Shire and in Bree in the north west of Middle-earth, though by the end, some had moved out to the Tower Hills and to Gondor and Rohan.

Tolkien believed he had invented the word hobbit as a speculative derivation from Old English when he began writing The Hobbit, it was revealed years after his death that the word predated Tolkien's usage, though with a different meaning.

Tolkien's concept of hobbits, in turn, seems to have been inspired by Edward Wyke Smith's 1927 children's book The Marvellous Land of Snergs, and by Sinclair Lewis's 1922 novel Babbitt.

The Snergs were, in Tolkien's words, a race of people only slightly taller than the average table but broad in the shoulders and have the strength of ten men. Tolkien wrote to W.H. Auden that The Marvellous Land of Snergs was probably an unconscious source-book for the Hobbits and he told an interviewer that the word hobbit might have been associated with Sinclair Lewis's Babbitt, like hobbits, George Babbitt enjoys the comforts of his home.

However, Tolkien claims that he started The Hobbit suddenly, without premeditation, in the midst of grading a set of student essay exams, writing on a blank piece of paper: In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. While The Hobbit introduced this comfortable race to the world, it is only in writing The Lord of the Rings that Tolkien developed details of their history and wider society.

 

He set out a fictional etymology for the name in an appendix to The Lord of the Rings, to the effect that it was ultimately derived from holbytla, plural holbytlan, meaning hole-builder and corresponding to Old English. 

In the language of the Rohirrim the hobbits were called kûd-dûkan, which had rendered the autonym kuduk.

 

More information: Hobbiton Tours

In the prologue to The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien writes that hobbits are between two and four feet, 0.61–1.22 m, tall, the average height being three feet six inches, 107 cm. They dress in bright colours, favouring yellow and green. Nowadays, according to Tolkien's fiction, they are usually shy, but are nevertheless capable of great courage and amazing feats under the proper circumstances.

They are adept at throwing stones. For the most part, they cannot grow beards, but a few of the race of Stoor can. Their feet are covered with curly hair, usually brown, as is the hair on their heads, with leathery soles, so hobbits hardly ever wear shoes. The race's average life expectancy is 100 years. Two Hobbits, Bilbo Baggins and the Old Took, are described as living to the age of 130 or beyond, though Bilbo's long lifespan owes much to his possession of the One Ring.

Hobbits are considered to come of age on their 33rd birthday, so a 50-year-old hobbit would be regarded as entering middle-age. Hobbits are not quite as stocky as the similarly-sized dwarves, but still tend to be stout, with slightly pointed ears. Tolkien does not describe hobbits' ears in The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings, but in a 1938 letter to his American publisher, he described them as having ears only slightly pointed and elvish.

In his writings, Tolkien depicted hobbits as fond of an unadventurous, bucolic and simple life of farming, eating, and socializing, although capable of defending their homes courageously if the need arises. They would enjoy six meals a day, if they could get them. 

They were often described as enjoying simple food, though this seems to be of an Oxfordshire style, such as cake, bread, meat, potatoes, ale and tea. They claim to have invented the art of smoking pipe-weed, and according to The Hobbit and The Return of The King it can be found all over Middle-earth.

In their earliest folk tales Hobbits appear to have inhabited the Valley of Anduin, between Mirkwood and the Misty Mountains. According to The Lord of the Rings, they have lost the genealogical details of how they are related to the Big People. At this time, there were three breeds of hobbits, with different physical characteristics and temperaments: Harfoots, Stoors and Fallohides.

While situated in the valley of the Anduin River, the hobbits lived close by the Éothéod, the ancestors of the Rohirrim, and this led to some contact between the two. As a result, many old words and names in Hobbitish are derivatives of words in Rohirric.

The Harfoots, the most numerous, were almost identical to the Hobbits as they are described in The Hobbit. They lived on the lowest slopes of the Misty Mountains and lived in holes, or Smials, dug into the hillsides.

The Stoors, the second most numerous, were shorter and stockier and had an affinity for water, boats and swimming. They lived on the marshy Gladden Fields where the Gladden River met the Anduin, there is a similarity here to the hobbits of Buckland and the Marish in the Shire. It is possible that those hobbits were the descendants of Stoors. It was from these Hobbits that Déagol and Sméagol/Gollum were descended.

 

More information: Tolkien Gateway

That was the big effect Lord of the Rings had on me.
It was discovering New Zealand. 
And even more precious were the people,
not at all like the Australians.

Ian Mckellen

ENJOY AORAKI NATIONAL PARK, THE SOUTHERN ALPS

Today, The Winsors have finished their Easter holiday and they have joined Tonyi Tamaki and The Grandma to visit Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park by a four-wheel drive. They have been resting in a beautiful hut on the skirts of Mount Cook where they have practised an A2 Cambridge Test on line.

 

More information: Flo-Joe

 

Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park is in the South Island of New Zealand, near the town of Twizel. Aoraki/Mount Cook, New Zealand's highest mountain, and Aoraki/Mount Cook Village lie within the park. The area was gazetted as a national park in October 1953 and consists of reserves that were established as early as 1887 to protect the area's significant vegetation and landscape.

Even though most of the park is alpine terrain, it is easily accessible. The only road access into Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park is via State Highway 80, which starts near Twizel, at 65 kilometres distance the closest town to the park, and leads directly to Mount Cook Village, where the road ends.

The village is situated within the park, however, it consists only of a hotel and motels, as well as housing and amenities for the staff of the hotel and motels and other support personnel. The park stretches for about 60 kilometres along the southwest-northeast direction of the Southern Alps, covering 722 km2 on the southeastern side of the main spine of the Alps.  

The valleys of the Tasman, Hooker, and Godley glaciers are the only entrances into this alpine territory that lie below 1,000 m.

Glaciers cover 40% of the park area, notably the Tasman Glacier in the Tasman Valley east of Aoraki/Mount Cook. Eight of the twelve largest glaciers in New Zealand lie within Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park, all of which terminate at proglacial lakes formed in recent decades due to a sustained period of shrinking.

In the area surrounding Aoraki/Mount Cook, the Tasman Glacier, Hooker Glacier, Murchison Glacier, and Mueller Glacier all terminate in lakes, while further north in the park, the Godley Glacier, Classen Glacier, Grey Glacier and Maud Glacier also end in proglacial lakes. Tasman Lake and Hooker Lake are easily accessible via walking tracks and are the only two of these lakes that have official names. At an area of 7 km², Tasman Lake is the largest of the proglacial lakes and hosts boat trips for tourists.

Of New Zealand's 20 peaks over 3,000 metres, all except Mount Aspiring/Tititea lie in the park. These include New Zealand's highest mountain, Aoraki/Mount Cook, at 3,724 metres.

Other prominent peaks include Mt Tasman, Mt Hicks, Mt Sefton and Mt Elie de Beaumont. The mountains of the Southern Alps in general are young, less than ten million years old, and are still building.

Uplift in the region of the national park is at the rate of 5–10 mm per year. It's estimated that approximately 25 km of uplift has occurred, however the rate of uplift has been countered by erosion. The park borders Westland Tai Poutini National Park along the Main Divide. Together they form part of Te Wahipounamu South Westland World Heritage Site, recognised for its outstanding natural values.

More than 400 species of plants make up the vegetation in Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park, which include more than 100 introduced plant species such as the colourful Russell lupin, the wild cherry and wilding pines.

 

More information: Department of Conservation-Te Papa Atawhai

Under normal circumstances, forest grows to about 1,300 m, however, most parts of the park are either at higher altitudes above the tree line or in the proglacial valleys such as the Hooker Valley and Tasman Valley, where the rocky soil of the valley floors and moraine walls do not support forest growth. As a result, the only pockets of forest and native bush in the park are along the southern edge of the Hooker Valley and the lower slopes of Sealy Range.

The plant life in the majority of the park consists mostly of alpine plants. Between 1,300 m and 1,900 m and in the valleys, the vegetation is predominately snow tussock grassland, as well as golden speargrass, large mountain daisies/tikumu, and Mount Cook lily, the largest buttercup in the world.

All of these plants flower in the warmer months from November to February, early in the season in the valley floors, and late at higher altitudes. At the highest rocks of Aoraki/Mount Cook, around 14 species of lichen have been found.

There are about 35 to 40 species of birds in the park and include the kea, the only alpine parrot, and the well-camouflaged pipit. The tiny rock wren/pïwauwau, a threatened species, is the only permanent resident high on the mountains. 

It is unrelated to the rock wren of North America. Small insectivores such as the riflemen/tïtitipounamu and the New Zealand fantails/pïwakawaka live in the low forest and scrub, along with small numbers of two larger birds, the wood pigeon and morepork. Introduced species such as finches and sparrows live throughout the bush near Mount Cook Village. The black stilt or kakī, rarest wading bird in the world, lives in the braided riverbed of the Tasman.

The park is home to many invertebrates, including large dragonflies, crickets, grasshoppers, 223 recorded moth species and 7 native butterflies. A black alpine weta, also known as the Mount Cook flea is found above the snowline.

Mount Cook Village is the start of several walks ranging from easy walking tracks such as the popular Hooker Valley Track to tramping tracks like the steep track to the Sealy Tarns. Some of these tracks also offer guided walking tours, and the nearby Tasman Lake hosts boat trips for tourists. The park contains close to twenty huts, mostly in alpine terrain.

The spectacular peaks of the Aoraki/Mount Cook region have attracted climbers from all over the world for the last 100 years. The dramatic nature of these mountains provides a rare challenge. The combination of heavy glaciation, tremendous vertical scale and unpredictable weather means that they are not readily won. To climb successfully here requires skill, fitness, patience, and a great respect for the mountains. Mountaineering on the Aoraki/Mount Cook massif is a hazardous activity.

At the end of the most recent ice age, around 13,000 years ago, the Mueller Glacier, Hooker Glacier, and Tasman Glacier were all tributaries to a much larger glacier covering all of Hooker Valley and Tasman Valley in hundreds of metres of ice and reaching as far as the extent of today's Lake Pukaki, up to 40 km south of Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park.

As the glacier retreated, it filled the hollowed out valleys with rocks and gravel, leaving behind the flat-bottomed valleys seen today.

 

 More information: New Zealand

Keep close to Nature's heart... 

and break clear away, once in awhile, 

and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. 

Wash your spirit clean. 

John Muir

FLY OVER FIORDLAND NATIONAL PARK & MILFORD SOUND

Today, Tonyi Tamaki and The Grandma are flying over Fiordland National Park and Milford Sound in the south part of New Zealand. They have preferred to rent a small plane to have better views and to take better photos. The experience is unforgettable because of the beauty of the scenery.

 

Fiordland National Park occupies the southwest corner of the South Island of New Zealand. It is the largest of the 14 national parks in New Zealand, with an area of 12,607 square kilometres, and a major part of the Te Wahipounamu World Heritage site. The park is administered by the Department of Conservation.

Almost 10,000 square kilometres of Fiordland were set aside as a national reserve in 1904, following suggestions by then-future Prime Minister Thomas Mackenzie and Southland Commissioner of Crown Lands, John Hay that the region should be declared a national park.

The area had already become a destination for trampers, following the opening up of the Milford Track from Lake Te Anau to Milford Sound in 1889 by New Zealand explorers Quintin McKinnon and Donald Sutherland, which received significant publicity from a 1908 article in the London Spectator describing it as the Finest Walk in the World. The Fiordland public reserve was created as a park administered by the Department of Lands and Survey, in practical terms similar to a National Park. The only two officially named national parks in New Zealand at the time, Tongariro National Park and Egmont National Park, were administered by park boards. Consolidation of the management of these parks led to the National Parks Act of 1952, which brought Fiordland National Park into the fold, formally making it the third National Park in New Zealand.

The only main road into the park, Milford Road, reached the Homer Tunnel area in 1935, but it was only with the tunnel's completion in 1953 that Milford Sound was accessible by road, to date the only fiord in the national park with road access.

Fiordland became the scene of one of New Zealand's most significant conservation debates when in the 1960s it was proposed to raise the level of Lake Manapouri to assist hydro-electricity production at West Arm. The ensuing battle resulted in government ultimately bowing to the weight of petitions and passing a bill in the 1970s that gave the lake statutory protection.

More information: UNESCO

 

In 1986, Fiordland National Park was individually recognised as a World Heritage Site, and in 1990, together with three other national parks to the north, as part of the Te Wahipounamu World Heritage Area. The park's protected area includes all of the islands along its coast as well as the remote Solander Islands. Although the park's seaward-boundary is at the mean high water mark, a total of ten adjoining marine reserves protect large areas of water in several of the fiords. The most recent expansion of Fiordland National Park was the 1999 addition of the 482 square kilometres Waitutu Forest. Possible future additions are Big Bay, parts of the Livingston/Eglinton Ranges, and the Dean/Rowallan catchment area.

During the cooler past, glaciers carved many deep fiords, the most famous of which is Milford Sound. Other notable fiords include Doubtful Sound and Dusky Sound. The retreat of the glaciers after the ice age left behind U-shaped valleys with sheer cliffs and as a result Fiordland's coast is steep and crenellated, with some of the 15 fiords reaching as far as 40 kilometres inland.

The southern ranges of the Southern Alps cover most of Fiordland National Park and combined with the deep glacier-carved valleys present a highly inaccessible landscape. At the northern end of the park, the Darren Mountains contain several peaks rising to over 2,500 metres, with views of Mount Aspiring/Tititea to the north in the neighbouring Mount Aspiring National Park. Further south, the Franklin Mountains, Stuart Mountains, and Murchison Mountains reach around 2,000 metres, with the peaks diminishing in height from north to south. The Kepler, Dingwall, Kaherekoau, Princess and Cameron Mountains further south only reach 1,500–1,700 metres.

The carving action of the glaciers has succeeded in cutting off islands from the mainland, leaving two large uninhabited offshore islands, Secretary Island and Resolution Island, as well as many smaller ones. Although these glaciers are long-gone, a few small glaciers and permanent snow fields remain, with the southernmost glacier situated below Caroline Peak.

 

More information: Fiordland National Park

  

Several large lakes lie wholly or partly within the park's boundaries, notably Lake Te Anau and Lake Manapouri, both on the western boundary of the national park, as well as the southern lakes Lake Monowai, Lake Hauroko, and Lake Poteriteri. All of these lakes exhibit the topography typical of glacier-carved valleys, with Lake Te Anau and Lake Manapouri in particular having several arms similar in look to the fiords on the west coast of the park. The Sutherland Falls, to the southwest of Milford Sound on the Milford Track, are among the world's highest waterfalls. Other tall waterfalls in the park include Browne Falls, Humboldt Falls, Lady Alice Falls, and Bowen Falls, as well as countless temporary waterfalls in the fjords that come alive following rainfall.

Prevailing westerly winds blow moist air from the Tasman Sea onto the mountains; the cooling of this air as it rises produces a prodigious amount of rainfall, exceeding seven metres in many parts of the park. This supports the lush temperate rain forests of the Fiordland temperate forests ecoregion.

Fiordland National Park contains the majority of the largest area of unmodified vegetation in New Zealand. The dense forests, often clinging to steep valley sides, comprise mostly silver beech and mountain beech, but also podocarps. A large variety of shrubs and ferns, often dominated by crown fern, make up a rich understory of plants, with the forest floor covered in mosses and liverworts. The abundant vegetation is supported by the high rainfall, but continues to be damaged by introduced species such as red deer and possum.

The park is also a significant refuge for many threatened native animals, ranging from dolphins and bats to reptiles, insects, and birds. Among the birds are several endangered species endemic to New Zealand such as the takahē, mōhua (yellowhead), and the critically endangered kakapo, the only flightless parrot in the world. The vulnerable Fiordland crested penguin and southern brown kiwi are also almost exclusively found within the park.

 

More information: Department of Conservation-Te Papa Atawhai

When I'm not acting, 

I'm usually sailing or camping 

or exploring or travelling 

or spending time in New Zealand.

Martin Henderson