Pieter’s Rap

The past week I had again the opportunity to visit Christchurch or also known as the Garden City. What makes the city unique is the absolutely gorgeous botanical garden situated close to the city centre. Friday being a beautiful warm day , I decided to visit the gardens during my lunch break and took some pictures. This place is truly remarkable and the beauty and atmosphere is food for the soul. Armed with a water bottle and I took to the various footpaths that are very neatly laid out.

Entering the gardens almost feels like going into another world away form the muchness and manyness of the world around and into a world of silence and beauty. My silence was only once disturbed by a group of children walking obediently one behind the other. Their high pitch voices filling the air as they enthusiastically tried to talk to each other.

After my visit to the gardens I quickly went to Cathedral square, which is the main centre point of the city. Surrounded wiith a Gothic style church and some really old style English architecture, the square is a hub of activities for street merchants and tourists.

Here is some photos to enjoy…

World famous School

Across the street…

Walking towards the square…

I greet everyone form a rugby mad, but depressed NZ. The Kiwis are still recovering from their shock World Cup defeat by the French. I don’t want to rub anymore salt in there wounds, but would like to say, better luck next time.

The past weekend Ian, Annalie and myself decided to cross the Cook Straight to visit the South Island. Our destinations were Kaikoura and Hanmer Springs. Kaikoura is beautiful seaside town that is surrounded with awe inspiring mountains and a crisp blue sea. Kaikoura is one of two spots in NZ where one can swim with dolphins and whales. Hanmer Springs is 135km inland from and is one of the adventure capitals in NZ. This serene town offers the adrenaline junkie with every kind of activity you wish to do. Jet boating, quad biking, river rafting, bungi jumping is some of the many things that you can choose. The only limit is what you wallet will allow.

We left Wellington Friday 18:15 for our fist trip on the ferry. Our feelings of nervousnesses was soon overtaken by feelings of expectation. The Cook Straight is world renown for being netoriously rough. Almost as the Cape Agulhas is back home. Everyone has respect for this piece of sea. Many has peril due to its wild character. Our journey went by without any obstacles or anyone incurring sea sickness. I was very impress with the facilities on board as well the seating arrangement. Very comfortable indeed.

A photo from the deck!

After a journey of three hours we arrived in a Picton.

Friday eve we slept in Picton in a backpackers called Atlantis, which cost us $19 per person. Very cheap indeed. We left Picton Saturday morning after picking up Sunny, our rental vehicle to travel to Kaikoura which is 160km south.

One of the scenic views on the way…

Our reason for going to Kaikoura was to have an opportunity to swim with the dolphins. Being a picture perfect day and the conditions looking absolutely wonderful we looked forward to this adventure. Unfortunately upon our arrival at Dolphin Encounters we were informed that due to a slightly rough sea the trip had to be canceled. The travelers were disapppointed but we agreed that this is only as mall set back for our spirits. After considering our alternatives we decided to head for Hanmer Springs. Hanmer is home to Thrill Seekers Canyon. An adventurers dream. Our first idea was to go Jet boating but after learning that we could not do that due to fact that the river was in flood, we then opted for quad biking.

Some photos of the journey from Kaikoura to Hanmer…

The quad biking was way more fun than what I initially anticipated. Since I was not used to gear changes on this form of transport, I had feelings of apprehension. Apart from one incident where instead of looking on the road I was admiring the beauty around, I crashed into Ian after he stopped. As in true South African style no one was injured. But I do not recommend that anyone should try it at home.

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Hanmer Springs

Hi Everyone. What a marvelous day I had again. We had blue skies the whole day. Hopefully weather wise we have turned the tide with winter. Not that winter was extremely cold anyway. I won’t put my life on it, but I surely hold thumbs for it.

I am back home after two really awesome days. Yesterday I was in Nelson and today in Blenheim. A town 110km from Nelson. Business wise today was in weather terms miserable. Blenheim hospital is also like Nelson a place where I am busy with a similar product trial and the feedback from the charge nurse was not what I wanted to hear. Some of the concerns she raised I had not experienced with other customers. There could be two reasons behind it. It could be due the fact that I was not allowed to do in-service training. Not that the product is highly technical, but there are some gems I could have shared. The in-service also provides a way of building trust and rapport with the end users. So I never had a opportunity to do that. The other could be that some of their objections are valid. I did ask whether I could speak to the relevant nurses, but the manager thought it was unnecessary. How in the world can I handle objections if I can’t even speak to the people. My plan of action is to type the manager a very friendly and assertive email to explain my frustration with the way the trial has been handled. How can a salesman not do training on his product and then expect a positive outcome?

Socially the weekend is still very much open. Friday eve will be spent at home doing some admin and the normal washing and ironing chores. Saturday I will make use of the fair weather by being outside somewhere. Sunday I will get together with the friends. We have not decided whether we are going to get up 3am Sunday morning to watch the Boks and Scotland. Might not be wort it, the way the Boks play.

I have included some more photos of my trip.

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Hi everyone. I woke up this morning to a crisp, but absolutely beautiful day. The forecast for the rest of the week also looks very good. So the fine weather made my day. My journey took me to a town called Nelson. It is literally a hop over Cook Straight. It is a 25-minute flight from Wellington and must be one of the most scenic flights a person can experience. There is a ferry trip as well, which apparently is even more spectacular. I will do that next time!! I can’t wait for next ime! He he!

Back to the flight. It as been a long time since I have seen such clear skies as today. This gave my eyes a bit of a sensory overload. With beautiful views of the Alps, the sea below and the many islands that form the Marlborough Sounds, it was truly an amazing flight. Unfortunately my camera was in my other bag. But I did take some photos of Nelson.

Nelson today left me speechless. Stepping out from the airplane Nelson feels like you step out into a different world.  It has an atmosphere that relaxes your very soul and mind. Very tourissy type feel to it. My mode of transportation was Hyundai Tucson. It was my first experience driving a Hyundai vehicle and was pleasantly surprised with it. The car provides a very comfortable ride and I like the fact that I sit a bit high in the vehicle.  In Nelson I call on a public and small private hospital.

The reason for my visit was to follow-up on a product trial. It seems that it is going well, but a few concerns have been raised and to solve it demands thinking outside the box. Not for me so much, but for the theatre. They do like the product, but it does challenge some of their practices. So it all depends on if the product will solve a problem and then if they are motivated to change. The product is more than just switching from one supplier to another. It causes a new way of thinking and working. Furthermore, what makes it even more difficult is that the real solution lies in the sterile services, while the product will be used in theatre. What a conundrum!! It is a synergistically relationship between theatre and sterile services. In the small private hospital the process is going to be much easier, since there is just a change of supplier for the customer. It is for dressings that will be used in theatre. My price was accepted and now the product trial will start. That will happen next week. You can do it!!!

 Enjoy the photos. The rest I have posted in Facebook!

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I had some extra time to today and instead of being bored I thought I will put myself to use. Expand my horizons. So what did I do…BAKING. I decided to bake a Jewish Matzah or unleavened bread. I have been looking for Matzah for the last 8 months with no luck, so I decided to bake it then myself. I told myself you can do it!!!

Armed with non raising fine flour, sunflower oil, salt and water I got busy. From reading the recipe it sounded quite an easy process. You take two cups of flour, 3/4 cup of oil, 3/4 cup of water and a teaspoon of salt. You put the flour, oil and salt into a bowl. You knead it bit and start adding the water. Not all at once. Then you knead further until it the dough is supposedly not sticky. Well, lets think about sticky. Sticky is a relative term for a inexperience baker like myself. I knead for 5 minutes (perhaps next time I will dot it a touch longer) and then put the whole piece of dough onto my baking tray. I tried to flattened it out with a roller. But the piece just move from one end to another and was sticking perhaps a bit to much to the roller than it should. Anyway, I got the dough into the oven and after 20 minutes it came out nice and brown.

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Or why do we dish the dirt? Why do we gossip…mm?

We all have been in a situation were somebody comes to you and says, “Don’t tell anyone this, but…” That is a red flag moment.

What happened over the weekend made me think again. We all have at one point of of our lives played the game, telephone. One player whispers a word or phrase to the person next to him and so the message gets passed on until the last person repeats aloud what he heard. And in most cases the message is very different or distorted by the time it reach the end!

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Even though English is a rich language with an illustrious history, when it comes to biblical understanding it often fails to bring us to a real understanding. A very good example is the word praise. When we read the psalms we only have it translated in this one word. This has actually robbed us from the rich Hebrew understanding of the variety of praise forms. Having a better understanding of the various definitions can only enhance your relationship with Jesus Christ. Praise is definitely one aspect that is very overlooked when it comes to living a victorious life in Christ. Our faith benefits greatly, but most importantly He demands and desire our daily praise. We see in Chronicles how Father God appointed priests that gave him praise and thanksgiving 24/7.

Included is 10 forms of praise ( there is more) that exists in Hebrew and we will be wise to apply these forms our live:

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One of the many privileges that I do experience through my work is the joy of traveling. I think I was born for it. I love the excitement and feel that you get when you get to see new things. Auckland is called the City of Sails as it has the most boats per capita in the world. Still in a country where you think people will appreciate, it a lot of Kiwis not living in the city hates it as if it is a living thing. I still believe that Auckland is a beautiful place, even though I do live in Wellington, who’s population is a third compare to Auckland.

Here is some photos.

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This has always been one of my most favorite photos of Cape Town!