Back from Queensland now and in the more temperate Auckland climate. Christmas Day was hot and clear with a big thunderstorm in the evening. The carol service put on by the resort was more like a hour in a shopping mall than a time spent singing “religious” songs. Mostly contemporary jingles with a group of…

I saw this when I was trying to find a quote on the internet yesterday. Sort of sums up my year. “I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.” from Douglas Adams, The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul (1988) It’s…

Well, what do you know. They do have internet access at the beach. Christmas Eve and Day services here are being held in an open air chapel set amongst mango trees. The juxtapostion of the nativity with that environment should provide some interesting thoughts for tomorrow. And carol singing on the lawn by the sea…

It’s been a very good week so far: my birthday, some days IT consulting and an end of year postgrad BBQ with lots of friends and their kids. Now it’s time to pack and head off to sunny Queensland for Christmas to meet family from Melbourne, London and NZ (while the in-laws mind the house…

It didn’t rain on Saturday (Yay!) so we went up the road to the Waitakere’s with some friends and their family to go walking in the forest up there. It’s great to be only 10-15 minutes drive from the Waitakere forest park. Anyway it was hot and muggy but the kids all trooped through the…

Saw a new Tui billboard today down in Henderson “Let’s go to Hamilton for New Year. Yeah right.” Made me laugh. (I spent five and a half years living in Hamilton (lovely place))

Popped over to the Uni bookshop while down in Christchurch which was a somewhat painful move financially (they had a sale on). Picked up the following new books: Reconstructing Nature: The Engagement of Science and Religion by John Brooke and Geoffrey Cantor Science and the Spiritual Quest: New Essays by Leading Scientists. Comes from Center…

Finished up at the STANZ theology conference and catching up with family yesterday and headed out to Charteris Bay to stay the night with friends over there. I love sitting and watching the sea and their house looks out over Lyttleton Harbour. Good food, good friends and a great view capped off a nice few…

Well my paper is written (finally – writing is like getting blood out of a stone for me), the slides are made and I’m set to head off today to Christchurch to the annual STANZ Talking Theology conference. Should be good as I get back to the first university I studied at and get to…

Had a very nice farewell lunch today with my colleagues from BCNZ’s Centre for Distance Learning. After 5 or so years of doing Internet and IT support for them I’m moving on in a week or two to concentrate more fully on my research and lecturing. It’s been fun and the CDL staff a great…