Hi there!

The Rotorua area of New Zealand turned out to have a high concentration of volcanic tourist attractions. There are a dozen or so places in the vicinity (within a 30-minute drive) that I’d recommend visiting. So, where to start? If you don’t know where to start, start from the beginning. © I’ll take this advice, and… start with a question.

What geysers have you already seen, and which was your favorite?

That’s a very simple question to get us started.

While you think, let me give you the bigger picture.

There are four geyser regions in the world: Yellowstone, Iceland, the Valley of Geysers on Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia and New Zealand. The hot springs in Atakama, Chile, are sometimes also included in this list. Also, they say there is a geyser areas in Mexico and Japan, but these are relatively unknown.

A geyser is an absolutely stunning sight: a column of hot water erupting from the ground and reaching several dozens meters into the air. Everybody really should see one at least once in their lifetime.

In Rotorua there’s a place called Te Puia – well, to be exact, the full name is Te Whakarewarewatanga O Te Ope Taua A Wahiao (source: Wikipedia). This is home to a geyser named Pohutu that erupts on a regular basis, roughly every 90 minutes.

Read on: A splendid hotel…

Now, boys and girls, tell me what you know about volcanic eruptions?

For example, what types of volcanic eruptions are there? Ah, I see you don’t know. There are actually several types. If you’re interested, check them out here. And how strong can they be? “Very strong!” – that’s the right answer. But scientists wearing lab coats and equipped with microscopes have identified 8 types of volcanic eruptions classified according to magnitude; this is called the Volcanic Explosivity Index.

I especially like the “Description” column in the “Classification” table. It says eruptions can be effusive, gentle, explosive, catastrophic, cataclysmic, paroxysmic, colossal, super-colossal and mega-colossal.

These terms are ideal for adding some diversity into your work slang and an opportunity to flaunt your knowledge: “Vesuvius and Pompeii – that was just a paroxysmic paroxysmic eruption!” (the repeated use of “paroxysmic” is tautologically quite legitimate here).

However, paroxysmic eruptions are not that, well…, paroxysmic in relation to the Earth’s entire ecosystem – they only affect their immediate environment. However, super- and mega-colossal eruptions (levels 7 and 8) are altogether more serious. They can lead to a global dimming of the sun and global cooling for several years. During the history of humankind, this has only happened once – if anyone is interested, you can read about the eruption of the Tambora volcano in Indonesia in 1815.

What am I getting at?

I and my fellow traveler A.B. are travelling southward along New Zealand’s North Island, towards Lake Rotorua. A little bit of Internet research reveals that this lake is the crater of an ancient volcano which made a real bang some 240,000 years ago. Its eruption was (supposedly) 100 times more powerful than that of Vesuvius.

Back then the islands that make up New Zealand weren’t inhabited, so there weren’t any witnesses of that super-colossal bang (luckily for them).

And today, 240,000 years later, A.B. and I have once again made it to the very place where that colossal volcanic bang occurred.

What can I say? Today there’s almost no trace of that ancient event. We visited the very place where the sub-plate mass burst into the atmosphere. No doubt it was a super-catastrophic ashes-magma-sound-and-light show. I’m not sure there were any surviving witnesses of any appreciable organic matter. It appears none of our simian ancestors were around to leave any carvings documenting the event in the local caves, but who knows?

//1. By the way, it can be very cautiously stated that by that time the simian/human model had already transformed into a human/simian one, and reached the level of a prototype release of a light Homo-sapiens-type model. Don’t quote me on that, though.

//2. I really hope that the entire team of developers who worked on the “simian/pseudo-human” project got decent bonuses…and that they’re still have a celebratory drink! I mean, what other explanation can there be for them not getting back to their workplaces and correcting the obvious errors? (Or is there a problem with our observation methodology here?)

//3. I really, really hope that today’s political tumult is not evidence to support statement 2, i.e., that they have finally spent all their bonus money and are now back in a grumpy mood nursing a hangover. Maybe they need some hair of the dog?

OK, that’s enough speculation. We’ve arrived. This is Rotorua, North Island, New Zealand.

Read on: Unpleasant costs of volcanism …

Hi all,

Herewith, a brief interlude from my NZ tales, since an equally interesting topic has come up…

Question: What was your longest ever flight? I mean – without a connection.

Why do I ask? Because I’ve just flown an uninterrupted long-haul silly-haul that went like this:

It was a reeeaaalllly long night. Though folks who live north of the Arctic Circle will scoff when I talk of ‘long nights’ (their ‘long night’ lasts half-a-year!), for me this was perhaps my longest ever night – at least down here in the lower-mid latitudes. The plane took off at 9pm NZ time – when it was already dark, and 16 hours later landed at 5am Dubai time; that is, almost at dawn. It gets dark in Auckland around 6pm at this time of year, so that night for me lasted 19 hours. A personal record, I do believe.

Read on: What to do in an airplane…?

Hi folks!

As promised, more tales of the unexpected from NZ…

After Auckland, we drove south, heading for Roto-Vegas – aka Sulphur City. And the first place of special interest we came to en route was Hobbiton.

Yes, the village where hobbits live; rather – used to live; rather – where they were portrayed as living when a film featuring them was shot. And not just one film but several Lord of the Rings films – about the lives and extraordinary adventures of little people who live in underground lairs with round doors and windows.

Read on: a brief history of the set…

It was a shame no one could help me with the mystery of the old oak tree we found down here in NZ. But for those dendrophils still curious – check this page out, covering not only oaks but also other evidence of pre-Maori human life in New Zealand.

And while I was undertaking my NZ-oak research I hit upon the astonishing topic of ‘the world’s oldest trees‘. I say astonishing as astonished was I when I saw just how old some trees can get. New Zealand has a tree in the top-several-dozen ratings too: the Te Matua Ngahere – estimated to be 1200-4000 years old!

We really wanted to get to see this ‘Father of the Forest’, as the Maori refer to it, but, alas, it was four hours just to get to it, and four hours back: a little too taxing for our shell-shocked minds and bodies after our recent busy intercontinental working week. Not to worry; laying low – actually ascending high! – in Auckland is really cool too. I know as I was here some four and a half years ago.

So, first thing straight after breakfast we were treading the sidewalks of NZ’s largest city. Good morning Auckland:

Read on: Never been to Auckland?…

The last day of fall – that was two days ago. Now already it’s the second day of winter. And you, up there, were there thinking it was the last day of spring and the first of summer? Not everywhere :)…

Down in the Southern Hemisphere, nature’s getting ready for the season of rest and repose and relaxation. The evergreens proudly maintain their all-season status quo, while their deciduous cousins turn the landscapes into ephemeral red and yellow natural masterpieces to be hypnotized by.

Read on: A brave acorn became friends with a cheery coconut…

The brainteaser from yesterday’s post: ‘what’s not right in this [that] blogpost?’

Answer: the last three pix were of Melbourne! :)

Yep, for that was the next city on my itinerary. Now, I always like visiting Melbourne, but having to leave Sydney on the eve of its yearly Vivid festival to get to Melbourne, well, that’s just not cricket. Here are the pics from 2015 and 2013. Vivid Sydney is a festival that you really have to experience once in a lifetime if possible. There’s no other festival comes near. But I digress. Here we are… in Melbourne!

Another lovely city, but we saw hardly any of it this time: airport (‘welcome!’) > taxi > conference > speech (‘thank you, good bye, come again!’) > taxi > airport. And that was it! The only (non-work-related) thing worth taking photos of were… these here works of art on the walls of the hotel where the conference was taking place. Perplexing is the word I’d used to describe them. Mysterious too, perhaps.  What do you think? Oh, and… what, exactly, are the pictures of? :)

Oh well; I’ll just have to show you some work-themed pics – from CeBit Australia conference:

Read on: Work, Deja-vu and ransomware…

Dearest readers! Those of you who follow closely my globetrotting adventures on these here blog pages appear to have been neglected of late. But have no fear, world-wandering is here (again)!

Last week was yet another crazy one: five (30-50 minute) presentations at five events, a zillion interviews, meetings, conversations, business card swappings and assorted other business commitments in three cities in as many countries. That’s my excuse for why I’ve been quiet of late – again!

But enough of excuses. Let’s get this back up and running…

So here we are, back with more tales from my travels: the best bits, the odd bits, the curious bits, the beautiful bits, the plane bits, the airport bits, the hotel bits, the cuisine bits, and all the other bits… – you know the drill by now :).

The week kicked off in very special city on an endless sandy coastline along the Pacific. A city that features on my list of Top-20 Cities, meaning it’s a city that, IMHO, is simply must-see: It’s Sydney folks. I woke up in the morning, opened the curtains, and this is how the morning said G’day mate to me:

But!… After coming so far, and being so close to such terrific tourism possibilities, alas, we only had half-a-day free time. Oh, well. So off we popped to one of the three ‘centers’ of the city here. Sure, I’d been here before – several times – and taken plenty of pics too, but I just couldn’t resist taking some more, kinda to keep my archives ‘fresh’:

Read on: A beautiful corner of Sydney…

So what is an exhausted business traveler to do in Japan after a tough working week? Easy: you get yourself to a traditional Japanese ryokan!

We did the ryokan thing in the town of Hakone. I wondered at first why my super hosts chose this particular spot; I found out a little later – it’s right next to a not fully dormant volcano ).

Read on: Hot springs around!…

Another few days in Tokyo, another whirlwind schedule of meetings, interviews, and dinners with old pals. Speeches at conferences too: I’m just back from one where I was talking about cybercrime – and the interpreting was not synchronous (!). Yes: lots of pauses :). I was so exhausted I thought I might faint on the stage at one point. But I stayed conscious, just.

Sadly, there’s been no time for tourism, only shigoto – work. At times I feel like a zoo animal: fed at regular intervals, then having to play to the crowd at allotted times.

Mid-shigota, I came across this here sign on the wall of the business center I was in:

Now, as a frequent visitor of Japan, I know a few symbols. But only a few. My level of katakana/hiragana is just below… touching the surface. I mean, I can recognize my name in Japanese syllabary, but that’s about it:

It works out, in Japanese, Ka-su-pe-ru-su-kee! And if we apply that tiny bit of knowledge to ‘Conference Room’ in the pic below, we get…

Read on: What a wonderful language!…