Cycling Trip

If you would like to skip the boring writing and just see some pictures, please download this slideshow: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=Q35UUTB6
It took me 3 minutes on a moderate speed connection.
Otherwise you can read my report, then look at the pictures after. None of the pics are really spectacular artsy shots, due to my method of travel, but they tell the story and give you the general idea.

For my last NZ adventure of 2009, I cycled from Dunedin to Westport, a small town on the west coast. The trip was very enjoyable and reinforced to me what an amazing country NZ is. I started out on the morning of Saturday, December 12, a typical drizzly day. I loaded my panniers with my sleeping bag, warm clothes, a bit of cooking gear, a couple books, sunscreen and other miscellaneous supplies, plus provisions. The evening before I had gone to Pak n Save with just $65 left in my bank account. I picked out bags of cous cous and rice, a few fruits and vegetables, scroggin, bread, peanut butter, honey, oatmeal, and a few other items that came to precisely $65. Well actually I was one dollar over so had to return some peas. Always a good way to start a trip, completely broke with your next stipend payment coming in a week.

I had also deposited most of my belongings in a storage unit down the road so was leaving 7B Jura Street forever when I pushed off Saturday morning. First stop was St. Kilda beach to splash a bit of the Pacific over me and my bike. I hung out there under a small shelter while a little squal of rain came through, then started off over the hill to the Taieri Valley. In my first hour I was joined by a Korean touring cyclist, who had started riding in Christchurch, but I left him behind on a hill. I ate a quick lunch in the valley and then headed over the hills, longer and steeper than I expected, to Middlemarch, where the Otago Central Rail Trail begins. The 53 kms or so to Middlemarch from Taieri was the hardest stretch of the trip, as I was carrying a full load of food and my legs weren't accustomed to the weight. I was a little worried I was getting too old for this kind of thing. Nevertheless I coasted into a sunny Middlemarch late in the afternoon and rode a few kms down the rail trail to find a place to camp. Camping is allowed but discouraged along the trail, since it passes through several towns with accommodation. Of course with no money I had no choice. My MSR Hubba Hubba stood up defiantly to the gusty central Otago breeze and I had a relaxing evening of reading.

In the morning I set off for Ranfurly, another tiny town on the Rail Trail. It was extremely windy, mostly a crosswind for my direction of travel, and with my panniers acting as sails I had a few close calls where I was nearly blown off a bridge. Fortunately the trail has frequent lean-tos where one can take temporary shelter. The countryside was mostly dry farmland (being in the rain shadow of the Alps) surrounded by brown hills. Upon arrival in Ranfurly, another tiny rural outpost, I checked out the Visitor Center where I learned a little about the history of the railroad and gold mining in the area. I retreated a ways out of town to pitch my tent in a random abandonded field. December 14 I reached the Rail Trail's peak altitude of 618 m a bit after Ranfurly, which ironically was the highest I got on this trip despite the easy ascent. Half a dozen k's outside of Omakau I found a spectacular camping site next to a pond surrounded by rocky hills. It rained a fair amount that night, but Hubs kept me warm and dry. December 15 I reached the end of the rail trail at Clyde and started on the road along Lake Dunstan up to Cromwell, the gateway to the South Island's magnificent blue glacier-fed lakes. Besides stopping often to gawk at the color of the water, I enjoyed seeing many vineyards in this region. If only I had the time and money to stop for a tasting. That night I camped beside the Clutha River, where I felt sandflies for the first time...

December 16 I stopped in Wanaka in the morning and chillaxed for a while by the lake, whose brilliant blue is contrasted with the stark white snowy peaks beyond. Once I had fully taken in the view, I escaped the Wanaka tourists and continued along Lake Hawea, then back to the top of Lake Wanaka, and finally to Makarora, an outpost at the gates of Mt. Aspiring National Park. There I chatted briefly with a hitchhiker and another touring cyclist, who informed me of some nasty weather to come in a couple days. In the late afternoon I pedaled into the park and found a pleasant campsite overlooking the Makarora River, where I was promptly eaten alive by sandflies.

The next morning I was very excited because it was payday, which meant I could buy some more food when I reached the west coast. Fortunately I had purchased just the right amount and so would be fine for the day. I rode through dense native forest to Haast Pass, which at 562 m is the lowest crossing of the Southern Alps. I hiked for 30 minutes up to a viewing point, where I had good but not fantastic views. From the pass I coasted down the valley all the way to Haast on the west coast, stopping several times to walk to waterfalls or take pictures of the river and mountains. The vegetation was much greener and denser on this side of the Alps, as I had entered a temperate rainforest. When I arrived in Haast I found a backpackers to sleep so I could shower and clean some of my gear. I also found a small store with ridiculously overpriced food, Haast being one of the more remote villages in New Zealand. In fact, the denizens of Haast seemed rather on edge; it can't be easy living that far from civilization, with one's only contacts to crazy demanding tourists. At the backpackers I met a couple more touring cyclists, including an architect from Sydney who I chatted with for a while.

December 18 I began the journey up the west coast. I started out very early that day since it was forecast to rain heavily in the afternoon. I passed Lake Moeraki and Lake Paringa, two mystical lakes surrounded by fog and mountains. About midday it started raining, fortunately not super hard yet. I carried on in the wet, making faster progress than a pair of hitchhikers I passed multiple times, until I reached Fox Glacier. There I also went for a backpackers due to the wet weather. I arrived in the village in time to make a reservation for a full day walk on the glacier the following day, which cost something like $145 but was well worth it. So the 19th I donned rain pants and jacket and a warm hat and gloves and joined a dozen other folks on the 10 minute bus ride to the car park near the terminal face of the glacier. We had three guides with us who led us through the bush for an hour and a half. Then we slapped on crampons and walked onto the ice. The guides worked hard with picks to cut steps for us to walk on. This made the going very slow, but that wasn't really a problem as we had plenty of time to marvel at our surroundings. I saw many deep blue crevasses and fascinating arches and spikes of ice. We stopped for a speed lunch in the heavy rain then continued up to a high point on the glacier with a good view of the valley below. It was a very enjoyable day and much better than my only other glacier walking experience, in Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada, where we were able to walk in a 100 m square marked off by orange cones. That evening at the backpackers I met three more touring cyclists and taught them Gin Rummy and Spoons.

The 20th I rode from Fox Glacier over some steep hills to Franz Josef Glacier, where I rode the easy 4 km up to the car park and did a short walk to get a peek. Franz Josef Glacier was steeper than Fox and lacked an elbow halfway up. After snapping some photos I pedaled on over rolling terrain and through native bush to Lake Ianthe, where I soaked my legs in the chilly water and my body in the sun rays after the rainy weekend. The next morning it was on to Hokitika, a cute town with a clocktower that reminded me of the towns in Tanzania. I stopped there for lunch and to use the Internet, then in the afternoon pushed on to Greymouth, where I stayed in a backpackers run by an Israeli and enjoyed chatting with the various Israeli travelers staying there. Greymouth is the largest town on the west coast and is home mostly to coal miners.

The last day of my voyage, from Greymouth to Westport, was probably the best day of all. The road hugged the rugged coastline for about 50 km, taking me up and over several bluffs. I saw some neat rock formations and cliffs. Around midday I arrived at Punakaiki where the famous pancake rocks are located. These limestone rocks have been shaped by various geological forces over the years such that they have ribbed sides and look like stacks of pancakes. No one understands completely how they got this way. From the visitor center it was an easy 10 minute walk to the rocks; there were also some powerful blowholes. In addition I saw some interesting tropical-looking vegatation surrounding the rocks--lots of flax and palm tree-like things. From Punakaiki I continued over a few big hills down to Charleston and Westport, where I purchased some packing supplies and carefully fit my bike into a box designed for a children's bicycle, the only bike box available in town. I spent the night in a backpackers and the next morning took a shuttle bus back to Hokitika, retracing my route along the ocean road.

I asked the bus driver to drop me off at the Hokitika airport about 3 hours before my flight, but the airport was locked--only one flight leaves per day. So I got dropped off in town and had to take a cab to the airport later. The flight to Christchurch over the Alps was really cool, and there was no door to the cockpit so I could look in and see out the front window, what the pilots were doing and all the instruments. It was then Christchurch to Auckland to LA, where I had a long layover so took a bus to UCLA to see if I could find my uncle, but he wasn't in his office. I experienced a bit of culture shock just seeing more cars and people in five minutes than I see in a week in Dunedin. I was also a little taken aback by the huge highways and zillions of stores and restaurants open late. The excesses and consumerism of America were obvious to me now. Finally it was back to LAX and a red-eye to Baltimore.

I'm really glad I was able to do this bike trip, despite feeling a little guilty at the start for skipping out on a couple weeks in the lab. I feel like I'm getting to know New Zealand well enough to call it a home of sorts. I've now visited places throughout the lower South Island and hoping I'll get a chance to see some of the regions around Nelson and Blenheim when I return, maybe even on my bike. The North Island remains unexplored territory I'm excited to see at some point in the near or distant future.

COMBIO 2010

Yesterday evening I returned from COMBIO 2010 in Christchurch. There were several hundred participants, mostly from New Zealand and Australia but some from the U.S., Europe, and Asia. There were talks on protein structure and function, microbiology, genetics, signal transduction, plant biology, agriculture, and medical science. The keynote speaker on Sunday evening was Sir John Walker, who solved the structure of ATP synthetase. Monday through Thursday were jam packed with talks and poster sessions. One topic that I learned a particularly large amount about and became very interested in is drug design. There were some very neat ideas presented, such as designing compounds that mimick the transition state of the substrate-->product reaction and high-throughput crystallography to screen for small compounds that bind the active site of an enzyme. I also went to some talks on biofilms and plant-microbe interactions, the carbon and nitrogen cycles, protein kinases, mammalian development, and more. Most evenings there were drinks and social functions, and on Wednesday there was a gala dinner at an old air force base turned into museum. It was neat to see a bunch or scientists on the dance floor, including Sir John Walker.

On Tuesday evening after the talks I took a walk up into the Port Hills to the west of Christchurch. There were many hiking and mountain biking tracks to explore and good views of the city and Canterbury plain. I'm glad I discovered this playground of Christchurch because in previous visits to Christchurch I hadn't been particularly impressed by the city.

My talk on Wednesday afternoon, as part of the New Zealand Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology student speaker competition, went well. I got several questions at the end including one from Sir John Walker! There were five speakers total from the various regions and they all gave good talks. So far my masters project has been entirely in developing a method, so the other students all had more biologically relevant results than I did. The winner of the competition found a link between ascorbate and cancer.

Today has been very busy as I cleaned up my flat for inspection by the landlord, organized my cycling supplies, moved all my things to a storage unit down the road, and got things sorted in lab. Tomorrow I depart on my bicycle for the West Coast and on up to Hokitika, where I'm flying home from. It will be an 11-day trip, between 700-800 kms. No day is super long as I've planned it, so I'll have plenty of time to enjoy the scenery. Sigurd may join me for a day on the Otago Rail Trail!

Caples Greenstone

Last week I rented a car and drove to Fiordland with Sunmi, who was visiting for a few days. I picked her up from the airport Wednesday afternoon and we drove to Te Anau, a sleepy town that serves as a base for exploring further into Fiordland. We took a short walk around Lake Te Anau and visited the Wildlife Park, then crashed in a backpackers. We woke up early the next morning and bought hut passes and picked up provisions for our trek. The Kepler track still had snow covering the alpine section, so we decided to walk on the Caples and Greenstone tracks instead. We started the walk from the "Divide," a car park on the road to Milford Sound, as opposed to the carpark on Gleenstone Road where most trampers begin at the other end of the circuit. This allowed us to walk for an hour on the famous Routebourn track before bearing off on the Caples track. We encountered some deep mud pools and then a steep and rocky climb to the McKellar Saddle, where we had excellent views. We descended to Upper Caples hut, cooked up our first dinner of couscous and courgettes, then hit the hay. The next day we finished off the Caples track, following the river gradually downhill to the convergence of the Greenstone and Caples rivers. We had a great lunch at the convergence, with an awesome view of the long valley we had just walked down. In the afternoon we headed up along the Greenstone River. The track was a bit of a roller coaster, going up and down the side of the gorge carved by the river. There were some neat places to stop and gaze at the turquoise water. When we reached the Greenstone Hut in the late afternoon, the sun was out in full force and we sat on the porch of the hut, taking in the rays and the views and chatting to some students from Auckland who had just finished their studies. For our second dinner we had some rice pilaf and chocolate, and at dusk I did a little poi surrounded by snow-capped peaks, which was pretty awesome. It rained during the night and all the next day for our walk to the McKellar hut further up the Greenstone Valley. Stomping through mud, wading through streams, and in general moving at a brisk pace, we arrived at McKellar just about as the rain was ending. We changed into dry clothes, ate a lot of tortillas and pita, and played gin rummy into the evening, when two guys and a girl from Purdue arrived and claimed they were going to reach the Glenorchy car park, 30k away, that night. Crazy Americans--I wonder if they made it. In the evening the sunset was spectacular, and the old adage proved true as the next day dawned a sailor's delight, with clear skies and a crispness in the air. On our walk back to the carpark we met an Argentinian man who had cycled from Auckland and was attempting to reach Glenorchy by the next day to catch a bus. He was traveling on the Greenstone track, as it was the shortest route as the crow flies, but I imagine the track was a real challenge with his bicycle. We took a short side trip to the top of Key Summit, where we had breathtaking views of glaciers, valleys, and jagged peaks.

Reaching the car around noon, we stuffed ourselves with our remaining provisions and headed west along the Milford road. The weather was amazing for Fiordland, warm and sunny, and we took advantage by stopping often to gawk at our surroundings. We got a decent view of Milford Sound at the end of the road but to really experience the Sound you definitely need to go kayaking, take a cruise, or do the Milford track. Satisfied with our survey of Fiordland for this trip, we drove back through the Milford tunnel to Te Anau and then Dunedin on Sunday evening. Sunmi stayed until Wednesday, so she had a couple days to check out Dunedin while I worked in the lab. Tuesday evening we walked up Mt Cargill and flew my kite from the summit. It got stuck in the radio tower when we were trying to reel it in, but I was able to rescue it by climbing over the barbed wire and a short ways up a metal ladder.

The next few weeks will be filled with work as well as adventures. I have one week to get the results I need for the COMBIO meeting Dec 6-10 in Christchurch, where I am giving a presentation in the student speaker competition. When I return from the meeting I'll have to find a place to store my stuff for the next couple months, as I'll be in the U.S. for the holidays and med school interviews. Then it will be off on my bicycle journey from Dunedin to at least Hokitika on the West Coast. I've got to make it at least that far because that's where my flight leaves to go back to Maryland.

Happy Thanksgiving!

One year in New Zealand

I've now been in New Zealand for one year. It's been a great growing experience for me. In the lab I've learned an incredible amount and decided on a path to pursue in my biomedical research career. I've tried new hobbies, explored new places, made some good friends. I've even begun to embrace the Kiwi culture, despite trying my best to maintain my American-ness during my first several months here.

Next month is the Combio Meeting in Christchurch, the largest biology/biochemistry meeting in New Zealand. I've been selected as the Otago representative for the student speaker competition, which is very exciting. There were only two candidates in the Otago competition on Friday (the other was a PhD student working on honeybee genetics), but I came away with the W. Should be a fun and informative meeting, and when I return I will embark on an approximately 11-day cycle journey from Dunedin to Hokitika, where I'll fly home from. More details on that later, but I now have the necessary mountain bike, purchased for NZ$350 on TradeMe. The more immediate adventure is that Sunmi (Williams '08) is visiting New Zealand this coming week and we are planning a hiking trip on the Kepler track in Fiordland, possibly followed by exploration of Milford Sound.

Taking my geekiness to the next level

Halloween--another holiday that Kiwis have failed to appreciate completely. I saw a couple kids out trick-or-treating, but most people don't have candy ready by the door. Moms coordinate with each other and drive their kids around to the few homes with lollies available. The kids are definitely not going to get hundreds of pieces of candy per hour like I did. When Halloween rolled around each year, I was usually still working on the candy from last year's stash. This year in NZ I celebrated Halloween by attending a horror movie night. We watched Seven, Halloween, and Candyman, of which I though Seven was the best.

Also on Halloween I worked on the Habitat House, this time hanging gib (drywall). This is my favorite part of house construction because it requires a fair amount of spacial awareness to cut the pieces so that they fit to the walls and ceiling. It can be frustrating when a piece doesn't quite fit into place and you have to shave it off a few millimeters.

On Sunday I went to the movie theater to see Food, Inc. The main adviser to the filmmakers was Michael Pollan, and I've read a lot of stuff by him, so most of the information wasn't new. However, it was good to see pictures of industrial farming; in particular chicken coups. Farmers house thousands of chickens in one fully enclosed, dark,and remarkably unsanitary building. The chickens are so crowded they can barely move. But even if they weren't crowded, the chickens have been selected for to have massive breasts so they can only take a few steps before toppling over. Once the chickens are taken to the processing plant, you can see that the floor is covered with faeces and dead chickens. The movie also talked about beef processing and E. coli 0157:H7 outbreaks. There are only a dozen beef processing plants in the U.S. owned by four of five major corporations, and they are massive factory/assembly line operations. The workers have just one specific job like in an auto factory and are treated poorly and underpaid. When you eat a hamburger, you're literally eating meat from a thousand different cows, so it's now wonder that disease spreads quickly and it's tough to track down the origin of an outbreak.

I really like meat, but the number of reasons not to eat meat from factory farming are really overwhelming. If someone offers me meat at a dinner party I'll eat it, but I'm definitely not going to buy any from the supermarket on my own. I'm going to focus on fish and the occasional grass-fed organic beef and chicken you can get at a farmer's market.

I've made a DnaK rap and posted it on Youtube. Watch at your own risk.

My birthday and International Day of Climate Action

Friday was my birthday, and to celebrate I went bowling with a few folks from the lab. Saturday was the 350.org International Day of Climate Action. 350 ppm is the maximum amount of CO2 in the atmosphere that is compatible with life on Earth as we know it, according to American climate expert Jim Hansen. The idea is for people around the world to create elaborate displays of the number 350 and take pictures, which are distributed throughout the media. Hopefully those pictures will convince world leaders attending the climate conference in Copenhagen in December to agree on a powerful carbon tax.

An article in the New York Times mentioned that 350 ppm is an impossible goal to achieve, and so by publicizing 350 this movement is actually telling people that we've already blown it, so might as well enjoy life while we can. I think this is a valid point, but on the other hand the role of the 350 number was mostly to create a common rallying call for people who speak many different languages and provide a simple symbol of the climate change movement. The actual numerical value of 350 is not as important as what it symbolizes: a coordinated and passionate movement among people of all cultures on earth demanding action from world leaders to avoid catastrophic climate change.

I started Saturday by participating in a human thermometer on Baldwin Street to depict 350 ppm CO2. Somewhere between 50 and 100 people showed up for this morning event. Then I rode into town to the Dunedin train station, the site of the 350 food festival. I had only a few minutes to do a preliminary walk-around before the 350 riders bike ride began. We rode about 5k out to the Vauxhall boat club, snapped a few pictures with all the riders arranged in a 350, and then rode back to the food festival. There were hundreds of riders participating.

The food festival was similar to the usual Dunedin Farmer's Market, except there were additional workshops and a live band. I attended a workshop on beekeeping. At midday hundreds of people gathered in the garden in front of the train station for a photo taken by a guy in the bucket of a fire truck.

Here's a link to pictures on the 350 website. And here are a few I got myself.

Put the champagne on ice

This week I completed preparation of a variant of the DnaK protein doubly labeled with two fluorophores for FRET experiments. Unfortunately, I could not detect any FRET--reasons for this are 1) the so-called Forster distance for the fluorophores is too small for energy exchange at the positions they are located 2) the protein is not actually labeled with two active fluorophores 3) the protein is in too low concentration, a probable possibility since I lost most of it during troubleshooting of the preparative process. Disappointing, but I'm still optimistic I'll have it ready soon.

Today was a nice, relaxing Sunday. I began with a walk through the rhododendron dell in the Dunedin Botanical Garden. This week is the Dunedin rhododendron festival. I saw many pretty flowers and some really neat New Zealand parrots as well. I got a few pictures:



Then I continued on to the Otago Museum to see a special exhibition on West African art, music, food, and spirituality. An expert weaver was demonstrating his craft. The loom was a rather complex machine and it took me about fifteen minutes to get to the point where I thought I had an idea of how it worked. There was also an exhibit on how clay pots are made, and there was one interesting video showing a group of women making a pile of pots, covering them with dry grass, and lighting the whole pile ablaze to harden the pots.

From the museum I went to Kmart and bought a kite. The wind wasn't so strong today though, so I didn't get it flying for more than a couple minutes.

It is now exam season at Otago Uni, and most of the honors biochemistry students are really freaking out. The thing is that the exam period runs from last Friday until the middle of November. Some students have one exam now and another four weeks later. This seems incredibly inconvenient if you want to go home for the summer, yet most don't seem to mind. Apparently they intend on studying steadily for one class for weeks on end. And they're still going nuts! Some of them incessantly complain about how stressed out they are, yet they don't take any study breaks. All of this just boggles the mind because back home we had four days of reading period, then one solid week of exams. Having two exams in one day was not uncommon. A good 48 hours of intense studying interspersed with a naked mile or a polar bear swim was usually sufficient for one class. Students here are severely lacking in study skills and studying efficiency, and I think the Uni exacerbates the problem by giving them over a month to prepare. One week was plenty of exams--get it over with and go home.

This Saturday is the 350 international day of climate action. I will begin the day by participating in some sort of giant human scale at Baldwin Street, the World's Steepest Street which is a 1/4 mile from my house. Then I will cycle down to the Dunedin railway station to participate in the Spring Food Festival featuring Otago's best produce, beer, cheese, music, beekeeping, etc. At 10:30 cyclists in Otago are having a short 10k ride around the waterfront to rally the troops. In the evening is a showing of the film Food Inc. I'll give a full report next week.

In a shocking development last week, a student who I know in the biochemistry department was beaten unconscious by an intruder in her own home. She has no memory of anything in the past few years, including the biochemistry department, her studies, and her friends here. It's too early to say whether her memory will come back. Our thoughts are with her and her family.

Robo Rally

Last week I had a lab presentation, which has been posted here. If anything, you'll get the sense that I've been running many SDS-PAGE gels.

This weekend was the lab walk, dinner, and game night at Sigurd's house on the peninsula to celebrate three people's birthdays in October. We walked to Sandfly Bay, which I had visited a few months ago. There was quite a strong gale and so we learned why it's called Sandfly Bay--I was still grinding sand through my mouth on the drive back to Sigurd's place. The track down to the beach is a steep downhill through sand dunes, and when Sigurd started sprinting down we all joined him, which was super fun. At the beach we saw several sea lions and penguins; I got some dodgy pictures of the penguins using digital zoom. After hanging out at the beach for a while we trudged back up through the dunes and back to Sigurd's. I made pad thai which turned out quite well using this recipe. I had been practicing all week. We also had chicken casserole, sweet and sour pork, pizza, salad, and carrot cake. After dinner we all played Robo Rally, an obscure board game that Malcolm brought (He's a fan of many geeky board games and frequently travels to Cleveland, Ohio to participate in tournaments for the game "Advanced Squadleader," which is also a favorite of baseball pitcher Curt Schilling). Robo Rally is a very frustrating game in which you program a robot to turn and move along the board towards checkpoints, but are usually thwarted in your plans by conveyor belts, pits, crushers, and laser beams. Here are some pictures from the walk.



Here are pictures of some dishes I made last week. First is spaghetti--the sauce has mince, tomato paste, sugar, salt, garlic, oregano, and basil, then topped with parmesan. The sauce needed some white wine. Second is chipsi mayai rogo-style, which means fried potatoes, eggs, cheese, and tomatoes. Last is pad thai. I learned in my practice rounds that it is important to boil the rice noodles before you fry them, contrary to advice from the website linked above.

Protesting makes me hungry

On Monday last week I attended a flash mob for action on climate change organized by 350.org at the Otago Museum Reserve. The idea was to create a lot of noise and attract attention to ourselves and the need to reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to below 350 parts per million. I brought a large empty jug that previously contained methanol (not a greenhouse gas?) from the lab and that made a low loud sound when I hit it. Other lab members brought beakers and bowls. Some people actually had semi-legitimate instruments like a recorder and African drums. A few protestors made phone calls to members of the New Zealand parliament to urge them to push for a powerful carbon tax at the climate meeting in Copenhagen in December.

Today I visited two flats on the Otago Peninsula, where I am considering moving for the summer months. I think it would be really sweet to relax out there in the warmer weather and ride my bike into town each day. I'll probably never have a chance again to live in such a beautiful place. The first flat I visited is in the village of Portobello, which has the added appeal of a weekly Farmer's Market and a volunteer fire brigade. The "flat" is a farmhouse built in the 1920s. The owner, a chef at one of Dunedin's best restaurants called Plato, has a dog, a cat, and a horse. It would be a very quiet and beautiful spot. The other place is in the village of MacAndrew Bay, which is significantly closer to town. The advantage of this place is that my flatmates would be closer to my age and perhaps a bit more interesting to live with, as the girl I met said they like listening to music and having barbecues, etc. Right now I'm leaning toward the place in Portobello. Obstacles to overcome are 1) the lease on my current flat doesn't expire until Dec 31, so I'd need to find a person to replace me for the rest of the year; 2) It looks like I'll be in the U.S. for most of December and January, so the value in moving may not be that high.

Cooking with Rogo Part II

Couscous and Vegetable Concoction
Fry carrots and courgette in oil. Add chopped onion after a few minutes. Boil 1 part water plus a bit of oil and salt. Add 1 part dry couscous, remove from heat for 5 minutes. Add some butter and stir to separate the grains. Add veggies and season with cumin and Chinese 5 spice.

Cumin and Chinese 5 Spice are some of my favorite spices. Cumin really brings out the sweetness in vegetables. This was a very satisfying dish.
Rating: 8
Try it

Broiled Sole with Cherry Tomatoes and Parmesan
Coat sole fillet in egg or milk, then cover in bread crumbs. Top with melted butter and minced garlic. Broil for a few minutes to cook. Top with parmesan and tomatoes. Season with oregano, basil, thyme, and salt. Broil a few more minutes to melt the cheese a bit.

Could be improved with a creamy sauce as opposed to straight parmesan cheese. Sole is not my favorite species of fish I discovered.
Rating: 6
Development continues


Honey mustard salad dressing
1 tbs vinegar
1 tbs oil
1 tsp mustard
1 tsp honey
touch of salt
1/2 tsp cumin
Deliciousness







Pizza Bagels


Top a real bagel (impossible to find in Dunedin) with tomato paste, mixture of your favorite cheeses, oregano, basil, garlic powder. Broil.










Satisfying Vegetable Stew

Sautee onion, garlic, ginger, curry powder, cumin, paprika. Add vegetable stock, potatoes, carrots. Simmer until cooked.

Would have been better with a little pumpkin or sweet potato...and nice big chunks of beef.
Rating: 5
Development continues





Fried rice and stir fry. These consist of a bunch of vegetables and some spices (like all my dishes). Fried rice is notable for Worcestershire Sauce, Soy Sauce, Water chestnuts, and cashews. Stir fry is notable for pineapple, peanuts, fish sauce, and soy sauce. Both of them were decent.
Fried rice



















Me eating fried rice












Pineapple stir fry













Kaptain Kool likes pineapple stir fry













This week I'd like to make a good pasta sauce (with beef) and Pad Thai.

Cooking with rogo

I will start posting pictures and recipe sketches of some of the meals I am cooking for myself. I say recipe sketches because I rarely measure ingredients. Instead I add what looks like the right amount, erring on the side of too little so I can add more if necessary. These dishes are produced entirely by improvisation, so since I am a relatively inexperienced cook the quality of the completed dishes is very variable. As a student, my goal in cooking is to minimize cost and maximize nutrition and variety of interesting flavors. Most things I make require only a handful of ingredients; meat is used sparingly due to its high price and low sustainability. I include a few comments and a rating for each dish. Rather than a measure of my personal enjoyment of the recipe, the rating refers to how well the final product matches my intention/expectations. Finally, I mention if the recipe sketch is worth being used as a guide by other amateur chefs or whether it needs major changes before I recommend it outside my own kitchen.

Chickpea Curry

Combine 1 can coconut milk, 1 can chickpeas, 1 fried onion, few minced garlic cloves, couple tbs minced ginger, 1-2 tbs curry powder, salt & pepper to taste. Simmer 15-20 minutes uncovered. Serve with white rice.

Comments: quite creamy, spiciness depends on amount of curry powder
Rating: 7
Try it

Rice Pork Noodle Soup
Cook one package rice vermicelli according to package directions. Combine 2 cups chicken broth and 2 tbs minced ginger and simmer. Cut off ends of bok choy and cut leaves into edible pieces (Leaving leaves uncut means you end up sucking up an entire leaf in one bite, which is unpleasant). Cut pork into small pieces and fry in oil. Fry 3 cloves minced garlic in oil. Add bok choy, pork, fried garlic, and cut up shiitake mushrooms to broth and ginger. Simmer for a few minutes. Add cooked vermicelli and simmer for a few more minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Comments: Needs more pork and liquid and less vermicelli and bok choy. Not as flavorful as one would hope.
Rating: 4
Development continues

Rice Tuna Casserole
Cook lots of rice if you're hungry like me. Combine rice, 1 can tuna, 2 cups instant chicken soup, couple chopped tomatoes, 1 tbs butter in casserole. Top with shredded cheddar cheese. Bake (or broil with aluminum foil on top if your bake function does not work) for 30-40 minutes at 200C/400F.

Comments: Needs more cheese and needs to be baked in a real oven.
Rating: 7
Try it

Penne with cheese sauce
Mix equal amounts of flour and butter and heat slowly to form a "roux." Stir in cold milk. When milk is steaming stir in shredded cheddar cheese. When cheese has melted to form thick sauce, add chopped onion. Season with salt, pepper, and paprika. Toss sauce with cooked pasta, preferably macaroni but any kind will do. Serve with green vegetable like broccoli, which tastes good when a little of the cheese sauce rubs off on it.

Comments: This was better the last time I made it. This time I didn't add enough cheese. I think the variety and quality of cheese is very important.
Rating: 5
Try it with greater quantity and quality of cheese.

This week is Conservation Week in New Zealand, so yesterday I played hooky from University and went on a guided walk led by the Green Hut Track group, a bunch of volunteers who maintain tracks around the Dunedin area. The walk was led by a 78-year-old, and nearly all the walkers were retirees. It was a nice relaxed day in the Silver Peaks.

My flag is a tourist destination

A couple days ago I failed to stop myself saying "cheers" when someone held the door for me. This may have marked a critical turning point in my time in New Zealand. My accent is still very American but I may be losing my power to keep annoying words like "mate" out of my vocabulary.

Last night I attended a class dinner for the fourth-year honors students at the Italian restaurant Etrusco's. All the honors students and their supervisors attended, and I was invited along because I've sat in on some of their classes and presented my research with them. It was a fun event and the food and wine were great. After dinner we went to karaoke, but unfortunately none of the faculty joined us.

This morning I saw a group of three expats getting their picture taken with my massive American flag in the lab window in the background.

This afternoon the Governor-General of New Zealand and Queen's Representative, the Honourable Sir Anand Satyanand, visited the Habitat House. He is supposed to be the patron for Habitat for Humanity in New Zealand but had never visited a house under construction before. He was accompanied by his wife, a couple secret service agents, a young Navy officer who planned his social engagements, and a few members from the Habitat for Humanity board in Dunedin. The Maori family greeted Sir Satyanand with a traditional greeting and song and Sir Satyanand responded in te reo Maori, which was judged to be quite good by the family. We had afternoon tea and Kyle and I got a lot of attention as the only student volunteers.

This better be worth it

Another of my lab presentations has been posted here. I've finally found labeling conditions and am beginning double labeling of DnaK T136C/S423C/C15S for FRET experiments!

Medical school secondary applications are dominating most of my free time right now. Essay questions range from "Describe an ethical dilemma you encountered and how you resolved it" to "Write an autobiography in 7500 characters or less." Quite an exhausting process. I get envious when people here tell me that medical school requires only decent test scores and grades.

Hazelnuts, anyone?

This week I attended a presentation entitled "1.4 Billion Reasons," a two-hour-plus epic event led by a young Australian named Hugh Evans and his Global Poverty Project (GPP). It was held on Wednesday evening at the Dunedin Town Hall, a large historic auditorium near the Octagon. Probably a few hundred people were in attendance, mostly students. After an introductory guitar performance and some opening remarks from the Otago GPP coordinator, the strapping Mr. Evans strode onto the stage with a big smile and friendly wave. His first question was "Why are you here?" and encouraged us to discuss the answer with our neighbor. Then he asked several attendees, including a 9-year-old, to come on stage to say why they were here. After the nine-year-old came up, Hugh Evans shook his head for the next thirty seconds and repeated "Wow that's amazing, that's amazing." He proceeded to tell a story about how he had traveled around the developing world with World Vision as a teenager and become inspired to "solve" world poverty. He went on to show statistics that suggested that the percentage of the world living on less than US$1.25 per day had been cut in half since 1950. A common theme of the talk was that we had made major progress in reducing poverty in the last 50 years and so we should be able to eliminate poverty all together within our lifetime. Of course the absolute number of poor people has dramatically increased in the last 50 years.

With oversimplified examples (focusing on Africa) interspersed among plenty of corny jokes, Evans told us how corruption and violent conflict have breeded severe poverty in the developing world. One comment I found insightful was that a critical barrier to advancement in the Third World is subjugation of women, who do the majority of work yet get the least reward in terms of property and human rights. He also revealed major problems with American budgeting priorities, with billions being spent on the Iraq War when only a fraction of that amount is needed for important development projects around the world. But overall Evans failed to provide us with a clear plan for eliminating poverty. Do we give money to governments or local NGOs, or do we send our own organizations to build wells and help farmers use more efficient agricultural methods? How do we end long-standing conflict among various groups like the rival tribes in Kenya? How are we going to deal with climate change and its affects on agriculture? What about population growth and the recent food shortages? It seems to me like poverty is a very complex issue and unlike global warming, there is not one clear solution. Finally, Evans had promised to tell us some new ways that we could combat global poverty in our everyday lives, but none of his ideas were particularly insightful: basically volunteer, donate, and buy fair trade products.

Today I completed the Snack Study that I was enrolled in to determine if hazelnuts have beneficial effects on blood lipid levels. Since I was in the control group and received no snacks over the three-month study period, I was given a two-month supply of hazelnuts. A previous study suggested that like many other nuts, hazelnuts are in fact heart healthy. On a related health note, I attended a interesting seminar earlier this week by a professor from the University of Washington on chemoprevention. He showed us study after study with evidence that taking regular supplements of folate, vitamin B, and calcium is actually harmful in terms of cancer and heart disease risk. Eating lots of fruit and vegetables, however, is beneficial. His hypothesis was that our body's homeostasis mechanisms are set according to the foods we eat early in life. So when people start taking supra-physiological amounts of one vitamin later in life, the body's natural homeostasis is overcome. Taking just one supplement can facilitate positive selection of cancer cells that are stimulated by the supplement.

Last weekend I went out with a couple guys from the lab to celebrate the publication of Peter's NMR structure of Psb27, a protein in Photosystem II. Peter's structure will be published back-to-back with a nearly identical structure from a German group that was sumbitted to Biochemistry on the same day! It was also Malcolm's graduation that weekend, and it was my 22nd and 5/6 birthday, so there really was a lot to celebrate.

Dancing enzymes

I've discovered a new hobby for myself--making videos of dancing crystal structures. This week was the debut for my first two films. Tuesday all of the fourth year honors students gave presentations on their research and since I am a one-year Masters student, I presented as well. Some of the dance moves in the video in the presentation actually resembled conformational changes of DnaK. As a present for giving presentations, all of the students received metal spatulas with their initals engraved in!

Then today I delivered a Biochemistry Department journal club presentation on cellulosic ethanol. I talked about a paper from a group at Cal Tech who engineered a group of thermostable cellulase enzymes. Currently we have only slow and inefficient enzymes for breaking down cellulose into sugars. In the video at the end of today's presentation, cellulase's dance moves are in no way meant to depict the function of the actual enzyme. Both presentations have been posted here. They are only in pptx format because converting them to ppt format disrupts a lot of formatting.

Southern drawl meets "i is the only vowel"

Building a house is amazingly fun. This Saturday we just about finished the wooden framework including wall panels, ceiling battens, trusses, and roof purlins. All day we climbed over the giant jungle gym/house in construction, nailing in various wooden elements. My hammering skills are improving markedly; now I can pretty much nail in from any angle if needed. Also, the winter chill seems to be mostly behind us; I worked up a pretty good sweat. The link for the Habitat for Humanity Blog.

On Saturday evening I went to dinner with friends Emma, Nick, and two girls from the University of Western Georgia. They are here on a six-week missionary crusade in connection with their college church group. They were very friendly (and their accent seemed very out of place in NZ) but halfway through dinner Nick brought up the subject of religion after we had thoroughly discussd beforehand that we would not do so. I felt like Jon Stewart screaming NOOOOO in an attempt to stop President Obama from a speaking blunder. So we had to talk all about good and evil and doing good works and evolution etc. etc. I can believe in some evil force that is forcing me to say "eh" with uncomfortable frequency in conversation these days. Fortunately there were no hard feelings and we all went to a DJ competition after dinner. From there I headed to the Otago Science Ball, which was a semi-formal event held in a big dance/music club south of the Octagon. There was good music, a pyrotechnics show, cheap alcohol, and good company. It reminded me of parties at Williams where you know most of the people there and there's a really fun communal atmosphere. But I also met several new people who in general were better traveled and more interesting to talk to than the majority of students I've come across. I didn't make it home until 4 am.

I've started a once-weekly African drumming class sponsored by the Otago clubs and societies organization. So far we've learned the three basic sounds on the drum and a couple of pieces. The drums are quite beautiful, made of either goat or cow hide.

The next few weeks will be busy as I start working in earnest on secondary applications for medical school, prepare for a biochemistry journal club presentation, and prepare for a formal research presentation as part of my MSc along with my other demonstrating, class, and labwork duties. However, I'm hoping to take a trip to the Abel Tasman track during the mid-semester break in a few weeks.

Lab Presentation

Here is a link to a presentation I delivered at today's lab meeting describing my research over the past few weeks.
http://sites.google.com/site/nuclearzucchini/

The only other news this week is that the weather has warmed a bit, and I discovered the $3 lunch at the student clubs and societies center. You get a hot plate of tasty vegetarian food plus friendly smiles from the Hare Krishnas who organize the lunch.

Lab Sauna--Yeeaaahhhh!

When I arrived in lab this afternoon, there was a centimeter of water on the floor, the windows were steamed up, and it felt like a sauna. Pete and Anshul had been in lab since this morning and told me that when they arrived there was twice as much water on the floor. They spent hours mopping everything up with a campus security officer and moving boxes off the floor. A hot water pipe seems to have burst and is still leaking; it's a mixed blessing because it's cold and snowy outside but it feels like an indoor swimming pool in here. We're considering charging admission, as I know at least several students with no source of heat whatsoever in their flat.

On Wednesday evening last week a massive earthquake hit Fiordland in the South Island of New Zealand, triggering landslides and some damage in the ski resort of Queenstown. When the quake hit I was in my room changing. I came out and my flatmates Nick and Estel exclaimed that they had just felt an earthquake. I was sure they were pulling my leg. But later that night it was on the 10:30 news. Since they had been sitting down on the couch they had felt it, but since I was standing up I didn't feel a thing. I was pretty disappointed I missed my first earthquake ever.

On Saturday Kyle and I reported for duty as usual at the Habitat House. Last week we erected the wall frames so it is starting to look like a genuine house. This week we adjusted and reinforced the frames in their precise positions. The roof will be going on soon! Also on Saturday evening I submitted my medical school application to AMCAS, the online common application service. It was tempting to celebrate, but I realized that I've only just started the whole process since I still have secondary applications and interviews ahead. This morning (Sunday) I went for a longish run in preparation for the Dunedin Half-Marathon in September. Completing this race would be a minor miracle after my three knee surgeries. This afternoon I drove out on the peninsula with flatmate Nick. I showed him Sandymount, the Chasm, and Lover's Leap, which all remain beautiful despite the winter chill.

Adventures in Oz

Wow, what a trip. I'll begin at the beginning. From my last post, I was headed off to Kate's 21st birthday party in downtown Melbourne. It took me forever to find the Lustre Lounge because it was located on Flinders Lane as opposed to Flinders Street. Apparently Melbourne is notorious for its confusing street names. When I finally arrived Kate's family and friends were delivering speeches about how great she was. Once we got through that I took advantage of the open bar, hors d'oeurves, and gigantic chocolate cake. It was a fun night with Kate's friends from Otago the last to leave. The next morning I picked up some last-minute supplies for my walk, walked around Melbourne a bit more, and at 7 pm caught a train from Southern Cross west to Geelong. From Geelong I transferred to a bus that took me further west along the coast to Apollo Bay, arriving at 11:15 pm. It was the last stop for the bus, and I was the only remaining passenger at that point.

I stepped off the bus in the resort town of Apollo Bay and walked past the deserted beachfront shops, failing to lay eyes upon another living soul or a map of any kind that could direct me to the Apollo Bay Recreation Reserve, where I had booked a campsite for the night. After 15 minutes of wandering, a cop pulled up, sensed that I was lost, and asked if I needed a lift anywhere. I said I was looking for the campground and he told me to hop in. We drove to the other side of town and found my little grass spot labeled #20. I thanked him and he asked for my name and address, explaining that the place was a "ghost town" and I was probably the only work he would have for that night.

I set up my cheap 2-person tent I rented from the Otago Unipol and crawled in. Within 10 minutes the wind started howling and rain started to fall, foreshadowing the weather for the next 4 days. At least it wasn't too cold...yet. Not being designed for such conditions, the tent got blown around quite a bit and I found myself a little soggy in the morning, but things dried out quickly because Day 1 turned out to be beautiful!

I paid for my campsite and walked down to the beach to find the Great Ocean Walk. The track is very well marked the whole way, so I followed it without any trouble. When the track goes near the beach, usually you can walk either directly on the sand and rocks or follow a grassy path a bit farther from the sea. I took a nasty tumble on the slippery rocks the first morning and cut open my thumb, so decided to spend more of my time on the grassy path after that. In the afternoon the track headed up into the forest and hills away from the beach but then returned to Blanket Bay, the location of my first campsite. I arrived in the middle of the afternoon and took a nap in the sun on the beach, not having got much sleep the previous night. I cooked up some rice and soup for dinner and was about to go to sleep when two young guys walked into camp, two of the four other people I would see during my entire walk. Their names were Andy and Andre, and they were jazz musicians and teachers in Melbourne. I talked with them that night and for the next two days I walked with them. Also at Blanket Bay I saw a few wallabies, but other than some very interesting birds I didn't see much more cool wildlife.

Day 2 started off nice enough, but by the afternoon a nasty stationary front arrived that made the rest of the journey very wet indeed. The front chucked squalls at the coastline every half hour--you could set your watch by it. There would be a period of intense wind and rain, then a brief respite, and another squall would roll in. We arrived at our second campsite, Aire River, soaking wet. Fortunately there was a 3-sided shelter at this campsite which allowed us to dry our clothes marginally and curl up on the benches to get some rest. My tent would definitely not have faired well in the open.

The next morning we embarked on our longest, hardest day to Ryans Den, with rain and wind off and on all day. Miraculously we arrived to the Ryans Den shelter just before the worst of the storms came in with hail and a gusty gale. At Ryans Den we met a couple with expensive camping gear and tent-they decided to sleep outside in their $1000 tent while we huddled beneath the shelter. Andy and Andre had come more prepared than I and offered me some coffee and wine. So here we were playing cards in this shack-minus-one-wall on top of a cliff overlooking the Southern Ocean, sipping strong Greek coffee and sickeningly sweet wine and puffing on cigars (I declined a cigar) while horizontal rain pelted the shelter and wind whistled through the cracks.

The next morning I set off for the 12 Apostles alone, as Andy and Andre were headed a different route. I finished the 100+ kilometer trek wet, tired, and limping with a sore Achilles tendon, probably caused by my soggy boots rubbing against it. Unfortunately my camera battery ran out on the second day, so I don't have pictures of the spectacular rock formations I saw later in the trek, including the 12 Apostles. After taking in the rainy view, I changed in the Visitors' Center into my last remaining semi-dry clothes and stood outside with my thumb up and a small sign reading "Warrnambool or Apollo Bay?" You see, there was no bus or train from the Visitors' Center and my flight back to NZ left Melbourne the following day. Warrnambool and Apollo Bay are in opposite directions on the Great Ocean Road, but they both have public transit back to Melbourne. I figured listing both of them would increase my chances of a ride. So here I was, standing outside the 12 Apostles Visitor Center in my long underwear and sandles with my drenched backpack and little sign.

Within an hour I got an offer for a ride from a middle-aged guy and his teen-aged daughter. The guy worked for Oxfam, had traveled extensively (most recently in Vietnam and Cambodia), was a vegetarian, and married a Jewish wife he met while working in Israel. He was out on holiday with his daughter driving along the Great Ocean Road. We headed to Warrnambool, stopping along the way to view some more amazing rock formations before it got dark. I bought them a pizza dinner in Warrnambool and they dropped me off at a backpacker's, where I immediately crashed.

Before dawn I woke up to catch the 5:40 am train to Melbourne. The train broke down halfway there, so I had to transfer to another but arrived in Melbourne with plenty of time to get organized before my 5:50 pm flight to Christchurch. I picked up some clothes I had left at Lori's apartment and went to a Jewish bakery to spend the last AUD$2 I had. I asked what I could buy with $2. The woman said I could get a small loaf of challah. When I wasn't looking she tossed in an extra bagel...the perks of being young, looking hungry, and carrying a heavy backpack.

I arrived back in Christchurch at 11:30 pm local time and took two hours to get through customs because of NZ quarantine regulations and all my camping gear. When I finished with customs at 1:30 am, there were no buses or shuttles to the city center. My options were A) pay for an expensive taxi to city center; B) save on taxi and another night in a hostel by curling up on the floor in the airport. I chose option B.

I took the morning's first bus into the city, dropped my things at a backpacker's, and set out into Christchurch. I walked through the Botanical Gardens and watched some netball in the central park. I even "participated" by purchasing a sausage at a Sausage Sizzle fundraiser the moms were hosting. Next I visited the art gallery and the museum, both of which were impressive. The following day I went to Holy Communion at the Christchurch Cathedral, checked out the Arts Centre (housed in the former Christchurch University), and learned all about Ernest Rutherford, New Zealand's most famous physicist. There was a small market nearby and I purchased a plate of delicious and cheap Chinese food and a real French croissant! When I return to Christchurch I want to visit the Antarctic Center, base for the world's Antarctic expeditions, and take a hot air balloon flight. Sunday evening I took the bus back to Dunedin, took a much-needed hot shower, and fell asleep as my head hit the pillow.

Below are some pictures (a few at the beginning from a hike in the Silver Peaks a couple weekends ago). My apologies for not having any of the 12 Apostles or the breath-taking coastline I saw in the latter portion of my Great Ocean Walk.

Quick Update from AUS!

With only 1/2 hour of Internet in the hostel, I realized this might be the only opportunity I have to write a blog post from the hustle and bustle of Australia! (Or Aus or Aussie as the Kiwis call it) I arrived in Melbourne yesterday evening, walked 5K to my hostel in the hip suberb of St. Kilda, dropped my backpack, walked out to get a burger, ate said burger, walked 5 minutes down the street just to get my bearings, and ran into Lori, Nicole, and Jess, three of only six people I know in all of Australia (all of who were enrolled as summer students in Dunedin)! That's right, in a country of some 30-odd million, in a city of 4 million, without any prior planning or communication of any kind (except that there's a party for Kate in Melbourne tonight to which we are all invited) I run into my friends in my first 3 hours on Aussie soil. I had a feeling Lady Luck was with me this week when I was assigned to seat 23D on my JetStar flight across the Tasman.

So I hung out with them last night, getting a second dinner at TGIFridays and seeing Transformers Revenge of the Fallen. I was the only person who enjoyed it. Today was a busy sightseeing day, but first I needed to get groceries. So I went to the local supermarket, where they charge for a shopping cart and plastic bags. Decided to kill two birds with one stone by purchasing plastic bags for carrying groceries both inside and outside the store (damn I'm clever). In general everything is more expensive in Aus dollar for dollar when compared to New Zealand, yet the Aussie dollar is worth more than the Kiwi dollar so prices really are just ridiculous. They also have something called water scarcity, who would have thought. But this supermarket turned out to be pretty reasonable. Then I visited St. Kilda beach, the Melbourne World War I Memorial, the Royal Botanical Gardens, the Melbourne Museum (got in free with my Otago ID!!), and Victoria Market along with a bunch of other random streets and gardens. Came back to the hostel, made some super special, incredibly elaborate, gourmet white rice with a little salt and capsicum, and now am getting ready to head into town for Kate's 21st Birthday Party at the Lustre Lounge on Flinders Lane. Tomorrow I'm off to the Great Ocean Walk, where I'm going to be improvising the logisitics a bit. Signing off from Down Under for now...

Catlins with Mack and Jon

On Wednesday afternoon this week I got a call from the biochemistry secretary saying there were two young men waiting for me upstairs. Two friends from Williams, Mack Brickley '08 and Jon Stone '08 had arrived! They have been traveling for the past 5 months, seeing Equador, Chile, and now New Zealand. They spent several weeks volunteering at the Mt. Bruce bird sanctuary on the North Island and then took the ferry across to the South Island, where they drove down the west coast and hiked the Abel Tasman track, the Milford track, and parts of the Kepler track. We went out to dinner on Wednesday evening and I heard all their stories and shared a few of my own. Thursday they toured the Otago Peninsula in their rental car while I worked, but we cooked up a delicious pasta dinner together that evening. Friday I just went in to work for a couple hours in the morning and then we headed out to the Catlins, a region of rugged hills, forests, and beaches on the southeastern coast of the South Island, a couple hours drive from Dunedin.

The common way to see the Catlins it seems is to drive the main scenic road and stop at various attractions that include ocean views, short and medium length tracks to waterfalls and through native forest, and quirky little museums and cafes. Our first stop was Nugget Point, where we found a geocache and tried to keep warm in spite of the chilling wind. Later in the afternoon we checked out a couple waterfalls and an abandoned railroad tunnel. Of course it got dark around 5 so we found a campsite in the middle of the forest for the night. By this time it had started raining pretty steadily, so we just huddled in the car and broke out a bottle of Scotch. For entertainment (and to keep warm) Mack and I pushed the car with Jon steering around the little dirt road. At some point we decided we should set up the tent, which we accomplished in a few minutes and then immediately retreated back inside the car. A while later we boiled some water for 2-minute noodles and instant mashed potatoes, and again retreated back to the car. Finally we all crowded into Jon's two-man tent and were pretty warm although a bit soggy since it rained throughout the night.

The next morning we went for a trail run on a nearby track through dense forest full of native species and plenty of invasive pine as well. Then we continued south along the main road through Papatowai, where we stopped at the eccentric Lost Gypsy Gallery (closed for the winter), found another geocache at the Cathedral Caves (also closed for the winter), and a couple more waterfalls. I had a lot of fun hanging out with Mack and Jon, but I think Mack made a good analogy when he said that the Catlins are like the Berkshires are to the U.S.--they're nice hills but not too impressive when compared to the Rockies or NZ's Southern Alps 100 kilometers west.

Saturday night we cooked up some pork teriyaki and played pitch, the card game that was popular our first couple years at Williams. Sunday morning Mack and Jon departed Dunedin for Mt. Cook, Blenheim, and Christchurch, where they are flying home to the States on June 10.

Sunday evening I attended day 1 of the Oxidative Stress meeting, which included researchers from Dunedin and Christchurch. My work on cysteine reactivity was applicable, so I gave a 15-minute presentation today that I've uploaded here. Also today I had another session for the snack study that I am volunteering in. It was a rather extensive tasting session in which we had to taste and rate a variety of different snacks, before and after snacking ad libitum. At the end of the session I was assigned to the control group, meaning I will receive no snacks at all for the 3-month study. Just my luck.

Below are pictures from the Catlins.

Six months in Dunedin and just now I'm getting around to seeing the Otago Peninsula

Sure I had cycled all over the two main roads, Portobello and Highcliff, and done a hike up Harbour Cone, but yesterday I discovered the real Otago Peninsula for the first time. I consider it the single best day I've had in Dunedin thus far.

Yesterday was Queen's Birthday, which gave me an extra day in the weekend for this adventure. I took the bus out to Portobello with the goal of hiking around the peninsula for the day. I had no track or destination planned but I felt like I knew the general geography of the peninsula well enough, so I just started walking along a road in the direction east of Portobello. Within a couple kilometers I came to Hooper's Inlet and turned onto the dirt road hugging the water. After another couple k's the road branched off into the hills and came to Sandymount Road, which I had vaguely heard of. I took a left further uphill and eventually came to Sandymount Reserve, home of Lover's Leap and Sandfly Bay. I had heard of both of these landmarks so continued on trails to visit them as well as to the summit of Sandymount. Lover's Leap was just one of many impressive geologic formations along the beach, and Sandfly Bay was hands-down amazing. Trudging through the dunes accompanied only by the sight of the moon, I felt like I was on another planet. I met a massive sea lion sleeping on the beach...I may have startled him a bit but he went back to sleep pretty quickly. I retreated up into the dunes a bit and took shelter in a viewing hide to see if I could spot a yellow-eyed penguin; they don't like people on the beach. Within five minutes a single penguin came swimming up in the waves and hopped up on some rocks. He was pretty hilarious looking, but too far away for a picture. Below I've pasted a close-up shot of such a penguin:




As the sun set I crawled back up the steep sandy slope and walked back to Portobello in the dark in time to catch the bus back to town. It really was a perfect day.

Other highlights this weekend: first workday at 126 Ashmore Street, the Dunedin Habitat for Humanity site. On day 1 we set up a portable toilet, hauled gravel around the site to cut down on mud, and surveyed the foundation for the digger to come this week. I got to use a nail gun that shot nails through 2x4's which was pretty sweet. I was interested to see that we used the 3-4-5 method for ensuring that corners were square: measure 3 meters on one side, 4 meters on the other, and hope the diagonal is 5 meters.

I also did some cooking that I was very proud of, although it wasn't elegant or healthy: the best fried chicken I've ever had (I'll never give away the secret recipe for the coating) and sweet potato fries for Sunday dinner.

And finally, I have enrolled in a Department of Nutrition study to determine the effect of a daily snack of hazelnuts on blood lipid levels. Next week I will be assigned randomly to one of four groups: the hazelnut group (I hope), chocolate, potato crisps, or nothing. Over the past week my arm has been pierced multiple times for blood tests, I've had a full body DEXA scan, and I've had a resting metabolic rate test. Plus this week I have to wear an accelerometer everywhere and weight all the food I eat. All this for a three month's supply of hazelnuts or some other meager snack...I'm consenting only in the name of science.

Below are pictures from 1) the lab hike a couple weeks ago and 2) epic day trip to Sandymount.

40 hours, 0 calories

Well I did it. It was a bit more difficult than I was expecting, but perhaps a bit more enlightening as well. Saturday morning it was pouring down rain (as it has been doing for literally the past two weeks) and so the Habitat for Humanity working bee was canceled. Kyle and I drove back into town for a coffee and visited the Otago Settlers Museum. There were exhibits on Maori culture and language as well as information about the first European settlers in Otago and the long ocean journey they endured (although by the late 1800s expert sailors learned how to make the trip safely in less than 70 days. The invention of steam power made the voyage even shorter.). I was particularly interested to view some paintings of early Dunedin when it was only a few cottages and docks. Of couse the overall landscape hasn't changed much and I could imagine myself in the place where the painter was when he/she created each work. There were also some exhibits on Chinese miners who came to Otago at the end of the 19th century as well but never intended on staying permanently. Later in the 20th century however Chinese moved to New Zealand to begin new lives.

We arrived home around noon and I decided to start my famine after lunch. I made myself pasta with tomato sauce and salami and packed in some saltines with avacado for dessert. Part of me wanted to jam as much food as possible in my stomach, but part of me said it was stupid to make oneself sick from both overeating and undereating within 48 hours. At 1:45 pm I took my last bite.

Eleni from the lab had started her famine on Friday night, so I walked into town to her flat to watch "I heart Huckabees" and the Irish comedian Dylan Moran. Eleni was eating candy and drinking juice, which I considered cheating. Within 6 hours of my big lunch I was hungry again, which is normal for me but not exactly promising when I was 15% through.

I walked to lab and attempted to work on my med school essays but ended up spending most of the time reading the New York Times. I walked home and had a mug of tea, read Tales of the South Pacific for a while, and then tried to fall asleep. Here is where the famine first hit me. I can't remember a time when I skipped a meal, so my body was rather shocked when I asked it to go to sleep with zero nourishment. I felt pretty out of it and didn't sleep very well that night. I also started noticing that I felt woozy every time I stood up (which I've experienced before but maybe not to this extent) and I also found it harder than usual to get warm in our chilly flat.

The next morning, however, my fat metabolism had kicked in and I was warm and relatively perky. (Interesting side note: most of the body catabolizes fatty acids for fuel once glucose stores are depleted, but the brain can't use fats because they don't cross the blood-brain barrier. Instead, the brain uses ketones, a byproduct of fat catabolism, as a backup fuel source.) I did a few stretching exercises to loosen up, drank plenty of water, and walked into the lab to skype and pass some time fooling around online. During this time I experienced another low point, feeling quite hungry and weak in the later afternoon hours. I stumbled home after dark, stopping at the supermarket to buy a few things to eat when the fast was over. When I got home last night I took a shower, which felt really good, drank more tea, read my book, and went to bed at 9 pm. I set my alarm for 6 am, 15 minutes after the famine officially ended.

The alarm wasn't neccessary and I knew it. I again found it difficult to stay warm, sleeping in gloves, a stocking cap, long johns, and a sweatshirt under three blankets plus my unzipped sleeping bag. At 5:15 I got up and started arranging a feast that I hoped would roughly replace the calories I had not ingested over the past day and a half. My first bite of a golden kiwi fruit was pretty amazing, and subsequent bites of apple were pretty good too. I had planned a meal of eggs, potatoes, sandwiches, crackers, and maybe cereal if I was still hungry, but I got through maybe a fourth of all that before I felt sick to my stomach. I lay down with a pretty painful stomach ache and fell asleep until it was time to go to work. Here I am, alive, but my stomach's still queasy and I'm a little tired.

So what did I get out of all this? I'm not sure if my fasting experience was all that representative of what starving children in the third world feel each day. There's no "beginning" and "end" to their fast, and most hungry children probably endure chronic malnutrition rather than a pure water diet for extended periods of time. Their hunger is much longer lasting and more deep rooted than what I felt. However, I did experience some of the physiological effects of lack of calories, some that I didn't expect such as difficulty keeping warm. I also realized that even if a chronically hungry person has an opportunity every once in a while for a solid meal, they probably can't take in enough calories because one's digestion ability atrophies relatively quickly. But the real motivation for this fast was to raise money to feed hungry kids around the world, and in that department my famine was a big success: I raised NZ$316 which according to the World Vision website will provide 74 children with basic foodstuffs, bedding, and soap.

Will I do it again? Almost certainly not. Am I glad I did it once? I suppose so. Next year I'll definitely choose a different sort of famine.

PS. My most recent lab presentation has been posted.

Wee 7B Jura Street hosts Wilbanks lab dinner

Sunday was the Wilbanks lab hike and dinner, which turned out a smashing success. At 1 pm Sigurd and his wife Erika along with Pete and Eleni met me at 7B Jura Street for the hike up Mt. Cargill. We decided to drive to the trailhead a few kilometers down the road in order to maximize our time walking on trail rather than road. Strangely enough for someone from New England, the winter vegetation on Mt. Cargill appeared identical to the summer vegetation, with the pine grove, dense rainforest, and subalpine bush all unchanged from my memory several months ago. We encountered a few rain squalls which produced some stunning rainbows. We also came across a silver fern, an important symbol of New Zealand. At the top we enjoyed the familiar superb view of the peninsula, bay, ocean, and distant hills and snow covered mountains many kilometers to the northwest. We also scampered up to nearby rocky Butter's Peak, and Pete, Eleni and I continued on to visit the organ pipes while Sigurd and Erika decided to head down and meet us at the car. All in all, a really fun walk.

We arrived back at the flat a little after 5 to meet Malcolm, Jerry, and Rich for dinner. My contribution was decidedly All-American; the previous night I made garlic basil mashed potatoes and baked cornbread, both of which turned out really tasty. I supplemented these with some fried chicken coated in potato flakes and saltine crumbs. Sigurd and Eleni brought lemon chicken, Pete made sweet dumplings, Eleni brought vegetables and hummus, Jerry brought pizza, Rich cooked honey soy chicken, and Malcolm made lasagna. After dinner we chatted about food, the cold, and New Zealand flora and fauna.

In other events over the weekend, I attened a massive 24 hour book sale at the Regent Theater in the Octagon. It took me half an hour to find an author I had heard of, but finally I purchased Michener's Tales of the South Pacific for one dollar. Then on Saturday afternoon Kyle and I attended a ground breaking ceremony for a Habitat for Humanity project in a suburb called Halfway Bush. The house will be built for a Maori family of 12. There will be working bees every Saturday (with the exception of the Queen's Birthday weekend) starting this coming weekend that Kyle and I plan on helping out at. To accomodate the working bee I've decided to begin my 40-hour famine at 6 pm this Saturday evening, finishing at 10 am Monday morning. I'll give a complete report of how the famine goes next week.