16.12.25. A Facebook discussion I had with friends & family regarding the sacking of NZ Literacy Resource teachers who were formerly designated Resource Teacher Literacy (RT Lit). An RT Lit was a specialist teacher who visited schools to teach children who battled with language learning difficulties. An RT Lit also liaised with parents, teachers & school management. Each RT Lit had a specific area in NZ where they taught. For nine years my wife Leah was the RT Lit in South Canterbury, NZ.
Facebook:
Mark: This is how NZ National govt deals with dedicated teachers: In February 2025 Leah heard via the media that she would be sacked together with 200 odd English & Maori Literacy Resource teachers throughout NZ. Later school managers were informed of the sacking. Only in November did Leah receive an official letter from her base school's Board of Trustees informing Leah she was sacked!
Meanwhile Leah scrambled to secure different teaching posts in two primary schools in Pleasant Point & Timaru. From 2026 she will be using her Learning Disability teaching skills & Literacy teaching skills only in those two schools.
For the record: For nine years Leah was Resource Teacher Literacy for Southern Canterbury primary schools, a vast area involving intermittent advising & teaching in 40 rural & small town schools requiring huge mileage using her own car for transport to various towns: Along SH1: Winchester, Temuka, Timaru, St Andrews, Makikihi. Inland towns: Carew, Peel Forest, Woodbury, Geraldine, Pleasant Point (where we reside), Waimate, Waihao Downs. Alpine towns: Cannington, Albury, Fairlie, Lake Tekapo, Twizel, Mt Cook.
Of course we will be voting Labour in the next election!
Anne: All down to money, no thought for the teachers or how this will affect the children who will need extra help for a reason.
Mark: Agreed. Some vague new Coordinator teacher posts have been concocted to be introduced over coming years. Principals are battling to fill ordinary teaching posts! Never mind specialist teaching posts like Leah's. Kids, parents & teachers needing specialist help are just left hanging in the breeze...
John: This just makes me mad.
Mark: Near the end of Leah's career too. Many experts in the same boat. Minimum requirement for Leah's ex job was an Hons degree.
Marge: It is difficult to understand the thinking behind this decision. In no time all the years behind Leah's dedicated work will be lost.
Mark: True. And Erica Stanford is in charge of the present Ministry of Education. Her damages will need years to repair.
Jane: Shame on them! That's a long time with uncertainty hanging over one's head. Glad she's found a job.
Mark: Yes Leah is so good at her job, principals were lining up to re-employ her in other positions. Leah has built lots of cred in the district.
Jane: I fully believe it.
Jake: The current NZ government's decision for this has nothing to do with the greater good of education for the youth of the nation. This leaves thousands of young children without valuable resources to help them in the development stage of their lives when they need it most.
It's basically a financial decision to fulfill promises about tax cuts. If they consider the education of children who could potentially be the people running the country in the future "wasteful spending" makes me sick.
It's a disgraceful decision especially considering the fact that it was made without any input from teachers and parents of children directly affected by the outcome. I'm really glad Leah has managed to find new work & she will still be using her unique skills to help out the children at the two schools she will be working at, but it makes me sad to know that so many children are not so lucky as the ones at the schools where she will be working...
Mark: Well said. There will be much whining in NZ when teachers find they wont have the support they need next year. The Ministry of Education led by Erica Stanford has been deceitful, causing misery all round. Leah's support of schools & her Literacy colleagues were some of the best...
James: That's what happens when we vote populist leaders who want to run the country like a business, it's all about money. I agree with you, National has made no friends with me. It will be nice to have a party that puts NZ before their own party.
Mark: Yes, the Nats went through the farce of "consulting" with teachers about Literacy needs, but the MoE had already decided that Literacy needs would be tampered with. i.e. Trying to fix the only thing which is not broken regarding Literacy support for needy kids, their parents & battling teachers. The MoE ignored a teachers' report asking for MORE Literacy teacher support, like Leah, not less! The MoE had already made up its penny-pinching mind to obliterate Literacy support & sack support teachers for Literacy.
James: And they're surprised the tax revenue is lower than expected after deleting so many workers through the govt agencies...
May: Here in South Africa we have to retire at 65. Fortunately for me they couldn't find a decent replacement, so I am still teaching again for the first term next year.
Mark: Not the same in NZ. Some teachers continue teaching well into their seventies here...
Peter: Bloody disgraceful!!!!!
Alwyn: No doubt Leah is good at her job and we are all pleased she is still employed. The new curriculum will enable kids to get the basics of English earlier so they won't need extra tuition. This a win already improving literacy. Likewise with maths. Most teachers and civil servants vote for Labour and have not much knowledge of economics and servicing the high debt created by the last government. I endorse the new curriculum and forsee a decent outcome of an educated nation not a dumbed down unemployable bunch of numpties. Well done Erica!
Mark: Whatever the curriculum, old or Erica-new, if you discourage specialist support & extra tuition for battlers, whether it's for neurodivergent kids, or dyslexic kids, or generalist teachers battling to teach them, you will be dumbing down languages & maths further & allowing language & maths illiterates. Prior to sacking Resource teachers of Literacy, schools were consulted. The official consultation report showed overwhelming support to increase rather than eliminate Literacy specialists. Just Google RT Lit Consultation and the report will be listed for you to read.
Mary: As a recently retired SEND teacher and outreach specialist advisor in the UK, I agree 100%. I don't know much about NZ politics, but this idea sounds like they really don't care about those with additional needs...
Coda:
I unfriended Alwyn because of his partisan nonsense.
Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
Thursday, December 18, 2025
Wednesday, March 12, 2025
Peel Forest, Fern Walk.
Friday 7 March 2025. Did the 3.3km Fern Walk with my son at the bottom of Mount Peel. As Fern Walk is not a circular walk, we used two cars parked at either end enabling us to walk one-way instead of a return 6.6km walk. We parked one car at Blandswood carpark near the end of Blandswood Rd, the other car parked at the Fern Walk start by Peel Forest Rd.
Many native ferns seen, including many tree-ferns, as well as mature native trees like totara, matai, fuschia, whitey-wood, mountain cedar... Several fantails seen & we heard bellbird calls enroute. The path was muddy in places, many slippery tree roots. DOC signs abounded & wooden steps are well maintained by DOC. Due to my short pace of 69cm, I added a half hour walking time to the DOC recommended time seen on DOC signs. A pleasant forest bathe far from the madding crowd.
Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
Many native ferns seen, including many tree-ferns, as well as mature native trees like totara, matai, fuschia, whitey-wood, mountain cedar... Several fantails seen & we heard bellbird calls enroute. The path was muddy in places, many slippery tree roots. DOC signs abounded & wooden steps are well maintained by DOC. Due to my short pace of 69cm, I added a half hour walking time to the DOC recommended time seen on DOC signs. A pleasant forest bathe far from the madding crowd.
Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
Sunday, November 3, 2024
Stroke: TIA Transient Ischaemic Attack
10 September 2024. I had a mild stroke TIA, Transient Ischaemic Attack. Here follows my TIA stroke, hospitalization & some rehabilitation:
Background information: A week before my TIA stroke I did a training walk of 17km as I was getting fit again for South Canterbury mountain tramps during summer. From my Pleasant Point home I walked the following roads over rolling hills, a circular walk: Afghan St, Manse Rd, Smart Munro Rd, Doake Rd (steep hill), Levels Valley Rd, Driscoll Rd (another steep hill), SH8 back home. I considered myself fit & healthy. (I'd twice run Comrades Marathon between Durban & Pietermaritzburg in my youth). A recent blood-check & ECG by my Geraldine clinic GP showed I had low blood cholesterol & normal ECG. Post-Covid vaccinations & pandemic, I was concerned I had Long-Covid as I had intermittent heart palpitations over the years. From Timaru Hospital, I wore a heart-monitor holter for a day to monitor my heart beat.
Three years prior to my TIA stroke, aged 70, I had Cochlear Implant surgery at St Georges Hospital, Christchurch, as I was profoundly deaf. Prior to my CI surgery I had to have a meningitis vaccination & ensure that my Covid-19 booster vaccination was done. There were no cholesterol, blood pressure, heart, allergy problems in the lead-up for my Cochlear Implant surgery. Subsequent audiology rehab at St Georges Hospital enabled hugely improved communication. But the external processor of the Cochlear Implant was badly designed, its microphone was aimed backwards causing background-noise interference, e.g. kitchen noises, LOUD TV ads when trying to converse simultaneously, cafe music, bird whistles, etc. Thus artificially loud background noises were extremely annoying, causing my blood pressure to rise making my head feel like it would burst!
I never used Cochlear speech exercises touted by Cochlear firm in a boring manual nor listening exercises touted by rehabilitationists. I went my own unconventional way paying Spotify premiums & listening to music & podcasts. My Cochlear Implant hearing soon improved.
7 September 2024. I drove with wife Leah from Pleasant Point to Ashburton. Cheesecake treat at a local nursery cafe.
8 September 2024. I mowed our garden lawn & verge using our electric mower, a two hour gardening job.
9 September 2024. I hand-raked our lawns to make compost. I tidied our garden after the previous day's mowing. In our garden shed I wire-brushed dirt off our firewood.
TIA Stroke. Day 1. Tuesday 10 September 2024. Hospital admission. At my Pleasant Point home, soon after midnight I was doing word puzzles & watching Al Jazeera TV news when I had my TIA stroke. I didn't know it was a stroke then. I thought it was vertigo caused by my profound deafness (Menieres Disease). I felt dizzy, nauseous, unable to walk properly. Left-handed, my handwriting degraded while I tried to do word puzzles. My speech was slurry. I did eye-excercises to EMDR-control my vertigo, to no avail. EMDR eye excercise & bed rest usually sorted my vertigo.
I had a disturbed night, tossing & turning in bed, still not knowing I had a stroke!
After breakfast, (hand-control of cutlery & crockery wonky) I wobbled out to our garden shed for more firewood wire-brushing. Unstable, I carried firewood to our lounge fireplace. I rested in our lounge, watching TV & reading. After a wobbly lunch I did Pilates exercises on our bed. (Leah attended weekly Pilates classes). I vomited! I did a Google search, finding I had stroke symptoms: slurred speech, limb movement affected on my left side. A search described carotid artery stenosis, narrowing of the carotid arteries due to plaque! That caused blockage of blood-flow in an artery starving my brain of nutrients & oxygen. In Timaru Hospital I later learned the medical jargon TIA: Transient Ischaemic Attack! My deafness vertigo & stroke weakened mobility left me with walking problems: I walked like a drunkard, feet wide apart for "balance". My left leg intermittently buckled at the knee...
Late afternoon, Leah drove me to Geraldine's Four Peak Health clinic. By then I needed my mountain tramping-stick to stop me falling when "walking". Clinic staff took one look at me & sent us to Timaru Hospital. Leah drove me there. We hadn't considered a hospital stay, so I didn't arrive with pyjamas, change of clothes, toothbrush, etc.
EMERGENCY Department, Timaru hospital: While waiting for two hours, I copied some of the Emergency wall-posters into my puzzle notebook. My handwriting was an illegible scawl. An Admissions nurse questioned me for hospital computer input. She placed a plastic name-tag on my right wrist. (In the following days nurses would ask my name & birthday!) She stuck a large needle into the back of my left hand, the first of many needle stickings over the next few days. She took blood samples from my arm.
While I was seated upright, a doctor questioned & tested me: "Smile! Stick your tongue out! Raise your eyebrows! Raise your arms! Press your hands against mine! Clap your hands while revolving your wrists! Close your eyes & touch your nose with your index finger! Press your feet against my hands! Stand up! Walk heel-toe in a straight line! Stand with feet together!" I fell to my left against a bed. "Fail!" said the doctor. "You've earned a stay In hospital. Lie on the bed!" I asked Leah to bring me a change of clothes, toothbrush, books, a pack of cards & battery recharger for my cell phone & Cochlear Implant processor.
While I clutched my trusty tramping stick, a male orderly wheel-chaired me in a lift up to the Medical & Surgery ward on the 5th floor where I would "sleep" 3 nights. First night I slept in a ghastly gown, open at the back, but attached with strings on my shoulders & down my back. I kept my pants on! I got little sleep due to nurses flitting past my bed at night. My bed was by the ward door near the toilet / shower room shared by three more men patients. I hobbled to the toilet using my walking stick. The toilet had a wheel-chair with a poop-hole on top of the standard toilet-bowl. The shower & toilet had stainless-steel bars attached to walls for support, preventing falls. The shower also had plastic curtains & a chair.
Nurses regularly took my blood pressure, pulse & temperature recordings on their wheeled-in machines. During the day, doctors with hangers-on did their noisy rounds, drawing curtains round patient beds & muttering... Not conducive to my peaceful convalescent sleep! A night-nurse woke me every few hours by prodding my arm to take her measurements. Day-nurses did the same measurements periodically, as well as asking whether I had urinated & had a bowell movement & showered! Nurses shone a torch in my eyes to check my retinas. Like blood pressure checks, temperature checks & pulse checks, retina checks were done frequently. Whenever I was woken at night, I searched in my bedside locker to fish out my Cochlear Implant processor & battery & install them over my CI above my ear before decent communication. Tiresome! A nurse even asked me if I wanted to see a priest. No thanks!
TIA Stroke. Day 2. Wednesday 11 September 2024. Breakfast & future meals: I ordered my meals from a daily tick-box page left on my bed-table with a jug of fresh water. Meals were efficiently provided by catering staff: soft, easily swallowed food, like porridge, boiled beans, mashed potato, ice cream...
A day-nurse stuck heart-monitor electrodes on my bare chest. Electrodes & the boxy heart-monitor, caused uncomfortable sleep. Next day she changed the battery of the heart-monitor before monitor removal. Another nurse stuck another needle in the crook of my elbow, taking more blood samples! The stuck needle prevented my sleep. As it was loose, I pulled it out, throwing the needle & plaster in a bedside bin! Dr R visited, questioned me & opined about my blood pressure & vertigo. She insisted I would feel "spinning." Balderdash! I had vertigo so far for four decades & never experienced spinning. I experienced dizziness, wobbly gait, scintillating scotoma & nausea when having a vertigo attack. Dr B visited, questioned me about my family history regarding stroke. He lectured me about smoking & boozing & on cholesterol production in the liver & plaque blockage of my carotid arteries. He suggested I get enduring power of attorney!
A Speech & Language therapist visited, giving me a slice of bread to eat, testing my swallowing. She questioned me about my work history & gave me a worksheet to rehab my slurry speech. Regarding my stroke she said: "Don't be hard on yourself. You got off lightly." The speech exercises were like oral exercises I did 50 years prior as a teacher student at Durban Teachers Training College & as a Speech & Drama student at Natal University: diaphragmatic breathing, enunciation, "Moo-Mo-More-Mah-May-Me..." I taught that oral stuff when I directed school plays in SA.
A Social worker gave me four pamphlets recommending I buy a hazard-button in case I fell or injured myself at home. The hazard-button Leah & I liked would call an ambulance but costed $30 / week service-charge! My house-perimeter-area would also need technical-vamping to enable the hazard-button to work. Hard-sell, as the Social worker needed a doctor's signature for me to get NZ govt funding. Commercial rip-off while I was vulnerable! I could get the same ambulance-call / cop-call service for free if I pressed my cell-phone emergency call-button! I was also questioned by doctors & physiotherapists about hand-rails for steps at my home. They were worried about me falling due to my poor balance & weakened limbs! I told them my front & back porch steps had hand-rails & there was also a wheel-chair ramp by another door.
A psychologist(?) visited, checking my cognition & memory: "Do you know where you are? What day is it today? What's today's date? Remember this word... I'll ask you for it later. Count backwards in threes from 100?!..." I asked the psychologist(?) if I was in an all-male ward. She carefully explained that the hospital had mixed-gender wards. A male orderly wheel-chaired me to the Radiology department for my brain CT scan. My CT scan would be interpreted by another Dr at Christchurch Hospital before my Timaru Drs could proceed. What a waste of time! Leah visited with my requested supplies. I dumped the gown!
TIA Stroke. Day 3. Thursday 12 September 2024. A nurse looked at my bare arm & whined: "How must I take your blood?" She jabbed a new needle into my elbow-crook for more blood samples! My blood pressure was elevated, over 200 systolic pressure! Could cause another stroke! Nurses encouraged me to get out of bed & sit on my chair. I wore my clothes & listened to Spotify music via my cell phone & Cochlear Implant. I listened to as many TIA stroke podcasts I could find to catch-up on medical jargon. I learned fast.
Dr R visited again, opining again on my "spinning" vertigo & that my elevated BP must be reduced. I guessed the medications I was fed by nurses each morning in little cardboard cups were lowering my BP. Dr B visited again & lectured some more. A physiotherapist visited, made me walk along a corridor to her physio-gym to do some tests, similar to what the admissions doctor did on my arrival at the Emergency dept. I was unbalanced, battling to walk properly. Later I wobbled to the toilet / shower room without using my stick. Leah visited. In addition to her work driving, she did daily 50km return trips when visiting me.
TIA Stroke. Day 4. Friday 13 September 2024. Lower Blood Pressure. The male orderly wheel-chaired me again to the Radiology department, this time for an ultra-sound scan of my carotid arteries. My carotids were approx 70% blocked by plaque! The Speech & Language therapist wheel-chaired me to the Assessment Treatment & Rehabilitation ward (AT & R).
A nurse weighed me on a weigh-chair. I'd lost 2 kgs in 2 days! I had a new ward-room to myself, natty shower & toilet room. Lovely sea views.
Settling into the A T & R ward, I scan-read my books. Nothing wrong with my reading, memory, thinking. I did word puzzles in my notebook. My hand-writing improved with practise. I asked a nurse to remove the admission needle from my left hand. It had not been used since admission!
I walked to the lounge, played Patience, watched TV with other patients. A truck-driver was legless in a wheel-chair. He did rowing excercises in the physio-gym. A retired Pareora freezing-worker plodded with his Zimmer-frame & noisily chattered, revving up nurses by sneakily smoking his hidden cigarettes. (Forbidden!) A Rasta-haired bloke pushed his tall walking-frame along corridors trying to walk properly. Most ward rooms had male & female patients. Leah visited with our youngest son who'd driven from Christchurch. We played Patience & Scrabble in the lounge. I walked with them to the hospital foyer door, my longest walk so far. I was determined to drop my walking stick.
A physiotherapist gave me 3 physio exercises to do over the weekend:
1. Stengthen my left arm & hand-grip by moving a yellow plastic-band (exercise resistance-band) tied to my chair. I had to stay seated & move the resistance-band away from my body then back across my body. Repeat as many times as I wanted.
2. Strengthen my hand-eye coordination & left arm / hand movements by building a tower of tapered plastic cups on my table, akin to kids' building blocks. Deconstruct the tower by restacking the cups one-by-one without the tower falling. Repeat. A nurse was amused at my clumsy efforts, saying I knocked down the tower like a kid.
3. Balance exercise as I was wonky: Stand up from my chair without using my hands & chair arm-rests for support. Push up with my stroke-weakened left leg. Then sideways crab-walk to my bed, turn & sit on my bed. Stand up from my bed using weakened left leg as push-up, turn, & crab-walk sideways to my chair & sit. Repeat.
The physiotherapist gave me cell-phone pics of me doing the exercises, so I got exercises right. Physio exercises should form new brain pathways replacing those destroyed by my TIA. i.e. Neuroplasticity. For the last 3 years, I'd already proved my neuroplasticity by playing Spotify music & podcasts into my brain with my Cochlear Implant.
TIA stroke. Days 5-6, Weekend. 14-15 September 2024. Not a physiotherapist nor doctor in sight. Offices empty, no staff meetings. Nurses, catering staff & cleaning staff ran the hospital! I checked out the wall-displayed pamphlets. I did my physio exercises. I relaxed: reading, Patience, TV viewing. Leah & son visited. He drove back to Christchurch
My hassles: swallowing & peeing. I vomited my curry & rice lunch! A nurse said it was caused by the shape of rice-grains. What a mess, I vomited a cup-full of mucous. I peed my pants! Couldn't "walk" to the toilet in time. My brain was healing slooooowly. Leah washed my dirty clothes & brought fresh clothes. Hospital saved money on laundry costs! Meanwhile an old lady was admitted to my ward-room. I think she'd had a heart attack. She was quiet, dozing behind her bed curtain. Her stream of visitors were noisy. No privacy!
TIA stroke. Day 7. Monday 16 September 2024. Using a faulty blood pressure cuff, a nurse caused bruising on my left hand & wrist. She repeated the test using another BP apparatus. A nurse stripped my pants off me & placed sticky electrodes on my upper thighs & lower abdomen for another test. She placed my breakfast-bib on my gonads for privacy. I was tired of all the testing! A nurse jabbed another needle into the back of my right hand, this time for another CT scan requiring blue dye to be injected into my vascular system to get a better view of my TIA brain damage. The dye injection & CT scan was done by another Dr. Timaru Hospital staff consisted of locals & others from all over the world. Dr B visited with a young Dr in tow, learning the ropes.
I had an assessment in the physio-gym done by 2 physiotherapists: Chair-sitting exercise to see if I could rise from a chair without falling. Physios tied a nylon-strap around my waist so they could catch me if I fell. I was asked to lean over & lean to my sides to see if my balance was OK. I was asked to walk in a straight line with a physio barking "Look left!...Look right!" while I walked. I laughed as the exercise reminded me of my conscripted soldier days in SA. A physio placed plastic cones on the floor & ordered me to stride-weave round the cones so she could stop-watch time my mobility. I did the exercise quickly. At a table, I was also timed taking little wooden pegs from a bottle then placing the pegs in rows in a wooden block & removing the pegs back to the bottle. I took that toy to my ward room, to accompany my plastic cup stacking. The physio made an appointment for me in the physio-gym for the next day.
TIA stroke. Day 8. Tuesday 16 September 2024. Dr B visited again saying I needed endarterectomy surgery at Christchurch Hospital to remove the plaque from my right carotid artery. When I asked if he would do the surgery he gave an embarrassed smile & declined. There was obviously no vascular surgeon available at Timaru Hospital.
I cancelled my appointment with the physio & returned her physio toys. Ambulances were in short supply (WHY?!) The chief nurse was in a transport bind, so Leah offered to drive me to Christchurch Hospital, a 3 hour journey. Two Social workers came to my ward offering to arrange Christchurch accommodation for Leah, but Leah had already booked accommodation at the old YMCA now called Give Hotel, Hereford St. We'd lived & worked in Christchurch for 19 years, including quake years, so knew our way around the city.
Leah drove us to Pleasant Point for me to dispose of my dirty washing & fetch a change of clothes. She drove me to Christchurch Hospital. Vascular dept, 8th floor, night-nurses were expecting me. I had a ward room to myself, overlooking Hagley Park & the CBD. A nurse gave me sandwiches for my late supper. Thereafter I ate nothing more & had a shower. Mr K visited & explained endarterectomy surgery on my right carotid artery. I signed consent forms for my neck surgery & donating urine & plaque for Canterbury University research. I played Patience & slept well. No noisy patients & visitors in my room.
TIA stroke. Surgery. Day 9. Wednesday 17 September 2024. The consultant surgeon visited & said I needed to shave my beard. I did, chivvied by 2 nurses. I peed a urine sample. A nurse pushed me & my bed to the surgery prep ward downstairs. Two more nurses prepped me for the surgery, chatting & covering my wedding ring with elastoplast. Two more needles in my left hand & wrist! Two anaesthetists prepped me & fussed. One worried about my Cochlear Implant electronics interfering with surgery machines. No problem after phoning my St Georges Hospital surgeon. My bed was pushed into the operation theatre. Vultures circled...
Approx three hours later I woke up in the recovery ward, a nurse checking I was OK. Mr K & an anaesthetist checked I was OK. Later a male orderly pushed me & my bed back to the 8th floor vascular ward recovery room. My Cochlear Implant processor was returned intact. My voice was croaky as a tube was shoved down my trachea to help my breathing during surgery. I was stuck in my bed, 3 plastic tubes sticking out of me: a drip tube in my left arm, a catheter in my penis for urine, a drain tube for gunge from my cauterised neck wound. A thick dressing covered my neck wound. My lower legs had stockings intermittently constricting to stop blood clots. Leah, sons & their girlfriends visited.
That night I didn't eat supper plonked on my bed-table. I couldn't sleep, my throat was sore & I was swallowing mucous brought up from my trachea. I asked for a bed-pan, I needed a crap. A male nurse groaned & shoved a ridiculously small bed-pan under my bare butt while I lay tube- trapped in bed. I didn't use the bed-pan. I would've lain in my own shit!
TIA stroke. Day 10. Thursday 18 September 2024. Hospital discharge. Hangers-on & consultant surgeon visited: "Do you have swallowing difficulties?" Affirmative. "Stick your tongue out!". My tongue deviated to my right indicating successful surgery. If it had deviated to my non surgery side, it meant I had another stroke during surgery. Thankfully not.
A nurse removed my stockings, & detached plastic tubes from my graunched body. Catheter removal: "Deep breath!..." She left a needle in my left hand which was bruised down to my wrist! My neck was bruised down to my clavicle! I removed the hospital's grotty gown. (A nurse had removed my pants while I was unconscious prior to catheter insertion & surgery). I dressed in my clothes. My eldest son visited & watched a physio in her physio-gym checking my walking & balance prior to my hospital discharge. Back in the vascular ward I removed the errant needle from my left hand. Blood everywhere on my hand, shoes & floor. I forgot I was on blood thinner medication. I surreptiously cleaned-up using a box of tissues.
A stroke-nurse farewelled me with 3 pamphlets: Medication. Driving. Fatigue. Legally I was forbidden driving for a month. I would need to take tablets for the rest of my life to manage my cholesterol, blood pressure & platelets! Brain fatigue would slow me down.
While Leah got my tablets from a Memorial Ave pharmacist, I disposed of my last needle & bloody tissues! Leah drove me back to Pleasant Point. As a NZ citizen & taxpayer & as my hospital stays & surgery were at public hospitals, I didn't pay a cent for hospitalisation & future medication.
THANKS NZ.
In both Timaru & Christchurch hospitals I was never visited by an Occupational Therapist.
Aftermath:
A week later, Geraldine's Four Peak Health nurse changed my neck dressing. A week after that Dr K increased my blood pressure medication as my BP was still dangerously high! We paid the clinic nurse & GP.
When reading my Amlodipine & Quinapril blood pressure tablets' pamphlets I found that both drugs caused fatigue side-effect, disguised with euphemisms like: "feeling very tired". Atorvastatin & Clopidogrel drugs for my cholesterol & platelet management respectively could also cause fatigue. Neither Dr K, nor pharmacist, nor hospital staff informed me that all my scripted drugs could cause fatigue!
Meanwhile, a Timaru outpatient physiotherapist contacted us wanting to come to our home! No thanks! After an appointment at her Timaru physio-gym / office, she emailed me some physio-exercises designed to strengthen my mid core & hips. I'd learned that conventional physio guff 50 years prior during movement classes at Natal Uni, Durban. Martha Graham type movement exercises. Thanks, but no thanks! Some video-exercises were harmful so soon after my neck surgery: Lying on my back, raising my hips, moving my legs increased pounding blood-flow in my neck! I loathed gyms of any description, reminded me of school PT. Exercise fatigue was incompatible with my brain fatigue caused by TIA. Physio exercises would waste my limited energy needed for everyday activities like housework, gardening, walking. During 2 hospital stints I was fatigued by bossy physios. They needed me more than I needed them.
My own unconventional rehab was domestic chores, gardening, walking, word puzzles, reading, watching TV, Netflix, blogging, Patience, driving. Leah gave me hand-eye coordination puzzles to do. She was Resource Teacher Literacy, South Canterbury. She knew a local physiotherapist if I needed to consult. My home activities & my neuroplasticity did most of my brain & limb repair work, not gym exercises.
I changed my diet, consuming a breakfast including rolled oats, grapes, raisins, prunes, milk. I drank coffee with my breakfast. Laxative prunes countered constipation side-effect of my scripted meds. I drank black tea the rest of the day, no milk, no sugar. Early recovery lunches while Leah was at work, I avoided pies & coffee at Temuka Bakery. I avoided bread, pasta, sucrose & junk food like processed meats: bacon, salami, pastrami, ham, sausages, etc, as those processed meats are often preserved with sodium nitrite, a carcinogenic! For proteins I ate fresh beef, chicken & fish. Thankfully my oldest son is a chef & Leah is an excellent cook for balanced suppers. I drank an ocasional beer. No-one at the hospitals, nor my GP, nor clinic nurse advised on what I should eat during stroke recovery!
For 2 sleep-disturbed nights I had Restless Leg Syndrome as I was seated too long writing this blog post. I solved my RLS by a late night walk.
Over the next few weeks my right hand & left foot would swell up. I attributed the swellings to heat, gardening & my brain reconnecting new pathways. The swellings soon subsided. Long term, hidden effects of my TIA were fatigue & weak legs. My legs were not as strong as they were pre-TIA. Post-TIA, they felt wobbly & my gait was slightly impaired. I felt I was walking slightly pissed! I compensated by trying to walk normally but not too fast!
Pre-TIA, I had intermittent vertigo with optical aura due to my deafness. Post-TIA, I still had intermittent vertigo with optical aura due to my deafness & TIA. Like pre-TIA, I would do EMDR eye exercises to remove aura & nausea. I was cautious using high ladders. I paced myself while gardening. e.g. Pre-TIA, I mowed our quarter-acre lawns & verge in a two hour stint in one day. Post-TIA, due to fatique, I mowed our lawns & verge doing two one hour stints over two days.
After I left hospital, Leah pointed out that although my speech was OK, my word-alignment was sometimes wrong! I sometimes substituted a wrong word in place of a similar word. e.g. I mixed up colours when describing something: Look at those "red flowers" when indicating "orange flowers". Sometimes I would substitute a wrong but similar word. My stroke had scrambled my speech's automatic word-selection. That wasn't noticed by the Speech & Language therapist at Timaru Hospital. I had no difficulty in talking, but sometimes the words I uttered were inexact slip-of-the-lips, like "race-track" instead of "railway-track", or "door" instead of "window", or "today" instead of "tomorrow", or "sound-effects" instead of "side-effects", or "tomato plant" instead of "lemon tree" etc. The similar words were stored in my brain, but my stroke caused them to come out wrong! I'm working on it by correcting my speech when I'm aware of wrong word-choice in my speech.
Three months after my TIA, a clinical psychologist friend opined that I had mild "semantic & phonological paraphasia, a type of dysnomia that is common after strokes." The Speech & Language therapist at Timaru Hospital hadn't diagnosed my paraphasia, despite seeing me thrice within a week after my TIA!
I have two overlapping rehabs, my unconventional stroke rehab, my conventional CI rehab where I still annually visit St Georges Hospital audiologist for my CI mapping. I stay in contact with CI rehab persons & Southern Cochlear Implant Programme (SCIP) Facebook page for advice about CI. I look at Facebook stroke pages for support info. I'm still profoundly deaf, have daily tinnitus, have deafness related imbalance, vertigo & scintillating scotoma (aura). To me, deafness vertigo & stroke vertigo are inseparable. I'm still irritated by loud background noises like kitchen noises, others' eating noises, TV ads, cafe noises, traffic, birds chirping... I have to fiddle with my CI volume-control on my cell phone to lessen overwhelming noises, or play Spotify podcasts or music to mute irritating background noise. I listen to "Recovery After Stroke" podcasts by Bill Gasiamis for stroke info & for my CI rehab.
South Canterbury mountains still call. It will take me a while to get tramping fit again, but I will start on Mt John overlooking Lake Tekapo. Then there's Mt Gerald...
Coda:
My in-patient care / rehab at state hospitals in Timaru & Christchurch was good. My out-patient care / rehab by said hospitals was wanting.That boils down to bum government funding.
21 November 2024. The Timaru Courier STANDING AGAINST HOSPITAL CHANGES reported a proposal to "see Timaru Hospital brought under the umbrella of the Dunedin-based Southern District Council.." What a stupid proposal! Govt Bean-counters expected stroke patients like myself to travel from Timaru to Christchurch or Dunedin for surgery. Those Bean-counters should drive their own cars from Timaru to Christchurch or Dunedin to see what death-traps they proposed for patients! Planning by Bean-counters to move vulnerable patients from Timaru Hospital hundreds of kilometers away to Dunedin or Christchurch is wrong. After Leah drove me to Christchurch Hospital, which had minimal public parking, late at night, we spent half an hour (me hobbling with my stick) trying to find the Emergency Department entrance!
As strokes are common, Bean-counters must employ vascular surgeons for South Canterbury. Bean-counters will save money on inter-city ambulance & helicopter transport fees. Never mind transport & accommodation costs for families displaced by hospital-displaced stroke patients .
Friday 2 May 2025. I Climbed snowy Mt John (1031m) from Lake Tekapo shore, an approx 300 vertical metres climb. Return walking distance about 5km.
Monday 16 June 2025. Saw Geraldine's Four Peak Health nurses: Nine months post TIA, my blood pressure was still high! Taken off Atorvastatin (Lipitor) drug, which caused weak legs, constipation & brown urine! What was Atorvastatin doing to my liver & Kidneys? Other meds, blood pressure & blood thinner meds continued. I collected my prescribed meds from Temuka pharmacy.
Friday 5 September 2025. Geraldine, Four Peak Health: Still fatigued a year post TIA. Blood Pressure still off the charts. Increased Meds: Atorvastatin again, Clopidogrel, Amlodipine, Quinapril, Chlortalidone diuretic. Dr K added the Chlortalidone diuretic to my meds to lower my BP. A life sentence!
Tuesday 23 September 2025. Geraldine Four Peak Health: A few days prior, a nurse took a blood sample. Weeks prior I'd had a blood sample & a urine sample taken by nurses. No response from nurses nor at least three other doctors who'd renewed my prescriptions during prior months! Although Dr K previously prescribed Chlortalidone to lower my BP, he didn't bother to take my BP at my next appointment. Instead he stuck his finger up my bum mumbling about a prostate biopsy & that I needed an appointment with peripatetic urologists at Timaru Hospital! What the hell did my prostate have to do with my stroke rehab & high blood pressure? Any trip from my home at Pleasant Point to Geraldine's Four Peak Health was 60km return. A trip to Timaru Hospital was 50km return.
Wednesday 24 September 2025. Closer to home, I enrolled at another GP's practice at Temuka. Post stroke, I would continue taking the following life-saving meds: Atorvastatin, Amlodipine, Quinapril, Chlortalidone, Clopadogrel. At my second appointment my new GP changed my Clopadogrel med to Rivaroxaban. Thanks NZ.
Twenty months post-stroke I decided to record my weekly, rural walks, as I was concerned I'd lost 5kg weight since my stroke. (My GP rekoned my weight loss was due to my better eating habits). My leg & glute muscles had wasted due to lack of sustained exercise. And who knows, perhaps the daily drug prescription I was on? I would maintain my pre-stroke walking speed of 4km/h. I was still post-stroke fatigued by any physical exertion!
Mon 04.05.26. Misty morning. Straight Walk from Driscoll Rd turnoff along SH8 back to my home at Afghan St, Pleasant Point: 4 km, 1h. Fatigued.
Mon 11.05.26. Sunny morning. Anti-clockwise circular walk: Afghan St, Smart Munro Rd, Doake Rd, Oliver Rd, Keans Rd, SH8, Afghan St: 7.7km, 2h. Fatigued.
Mon 18.05.26. Sunny morning. Clockwise circular walk: Afghan St, Smart Munro Rd, Manse Rd, Afghan St: 6km, 1,5h. Fatigued.
Mon 25.05.26. Did last weeks' circular walk Anti-clockwise: Sunny morning. Afghan St, Manse Rd, Smart Munro Rd, Afghan St: 6km, 1,5h. Fatigued.
Kings Birthday Weekend, Christchurch: Sun 31.05.26. Cloudy & warm. From Riccarton to / from the CBD: Matai St West, Mona Vale Reserve, Hagley Park, Worcester Blvd, Cathedral Sq, Colombo St, Cashel St: 10km, 2,5h. Fatigued. Mon 01.06.26. Cloudy & warm. Hurunui St, Craycroft / Cashmere Wetland: 5km, 1.5h. Fatigued.
Tues 16.06.26. Climbed Mt John (about 1000m) from Lake Tekapo shore (about 700m). Sunny. Fresh snows on the ranges. 5km, 2h return. Fatigued. Short of breath at the start due to high altitude. Unfit for mountaineering: lactic acid made in the legs, still there on Friday.
Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
Background information: A week before my TIA stroke I did a training walk of 17km as I was getting fit again for South Canterbury mountain tramps during summer. From my Pleasant Point home I walked the following roads over rolling hills, a circular walk: Afghan St, Manse Rd, Smart Munro Rd, Doake Rd (steep hill), Levels Valley Rd, Driscoll Rd (another steep hill), SH8 back home. I considered myself fit & healthy. (I'd twice run Comrades Marathon between Durban & Pietermaritzburg in my youth). A recent blood-check & ECG by my Geraldine clinic GP showed I had low blood cholesterol & normal ECG. Post-Covid vaccinations & pandemic, I was concerned I had Long-Covid as I had intermittent heart palpitations over the years. From Timaru Hospital, I wore a heart-monitor holter for a day to monitor my heart beat.
Three years prior to my TIA stroke, aged 70, I had Cochlear Implant surgery at St Georges Hospital, Christchurch, as I was profoundly deaf. Prior to my CI surgery I had to have a meningitis vaccination & ensure that my Covid-19 booster vaccination was done. There were no cholesterol, blood pressure, heart, allergy problems in the lead-up for my Cochlear Implant surgery. Subsequent audiology rehab at St Georges Hospital enabled hugely improved communication. But the external processor of the Cochlear Implant was badly designed, its microphone was aimed backwards causing background-noise interference, e.g. kitchen noises, LOUD TV ads when trying to converse simultaneously, cafe music, bird whistles, etc. Thus artificially loud background noises were extremely annoying, causing my blood pressure to rise making my head feel like it would burst!
I never used Cochlear speech exercises touted by Cochlear firm in a boring manual nor listening exercises touted by rehabilitationists. I went my own unconventional way paying Spotify premiums & listening to music & podcasts. My Cochlear Implant hearing soon improved.
7 September 2024. I drove with wife Leah from Pleasant Point to Ashburton. Cheesecake treat at a local nursery cafe.
8 September 2024. I mowed our garden lawn & verge using our electric mower, a two hour gardening job.
9 September 2024. I hand-raked our lawns to make compost. I tidied our garden after the previous day's mowing. In our garden shed I wire-brushed dirt off our firewood.
TIA Stroke. Day 1. Tuesday 10 September 2024. Hospital admission. At my Pleasant Point home, soon after midnight I was doing word puzzles & watching Al Jazeera TV news when I had my TIA stroke. I didn't know it was a stroke then. I thought it was vertigo caused by my profound deafness (Menieres Disease). I felt dizzy, nauseous, unable to walk properly. Left-handed, my handwriting degraded while I tried to do word puzzles. My speech was slurry. I did eye-excercises to EMDR-control my vertigo, to no avail. EMDR eye excercise & bed rest usually sorted my vertigo.
I had a disturbed night, tossing & turning in bed, still not knowing I had a stroke!
After breakfast, (hand-control of cutlery & crockery wonky) I wobbled out to our garden shed for more firewood wire-brushing. Unstable, I carried firewood to our lounge fireplace. I rested in our lounge, watching TV & reading. After a wobbly lunch I did Pilates exercises on our bed. (Leah attended weekly Pilates classes). I vomited! I did a Google search, finding I had stroke symptoms: slurred speech, limb movement affected on my left side. A search described carotid artery stenosis, narrowing of the carotid arteries due to plaque! That caused blockage of blood-flow in an artery starving my brain of nutrients & oxygen. In Timaru Hospital I later learned the medical jargon TIA: Transient Ischaemic Attack! My deafness vertigo & stroke weakened mobility left me with walking problems: I walked like a drunkard, feet wide apart for "balance". My left leg intermittently buckled at the knee...
Late afternoon, Leah drove me to Geraldine's Four Peak Health clinic. By then I needed my mountain tramping-stick to stop me falling when "walking". Clinic staff took one look at me & sent us to Timaru Hospital. Leah drove me there. We hadn't considered a hospital stay, so I didn't arrive with pyjamas, change of clothes, toothbrush, etc.
EMERGENCY Department, Timaru hospital: While waiting for two hours, I copied some of the Emergency wall-posters into my puzzle notebook. My handwriting was an illegible scawl. An Admissions nurse questioned me for hospital computer input. She placed a plastic name-tag on my right wrist. (In the following days nurses would ask my name & birthday!) She stuck a large needle into the back of my left hand, the first of many needle stickings over the next few days. She took blood samples from my arm.
While I was seated upright, a doctor questioned & tested me: "Smile! Stick your tongue out! Raise your eyebrows! Raise your arms! Press your hands against mine! Clap your hands while revolving your wrists! Close your eyes & touch your nose with your index finger! Press your feet against my hands! Stand up! Walk heel-toe in a straight line! Stand with feet together!" I fell to my left against a bed. "Fail!" said the doctor. "You've earned a stay In hospital. Lie on the bed!" I asked Leah to bring me a change of clothes, toothbrush, books, a pack of cards & battery recharger for my cell phone & Cochlear Implant processor.
While I clutched my trusty tramping stick, a male orderly wheel-chaired me in a lift up to the Medical & Surgery ward on the 5th floor where I would "sleep" 3 nights. First night I slept in a ghastly gown, open at the back, but attached with strings on my shoulders & down my back. I kept my pants on! I got little sleep due to nurses flitting past my bed at night. My bed was by the ward door near the toilet / shower room shared by three more men patients. I hobbled to the toilet using my walking stick. The toilet had a wheel-chair with a poop-hole on top of the standard toilet-bowl. The shower & toilet had stainless-steel bars attached to walls for support, preventing falls. The shower also had plastic curtains & a chair.
Nurses regularly took my blood pressure, pulse & temperature recordings on their wheeled-in machines. During the day, doctors with hangers-on did their noisy rounds, drawing curtains round patient beds & muttering... Not conducive to my peaceful convalescent sleep! A night-nurse woke me every few hours by prodding my arm to take her measurements. Day-nurses did the same measurements periodically, as well as asking whether I had urinated & had a bowell movement & showered! Nurses shone a torch in my eyes to check my retinas. Like blood pressure checks, temperature checks & pulse checks, retina checks were done frequently. Whenever I was woken at night, I searched in my bedside locker to fish out my Cochlear Implant processor & battery & install them over my CI above my ear before decent communication. Tiresome! A nurse even asked me if I wanted to see a priest. No thanks!
TIA Stroke. Day 2. Wednesday 11 September 2024. Breakfast & future meals: I ordered my meals from a daily tick-box page left on my bed-table with a jug of fresh water. Meals were efficiently provided by catering staff: soft, easily swallowed food, like porridge, boiled beans, mashed potato, ice cream...
A day-nurse stuck heart-monitor electrodes on my bare chest. Electrodes & the boxy heart-monitor, caused uncomfortable sleep. Next day she changed the battery of the heart-monitor before monitor removal. Another nurse stuck another needle in the crook of my elbow, taking more blood samples! The stuck needle prevented my sleep. As it was loose, I pulled it out, throwing the needle & plaster in a bedside bin! Dr R visited, questioned me & opined about my blood pressure & vertigo. She insisted I would feel "spinning." Balderdash! I had vertigo so far for four decades & never experienced spinning. I experienced dizziness, wobbly gait, scintillating scotoma & nausea when having a vertigo attack. Dr B visited, questioned me about my family history regarding stroke. He lectured me about smoking & boozing & on cholesterol production in the liver & plaque blockage of my carotid arteries. He suggested I get enduring power of attorney!
A Speech & Language therapist visited, giving me a slice of bread to eat, testing my swallowing. She questioned me about my work history & gave me a worksheet to rehab my slurry speech. Regarding my stroke she said: "Don't be hard on yourself. You got off lightly." The speech exercises were like oral exercises I did 50 years prior as a teacher student at Durban Teachers Training College & as a Speech & Drama student at Natal University: diaphragmatic breathing, enunciation, "Moo-Mo-More-Mah-May-Me..." I taught that oral stuff when I directed school plays in SA.
A Social worker gave me four pamphlets recommending I buy a hazard-button in case I fell or injured myself at home. The hazard-button Leah & I liked would call an ambulance but costed $30 / week service-charge! My house-perimeter-area would also need technical-vamping to enable the hazard-button to work. Hard-sell, as the Social worker needed a doctor's signature for me to get NZ govt funding. Commercial rip-off while I was vulnerable! I could get the same ambulance-call / cop-call service for free if I pressed my cell-phone emergency call-button! I was also questioned by doctors & physiotherapists about hand-rails for steps at my home. They were worried about me falling due to my poor balance & weakened limbs! I told them my front & back porch steps had hand-rails & there was also a wheel-chair ramp by another door.
A psychologist(?) visited, checking my cognition & memory: "Do you know where you are? What day is it today? What's today's date? Remember this word... I'll ask you for it later. Count backwards in threes from 100?!..." I asked the psychologist(?) if I was in an all-male ward. She carefully explained that the hospital had mixed-gender wards. A male orderly wheel-chaired me to the Radiology department for my brain CT scan. My CT scan would be interpreted by another Dr at Christchurch Hospital before my Timaru Drs could proceed. What a waste of time! Leah visited with my requested supplies. I dumped the gown!
TIA Stroke. Day 3. Thursday 12 September 2024. A nurse looked at my bare arm & whined: "How must I take your blood?" She jabbed a new needle into my elbow-crook for more blood samples! My blood pressure was elevated, over 200 systolic pressure! Could cause another stroke! Nurses encouraged me to get out of bed & sit on my chair. I wore my clothes & listened to Spotify music via my cell phone & Cochlear Implant. I listened to as many TIA stroke podcasts I could find to catch-up on medical jargon. I learned fast.
Dr R visited again, opining again on my "spinning" vertigo & that my elevated BP must be reduced. I guessed the medications I was fed by nurses each morning in little cardboard cups were lowering my BP. Dr B visited again & lectured some more. A physiotherapist visited, made me walk along a corridor to her physio-gym to do some tests, similar to what the admissions doctor did on my arrival at the Emergency dept. I was unbalanced, battling to walk properly. Later I wobbled to the toilet / shower room without using my stick. Leah visited. In addition to her work driving, she did daily 50km return trips when visiting me.
TIA Stroke. Day 4. Friday 13 September 2024. Lower Blood Pressure. The male orderly wheel-chaired me again to the Radiology department, this time for an ultra-sound scan of my carotid arteries. My carotids were approx 70% blocked by plaque! The Speech & Language therapist wheel-chaired me to the Assessment Treatment & Rehabilitation ward (AT & R).
A nurse weighed me on a weigh-chair. I'd lost 2 kgs in 2 days! I had a new ward-room to myself, natty shower & toilet room. Lovely sea views.
Settling into the A T & R ward, I scan-read my books. Nothing wrong with my reading, memory, thinking. I did word puzzles in my notebook. My hand-writing improved with practise. I asked a nurse to remove the admission needle from my left hand. It had not been used since admission!
I walked to the lounge, played Patience, watched TV with other patients. A truck-driver was legless in a wheel-chair. He did rowing excercises in the physio-gym. A retired Pareora freezing-worker plodded with his Zimmer-frame & noisily chattered, revving up nurses by sneakily smoking his hidden cigarettes. (Forbidden!) A Rasta-haired bloke pushed his tall walking-frame along corridors trying to walk properly. Most ward rooms had male & female patients. Leah visited with our youngest son who'd driven from Christchurch. We played Patience & Scrabble in the lounge. I walked with them to the hospital foyer door, my longest walk so far. I was determined to drop my walking stick.
A physiotherapist gave me 3 physio exercises to do over the weekend:
1. Stengthen my left arm & hand-grip by moving a yellow plastic-band (exercise resistance-band) tied to my chair. I had to stay seated & move the resistance-band away from my body then back across my body. Repeat as many times as I wanted.
2. Strengthen my hand-eye coordination & left arm / hand movements by building a tower of tapered plastic cups on my table, akin to kids' building blocks. Deconstruct the tower by restacking the cups one-by-one without the tower falling. Repeat. A nurse was amused at my clumsy efforts, saying I knocked down the tower like a kid.
3. Balance exercise as I was wonky: Stand up from my chair without using my hands & chair arm-rests for support. Push up with my stroke-weakened left leg. Then sideways crab-walk to my bed, turn & sit on my bed. Stand up from my bed using weakened left leg as push-up, turn, & crab-walk sideways to my chair & sit. Repeat.
The physiotherapist gave me cell-phone pics of me doing the exercises, so I got exercises right. Physio exercises should form new brain pathways replacing those destroyed by my TIA. i.e. Neuroplasticity. For the last 3 years, I'd already proved my neuroplasticity by playing Spotify music & podcasts into my brain with my Cochlear Implant.
TIA stroke. Days 5-6, Weekend. 14-15 September 2024. Not a physiotherapist nor doctor in sight. Offices empty, no staff meetings. Nurses, catering staff & cleaning staff ran the hospital! I checked out the wall-displayed pamphlets. I did my physio exercises. I relaxed: reading, Patience, TV viewing. Leah & son visited. He drove back to Christchurch
My hassles: swallowing & peeing. I vomited my curry & rice lunch! A nurse said it was caused by the shape of rice-grains. What a mess, I vomited a cup-full of mucous. I peed my pants! Couldn't "walk" to the toilet in time. My brain was healing slooooowly. Leah washed my dirty clothes & brought fresh clothes. Hospital saved money on laundry costs! Meanwhile an old lady was admitted to my ward-room. I think she'd had a heart attack. She was quiet, dozing behind her bed curtain. Her stream of visitors were noisy. No privacy!
TIA stroke. Day 7. Monday 16 September 2024. Using a faulty blood pressure cuff, a nurse caused bruising on my left hand & wrist. She repeated the test using another BP apparatus. A nurse stripped my pants off me & placed sticky electrodes on my upper thighs & lower abdomen for another test. She placed my breakfast-bib on my gonads for privacy. I was tired of all the testing! A nurse jabbed another needle into the back of my right hand, this time for another CT scan requiring blue dye to be injected into my vascular system to get a better view of my TIA brain damage. The dye injection & CT scan was done by another Dr. Timaru Hospital staff consisted of locals & others from all over the world. Dr B visited with a young Dr in tow, learning the ropes.
I had an assessment in the physio-gym done by 2 physiotherapists: Chair-sitting exercise to see if I could rise from a chair without falling. Physios tied a nylon-strap around my waist so they could catch me if I fell. I was asked to lean over & lean to my sides to see if my balance was OK. I was asked to walk in a straight line with a physio barking "Look left!...Look right!" while I walked. I laughed as the exercise reminded me of my conscripted soldier days in SA. A physio placed plastic cones on the floor & ordered me to stride-weave round the cones so she could stop-watch time my mobility. I did the exercise quickly. At a table, I was also timed taking little wooden pegs from a bottle then placing the pegs in rows in a wooden block & removing the pegs back to the bottle. I took that toy to my ward room, to accompany my plastic cup stacking. The physio made an appointment for me in the physio-gym for the next day.
TIA stroke. Day 8. Tuesday 16 September 2024. Dr B visited again saying I needed endarterectomy surgery at Christchurch Hospital to remove the plaque from my right carotid artery. When I asked if he would do the surgery he gave an embarrassed smile & declined. There was obviously no vascular surgeon available at Timaru Hospital.
I cancelled my appointment with the physio & returned her physio toys. Ambulances were in short supply (WHY?!) The chief nurse was in a transport bind, so Leah offered to drive me to Christchurch Hospital, a 3 hour journey. Two Social workers came to my ward offering to arrange Christchurch accommodation for Leah, but Leah had already booked accommodation at the old YMCA now called Give Hotel, Hereford St. We'd lived & worked in Christchurch for 19 years, including quake years, so knew our way around the city.
Leah drove us to Pleasant Point for me to dispose of my dirty washing & fetch a change of clothes. She drove me to Christchurch Hospital. Vascular dept, 8th floor, night-nurses were expecting me. I had a ward room to myself, overlooking Hagley Park & the CBD. A nurse gave me sandwiches for my late supper. Thereafter I ate nothing more & had a shower. Mr K visited & explained endarterectomy surgery on my right carotid artery. I signed consent forms for my neck surgery & donating urine & plaque for Canterbury University research. I played Patience & slept well. No noisy patients & visitors in my room.
TIA stroke. Surgery. Day 9. Wednesday 17 September 2024. The consultant surgeon visited & said I needed to shave my beard. I did, chivvied by 2 nurses. I peed a urine sample. A nurse pushed me & my bed to the surgery prep ward downstairs. Two more nurses prepped me for the surgery, chatting & covering my wedding ring with elastoplast. Two more needles in my left hand & wrist! Two anaesthetists prepped me & fussed. One worried about my Cochlear Implant electronics interfering with surgery machines. No problem after phoning my St Georges Hospital surgeon. My bed was pushed into the operation theatre. Vultures circled...
Approx three hours later I woke up in the recovery ward, a nurse checking I was OK. Mr K & an anaesthetist checked I was OK. Later a male orderly pushed me & my bed back to the 8th floor vascular ward recovery room. My Cochlear Implant processor was returned intact. My voice was croaky as a tube was shoved down my trachea to help my breathing during surgery. I was stuck in my bed, 3 plastic tubes sticking out of me: a drip tube in my left arm, a catheter in my penis for urine, a drain tube for gunge from my cauterised neck wound. A thick dressing covered my neck wound. My lower legs had stockings intermittently constricting to stop blood clots. Leah, sons & their girlfriends visited.
That night I didn't eat supper plonked on my bed-table. I couldn't sleep, my throat was sore & I was swallowing mucous brought up from my trachea. I asked for a bed-pan, I needed a crap. A male nurse groaned & shoved a ridiculously small bed-pan under my bare butt while I lay tube- trapped in bed. I didn't use the bed-pan. I would've lain in my own shit!
TIA stroke. Day 10. Thursday 18 September 2024. Hospital discharge. Hangers-on & consultant surgeon visited: "Do you have swallowing difficulties?" Affirmative. "Stick your tongue out!". My tongue deviated to my right indicating successful surgery. If it had deviated to my non surgery side, it meant I had another stroke during surgery. Thankfully not.
A nurse removed my stockings, & detached plastic tubes from my graunched body. Catheter removal: "Deep breath!..." She left a needle in my left hand which was bruised down to my wrist! My neck was bruised down to my clavicle! I removed the hospital's grotty gown. (A nurse had removed my pants while I was unconscious prior to catheter insertion & surgery). I dressed in my clothes. My eldest son visited & watched a physio in her physio-gym checking my walking & balance prior to my hospital discharge. Back in the vascular ward I removed the errant needle from my left hand. Blood everywhere on my hand, shoes & floor. I forgot I was on blood thinner medication. I surreptiously cleaned-up using a box of tissues.
A stroke-nurse farewelled me with 3 pamphlets: Medication. Driving. Fatigue. Legally I was forbidden driving for a month. I would need to take tablets for the rest of my life to manage my cholesterol, blood pressure & platelets! Brain fatigue would slow me down.
While Leah got my tablets from a Memorial Ave pharmacist, I disposed of my last needle & bloody tissues! Leah drove me back to Pleasant Point. As a NZ citizen & taxpayer & as my hospital stays & surgery were at public hospitals, I didn't pay a cent for hospitalisation & future medication.
THANKS NZ.
In both Timaru & Christchurch hospitals I was never visited by an Occupational Therapist.
Aftermath:
A week later, Geraldine's Four Peak Health nurse changed my neck dressing. A week after that Dr K increased my blood pressure medication as my BP was still dangerously high! We paid the clinic nurse & GP.
When reading my Amlodipine & Quinapril blood pressure tablets' pamphlets I found that both drugs caused fatigue side-effect, disguised with euphemisms like: "feeling very tired". Atorvastatin & Clopidogrel drugs for my cholesterol & platelet management respectively could also cause fatigue. Neither Dr K, nor pharmacist, nor hospital staff informed me that all my scripted drugs could cause fatigue!
Meanwhile, a Timaru outpatient physiotherapist contacted us wanting to come to our home! No thanks! After an appointment at her Timaru physio-gym / office, she emailed me some physio-exercises designed to strengthen my mid core & hips. I'd learned that conventional physio guff 50 years prior during movement classes at Natal Uni, Durban. Martha Graham type movement exercises. Thanks, but no thanks! Some video-exercises were harmful so soon after my neck surgery: Lying on my back, raising my hips, moving my legs increased pounding blood-flow in my neck! I loathed gyms of any description, reminded me of school PT. Exercise fatigue was incompatible with my brain fatigue caused by TIA. Physio exercises would waste my limited energy needed for everyday activities like housework, gardening, walking. During 2 hospital stints I was fatigued by bossy physios. They needed me more than I needed them.
My own unconventional rehab was domestic chores, gardening, walking, word puzzles, reading, watching TV, Netflix, blogging, Patience, driving. Leah gave me hand-eye coordination puzzles to do. She was Resource Teacher Literacy, South Canterbury. She knew a local physiotherapist if I needed to consult. My home activities & my neuroplasticity did most of my brain & limb repair work, not gym exercises.
I changed my diet, consuming a breakfast including rolled oats, grapes, raisins, prunes, milk. I drank coffee with my breakfast. Laxative prunes countered constipation side-effect of my scripted meds. I drank black tea the rest of the day, no milk, no sugar. Early recovery lunches while Leah was at work, I avoided pies & coffee at Temuka Bakery. I avoided bread, pasta, sucrose & junk food like processed meats: bacon, salami, pastrami, ham, sausages, etc, as those processed meats are often preserved with sodium nitrite, a carcinogenic! For proteins I ate fresh beef, chicken & fish. Thankfully my oldest son is a chef & Leah is an excellent cook for balanced suppers. I drank an ocasional beer. No-one at the hospitals, nor my GP, nor clinic nurse advised on what I should eat during stroke recovery!
For 2 sleep-disturbed nights I had Restless Leg Syndrome as I was seated too long writing this blog post. I solved my RLS by a late night walk.
Over the next few weeks my right hand & left foot would swell up. I attributed the swellings to heat, gardening & my brain reconnecting new pathways. The swellings soon subsided. Long term, hidden effects of my TIA were fatigue & weak legs. My legs were not as strong as they were pre-TIA. Post-TIA, they felt wobbly & my gait was slightly impaired. I felt I was walking slightly pissed! I compensated by trying to walk normally but not too fast!
Pre-TIA, I had intermittent vertigo with optical aura due to my deafness. Post-TIA, I still had intermittent vertigo with optical aura due to my deafness & TIA. Like pre-TIA, I would do EMDR eye exercises to remove aura & nausea. I was cautious using high ladders. I paced myself while gardening. e.g. Pre-TIA, I mowed our quarter-acre lawns & verge in a two hour stint in one day. Post-TIA, due to fatique, I mowed our lawns & verge doing two one hour stints over two days.
After I left hospital, Leah pointed out that although my speech was OK, my word-alignment was sometimes wrong! I sometimes substituted a wrong word in place of a similar word. e.g. I mixed up colours when describing something: Look at those "red flowers" when indicating "orange flowers". Sometimes I would substitute a wrong but similar word. My stroke had scrambled my speech's automatic word-selection. That wasn't noticed by the Speech & Language therapist at Timaru Hospital. I had no difficulty in talking, but sometimes the words I uttered were inexact slip-of-the-lips, like "race-track" instead of "railway-track", or "door" instead of "window", or "today" instead of "tomorrow", or "sound-effects" instead of "side-effects", or "tomato plant" instead of "lemon tree" etc. The similar words were stored in my brain, but my stroke caused them to come out wrong! I'm working on it by correcting my speech when I'm aware of wrong word-choice in my speech.
Three months after my TIA, a clinical psychologist friend opined that I had mild "semantic & phonological paraphasia, a type of dysnomia that is common after strokes." The Speech & Language therapist at Timaru Hospital hadn't diagnosed my paraphasia, despite seeing me thrice within a week after my TIA!
I have two overlapping rehabs, my unconventional stroke rehab, my conventional CI rehab where I still annually visit St Georges Hospital audiologist for my CI mapping. I stay in contact with CI rehab persons & Southern Cochlear Implant Programme (SCIP) Facebook page for advice about CI. I look at Facebook stroke pages for support info. I'm still profoundly deaf, have daily tinnitus, have deafness related imbalance, vertigo & scintillating scotoma (aura). To me, deafness vertigo & stroke vertigo are inseparable. I'm still irritated by loud background noises like kitchen noises, others' eating noises, TV ads, cafe noises, traffic, birds chirping... I have to fiddle with my CI volume-control on my cell phone to lessen overwhelming noises, or play Spotify podcasts or music to mute irritating background noise. I listen to "Recovery After Stroke" podcasts by Bill Gasiamis for stroke info & for my CI rehab.
South Canterbury mountains still call. It will take me a while to get tramping fit again, but I will start on Mt John overlooking Lake Tekapo. Then there's Mt Gerald...
Coda:
My in-patient care / rehab at state hospitals in Timaru & Christchurch was good. My out-patient care / rehab by said hospitals was wanting.That boils down to bum government funding.
21 November 2024. The Timaru Courier STANDING AGAINST HOSPITAL CHANGES reported a proposal to "see Timaru Hospital brought under the umbrella of the Dunedin-based Southern District Council.." What a stupid proposal! Govt Bean-counters expected stroke patients like myself to travel from Timaru to Christchurch or Dunedin for surgery. Those Bean-counters should drive their own cars from Timaru to Christchurch or Dunedin to see what death-traps they proposed for patients! Planning by Bean-counters to move vulnerable patients from Timaru Hospital hundreds of kilometers away to Dunedin or Christchurch is wrong. After Leah drove me to Christchurch Hospital, which had minimal public parking, late at night, we spent half an hour (me hobbling with my stick) trying to find the Emergency Department entrance!
As strokes are common, Bean-counters must employ vascular surgeons for South Canterbury. Bean-counters will save money on inter-city ambulance & helicopter transport fees. Never mind transport & accommodation costs for families displaced by hospital-displaced stroke patients .
Friday 2 May 2025. I Climbed snowy Mt John (1031m) from Lake Tekapo shore, an approx 300 vertical metres climb. Return walking distance about 5km.
Monday 16 June 2025. Saw Geraldine's Four Peak Health nurses: Nine months post TIA, my blood pressure was still high! Taken off Atorvastatin (Lipitor) drug, which caused weak legs, constipation & brown urine! What was Atorvastatin doing to my liver & Kidneys? Other meds, blood pressure & blood thinner meds continued. I collected my prescribed meds from Temuka pharmacy.
Friday 5 September 2025. Geraldine, Four Peak Health: Still fatigued a year post TIA. Blood Pressure still off the charts. Increased Meds: Atorvastatin again, Clopidogrel, Amlodipine, Quinapril, Chlortalidone diuretic. Dr K added the Chlortalidone diuretic to my meds to lower my BP. A life sentence!
Tuesday 23 September 2025. Geraldine Four Peak Health: A few days prior, a nurse took a blood sample. Weeks prior I'd had a blood sample & a urine sample taken by nurses. No response from nurses nor at least three other doctors who'd renewed my prescriptions during prior months! Although Dr K previously prescribed Chlortalidone to lower my BP, he didn't bother to take my BP at my next appointment. Instead he stuck his finger up my bum mumbling about a prostate biopsy & that I needed an appointment with peripatetic urologists at Timaru Hospital! What the hell did my prostate have to do with my stroke rehab & high blood pressure? Any trip from my home at Pleasant Point to Geraldine's Four Peak Health was 60km return. A trip to Timaru Hospital was 50km return.
Wednesday 24 September 2025. Closer to home, I enrolled at another GP's practice at Temuka. Post stroke, I would continue taking the following life-saving meds: Atorvastatin, Amlodipine, Quinapril, Chlortalidone, Clopadogrel. At my second appointment my new GP changed my Clopadogrel med to Rivaroxaban. Thanks NZ.
Twenty months post-stroke I decided to record my weekly, rural walks, as I was concerned I'd lost 5kg weight since my stroke. (My GP rekoned my weight loss was due to my better eating habits). My leg & glute muscles had wasted due to lack of sustained exercise. And who knows, perhaps the daily drug prescription I was on? I would maintain my pre-stroke walking speed of 4km/h. I was still post-stroke fatigued by any physical exertion!
Mon 04.05.26. Misty morning. Straight Walk from Driscoll Rd turnoff along SH8 back to my home at Afghan St, Pleasant Point: 4 km, 1h. Fatigued.
Mon 11.05.26. Sunny morning. Anti-clockwise circular walk: Afghan St, Smart Munro Rd, Doake Rd, Oliver Rd, Keans Rd, SH8, Afghan St: 7.7km, 2h. Fatigued.
Mon 18.05.26. Sunny morning. Clockwise circular walk: Afghan St, Smart Munro Rd, Manse Rd, Afghan St: 6km, 1,5h. Fatigued.
Mon 25.05.26. Did last weeks' circular walk Anti-clockwise: Sunny morning. Afghan St, Manse Rd, Smart Munro Rd, Afghan St: 6km, 1,5h. Fatigued.
Kings Birthday Weekend, Christchurch: Sun 31.05.26. Cloudy & warm. From Riccarton to / from the CBD: Matai St West, Mona Vale Reserve, Hagley Park, Worcester Blvd, Cathedral Sq, Colombo St, Cashel St: 10km, 2,5h. Fatigued. Mon 01.06.26. Cloudy & warm. Hurunui St, Craycroft / Cashmere Wetland: 5km, 1.5h. Fatigued.
Tues 16.06.26. Climbed Mt John (about 1000m) from Lake Tekapo shore (about 700m). Sunny. Fresh snows on the ranges. 5km, 2h return. Fatigued. Short of breath at the start due to high altitude. Unfit for mountaineering: lactic acid made in the legs, still there on Friday.
Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
Friday, February 2, 2024
Milford Huts, Milford Lagoon, Opihi River Mouth
Wed 31.01.24. From Pleasant Point, I drove approx 22km via Temuka, along Milford Lagoon Rd to Milford Huts by Milford Lagoon, Opihi River Mouth. Parked my car at Milford Huts town, Milford Lagoon.
Tramped approx 7.5km return along the grassy stopbank & nearby roads, N side of Milford Lagoon & Opihi River. First walked NE along the stopbank for approx 500m before overgrown vegetation made the walk unpleasant, despite using my walking poles to push past vegetation. Saw log flotsam & gulls beach side of Milford Lagoon. Saw 4 white-fronted terns darting & diving for prey, akin to kingfisher dives, straight into lagoon water. A DOC sign where I turned back:
Milford Lagoon / Orakipaoa
Conservation Area
Along the stopbank, I continued W from Milford Lagoon beside Opihi River true left bank, past Milford Huts, past a flood warning apparatus on Milford Lagoon bank, past farm paddocks, inquisitive cattle on my right; poplars, crack willows, blackberry brambles lining the stopbank on my left, till I came to a farmhouse at the end of the stopbank by Wareing Rd gravel.
Wareing Rd gravel took me to Opihi River. Downriver, returning to Milford Lagoon, I wandered over shingle near the stopbank, past 3 fly-fishermen, till I came to Milford Lagoon again at shingle's end. A strong swimmer, I could've swum some of Miford Lagoon from the shingle back to the stopbank, but my cell phone, car keys, cochlear implant processor would've been water damaged. Also, I was put off swimming, as I'd passed hazard signs by the stopbank warning about toxic blue-green algae in river & lagoon waters.
Riverbank backtracking & avoiding stopbank return, I returned to my car at Milford Huts via river shingle, gravel Wareing Rd & tarsealed Milford Lagoon Rd, the latter roughly parallel to the stopbank.
Note: As Milford Huts were built close to Milford Lagoon, Opihi River mouth, Pacific, the town was in danger from coastal inundations by high tides, river flooding, tsunami. Town noticeboard & tsunami danger signs gave warnings.
Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
Tramped approx 7.5km return along the grassy stopbank & nearby roads, N side of Milford Lagoon & Opihi River. First walked NE along the stopbank for approx 500m before overgrown vegetation made the walk unpleasant, despite using my walking poles to push past vegetation. Saw log flotsam & gulls beach side of Milford Lagoon. Saw 4 white-fronted terns darting & diving for prey, akin to kingfisher dives, straight into lagoon water. A DOC sign where I turned back:
Milford Lagoon / Orakipaoa
Conservation Area
Along the stopbank, I continued W from Milford Lagoon beside Opihi River true left bank, past Milford Huts, past a flood warning apparatus on Milford Lagoon bank, past farm paddocks, inquisitive cattle on my right; poplars, crack willows, blackberry brambles lining the stopbank on my left, till I came to a farmhouse at the end of the stopbank by Wareing Rd gravel.
Wareing Rd gravel took me to Opihi River. Downriver, returning to Milford Lagoon, I wandered over shingle near the stopbank, past 3 fly-fishermen, till I came to Milford Lagoon again at shingle's end. A strong swimmer, I could've swum some of Miford Lagoon from the shingle back to the stopbank, but my cell phone, car keys, cochlear implant processor would've been water damaged. Also, I was put off swimming, as I'd passed hazard signs by the stopbank warning about toxic blue-green algae in river & lagoon waters.
Riverbank backtracking & avoiding stopbank return, I returned to my car at Milford Huts via river shingle, gravel Wareing Rd & tarsealed Milford Lagoon Rd, the latter roughly parallel to the stopbank.
Note: As Milford Huts were built close to Milford Lagoon, Opihi River mouth, Pacific, the town was in danger from coastal inundations by high tides, river flooding, tsunami. Town noticeboard & tsunami danger signs gave warnings.
Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
Saturday, December 9, 2023
Mt Guy Climb, Hakatere Conservation Park
Thursday 07.12.23. Sunny, breezy morning, rain showery afternoon, Mt Somers vicinity. I drove 110km from Pleasant Point via Geraldine, Mayfield, Mt Somers, Ashburton Gorge to Lake Clearwater in Hakatere Conservation Park to climb Mt Guy, 1319m, overlooking Lake Clearwater & surrounded by Alpine peaks.
My climb stats: From Lake Clearwater carpark, 11km, 7h return. 600 vertical metres climb. (5.5km, 3.5h ascent to summit cairn. 5.5km, 3.5 descent back to carpark). Excl in stats, half hour lunch & pic break by the summit cairn. A full day's hike.
The DOC pole-marked track had various DOC signs enroute. The farm track from the carpark skirted SE end of Lake Clearwater to a Pringle memorial bench near a footbridge at the lake outlet. NE end of Lake Clearwater, beyond the footbridge, the track led to a stile from where the climb began through tussock, becoming steeper through matagouri scrub beside a rocky gully. About halfway up, the track became very steep sidling up & over rocky outcrops to ease over summit tussock with grand Alpine & lake views from the summit cairn.
Anticlockwise, Some lakes & mountains seen enroute: Lake Clearwater, Lake Camp, Harper Range, Lake Emma, Mt Peel, Coal Hill, Moorhouse Range, Trinity Hill, Ashburton Gorge, distant Canterbury Plains, Mt Barrosa, Clent Hills, Mt Somers Range, Winterslow Range, Taylor Range, Dogs Range, hidden tarns in tussocklands at mt bases, The Pyramid, Mt Potts, Mt Sunday (Edoras, Lord of the Rings fame), snowy D'Archiac, The Thumbs, snowy Main Divide, Two Thumbs Range, Rangitata River headwaters, Ben McLeod Range...
Fauna seen: Black swans in Lake Clearwater; 1 pipit, I imitated its whistle keeping it company a while; 1 butterfly; skinks; grasshoppers, flies.
Flora: Tussock grassland; matagouri; small, white flowering celmisias; bigger celmisias; speargrass; yellow flowering bulbinella; creamy flowering snowberries; white flowering pentachondra pumila, some red berries trackside; yellow flowering buttercups; pale blue flowering wahlenbergias; broom; scleranthus; drachophyllum; craspedias; scabweeds... Also yellow flowering hieracium hawkweed, seen from lakeside to mt top, thanks to past stockfarming.
As on previous hikes over the years I found DOC signs wishful thinking regarding walk times & distances. DOC didn't reckon on lengthy zig-zagging needed to avoid plant, mud, rock & scree obstacles. An example, DOC sign by the stile below Mt Guy: Mt Guy Summit 2 km / 1 hour 15 min.
My reckoning from stile to summit, as per 2 fitness apps on my Cell: 3km / 2h 45 min. (Same for ascent & descent climbs).
Patchy Cell coverage: Midday, I texted & phoned my wife from Mt Guy summit, no problems. But enroute texts I sent from Lake Clearwater carpark & half way up Mt Guy were undelivered.
Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
My climb stats: From Lake Clearwater carpark, 11km, 7h return. 600 vertical metres climb. (5.5km, 3.5h ascent to summit cairn. 5.5km, 3.5 descent back to carpark). Excl in stats, half hour lunch & pic break by the summit cairn. A full day's hike.
The DOC pole-marked track had various DOC signs enroute. The farm track from the carpark skirted SE end of Lake Clearwater to a Pringle memorial bench near a footbridge at the lake outlet. NE end of Lake Clearwater, beyond the footbridge, the track led to a stile from where the climb began through tussock, becoming steeper through matagouri scrub beside a rocky gully. About halfway up, the track became very steep sidling up & over rocky outcrops to ease over summit tussock with grand Alpine & lake views from the summit cairn.
Anticlockwise, Some lakes & mountains seen enroute: Lake Clearwater, Lake Camp, Harper Range, Lake Emma, Mt Peel, Coal Hill, Moorhouse Range, Trinity Hill, Ashburton Gorge, distant Canterbury Plains, Mt Barrosa, Clent Hills, Mt Somers Range, Winterslow Range, Taylor Range, Dogs Range, hidden tarns in tussocklands at mt bases, The Pyramid, Mt Potts, Mt Sunday (Edoras, Lord of the Rings fame), snowy D'Archiac, The Thumbs, snowy Main Divide, Two Thumbs Range, Rangitata River headwaters, Ben McLeod Range...
Fauna seen: Black swans in Lake Clearwater; 1 pipit, I imitated its whistle keeping it company a while; 1 butterfly; skinks; grasshoppers, flies.
Flora: Tussock grassland; matagouri; small, white flowering celmisias; bigger celmisias; speargrass; yellow flowering bulbinella; creamy flowering snowberries; white flowering pentachondra pumila, some red berries trackside; yellow flowering buttercups; pale blue flowering wahlenbergias; broom; scleranthus; drachophyllum; craspedias; scabweeds... Also yellow flowering hieracium hawkweed, seen from lakeside to mt top, thanks to past stockfarming.
As on previous hikes over the years I found DOC signs wishful thinking regarding walk times & distances. DOC didn't reckon on lengthy zig-zagging needed to avoid plant, mud, rock & scree obstacles. An example, DOC sign by the stile below Mt Guy: Mt Guy Summit 2 km / 1 hour 15 min.
My reckoning from stile to summit, as per 2 fitness apps on my Cell: 3km / 2h 45 min. (Same for ascent & descent climbs).
Patchy Cell coverage: Midday, I texted & phoned my wife from Mt Guy summit, no problems. But enroute texts I sent from Lake Clearwater carpark & half way up Mt Guy were undelivered.
Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
Friday, March 17, 2023
Lake Clearwater, Hakatere Conservation Park
Wed 15.03.23. Hiked round Lake Clearwater, 14km, 4.5h. Anniversary of Christchurch mosques attacks.
From our Pleasant Point home, via Mt Somers, through Ashburton Gorge & Hakatere Potts Rd, Lake Clearwater was about 110km.
Parallel glacier formed lakes, Lake Camp & Lake Clearwater, popular holiday lakes, were surrounded by Alps: Mt Guy 1319m N side & Mt Harper Range 1829m S side dominated Lake Clearwater. Eastwards, passing through Ashburton Gorge from Mt Somers, I'd driven past Mt Barrosa 1364m which I'd climbed pre Covid19 lockdowns. NW of Mt Guy were grand autumn views of Dogs Range, The Pyramid 1748m & Mt Potts 2184m which had featured in Lord of the Rings movie. Further W were clear views of higher Alpine peaks at the head of Rangitata River.
Lake Clearwater circuit walk: At Lake Clearwater village, I parked my car at the lakeside carpark near the campsite. Walking eastwards along a farm track marked by DOC poles, I passed 2 fishermen & their SUVs & a memorial bench at the east end of Lake Clearwater. I crossed a wooden footbridge over the lake outlet stream. I walked a farm track on the N bank below glacial terraces on Mt Guy S flank. There were various side tracks for fishing spots on the lake shore & a track junction for those wanting to climb Mt Guy. Passing an island, I had grand views of Lake Clearwater village on the S shore, below Harper Range. Some Alpine plants seen enroute: matagouri bushes, porcupine bushes, Pentachondra pumila, Scleranthus, white flowering gentians, spear grass, tussock grassland. Due to stock farming, lots of high country, including Lake Clearwater environs was covered in Hieracium hawkweed. W end of the lake I saw waterfowl: ducks, paradise shelducks & black swans whose wings clapped against the water when they took off & flew low over the lake.
W end of Lake Clearwater, I reached a swamp with numerous swamp plants soaking up Alpine waters. A grass featured on a DOC info board by the swamp:
24/7 workers on the job here.
Wetland plants never stop working and Carex specta / pukio is a standout.
They are a flood controller, helping to hold excess water then releasing it slowly. With a big sreading root sytem they trap sediments and pollutants.
Nothing is wasted - their old leaves drop into the water providing food for invertebrates. They in turn feed fish and birds.
Working for us forever.
As long as we keep pukio around, they'll stay on the job. They can grow large and live over 100 years...
A DOC raised boardwalk & duckboards let me to wander over the swamp without getting my boots wet. Westwards, there were grand views of the high Alps & eastwards, magnificent views of the swamp & Lake Clearwater. Thistles amongst swamp plants spoiled the conservation idea. Therereafter, as it was midday hot without any breeze across the lake, I rejoined Hakatere Potts Rd at a DOC carpark to enjoy an easterly breeze all the way back to Lake Clearwater village.
Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
From our Pleasant Point home, via Mt Somers, through Ashburton Gorge & Hakatere Potts Rd, Lake Clearwater was about 110km.
Parallel glacier formed lakes, Lake Camp & Lake Clearwater, popular holiday lakes, were surrounded by Alps: Mt Guy 1319m N side & Mt Harper Range 1829m S side dominated Lake Clearwater. Eastwards, passing through Ashburton Gorge from Mt Somers, I'd driven past Mt Barrosa 1364m which I'd climbed pre Covid19 lockdowns. NW of Mt Guy were grand autumn views of Dogs Range, The Pyramid 1748m & Mt Potts 2184m which had featured in Lord of the Rings movie. Further W were clear views of higher Alpine peaks at the head of Rangitata River.
Lake Clearwater circuit walk: At Lake Clearwater village, I parked my car at the lakeside carpark near the campsite. Walking eastwards along a farm track marked by DOC poles, I passed 2 fishermen & their SUVs & a memorial bench at the east end of Lake Clearwater. I crossed a wooden footbridge over the lake outlet stream. I walked a farm track on the N bank below glacial terraces on Mt Guy S flank. There were various side tracks for fishing spots on the lake shore & a track junction for those wanting to climb Mt Guy. Passing an island, I had grand views of Lake Clearwater village on the S shore, below Harper Range. Some Alpine plants seen enroute: matagouri bushes, porcupine bushes, Pentachondra pumila, Scleranthus, white flowering gentians, spear grass, tussock grassland. Due to stock farming, lots of high country, including Lake Clearwater environs was covered in Hieracium hawkweed. W end of the lake I saw waterfowl: ducks, paradise shelducks & black swans whose wings clapped against the water when they took off & flew low over the lake.
W end of Lake Clearwater, I reached a swamp with numerous swamp plants soaking up Alpine waters. A grass featured on a DOC info board by the swamp:
24/7 workers on the job here.
Wetland plants never stop working and Carex specta / pukio is a standout.
They are a flood controller, helping to hold excess water then releasing it slowly. With a big sreading root sytem they trap sediments and pollutants.
Nothing is wasted - their old leaves drop into the water providing food for invertebrates. They in turn feed fish and birds.
Working for us forever.
As long as we keep pukio around, they'll stay on the job. They can grow large and live over 100 years...
A DOC raised boardwalk & duckboards let me to wander over the swamp without getting my boots wet. Westwards, there were grand views of the high Alps & eastwards, magnificent views of the swamp & Lake Clearwater. Thistles amongst swamp plants spoiled the conservation idea. Therereafter, as it was midday hot without any breeze across the lake, I rejoined Hakatere Potts Rd at a DOC carpark to enjoy an easterly breeze all the way back to Lake Clearwater village.
Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
Tuesday, February 21, 2023
The Long & Winding Road, Mt Nessing, Hakataramea Valley
Tues 21.02.23. A scorching day in the Hakataramea Valley: 6am, I drove off from Pleasant Point, I wanted to climb a bit of Mt Nessing from Hakataramea Valley.
Pleasant Point - Cave - Fairlie - Burkes Pass - Dog Kennel Corner to Haldon Rd: Rollesby Range, Mackenzie Pass, Dalgety Range left, Grampian Range right, Hakataramea Pass Rd, drove over several rocky fords both sides of Hakataramea Pass top, 947m. 2017. I had summitted Dalgety Range & Grampian Range, different tramps.
After 115 km drive, at the N end of Hakataramea Valley I parked at the DOC carpark beside the road. A DOC sign:
Access to
Hunters Hills
Conservation Area
The DOC Conservation Area was a water catchment area where waters gathered from Dalgety Range, Grampian Range, Hunter Hills including Mt Nessing in the form of Hakataramea River & tributaries like Dalgety Stream & Longden Stream... Thus the DOC Conservation Area was a mix of Hakataramea River, dry & wet creek beds, low river terraces, river terrace grassland, bogs & in places impassable matagouri scrub.
My Topo50 map showed a farm track going up one of the western ridges of Mt Nessing, 1601m. Boots wet, after wading across Hakataramea River, I found the track was unmarked by DOC poles. I had to scout a bit: over a fence, river terraces, knee high grassland & prickly matagouri before I found the farm track which crossed the cachment area then zigzagged up the Mt Nessing Ridge. The farm track was also covered in knee high grass, first through matagouri scrubland then alpine vegetation, like tussocks & speargrass. Just below 900m height the farm track curved downhill to a farm fence marked on my map. My tramping logic would've been to follow the fence-line all the way to the top of Mt Nessing. Wishful thinking!
As it was scorching hot, I stopped climbing at a high point just above the farm road top curve, 860m, Grid ref: BZ17 153843. Grand views: farmsteads & green farmlands in Hakataramea Valley & views of snowless ranges: Hunters Hills, Dalgety, Grampian, Kirkliston, Benmore, Kurow. I could've climbed another trackless, 100 vertical metres to a higher part of the Mt Nessing ridge, but the February heat was dangerous, a cooling breeze, disguising my dehydration. I'd already quaffed 1.5l Coke during 2 hours' climbing. It was time to return to my car.
I drove the rest of Hakataramea Valley, about 60 kms, to Kurow where I had pie & Coke at Te Kohurau Cafe. I drove back to Pleasant Point via Waitaki Valley, Waimate & Timaru.
My climb stats:
* Height: 300 vertical m from Hakataramea River bed, partly up a Mt Nessing ridge.
* Return time: 3 h. (2h up, 1 h down).
* Distance: 9 km.
* Emergency communication: No cell phone coverage, text message undelivered, at the DOC carpark. But I was able to text my wife from the farm track a short way up Mt Nessing. Oddly, Spotify music played via my cell phone directly to my cochlear implant, was perfect, all the way. The Long & Winding Road my favourite. I don't carry a locator beacon, too expensive.
* Circular road trip: 300km.
Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
Pleasant Point - Cave - Fairlie - Burkes Pass - Dog Kennel Corner to Haldon Rd: Rollesby Range, Mackenzie Pass, Dalgety Range left, Grampian Range right, Hakataramea Pass Rd, drove over several rocky fords both sides of Hakataramea Pass top, 947m. 2017. I had summitted Dalgety Range & Grampian Range, different tramps.
After 115 km drive, at the N end of Hakataramea Valley I parked at the DOC carpark beside the road. A DOC sign:
Access to
Hunters Hills
Conservation Area
The DOC Conservation Area was a water catchment area where waters gathered from Dalgety Range, Grampian Range, Hunter Hills including Mt Nessing in the form of Hakataramea River & tributaries like Dalgety Stream & Longden Stream... Thus the DOC Conservation Area was a mix of Hakataramea River, dry & wet creek beds, low river terraces, river terrace grassland, bogs & in places impassable matagouri scrub.
My Topo50 map showed a farm track going up one of the western ridges of Mt Nessing, 1601m. Boots wet, after wading across Hakataramea River, I found the track was unmarked by DOC poles. I had to scout a bit: over a fence, river terraces, knee high grassland & prickly matagouri before I found the farm track which crossed the cachment area then zigzagged up the Mt Nessing Ridge. The farm track was also covered in knee high grass, first through matagouri scrubland then alpine vegetation, like tussocks & speargrass. Just below 900m height the farm track curved downhill to a farm fence marked on my map. My tramping logic would've been to follow the fence-line all the way to the top of Mt Nessing. Wishful thinking!
As it was scorching hot, I stopped climbing at a high point just above the farm road top curve, 860m, Grid ref: BZ17 153843. Grand views: farmsteads & green farmlands in Hakataramea Valley & views of snowless ranges: Hunters Hills, Dalgety, Grampian, Kirkliston, Benmore, Kurow. I could've climbed another trackless, 100 vertical metres to a higher part of the Mt Nessing ridge, but the February heat was dangerous, a cooling breeze, disguising my dehydration. I'd already quaffed 1.5l Coke during 2 hours' climbing. It was time to return to my car.
I drove the rest of Hakataramea Valley, about 60 kms, to Kurow where I had pie & Coke at Te Kohurau Cafe. I drove back to Pleasant Point via Waitaki Valley, Waimate & Timaru.
My climb stats:
* Height: 300 vertical m from Hakataramea River bed, partly up a Mt Nessing ridge.
* Return time: 3 h. (2h up, 1 h down).
* Distance: 9 km.
* Emergency communication: No cell phone coverage, text message undelivered, at the DOC carpark. But I was able to text my wife from the farm track a short way up Mt Nessing. Oddly, Spotify music played via my cell phone directly to my cochlear implant, was perfect, all the way. The Long & Winding Road my favourite. I don't carry a locator beacon, too expensive.
* Circular road trip: 300km.
Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
Tuesday, February 14, 2023
Mount Studholme Rd, Waimate District
Valentines Day 14.02.23. Along Waimate Hunter Rd, then Upper Hook Rd, I drove 13 km NW from Waimate to Mt Studholme Rd, a dirt road going steeply up a Hunter Hills ridge to Mt Studholme summit, 1085m. A red skull & crossbones, pesticide threat sign by the roadside farm gate:
WARNING POISON
Potassium cyanide
DO NOT touch bait
WATCH CHILDREN at all times...
DEADLY TO DOGS...
NZ farmers & foresters were a poisonous lot, happily poisoning or hunting verminous animal & plant species. Never mind copious amounts of Roundup sprayed on gardens & road verges!
The left upside of Mt Studholme Rd (forestry area?) was like a war zone, dead vegetation completely grey-sprayed to hell for 2 km farmside of the foothills road, till I parked my car by a farm / forestry(?) fence at the DOC bush area. A DOC sign:
Mt Studholme Conservation Area
Road suitable for 4WD vehicles only
In a roadside ditch near the DOC sign lay 2 animal skeletons, so hunters had been busy in the hills.
I trekked up the rocky, zigzag road for an hour odd through native bush, passing roadside native plants like Pseudopanax 5 fingers, Tutus, Hebes, Coprosmas, Pittosporums... Roadside, there were exotic plants too, like gorse, thistles, broom, foxgloves, wooly mulleins... DOC didn't spray the roadside exotics. The higher I trekked up Mt Studholme Rd the better the view: bushy ravines both sides of the road; low clouds, green farmlands & Pacific eastwards; Gunns Bush & Waimate southwards; Hook Bush & Mt Cecil northwards; low clouds scudding over Mt Studholme summit westwards, last gasp of Cyclone Gabrielle which had devastated the N Island, causing widespread slips & flooding.
Above the bushline, for another hour odd, I trekked up the rocky road through tussockland, mostly tussocks interspersed with spear grass, Dracophyllum & stunted flax. Notable were Celmisia white daisies by roadside rocky cuttings. I had missed NZ Alpine plants in their natural state over the last couple of years, due to Covid-19 restrictions, my Cochlear Implant op at St Georges Hospital, Christchurch & hearing rehab (2021) & my catching Covid flu (2022). My fitness training walks around Pleasant Point gone to waste!
Midday. Mt Studholme summit views: N & S over Hunter Hills; SW Waimate; E farmlands & Pacific; W Pentland Hills & Campbell Hills, gouged by Waihao River below. I didn't continue along the summit road or explore cycle tracks, as last gasp, Cyclone Gabrielle was threatening lowering clouds. The summit mast & two locked electrics cabins were already rattling in the wind so it was time to get off the mountain, soon covered in mist & sporadic rain showers. On a locked door a final threat sign:
CHORUS
Operational Area
This is a Multiple Hazard Area
Wear Test Specific PPE!
Beware Trip Hazards!
Beware Exposed Live Metal Low Voltage DC!
Heed Posted Warning Signs!
From the DOC sign 2 km up Mt Studholme Rd, my walk stats:
Time 4.5h return (2.5h up, 2h down).
Return Distance 11km.
Height climbed 700 vertical metres.
Copyright Mark JS Esslemont
WARNING POISON
Potassium cyanide
DO NOT touch bait
WATCH CHILDREN at all times...
DEADLY TO DOGS...
NZ farmers & foresters were a poisonous lot, happily poisoning or hunting verminous animal & plant species. Never mind copious amounts of Roundup sprayed on gardens & road verges!
The left upside of Mt Studholme Rd (forestry area?) was like a war zone, dead vegetation completely grey-sprayed to hell for 2 km farmside of the foothills road, till I parked my car by a farm / forestry(?) fence at the DOC bush area. A DOC sign:
Mt Studholme Conservation Area
Road suitable for 4WD vehicles only
In a roadside ditch near the DOC sign lay 2 animal skeletons, so hunters had been busy in the hills.
I trekked up the rocky, zigzag road for an hour odd through native bush, passing roadside native plants like Pseudopanax 5 fingers, Tutus, Hebes, Coprosmas, Pittosporums... Roadside, there were exotic plants too, like gorse, thistles, broom, foxgloves, wooly mulleins... DOC didn't spray the roadside exotics. The higher I trekked up Mt Studholme Rd the better the view: bushy ravines both sides of the road; low clouds, green farmlands & Pacific eastwards; Gunns Bush & Waimate southwards; Hook Bush & Mt Cecil northwards; low clouds scudding over Mt Studholme summit westwards, last gasp of Cyclone Gabrielle which had devastated the N Island, causing widespread slips & flooding.
Above the bushline, for another hour odd, I trekked up the rocky road through tussockland, mostly tussocks interspersed with spear grass, Dracophyllum & stunted flax. Notable were Celmisia white daisies by roadside rocky cuttings. I had missed NZ Alpine plants in their natural state over the last couple of years, due to Covid-19 restrictions, my Cochlear Implant op at St Georges Hospital, Christchurch & hearing rehab (2021) & my catching Covid flu (2022). My fitness training walks around Pleasant Point gone to waste!
Midday. Mt Studholme summit views: N & S over Hunter Hills; SW Waimate; E farmlands & Pacific; W Pentland Hills & Campbell Hills, gouged by Waihao River below. I didn't continue along the summit road or explore cycle tracks, as last gasp, Cyclone Gabrielle was threatening lowering clouds. The summit mast & two locked electrics cabins were already rattling in the wind so it was time to get off the mountain, soon covered in mist & sporadic rain showers. On a locked door a final threat sign:
CHORUS
Operational Area
This is a Multiple Hazard Area
Wear Test Specific PPE!
Beware Trip Hazards!
Beware Exposed Live Metal Low Voltage DC!
Heed Posted Warning Signs!
From the DOC sign 2 km up Mt Studholme Rd, my walk stats:
Time 4.5h return (2.5h up, 2h down).
Return Distance 11km.
Height climbed 700 vertical metres.
Copyright Mark JS Esslemont
Sunday, February 5, 2023
Gunns Bush Track near Waimate
Sat. 04.01.23. Waitangi Weekend. I drove about 10kms from Waimate along Parsonage Rd, Waimati Hunter Rd, Upper Hook Rd, Gunns Bush Rd to DOC conserved Gunns Bush.
Gunns Bush Track beside Gunns Bush Creek undulated in a string & baloon walk up the creek valley, crossing several smaller tributary streams, enabled by a muddy / rocky track, boardwalks & a wooden pedestrian bridge. Distance: slightly less than 6 km. It took me 2.5 hours with lots of flora & avifauna stops en route. Notable were bird calls, old mans beard fungus, sphagnum moss, understorey ferns & bigger tree ferns. There were lots of whiteywoods & old tree fuschias too. From the small DOC carpark, about 1km from the track start, a fine old matai can been seen just off track.
Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
Gunns Bush Track beside Gunns Bush Creek undulated in a string & baloon walk up the creek valley, crossing several smaller tributary streams, enabled by a muddy / rocky track, boardwalks & a wooden pedestrian bridge. Distance: slightly less than 6 km. It took me 2.5 hours with lots of flora & avifauna stops en route. Notable were bird calls, old mans beard fungus, sphagnum moss, understorey ferns & bigger tree ferns. There were lots of whiteywoods & old tree fuschias too. From the small DOC carpark, about 1km from the track start, a fine old matai can been seen just off track.
Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
Tuesday, February 8, 2022
Open Letter to Chris Hipkins, NZ Minister of Education. Reference: The Press article, 05.02.22
Dear Chris,
The Press article: "Teachers wanted: must take pay cut" refers:
Lee Kenny, Education reporter quoted a letter of your's: "Seabrook [School] did not 'offer an education that differs from the education students would get at an ordinary state school.'"
You are wrong Chris! Ordinary state schools have ordinary teachers with little or no knowledge of children with SLD, Specific Learning Difficulties / Disabilities (both terms acceptable), nor do ordinary teachers know how to teach SLD students in crowded classrooms. (Dyslexic, dyspraxic, ADHD students, as mentioned in The Press article). Few NZ organizations remediate dyslexia regarding psychology assessments, one-on-one tuition & teacher training. One such organization is SPELD, another is Seabrook McKenzie Centre, London St, Christchurch, where my wife Leah worked on low pay. Chris, for many years those private organizations were doing dyslexic remediation teaching which your Ministry of Education should have been doing.
The making of an SLD Teacher / Resource Teacher Literacy:
My wife Leah is our family breadwinner due to my profound deafness. Leah has been associated with Seabrook McKenzie Centre for 25 years as a self-employed tutor, full-time teacher & a teacher trainer.
2005. Leah was an inaugural teacher of children with Specific Learning Difficulties / Disabilities (SLD) at Jean Seabrook Memorial School, London St, Christchurch. The school is a private school, insufficiently trust funded, especially teacher salaries. Leah & teacher colleagues & support staff (teacher aides, psychologists, speech & language & occupational therapy staff) continued specialist remediation through Christchurch's 2010-2011 quake times (parents & staff dug away tons of liquefaction mud from school grounds after 2 big quakes) & beyond during demolition & rebuild times, enduring years of London St excavations by SCIRT & demolition ructions for years across the road at Richmond Working Mens Club, now rebuilt Richmond Club.
During the 9 years that Leah taught full-time at Jean Seabrook Memorial School it had small classes with a favourable teacher / student, 1:6 ratio, allowing close individual attention for SLD students from 2 teachers per class (2 classes) & 1 teacher aide per class. That low teacher / student ratio does not happen for SLD students in crowded state school classrooms, so SLD students lose out in state schools. Apart from Seabrook Memorial School, at Seabrook McKenzie Centre, in the same building, self-employed teachers, trained in SLD teaching, give private tuition to SLD students in separate offices, (or elsewhere e.g. state schools, like Leah did) specialist tuition paid for by parents. Overseen by Seabrook McKenzie Centre, prior to any SLD teaching, (Seabrook Memorial School or private individual tuition) all students are assessed by a battery of standardized tests done by psychology staff. Confidential psychology reports are then supplied to paying parents & specialist teaching staff for teacher interpretation & student SLD remediation during specialist teaching.
Leah worked with & mentored at least 3 teachers on-the-job. Once those low paid teachers had gained full-time, SLD teaching experience & professional guidance from Leah they left for higher salaries elsewhere. Leah was a gifted teacher, interpreting assessments & developing teaching methods to remediate dyslexic difficulties not found in text books. She willingly passed on her remediation knowledge to other teachers, parents & interested persons. At Jean Seabrook Memorial School, Leah's salary was never enough to support our family & for years we had to apply to WINZ for state financial support (dole) for our Burnside, 3 bedroom house rental. Whenever anyone asked me why Leah continued to teach at Seabrook I replied, "She's a dedicated, experienced teacher, but is not paid what she's worth."
For years Leah was / is part of the teacher training team at Seabrook & regularly ran / runs teacher training sessions during weekends & school holidays for teachers & others (parents, teacher aides...) wanting to know more about SLD teaching. She also mentors / mentored teachers studying for Seabrook diplomas. (NZQA approved diplomas). That teacher mentoring & teacher training may cease due to lack of funds. To my knowledge, no other NZ school provides those services & NZQA approved diplomas for the public & teachers interested in helping SLD children. Over the years, Leah had spent many days preparing SLD lectures / seminars & lecturing SLD interested teachers & public.
1997-2004. Leah was a self-employed tutor, teaching SLD students referred to her by Seabrook McKenzie Centre. She taught in our home office, state schools' offices & in Seabrook McKenzie centre hired offices. Her tutoring was one-on-one to remediate SLD, her hourly wage paid by parents. She was also volunteer librarian at Seabrook McKenzie Centre.
2005-2013: Leah taught primary school, SLD children, full-time, at Jean Seabrook Memorial School. For 17 years, While Leah worked for Seabrook McKenzie Centre / Jean Seabrook Memorial School, we were on wage / salary assisted dole. We had no savings & it would be impossible to ever buy a NZ house, unless we won the lotto. Our adult sons were in the same boat.
Only when Leah & I left Christchurch for S Canterbury did our finances improve, enabling us to get off the Working Poor dole.
From 2014, Leah taught for 3 years at Lake Tekapo School, an ordinary state school, after a Mt Gerald Station farmer / parent had head-hunted Leah & arranged for her to teach his dyslexic son & other children at Lake Tekapo School. The farmer / parent privately paid Leah's salary, more than what Leah had earned at Jean Seabrook Memorial School. 2016. During 1 winter school term, we lived at Mt Gerald Station, as the farmer wanted Leah to give home-schooling to his 3 children before they left for Christchurch schooling in 2017.
2017 to the present: For the last 5 years, using her hard won SLD training & expertise, Leah has been Resource Teacher Literacy, South Canterbury, based at a Timaru state school. We live at Pleasant Point near Timaru. Leah travels daily to various South Canterbury, state schools to teach primary school SLD children on a one-on-one basis, mentor teachers & advise parents, teachers & other staff about SLD challenges. Using her own car: Some S Canterbury towns / villages she visits (or could visit) as part of her itinerant, SLD teaching work at state schools: Timaru, Pleasant Point, Albury, Fairlie, Lake Tekapo, Twizel, Mt Cook, Geraldine, Woodbury, Peel Forest, Winchester, Temuka, St Andrews, Makikihi, Waituna, Waimate, Waihao Downs... involving a lot of driving in S Canterbury. (She was paid petrol expenses by her Timaru home school). Her beat involved intermittent teaching / advising / mentoring in 40 South Canterbury state schools, the biggest RT Lit beat in NZ.
While itinerant teaching in S Canterbury state schools, Leah did not lose contact with Seabrook McKenzie Centre, London St, Christchurch. Using her own car: Part-time, during weekends & holidays, Leah continued as part of the SLD teacher training team, for teachers reading NZQA approved, SLD teaching diplomas. She also continued her lectures / seminars / mentoring / advising for SLD interested teachers & public. She also trained SLD teachers at Ashburton: at a state school, a church hall, a Community Centre. Busy travel years involving great driving mileage in Canterbury. (She was not paid petrol expenses by Seabrook McKenzie Centre).
Leah's Work Background & experience which enabled her NZ Resource Teacher Literacy expertise:
SA & UK.
1975-77. Edgewood College of Education, Pinetown, SA: 3 year, pre-primary teacher diploma. (NZQA equivalent).
1978-84. Durban, SA: Several years' teaching at pre-primary, state schools, incl a Northdene acting principal position & beginning an experimental class where pre-primary children were accommodated in a Montclair primary school, Durban. Other Durban districts where Leah taught pre-primary children: Woodlands, Durban CBD.
1981. Our OE: Relief primary school teacher, various Haringey, London schools.
1984-85. Year 1 teacher at Kleinzee, Cape: A De Beers mine, private school.
Thereafter Leah was stay-at-home mother for our 2 sons.
1995. Our family emigrated to Christchurch, NZ.
1996-2004. Christchurch. Teacher aide (1996). Self-employed, SLD teacher while reading 2 NZQA approved, SLD diplomas at Seabrook McKenzie Centre. Private, one-on-one tuition for SLD students at our home office, state school offices & at Seabrook McKenzie Centre hired offices. Private, one-on-one tuition for SLD students at ordinary Christchurch schools, like Oaklands Primary, Halswell Primary, Elmwood Primary, McKenzie Residential School... The hourly pay rate was always low, pay rate set by Seabrook McKenzie Centre, enbling poor families to get SLD tuition. I did Leah's book-keeping & tax returns. For one year after our arrival in NZ we had to survive financially on our SA settling-in funds. Thereafter we could apply for NZ dole. In a low wage economy, as "Working Poor" we often applied for the dole to make ends meet! We had to inform dole personnel Leah's weekly earnings, so dole payments could be adjusted weekly.
The 17 years Leah taught at Seabrook McKenzie Centre, as a self-employed tutor, on the dole, then as a full-time, classroom teacher at Jean Seabrook Memorial School, on the dole, honed her expertise as a respected & sought after teacher for SLD children. BUT, for years, Seabrook McKenzie Centre was doing Ministry of Education work for free, by training dedicated SLD teachers & paying them peanuts while the Ministry of Education sat on its hands doing nothing for SLD students!
During the last 5 years as Resource Teacher Literacy, S Canterbury, Leah read a 3 year, correspondence, post-grad, Literacy Diploma, (with distinction) at University of Canterbury. Leah was the pioneering student for that post-grad diploma (NZQA, Hons degree equivalence). Now several other teachers have done that post-grad diploma at UC. Leah was expected to read the post-grad diploma at Victoria University, Wellington, N Island, a crazy idea as we lived at Pleasant Point, S Island. (During one semester, Leah had to attend weekly lectures at UC, lots of Pleasant Point - Christchurch travel involved). Leah had liaised with UC Education Faculty to start that post-grad diploma at UC.
Chris, there you have it, the making of a Resource Teacher Literacy, a vague designation, hiding the failure of SLD remediation by the Ministry of Education for many years. I doubt NZ state primary schools have speech & language therapists & occupational therapists doing SLD remediation & psychologists doing standardized tests for SLD students & confidential reports for parents & SLD teachers, which Seabrook McKenzie Centre did. Neither would ordinary state schools have a low 1:6 teacher / student ratio as extraordinary Jean Seabrook Memorial School had for SLD students.
Yours faithfully,
Mark JS Esslemont.
PS. I had a 22 year, primary & high school teaching career in SA, while going deaf, general science & biology specialist, teaching in Durban, Kleinzee, QwaQwa, East London, before our arrival in NZ.
Coda:
21.01.23. After PM Jacinda Ardern's resignation Chris Hipkins became the new Labour leader. 22.01.23. Chris Hipkins became NZ Prime Minister. 2024. Christ Hipkins became leader of the opposition after ousting by Chris Luxon, new PM, National Party.
Jan 2023. After completing her last teacher training course for teachers at Seabrook McKenzie Centre, Leah stopped teacher training for good. Over the years she was never paid for all the teacher training, planning meetings she attended at Christchurch, or Ashburton, or Methven. Nor was she paid petrol expenses. She was paid a pittance by Seabrook McKenzie Centre for the teacher training courses she led during weekends & school holidays. As for our overnight accommodation costs at Christchurch when Leah lectured at Seabrook McKenzie Centre, Leah paid for motel accommodation, or we stayed at a friend's Riccarton flat, when available. The flat was owned by the family of a retired director of Seabrook McKenzie Centre. Our motel expenses were never paid by Seabrook McKenzie Centre. After 6 years return commuting, Pleasant Point / Christchurch, after the flat became unavailable Leah stopped teacher training, as our expenses were a huge loss. I did most of the driving, chauffering Leah to / from her teacher training meetings & teacher training sessions in Canterbury.
Mar 2023. National teacher strike for more pay & support. That shows what nonsense ex minister of education & current PM Chris Hipkins talked. Leah is a Literacy support teacher for 40 South Cantebury schools. Go figure!
May 2025. Google search: "There are 1045 full primary schools in New Zealand. These schools cover Year 1 to Year 8. Additionally, there are 771 contributing primary schools which go up to Year 6".
So-called teacher support was provided by the newest National Govt when newest Finance Minister Honorable Nicola Willis announced her 2025 budget: Every NZ primary school would have a new Learning Support Coordinator to coordinate staff like psychologists, speech & language assistance & teacher aides. Snag was that primary school principals battled to staff classroom teachers! So where would hundreds of Learning Support Coordinators & teacher aides come from? What a waste of money!
The ugly part of Nicola Willis's subterfuge was that all 108 Literacy support teachers (aka Resource Teacher Literacy) were sacked by the National Govt from the end of 2025. Those 108 literacy specialist teachers covered literacy problems in all NZ primary schools. The biggest sacking of specialist teachers in NZ history! Leah was sacked! She & others found out about their sacking in the media! When Leah enquired about re-employment, most primary school principals mumbled about "Funding"! And the Teachers' Council & Teachers' Union did nothing about RT Lit sackings!
Why did Honourable Nicola Willis & her Honourable Minster of Education, Erica Stanford, sack 108 RT Lit teachers?
Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
The Press article: "Teachers wanted: must take pay cut" refers:
Lee Kenny, Education reporter quoted a letter of your's: "Seabrook [School] did not 'offer an education that differs from the education students would get at an ordinary state school.'"
You are wrong Chris! Ordinary state schools have ordinary teachers with little or no knowledge of children with SLD, Specific Learning Difficulties / Disabilities (both terms acceptable), nor do ordinary teachers know how to teach SLD students in crowded classrooms. (Dyslexic, dyspraxic, ADHD students, as mentioned in The Press article). Few NZ organizations remediate dyslexia regarding psychology assessments, one-on-one tuition & teacher training. One such organization is SPELD, another is Seabrook McKenzie Centre, London St, Christchurch, where my wife Leah worked on low pay. Chris, for many years those private organizations were doing dyslexic remediation teaching which your Ministry of Education should have been doing.
The making of an SLD Teacher / Resource Teacher Literacy:
My wife Leah is our family breadwinner due to my profound deafness. Leah has been associated with Seabrook McKenzie Centre for 25 years as a self-employed tutor, full-time teacher & a teacher trainer.
2005. Leah was an inaugural teacher of children with Specific Learning Difficulties / Disabilities (SLD) at Jean Seabrook Memorial School, London St, Christchurch. The school is a private school, insufficiently trust funded, especially teacher salaries. Leah & teacher colleagues & support staff (teacher aides, psychologists, speech & language & occupational therapy staff) continued specialist remediation through Christchurch's 2010-2011 quake times (parents & staff dug away tons of liquefaction mud from school grounds after 2 big quakes) & beyond during demolition & rebuild times, enduring years of London St excavations by SCIRT & demolition ructions for years across the road at Richmond Working Mens Club, now rebuilt Richmond Club.
During the 9 years that Leah taught full-time at Jean Seabrook Memorial School it had small classes with a favourable teacher / student, 1:6 ratio, allowing close individual attention for SLD students from 2 teachers per class (2 classes) & 1 teacher aide per class. That low teacher / student ratio does not happen for SLD students in crowded state school classrooms, so SLD students lose out in state schools. Apart from Seabrook Memorial School, at Seabrook McKenzie Centre, in the same building, self-employed teachers, trained in SLD teaching, give private tuition to SLD students in separate offices, (or elsewhere e.g. state schools, like Leah did) specialist tuition paid for by parents. Overseen by Seabrook McKenzie Centre, prior to any SLD teaching, (Seabrook Memorial School or private individual tuition) all students are assessed by a battery of standardized tests done by psychology staff. Confidential psychology reports are then supplied to paying parents & specialist teaching staff for teacher interpretation & student SLD remediation during specialist teaching.
Leah worked with & mentored at least 3 teachers on-the-job. Once those low paid teachers had gained full-time, SLD teaching experience & professional guidance from Leah they left for higher salaries elsewhere. Leah was a gifted teacher, interpreting assessments & developing teaching methods to remediate dyslexic difficulties not found in text books. She willingly passed on her remediation knowledge to other teachers, parents & interested persons. At Jean Seabrook Memorial School, Leah's salary was never enough to support our family & for years we had to apply to WINZ for state financial support (dole) for our Burnside, 3 bedroom house rental. Whenever anyone asked me why Leah continued to teach at Seabrook I replied, "She's a dedicated, experienced teacher, but is not paid what she's worth."
For years Leah was / is part of the teacher training team at Seabrook & regularly ran / runs teacher training sessions during weekends & school holidays for teachers & others (parents, teacher aides...) wanting to know more about SLD teaching. She also mentors / mentored teachers studying for Seabrook diplomas. (NZQA approved diplomas). That teacher mentoring & teacher training may cease due to lack of funds. To my knowledge, no other NZ school provides those services & NZQA approved diplomas for the public & teachers interested in helping SLD children. Over the years, Leah had spent many days preparing SLD lectures / seminars & lecturing SLD interested teachers & public.
1997-2004. Leah was a self-employed tutor, teaching SLD students referred to her by Seabrook McKenzie Centre. She taught in our home office, state schools' offices & in Seabrook McKenzie centre hired offices. Her tutoring was one-on-one to remediate SLD, her hourly wage paid by parents. She was also volunteer librarian at Seabrook McKenzie Centre.
2005-2013: Leah taught primary school, SLD children, full-time, at Jean Seabrook Memorial School. For 17 years, While Leah worked for Seabrook McKenzie Centre / Jean Seabrook Memorial School, we were on wage / salary assisted dole. We had no savings & it would be impossible to ever buy a NZ house, unless we won the lotto. Our adult sons were in the same boat.
Only when Leah & I left Christchurch for S Canterbury did our finances improve, enabling us to get off the Working Poor dole.
From 2014, Leah taught for 3 years at Lake Tekapo School, an ordinary state school, after a Mt Gerald Station farmer / parent had head-hunted Leah & arranged for her to teach his dyslexic son & other children at Lake Tekapo School. The farmer / parent privately paid Leah's salary, more than what Leah had earned at Jean Seabrook Memorial School. 2016. During 1 winter school term, we lived at Mt Gerald Station, as the farmer wanted Leah to give home-schooling to his 3 children before they left for Christchurch schooling in 2017.
2017 to the present: For the last 5 years, using her hard won SLD training & expertise, Leah has been Resource Teacher Literacy, South Canterbury, based at a Timaru state school. We live at Pleasant Point near Timaru. Leah travels daily to various South Canterbury, state schools to teach primary school SLD children on a one-on-one basis, mentor teachers & advise parents, teachers & other staff about SLD challenges. Using her own car: Some S Canterbury towns / villages she visits (or could visit) as part of her itinerant, SLD teaching work at state schools: Timaru, Pleasant Point, Albury, Fairlie, Lake Tekapo, Twizel, Mt Cook, Geraldine, Woodbury, Peel Forest, Winchester, Temuka, St Andrews, Makikihi, Waituna, Waimate, Waihao Downs... involving a lot of driving in S Canterbury. (She was paid petrol expenses by her Timaru home school). Her beat involved intermittent teaching / advising / mentoring in 40 South Canterbury state schools, the biggest RT Lit beat in NZ.
While itinerant teaching in S Canterbury state schools, Leah did not lose contact with Seabrook McKenzie Centre, London St, Christchurch. Using her own car: Part-time, during weekends & holidays, Leah continued as part of the SLD teacher training team, for teachers reading NZQA approved, SLD teaching diplomas. She also continued her lectures / seminars / mentoring / advising for SLD interested teachers & public. She also trained SLD teachers at Ashburton: at a state school, a church hall, a Community Centre. Busy travel years involving great driving mileage in Canterbury. (She was not paid petrol expenses by Seabrook McKenzie Centre).
Leah's Work Background & experience which enabled her NZ Resource Teacher Literacy expertise:
SA & UK.
1975-77. Edgewood College of Education, Pinetown, SA: 3 year, pre-primary teacher diploma. (NZQA equivalent).
1978-84. Durban, SA: Several years' teaching at pre-primary, state schools, incl a Northdene acting principal position & beginning an experimental class where pre-primary children were accommodated in a Montclair primary school, Durban. Other Durban districts where Leah taught pre-primary children: Woodlands, Durban CBD.
1981. Our OE: Relief primary school teacher, various Haringey, London schools.
1984-85. Year 1 teacher at Kleinzee, Cape: A De Beers mine, private school.
Thereafter Leah was stay-at-home mother for our 2 sons.
1995. Our family emigrated to Christchurch, NZ.
1996-2004. Christchurch. Teacher aide (1996). Self-employed, SLD teacher while reading 2 NZQA approved, SLD diplomas at Seabrook McKenzie Centre. Private, one-on-one tuition for SLD students at our home office, state school offices & at Seabrook McKenzie Centre hired offices. Private, one-on-one tuition for SLD students at ordinary Christchurch schools, like Oaklands Primary, Halswell Primary, Elmwood Primary, McKenzie Residential School... The hourly pay rate was always low, pay rate set by Seabrook McKenzie Centre, enbling poor families to get SLD tuition. I did Leah's book-keeping & tax returns. For one year after our arrival in NZ we had to survive financially on our SA settling-in funds. Thereafter we could apply for NZ dole. In a low wage economy, as "Working Poor" we often applied for the dole to make ends meet! We had to inform dole personnel Leah's weekly earnings, so dole payments could be adjusted weekly.
The 17 years Leah taught at Seabrook McKenzie Centre, as a self-employed tutor, on the dole, then as a full-time, classroom teacher at Jean Seabrook Memorial School, on the dole, honed her expertise as a respected & sought after teacher for SLD children. BUT, for years, Seabrook McKenzie Centre was doing Ministry of Education work for free, by training dedicated SLD teachers & paying them peanuts while the Ministry of Education sat on its hands doing nothing for SLD students!
During the last 5 years as Resource Teacher Literacy, S Canterbury, Leah read a 3 year, correspondence, post-grad, Literacy Diploma, (with distinction) at University of Canterbury. Leah was the pioneering student for that post-grad diploma (NZQA, Hons degree equivalence). Now several other teachers have done that post-grad diploma at UC. Leah was expected to read the post-grad diploma at Victoria University, Wellington, N Island, a crazy idea as we lived at Pleasant Point, S Island. (During one semester, Leah had to attend weekly lectures at UC, lots of Pleasant Point - Christchurch travel involved). Leah had liaised with UC Education Faculty to start that post-grad diploma at UC.
Chris, there you have it, the making of a Resource Teacher Literacy, a vague designation, hiding the failure of SLD remediation by the Ministry of Education for many years. I doubt NZ state primary schools have speech & language therapists & occupational therapists doing SLD remediation & psychologists doing standardized tests for SLD students & confidential reports for parents & SLD teachers, which Seabrook McKenzie Centre did. Neither would ordinary state schools have a low 1:6 teacher / student ratio as extraordinary Jean Seabrook Memorial School had for SLD students.
Yours faithfully,
Mark JS Esslemont.
PS. I had a 22 year, primary & high school teaching career in SA, while going deaf, general science & biology specialist, teaching in Durban, Kleinzee, QwaQwa, East London, before our arrival in NZ.
Coda:
21.01.23. After PM Jacinda Ardern's resignation Chris Hipkins became the new Labour leader. 22.01.23. Chris Hipkins became NZ Prime Minister. 2024. Christ Hipkins became leader of the opposition after ousting by Chris Luxon, new PM, National Party.
Jan 2023. After completing her last teacher training course for teachers at Seabrook McKenzie Centre, Leah stopped teacher training for good. Over the years she was never paid for all the teacher training, planning meetings she attended at Christchurch, or Ashburton, or Methven. Nor was she paid petrol expenses. She was paid a pittance by Seabrook McKenzie Centre for the teacher training courses she led during weekends & school holidays. As for our overnight accommodation costs at Christchurch when Leah lectured at Seabrook McKenzie Centre, Leah paid for motel accommodation, or we stayed at a friend's Riccarton flat, when available. The flat was owned by the family of a retired director of Seabrook McKenzie Centre. Our motel expenses were never paid by Seabrook McKenzie Centre. After 6 years return commuting, Pleasant Point / Christchurch, after the flat became unavailable Leah stopped teacher training, as our expenses were a huge loss. I did most of the driving, chauffering Leah to / from her teacher training meetings & teacher training sessions in Canterbury.
Mar 2023. National teacher strike for more pay & support. That shows what nonsense ex minister of education & current PM Chris Hipkins talked. Leah is a Literacy support teacher for 40 South Cantebury schools. Go figure!
May 2025. Google search: "There are 1045 full primary schools in New Zealand. These schools cover Year 1 to Year 8. Additionally, there are 771 contributing primary schools which go up to Year 6".
So-called teacher support was provided by the newest National Govt when newest Finance Minister Honorable Nicola Willis announced her 2025 budget: Every NZ primary school would have a new Learning Support Coordinator to coordinate staff like psychologists, speech & language assistance & teacher aides. Snag was that primary school principals battled to staff classroom teachers! So where would hundreds of Learning Support Coordinators & teacher aides come from? What a waste of money!
The ugly part of Nicola Willis's subterfuge was that all 108 Literacy support teachers (aka Resource Teacher Literacy) were sacked by the National Govt from the end of 2025. Those 108 literacy specialist teachers covered literacy problems in all NZ primary schools. The biggest sacking of specialist teachers in NZ history! Leah was sacked! She & others found out about their sacking in the media! When Leah enquired about re-employment, most primary school principals mumbled about "Funding"! And the Teachers' Council & Teachers' Union did nothing about RT Lit sackings!
Why did Honourable Nicola Willis & her Honourable Minster of Education, Erica Stanford, sack 108 RT Lit teachers?
Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
Wednesday, December 23, 2020
Mueller Glacier, Hooker Glacier Walk, Aoraki/Mt Cook National Park
A 4 day, circular jaunt, NZ Alpine country:
16.12.20. Day 1.
Drove from Pleasant Point along SH 8 to Lake Tekapo. Attended the opening of rebuilt Lake Tekapo School & school pool. Having taught at the school recently, Leah enjoyed catching up with friends, staff & parents. In the school foyer we admired George Emson's mural photo of stormy Lake Tekapo & surrounding Alps. We often saw George Emson's Alpine pics on TV1 weather reports. We overnighted at Lake Tekapo Campsite in one of the posh new cabins. Sunset over Lake Tekapo & Alps reminded us of all the Alpine walks we'd done by Lake Tekapo over the years, especially at Mt Hay Station & Mt Gerald Station. As it was Covid pandemic time the only tourists were locals. In S Canterbury we hadn't seen a tourist bus for many Covid months.
Day 2.
Drove from Lake Tekapo to Aoraki / Mt Cook National Park. En route, we stopped at the Lake Pukaki lookout to admire distant Aoraki / Mt Cook & Alpine ranges. Coffee bought at the Salmon Farm kiosk was expensive crap! Next door, old hydro-electric historical info boards had been revamped into new Ngai Tahu historical info boards with a window view over Lake Pukaki & Alps.
En route to Mt Cook village, beside Lake Pukaki, we stopped at the biggest lavender farm in the S hemisphere. We sat on wooden chairs among rows of lavender bushes for happy snaps. By the farm carpark, a food caravan & a shipping container shop touted food & lavender wares. Mt Cook village: We booked into Alpine Lodge for 2 nights. The reception man said the hotel was about half full with Kiwi guests during Covid times, better than no guests at all. We wandered Governors Bush Track, about 1 hour walk through native bush. Descriptive signs along the way gave us an idea of Alpine flora we could see in the park, like parsley trees, snowberry bushes... Had fish & chips supper at The Hermitage cafe. Due to Covid, the cafe & restaurant was about quarter full. The cafe & our hotel bedroom had grand window views of Mt Cook & Mt Wakefield below.
Day 3.
Checked out the DOC info centre: Lots of displays & details about Mt Cook wildlife & historical & current climbing in the Mt Cook region. Tourist shop too. The DOC foyer gave daily updates about avalanche dangers & current weather conditions. Wind forecast: 40km/h for our Hooker Valley walk.
Drove to Mt Cook campsite carpark for our Hooker Valley walk. Starting from the campsite saved us an hour or so walking to / from our hotel. Although Mt Sefton peak was cloudy, we had good views of its icefalls. We passed the dead mountaineers' memorial. After crossing the rocky, bushy terminal moraine, from the DOC path near the first suspension bridge (swingbridge) we had a grand view of Mueller Glacier Lake, but no sign of receding Mueller Glacier round a moraine corner, just steep, lateral moraine walls & waterfalls from icy peaks above. The wind whipped up dust devils above Mueller Glacier Lake moraine walls.
Mountain walls both valley sides, the well maintained DOC path continued up windy Hooker Valley, over numerous wooden steps, 2 more swingbridges, a long, winding boardwalk & a small, wooden footbridge near 2 longdrop toilets. Smarter, durable concrete, longdrop toilets were being built nearby. Along the way many Alpine flowers bloomed: Wahlengbergias, celmisias, Mt Cook lilies, bush snowberries.
Snowy Mt Cook loomed over receding Hooker Glacier at the end of its glacier Lake. At the other end of Hooker Glacier Lake, a DOC sign, red & white print, warned:
DANGER
Glacier Lake - Mutiple Hazards Exist.
Unstable Icebergs. - Icebergs can move & spin violently at any moment. Keep a safe distance.
Glacier Terminal Face is very unstable. - Ice can break off from above or rise violently from below. Keep a safe distance.
Extreme Cold. - The water is only 3 degrees Celcius.
Surge Wave. - Ice can calve off the glacier & create a large wave.
Thin Ice. - When the lake is frozen, ice is not safe to walk on.
Your safety is your responsibility.
Lunch at the DOC wooden table beside Hooker Glacier Lake: The wind was so strong we held onto our daypacks to stop them blowing away. Using my binoculars, I checked out Hooker Glacier's terminal face, a high striated ice wall, grey moraine stones on top. No snow on top of the glacier, as it was high summer. A small iceberg was grounded near us in shallow awater near a lateral moraine where the path continued deeper into the Alps below Mt Cook. Despite Covid, we'd encountered many trampers on the Hooker Valley walk, 10 km return, approx 4 hours return including lunch. The walk rose gently from the campsite, only 124 vertical m, 800m - 924m.
Day 4.
Completed our circular trek: Mackenzie Basin, Twizel: Bought honey at the honey farm. Near Lake Ruataniwha: Bought fresh salmon at the Salmon Farm, had sushi lunch there. Past Benmore, down Waitaki River Valley, via Omarama & Otematata, past hydro-electric lakes Benmore, Avimore, Waitaki to Kurow for cafe tea. Over Elephant Hill. Down Waimati Gorge to Waimati. N1 to Timaru, SH8 back to Pleasant Point.
Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
16.12.20. Day 1.
Drove from Pleasant Point along SH 8 to Lake Tekapo. Attended the opening of rebuilt Lake Tekapo School & school pool. Having taught at the school recently, Leah enjoyed catching up with friends, staff & parents. In the school foyer we admired George Emson's mural photo of stormy Lake Tekapo & surrounding Alps. We often saw George Emson's Alpine pics on TV1 weather reports. We overnighted at Lake Tekapo Campsite in one of the posh new cabins. Sunset over Lake Tekapo & Alps reminded us of all the Alpine walks we'd done by Lake Tekapo over the years, especially at Mt Hay Station & Mt Gerald Station. As it was Covid pandemic time the only tourists were locals. In S Canterbury we hadn't seen a tourist bus for many Covid months.
Day 2.
Drove from Lake Tekapo to Aoraki / Mt Cook National Park. En route, we stopped at the Lake Pukaki lookout to admire distant Aoraki / Mt Cook & Alpine ranges. Coffee bought at the Salmon Farm kiosk was expensive crap! Next door, old hydro-electric historical info boards had been revamped into new Ngai Tahu historical info boards with a window view over Lake Pukaki & Alps.
En route to Mt Cook village, beside Lake Pukaki, we stopped at the biggest lavender farm in the S hemisphere. We sat on wooden chairs among rows of lavender bushes for happy snaps. By the farm carpark, a food caravan & a shipping container shop touted food & lavender wares. Mt Cook village: We booked into Alpine Lodge for 2 nights. The reception man said the hotel was about half full with Kiwi guests during Covid times, better than no guests at all. We wandered Governors Bush Track, about 1 hour walk through native bush. Descriptive signs along the way gave us an idea of Alpine flora we could see in the park, like parsley trees, snowberry bushes... Had fish & chips supper at The Hermitage cafe. Due to Covid, the cafe & restaurant was about quarter full. The cafe & our hotel bedroom had grand window views of Mt Cook & Mt Wakefield below.
Day 3.
Checked out the DOC info centre: Lots of displays & details about Mt Cook wildlife & historical & current climbing in the Mt Cook region. Tourist shop too. The DOC foyer gave daily updates about avalanche dangers & current weather conditions. Wind forecast: 40km/h for our Hooker Valley walk.
Drove to Mt Cook campsite carpark for our Hooker Valley walk. Starting from the campsite saved us an hour or so walking to / from our hotel. Although Mt Sefton peak was cloudy, we had good views of its icefalls. We passed the dead mountaineers' memorial. After crossing the rocky, bushy terminal moraine, from the DOC path near the first suspension bridge (swingbridge) we had a grand view of Mueller Glacier Lake, but no sign of receding Mueller Glacier round a moraine corner, just steep, lateral moraine walls & waterfalls from icy peaks above. The wind whipped up dust devils above Mueller Glacier Lake moraine walls.
Mountain walls both valley sides, the well maintained DOC path continued up windy Hooker Valley, over numerous wooden steps, 2 more swingbridges, a long, winding boardwalk & a small, wooden footbridge near 2 longdrop toilets. Smarter, durable concrete, longdrop toilets were being built nearby. Along the way many Alpine flowers bloomed: Wahlengbergias, celmisias, Mt Cook lilies, bush snowberries.
Snowy Mt Cook loomed over receding Hooker Glacier at the end of its glacier Lake. At the other end of Hooker Glacier Lake, a DOC sign, red & white print, warned:
DANGER
Glacier Lake - Mutiple Hazards Exist.
Unstable Icebergs. - Icebergs can move & spin violently at any moment. Keep a safe distance.
Glacier Terminal Face is very unstable. - Ice can break off from above or rise violently from below. Keep a safe distance.
Extreme Cold. - The water is only 3 degrees Celcius.
Surge Wave. - Ice can calve off the glacier & create a large wave.
Thin Ice. - When the lake is frozen, ice is not safe to walk on.
Your safety is your responsibility.
Lunch at the DOC wooden table beside Hooker Glacier Lake: The wind was so strong we held onto our daypacks to stop them blowing away. Using my binoculars, I checked out Hooker Glacier's terminal face, a high striated ice wall, grey moraine stones on top. No snow on top of the glacier, as it was high summer. A small iceberg was grounded near us in shallow awater near a lateral moraine where the path continued deeper into the Alps below Mt Cook. Despite Covid, we'd encountered many trampers on the Hooker Valley walk, 10 km return, approx 4 hours return including lunch. The walk rose gently from the campsite, only 124 vertical m, 800m - 924m.
Day 4.
Completed our circular trek: Mackenzie Basin, Twizel: Bought honey at the honey farm. Near Lake Ruataniwha: Bought fresh salmon at the Salmon Farm, had sushi lunch there. Past Benmore, down Waitaki River Valley, via Omarama & Otematata, past hydro-electric lakes Benmore, Avimore, Waitaki to Kurow for cafe tea. Over Elephant Hill. Down Waimati Gorge to Waimati. N1 to Timaru, SH8 back to Pleasant Point.
Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
Monday, December 21, 2020
Mt Barossa, Hakatere Conservation Park
Mon 14.12.20. I drove from Pleasant Point to Mt Somers village & Hakatere Conservation Park.
From Ashburton Gorge Rd, I climbed Mt Barossa, 1364 m, Topo50 map ref, BX19 573687, a 7 hour return climb, approx 4 hours up, 3 hours down, incl many catch-breath, pic & lunch stops. Distance: 7 km return, 820 vertical m. A sunny day with grand Alpine views & views of Ashburton lake district, most lakes seen from the top, incl lakes Emma, Roundabout, Camp, Clearwater, Heron...
Many distant peaks were seen, too numerous to list: Some summits seen: Clent Hills incl Mt Barossa; Peters Range, branching off Moorhouse Range; Mt Tripp, slightly higher than Mt Barossa; Trinity Hill, Hakatere Station below; Tara Haoa Range, incl Coal Hill & Mt Peel; High Claytons; Sherwood Range, incl Mt Fox; Two Thumbs Range; Harper Range; Mt Guy; Dogs Range; Brother Range; Black Hill Range; Taylor Range; Winterslow Range; Mt Somers Range, Mt Somers coming into view on the right, about half an hour's tramp to the top of Mt Barossa. Canterbury Plains were hazy due to a high pressure system & brown smog over Timaru & Ashburton districts. As Mt Barossa summit ridge was above smog level, Alpine peaks were easily seen, like The Thumbs & D'Archiac.
The DOC track started at the DOC carpark as an easement off Ashburton Gorge Rd. The track went up a middle ridge, gullies & ridges both sides, was well marked with DOC marker poles & occasional cairns near the top. About a third of the way up there were several tors to negotiate, some the track sidled by, some a rocky scramble with scree underfoot. My aluminium walker poles were handy as a kind of zimmer-frame. High summer, many alpine plants bloomed: Bulbinellas, Hebes, Snowberries, Celmisias, Pentachondra pumila, Wahlenbergias, Coral Broom, Spear Grass...
The summit ridge had many big rocks for wind protection & many geode chips, bluish / grey agate, scattered amongst tussock grasses & Dracophyllum shrubs. Where someone had left hammered geode chips lying about, I took one as a paperweight souvenir. More weight in my backpack for my down-climb. My backpack had my usual safety kit, all weather clothes, food, water, maps. There was no cell phone coverage on top of Mt Barossa. I texted Leah on my return to Mt Somers village.
Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
From Ashburton Gorge Rd, I climbed Mt Barossa, 1364 m, Topo50 map ref, BX19 573687, a 7 hour return climb, approx 4 hours up, 3 hours down, incl many catch-breath, pic & lunch stops. Distance: 7 km return, 820 vertical m. A sunny day with grand Alpine views & views of Ashburton lake district, most lakes seen from the top, incl lakes Emma, Roundabout, Camp, Clearwater, Heron...
Many distant peaks were seen, too numerous to list: Some summits seen: Clent Hills incl Mt Barossa; Peters Range, branching off Moorhouse Range; Mt Tripp, slightly higher than Mt Barossa; Trinity Hill, Hakatere Station below; Tara Haoa Range, incl Coal Hill & Mt Peel; High Claytons; Sherwood Range, incl Mt Fox; Two Thumbs Range; Harper Range; Mt Guy; Dogs Range; Brother Range; Black Hill Range; Taylor Range; Winterslow Range; Mt Somers Range, Mt Somers coming into view on the right, about half an hour's tramp to the top of Mt Barossa. Canterbury Plains were hazy due to a high pressure system & brown smog over Timaru & Ashburton districts. As Mt Barossa summit ridge was above smog level, Alpine peaks were easily seen, like The Thumbs & D'Archiac.
The DOC track started at the DOC carpark as an easement off Ashburton Gorge Rd. The track went up a middle ridge, gullies & ridges both sides, was well marked with DOC marker poles & occasional cairns near the top. About a third of the way up there were several tors to negotiate, some the track sidled by, some a rocky scramble with scree underfoot. My aluminium walker poles were handy as a kind of zimmer-frame. High summer, many alpine plants bloomed: Bulbinellas, Hebes, Snowberries, Celmisias, Pentachondra pumila, Wahlenbergias, Coral Broom, Spear Grass...
The summit ridge had many big rocks for wind protection & many geode chips, bluish / grey agate, scattered amongst tussock grasses & Dracophyllum shrubs. Where someone had left hammered geode chips lying about, I took one as a paperweight souvenir. More weight in my backpack for my down-climb. My backpack had my usual safety kit, all weather clothes, food, water, maps. There was no cell phone coverage on top of Mt Barossa. I texted Leah on my return to Mt Somers village.
Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
Sunday, March 8, 2020
Rangitata Gorge Walk
Thurs 05.03.20. I did the Rangitata Gorge walk, halfway along to the highest point on Rangitata Gorge track (aka Tenahaun Track), map ref BX 557545, on the 500m contour, about 6 km return - 2h to my 3km turning point, 1,5h return. A sunny, windless day.
I drove 70 km from Pleasant Point, via Geraldine, crossed Rangitata River, upper bridge, and on the Mayfield Rd turned left along Ealing Montalto Rd, driving beside Mt Peel / Tara Haoa Range for about 20 kms, Mt Pukanui / Moorhouse Range straight ahead. I turned left at Klondyke Station turnoff & followed the Rangitata Diversion Race (RDR) canal along the canal dirt road for about 7 kms until the road ended at a DOC carpark, several signs at the entrance gate fence: RDR history info, DOC easement, Fish & Game Angler Access, Protect Our Waterways - Didymo... Outdoor Access video surveillance signs...
A Public Works Department, bronze, memorial plaque said:
Rangitata to Rakaia Diversion Race
IPENZ recognises this engineering work as an
important part of NZ's engineering heritage.
Approved in 1936 to provide employment relief &
a vision for Canterbury's future, this 67 km race was
the first major river diversion for development of
water resources. It supplies 66,000 hectares as well
as 27 MW of hydro power in winter...
Opened 1945.
Besides Rangitata River & the RDR canal I wandered past 2 bucket cranes, one under a green canopy & surrounded by a fence, NO ENTRY signs on the fence. The RDR inlet had several DANGER signs on a fence above the inlet: KEEP OUT AUTHORISED PERSONS ONLY...
From the river terrace above the RDR inlet, I watched 5 rubber rafts, filled with thrill seekers, shoot the rocky weir across Rangitata River, flowing partly into the RDR inlet & mostly along its river course to the Pacific. Also from the terrace, I watched a farmer across the river in his blue ute & his 3 huntaways herd red deer down 3 river terraces through a farm gate on a lower Rangitata River terrace. The huntaways ran like wolves.
The DOC easement track followed a farm fence along the E lip of Rangitata Gorge & sidled W side of Mt Pukanui & Moorhouse Range with grand views of Rangitata River running several rapids between Waikari Hills W & Moorhouse Range E. Waikari Hills' vertical strata showed tortured seismic activity over geological time.
After the the second farm gate, above a Flying Fox over Rangitata Gorge, the DOC easement track became bogged by Hereford herd pugs, so I climbed through the farm fence & walked through matagouri scrub on farmland, a safer stretch, avoiding cattle pollution & the potential for being trampled by the Hereford herd gathered on a gorge ridge at another farm gate on the DOC easement.
I climbed through another farm fence to a sheep paddock below Moorhouse Range & wandered the sheep-muddy, 500m contour track, across steep ridges to my 3km turning point, the track eventually leaving Rangitata Gorge. Grand views of Harper Range at the head of Rangitata Gorge.
Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
I drove 70 km from Pleasant Point, via Geraldine, crossed Rangitata River, upper bridge, and on the Mayfield Rd turned left along Ealing Montalto Rd, driving beside Mt Peel / Tara Haoa Range for about 20 kms, Mt Pukanui / Moorhouse Range straight ahead. I turned left at Klondyke Station turnoff & followed the Rangitata Diversion Race (RDR) canal along the canal dirt road for about 7 kms until the road ended at a DOC carpark, several signs at the entrance gate fence: RDR history info, DOC easement, Fish & Game Angler Access, Protect Our Waterways - Didymo... Outdoor Access video surveillance signs...
A Public Works Department, bronze, memorial plaque said:
Rangitata to Rakaia Diversion Race
IPENZ recognises this engineering work as an
important part of NZ's engineering heritage.
Approved in 1936 to provide employment relief &
a vision for Canterbury's future, this 67 km race was
the first major river diversion for development of
water resources. It supplies 66,000 hectares as well
as 27 MW of hydro power in winter...
Opened 1945.
Besides Rangitata River & the RDR canal I wandered past 2 bucket cranes, one under a green canopy & surrounded by a fence, NO ENTRY signs on the fence. The RDR inlet had several DANGER signs on a fence above the inlet: KEEP OUT AUTHORISED PERSONS ONLY...
From the river terrace above the RDR inlet, I watched 5 rubber rafts, filled with thrill seekers, shoot the rocky weir across Rangitata River, flowing partly into the RDR inlet & mostly along its river course to the Pacific. Also from the terrace, I watched a farmer across the river in his blue ute & his 3 huntaways herd red deer down 3 river terraces through a farm gate on a lower Rangitata River terrace. The huntaways ran like wolves.
The DOC easement track followed a farm fence along the E lip of Rangitata Gorge & sidled W side of Mt Pukanui & Moorhouse Range with grand views of Rangitata River running several rapids between Waikari Hills W & Moorhouse Range E. Waikari Hills' vertical strata showed tortured seismic activity over geological time.
After the the second farm gate, above a Flying Fox over Rangitata Gorge, the DOC easement track became bogged by Hereford herd pugs, so I climbed through the farm fence & walked through matagouri scrub on farmland, a safer stretch, avoiding cattle pollution & the potential for being trampled by the Hereford herd gathered on a gorge ridge at another farm gate on the DOC easement.
I climbed through another farm fence to a sheep paddock below Moorhouse Range & wandered the sheep-muddy, 500m contour track, across steep ridges to my 3km turning point, the track eventually leaving Rangitata Gorge. Grand views of Harper Range at the head of Rangitata Gorge.
Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
Monday, February 24, 2020
Mt Pukanui, Moorhouse Range, Summit Ridge
Mon 24.02.20. Near Mayfield, from Hinds River Gorge, I climbed Mt Pukanui, 1153m, Moorhouse Range, Map ref: BX19 562563. Moorhouse Range has Rangitata Gorge W side & Hinds Gorge E side.
Stats: From Chapmans Rd, DOC carpark easement, 10 km return hike / climb, 4 h up, 3.5 h down, 670 vertical metres climb. Beautiful cloudless day, gentle zephyrs, grand Alpine & Rangitata River views.
See Tramper NZ link for terrain pics. The Tramper time of 3 h 30 mins return for a 10 km hike / climb, 670 vertical m, was nuts!
From Chapman Rd, DOC easement carpark, for 2.5 km my hike undulated along a DOC marked farm track, sidling E around the bottom of a Mt Pukanui ridge & passing through paddocks & 6 farm gates to Hinds River Gorge, between Moorhouse Range E & Peter Range W.
2.5 km E Ridge climb: Beyond the 6th farm gate, I crossed a creek at the bottom of a tuatara-back ridge, E side of Moorhouse Range. The E ridge climb was between two more E ridges, creeks below each ridge, the S ridge, 815m, overgrazed farmland, the N ridge, 906m, bushy DOC conservation land. The "track" up the climbed ridge was not marker poled by DOC. By a creek the "track" began at the N side of the ridge before topping the ridge along a disused, overgrown, farm track, through snow tussock & matagouri, over a series of shoulders, then when the farm track petered out, the "track" followed a fence through snow tussock & Dracophyllum to Moorhouse Range summit ridge.
More alpine plants seen: Coprosmas, Porcupine Plants, Cyathodes, Wahlenbergias, Celmisias, Snowberries, Spear Grass, Geraniums, Gentians...
Moorhouse Range summit ridge was a series of knobs: Mt Pukanui S, 1145m... Mt Tripp N, 1378m... The E ridge I summited, 1153m was closer to Mt Pukanui.
The clear day enabled 360 degree Alpine views: E: about 150 kms across Canterbury Plains, hazy Banks Peninsula. SW: Mt Peel. W: Waikari Hills, Coal Hill on Tara Haoa Range. Further W: High Claytons, Sherwood Range & Mt Fox. Beyond: Two Thumbs Range with tops of Mt Edward, Mt Maud, Mt Dobson about 150 km away... NW: Ben McCleod Range & Main Divide...
Curving far NE: Mt Grey, Mt Thomas, Mt Oxford. Mt Hutt obscured by Mt Somers. Fresh snow on Old Man Range... Just some of the Alpine ranges seen forming headwaters for Ashburton River & Rangitata River, the latter flowing through Rangitata Gorge between W side of Moorhouse Range & E side of Waikari Hills.
Caution: Hill walking fitness, backpack, all weather gear, food, water, map, walking stick(s), boots, hat needed. There was cell phone coverage on top of Moorhouse Range.
Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
Stats: From Chapmans Rd, DOC carpark easement, 10 km return hike / climb, 4 h up, 3.5 h down, 670 vertical metres climb. Beautiful cloudless day, gentle zephyrs, grand Alpine & Rangitata River views.
See Tramper NZ link for terrain pics. The Tramper time of 3 h 30 mins return for a 10 km hike / climb, 670 vertical m, was nuts!
From Chapman Rd, DOC easement carpark, for 2.5 km my hike undulated along a DOC marked farm track, sidling E around the bottom of a Mt Pukanui ridge & passing through paddocks & 6 farm gates to Hinds River Gorge, between Moorhouse Range E & Peter Range W.
2.5 km E Ridge climb: Beyond the 6th farm gate, I crossed a creek at the bottom of a tuatara-back ridge, E side of Moorhouse Range. The E ridge climb was between two more E ridges, creeks below each ridge, the S ridge, 815m, overgrazed farmland, the N ridge, 906m, bushy DOC conservation land. The "track" up the climbed ridge was not marker poled by DOC. By a creek the "track" began at the N side of the ridge before topping the ridge along a disused, overgrown, farm track, through snow tussock & matagouri, over a series of shoulders, then when the farm track petered out, the "track" followed a fence through snow tussock & Dracophyllum to Moorhouse Range summit ridge.
More alpine plants seen: Coprosmas, Porcupine Plants, Cyathodes, Wahlenbergias, Celmisias, Snowberries, Spear Grass, Geraniums, Gentians...
Moorhouse Range summit ridge was a series of knobs: Mt Pukanui S, 1145m... Mt Tripp N, 1378m... The E ridge I summited, 1153m was closer to Mt Pukanui.
The clear day enabled 360 degree Alpine views: E: about 150 kms across Canterbury Plains, hazy Banks Peninsula. SW: Mt Peel. W: Waikari Hills, Coal Hill on Tara Haoa Range. Further W: High Claytons, Sherwood Range & Mt Fox. Beyond: Two Thumbs Range with tops of Mt Edward, Mt Maud, Mt Dobson about 150 km away... NW: Ben McCleod Range & Main Divide...
Curving far NE: Mt Grey, Mt Thomas, Mt Oxford. Mt Hutt obscured by Mt Somers. Fresh snow on Old Man Range... Just some of the Alpine ranges seen forming headwaters for Ashburton River & Rangitata River, the latter flowing through Rangitata Gorge between W side of Moorhouse Range & E side of Waikari Hills.
Caution: Hill walking fitness, backpack, all weather gear, food, water, map, walking stick(s), boots, hat needed. There was cell phone coverage on top of Moorhouse Range.
Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
Thursday, January 30, 2020
Beyond Quake Walls. Greeting Friendship, Palu, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia
Indonesian email focus. Email exchange about Christchurch quakes:
28.01.20.
Hi Mark,
My name is NM. I am a freelance writer and live in Palau City, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. I am very happy to find your blog and read your writings there, especially about the 2010 and 2011 Chch earthquakes. Unfortunately, I only discovered your blog when I returned from Chch last December 2019. For a week I was there to see Chch city immediately after the earthquake, including several locations such as the CBD, the red zone around the Avon River, Bexley, and as far as New Brighton.
I want to ask you a few things which I want to know about, and hopefully you will be pleased to give me information related to my questions.
1. Where were the residents moved / relocated in Chch after the government determined the red zone could no longer be inhabited?
2. What is the condition of the people who were moved from the red zone now? Do they have new, better life and better housing?
3. The city where I live in Palu experienced an earthquake which was followed by the tsunami and liquefaction on September 28, 2018. Some areas were decided as red zones and prohibited from being occupied. Residents in the red zone were moved to a new location with the construction of temporary shelters for them and waiting to be moved to a permanent location along with their dwellings. Does Chch also apply the same as this scheme?
4. There is an EQC in Chch, NZ. Before the earthquake, residents who have a house must pay insurance to the EQC? How much insurance costs do residents / homes have to pay EQC? Are payments monthly? or every year?
Thank you, Mark.
30.01.20.
Hi NM,
Glad you found my blog useful. Your questions:
1. Red-zone residents moved elsewhere to houses or rentals of their own choice, in Christchurch or elsewhere. Some rented government built, small houses in 2 Christchurch parks. Government temporary rentals were expensive. And there were few govt rentals, some built many months after the quakes. Many people whose houses were damaged or destroyed moved elsewhere to live with family or friends [or lived in temp rentals] while dealing with payout settlements from EQC and / or insurance companies.
2. Condition: Those who got good payouts from EQC and / or insurance companies were OK. Many people had to fight slow EQC and slow insurance companies to get fair payouts. Some court cases are still ongoing today. [2023. Class actions still ongoing]. Slow payouts caused psychological damage to claimants. Please Google the EQC Commission of Inquiry for more details about slow EQC payouts & poor house repairs done by EQC.
3. NZ govt did not provide free housing for house damage claimants. NZ govt did supply temporary wage cover to businesses / workers who lost wages. My eldest son got 6 weeks wages paid by NZ govt for his job loss / wages lost in the hospitality industry during quakes. Thereafter he had to find another job. His house rental was smashed in the 22 February 2011 quake and he was out of work for 6 months. He overwintered in a garage with a chemical toilet during 2011, after February & June quakes. As parents we helped him with rent, cash, food, clothes, etc, till he found another hospitality job. Many families lived / survived like that during quake years 2010-13 incl - 16 000 quakes...
4. All NZ homeowners had to pay EQC premiums to NZ govt to cover some land, building, possession damages. [House contents no longer applies for EQC claimants]. Homeowners also had to pay premiums to their private insurance companies to cover more damages to housing & personal possessions, like clothes, furniture, carpets, cars, etc... I don't know the cost of EQC premiums. If you Google the EQC website you should be able to find details of EQC premiums & more information about EQC.
Hope you have recovered from the 2018 quake.
Kind regards,
Mark.
Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
Coda.
Deja vu 2010-13 quakes, Geonet: Wed 20.09.23, 9.14am, M6.2 quake, depth 10km, 45km N of Geraldine, Rangitata River region. Approx 70km S, shook our Pleasant Point rental house for several seconds, leaving us jittery. Leah cancelled her school visits, I filled up our 2 cars with petrol & our bath with cold water, just in case! Luke said he felt the quake in Christchurch! A local school which Leah visited weekly had a real-time "drop, cover, hold" practice. Geonet later downgraded the quake to M6, depth 11km. Quake boffins opined the quake-fault was a side-fault off the Alpine-Fault which eased pressure on the Alpine-Fault.
2024. EQC renamed: Natural Hazards Commission Taka Tu Ake.
28.01.20.
Hi Mark,
My name is NM. I am a freelance writer and live in Palau City, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. I am very happy to find your blog and read your writings there, especially about the 2010 and 2011 Chch earthquakes. Unfortunately, I only discovered your blog when I returned from Chch last December 2019. For a week I was there to see Chch city immediately after the earthquake, including several locations such as the CBD, the red zone around the Avon River, Bexley, and as far as New Brighton.
I want to ask you a few things which I want to know about, and hopefully you will be pleased to give me information related to my questions.
1. Where were the residents moved / relocated in Chch after the government determined the red zone could no longer be inhabited?
2. What is the condition of the people who were moved from the red zone now? Do they have new, better life and better housing?
3. The city where I live in Palu experienced an earthquake which was followed by the tsunami and liquefaction on September 28, 2018. Some areas were decided as red zones and prohibited from being occupied. Residents in the red zone were moved to a new location with the construction of temporary shelters for them and waiting to be moved to a permanent location along with their dwellings. Does Chch also apply the same as this scheme?
4. There is an EQC in Chch, NZ. Before the earthquake, residents who have a house must pay insurance to the EQC? How much insurance costs do residents / homes have to pay EQC? Are payments monthly? or every year?
Thank you, Mark.
30.01.20.
Hi NM,
Glad you found my blog useful. Your questions:
1. Red-zone residents moved elsewhere to houses or rentals of their own choice, in Christchurch or elsewhere. Some rented government built, small houses in 2 Christchurch parks. Government temporary rentals were expensive. And there were few govt rentals, some built many months after the quakes. Many people whose houses were damaged or destroyed moved elsewhere to live with family or friends [or lived in temp rentals] while dealing with payout settlements from EQC and / or insurance companies.
2. Condition: Those who got good payouts from EQC and / or insurance companies were OK. Many people had to fight slow EQC and slow insurance companies to get fair payouts. Some court cases are still ongoing today. [2023. Class actions still ongoing]. Slow payouts caused psychological damage to claimants. Please Google the EQC Commission of Inquiry for more details about slow EQC payouts & poor house repairs done by EQC.
3. NZ govt did not provide free housing for house damage claimants. NZ govt did supply temporary wage cover to businesses / workers who lost wages. My eldest son got 6 weeks wages paid by NZ govt for his job loss / wages lost in the hospitality industry during quakes. Thereafter he had to find another job. His house rental was smashed in the 22 February 2011 quake and he was out of work for 6 months. He overwintered in a garage with a chemical toilet during 2011, after February & June quakes. As parents we helped him with rent, cash, food, clothes, etc, till he found another hospitality job. Many families lived / survived like that during quake years 2010-13 incl - 16 000 quakes...
4. All NZ homeowners had to pay EQC premiums to NZ govt to cover some land, building, possession damages. [House contents no longer applies for EQC claimants]. Homeowners also had to pay premiums to their private insurance companies to cover more damages to housing & personal possessions, like clothes, furniture, carpets, cars, etc... I don't know the cost of EQC premiums. If you Google the EQC website you should be able to find details of EQC premiums & more information about EQC.
Hope you have recovered from the 2018 quake.
Kind regards,
Mark.
Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
Coda.
Deja vu 2010-13 quakes, Geonet: Wed 20.09.23, 9.14am, M6.2 quake, depth 10km, 45km N of Geraldine, Rangitata River region. Approx 70km S, shook our Pleasant Point rental house for several seconds, leaving us jittery. Leah cancelled her school visits, I filled up our 2 cars with petrol & our bath with cold water, just in case! Luke said he felt the quake in Christchurch! A local school which Leah visited weekly had a real-time "drop, cover, hold" practice. Geonet later downgraded the quake to M6, depth 11km. Quake boffins opined the quake-fault was a side-fault off the Alpine-Fault which eased pressure on the Alpine-Fault.
2024. EQC renamed: Natural Hazards Commission Taka Tu Ake.
Monday, December 2, 2019
Coal Hill, Alpine Wind Storm
Sunday 01.01.19. Via Mesopotamia Station road, after parking my car near Coal Hill Station gate & a DOC roadside sign: Coal Hill Summit 3 km 3 h, I wandered past an Oregon Pine shelter belt, through 3 undulating paddocks, & 4 gates. One terraced paddock was desertified beige by herbicides, the other 2 paddocks grassed. Another grassy paddock behind the shelter belt had a herd of inquisitive red deer. With my backpack containing my usual tramping gear, I weighed over 80 kg.
A DOC sign at the fourth gate said:
Department of Conservation
Te Papa Arawhai
Public access through
private land
Keep to marked easement
Please close gates
Do not disturb stock
No dogs. No shooting.
Further on, attached to the red deer fence a sign said:
STEW POINT STATION
NO TRESPASSING
POLICE. NO HUNTING. POLICE.
TRESPASSERS WILL BE PROSECUTED.
SURVEILLANCE CAMERAS OPERATING.
MEMBER OF SOUTH CANTERBURY LANDOWNER'S SURVEILLANCE GROUP
I climbed Coal Hill, exposed snow-tussock ridge, Coal Creek & another steep ridge NW side & steep ridges the other, several steep shoulders, incl celmisia daisies & spear grass all the way up Tara Haoa Range to DOC Conservation Area, 600 m - 1600 m+, 6 km return. I followed a DOC goat track easement by the red deer fence, (1 shy tahr seen) 4 h up several shoulders, 5 h down. Some matagouri, coral broom, & dracophyllum scrub en route...
The hike began calm & windless with high cloud. Grand views of Canterbury Plains, hazy Banks Peninsula, Pacific, braided Rangitata River & Alpine Ranges: Waikari Hills, Moorhouse Range, Harper Range, Ben Macleod Range, Two Thumbs Range... Winterslow Range, Mt Somers Range, Old Man Range...
On the way up Coal Hill, a norwester started rippling snow tussock, soon becoming gale force. Near the top, a strong gust raked off my blue polaroids, flying them over the ridge, never to be seen again. The norwester whacked me down twice on stony ground. I ended up twice briefly dazed, after loose stones arrested my falls. I had a grazed knee, black eye, scabby nose, egged, grazed forehead. The norwester gale tried to topple me for at least 6 hours during the wind storm. I didn't make the summit, 1617 m, as it would've been fatal to continue following the red deer fence through exposed snow-tussock from the DOC Conservation Area sign to the top. Tomorrow's another day...
I returned to my car down Coal Hill, mostly crabbing alongside the red deer fance, arresting my descent, stopping me being blown off the mountain. I grabbed fence wires, full of fluttering tussock strands & grabbed fence poles thrumming in the gale. When my hands were sore, I slid on my bum on snow-tussocks, safest descent, using my booted legs to guide, like on a snow sled, watching out for castrating spear grass & prostrate matagouri. My aluminium walking sticks were useless in the gale, as the wind blew them sideways when I tried to walk. Trying to walk was too dangerous in the gale, bum-sliding & fence-grabbing was the safest way down the exposed ridge.
On the way down, when seated in snow-tussock for rests, I watched the gale making instant clouds by blowing clouds straight off the Rangitata River, the clouds hitting the NW end of Waikari Hills then veering eastwards down Rangitata Gorge. The gale blew topsoil off a tilled field near my car, the plume of dust disappearing over Waikari Hills towards Canterbury Plains. Way to go Farmer Brown, your poisoned, eroded land will soon be a desert inheritance.
On passing the shelter belt again, many wind-blown twigs were on the paddocks. On my 72 km return drive to Pleasant Point, via Peel Forest & Geraldine, many twigs, branches, leaves, cones & overturned, plastic, rubbish bins were on the roads.
Google Rangitata Gorge Images to show Alpine terrain & braided Rangitata River in the Coal Hill vicinity.
Coda:
Heavy norwesters would continue to blow the next week & on Friday night, 06.12.19, a heavy rain / thunder storm in the Rangitata catchment caused the Rangitata to flood, 3 Rangitata bridges at Arundel & SH1 closed on Saturday, 07.12.19, for Civil Defence to deal with flooding.
On Friday, we'd driven to a literacy teacher meeting at Christchurch: Arundel bridge was OK Fri morning, the Rangitata flowing strongly. Late that afternoon return drive, a heavy norwester battered Canterbury Plains, rain already shrouding the Alps, so we drove back to Pleasant Point on SH1 via the lower 2 Rangitata bridges, still quite safe. Only the following day, Saturday, after heavy night rains did Civil Defence wake up & close the 3 Rangitata bridges, a State of Emergency declared in Timaru.
Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
A DOC sign at the fourth gate said:
Department of Conservation
Te Papa Arawhai
Public access through
private land
Keep to marked easement
Please close gates
Do not disturb stock
No dogs. No shooting.
Further on, attached to the red deer fence a sign said:
STEW POINT STATION
NO TRESPASSING
POLICE. NO HUNTING. POLICE.
TRESPASSERS WILL BE PROSECUTED.
SURVEILLANCE CAMERAS OPERATING.
MEMBER OF SOUTH CANTERBURY LANDOWNER'S SURVEILLANCE GROUP
I climbed Coal Hill, exposed snow-tussock ridge, Coal Creek & another steep ridge NW side & steep ridges the other, several steep shoulders, incl celmisia daisies & spear grass all the way up Tara Haoa Range to DOC Conservation Area, 600 m - 1600 m+, 6 km return. I followed a DOC goat track easement by the red deer fence, (1 shy tahr seen) 4 h up several shoulders, 5 h down. Some matagouri, coral broom, & dracophyllum scrub en route...
The hike began calm & windless with high cloud. Grand views of Canterbury Plains, hazy Banks Peninsula, Pacific, braided Rangitata River & Alpine Ranges: Waikari Hills, Moorhouse Range, Harper Range, Ben Macleod Range, Two Thumbs Range... Winterslow Range, Mt Somers Range, Old Man Range...
On the way up Coal Hill, a norwester started rippling snow tussock, soon becoming gale force. Near the top, a strong gust raked off my blue polaroids, flying them over the ridge, never to be seen again. The norwester whacked me down twice on stony ground. I ended up twice briefly dazed, after loose stones arrested my falls. I had a grazed knee, black eye, scabby nose, egged, grazed forehead. The norwester gale tried to topple me for at least 6 hours during the wind storm. I didn't make the summit, 1617 m, as it would've been fatal to continue following the red deer fence through exposed snow-tussock from the DOC Conservation Area sign to the top. Tomorrow's another day...
I returned to my car down Coal Hill, mostly crabbing alongside the red deer fance, arresting my descent, stopping me being blown off the mountain. I grabbed fence wires, full of fluttering tussock strands & grabbed fence poles thrumming in the gale. When my hands were sore, I slid on my bum on snow-tussocks, safest descent, using my booted legs to guide, like on a snow sled, watching out for castrating spear grass & prostrate matagouri. My aluminium walking sticks were useless in the gale, as the wind blew them sideways when I tried to walk. Trying to walk was too dangerous in the gale, bum-sliding & fence-grabbing was the safest way down the exposed ridge.
On the way down, when seated in snow-tussock for rests, I watched the gale making instant clouds by blowing clouds straight off the Rangitata River, the clouds hitting the NW end of Waikari Hills then veering eastwards down Rangitata Gorge. The gale blew topsoil off a tilled field near my car, the plume of dust disappearing over Waikari Hills towards Canterbury Plains. Way to go Farmer Brown, your poisoned, eroded land will soon be a desert inheritance.
On passing the shelter belt again, many wind-blown twigs were on the paddocks. On my 72 km return drive to Pleasant Point, via Peel Forest & Geraldine, many twigs, branches, leaves, cones & overturned, plastic, rubbish bins were on the roads.
Google Rangitata Gorge Images to show Alpine terrain & braided Rangitata River in the Coal Hill vicinity.
Coda:
Heavy norwesters would continue to blow the next week & on Friday night, 06.12.19, a heavy rain / thunder storm in the Rangitata catchment caused the Rangitata to flood, 3 Rangitata bridges at Arundel & SH1 closed on Saturday, 07.12.19, for Civil Defence to deal with flooding.
On Friday, we'd driven to a literacy teacher meeting at Christchurch: Arundel bridge was OK Fri morning, the Rangitata flowing strongly. Late that afternoon return drive, a heavy norwester battered Canterbury Plains, rain already shrouding the Alps, so we drove back to Pleasant Point on SH1 via the lower 2 Rangitata bridges, still quite safe. Only the following day, Saturday, after heavy night rains did Civil Defence wake up & close the 3 Rangitata bridges, a State of Emergency declared in Timaru.
Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
Wednesday, November 13, 2019
Little Mt Peel Climb, Peel Forest Park
Tues 12.11.19. From Blandswood carpark, I climbed DOC tracks through Peel Forest, via Emily Falls & South Ridge, then dracophyllum / flax scrub to Little Mt Peel summit hut & trig beacon, 1311m. DOC Intentions book in hut. Returned via Deer Spur down dracophyllum scrub then Peel Forest back to Blandswood carpark.
South Ridge Track, from Blandswood carpark: 3.5 km, 1000 vertical metres climb. My time 5h (incl 1h to Emily Falls, 4h up South Ridge).
S & W views: Alpine foothills, Four Peaks Range, Blue Mt, High Claytons, snowy Sherwood Range, incl snowy Fox Peak, 2330m. NW glimpse, snowy Mt Peel peak, 1743m.
E views: Braided Rangitata River; braided Orari River; Canterbury Plains; farms; towns; Pacific.
Deer Spur Track: 4.5 km, my down time, 3.5h, through dracophyllum / flax scrub & Peel Forest back to Blandswood carpark.
N & E views: Rangitata Valley, Alpine foothills to snowy Alpine ranges, incl Coal Hill (part of Mt Peel / Tara Haoa Range); Mt Barossa; snowy Mt Hutt; Taylor Range; Old Man Range; snowy Mt Somers; Moohouse Range, incl Mt Pukanui; Peter Range; Surrey Hills. Canterbury Plains: meandering Rangitata River NE side of Deer Spur; braided Rangitata River SE side of Deer Spur; braided Orari River; farms; towns, like Timaru; Pacific.
Track Conditions: Low cloud, both tracks, muddy, slippery after rains.
South Ridge Track: Steep, rough, muddy, slippery. Well sign-boarded, marked with DOC marker poles & arrows. Rock scramble near summit hut & trig beacon.
Deer Spur Track: Steep, muddy, slippery. Deep ruts in places. Some DOC duckboards through dracophyllum / flax scrub. Well sign-boarded, marked with DOC marker poles & arrows.
NB: Hill walking fitness, Topo50-BY19 map, strong shoes, walking sticks, all weather gear, water, food needed. Beware exposure & unbelievably fast, DOC sign-boarded times: 3h 30min up South Ridge! 2h down Deer Spur!
Mon 27.3.23. I climbed Little Mt Peel again, only Deer Spur track that time.
My Stats:
4h up from Blandswood carpark (DOC sign, 3h. Unbelievable!)
4h down from summit hut, Little Mt Peel / Huatekerekere.
Approx 1000 vertical metres climb from Blandswood carpark. Met 6 other trampers en route. Someone kindly left beers in the summit hut.
Track conditions: Sunny day. Muddy. Wooden duckboards near summit, good condition. Wooden steps through Peel Forest, bad condition, many just mud boxes, many broken & dangerous. DOC needed to do repairs!
Little Mt Peel summit: No cell phone coverage.
Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
South Ridge Track, from Blandswood carpark: 3.5 km, 1000 vertical metres climb. My time 5h (incl 1h to Emily Falls, 4h up South Ridge).
S & W views: Alpine foothills, Four Peaks Range, Blue Mt, High Claytons, snowy Sherwood Range, incl snowy Fox Peak, 2330m. NW glimpse, snowy Mt Peel peak, 1743m.
E views: Braided Rangitata River; braided Orari River; Canterbury Plains; farms; towns; Pacific.
Deer Spur Track: 4.5 km, my down time, 3.5h, through dracophyllum / flax scrub & Peel Forest back to Blandswood carpark.
N & E views: Rangitata Valley, Alpine foothills to snowy Alpine ranges, incl Coal Hill (part of Mt Peel / Tara Haoa Range); Mt Barossa; snowy Mt Hutt; Taylor Range; Old Man Range; snowy Mt Somers; Moohouse Range, incl Mt Pukanui; Peter Range; Surrey Hills. Canterbury Plains: meandering Rangitata River NE side of Deer Spur; braided Rangitata River SE side of Deer Spur; braided Orari River; farms; towns, like Timaru; Pacific.
Track Conditions: Low cloud, both tracks, muddy, slippery after rains.
South Ridge Track: Steep, rough, muddy, slippery. Well sign-boarded, marked with DOC marker poles & arrows. Rock scramble near summit hut & trig beacon.
Deer Spur Track: Steep, muddy, slippery. Deep ruts in places. Some DOC duckboards through dracophyllum / flax scrub. Well sign-boarded, marked with DOC marker poles & arrows.
NB: Hill walking fitness, Topo50-BY19 map, strong shoes, walking sticks, all weather gear, water, food needed. Beware exposure & unbelievably fast, DOC sign-boarded times: 3h 30min up South Ridge! 2h down Deer Spur!
Mon 27.3.23. I climbed Little Mt Peel again, only Deer Spur track that time.
My Stats:
4h up from Blandswood carpark (DOC sign, 3h. Unbelievable!)
4h down from summit hut, Little Mt Peel / Huatekerekere.
Approx 1000 vertical metres climb from Blandswood carpark. Met 6 other trampers en route. Someone kindly left beers in the summit hut.
Track conditions: Sunny day. Muddy. Wooden duckboards near summit, good condition. Wooden steps through Peel Forest, bad condition, many just mud boxes, many broken & dangerous. DOC needed to do repairs!
Little Mt Peel summit: No cell phone coverage.
Copyright Mark JS Esslemont.
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