April 2012

Saturday the 7th

It’s been a while since my last post, but I have a good excuse. I’ve been away in the South Island of New Zealand and finally have some spare time to recount my trip. I began my trip by flying into Christchurch on 16 March and heading straight to the car rental service to pick up my compact Mazda. If you plan to drive considerable distances in NZ, I suggest renting an efficient vehicle because the current price of fuel is approximately USD$ 6.84/gal.

My first stop was the home of Des and Dot in Culverden, which is a 1.25 hour drive north of Christchurch. Des and Dot are the parents of a Rotarian I met at the Brisbane Mid-City Rotary Club and are life-long farmers. The next morning, I visited one of their sons and saw his farm where they grow rye grass (much of the seed is shipped to the U.S. for starting lawns), oilseed rape, kale, and other crops that can feed their sheep. That afternoon, we went to the Hawarden (pronounced “Harden”) Agricultural and Pastoral show. Similar to most farm shows, there were animal competitions, horse jumping and racing, a grand parade, local food and produce stalls, baking competitions, growing competitions, quilting competitions, a car and tractor show and, my favorite, the sheep shearing competition. The sheep shearers competed by aiming for the fastest time to shear three sheep. They used electric clippers, wore comfortable homemade slippers, and skillfully subdued their anxious sheep. As you can tell in the pictures, the Autmun weather was perfect.

After returning from the Show, I drove up to nearby Hanmer Springs, which is a small resort town formed around hot sulfur springs amongst the mountains. There were a variety of pools with different temperatures, shapes, and water jets to suit anyone’s desires. The very hot pools could be a bit stinky, but the smell of sulfur was surprisingly undetectable in most areas, and the views of the surrounding mountains were excellent.

On Sunday, I started the 4.25 hour drive from Culverden to Nelson. Unlike most major highways in the U.S., the highways in NZ are often narrow two-lane roads interspersed with one-lane bridges, sharp turns, and dotted lines for overtaking slower vehicles, so driving can be a bit tricky. Along the way, I stopped at scenic lookouts and did an alpine bushwalk.

A lookout near Lewis Pass The alpine bushwalk

I stopped in the small town of Murchison for lunch and also in St. Arnaud to visit Lake Rotoiti. The overcast skies hid some of the beauty of the Lake, but there was still a lot to see. In fact, the Lake is home to several unique foodwebs, including at least one that depends on the scale insect that bores into the bark of beech trees to feed on sap. Through the insect’s anal tube (a capillary-like structure and the longest of any inset in the world), waste in the form of a sweet honeydew (I tried some) is secreted. The honeydew provides a food source for other native species and supports the growth of a black sooty mold (a type of fungus) that forms protective structures for other insects.

My finger and an anal tube with honeydew droplet among the black mold

As I approached the lake, I heard the ironic roaring of powerboat engines that filled the valley. I thought the race to be a bit ironic because of all the conservation signs around the lake and the remote location that seemed so natural. There were several classes of race boats, and winners were chosen by crossing the finish line in the fastest time after completing several laps around a track marked by buoys.

Small block V8 powerboat

That evening, I arrived in Nelson and met Jim (a former Ambassadorial Scholar form North Dakota to Nigeria) and his family over a nice dinner at their house. On Monday, 19 March, I drove up to Abel Tasman National Park and started with a visit to the Ngarua Cave. This small cave system was made famous after the discovery of bones from the extinct Moa, one of the largest flightless birds. Part of the land surrounding the cave was used to film The Hobbit, which is set to be released in December of this year.

Entrance Exit Landscape overlooking the Tasman Bay

After the cave, I drove farther into the Park, and did a bushwalk to Harwood’s Hole one of the deepest shafts in the world. There are no safety barriers, so people can walk up to the edge and peer into the hole (I didn't post any pictures of the Hole because the only way to appreciate its size is to capture an aerial photo or a photo from within the shaft looking up; I unfortunately couldn't do either). Nearby the Hole is an additional track that leads up a steep hillside onto an impressive outlook site. The outlook is a clearing at the top of a small mountain with sheer limestone faces that allow you to look straight down over the edge as well as out into the large valley. After lunch, I headed down Takaka Hill to see the resurgence (source) of the Riwaka River, which flows out from an underground cave system and empties into the Tasman Bay. The resurgence was interesting to visit because the water is a crystal clear turquoise color and always cold. Despite the temperature, I went swimming in one of the numerous swimming holes.

At the edge of a cliff Riwaka Resurgence A swimming area

Afterwards, I visited a few of the nice beach towns that dot the northern coast of the South Island, including Marahau and Kaiteriteri.

Autumn in the top of the South Island brings apples and...great beach weather

On Tuesday morning, I went kayaking in the Tasman Bay and visited a few of the many small islands within the Bay.

In the afternoon, I popped into the shop of David Haig, a local woodworker known for his unique rocking chairs. The quality of his work is certainly at the highest level of woodworking skill. His assistant told me about a nearby woodworking school she attended, so I went to the Centre for Fine Woodworking that is just outside of Nelson. The founder of the school and main tutor, John Shaw, happened to be good friends with Brian Hearne of Hearne Hardwoods from Oxford, Pennsylvania. Oxford is very close to my home, so John knew a lot about my home area because he lived in Oxford for several weeks. John became a friendly acquaintance and let me turn a bowl on his wood lathe the next day. On Wednesday evening, I spoke to Nelson West Rotary, where Jim is the president.

Stunning sunset from Jim's backyard overlooking the Bay and National Park

On Thursday, I did the 7 hour drive back to Christchurch via the West Coast and eventually went through Arthur’s Pass. In total, I drove 1350 km, which is nearly 840 miles.

Arthur's Pass

After returning the rental car, I flew down to Invercargill, which is the southernmost city in New Zealand. For most domestic Air New Zealand flights, there is no security screening; you simply print your boarding pass and bag tag, drop off your bag, and board the plane all in a matter of just a few minutes! I stayed with Alice and Ian, who are Rotarians that live in Invercargill. Donna is another Rotarian who helped arrange my time there, and we met at the Southland Museum on Friday morning. I saw the Tuataras, which are part of an ancient lineage of reptiles native to New Zealand that can easily live past 100 years and possibly up to 200 years in captivity. After seeing the exhibits, Donna arranged for me talk with a newspaper journalist to explain my role as an Ambassadorial Scholar and describe some of my activities, including presentations to high school students. You can access the article here.

After lunch with Donna, I saw the Burt Munro exhibit at Hayes Hardware Store. Burt Munro is a local legend because he set the world speed record of 183 mph on a motorcycle in the sub-1000cc engine class in 1967. He was 68 years old when he achieved this record, which still stands today, and he modified an Indian motorcycle to achieve his goal. In 2005, the movie “World’s Fastest Indian” was released with Anthony Hopkins playing Burt Munro. I really enjoyed the hardware store and never visited such a unique store that contained a motorcycle exhibit along with other old cars, machinery, and hand tools in addition to a high-quality stock of retail merchandise.

The record-breaking Indian motorcycle with replica shell in background...a unique combination of old tools and new tools

Later that day, I went to the Invercargill Velodrome and want to go back so I can ride on it. The steeply-banked turns require sufficient speed to prevent falling onto the ground.

I then visited Steve at Venture Southland because he knows several Rotarians and is involved with two very interesting projects. The first project utilizes pancreatic cells from pigs that have been breeding on the Auckland Islands (originally introduced in the 1800s as a food source for stranded sealers and whalers) free of common pathogens. The cells are coated in an algae-based capsule that blocks access to antibodies and averts the need for immunosuppresion. The implanted pancreatic cells produce insulin (released through the semi-permeable capsule) and are being used without rejection for treating people with Type I diabetes.

The other project involved the establishment of a spacecraft tracking station on the Awarua Plain just outside of Invercargill. Most recently, the station tracked several automated (no people inside) transfer vehicles (ATV) that service the International Space Station (ISS). I was very lucky because, during that evening on 23 March, the tracking station was involved with the launch of an ATV carrying 12 months of supplies to the ISS, which became the most important mission to date. Steve invited me to their conference room to watch the launch and the work of the Awarua Station on a live feed (we weren’t allowed inside the Awarua Station because it was in lockdown mode to prevent any disturbances to its mission). The atmosphere was buzzing with excitement just before the launch. We watched the rocket (with its ATV payload) lift off from Guiana in South America around 6:30 pm NZ time and the controllers in the European Space Agency (ESA) headquarters in Paris intently watch their monitors and report data values. The rocket took about 40 minutes to be within tracking range of Awarua so, during that time, I spoke to the group of people gathered in the Venture Southland conference room. On the live feed, we then heard that contact was made with the ATV and that the rocket was at the correct altitude (~270 km) and cruising at the correct velocity (~7.5 km/s). With the positive results, the ESA jettisoned the primary systems and fired the secondary rockets to push the ATV into outer orbit. Five days later on 25 March, the ATV successful docked with the ISS! Dependence on the ATV deliveries has sharply increased after the cessation of the NASA space shuttle program. I never expected to sit in on such an important ISS event and especially didn’t expect to do this in the modest city of Invercargill!

2 min 35 s before lift-off ESA engineers and controllers in Paris

That evening, a local Rotarian invited me to his company’s annual retreat on Saturday. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity so quickly agreed to tag along. Two buses of people left in the morning and, after a stop for a nice morning tea, we boarded a boat to cross Manapouri Lake in Fiordland National Park. On the other side of the lake is Manapouri Power Station, the largest hydroelectric power station in NZ and the second largest power station in NZ. Most of the electric produced at this location supplies an aluminum (or aluminium here) smelter near Bluff, which is about 20 km southeast of Invercargill. Both the twisting 2 km underground access tunnel to the machine hall and the machine hall itself (111m long x 18m high x 34m wide) were impressive, considering the amount of rock that had to be exploded and excavated.

Water turbine electric generators

After lunch on the return boat, we headed to Te Anau (pronounced “tea-ah-nu”), a small holiday town on the edge of Te Anau Lake. I went with a smaller group to a remote farm to play several games of paintball (I still have a few bruises), and then we returned for an enjoyable dinner with the entire group. That night, I experienced some of Invercargill’s nightlife with a few new friends I made while on the trip.

On Sunday, I met my other host family from Invercargill comprised of Paul, Sandra, and their three children. They showed me around Bluff (known for its Oysters; I tried some), and I saw the aluminum smelter. There are a lot of interesting facts about this smelter on its Wikipedia page. In the afternoon, I went mountain biking in a nearby recreational area called Sandy Point, which also has race tracks, rowing, paintballing, archery, sports fields, horseback riding, and an area to drive on the beach. That night, Paul and Sandra had friends over, and we all had an enjoyable dinner together.

The smelter is on the peninsula

On Monday, I visited James Hargest High School and spoke to 11 different science classes about my recent educational path and future plans, research at the QIMR, role as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar, Rotary scholarship opportunities for high school students, the need for university science graduates, and the job market for science graduates. My goal is to change students’ preconceptions of what it means to do science and explain that there is no longer a traditional or standard path to a particular degree or position. I also use my research project to explain the interconnectedness among many areas of science and experience with philosophy of science to challenge their beliefs. I also answered a lot of questions about myself, the U.S., my research project, and opportunities with Rotary. A few of the students left comments on the homepage of this website. Some differences between high schools in Pennsylvania and New Zealand are that New Zealand students graduate high school after year 13, but they are still 18 when they graduate. There are four 10-week sessions with three 2-week breaks in between and a 6-week break for the summer; this regularity may help prevent students from falling into an academic lull that often happens during shorter inter-semester breaks and a long summer break. Finally, classes run from 8:30 am to 3:30 pm, which is later than my high school in Pennsylvania and probably better because teenagers tend to arise late and fall asleep late.

That evening, I spoke to Invercargill East Rotary, where Donna is the president. On Tuesday morning, Paul and I visited the Bill Richardson Truck Museum, which is the largest private collection of its type in the world! The quality and variety of the trucks is superb, some vehicles are very rare or even one-of-a-kind, and we could have spent many hours looking at all of the truck more closely. The collection is not open to the public, so we had a tour by the manager of the collection because Bill Richardson passed away a few years ago. It’s hard to imagine the amount of time that went into finding the trucks and restoring them to their original mechanic and cosmetic conditions. Two of the vehicles in the collection were shipped over from Pennsylvania!

1916 Mack Truck. Engine hood profile looks like a bulldog, hence the hood ornament now on all Mack Trucks. Production is in Allentown, PA.

After seeing the trucks, I spoke at the lunchtime meeting of Invercargill Rotary, where Alice is the president. This was my 30th Rotary presentation excluding my visits to the science classes. Colin and Jean were visiting Rotarians from Queenstown Rotary who happened to be at the meeting to promote their district conference. They kindly drove me from Invercargill to the historic gold mining town of Arrowtown (just outside of Queenstown) and showed me points of interest along the way, including their former sheep farm that they managed for 40 years.

More sheep! In NZ, sheep outnumber people by a factor of at least 10.

Our final destination was the house of Rotarian Chris and his wife Pam in Arrowtown. They sponsored a fundraiser dinner for Queenstown Rotary and invited over other Rotarians. We had an excellent dinner and made new friends. I also had a chance to speak to everyone about my background and roles as an Ambassadorial Scholar.

Great view from the dinner table. Great company and food.

On Wednesday, 28 March, Colin picked me up and we started a drive around the area. Our first stop was watching people go bungee jumping; this was a bit beyond my idea of fun. We then stopped in at the vineyard where Colin occasionally works and saw parts of Cromwell, which has a good climate for orchards and vineyards.

A lot of seasonal labor is required to cover the vines and pick the fruit. Looking for a job??

One of Colin’s friends is a woodturner, so we visited his shop and spoke with him for a couple of hours. I admired his work and custom-built lathe and learned some tips for better woodturning. We then went to Wanaka (pronounced “wan-a-ka”) for coffee and cheese rolls, a notable staple of Southlanders, and to see the unique houses that border Lake Wanaka. We returned to Arrowntown via the scenic Crown Range Road (the highest sealed road in NZ) and had dinner at home.

The clear water of Lake Wanaka There were parcels for sale here! Parts of the Crown Range and its twisting road

That night, Colin and I met up with the vineyard manager to drive around in a small utility vehicle and shoot rabbits. Rabbits are a major problem in NZ because they damage native habitats and, on farms, damage crops and irrigation systems; they were foolishly introduced by English/European settlers. The introduction of a virus has been the most effective tool for decreasing the rabbit population. We shot about 12 rabbits, which is a small number and a good sign that the local rabbit population is small. Since we were in a remote area, the amount of visible stars was absolutely stunning. The moon wasn’t too bright, so I also easily saw a satellite gliding across the night sky. Most people rarely see all of the stars and the Magellanic Clouds, so I felt very privileged and humbled by the massive number of stars. I hope to get a few more opportunities to view the stars in their full glory while in Australia and recommend this activity to anyone who cannot remember the last time they saw the full array of stars at night.

On Thursday, I boarded the TSS Earnslaw Steamship for a trip across Lake Wakatipu in Queenstown. The upper portion of the engine room is open to the public and offers a great view of the hissing and thumping cadence of the steam engine that drives the dual propeller shafts. A Queenstown Rotarian kindly arranged this trip for me and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The steamer makes it away across the lake to the Walter Peak Farm, where a boat is the only form of transportation between the Farm and Queenstown; the surrounding mountains are too rugged and steep for constructing proper roads. At the farm, we saw a sheep herding and sheering demonstration, had a delightful morning tea with spectacular views, learned more about the history of the farm (it’s still operating) and the livestock grown in the area, and then returned to Queenstown via the Steamship.

Looking back at Queenstown View from the morning tea patio The weather required a sweater The Steamship in very clear water

Once back in Queenstown, I met the head of the Science Department at Wakatipu High School. The current principal at Wakatipu High School was the former principal at James Hargest High School in Invercargill, and Colin had a contact at Wakatipu so I could speak there. Although I only spoke to one senior class at Wakatipu, several students from other classes attended the session, and the students were very interested in my background. They asked many good questions, so I ended up staying for the entire one-hour class period! I’m confident that some of the students will ultimately pursue a science degree at a university and consider opportunities available through Rotary.

Since I didn’t have much time left in the Queenstown area, I made the most of my remaining hours, especially since Queenstown is known as the adventure capital of the world. After the high school visit, I booked a jet boat ride in the Shotover River. The boats work like jet skis, since they have no external propeller, and they have a massive amount of power made by two supercharged V6 engines that produce a total of 520 horsepower. Even so, they still skim across water as shallow as 4 inches! The ride was exhilarating because the driver twists though narrow canyons and sometimes seems to be only inches from rocks. Several 360 degree turns got most of us wet and a good amount of water in my ear; my face also felt numb after the ride because the water evaporated quickly when we were barreling down the river, and the wind chill in the shady areas in the canyon was quite cold. As you can see in the picture, I still had my dress shirt on (but they gave us a rain coat), and the boat driver was much better dressed for the conditions than the rest of us. Would I do it again? Oh yeah!

Chris picked me up after the jet boat ride, and we got dinner at Fergburger, which has the equivalent reputation of a Philly Cheese Steak or a Primanti Brothers Sandwich. You cannot leave Queenstown without having a Fergburger. I’d definitely go back and make sure to go at a non-peak time because the shop can get extremely busy with lines stretching out the door and down the sidewalk.

On Friday morning, I did a ~11 km bushwalk through Sawpit Gully outside of Arrowtown. After completing the circuit, I walked through the main part of Arrowtown and checked out the shops, cafes, and the gold museum. Many people still go panning for gold in the nearby Arrow River, and there are many more bushwalking tracks and a 4WD track that seem enjoyable. Chris and I had traditional meat pies for lunch, and then I unfortunately had to go to the airport to depart for Christchurch.

Looking towards Queenstown The once gold-laden Arrow River

After settling into my motel in Christchurch, I took a bus into the central area of the city now known as the Red Zone. For those of you not familiar with recent events in Christchurch, the city experienced several devastating earthquakes in the past two years, with the most recent big ones in December 2011 and January of this year. Remnants of damaged buildings are still being demolished and very little re-building has commenced. The central business district felt like a ghost town when I walked around except for the ReStart shopping center built from shipping containers. I read a newspaper article while I was there about the debate over how to rebuild the city, but I cannot imagine how anyone would support re-building in such an earthquake-prone area if safety is to be kept paramount while maintaining costs at a reasonable level.

Many buildings and structures still have gaping cracks

On Saturday morning just before my alarm was set to ring, I was awakened by my bed shaking. At first, I thought I was dreaming or maybe a large truck drove by. The shaking started with a quick jolt followed by several smaller ones that tapered off after several seconds. I confirmed my suspicion that I experienced my first earthquake after checking this site once I returned back to Brisbane. The quake was at 7:54 am on 31 March and had a magnitude of 3.8, which won’t damage any structures but is certainly strong enough to be felt, especially if the origin has a shallow depth.

This past week, I caught up with lab work and did an oral presentation at the QIMR Student Symposium along with 25 other PhD students. I also attended a Rotaract meeting, where we planned an upcoming camping trip as well as a trivia and dinner fundraiser night.

Wednesday the 25th

I cannot promise as much excitement with this post but have a few interesting updates. Firstly, Coleman visited Brisbane a few days ago for work-related training. Coleman is the grandson of the Rotarian from Jeannette, Pennsylvania who first told me about this scholarship several years ago. If it weren’t for a chance meeting between him and my father, I would have probably not known about the scholarship or discovered it too late. Let me also emphasize that the Ambassadorial Scholarship is only available to post-graduate students without Rotarians in their immediate family. Anyway, I met Coleman and a few of his colleagues for drinks and dinner along the Brisbane River in the South Bank area. I found it amusing that one of Coleman’s co-workers wasn’t sure if I had an Australian or an American accent. I guess I’m picking up some of the Australian accent and really hope to retain some of it for my return home. I have to admit that the American accent of Coleman and his co-worker sounded much more pronounced than I expected because I hear the Australian accent so often.

Two weekends ago, I went to the birthday party for a Rotarian in my host club. I was glad to be included because we had an enjoyable dinner at an Italian restaurant, and I met a few new people.

Last week, I gave my 31st Rotary presentation at the Geebung Club. I still have a few more planned and was recently invited to speak at the Caloundra Rotary Changeover in June! Changeover is one of the most important events for club-level proceedings and marks the formal start of a term for a new president along with new board members.

Last week also marked the annual three-day QIMR High School Science Seminar, during which over 600 high school students visited the QIMR to learn about different science professions, tour the facilities, and talk to students and staff. The Seminar is part of an initiative to encourage year 11 and 12 high school students to pursue a science degree at a university. As I mentioned before, the number of university science graduates in Australia has dropped even though the demand for science graduates is constant and increasing in certain sectors. Furthermore, more science graduates are necessary to curb public misconceptions and bolster economic growth. During the Seminar, I joined a panel of other QIMR students and staff to tell the students about myself, answer any questions they had about my educational journey, and provide information about Rotary-sponsored opportunities, like international scholarships and the National Youth Science Forum. We received encouraging feedback and hoped to have influenced ambivalent students to pursue a science-related career.

This past weekend, I joined ten of my friends for a Rotaract camping trip in the Bunya (pronounced “bunn-yah”) Mountains, which is about a three-hour drive northwest of Brisbane. The mountains are named after the large population of ancient Bunya trees central to the mountainous area and whose kernels (like big pine nuts) were a delicacy to the Aboriginals that once lived in the area. We drove to the campsite on Friday evening and settled in for a fun night after dinner. On both nights, we were very fortunate to have optimal views of the stars: no clouds, nearly no light pollution, and a new moon (i.e. the moon was not visible). This combination of conditions allowed us to see several constellations and meteors, the Magellanic Clouds, and wisps of our Milky Way by simply lying on the ground and staring up into the night sky.

The campsite. Our tents are on the right. Dozens of wallbies visited at dawn and dusk Eating roasted bunya nuts

On Saturday, we went for an 11 km bushwalk through the rainforest and higher-altitude scrubby areas. Along the way, we were rewarded with waterfalls and lookout points. After returning, we had lunch and played a few rounds of ultimate frisbee and finished off the afternoon with a nice coffee at the small café near the campground. Saturday night was loaded with more laughing and long conversations late into the night. We all enjoyed ourselves so much that, before heading back home, we set a date for another camping trip but at a site that is on an ocean-side beach. I am really looking forward to this and making the most of my limited time!

Me and my mates in a fig tree Ultimate frisbee

Since I returned from New Zealand, I’ve been busily working on my research project and am currently analyzing subcellular fractions of treated melanoma cells for levels of the protein I mention in my December post. I also prepared abstracts for the Australian Society of Medical Research Conference held on 30 May, since I will be presenting a talk or a poster or both at this conference.

Lastly, I saw this amusing political advertisement on TV tonight. Local government elections will be held this coming weekend (yes, all voting is not only mandatory, but it is also held on Saturdays so more people can conveniently travel to the voting centers!), so political advertisements are in full swing. I thought this one is amusing because it sharply contrasts with the style of American political advertisements that often strive to attack opponents instead of keeping positive and demonstrating why the incumbent or newly-proposed platform is best.

After attending a Rotaract fundraiser dinner this weekend, April will be complete for me, leaving only one full month of work remaining during my scholarship period. This song by the Stones describes my current struggle with time.