Shag, Shags, and Shagged!

The South Brighton Spit is always an enjoyable walk - especially if the tide is low, the day is clear with no wind, and you have good company.

Such was the case a few weeks ago. With all that is currently going on in remediating the cliffs after the earthquakes and careful removal of destroyed houses on the road to Sumner, there is always something to watch from afar on the spit at 'morning tea time'!

Rapanui - Shag Rock is certainly shagged. This sentinel (an old sea stack) has sat there for tens of thousands of years - if not longer - until 22 February 2011 when in an instant it was reduced to a pile of rocks

Rapanui - Shag Rock

An End of an Era - perched above Rapanui is Ed Cotter's house.

Ed was a mountaineer that I had the privilege to know through the CMC that we both belong to, and Mountain Face Rescue activities. Ed was at the forefront of mountaineering at the same time as Ed Hillary - another Ed! An awesome man and personality - a man who never hit the highlights like his namesake.

Sadly this photo below is his house - very soon to be demolished. Wrecked in the earthquake of February 2011. I don't know if he was in the house that day, but if he was, it must have been one hell of a wild ride. Sadly Ed is now in a rest home in Wanaka near his son, Guy Cotter.

Ed Cotter's House - top right

Around the World in 16 Months

Solar Impulse 2.
For the past 16 months this completely solar powered plane has been carefully flying around the world. Two days ago it touched down before dawn at Abu Dhabi airport to complete its around the world journey.
An amazing feat of engineering - something that has transfixed me throughout its journey.
I've tried to share this with many people but somehow it didn't seem to resonate with them the same way it has for me. Maybe I am just a wannabe adventurer and pilot!!
So I thought I would share these few images with my non existent followers. My apologies for the very poor quality of them - they were shot using my Lumix camera handheld  during the live stream of the landing on my laptop.
They have proved it can be done. So now we need to watch this space for developments in the solar engineering domain in the future.
Google Solar Impulse to get the history, story, future, etc.

Solar Impulse about to touch down at Abu Dhabi airport

Touch down - mission accomplished

The two pilots - they shared the legs of the journey

Everything is done manually - mountain bikes with riders holding up the wings, and volunteers pushing/pulling the plane on the tarmac