Rumble in the jungle

Strictly speaking, I am sort of a qualified geologist, not that it has done me much good. It has never got me any upgrades on flights, free meals or entry into a gentlemen's club. That said, it did allow me to spend too many years studying two of my favourite things - volcanoes and earthquakes.

New Zealand is a great spot for both and the volcano chapter will follow later. The big story at the moment though is earthquakes. Look at the earthquake scene on the right which is how the coast off Fiordland on the South Island looks at the moment. A few little shivers in the last week and certainly nothing exciting.

However, if we go back 10 days then the picture is very different. The big yellow square in the background is a huge earthquake with a Richter magnitude of 7.8 that struck at 9:22 pm NZ time on 15 July. Around it is a swarm of aftershocks and some of these were pretty big with a number measuring upwards of 5.5 and one coming in at 6.1.

A tsunami warning was issued immediately. There were fears for the south and west coast of the South Island of course but there was real concern for the coastlines of Tasmania, Victoria and New South Wales in Australia considering the greater population density there. Lord Howe Island out in the Tasman Sea was at the highest level of alert but fortunately the wave that was generated was less than 20 cm high.

Some of our friends down on the south coast of the South Island felt the quake and I have to admit to being a little bit envious as I have felt the odd tremor here in the UK but have always wanted to experience a big rumble (as well as a hurricane and a tornado but that's a different story).

Mary Sutherland of Catlins Wildlife Trackers in Papatowai said "It was a big quake and went on for some time. It was enough for me to get under the door frame. No problems though, and even the jars of preserves stayed put on the shelf (I do have an earthquake measure in place though, I have curtain wire stretched across to keep the jars on the shelf and it worked!)."

Jenny Twaddle of Bay Motel right down south on Stewart Island reported that "We did feel the big quake and didn't know whether to be excited or frightened when a few ornaments fell off the shelves. The cat flew out the window, the dog and I stood in a doorway and my husband stayed in bed."

Scary stuff but exciting all the same. Like being an England or New Zealand cricket fan!

Thanks to the USGS for the earthquake maps and their website is a must have in your bookmarks. For New Zealand based tectonic fun and games then keep your eyes on Geonet.

Culinary and vinous delights...

Just spent 5 eventful days with a group of North American Incentive buyers. Delighted to find a higher than normal proportion of foodies (and winos) in their ranks and we had several memorable meals together in both Auckland and Queenstown. Dine at the Sky Grand in Auckland was an absolute standout. I thought of Von (and indeed all vegetarians) as I hoovered down my entree of twice-cooked crispy Pork Belly with Grilled Ox Tongue. How could one deny oneself such a treat? The contrast in textures between the pork and ox tongue was a highlight as much as the fantastic flavours. Unusually for me I had the beef as a main - 300-day grain-fed Angus fillet on a roast Artichoke puree with roast portabello mushrooms. The beef, which came exactly as ordered (horns cut off and bum wiped), was simply the best piece of fillet I have ever tasted (I'm normally a rib-eye fan by preference). Dinner had been preceded by a tutored wine-tasting. There were no ordinary wines in the line-up but the truly stellar were the '04 Vinoptima Gewurtztraminer Reserve, the '02 Stoneyridge Larose and the very rare '05 Providence Syrah. I've been priveleged to drink a reasonable amount of first growth Bordeaux in my time and the best the Rhone has to offer and these wines are right up there (at a fraction of the Froggies' cost). More on my palates adventure to come....

Now this is not in the spirit of the game Ricky

Just after lunch and England are 136 without loss? That isn't anywhere in the rule book is it Richard? This matter should be investigated by the ICC as a matter of urgency.

Of course all Strauss and Cook are doing is setting up the innings so that the inevitable collapse to 197 all out will be as dramatic and harrowing as possible.

Have you heard yourself Ricky?

JP, I trust that all our Kiwi brothers and sisters will be monitoring the cricket over the next few days to support us in our righteous crusade against Australian tyranny?

Abysmal English performance in Cardiff but at least there is some pleasure to be had in getting up Ponting's nose. Playing within the laws and spirit of the game? Richard (I know his real name is in fact Ricky but that's another story), Richard, Richard. May I suggest you go to YouTube and type "underarm incident"? Please feel free to leave a comment to tell me what you found there.

I know insufferable is a word you like Jeremy and there are a few words I could tag on to that but this is a family show so I'll keep it clean.

Hawke's Bay is very tasty indeed - Saturday lunchtime

Well this is my first blog entry so of course it is completely appropriate to start with my most recent trip to New Zealand last month.

I was down there for a big annual tourism conference in Auckland and always like to see or do something new so Jeremy came up with a great idea to help me get over the jetlag. After 40 hours without sleep and 32 hours of travelling from my start point of Manchester Airport, he decided that the only possible solution was to take me on an intensive course in eating and drinking in Hawke's Bay.

I was allowed a shower, change and coffee at Auckland Airport and we then flew over to Napier to collect a hire car. As I was not feeling tip-top and as the car was a slightly embarrassing blue boy racer mobile with a spoiler, I let JP drive and we went straight to Elephant Hill winery for lunch.

Things were looking up after a couple of cleansing ales followed by the lamb fry (lamb's liver with a trio of onions) and some Pinot Noir. Jeremy had chicken livers so I had some of this too before we headed off down the road to Clearview Estate for a wine tasting. Well we went down the road some time later after first going a couple of miles up the road in the wrong direction courtesy of Jeremy's notoriously bad sense of direction.

Clearview introduced me to an unbelievably good Noble Harvest Chardonnay. There was no way I was paying £25 for a half bottle of wine but after tasting it I caved in immediately and broke out the credit card. The challenge now is to resist the temptation to open it during the next 5 years as the winemaker Tim Turvey was on hand to promise that it just gets better and better. Of course I hope it gets better and better. If I open it in 5 years and it tastes average or just plain rubbish then I will have to accept that my judgement was disastrously impaired by a lack of sleep combined with the euphoria of lunchtime drinking!