RobiNZ Personal Blog

Cycling further afield in the Auckland Regional Lockdown | Time Out 2021-22 October L3.1 to Christmas

On 20 October, the COVID lockdown in Auckland & Waikato moved to Level 3.1 which allowed regional travel but no access to the rest of the country (still at Level 2). Overnight trips, staying in rented accommodation or camping, were still not permitted but not really a problem for my day ride plans. A look at Strava history was useful to remind me of some gaps in Auckland riding, although not all my ride history is on Strava. I circled some parts of the map between the dashed lines (which approximate the Covid Region) I hadn’t ridden and started tackling... Read more →

Cycling local in the Auckland Regional Lockdown | Time Out 2021-22 September October L3

Being stuck in the Auckland Regional COVID Lockdown, from September to December 3, meant only local rides. I didn’t ride at all in the Level 4 lockdown as was still working and cycling around the block doesn’t appeal. On 22nd September Auckland & Northland relaxed to Level 3, just in time as 25th September was my last day of work. It meant I could ride within ‘walking home’ distance of home. For me, a self-imposed ~5km radius still offered quite a variety of riding. Most of my local rides take in the nearby Waitakere Ranges Regional Park. My favourite Titirangi... Read more →

The COVID-19 Lock down Anniversary

11.59pm on 25 March 2020 was the moment when Aotearoa New Zealand went into Alert Level 4 to contain COVID-19. https://covid19.govt.nz/ On Tuesday I joined a couple of thousand to watch live comedy (Bill Bailey was awesome) in a theatre. Today I visited someone in hospital, then on to a mall packed with people on opening day. I didn't need to wear a mask to do any of this. Think about that... Thanks to everyone who made the tough decisions, helped implement them and followed the science. It hasn't been easy but has been worth it. Read more →

A reminder of Lockie's place

A few weeks ago, I joined the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust as "Friend of Antarctica". They've been hammered by COVID-19 as much of their income comes from Antarctic tourists visiting Port Lockroy, as I did last year, and of course now they aren't. In addition to the digital content they share with members I just received this neat welcome pack: A magazine, photo book about the base and its history, pencil, stickers, postcard, and metal/enamel badge. Because the international mail timeline between NZ & the U.K. is lengthy, COVID again, I had forgotten they were sending 'something' so it was... Read more →

The Fiat Bravo HGT is finally out of lockdown and HubNut'ed!

Way back in March, just before its HubNut YouTube debut (embedded below), I was able to source a decent used air conditioning condenser for my Bravo 155 HGT. Given there are so few in NZ it was an opportunity not to be missed as, uneconomic to repair, cracks in the old one had taken out the system. Dropped it off at the mechanics to get it fitted, quite a task, and get the dodgy throttle response, as experienced by Hubnut, sorted. Then COVID-19 Lockdown one happened... After that I was happy (because not my daily) for it to go into... Read more →

The real Car magazine is back!

I really appreciated Car (magazine U.K.) making their digital copies available to non-digital subscribers while the presses where shut down due to COVID-19. Car Magazine (Android) But after a few months reading it, sort of, on the phone* I was so happy to see this arrive in the mail today: Car Magazine print edition * They only offer Android & iOS digital issues so having a Microsoft Surface Book tablet about the size of the print edition Car didn't help. Read more →

FSM COVID-19 protection

From the days of Level 4 lock down: A team challenge to 'create COVID-19 protective costume from found items' for an on-line meeting. The hope was divine Flying Spaghetti Monster protection would offset the colander holes. * The badge was on-hand to replace an aging plastic one fitted in 2009 (see link), but the car was trapped at the mechanics by lock down! https://rcd.typepad.com/personal/2009/09/a-fiat-bravo-touched-by-his-noodly-appendages.html Read more →

Siouxsie Toby Spinoff's COVID-19 Omnibus

Nice to see a summary of the brilliant COVID-19 Info from Siouxsie Wiles (@siouxsiew), Toby Morris (@XTOTL) and The Spinoff ( @TheSpinoffTV) The bumper Toby Morris & Siouxsie Wiles Covid-19 box set The animations and illustrations created by Toby Morris in collaboration with Siouxsie Wiles and published by The Spinoff have been shared in their hundreds of millions over the last couple of months. For ease of reference we’ve put them all together in one post. Read more →

Where does the fuel go in? | COVID-19

Filled up AHBART yesterday, 60 days since last fill and could still only get 24 litres into the (35 litre) tank. Mind you have only driven 316km and half of that was before lockdown! Read more →

Dr Helen Czerski on life in isolation (and a champagne tip) | Fully Charged

I saw Dr. Helen Czerski speak in Auckland, back in 2017, and in this video she shares things learnt about living in isolation doing oceanic research. Back then her presentation was mostly about her research studying the oceanic/atmospheric interface and how that influences climate. However it also included some everyday examples of how the physics of bubbles are a factor in our daily lives like bread, coffee, etc The champagne tip, mentioned in the talk I saw, was a result of her expert bubble physics knowledge and extensive testing, in cooperation with Vintners and Sommeliers, in the Champagne Region. For... Read more →