one week down – three to go

Left my home for the last 4 nights in Kaiteriteri this morning and am close to my new home for the next two days. A eco friendly holiday home overlooking a bay. I will soon know if the pictures on the internet were correct.

Did a 17 kilometer hike in Abel Tasman yesterday and am stil amazed that I am not in pain today … Will do another loke hike tomorrow and thus taking it really slow today. As slow as this internet connection. I will not even try to upload any pics. Will be a bit closer to civilization on Sunday. Will try again then.

Ahh – almst forgot: Had my first true adventure just after my last blog post. Left the lights on and “rent a dents” battery did not make it through the hour I left it parked. But two lovely ladies at a cafe I had parked in front of just called their “men” to help me. Again: they are so nice!

Still lov’in it. Sun is shining. But this internet connection is really dreadful. More soon!

In LOVE and with babies

No worries, mom and dad … I am just in love with a beautiful beach and surounded by babies – mostly lamb (of which I may soon eat a few) and a baby seal … have some great pics … just not sure if I will be able to upload any in this grimy internet cafe …

But here in chronological order:

Flight to Nelson. Domestic flying in NZL is a bit like taking the bus in Berlin. No one wanted to see ID from me. I checked it at a terminal. But my bag on a conveyor belt and then walked on the plane – no security check involved. Why did I drink about a liter of water before boarding? Because I had just bought the bottle and then remembered security, so I drank it all … and then there was no security … On the plane the stewardess let two little girls help with service. Recruitment Air New Zealand style I would say. But then I am not sure if the girls were impressed when the stewardess got out the cleaning spray and polished her little work area spotless.

As I got of the plane I was greated by the representative or the rental car company: it really is called “rent a dent”. And it lives up to the name, my car does have a huge dent in one of the doors. It is pretty basic and I do miss central locks, cd-player and electric window controls. But it looks so old I get mistaked for a local by other tourists. Really handy because they move out of the way when I am stuck behind them on winding mountain roads.

Found the B+B without any problems. Very cute, close to the beach. Only problem when I got there at 7 the entire village was closed down. So – no supper for me.

Next day (I was able to sleep 8 hours again – haha to jet lag!) I had breakfast with some Aussies at the B+B. Since it was all over the news I was asked about the wall coming down, where I had been, how it is now … being an embassador for Germany. After this history lesson, I sprinted down to the beach to catch a boat (Abel Tasman Sea Shuttle). I was taken to Bark Bay beach and aranged for pick up 4 hours later at a different beach that was supposedly a 2.5 hour hike away. Well … I was to fast or the estimate is very … generous. I even did a number of breaks. Still, I was at the beach way to early. But the weather was nice and I guess it was good to just hang out on the beach for a few hours … I have had to wait for transport in worse places before.

On the track I made some interesting observations: 75% of the visitors were German – they all walked south. 5 % were French. They were all male and all walked north. A cultural thing? There were some really loud Americans (sorry guys) and some Kiwi kids on a school trip. If you see the pics you will understand my envy: My school trips took me to the local natural history museum – not to one of the most beautiful places with white beaches, clear water and lush forest. Sometimes life is not fair.

Back from the hike and after shower and some tea and reading I went to the local restaurant (way before 7, just to make sure) and had a nice glass of local white wine and typical fish and chips. All very good. Before this, my host said goodbye. I have the B+B to myself for the next two days. The fridge in the room was filled with breakfast supplies before they took off.

Today it was really windy and I decided I would rather not spend part of the day on a boat. So I decided to take my “rent a dent” for an outing. Honestly, I did not expect it would take two hours to drive 78 km – but it was well worth it. I drove to Golden Bay and spend most of the day on the beaches around Fairwell Spit – the northern most point of the South Island. And I fell in love with it. Has all a beach should have. White sand, some caves, some rocks in the water, seals to watch …ok, no cafes so. But also NO people. Instead I got take pics of a baby seal playing in a pool. (It will be hard to convince people that my pics were not taken at the zoo!). On the way back to the car I took some sheep pics. They are cute – but just as dumm as the Irish ones.

Driving back was less fun. It rained part of the way, but at least that way I got to very different impressions of the same region. Weather does change a landscape dramatically.

I might take a stab at hiking again tomorrow. But I will decide when I get up. The bliss of a long vacation – no not need to have a plan for the next day. I am gone not even a week but it feels like weeks already. And I really love this country. Hope it stays this way!

PS: uploading pics does not reallz work. Sorrz. I will try again and will update this post!

Add a little culture

I admit, the weather in Auckland could have been better today. But after droping my bags at the Mozilla office I took the weather as a sign from the gods of culture … and went to the Auckland museum. I bought a ticket for the Maori Culture Experience – it was a bit like Disney Land, but I did at least learn a few things! The best bit was the volcano exhibit (has nothing to do with Maori). You walk into a living room and sit on a sofa. Then the TV starts and they inform you that a volcano will soon erupt in the Auckland harbor – given that is is build on volcanos, not unlikely. All of a sudden the room shakes and goes all dark. Ok – very much like Disney land, but I liked it!

On the way back to the hotel I got a bit lost but had time to take pics of the plants along the highway (for my parents: ueberall agapanthus, bluehend!). Had my first restaurant meal on my own – and it was not bad at all. I guess I was so “disturbed” by the waitress that wore eyeshadow in the color of the restaurant logo – acid green … That I did not miss any company. Sorry, no pictures. Not only because I was scared to take one of the waitress but also because I am at a pubic internet terminal at Auckland airport. Internet access is free … nice surprises all around.

More from the South Island!

note to Mozilla: the free computers at the airport run Opera …

Auckland by night

Viaduct Harbour by night

Amazingly I managed to stay awake until 9:30 last night – which allowed me to take the night shots of Auckland. Slept for 8 hours. Did I beat the jet lag yet? I doubt it! But at least it is a good start!

Plan for today:

visit Auckland Museum and Mozilla office (to drop of my laptop), fly to Nelson (South Island) and drive to Keiteriteri close to Abel Tasman National Park.

Marine Museum at night

They really are very nice!

View from my hotel room

Not sure if it only feels this way because I read and heard so much about it – but it seems like the Kiwi are really genuinely nice: Shuttle bus diver, that caries my luggage into the hotel, and hotel staff that juggles a few reservation around so I can actually check in and get into my room at 9 in the morning!

Sales people in camera stores, which sincerely apologize for not selling the piece of accessory I am looking for and then give me directions to the competition that might have it. Locals sitting at the table next to me in a café noticing my travel guide – asking me where I am from, complimenting me on my choice of sights to see in New Zealand and whishing me a great time in their country.

Downtown Auckland / Ferry Terminal and Sky Tower

 

And last, but not least: Colleague, that spends part of his Sunday showing me Auckland and invites me for lunch (thanks Rob!). After a walk around the harbor area in the morning, I met Rob and his family. They took me to one on the 48 volcano cones in Auckland. The view from Mount Eden was impressive. Then we went to the beach for more great views. And all this after a delicious Vietnamese lunch.

Rob with kids

 

Now a short break –and if I can fight the jet lag, I will go down to the bar below for a beer. It is called Fox’s – guess it is a sign for me as a “Firefox” employee on the eve before the 5th birthday of Firefox. Reminds me – the really friendly person at the visitor info at Auckland airport was using Firefox (so much for not thinking about work!)

 

Bin wirklich da! / I am really in NZL!

@ Alix: I guess they are all happy someone is actually visiting them!

Flight observations

I plan my blog posts to help me remember this trip – thus sorry for too much detail. Hope I will have nice pics to share soon

Berlin – Heathrow was an interesting flight. I think I have never been on a plane with such a high rate of severely hung-over people (they all still smelled of alcohol) – they were flying back from the MTV music awards. I probably should have spotted some celebs – there were paparazzi at the gate in London … but I did not notice anyone.

Heathrow – LA flight was nice. Air New Zealand business class was worth the spend . I actually slept for 5 hours – absolute first on a plane for me – and without sleeping pills! I knew I was off to a good start when the steward introduced himself: “Hi I am Chris. Let me know when you want to sleep, I will make your bed for you”. A delicious meal and a nice cocktail later, I was ready for my bed to be made …

Only the woman in the seat in front of me was annoying. When getting on board she must have decided she would be miserable – and let everyone know. When someone dared to put something in the bin over her seat she almost freaked out … as if she owned it (and yes, she already had all her stuff stowed – just did not like the fact her bags had to share an overhead compartment …). Every time the steward came she had though of something else to complain about.  Thank god for earplugs. But it kind of made every one else feel like we had to team up against her – lots of eye-rolling among the rest of the people seated around her.  She got off in LA

Special comment for Rosi and Erin: I watched three movies. The Ugly Truth (ok for a plane ride), 500 days of Summer (loved the soundtrack!) and Julie and Julia (I am really glad I had good food before watching this! It made me want to cook – the one thing I will not be doing in the next couple of weeks!). Might go for a few New Zealand classic movies they are offering on the next portion of the trip.

Now hanging out at transit lounge. Soon to board again.

Wow – I am actually going to New Zealand. About 20 years after I bought my first travel guide of those islands at the other end of the world. I hope it will live up to my expectations.

Why leave Berlin in November?

Because it starts to snow! But not nice snow – wet snow!

Countdown for New Zealand

All purchases made. All clothes washed. Almost 30 GB ready for pictures. About 40 books on Kindle. At least one New Zealand novel read.

All I have to do now, is survive the last 4 days of work! And then: Auckland, here I come!

Getting ready!

 

Keeping the web wonderful for everyone

I spend the last days attending meetings with media to talk about the upcoming release of Firefox 3.5 and all the work Mozilla invested to upgrade the web with this new version. During those meetings we talked also about our mission and goal to help insure the web will continue to be great and accessible place. But Firefox 3.5 is not the only project we have been working on in the past months to make the web experience great for as many as possible – here one other example:

The UK based Beatbullying initiative sees young people volunteer to offer support, help and advice to peers who are experiencing bullying, all within the safe environment of the CyberMentors website. CyberMentors receive specialist training from Beatbullying staff designed to help them deal with any bullying issue, including coping with online bullying.

Work for CyberMentors is being enhanced with the introduction of a new custom Firefox browser jointly created by Beatbullying and Mozilla. The new Firefox build keeps a CyberMentor’s workflow visible, meaning they have quick and easy access to content and tools including:

• Chatting with victims of bullying and other CyberMentors
• Reporting online bullying
• Providing tips for online safety
• Accessing the Beatbullying media centre

Firefox has been customised with buttons and a media-player which links easily to CyberMentors video and audio. The browser also has a customised theme in line with CyberMentor’s branding.

Glad to see we are continuing to build on our relationship with Beatbullying. Kudos to Patrick for all his work on this!

And the next great initiative is already underway: Sign-up for Mozilla Service Week!

More than 70 languages …

I have been working on a guide for Firefox 3.5 for media. Many of the new features and improvements are described … but I realized, that the number that keeps astonishing me is that we will ship this new piece of software in more than 70 languages on day one (and for three platforms).  The number impresses me for a number of reasons:

Ever heard of Telugu or of Occitan?

Granted, my excitement for this topic might have to do with the fact that I studied languages, but still, could you name more than 70 languages of the top of your head? I never tried, but am fairly shure I would struggle. Call it learning on the job – I had not event heard of a few of those 70 languages before I started to follow the list of languages Firefox offeres localized versions for.

According to Wikipedia, the exact number of known living languages will vary from 5,000 to 10,000, depending on the definition of “language”.  At the same time, the top 10 languages (English, Chinese, Spanish, Japanese, French, Portuguese, German, Arabic, Russian, Korean) cover 83.8% of all internet users ( www.internetworldstas.com/stats7.htm). Glad Mozilla does not forget about the languages that are not in the top 10.

Project work times 70!

Apart from the mere number, think of all the work that has do be done to accomplish this! Community members do all this translation work in their spare time. And only a handful of people are managing the enormous process behind all those versions at Mozilla. Even huge companies do not match that. Some things can only be done with the help of community!

Coining language

Some of the localizers have been working on Firefox since version 1.0 – or on Mozilla projects even before Firefox was “born”. Just imagine how many of them have coined terms in their language by choosing to translate a certain feature in a certain way for Firefox. Would be interesting to create a list of terms that were first used for Firefox and are now common terminology. A dimension of open source influence on society I have never thought about! Topic for a dissertation?

From over 40 to over 70 in a year

Firefox 3.0 was offered for download in more than 40 languages at launch last July. About 30 languages have been added for 3.5! How many more will it be for the next major release?

If you would like to add a language – or contribute in some other way – please check out http://contribute.mozilla.org/Mozilla_Community