curving in a straight line . cricket in the garden

Airplanes usually follow the shortest path across the curved surface of the Earth, which is called a great circle route. On a globe, this is a straight line.

But when you look at it on a flat map, it Is a curve. We try and try to tame our lives into straight lines but we live in a curvy world!

Did I tell you about the dream of mine to have a topographical map of the entire world as big as a ping pong table.

Plus I want a screen on my wall of all the world and all its weather - not descriptive - actual earth shots of storms and sun and rain. This is harder to make happen - how to create one huge screen with a slowly spinning globe showing exactly what is happening in real time. Rain, snow, wild seas, desert winds - I don’t know. But I want to see everyone’s weather! In real time.

I often think these thoughts when I travel. As we do.

And I am travelling again. I flew over the Tasman Sea the day before yesterday. From Melbourne to Wellington. The Tasman Sea is part of the South Pacific Ocean and stretches about 2,000 km (1,200 miles) across.

The straight-line (air) distance between Melbourne, Australia and Wellington, New Zealand is about 2,590 km, (1,610 miles).

Flights usually take around 3½–4 hours, depending on winds and routing across the Tasman Sea. My flight was just over 3 hours. Tail winds. Flying in a straight line following the earth’s curve.

Fourth son picked me up and we drove out to his house at the beach.

And put me straight to work. He has incredibly high hedges lining the boundary of his property. One hedge ran out into the middle of the property. Cutting out a small area and looming up in front of the dining room windows.

After living with it for a few years Fourth son got out his trusty chainsaw and cut half the protruding hedge down. And. Of course the day after I arrive Fourth Son hires a chipper and we chipped macrocapa all day.

By cutting down this part of the hedge he has opened up the whole property to a whole lot more sun and gave his mother a good work out feeding the branches into the chipper.

Lucky you have a Mum with a good back, I said.

It was a heavy job but we got it finished then I taught his eldest son how to make meringues.

And while they (the meringues) cooked I spent an hour on the mower.

Then went to the beach with the kids.

It was remarkably clear and we could see Mount Ruapeho. The mountain is inland and the beach curves around and the globe curves down giving the illusion of a mountain in the sea. All these curves in straight lines. It would take us two and a half hours to drive there on our windy roads but the mountain is 160 km (100 miles) straight across the island.

I hope you are keeping uP with this geography lesson. When we looked south - there was the South Island on the horizon. Kāpiti Island sits off the Kāpiti Coast, near Paraparaumu on the lower west coast of the North Island.

The closest point of the South Island (around the Marlborough Sound on the north tip of the South Island) is roughly 110–120 km (70–75 miles) in a straight line across Cook Strait. With the earths curve it appears just above the horizon.

Kāpiti Island is screen right in the foreground ⬆️ and screen left you can see the South Island rising out of the sea.

Here is a map ⬇️ to help you better understand the geography.

The mountain is in the top right corner of this map - 2,797 metres (9,177 feet) above sea level. It’s an active stratovolcano, home to several ski fields, and its summit crater holds a lake that sometimes empties dramatically during eruptions.

The last significant eruption was 2007. This volcano is alive and well.

I guess the skiing is good this year!!

If you run your eye right down the coastline of this map you will see Kapiti Island - our house is opposite that island just back from the beach.

Today we are planting trees. One of my favorite things to do. Foundational members of the kitchens garden and the Fellowship of the Farmy all have trees in four different countries. Thank you to you for helping to fund this long standing initiative.

After dinner of risotto we had rhubarb (from the garden) with meringues then we made ice cream to churn this morning. The chickens are laying really well.

Later we played cricket and drunk wine in the garden.

A good first day!

How is your weekend?

Celi