A new year, a wonderful opportunity to begin afresh and renew our hope in the goodness of humanity.
Mary, our Australian family friend Christine, and I got up on that first day and bundled ourselves off on an adventure. We had decided the night before, New Year's Eve, that we would travel to the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Te Aro, Wellington. What a glorious way to kick-off the new year, a journey to our nation's treasured museum; the keeper of the Treaty of Waitangi, often referred to as the founding document of our country.
Off in the taxi we go, eager as punch, looking forward to viewing the exhibits at the museum. The taxi driver kindly drops us off at the entrance, just a few steps from the main door. I've been passed this place quite a few times before, yet had never ventured in. Just one of those many bucket-listed special places I got to get to in the journey of my life.
We entered the complex and immediately we were in awe of the professionalism on display. On the left, the gift shops with an amazing selection of arts and crafts for sale, mostly made by locals. Paintings, scultures, trinkets, and so much more.
Ahead of us were the large banners proclaiming that we have indeed arrived at our destination, inviting us to explore.
A quick squizz around the gift shops, then off to pick up the free map, and up the escalator to level 2 and into the first exhibit being Nature. In there, Te Papa has a lot of interactive displays, as well as marvellous items behind thick glass. A great place to bring the children to, a safe and friendly space full of really interesting stuff that'll keep them - and us adults too! - well engrossed. So many stories, portrayed in a variety of settings.
Not just framed bits and pieces, whole items on display. I got Mary and Christine up close and personal with a model of a moa, one of New Zealand's extinct animals. The first humans to call New Zealand home lit fires that drove these beasts to extinction. There's hope that one day, modern science will be able to resurrect these fine animals, and so many other organisms that have become extinct here. That's why places like Te Papa are important, they preserve the past in anticipation of another future life.
Then I spied one of my favourite subjects: marine birds found around the coast of New Zealand. This exhibit brought back memories of my time when I was in-shore commercial fishing in the waters from North Cape to Cape Karikari. The wilds of the very far north, a place of extreme danger when conditions turn against you, yet also a beautiful strip of coast with hidden sandy beaches, steep cliffs, rocky islands and coralled reefs, and wildlife in their natural environs.
Next room was full of really interesting geological information. There's the video of the Christchurch earthquakes back in '11 and '12, the story from the survivors, and the terrible things they had to endure. Still, they managed to get on with their lives as best as possible. Tales of courage conquering loss, encouragement that no matter what this new year brings us, never give up hope of a brighter future.
Then on to the other geological exhibits that formed New Zealand from the continent now known as Zealandia.
We're all getting hungry now, so time to leave this place of wonder and head back home. A pitstop at KFC Kilbirne to fuel our bellies; a celebration pack, a fitting end to the journey.
A quick walk around the corner, a breather stop by our corner dairy, Pak'N Save Kilbirnie; possibly New Zealand's cheapest supermarket. Home at last and a promise of more adventures to come this year. If that was the first day of Year 2020, I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings!
Morning has broken...
Ian Ballantine
Wellington, New Zealand
2 January 2020.
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Haven't seen you around lately, don't give up! If I could offer you some advice, try and make your images larger.
This post has paid out now so can't give it a vote. Following.
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Thanks mate, people like you give me hope. I'm taking some time off virtually all internet marketing activity and doing some gaming for a while.
I may soon attend a security officer training course as a couple of mates have each offered me seurity work if I get my licence. Yeah, I really am offline popular! Most of the stuff Mary and I have in our apartment have been given to us by very generous friends, who also have very generous friends.
I need to decide if I should stay with Steam. At the moment, I'm powering down all my Steam wallets as more likely I'll leave. Too many bullies wanting to rip us off. Steam must change, and embrace some regulation to limit destructive forces, at the expense of a little bit of liberty; better that than the lose of the whole platform to scammers, spammers, and slammers.
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I would be interested in your view on this, I am part of an anti-abuse group to keep the abuse down. If you create your own content, and don't buy votes you won't get hit by anybody. That was the whole original premise behind Steemit / STEEM.
The 'bullies' are mostly just that, anti-abuse people. The 'victims' abusers who think they have been wronged, picked on for stealing images, creating vote farms, use paid services to get on Trending etc...
They make a lot of noise, cause a lot of drama and people see it as negative. I would prefer the abusers to all fuck off to put it bluntly. My role would be much easier.
It will never be centralised, that the beauty of this place and what makes it different from any where else.
I almost gave up once, and was pulled back by words of encouragement, just like the ones I'm giving you now.
I feel you have a place here.
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Thanks for your comments. You are right, I shouldn't give up just because of the negative influencers. I agree, too much abuse and I'm not a fan of bots or any other automated system. Now I'm sounding like a hypocrate! I too benefited from those systems. Anyway, I'll make a final decision in a week or two, when I have more self time and less distractions. Btw, I do like the BTC up-trend, and hope that continues now that Potus has the China deal he was after.
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Hello dear @ianballantine.
Just as our friend @slobberchops thinks, I recommend that you use another strategy here on steemit. New communities have emerged and now there are new healthier ways to grow here without having to rub shoulders with those bullies.
Since you like games, you may find a new gamebrowser proposal fascinating which is about to be launched on the blockchain steem. Good luck!!
Happy 2020!
Your friend, Juan.
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Thanks Juan, great to know I have so many awesome friends here on Steem. I'll stay with Steem for a little while yet and see what happens; just won't be actively engaging for now.
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Regards Sir. @ianballantine.
I am very happy to know that you intend to give Steemit another little chance.
For me it is always a real pleasure to keep in touch with valuable people like you, so it would be the right time to communicate my idea:
Precisely at this moment we are needing some people to help us in a brainstorm that we are developing for a new modality of our project @project.hope of which I am co-founder.
We've been working on launching our own curation trail and it's currently it's in ... let's call it: experimental phase.
https://steemit.com/steemit/@coach.piotr/project-hope-and-curation-trail-on-steemauto-com-brainstorming
Please let me know what you think and drop a comment whenever you can. I would greately appreciate your time.
Your friend, Juan.
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Looks like you had a good time there
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Yes Howy, we had a great time. Entry is free so just a matter of getting there. Open from 10am to 6pm every day except Christmas Day. Since we got only half of level 2 done, there's a lot more to see next time with 5 levels and an outdoor native forest walk. One of those special places that draws in the people and leaves them wanting more. Real smart marketing!
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Congratulations @ianballantine! You have completed the following achievement on the Steem blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
You can view your badges on your Steem Board and compare to others on the Steem Ranking
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STOPTo support your work, I also upvoted your post!
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Wow, 50 posts in just 17 weeks. Almost 3 per week. Thanks for the badge @steemitboard, next target is to get my average up to 7+ per week! Hmm, a New Year's resolution pending, perhaps?
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Nice to learn about New Zealand and it's roots Ian, enjoy the new year and stay awesome.
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Thanks Erik, I'm planning on more articles about New Zealand history later in the year. I'm hoping to get to the Archives New Zealand complex some time soon, to have a look at some early family history. That building is down by the Parliament Buildings so I'll be able to get a lot of photos too for more articles. Are you planning on showing us more of Stockholm, Erik?
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Thanks Ian, the fact is I have shared quite a bit of Stockholm in my Actifit reports, looking forward to your posts, stay awesome.
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It's really a great way to start a new year... Learning and reminding yourself about the root of your country... Awesome!
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Thanks Zoltan, yes the new year is an opportunity to refocus on what really is important to you, and to break old habits. Te Papa is just 15 minutes from our home by taxi, so really we have no excuse; next time Mary gets bored, we'll be heading over there. So much to see, and piecemeal works best for us.
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