FMD, University of Waikato Issue No: 77 – December 2009
Holidays seem to be the flavour of the last couple of Facilitations and in my case I was able to take 6 weeks (long service leave and annual leave) through Europe. This was a magnificent trip and really got the University out of my system for a period of time. It was only able to be done through the support of FMD, but particularly Tony Dicks and Judy Swetman. On another occasion when there is more room I might say a bit more about the trip, but for now, the two photos below were taken in Venice and show how they deliver parcels or remove rubbish around Venice, where of course there are no vehicles. I don’t know whether the Porters and Caretakers think this is a good idea but it certainly makes for an interesting way of managing such matters when you have no option but to do it manually. All the best for Christmas and the New Year!! Thanks very much for all the efforts over the 2009 year and look forward to working with you all in the New Year. Continuing the round of holiday snippets, the photograph below shows the “Murray Princess” paddle‐steamer on which Trevor and Barbara Harris enjoyed a 4‐night cruise in October. The paddle‐steamer, which is genuinely propelled by the rear paddles, was built as recently as 1986 but finished in true ‘Mississippi style’ with sumptuous fittings inside. The ship takes 124 passengers on cruises up and down the Murray River, starting about 75km from Adelaide, with great food and passable cabins. The ship moors overnight, with field excursions the norm each morning. The ship is sized to pass through the first lock on the river (with great Aussie originality called ‘lock 1’) with only inches to spare on sides and draught, but reduced water levels on the Murray now make transit through the lock impossible. Trevor thoroughly recommends the trip to anyone who doesn’t mind eating and drinking a lot and is retired: barring the crew, he thought he was just about the youngest on the ship! ‐‐‐‐ Trevor Harris John Cameron
Picture taken (30/11) by John Badham Stop Press!! "Hole‐in‐the‐wall gang exposed" Birds found in the wall by the FMD main entrance ‐ rescued by Faye and returned to their mother. The Dive Pool Solar Heating Student Centre View from the 4th floor balcony of the new East Wing Consumer power switch ‐‐‐ Are you getting electricity for the cheapest price you can? Grab your bill and go to http://www.consumer.org.nz/powerswitch fill in the details and check who the lowest cost provider for your energy is. A Day at the Melbourne Cup –‐‐ Leigh Harrison 7am the alarm goes off it’s time to spring into action, we have 2hrs to be out the door, it may seem a lot of time but for a crew of 8 it’s time needed! Before I know it I have 3 close friends lining up for their hair to be done with accessories of feathers and sequins, I get to work Gardener/Hair stylist. Making our way to the train station a fair hike in high heels, we muscle our way the 30,000 people at the train station to simply get to our carriage, it’s not uncommon for a bit of biffo to get a spot on the train to Flemington, the carriages are oozing with people, we pull up at the Flemington Races, the horror of “did we bring the tickets?” ran through our minds till we were handed the not so flash computer printed tickets stating “please fold here to be scanned”, considering they’re worth $130 each they were like gold! Crane lifting the boilers down from MSB roof on 23 Nov. Picture provided by Mike Davies
International Consignment to India 2009 In early November 2008 Brett Muir from the Waikato International Student Recruitment Office put together an organised collection of University handbooks for shipment to India. These handbooks came from every department on campus and were for a student recruitment drive under‐ taken throughout India and South East Asia by members of Waikato International Recruitment Office. There were approximately 144 boxes making a total of 6370 handbooks sent to Central Store between early December 08 and January 09. These boxes had a combined weight of 1608kgs, which was then packaged onto two pallets. A box of each type of handbook had to be weighed and multiplied by the As we made our way through the line and in through the gates number sent from each department. This gave us an there was a sea of beautiful people everywhere, smart suits, Super‐ approximate overall weight for the two pallets as we have high heels, hats and fascinators in every direction, and of course no large commercial weigh machine for these heavy pallets. with such a massive occasion with the need to wear dresses so early Any late handbooks to arrive at Central Store were packaged into summer you couldn’t help spotting some very bad fake into three computer boxes with weights of 55kgs and 2 @ tanning! I had to laugh; I guess for a lily white gardener it wasn’t 33kgs each. high on my priority list. Dean Freight International Ltd was used to have the The race venue is made up of several areas with different prices, consignment uplifted from the Central Store in mid January tickets ranged from Australian $80‐$6,000, everything was super by Road Star Transport and delivered to Tauranga. At expensive, a bottle of the cheapest bubbly was Australian $29, food Tauranga the consignment was loaded onto the NYK Line was also pricey. We entered our area ‘The Banks’ which logistics vessel California Mercury for the journey to Delhi unfortunately wasn’t anywhere near the track and made our way to via Australia and Singapore. The journey to Delhi took tables, chairs and the luxury of umbrellas, there was a massive T.V approximately 4 to 6 weeks and once in India the screen and a band which gave it a great atmosphere. Betting was consignment was again well and truly subjected to the frantic before the big race who to pick ‐ we made our way over to scrutiny of the Indian customs service who would not the track for the main race it was a breathtaking scene, a sea of release the consignment until satisfied with every little people surrounded the track, the excitement grew as the race detail. The documentation for this consignment included the began, that was following charges, NZ$453.78 and the International freight what I had been charge of $915.86 (Grand total of $1,369.67). Waikato looking forward to, International is again this year organising another Student the yelling the Recruitment drive for 2010 with the collection of the 2010 cheers and then it handbooks again from each department who will then in was all over and turn send them on to the Central Store via the Porters for you could hear the packaging and documentation. clapping and excitement mixed On behalf of the Waikato with disbelief and International Office and statements like “I the Central Store I would like to take this can’t believe Shocking won ‐‐‐ that’s just shocking!” I had concentrated on all kiwi horses but as we all know that wasn’t the opportunity to thank best idea so no money was made. All and all I had an amazing time everyone involved in the picking up and delivery of with great friends so after a very long day with plenty of wine consumed and the feathers a little worse for wear we made our way these handbooks to the back to the train, I’m sure along with the other 100,000+ people it Central Store. was a very memorable Melbourne Cup. Ray Hansen, Storeperson Facilitation will be produced monthly. This publication is available online at http://www.waikato.ac.nz/fmd/
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