learning on the job

We've just finished packing. I'm pretty excited to go now, I just want to leave. My friends are all back at school today and I heard that Mr Ryan said I was going away and people were saying like "but Alice isn't going to learn anything". Mr Ryan said "Alice will be learning heaps while she's away". I think that I will be learning heaps of things because it's just going to be a great experience for me and I'm going to study some of the places we're going to, because Mr Ryan wants me to, so I can come back and tell the whole class. Not really anything more to say now. Well bye for now, Ali.

Alice has the honour of offering us our 40th posting on the eve of the big adventure - all the best to the travellers. (Michael)

Hawke's Bay Today

A reporter and photographer from the local paper, Hawke's Bay Today, have also just been here and will probably be running a story in tomorrow's paper. We'll be on our way to Brisbane by then. The final day has flown by. I was hoping to do some final work with the film gear but no time yet, maybe a bit later.

The Logo, the TShirt and...

In the previous post and at the top of the right hand column is our new logo, designed by the family with some great input and final artwork by Margot Macphail from mmdesign. We've had a few T-shirts made up with another version on the back with IMAGINE... under the question Earth Limited?

Love the haircut! (Michael)

Michael's first 'editorial'

I have written a sort of behind the scenes 'editorial' which is rather large and back-dated it to the first of February - so it doesn't break into the flow of current events. Have a read to find out how you can help us publicise our blog and enhance your blog reading experience as well.

It's happening!

Less than two days before we leave ... no more reunions or birthday parties to organise. Emma is safely in Milan and very excited about being there. We've got our gear in the lounge and are packing away things in our bedrooms along with valuables and breakables, readying the house for the people who will be renting from us for the next 5 months.

It feels like serious focus time now. I've worked incredibly hard since making a clear decision with the family to embark on this journey. It's amazing what has been achieved over the last month and now we're on the edge of leaving. Lena is feeling it, not just packing for a 5 month journey but preparing to leave home.

We're looking at all our gear now, keeping ourselves to the basics with clothes, looking at the equipment etc. and gifts we've bought to share along the way. In the back of my mind I'm also thinking about the really serious side to all of this ... the focus I want to bring to things as soon as we reach Thailand. Am I prepared enough, not just in myself but also to guide Karen, Lena and Alice in supporting me? I believe so.

The interactions I've had with NZ farmers over the last 6 years have given me a lot of confidence that there is a collective voice from farmers everywhere that we all need to be hearing and some very positive stories that we need to be much more aware of. Remember to visit www.earthlimited.org for more background to my work, in case you're new to this site and are not sure what this is all about.

It's time for a few acknowledgements

(as much as I can think of right now)

Firstly a big thankyou to my cousin, Michael Jeans, for his help and support over a long period of time and particularly for getting this blog up and running, as well as taking on the role of editor. Also thanks to Michael for coming down to Hastings and supporting Karen with the Sony DSLR camera we've bought and guiding Karen and the girls with email and other things. It took a lot of pressure off me.

I also owe a very big thank you to Tom Burstyn ( see http://www.howtosavetheworld.co.nz/ ), cinematographer and very generous guy for guiding myself and Lena in the purchase of a digital video camera, sound gear and all the other bits and pieces we've needed... and then guiding us in using the gear, giving us great ideas, and always positive, constructive feedback on our filming over the last month. We've got a long way to go but Tom has really helped us in the right direction.

For those who are interested we have bought a Sony HVR-Z series camera. For the novice documentary film maker I would totally recommend a visit to Christina Fox's website www.urbanfox.tv where you will find an excellent work book for this camera, and also for other cameras. It is an excellent website.

I want to thank Malcolm Kendall at Panavision in Auckland for his assistance and Kate Wright at Sony Business NZ for being very helpful and accommodating.

Eric Cox at Cox World Travel, Napier also deserves a mention for helping us work out our travel itinerary.

A special thankyou to Karin Muller www.japanlandjourney.com whose earlier trip to Viet Nam inspired me and then in her communications to me said to "go for it" and gave me some very direct, and very valuable, advice. Thankyou Karin.

There are plenty of other people to thank, particularly those friends and friends of friends who are going to help us along the way... We'll acknowledge them as we go. Hopefully you've already seen mention of Tuenjai Deetes in Thailand, a very special person, and followed the link to the Hill Area Development Foundation.

on being blog savvy & joining us for the ride

This post was most recently edited at 3:30PM Wednesday the 7th of February.

For those of us arm chair travellers following the Kenny family on their most excellent adventure here are a few notes to help better enjoy the experience and - perhaps - improve the on-line reporting of our project. Yes, you most certainly can help! And you may wish to come back - to this - my first editorial - from time to time to familiarise yourself with the points I am making.

Our blog, bought to you by the Google folk, is one of millions on the Internet. Google's Blogger (the software) and Blogspot (the Internet address) together are one example of on-line publishing software freely available for anyone who wishes to tell the world about themselves, their lives and activities. A quick and straightforward definition of blogs and blogging can be found here on the wonderful Wikipedia site. Just a note - of parental guidance - going to a specific blog site that you have been told about offers no dangers - BUT randomly searching the blogs (as with Yahoo or Google searches) will return results which MAY require monitoring.

While I have learned sufficient skills to set up this blog, to edit and update it - not a difficult task - I am still learning the ropes. Any comments from the more web savvy or innocently insightful among us are encouraged. We really want your involvement.

Knowledge of both the software and blog publishing is made no easier by the relentless refining of both the software and the way different Internet communities link - often with the advent of newly created technologies or 'widgets'.

If you find a link - on our blog - you may, or may not, find something on that subject, place or person under discussion to interest you. In the main I will keep those links unrelated to the task in hand to a minimum. With this in mind I have set up some complimentary functions which, hopefully, will help our blog find a wider audience.

Our blog has a 'live feed' which you will find at the bottom of each page - this comes as part of the Blogger software. This is a touch technical to implement but well worth the effort. Depending upon the browser you are using this can be a doozy or mightily frustrating. There are three popular browsers in use: Internet Explorer (which all Windows users know) FireFox - the feisty new kid on the block - and Safari which comes with Apple Macs. Internet Explorer is now in it's 7th version. Most of the world is currently looking at the Internet with Internet Explorer 6.0 - which does not support web feeds - Internet Explorer 7.0 does. FireFox, my browser of choice, has a built in live feed function as does Apple's Safari. Other names for this function are live bookmarking, RSS feed and News Feed ( You can see this in operation on the NZHearld, Stuff and New Zealand's premier blog Public Address sites ). With this in place, when using your computer online, a simple drop down menu gives you the latest from our blog right here and now without the need to go to the site.

In the bundle of toys you get when you sign up for a Google Account (please ask if you want an invitation to sign up) is a lovely photo management package called Picasa. This has an on-line gallery component which I will link to from time to time. Here is our first link.

Technorati is a blogging aggregation website - which I am still getting my head around - help!! - which if you look here - will give you a feed of our blog - for added profile. Again, here is our Technorati link. The Technorati Ping for our blog is here.
( oops I have the feeling that you need to be logged in to view all of this ).

And lastly at the bottom of the right hand column you will see a little link. This surprisingly agile function tells us who is visiting our blog where they are from which pages they have visited and how long they spent with us.

Help - there are other Google Toys (my term) I would love to implement but will only do so as time allows - again if you have the time and inclination - help!!.

One of these is Customised Google Search. We can help Gavin - and family - in his quest to inform and inspire us. Essentially we can build a searchable database of websites, articles and links which relate back to the core objective of our project.

If you have the expertise (or a willingness to research, discuss and encourage) and the inclination to help with any of these more arcane aspects of the Internet please tell us. The same goes for registering with Del.icio.us another community doing the much the same thing. And Weblogs as well (I think). There is also something called DigIt - all can be used to aggregate information and hopefully draw more visitors our the site. Lastly, but not least, if you have a website or a blog feel free to link to us and spread the word.

Gavin's Website

Remember to visit earthlimited.org to check out Gavin's work, publications and perspectives on what he is doing. The link is also at the top right of this blog.

Gavin and Lena cooking

The Swiss Italian girls

Learning to use our new gear

Buying the gear - Panavision Auckland NZ

Background - objectives

To document and share the wisdom of farmers regarding climate change, focusing particularly on adaptation and the contribution of sustainable farming systems.

Our primary focus is to:

• Document relevant issues regarding climate change in the countries we visit, from the perspective of local farmers.
• Document things that positive, proactive farmers are doing towards a sustainable future.
• Take the opportunity to interact and share with as many like-minded people as possible.

Background

We've heard about climate change from scientists, politicians, environmentalists, celebrities. What about the true grassroots people, the farmers of the world?

In my work with New Zealand farmers I targeted people who were forward thinking and making positive moves towards a sustainable future, farmers who are providing leadership for others. It has become even clearer to me than ever before that there is a collective wisdom among these people that we all need to be hearing and acting on, even those of us who live in mega cities.

We have invested in a professional digital video camera and with the support of an experienced cinematographer and others are learning to use this gear.

Our website will have a dedicated blog (online diary), which is being developed by my cousin Michael Jeans.

A link to this online diary will be provided at:
www.earthlimited.org/worldtrip.html. (pending)