Patrick Lam

Thoughts and travels of Patrick Lam

On the Rollercoaster: What an Interesting Location

NZ remains COVID-free, barely.

Posted by Patrick Lam on Friday, June 25, 2021

West Coast Again, May 21-25 2021: Day 4, Mount French

I suspected that the Mount French route would be slightly marginal for daylight, since it was posted at 6-7 hours and sunset is currently at 17:15. But I thought we could do it quickly enough. The weather forecast was excellent and there were only a couple of fluffy white clouds in the sky.

Posted by Patrick Lam on Thursday, June 24, 2021

West Coast Again, May 21-25 2021: Days 2 & 3, Canterbury Open, Otira Café, Truman Track, Punakaiki Pancake Rocks, and Westland Petrel Colony

Fought in the Canterbury Open, and then an action-packed day north of Greymouth.

Posted by Patrick Lam on Saturday, June 19, 2021

West Coast Again, May 21-25 2021: Day 1, WLG-CHC

Last year Elliott and I went to the West Coast for the Queen’s Birthday weekend. Victoria Day is a bit earlier but the Canterbury Open was basically on the Victoria Day long weekend (not a holiday in NZ!) and I figured it would be a good chance to get out to the West Coast again, though coming from Christchurch rather than Wellington, and a bit further south than last time.

Posted by Patrick Lam on Saturday, June 12, 2021

Holidays: Canada vs NZ

I know what’s when in Canada, but things are completely different here. Let’s try to figure it out.

Posted by Patrick Lam on Saturday, May 15, 2021

Review: Ice Walker: A Polar Bear's Journey through the Fragile Arctic by James Raffan

Canadian content! This short work of creative nonfiction follows a bear, Nanu, as she raises her cubs near Churchill Falls (Manitoba) in contemporary times.

Posted by Patrick Lam on Sunday, May 9, 2021

That Antipodal Life

We’ve been in Wellington for the past year and a half (!). It’s never really cold or hot here. How does that compare to Canada?

Posted by Patrick Lam on Wednesday, May 5, 2021

Queenstown, Makarora, Wanaka, and not Gillespie

The planned logistics for the Gillespie trip were simple: rent a car, stay at the Wonderland Lodge in Makarora the night before, take a jetboat across the river, walk, and take a jetboat back from Kerin Forks. The jetboat avoids the biggest river crossings. Ironically, the day before we were to go, we got a call saying that there wasn’t enough water to run the jetboat. That’s fine, it should be easy to cross the river in that case.

Posted by Patrick Lam on Friday, April 2, 2021

WLG-NSN

An excellent opportunity to add to the walked-to-airports list! I’d meant to walk to NSN last July, but we actually only flew into that airport after the Heaphy; our flight to the start of the track was replaced by a van ride. Here’s my chance!

Posted by Patrick Lam on Friday, March 12, 2021

2020 Retrospective part 1: travel

I was writing a 2020 retrospective but it was getting too long so I split it up. Here’s a retrospective on the travel that I’ve been privileged to be able to do. Other parts of the retrospective to come.

I should say up front that I strongly dis-recommend travel anywhere there is a pandemic. The safest thing to do is to limit contact with other people. Travel is not that. Definitely don’t go to St. Barthélemy, whether you are or are not the finance minister of Ontario. (I don’t think anyone reading this can afford that anyway. Let me know if I’m wrong!)

Posted by Patrick Lam on Wednesday, January 6, 2021

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Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Waterloo; patrick.lam@uwaterloo.ca

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