Patrick Lam

Thoughts and travels of Patrick Lam

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

New Zealand Restaurants

I consolidated the list of restaurants we liked in New Zealand from my monthly summaries so far. Considering how few days we spent in Christchurch there are a surprisingly large number of restaurants from there. In general we’ve been doing a lot of cooking at home.

Wellington

  • Upesh Kitchen: Our favourite Kelburn take-out place, Malaysian and South Indian

  • Harbourside Market: Sunday market with food trucks

  • Best Ugly Bagels: Montreal-style bagels

Posted by Patrick Lam on Saturday, October 3, 2020

Long-Delayed Trip Report: Queen's Birthday Weekend in Charleston

The plan, then, was to get in some climbing on granite in Charleston for the Queen’s Birthday long weekend. Side note: In Canada [except Quebec], Victoria Day is the Queen’s Birthday (unofficial start to summer), scheduled for the last Monday preceding May 25, while in NZ, it’s the first Monday in June. Close but not quite, and the weather is different. Kind of like many things in NZ. It’s a different country.

Posted by Patrick Lam on Thursday, September 10, 2020

Our First Great Walk: the Heaphy Track

Finally, part 1. Part 2: Pohatu Penguins. Part 3: Arthur’s Pass and the TranzAlpine. Part 3b: BreakFree on Cashel.

All the pictures: gallery

Introduction

As soon as the Great Walks bookings opened after lockdown, we thought we would sign up for at least one, to see what they were like. At this point I can’t remember why, but we chose the Heaphy Track as our first Great Walk. This is the longest great walk at 82km, and we would be doing it in the middle of the “winter”, sharing the track with mountain bikes.

Posted by Patrick Lam on Saturday, September 5, 2020

The TranzAlpine and a day at Arthur's Pass

Here’s the third part of this South Island trip. Part 1: Heaphy Track. Part 2: penguins, Mount Sunday, and Christchurch. Part 3b: BreakFree on Cashel.

On my list of “things to check for re-opening” was New Zealand railway trips. So when I saw that the TranzAlpine was re-opening for $75 winter fares, I talked MP into a trip from Christchurch. Like the Heaphy, this trip leaves you far away from where you started, and on the wrong side of the Southern Alps. The train is logistically easier because at least you’re in a town, Greymouth. But that town is still remote enough that one can buy a starter home for $95k. The solution here is easier than for the Heaphy though: you just take the train back.

Posted by Patrick Lam on Saturday, August 22, 2020

Pohatu Penguins at Akaroa, Mount Sunday, and Christchurch

Our South Island trip had three distinct components, so it makes sense to post about them separately. This is part 2. Part 1: Heaphy Track. Part 3: Arthur’s Pass and the TranzAlpine. Part 3b: BreakFree on Cashel.

Full galleries at https://gallery.patricklam.ca/index.php?/category/1227.

July 10: French-themed day in Canterbury

More pictures from July 10

After a big day on July 9th, finishing the Heaphy Track and getting to the suburbs of Christchurch, we were scheduled to go see penguins in Akaroa with Pohatu Penguins. MP signed us up for their maximal experience, including getting driven up to the crater rim and enjoying the scenery of Akaroa Harbour, followed by walking down the last bit of the first day of the Banks Track, an evening penguin tour, and sea kayaking the next morning. Well, the maximal experience didn’t include food, but that was good for us. It’s nice to self-cater on trips.

Posted by Patrick Lam on Friday, July 24, 2020

BreakFree on Cashel (Christchurch): A Review

tl;dr

Exceeded expectations. Great value-for-money.

Related Work

See also Yotel: A Review, a stay in AMS Schiphol Yotel back in 2016 after a conference.

Staying near the bus stop

For our night between getting off the TranzAlpine round trip and taking the 7am-bus-then-ferry back to Wellington, we wanted a place close to the bus stop. The BreakFree was as close as you could get (3 minute walk), and also cheap, at C$63 (NZ$70) for an “Inner Urban Double”. More expensive than the Mount Somers Holiday Park at NZ$55, but way more posh, in a more central location, and in particular, with better mattresses. (A review on the Internet also mentioned the mattresses). Apparently cheaper than Yotelair Schiphol, but who can compare prices in these pandemic times anyway.

Posted by Patrick Lam on Wednesday, July 15, 2020

Moderate multi-pitch in New Zealand, March 11, 2020

On our previous trip to the South Island we stayed around Wanaka cragging and hiking. Although the Darrens were still washed out during our visit, The Remarkables feature some multipitch climbing. In particular, our borrowed Queenstown guidebook listed a dozen climbs above Lake Alta (aka Dimrill Dale). We’d go to Lake Alta and then up to Double Cone and find a moderate climb. To Lake Alta Alpine starts are well advised but difficult, especially after riverboarding the previous day, having dinner in Queenstown with Waterloo students on exchange, and getting back to our Frankton airbnb at 9pm.

Posted by Patrick Lam on Tuesday, April 21, 2020

An Exciting Trip to Mount Taranaki, March 17-18, 2020

Almost as if anticipating a lockdown, we had planned back-to-back-to-back trips for the middle of March. We’d just barely gotten back from Queenstown on Thursday, March 12 (but that’s another story), and had scheduled 4 days to climb Mount Taranaki, which I’d seen from the plane on the way in to Wellington back on January 1, 3 months and so long ago. Events would catch up to us and prevent our subsequent trip to Melbourne. At least we didn’t have to do a visa run anymore.

Posted by Patrick Lam on Tuesday, April 14, 2020

Beyond Diet: on red pandas and doing better

This week I was busy writing code for a research project I’m working on here in New Zealand, so no travel pictures from me.

Here is a red panda in the Wellington Zoo (photo credit: Marie-Pascale Desjardins, as well as for suggesting this tip).

It turns out that red pandas and giant pandas are not related aside from both being cute animals. Giant pandas have a 99% bamboo diet, while red pandas are at 85% bamboo.

Posted by Patrick Lam on Saturday, March 7, 2020

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

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