Patrick Lam

Thoughts and travels of Patrick Lam

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.

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.

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”.

Posted by Patrick Lam on Wednesday, July 15, 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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