I had to attend to some practical matters today, which was a bit annoying as the weather was due to clear in the afternoon, but… first things first. I had a leak in my roof which couldn’t be ignored, I had problems with my web hosting provider, and my wireless microphone setup had packed in. I couldn’t ignore any of these problems. The weather forecast said clearing in the afternoon, and the rain continued all morning… so the roof would be my last job. Yesterday I’d gone back to the beach at Ruatapu, just outside Hokitika, where I’d tried to record the last of the scenes I need to do down there. I’d gone there straight after recording the morning session looking at the first mountains that Abel Tasman saw. I’d not got much done that timebefore my sound batteries went flat (but that’s another tale), so I’d packed up for the day. Then it rained very well, and then, two days later I was back on that same beach setting up again. As I was putting my sound kit together I discovered I couldn’t find a special lead that I’d made. I searched, and searched. I walked back to the van and opened and closed everything that opens and closes, but I couldn’t find it. I realised that the last time I’d used the lead was on this beach… but that was four tides ago. I went back to the beach to look anyway. Incredibly, after about 20 mins searching I found it in the sand. It was looking a bit sorry for itself, but it was still in one piece. Back at the van I tried it out, but… nothing. Dismantling and testing the whole path from the microphone to the camera I found a dead socket on my beach washed component. I needed to replace it, and my heart sank. Greymouth. Bloody Greymouth again! That was the closest Dick Smiths (Curry’s to the people in England). So, I drove back to Greymouth and into Dick Smiths for a solderable 3.5mm stereo jack. It was too late to get back to Hokitika, so Greymouth it was, again! And then it rained…. really, really well, and the roof leaked. This morning I set about fixing everything up. Most urgent was my blog site. You only ever see the ‘front end’ of the site. I manipulate it from behind. For the last three days I had not been able to access the back end. This was the third time I’ve had this problem. Researching my provider on the internet showed that they’re in big trouble, and may well go under. At midnight the service had come back online, but I didn’t know how long for. I needed to copy everything I could back from their servers to my own while it was possible, just in case. It took some time, but it was important. If they go out of business I need to be able to get my blog going again with another provider quickly. Next was some electronics. My ‘radio’ microphone is essential to all recording. It is the only consistent means I have of laying down a soundtrack. I couldn’t do any more filming until I’d got that going again. Now, waiting for the rain to stop I broke out the soldering iron, and soon I had sound again. I was done by afternoon, and the rain stopped. So then… it was time for the roof. My Mc Gyver arrangement had worked well, but it was only a fix, not a repair. The good folk at the campsite lent me a ladder and soon I was on the roof looking at the problem. 30 mins and a generous application of silicon later, it was all good again. Finally, I could get down to some work. It was too late for filming, even though the weather was still good, so, now that my site was accessible again, I got down to publishing the next piece about Tasman. It’s here. sixboats.co.nz/first-land/ The forcast for tomorrow is good… albeit cold; 0° to 8°, so it will be an early start. Ill drive back to Hokitika, and film on the beach. Then, I’m nearly done down here. I just have a short sequence to do between here (Greymouth) and Hokitika. It’s been a long day, but everything is all fixed up again and I’m ready to press on.
Posted on: Wed, 02 Jul 2014 10:50:56 +0000
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