Those cars have been stuck behind the cordon and many anxious car owners have been left worrying about whether or not their car is even still in one piece.

Today, a new Christchurch Car Finder application was launched on the NZ Police website. You can find the Car Finder application here.

There should be a link on the home page of the NZ Police website. Just look for the image above. The Car Finder allows you to enter your license plate number and you will be provided with information on whether or not the Police, Parks Towing agency or Turners Auctions have details on the location of your vehicle. If you enter your plate number and no details are found, you will be presented with a form to fill out providing the details and last location of your car. The Police will then contact you when they have information.

Of course, if the Police do have information and you are able to pick up your car, make sure you have keys (and if not, make an appointment with a locksmith or if your car is new, contact your dealership) as well as extensive proof of ownership and of identity.

Many of the cars have been towed to the Turners Auctions car park (I believe that would be the Tower Junction one) over the past couple of weeks, or to other collection points around town. Up until now, a local business owner managed to track down his vans by using their GPS function just recently and a towing company that had access to the CBD has been providing a car collection service for around $60.

Good luck to all those looking for their cars and I hope the damage is minimal.

A great friend of mine by the name of Chris Flack, like many New Zealanders, moved to the UK on his big OE and hasn’t quite got round to moving back yet. He’s been taking London by storm and is a fantastic diplomat, representing everything great that there is about New Zealand.

He moved to the UK to carry on his design career shortly after he appeared on Close Up and in other media reports for his ‘Comfort Zone Challenge’ – a New Year’s resolution whereby Chris attempted to do two things each week that were outside of his comfort zone. You can see the TV1 interview here.

In the UK, Chris’ antics happily continued to thrive. Chris soon appeared on the TV show, ‘Dinner Date’ where Chris (New Zealand Cleo’s bachelor of the year by the way) attempted to win a date with an attractive gal by cooking a meal for his potential date in his own home. Competing against a model and a fitness instructor, our Kiwi friend was sadly overlooked. Her loss.

Chris Flack, Kiwi Warrior

Chris’ latest feat came about due to the 22nd February aftershock that brought much of Christchurch to the ground. Chris hooked up with the Red Cross for Red Cross Week and was the star of this awesome video (yes, I know he says his name is Brian):

At the same time, Chris, in true ‘Chris’ fashion, took the bull by horns and set up an expedition to climb Kilimanjaro with all money raised to be donated to the Red Cross Earthquake fund here in New Zealand. What a trooper.

He’s currently looking for like-minded people to join the expedition (it’s to take place in August 2011) as well as, of course, donations for the cause.

You can find out more about the expedition and support Christ and the team on the Kilimanjaro Hike website.

Good luck Chris.

Mark Inglis has a firm place in New Zealand’s mountaineering heritage having been the first double amputee to stand on the summit of Everest.  Since then, Mark and Anne Inglis created Limbs4All – a sustainable New Zealand based Charitable Trust committed to helping some of the 400 million disabled people in the world to express potential.

Inglis contacted me to invite me on a trekking expedition that he is hosting in Nepal. Arranged by World Expeditions, this trip takes you to the Gokyo Lakes region at the head of the Dudh Kosi Valley. The trek takes you higher than Everest base camp to Gokyo Ri and to see what Inglis tells me is the real Nepal.

The beauty of having Inglis there with you is that you see the area, and views of Everest, from his own perspective. Inglis can take you around the mountaineering haunts of Kathmandu and introduce you to his Sherpa friends.

Trip Highlights

The highlight of the trek is an ascent of Gokyo Ri. From the summit you’ll see impressive views of Everest as well as the 8,000m peaks of Lhotse, Makalu and Cho Oyu. To put this in perspective,  Mount Cook – New Zealand’s highest peak and the place where Mark lost his legs in 1982 – stands at 3,754 metres. The highest peak in Brtiain is Ben Nevis at a comparatively minuscule 1,344 metres.

Personally, the highlight for me would be walking alongside Mark Inglis himself and discussing the stories and personalities that I’ve read so much about and knocking pint glasses with a guy who features in a large number of the more recent books himself.

Alas, I’m unable to head of on this remarkable adventure this year but Mark has allowed me to put the offer out there to others. Looking over the trip information, this really is an incredible trip at fantastic value – less than the price of a 20 year old Hilux (yes, I compare all prices to my truck to help me put them in perspective) . Plus $500 goes towards Mark’s charity, Limbs4All.

For a full guide to the trip itself, head to the Gokyo Lakes page on the World Expeditions website and download the trip notes. If you have any questions or want to get in touch with Mark about the trip, feel free to post a comment here or contact World Expeditions through their site.

If you end up going, take some photos for me and give me a run down of your experiences and I’ll post them on this blog.

The incredible pictures of Mount Everest on this page are by my Christchurch photographer friend, Heather Ellis.

Now ok, it is being recycled rather than thrown away … but too many people think that they’re doing the world a favour by simply recycling. We had a temp here who would buy a large plastic bottle of Evian spring water every day. She thought she was a proper eco-saint because she was recycling. At the end of each week, the recycling bag was fit to burst with these bloody huge plastic bottles.

What many people don’t realise is the amount of economic waste that is generated through the recycling process as recycling is not 100% efficient.

There’s one key ‘R’ that is far more effective than recycling and that is to RE-USE.

This brings us nicely to the subject of me. I’m no eco-warrior but I like to think that I’m better than most. But at the end of one month, I had quite a mountain of used takeaway coffee cups.

To be fair, I had started to get my coffee from the Coffee Laboratory in Shades Arcade. James at the Coffee Lab uses BioCups that are biodegradable. A definite step in the right direction but the lids were still naughty old plastic.

Then one of our graphic designers, Abbie, showed me the KeepCup. The KeepCup is a trendy product that’s really taking off in Austrraaylya.

Introducing the KeepCup

Developed in Melborne, Australia, it’s simply a re-usable coffee cup that comes in some funky colours. You simply gives this cup to the coffee-maker-people each time you get a take-away coffee. The baristas don’t mind it at all as it saves them money on coffee cups plus a lot of baristas are pretty switched on when it comes to the environment.

The manufacturer’s website itself is one of the best I’ve seen for showing off a product and understanding how it works. Using their calculator, I worked out that, for my 5 takeaway coffees a week, over the four year life time of the KeepCup I would help the environment by saving:

The KeepCup has also built up a bit of a cult fan base. Plus a mention from me on Twitter quickly brought five or six people into the conversation and produced a flurry of visits to the KeepCup website and at least one sale in just a few minutes.

Where can I buy a KeepCup in New Zealand?

A bit of research shows that the KeepCup can also be branded. Check out People’s Coffee in Newtown.  These guys sell a People’s Coffee branded KeepCup from their cafe and fill it with your first coffee for free.

Elsewhere in New Zealand, you can also buy the KeepCup online from CoffeeSupreme.com for $15 plus $3.50 for delivery, or in Wellington and Christchurch you can visit the Starfish stores to purchase one in person for $18 for the smaller model and $22 for the larger model. I’ve just bought one myself. A fetching charcoal grey with a red tab.

If you’re after a cool coffee cup but the KeepCup isn’t quite doing it for you, try these alternative mugs from Mighty Ape.