Sunday, April 02, 2017
Reflections
About me (Rodney James Hylands)
I attended Beckenham Primary School in Christchurch from 1945 to
1947. Two events of particular interest I
remember from that time. One is the dropping of leaflets over Christchurch on
VJ Day to mark the end of WWII in 1945.Many schools had the afternoon off to
witness the event which was widely reported in the Christchurch Press. The other
is a launch trip that my father (Constable Hylands who was Arms Officer at
Christchurch Central Police Station) took me on to the British light aircraft
carrier HMS Theseus moored off Sumner Beach in 1946-47 (can’t remember exact
date). I remember the steep climb up the massive hull to the flight deck then going
down in an elevator to a hangar of fighter planes with folded wings. HMS Theseus
then continued on to make official visits to Wellington and Auckland. There
appears to be no official record of the mooring off Sumner Beach!
My family left Christchurch in 1947. We went by passenger vessel, Wanganella,
to Wellington then caught the main trunk train to Auckland. I remember a mad scramble off the train at Taumarunui
Station to get a cup of tea at the refreshment centre.
In Auckland I attended Mt Eden Primary School. Then from 1952 to 53 I
attended Kowhai Intermediate School. A big problem was asthma. I remember
sitting up all night gasping for breath, the only respite being from breathing
in smoke from burning ‘Neil’s Asthma Powder’. Walking to school each day was often
an effort. Needless to say that sport was largely out of the question. I
particularly enjoyed Kowhai school excursions such as to the dunes and fresh
water lakes behind Bethell’s Beach and to Motutapu Island.
From 1954 to 58 I attended Mt Albert Grammar (MAGS). Sleepless
nights caused by asthma continued to be a problem. I’d often arrive at school
about 10AM after pedalling several kilometres on my trusty ‘Triang’ bike.
Nevertheless, I persevered and passed School Certificate and University
Entrance. I then went to Auckland University where I completed a BSc (RadioPhysics)
in 1961. In 1962 I joined Akrad Radio Company in Waihi as a Radio Engineer. However, the
remoteness of the place got to me so I stayed only six months. Later, I joined
the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) as a research scientist. I was then sent on
full pay to Auckland University from 1964 to 1965 for postgraduate study. In May 1965 I viewed the only total eclipse of the sun visible in New Zealand in the 20th century from a launch at the entrance to Whangaroa Harbour. In
1966 I was awarded an MSc (Physics) degree at a Town Hall ceremony. This
completed my formal studies. From 1966 I worked at NRL.
In September 1968 I married a Japanese lady, Masako. In 1970/71
Masako and I took our 4½ months old baby (Michiko) to Japan on a cargo vessel,
the Townsville Star. It took two weeks to reach Okinawa then on to Kobe where
we exited the ship. There was no doctor on board so in retrospect we were
taking something of a risk. The return trip to NZ was delayed by six months
because the ship had to go into dry dock in Yokohama to repair a propeller
damaged by a floating log.
In 1978 we returned to Japan
via Hong Kong taking Michiko and our second child, Mariko (born 1972). Michiko
was almost overcome in Hong Kong by the 33 deg C heat and only revived after we
entered the air-conditioned Grand Hotel. In Kyoto, we temporarily lost Mariko
in the crowd at the top of steps leading up to the Kyomizu Shrine. It was a
worrying five minutes before she ran over to us. In 1983 Masako and I took
Michiko (aged 12) and Mariko (aged 10) to Japan by plane. We visited Tokyo
Disneyland five months after it had opened. Michiko and Mariko loved the place
especially Pirates of the Caribbean (doesn’t everyone?). Afterwards, we went by
ferry from Niigata to Otaru to visit Masako’s mother and two sisters. On
another trip to Japan some years later we travelled via Hawaii.
In the early 1970s as well as carrying out scientific research I was
an examiner for Auckland Technical Institute. I did this for five years. My job
was to set and mark advanced electronics papers. In the mid-1970s NRL was
renamed the Defence Scientific Laboratory (DSE). In 1990 DSE had a change of direction
from scientific to operational research. In 2000 after 38+ years I
retired to write novels.
About my interests.
While at Mt Eden Primary school and Kowhai Intermediate school my
main interests were making and flying balsa wood models of planes and
constructing Meccano models (I had a number 6 set; the maximum number being
10). In 1949 I made a model of the Easter Island Kontiki raft out of raupo
reeds. At MAGS I was interested in chess, making homemade fireworks (mainly of
the exploding type) and brewing sake. It was lucky I didn’t blow myself up or
poison myself. The sake brewed undoubtedly contained traces of fusel oil and/or
methanol both of which are toxic at high levels. In 1957 while in 6Science at
MAGS I pedalled up Mt Eden at night to view Sputnik. Many other space enthusiasts
were there too.
At MAGS I enjoyed English literature as well as physics and
chemistry. However, science and maths needed less memory so I concentrated on
these. In my first three years at Auckland University (1959-61) I concentrated
on studying for a BSc. In the first year of the two-year MSc course (1963-64) I
joined the University Underwater Club and went with them on several trips
around NZ. Most memorable were trips to Cavalli Islands, Kawau Island and Mayor
Island. I also went with the University Canoe Club to Lake Waikaremoana. A
highlight of this trip was overcoming an asthma attack while climbing to the
base of the Panekiri Bluff, no mean achievement even in the best of health.
In my early years at NRL I dabbled in Amateur Radio. My call sign
was ZL1AYR. I was also into recreational yachting. My first yacht was an Aussie
Moth, the second a Dolphin sailing dinghy. In 1997 Mariko and I went on a
canoe/kayak trip up the Whanganui River. We exited at Raetihi then had a
mountain bike company drive us up nearby Mt Ruapehu. The ride down on separate
bikes was fast and furious!
In the 1970s I did an extramural course in Stage I Japanese at
Massey University getting an A for written Japanese and a B for spoken. However,
because learning Japanese took so much time I didn’t proceed with the course
figuring that I’d take Japanese up again if I ever went to live in Japan. I
never did though.
Some exciting helicopter trips I was on during my career.
·
Going by Iroquois to Mayor
Island, hill hopping most the way, very exciting. I was a week there in a beach
hut monitoring sounds from hydrophones.
·
A trip to Great Barrier Island
(GBI). We got lost in rain and mist and had to hop around the rocky eastern
coastline until we found a recognisable point.
·
Being winched off the
Australian submarine HMAS Otama after completing a noise ranging exercise off
GBI. The alternative was going on the submarine to Whangarei then having to
catch a bus back to Auckland.
I often went on oceanographic cruises on the fleet auxiliary vessel,
HMNZFA Tui. A particularly memorable cruise was along the west coast of
Australia. It was flat calm all the time. The ship called into Broome where we
hired a mini-moke and drove into the desert to witness a spectacular sunset. The
visit to Broome hadn’t been planned. We were supposed to go to Bali. However,
the crew didn’t want to go because it meant that they’d lose their coastal
allowance which gave them more money in the pocket than a sea-going allowance.
So the ship’s fresh water generators mysteriously failed forcing the ship to
abandon Bali and hug the Australian coast, hence the Broome visit. One memory
was jumping over the side of the ship into the shark-infested waters of the
Indian Ocean encouraged by a crewmember being on the bridge with a rifle ready to
shoot any inquisitive shark. In retrospect this armed crew member may have
given us a false sense of security.
Another memorable trip was seismic profiling along the Louisville
Ridge, a 3000km long chain of seamounts in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. I
joined the ship in Rarotonga. After arriving by plane at Rarotonga (and carrying
the ship’s mail), one of the Prime Minister’s Department drove me on a three
hour sightseeing trip around the island, all I managed to see of the island as
the ship was about to depart. Later, I discovered that civilians weren’t authorised
to carry mail much less deliver it, only Post Office officials, so I had
unknowingly committed an illegal act!
Another trip that comes to mind is to a NZ Weather Station on Raoul
Island in the Kermadecs. The only way to get ashore was to pile into a wicker
basket off a ship’s dinghy then be winched up by a derrick arm jutting out over
a cliff.
Also memorable was a tour around a nuclear submarine (either USS
Haddo in1979 or USS Queenfish in 1983) when it visited Auckland. The tour went as
far as the entrance to the reactor room but we weren’t allowed inside.
Achievements
I am particularly proud of
·
In 1964 in the first year of my
MSc studies I took a Stage II Mathematical Physics paper. The end-of-year exam
was three hours long yet I finished the paper in two hours. Most of the
questions involved solving problems using differential and integral calculus. I
double-checked my answers glanced at my watch then thought ‘why not?’ So I
handed in my script and to the amazement of others who were finding the paper
difficult left the room. I got an A+ and for several months
afterwards was regarded by some as near genius. Then reality set in. Still, it
gave me quite a buzz at the time.
·
In the late 1980s the RNZN
decided to create a permanent Noise Range at Great Barrier Island. Noise
ranging is the measurement using hydrophones of underwater sound radiated by a
vessel. In 1988 I and a Beca Carter Software Engineer created a
prototype/demonstration Noise Range software system for the RNZN. It was
written in structured BASIC and ran on a HP Integral PC. At the time I
considered myself something of a noise ranging expert having managed the
ranging of a variety of naval vessels including submarines over the previous
ten years. I was also familiar with US, UK, Canadian and Australian noise
ranges. The prototype/demonstration system proved to be cheap and flexible
being written in BASIC and therefore easily changed to suit different
requirements. In my opinion the prototype/demonstration software even though
running on the rather clunky HP Integral PC was superior in all aspects except
speed (a non-essential requirement) when compared to the expensive, gold-plated
ADA software package eventually purchased by the RNZN from Thomson-Sintra
Australia. Also, it could process data from portable hydrophone arrays, not
just the fixed array at GBI. Lastly, the software written in BASIC would have
been far cheaper to maintain than ADA. I also modified a software package for a
colour LOFARGRAM recorder (LOFAR means Low Frequency and Ranging) used by the
project.
·
I had a dispensation from the
RNZN to do outside-of-working hours software contracting. One of these jobs was
the creation of a ‘cutting list’ software package written in BASIC for the Mt
Albert based curtain manufacturing company Leigh Jackson Ltd. The package proved
a great success and helped the company maintain an edge over its competitors.
In the late 1990s I rewrote the ‘cutting list’ programme as an Access 97
database. This package has since been ported to a more recent version of Access
and was in 2015 still being used by the company to maintain their competitive
edge.
·
My four novels The Asset, le Nucleaire, Saul’s
Prophecy: Sword of Gaia and Lateral
Connection.
·
In the 1970’s I built a PC
using the Motorola 6800 microprocessor and got it to print messages on a
Teleprinter. The home-made PC is made of duralumin and has impressive rows of
switches and LEDs on the front panel.
