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Music, New Zealand, Sport

Wellington Fly By

8th July 2008
Queenstown

All good things must come to an end and so has my time in Wellington. I finished work on the 30th after a full weekend of last minute testing and configuring while my final Monday involved the huge unnecessary upload as the help desk people were unwilling to let us rename a directory to make our site live, so we had to upload the whole thing. Ah, help desks, useful for something, I’m sure. I left part way through the upload, leaving it in the hands of Tony and Katrina but a voicemail message at 10:30pm had me back in the office! There was some problem with incorrect paths in the search engine cache file but that was soon fixed and I stayed until half 11 or so as a few more minor imperfections were ironed out. I had a lot of fun working at the IRD, it was a good place to be and I enjoyed my many random conversations with Tony, we covered all subjects from Pastafarianism to made up words and a mountain-based action film featuring Sir Ed, Pol Pot and most of the cast of Die Hard. Expect to see that one straight to DVD by 2010. I think that’s all the work related news I have.

A few weeks ago I was up in Auckland to see the mighty All Blacks play the not so mighty England at Eden Park, probably not the best weekend I’ll ever have but at least I saw the All Blacks. Before the game there was some large medieval-style battle recreation by a bunch of enthusiasts, one side was England with the other being New Zealand and it was never really explained just exactly why this was happening. Although a load of 12th century-themed men in armour and chain mail fighting each other isn’t the best representation of Pom vs Kiwi, I suppose it’s a bit more politically correct than having Gatling gun wielding Red Coats squaring up against spear carrying Maori. Needless to say, the New Zealand knights won this particular battle with action scenes that made The Last Samurai look plausible and historically accurate (but only just).

I didn’t really do that much in Wellington over the past few weeks, just worked and saved money for my onward travel. There’s been a slight alteration in my Trans-Mongolian adventure as the fine Australian company I planned on booking with decided to charge me an extra $2000 for the privilege of traveling on my own, bringing their quotation to almost $8000. Now there’s even a financial punishment for being single! Although it was tempting to pay this perfectly logical increase for something that barely costs $4000 when booked independently, I politely declined the use of their services and was refunded my deposit. In spite of the Australians’ best efforts, I’m still going to do my Asian adventure but on my own, getting my tickets and visas along the way, all adding to the fun whilst reducing the cost.

After a couple of days in Wellington once I’d finished work and sorted myself out, I hired a car in Picton on Thursday and decided to have a bit of a drive down to Queenstown. When I got off the ferry there was a rep from the car hire company with a sign with my name on it, I felt so important! After the formalities were signed and paid for, I took to the road in my mighty Toyota Starlet and made my way down the coast. On this part of the drive, things were fairly uneventful and I was in Kaikoura by around 3, staying an hour or so for soup, coffee and photographs. Then it was back in the car for the drive to Christchurch, again, in keeping with the general theme of Canterbury, not a lot happened but I did make another stop in a little provincial town for more coffee. I got into Christchurch at around 7 but drove round aimlessly for an hour as I wasn’t too sure where I needed or wanted to be, a quick glance through Lonely Planet guided me to Foley Towers hostel, which I really liked. My little road trip just happened to coincide with a huge lorry protest planned for the middle of Christchurch the next day, so my escape would have to be postponed until late morning. By some miracle, I managed to guess my way out of the city after filling the beast up with petrol and was soon on my way to Greymouth, or so I thought. After another hour or so, I ended up in a little town called Darfield for another coffee break when I overheard some people mentioning how awful the weather conditions were on the way through Arthur’s Pass and that driving was not the best idea. With that in mind, I quickly altered my not so firm plans and decided to head south west towards Queenstown because that would be much safer. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Getting down to Twizel was no bother at all, I stopped off a couple of times to take in the scenery as the Southern Alps were looking amazing and I thought things should be fine towards Queenstown even though it was still pretty far. Wrong again. If I had any sort of knowledge of mountains and roads and more importantly the combination of roads within mountains, I think I’d have flown down. There’s only one way to get straight to Wanaka from Twizel and that’s through Lindis Pass, a route which will live long in my memory. My only real concern was that it was getting dark but that was soon eclipsed by a blizzard which seemed to come out of nowhere and the wind was pushing it straight into me. The snow continued to fall by the bucket load and I probably should have taken more note of the absence of any other vehicle, apart from the odd one or two. Anyway, I kept driving on but I was really starting to slide and some roads in New Zealand aren’t that easy at the best of times. In the distance, through the darkness and snow, I saw half a dozen cars pulled to the side of the road with their hazard lights on, the drivers were hurriedly attempting to put their snow chains on and so I made my best decision of the day and attempted to get mine on the old Starlet. After coming to an eventual, yet ungraceful stop, I gave myself a crash course in fitting chains but the darkness and four inches of snow didn’t really help things. My fingers were absolutely freezing as I somehow got the chains on, a camper van full of French travellers pulled alongside to get their chains on too and in a brief example of Anglo-French co-operation, we managed to help each other out. I was filthy, wet and cold by this point, it was pitch black and the snow was still falling. At times it was quite scary as I’ve never been in that position before and I hope I’m not again but I did manage to drive out, slowly but surely, for about an hour to reach the end of the pass where I pulled over and took the chains off. It was quite surreal as the place where I pulled over was almost completely dry and it was as if there had been no snow at all, like I’d just imagined it all. If only! There was no way I’d be even attempting to get to Queenstown that night so I made my way to Wanaka and found a motel.

In Wanaka on Saturday morning, I had a bit of a look round the town, I’d been there before in March with everyone on the Stray bus and that brought back some memories. Last week was the Winterfestial in Queenstown, due to end on Sunday so I had a look in the leaflet to see what was happening and that night there was an event called Big Night Out, which was a gig featuring The Checks, Opshop and Evermore. Opshop and Evermore are two of my favourite New Zealand bands so that was an amazing surprise! I quickly made my way to the Wanaka iSite to see if tickets were still available and I was told that I could get them at the venue in Queenstown. A quick petrol stop and I was on my way! Driving from Wanaka to Queenstown was certainly less eventful than the previous night’s driving and after a brief stop in Cromwell, I arrived by half 2. All hostels had completely sold out as Queenstown’s population quadrupled for the festival but seeing as I’d worked relatively hard at the IRD, I thought I’d treat myself so I stayed in a rather nice hotel on the lake front. After getting myself sorted and having a bit of a wander round town, I made my way to the Events Centre for the gig. I’d never really paid too much attention to the Checks but they were quite good, although I was so much happier once Opshop took the stage, I last saw them in September when they supported Snow Patrol, they even did a cover of Message in a Bottle, which was good. They played for quite a while before Evermore took the stage and they were fantastic, I really enjoyed the whole gig, especially as I had no idea before that it was even on. There were buses outside the venue to head back into town but they were taking ages and it was freezing outside (I had 4 layers on) so I got into a taxi with a load of people who were also waiting and we were back in town in a few minutes.

On Sunday, I just had a wander through the town, it brought back a load of good memories from the last time I was here, I saw the World Bar but I made sure I stayed on the other side of the road, just to be safe from temptation. I went up on the gondolas and took some photographs to compare how the town looked between summer and winter. I really love Queenstown, it’s one of my favourite places in New Zealand. I later heard that the Lindis Pass was closed sometime on Friday night (just after I drove through) so I was very lucky to get out. They were saying on the TV that it was the worst weather of the year so far.

I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do next so I decided to get the bus over to Dunedin and that’s where I am now. I always knew of its Scottish origins and themes (hence its name) but it really is like being in Scotland, especially with the weather we’re having and they even sell Irn Bru! I’ve missed that stuff so much. I’ve had a couple of days here and I’ve rearranged my flights so I have to leave New Zealand next Tuesday so I’m starting to make my way back up north now. I wanted to stay longer here in the south, especially in Queenstown but then I wouldn’t actually be able to leave, it was hard enough letting go of Wellington so there’s no point in delaying the inevitable. So I’m going to Christchurch tomorrow and then I’ll see what happens when I get there, which probably won’t be a lot.

That’s pretty much everything or at least the main details, I’m about to start my travels so in theory that should lead to an increase in updates as I’ll have things to update about but I know what I’m like.

New Zealand, Sport

Taxing Travel Plans

11th May 2008

Absence makes the heart grow fonder – yeah, another lengthy gap between blog updates! Since the last one there was the cricket, Easter and job stuff, the only main things to have happened.

The cricket – New Zealand vs England at the Basin – was fantastic! I’ve never been to a Test Match before so I wasn’t sure what to expect but the atmosphere was brilliant, probably about 85% of the crowd were English, it was a novelty seeing some Kiwis there. At the Basin, you can just walk around the entire ground and choose a seat/patch of grass to sit on and be there for a while, so I divided my time between the grandstand at one end on some days to sitting on the mound adjacent to the Barmy Army. The guys were so funny and there were loads of people in fancy dress, an honourable mention must go to the guys dressed up as Spider Pig, Batman and Robin and a gorilla. As the for game itself, Monty Panesar is very much the legend we all think he is and Ryan Sidebottom isn’t far behind! Around the ground I did see Steve Harmison at least so all was not lost on the Northumbrian front and Sir Ian Botham walked past me one morning after doing his usual pitch report, apparently he contributed very well to the New Zealand wine economy whilst he was here! I can’t remember many more details, was so long ago now but I got some fairly decent pictures so I’ll get them added when I can.

Around Easter time, there was a metal festival in Wellington – Rock2Wgtn – to quote the official title. The usual suspects were there, White Snake, Alice Cooper, Kiss, Ozzy Osbourne et al so you didn’t need to tell me twice to make like a tree out of the capital! Whilst Welly was invaded by a plethora of black t-shirts, leather and mullets, I made my way to the pleasant retreat of Taupo for the weekend. It was probably one of the hottest weekends I’ve had (and most likely the last) so outdoor time was restricted. I really like Taupo, it’s a nice little town to chill out in and everyone there is really friendly and relaxed but tensions were a little strained as, given the holiday period, there was an influx of Jafas so I think the locals were a bit more on edge! One nice surprise in Taupo was bumping into Yves again, he’d been doing the North Island so our paths crossed once more and was ready to do the Tongariro crossing. Not enough money in the world could make me want to join him but I’d be there with the moral support as I relaxed further in the National Park! It’s such a gorgeous hostel at the National Park, there was a good sunset and I tried to take an artist photo of Mount Doom (I’ve forgotten its actual name) in the distance but results were mixed.

Anyhow, the weekend seemed to fly by (a recurring theme) and it was back down towards Wellington after brief stops for gumboot throwing in Taihape (somehow I actually manage to get worse) and a remark-a-bull visit to Bulls. The last remnants of metal fans were dispersing just as I got back and the city seemed to be in one piece still, so all was good. I also bumped into Simon for a couple of days which was another great surprise, we went to the cinema (saw Gone Baby Gone, which was fantastic) and talked more about travel and stuff, he’s off to Bali now before returning home to Hamburg. In other cinema news, I finally saw Michael Clayton and it’s so much more than I could ever have expected, I knew it would be good considering the cast but it’s easily one of the best films I’ve seen in ages, the way the story unfolds is very clever and the ending had me quite involved, I really grew to hate that woman!

On the job front, after numerous applications and a very close shave of almost having to move to Auckland, I got a job at the Inland Revenue (Te Tari Taake) as a web developer for a couple of months. I’m working within the Business Improvement section with a guy called Tony and we’re working on the Intranet (my one true calling in New Zealand) with duties split between Investigations and Legal & Technical Services. I know tax might not seem all that exciting but the department we’re in is actually quite interesting and we’re starting to get the impression that crime really does pay. The people we work with are involved in the legal side of things and we’ve been told that quite a significant number of high ranking criminals – drug dealers, gang members, etc – actually file tax returns, fully declaring their income and how they acquired it! They do this so they can receive ACC and other state benefits like pensions and all that but they do so in the knowledge that the IRD cannot disclose their information to anyone, including and especially the police! It’s just like anyone else, I suppose, personal information is private and whether you’re a gang member or a florist (or both) your details are legally protected.

The police aren’t too happy about this but the IRD and, in turn, the Crown receives a huge percentage of income from alleged illegal activities so if they started to disclose this to the police then criminals would simply stop filing tax returns in fear of getting caught and then the IRD/New Zealand would lose lots of money. So kids, crime does pay. They can sometimes be quite playful with their choice of tax code too, we were told that before prostitution become legal, they referred to themselves as ‘independent contractors’. Tony and I were even discussing whether or not, in light of this ‘legitimate’ side of crime, gangs should have their own internet domain extension such as gang.nz, so they could have crazykillers.gang.nz as a web address. If non profit organisations are allowed .org.nz and even geeks in New Zealand can have .geek.nz then why should gangs be any different? They’re all tax paying citizens.

In other news, I’ve started to sort out my travel plans for returning to the UK with the date of my return pencilled in for the 28th/29th of October, add that to your diaries. I haven’t got any fixed date for leaving Aotearoa or indeed for travelling around South East Asia but what I do have is a little bit more exciting, I’m going to Kazakhstan! That part of my journey begins in Beijing on the 24th of September where I spend a few days there before departing to Mongolia for a few more days and then hit Russia for a while with notable detours into Kazakhstan for a couple of days and neighbouring Uzbekistan before making it back towards Russia for time in Moscow and St. Petersburg. It’s a hectic 33 day schedule between Beijing and St. Petersburg but it should be a good adventure, with a brief extension into Estonia to bring me home. Essentially it’ll be one long train journey from Hanoi (Vietnam) to St. Petersburg (Russia), I’m not sure of the total distance but scientists reckon it’s pretty far. The planning part of the trip is probably more complicated than the travelling itself as China and Russia don’t make it particularly easy to get a visa, whilst Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan lack embassies in all but the most remote of locations (relative to Wellington). I think the next few blog entries will be taken up by my complaints and moans about the ongoing visa saga as well as my increasing sadness that one day I’ll have to leave New Zealand.

So, it’s a bit overdue but this is where I am at the moment. Until next time…

New Zealand, Sport

Coxing Continued

20th December 2007

There was another regatta at the weekend in Cambridge, which is just outside Hamilton and that meant a 7 hour drive! It was just me and Brad for the road trip but it was good fun driving up there, he gave me all the info of all the places we went through so the drive was also a learning as well as a cultural experience. The scenery seemed to change every hour or so as we drove through forests, plains, towns, mountains and a town called Bulls. After a stop or two on the way, we got into Hamilton at about 11 where we met up with Rob, Jack and Lou-Li (still not sure how to spell it) at Jack’s aunty’s house where we were to be staying  – Hamilton’s only about 15km from Cambridge so it’s close enough.

It was another early start, we were down at the boat club at 7 and I think the first race was sometime around 8 and that’s where I made my competitive coxing debut, coxing for the girls four (2nd team) in their novice race. It wasn’t the best start to my career, I’d never even trained with the girls before so obviously I don’t know them as well as the guys but we did ok, my steering wasn’t great and we ended up in 5th out of 6 but it was a good learning experience anyway! The guys had a novice race later but Erin was coxing for that but I coxed for them in the club four (an open race that can have senior teams in it) and that’s where the sparks began to fly. At the start, we couldn’t really get too straight because there was a bit of a current and side wind (those are the excuses I’ll forever use) and once we’d powered ahead at the start, we began to cut off the West End team but I couldn’t see any of this happening because I was sat in the front  of the boat (apparently it’s faster if the cox is at the front). Anyway, there was a bit of a collision and some colourful language from those West End schoolboys, the marshalls got us apart again and we got underway once more. All that seemed to put me off just a bit but I gathered myself somewhere around the 500m mark and we made really good progress trying to catch up with the other crews but because of the angle I was looking at, it seemed like we were much closer than we actually were so I was constantly screaming at the guys because “we were getting real close”! In the end we came 4th out of 7 and only 4 seconds of third which would have taken us into the C Final but considering there were some senior crews in the race and our collision, I think we did really well and we could have probably made the top 2 otherwise.

We watched the well-hyped Mahe Drysdale – Rob Waddell singles race, the result certainly caused more than a ripple within the New Zealand sporting community, and then drove back to Hamilton. Jack’s uncle owns a bar there called the Riv so he took us all there for a couple of drinks and a meal, it’s so cheap even compared to Wellington prices and the beers went down a little too easy! It turned out we were served by Colin Meads’ granddaughter! I guess that shows the kind of circles I’m mixing in these days, Olympic/World Champions,  Rugby legends (family of) and all.

The guys had their C Final for the Novice Four on Sunday morning, with the much much more experienced Erin as cox and I think they came third or fourth. After that we packed up the gear and loaded the vans before making our way home. Brad suggested we stop off in Taupo because he knew of a natual spa that flows into the Waikato river so we met up there with Rob, Lou-Li and Jack. The spa was probably one of my favourite things that I’ve done so far in New Zealand, there were a few pools carved/eroded into the bank where the water flowed into and then out into the river. It got pretty hot in the spa so we alternated with swimming in the cooler river water and then back into the spa, it wasn’t that busy either, just another four or five people along with us five. The views upstream were amazing, towards the forest and the way the river was bending away into the distance. It was a strange sensation feeling the hot and cold waters mixing into each other, I could have one leg in hot water and the other in cold, it kind of all just randomly flowed together. I think we were there for about 45 minutes or so before we dried off, got some food and then drove back. I couldn’t believe I was swimming in a river in December, even though it’s spring here I still have to remind myself that it’s December and probably dark, cold and miserable back in Britain. Ah well.

Yesterday was one of the Christmas events at work and we all went over to the croquet club for some croquet action, there were some fine displays of skill and determination, as well as outright competitive rivalry between Intranet/Internet/Online Channel, with the Intranet claiming many victories. It really is the glue that binds us all together (at least that’s what we tell ourselves whilst in the shadow of our more glamourous Internet colleagues). It was really good fun though, we played Golf Croquet (as if I knew there were varieties) and it probably got even better as the drinks were consumed. Excellent views of the city and harbour too from the top of old Mount Vic. There’s another night out tomorrow with the Dev guys but I doubt that’ll be as sophisticated as croquet!

New Zealand, Sport

Oarsome

4th December 2007

It took a while but Brad (one of my flatmates) finally convinced me to cox for the Wellington Rowing Club Men’s Novice Four, which is his team and I really enjoyed it. Last Monday I went with him to one of the training sessions up at Petone (it was too windy at Wellington harbour, funnily enough) and coxed for a couple of hours, didn’t really have too much of an idea of what was happening but I understood the bare essentials of what I needed to do and got on with it. The other guys in the boat (Jack, Rob and Lou-Li [if that’s how to spell it?]) helped me out with what I needed to know, so that made it a lot easier.

At the weekend there was a regatta over at Wanganui, which is about a three hour drive from Wellington so we left for that on Friday night in Brad’s car, got there at about 11 or so and parked the trailer down by the river before heading to the Union Rowing club boat house. The other guys and the girls eight arrived earlier so they were already asleep, we had our sleeping bags so everyone just slept upstairs in one of the boat sheds.

We got up at 6 in the morning on Saturday for the regatta, I think the first race was at about 8, so we had breakfast in the club house and went over to the river. Even though it was a bit of a shock to the system to be up so early, it was such a nice day and the water was all calm and tranquil. When we got down to the river, the other Wellington teams were starting to arrive too (including the U16 boys, girls and seniors) and there must have been about 60 or so from the Wellington club in total. I think there were about a dozen clubs in total racing that day, including our neighbours and rivals Petone. Each club has it’s own vest colour and Wellington’s is maroon with a white hoop, I can’t remember what team it was, it might have been Hawkes Bay, but they had blue and white hooped vests and it made them look like pirates! Well, in my head it did anyway. I wasn’t involved in any of the races that day but it was good to talk with Erin about the art of coxing and I picked up some good advice there. Brad’s team, the Four, won their first race but stopped halfway through their second due to technical problems and they were due to compete in an Eight with four of the girls but the girls weren’t really up for it so they scratched that one.

Brad pointed out that a couple of the New Zealand Olympic teams were competing too so we watched those races with interest, they are pretty big guys! I was also shown who Mahe Drysdale was (a famous Olympic rower) and I thought it was so good that all the New Zealand teams were just wandering round the embankment and competing with everyone else without being hassled or bothered by anyone. I can’t think of any other sport where Olympic champions and national athletes would just be able to mix freely in and around people like that, certainly wouldn’t happen in Britain.

After the racing, we packed away most of the boats and the guys rowed back to the club house with me as cox. It was about 5km but we were there in good time and I managed to steer without too many problems. We got showered and had something to eat when we got back to Union and went to bed soon after.

Another early start on Sunday for training, got up at about 5:30 and we were on the water not long after 6. Again, the water was so calm and there was a little bit of mist, so it all looked good, definitely made getting up worthwhile. We trained for a couple of hours, I was coxing, and started to get a little bit better. The guys were great though, they have so much strength and power which made the boat go fast and the timing and everything is coming along too. When we got back, the girls went out for their row and we went out again when they got back. It was good hanging out with the guys during the times when we weren’t on the water, Jack had his rugby ball so we were throwing that around and doing general boat maintenance and things like that.

When we were getting ready to leave, an ambulance with all its lights on drove up to us and asked if any of us had phoned for an ambulance before moving on! We just started to laugh but felt quite sorry for whoever was waiting for the ambulance! The drive back to Wellington was a good one, a lot of the scenery kind of reminds me of home as it’s similar in many ways, just the heat that’s very very different.

So, yeah, that was the weekend. I never thought I’d get into rowing but I really like the close team aspect of it all and it gives me the chance to see other places at weekends.

In other news, the combined Intranet/Online Channel quiz team were victorious at the New Zealand Post Corporate Christmas Quiz last Wednesday! We beat the Chief Executives’ team in a tie-breaker, we were in two minds whether or not it would be a good idea to beat them but we just went straight for the glory. I think that’s the first quiz I’ve won for a while!

Music, New Zealand, Sport

For Fawkes Sake

24th November 2007

Long time no update!

Nothing of any real excitement has happened in the past few weeks, life at work and the flat are going well, so that’s good at least. A few weeks ago there was the fireworks display for Guy Fawkes night down at the harbour and that was amazing, it lasted for about 15 minutes and just about the whole of Wellington turned out for it. It was all free too! There was this one firework which exploded into a big sphere but it looked like it was coming towards me, filling up the sky, the whole night was a brilliant experience. I got talking to a couple from County Durham/Sheffield who’ve been here for over 20 years and they said that I should call in for dinner the next time I’m in the Hutt (Lower or Upper, I can’t remember), they gave me their number and all that so that was really nice of them! I really like the way most of the British exiles are towards each other, or at least the ones I’ve met, it’s like a community within a community.

Everyone is going daft over the whole David Beckham thing, Phoenix are playing LA Galaxy some time in December and there’s posters everywhere, all the sport shops are selling Beckham shirts, they’re saying it’s a once in a lifetime experience. It’s so expensive though! I think tickets are selling for between $80 – $100, normal A-League games are only about $30! I’m not going to it, I’m not giving the Phoenix any more of my money after I had to sit through the Adelaide Utd game a month or two ago.

I must be a sucker for punishment, however, as I somehow convinced myself to see the true “once in a lifetime experience” game at the Cake Tin, oh yes, New Zealand vs Vanuatu in the OFC Nations Cup! Oh, it was so bad it was almost good. The stadium can hold about 25,000 or so but less than 10% of those seats were filled for this epic clash of the (South Pacific) titans. It was hardly worth them opening the doors. The game itself (if you can call it that) ended up in a 4-1 victory for the Thai Airways All Whites – that’s New Zealand to you and me. It took me a while to figure out whether most of the Vanuatu players had even played before but they at least seemed to grasp the general principle of football. I found it a bit sad that the New Zealand team have sold their own name to some corporate entity. That’s one thing I’ve noticed about our Antipodean cousins, they find it necessary to create and sell names of all their teams for no reason at all. Far from being content to be the New Zealand Women’s team, they call their ladies the ‘Football Ferns’, just like their netball team are the ‘Silver Ferns’. It’s almost like the England national team being rebranded as the Lufthansa Three Lions. Although the less said about English football the better.

I saw The Phoenix Foundation last weekend at the Opera House and they impressed again after seeing them in New York last year, they were supported by Grand Prix who described themselves as kind of like country/western/rock and they were also very good. I’m thinking about going to Big Day Out in Auckland in January, that’s a one day festival thing and the line-up’s starting to look fairly good, hopefully I can make it off work. The Killers headlined it last time but I doubt they’d make it again, which is a shame.

Other than all that, things are going well here. The weather is starting to get stupidly hot though, which isn’t too great if you happen to burn easier than an easily burning thing but I keep my factor 40 handy! Everyone is kind of living down at the beach and harbour at the weekends and it’s just so strange not only having this weather (as heat/sun is foreign to England) but having it in November/soon to be December. It’s just not quite right. I’ve seen posters in shops advertising clothing ranges for Summer 07/08, tis not normal. Having said all that, it’s still windy!

Music, New Zealand, Sport

Devil Dared Tweekenham Glory

16th October 2007

Rugby rugby rugby! Yay for England, of course I never had any doubts that we’d beat the French, nope not even one! We attempted to make the usual early morning journey to the Sports Cafe to see the game but it was closed! We were shocked but could very much still believe it, Kiwis don’t care about rugby when they lose, so we had to go to the Courtenay Arms instead, which is an English bar. There was a great atmosphere in there, it was packed and there were even a dozen or so Frenchmen (and women) in there too and a good time was had by all. Throughout the game there was a significant vocal minority of whining Kiwis complaining about how ugly the England team play but if ugly = winning then I can’t see any reason to complain or change. They’re still so bitter about losing to what they’re increasingly referring to as a ‘poor French side’. Surely they couldn’t have been that bad if they managed to beat what the New Zealanders are decreasingly referring to as ‘greatest side in the world, ever’.

Anyhow, it’s still good to be having all the glory and I’ve no idea at all about the final. Hopefully we can get some points and take it from there.

Last Friday, I went to a club called Mighty Mighty with Holly and saw a powerpop band called The Tweeks who are from Dunedin and I enjoyed them quite a lot. They were supported by Libra Accord, who I think are from Auckland (don’t hold that against them), who were probably better (in my opinion) and played music some like to describe as electric folk. Together with $12 jugs of Mac’s Gold, a very good night was had. Holly went out later with some of the others to a couple of pubs but I just wanted to head back to the hostel and see what poor excuse for a film was on Sky Movies.

Today, Tuesday, we (Holly, Matt and myself) have just come back from the cinema where we saw The Devil Dared Me To, which is about a stunt man and it is probably the best film to define New Zealand and New Zealanders. It’s really daft, funny and has a good sense of humour, it’s good to see the North and South Islands making jokes at each other’s expense.

Apart from all that, not much else is happening. Welly is still very windy but getting quite warm now too, we get about 6 or 7 different types of weather each hour so that adds variety to the day at least.

Mark has a place now so it’s only me and Holly left in the hostel but I really like it here, we’ve been at base since we arrived in Welly and we know everyone here so things are going well, which is nice. I’m off to see what wonderful programming is on the TV, wish me luck.