We had a 3 day weekend just gone for the Queen's birthday and had a cracker.
Played football Saturday, smashed them 7-0 then cooked Hannah dinner and had a quiet one. Had a great day Sunday, went to Nikau Cave, 2hours out of Auckland almost on the west coast, on Farm land where this family found a cave full of Glow-worms, Staglamites (sp?) and Stagalitites (sp?), was awesome. Drove down with Adam, Sarah, Johnny and Katherine. They roasted their own coffee down there, which was awesome, and had a super special pizza. The caving bit was really cool, mostly following the stream, in some bits thigh deep, including a special squeezed bit (specially for Adam who's a big bloke), where we slipped between and crack and crawled through a 15m tunnel Army-Style in the water. Had a great day. Monday was spent chilling and we started looking at Vans.
During the week we yoga'd, went to Boot Camp where I attempted to join the 500 club, 100 Squats, Sit ups, Burpees, push ups and 20m shuttles in 25min, I failed, managed 423 all together, next time... Work has been good, went out for drinks on Friday with the team, had a mate over for dinner and a movie, seen a lot of Hannah as her roster has been very kind to us recently. We also went to the FoodStore for our friend Liz's birthday, had Paua to start (devine, like a posh seafood Chowder) then me and Hannah shared a venison and an Eye fillet. It was a great evening round a big table, with Liz and friends, as well as her partner's family.
Other stuff you may want to know or I may want to read again in a few years time or whenever...
- My 'Smart'-phone reset itself for some reason, losing all my photo's. My fault as I didn't back them up so not going to cry or moan about it, though had some really cool shots in and around Auckland. Sunsets, rainbows, landscapes, my Darth Vader Cake that Shelley made me, a few funny pics of people, the massive Santa on Queen St - (Ali, I don't know how to use Hannah's Mac, so if you Google Map 'Queen St', on the intersection of Queen and Victoria St, you can't miss it, it's the 50ft Santa...). Also had some really cool pics of sporting events, all 3 international England Black Caps Cricket games, where during the breaks they let everyone on the pitch so you see 300 games of mini cricket, rugby and football which was awesome, Super15 Rugby, Provincial Rugby, an NRL game, they were cool.
- It's been 2 years since I left home. Today is Day 734. Fuck yeah. I remember in my first couple of weeks of traveling talking to Pat (of Pat and Ellie fame, the Aussie's whom I spent most of Italy with. Ellie met a English boy she liked, Tom, who was with magician Josh, and he liked her, and now she's in Southampton with that boy and Pat's engaged!) Anyway, talking to Pat about why I'm traveling and the grand plan I had before myself, how my attitude was 'I'm never going to be able to do this again so I'm doing it now', and he said that was bollocks and was a rubbish way of thinking and not true, and I had me a little epiphany. *Sorry - my flat isn't the most soundproof and upstairs are having a bit of sex, I say 'bit'... So yeah, have had a great two years.
- Hannah had never seen Star Wars (I know...) so we're watching the Original Trilogy at the moment and loving them, and then no doubt have to watch the prequels out of curiosity only to be disappointed yet consoled by Revenge of the Sith.
This is a Vid that two mates made of their trip, the Daves, from the 'No Shave-a-Asia' and the Game of Fives fame. We met these two boys in Hoi An and took them for a jaunt on our bikes. It's a cool vid, with some bits that I really like, such as casually riding a bike through Asian countryside or beautiful new mountain roads, stumbling upon neat urban areas or hidden waterfalls, sitting in the back of a Pick up (I'm surprised there were no manic tuk-tuk rides in it). There's better done vids out there, though it's cool how I know these two, they don't try too hard and have a great time.
Friday, 7 June 2013
Thursday, 30 May 2013
Hello again
It's sad but true that one of the reasons I haven't updated this is because I couldn't think of a witty/half original blog title post... and that was annoying me, so I thought if I left it I'd stumble upon something, though haven't so we're back to 'Hellos'.
We've had a very good couple of weeks, relatively quiet in a busy way. We went to a posh restaurant for a friend's birthday dinner, went to a mate's sci-fi dance play, been to yoga, been to boot camp, played football a few times, had some more metre pizza, seen some friends, visited Zeffa's for a coffee (I think I spell his name differently every week but he's class), seen a fair chunk of Hannah, had Hokey Pokey and Bacon ice cream, had some drinks, went to footy training, seen some films... we've done loads though struggling to remember it all.
In a similar vein, yesterday was the end of my first year in NZ. I'm not really in a writing mood so not going to attempt anything too meandering or contemplative, though it's been a fucking good year.
Auckland's great, in a take it for what it is yet look round the edges sort of way, like this vid.
And I got my Visa!
love x
We've had a very good couple of weeks, relatively quiet in a busy way. We went to a posh restaurant for a friend's birthday dinner, went to a mate's sci-fi dance play, been to yoga, been to boot camp, played football a few times, had some more metre pizza, seen some friends, visited Zeffa's for a coffee (I think I spell his name differently every week but he's class), seen a fair chunk of Hannah, had Hokey Pokey and Bacon ice cream, had some drinks, went to footy training, seen some films... we've done loads though struggling to remember it all.
In a similar vein, yesterday was the end of my first year in NZ. I'm not really in a writing mood so not going to attempt anything too meandering or contemplative, though it's been a fucking good year.
Auckland's great, in a take it for what it is yet look round the edges sort of way, like this vid.
And I got my Visa!
love x
Thursday, 16 May 2013
May I get my Visa extension, please...
The week was a mixed one, started off quite good, enjoyed my days, handed my visa extension application in, went to boot camp, though I then came down with something and felt like shit.
I had half of Wednesday off, Thursday and Friday off, which sucked as it was Hannah's Birthday at the weekend, and we were going to go down and do the Tongariro Crossing with Adam and people. They still went and had a great time, with cracking weather.
So this is how the weekend should have gone...
Saturday morning wake up lazily, go for a walk up Mt Eden on a crisp morning with a Zepher coffee in hand, before having a posh brunch and having a nap. Then walking into town, tucking into a little Italian place and sharing two meals, then watching the new Star Trek, which would have been fantastic.
Sunday would have been spent chilling out before heading into town and doing the SkyWalk, 192m off the ground, harnessed in enjoying a beautiful sunset, leaning out back and forward and it would be fucking high. Then we would go round Hannah's brother for a amazing dinner with friends and a natter.
Alas that wasn't our weekend, it was spent in bed or sat down, watching the Batman Trilogy, reading and sleeping. And my football team lost 6-0, our first loss of the season.
Here's traffic in Hanoi, a crazy place to buy a bike and ride around
I had half of Wednesday off, Thursday and Friday off, which sucked as it was Hannah's Birthday at the weekend, and we were going to go down and do the Tongariro Crossing with Adam and people. They still went and had a great time, with cracking weather.
So this is how the weekend should have gone...
Saturday morning wake up lazily, go for a walk up Mt Eden on a crisp morning with a Zepher coffee in hand, before having a posh brunch and having a nap. Then walking into town, tucking into a little Italian place and sharing two meals, then watching the new Star Trek, which would have been fantastic.
Sunday would have been spent chilling out before heading into town and doing the SkyWalk, 192m off the ground, harnessed in enjoying a beautiful sunset, leaning out back and forward and it would be fucking high. Then we would go round Hannah's brother for a amazing dinner with friends and a natter.
Alas that wasn't our weekend, it was spent in bed or sat down, watching the Batman Trilogy, reading and sleeping. And my football team lost 6-0, our first loss of the season.
Here's traffic in Hanoi, a crazy place to buy a bike and ride around
Tuesday, 14 May 2013
May...
So it's May and Winter has truly set in, I dusted off the Duffle coat yesterday, we closed the windows and it's been raining so much Football was cancelled because in parts of the fancy artificial pitch we were shin deep in water.
Apart from the rain it's been a good week, mixed things up at work with an 'engagement' 2 day thing, where all the teams came together and chatted, did some cool things including have a tour of Sky City's restaurants and it's inner workings, plus a nice Chinese and some drinks.
Chilled out the rest of the week when not at work, went to my friend Ari's graduation ceremony, helped ourselves to champers and canapes... Friday night cooked Hannah a Roast and fell asleep during 'the Illusionist'. The weekend was pretty quiet, had a 5pm kickoff so not much during the day, watched 'Looking for Eric' with our flattie Bex, the Eric masks cracked me up, then went to the game though was called off so had a beer with some of the lads and back to chill out with Hannah.
Sunday headed off to Oaklands to say goodbye to Gorgeous Alex, who's heading back to France, then hung out at Adam's, Sarah's, Gary's, Ari's and Simon's gaff, did a top notch lasagna and watched Game of Thrones as it was pissing it down, then played Futsal, lost 5-3 to a not great team before coming home to a butternut squash risotto that Hannah rustled up. I missed playing 11-aside footy last week, and not playing this week as it's Hannah's birthday, but this makes up for it, the most Sunday League Goal Ever, complete with the Goalie kicking the post...
Chilled out the rest of the week when not at work, went to my friend Ari's graduation ceremony, helped ourselves to champers and canapes... Friday night cooked Hannah a Roast and fell asleep during 'the Illusionist'. The weekend was pretty quiet, had a 5pm kickoff so not much during the day, watched 'Looking for Eric' with our flattie Bex, the Eric masks cracked me up, then went to the game though was called off so had a beer with some of the lads and back to chill out with Hannah.
Sunday headed off to Oaklands to say goodbye to Gorgeous Alex, who's heading back to France, then hung out at Adam's, Sarah's, Gary's, Ari's and Simon's gaff, did a top notch lasagna and watched Game of Thrones as it was pissing it down, then played Futsal, lost 5-3 to a not great team before coming home to a butternut squash risotto that Hannah rustled up. I missed playing 11-aside footy last week, and not playing this week as it's Hannah's birthday, but this makes up for it, the most Sunday League Goal Ever, complete with the Goalie kicking the post...
Monday, 29 April 2013
The days of April
Hello,
It's Monday night and have a good week since we last spoke. I'm pretty knackered atm, just got back from football training, gonna watch the Crowd goes Wild in a min before crashing out.
We had a great week, both Monday and Tuesday night was spent with Hannah, Hannah did home-made fish and chips which were brilliant, and Tuesday I boot camped, she ABT'd and then we Yoga'd. Had another good session, really enjoying it. Wednesday was a complete chill out getting ready for thursday...
Which we had off for ANZAC day. Hannah worked it so Adam picked me up and along with his mrs Sarah and Simon went off for a walk around Hunua ranges, saw the waterfall and went for a wander up to a reservoir, had a great time. On the way back stopped off for Manwich material and ate too much, before getting shipped off home and walking into town in the drizzle to meet Toto and go see Apocalypse Z. We had a drink before then went to the show, it was an immersive Zombie play, and thought it was shit, no real story, some cool camera shots, but it was people shouting at each other and the crowd were knobbers. It was in this made up space, and reminded of a theme park queue for Hostel at Thorpe park, only done worse.
Friday was back at work for a pretty laid back one, got a metre pizza with Toto, yep, it's a normal pizza by the metre, in it's metre box, magic. Then met up with Hannah for a couple of drinks down Mezze bar and met Shelley, Jenna and Graham for dinner at Tony's steakhouse, had a good evening. Walked home, watched some more Wire.
The weekend was a good one, lazed saturday morning away before playing football. We played top of the league though we did them 3-2, should have won by more. Sat night I cooked Hannah dinner, a decent pork belly thing, then we went to see Olympus has Fallen, which was dreadful. Maybe worse then The Sweeney, which in turn was worse then Taken 2...
Sunday was spent chilling round my friends, cooked them some dinner, watched some Game Of Thrones and played Futsal in the evening, winning 7-3, I played in goal as our keeper was away and didn't do half bad. Spent the rest of the evening watching the last episode of Season1 of the Wire (!).
Here's an example of why I love the Crowd Goes Wild
It's Monday night and have a good week since we last spoke. I'm pretty knackered atm, just got back from football training, gonna watch the Crowd goes Wild in a min before crashing out.
We had a great week, both Monday and Tuesday night was spent with Hannah, Hannah did home-made fish and chips which were brilliant, and Tuesday I boot camped, she ABT'd and then we Yoga'd. Had another good session, really enjoying it. Wednesday was a complete chill out getting ready for thursday...
Which we had off for ANZAC day. Hannah worked it so Adam picked me up and along with his mrs Sarah and Simon went off for a walk around Hunua ranges, saw the waterfall and went for a wander up to a reservoir, had a great time. On the way back stopped off for Manwich material and ate too much, before getting shipped off home and walking into town in the drizzle to meet Toto and go see Apocalypse Z. We had a drink before then went to the show, it was an immersive Zombie play, and thought it was shit, no real story, some cool camera shots, but it was people shouting at each other and the crowd were knobbers. It was in this made up space, and reminded of a theme park queue for Hostel at Thorpe park, only done worse.
Friday was back at work for a pretty laid back one, got a metre pizza with Toto, yep, it's a normal pizza by the metre, in it's metre box, magic. Then met up with Hannah for a couple of drinks down Mezze bar and met Shelley, Jenna and Graham for dinner at Tony's steakhouse, had a good evening. Walked home, watched some more Wire.
The weekend was a good one, lazed saturday morning away before playing football. We played top of the league though we did them 3-2, should have won by more. Sat night I cooked Hannah dinner, a decent pork belly thing, then we went to see Olympus has Fallen, which was dreadful. Maybe worse then The Sweeney, which in turn was worse then Taken 2...
Sunday was spent chilling round my friends, cooked them some dinner, watched some Game Of Thrones and played Futsal in the evening, winning 7-3, I played in goal as our keeper was away and didn't do half bad. Spent the rest of the evening watching the last episode of Season1 of the Wire (!).
Here's an example of why I love the Crowd Goes Wild
Wednesday, 24 April 2013
April try to write this on a Monday like I said I would...
But I was having fun with Hannah, so Wednesday will have to do ya.
So it's Wednesday and I'm doing great.
Had a really good start to the week last Monday, Hannah's family over here had us over their new place, had a chat and they cooked a decent curry before watching Argo together, loved it. Tuesday night was our 3rd week of Yoga, I skipped Bootcamp as still hobbling from my knock though I got the most Zen I've been. I've become a lot more aware of what my body does and the strains put on it, trying to sit up straighter and all that. The rest of the week flew by, had a good week at work and chilled out with Hannah. Have been eating very well, would say I'm the healthiest I've been at the moment and feel great, am really happy.
The Week-end was football-less, had a bye, so knowing how to show Hannah a good time took her to Countdown, the supermarket, not the TV Show and made a decent breakfast, got coffee from Zepher (this dude who runs a espresso bar down the road) and chilled out. In the evening went round mates and had a few drinks while watching How to Train your Dragon, (loved it) and walked home in the early hours and skype'd the mother.
Sunday was spent as Sundays should be, doing very little and enjoying it immensely. Went round friends and chilled out, then went home and cooked Hannah a Roast Dinner and putting on a film.
Things are grand at the moment, I'm really happy. It's been quite a settled, routine-y life the last couple of months, though have really enjoyed it and mixed things up nicely. We're slowly getting more connected and having the chance to get to know people better. We have quite a few cool things lined up for the coming weeks, and while rain has set in, Auckland is no less alive. I've quite enjoyed the change in scenery, different constructions of cloud, putting on some layers, or marveling how quickly this place changes weather (the other day it was raining though I couldn't see a cloud in the sky, it was blue as, and there was a rainbow in front of me).
To sign off on something topical - I'm not sure if you've seen or heard of this speech though it's massive here, not solely for the (brilliant) content, though because Ellen DeGeneres wants this dude on her show after making this speech, and Kiwi's love their Ellen...
So it's Wednesday and I'm doing great.
Had a really good start to the week last Monday, Hannah's family over here had us over their new place, had a chat and they cooked a decent curry before watching Argo together, loved it. Tuesday night was our 3rd week of Yoga, I skipped Bootcamp as still hobbling from my knock though I got the most Zen I've been. I've become a lot more aware of what my body does and the strains put on it, trying to sit up straighter and all that. The rest of the week flew by, had a good week at work and chilled out with Hannah. Have been eating very well, would say I'm the healthiest I've been at the moment and feel great, am really happy.
The Week-end was football-less, had a bye, so knowing how to show Hannah a good time took her to Countdown, the supermarket, not the TV Show and made a decent breakfast, got coffee from Zepher (this dude who runs a espresso bar down the road) and chilled out. In the evening went round mates and had a few drinks while watching How to Train your Dragon, (loved it) and walked home in the early hours and skype'd the mother.
Sunday was spent as Sundays should be, doing very little and enjoying it immensely. Went round friends and chilled out, then went home and cooked Hannah a Roast Dinner and putting on a film.
Things are grand at the moment, I'm really happy. It's been quite a settled, routine-y life the last couple of months, though have really enjoyed it and mixed things up nicely. We're slowly getting more connected and having the chance to get to know people better. We have quite a few cool things lined up for the coming weeks, and while rain has set in, Auckland is no less alive. I've quite enjoyed the change in scenery, different constructions of cloud, putting on some layers, or marveling how quickly this place changes weather (the other day it was raining though I couldn't see a cloud in the sky, it was blue as, and there was a rainbow in front of me).
To sign off on something topical - I'm not sure if you've seen or heard of this speech though it's massive here, not solely for the (brilliant) content, though because Ellen DeGeneres wants this dude on her show after making this speech, and Kiwi's love their Ellen...
Monday, 15 April 2013
April showers - it rained today, and yesterday, like being home
Hey y'all
Things are going good here, had a great weekend. Started Friday night with a couple of beers with some people from work, then had my mate Shaun round ours for a cracking dinner. Up early on Saturday for my second part of my medical, I passed with almost everything bang in the middle of the acceptable ranges. I dragged Hannah with me for it and had a stunning brunch at this artesan bakery/cafe, they made their own bread and cured Salmon and it was divine. We squeezed in an episode of the Wire and I went off for Football. We won 2-0, as well as missing a penalty, though I picked up a knock from some knobber. That evening got picked up by Simon and met up with Matt and Eden, went round to some of our Irish friends and walked round to Eden park, to watch the Blues beat the Hurricanes in teh super rugby.
Sunday was a complete chill out, lazed with Hannah and made breakfast, went round Adam's and peoples, hung out, played Playstation, cooked them all dinner and watched a movie before heading home. I was still hobbling a bit so gave football a miss, so watched some more of the Wire with Hannah.
The week was the usual but a good one, boot camp, chilling with Hannah, watched Trance (loved it then hated it) and played in goal for our Futsal Side on a thursday. Also bought some tickets to walk around the SkyTower, 192m of the ground with no handrails, you're harnessed in, going to take Hannah on a nice day!
Much love
Things are going good here, had a great weekend. Started Friday night with a couple of beers with some people from work, then had my mate Shaun round ours for a cracking dinner. Up early on Saturday for my second part of my medical, I passed with almost everything bang in the middle of the acceptable ranges. I dragged Hannah with me for it and had a stunning brunch at this artesan bakery/cafe, they made their own bread and cured Salmon and it was divine. We squeezed in an episode of the Wire and I went off for Football. We won 2-0, as well as missing a penalty, though I picked up a knock from some knobber. That evening got picked up by Simon and met up with Matt and Eden, went round to some of our Irish friends and walked round to Eden park, to watch the Blues beat the Hurricanes in teh super rugby.
Sunday was a complete chill out, lazed with Hannah and made breakfast, went round Adam's and peoples, hung out, played Playstation, cooked them all dinner and watched a movie before heading home. I was still hobbling a bit so gave football a miss, so watched some more of the Wire with Hannah.
The week was the usual but a good one, boot camp, chilling with Hannah, watched Trance (loved it then hated it) and played in goal for our Futsal Side on a thursday. Also bought some tickets to walk around the SkyTower, 192m of the ground with no handrails, you're harnessed in, going to take Hannah on a nice day!
Much love
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