This was my second summer Christmas and like the first it doesn’t quite feel just right, but I still managed to celebrate… was there any doubt! It started with the 12 bars of Christmas. On Friday the 23rd of December some mates and I decided it would be a good idea to visit 12 bars where we would half-hour to have a beverage… beer, spirit, shot… it doesn’t matter.
Prior to the bar crawl I was at work where my avro consisted of drinking about 6 beers and playing office cricket with hand made paper/tape balls. Yup, I was hard at it! Looking back it wasn’t the best idea to pre drink for the 12 bars of Christmas, as I only made it too 9 of them. Bwah! I must say Congrats to my mates who made it through all 12 bars… you are legend!
I am actually pretty glad that I did only make it too the 9 as the next day I was not in hangover hell (all my mates were), so I have to thank Michelle for being the voice of reason and getting my drunk ass home. It was a hell of a binge and thankfully it only comes around once a year.
I totally recommend gathering all your mates together and doing your own 12 bars of Christmas. Make sure you have a schedule, a set time limit and of course a couple shot bars as well. Also make sure someone takes a camera or has a smart phone so they can take a photo of the carnage at each bar. If you have played this game or are planning too, please let me know how you do. Hopefully you can make it too all 12 unlike me…
Bar #1 - The Playhouse
Bar #2 - The Darby
Bar #3 Bluestone Room
Bar #4 - Rakinos - I am taking the photo hence me not being in it.
Bar #5 - QF Tavern
Bar #6 - Right Track - That is my arm... Michelle took this amazing photo of me
I took some pics, but they turned out to be shit so... i 'borrowed' this photo by: Ben Watson
Last night the Foo Fighters ROCKED New Zealand!! I’ve never seen them live, but have always heard amazing things. I’ve listened to them for ages, just never bothered forking out money for a show. I guess I was lazy getting on their live show bandwagon, but after last nights show I will be trying to get tickets to any Foo Fighters show that I can. The show was at Western Springs which is an outdoor race track in Auckland and held a rocking 50,000 ppl. It was arena rock at its best! The weather was rainy but it didn’t dampen the experience, if anything it made it better. 50,0000 wet fans dancing, screaming and rocking out to 17 years of Foo Fighter hits. I managed to get 2 rows from the stage – closest I have ever been and it was fuck’n amazing! The energy and atmosphere was great. There were no fights, just a ton of happy Foo fans partying the night away. They played all of their hits and did a 4 song encore which made a total of 2 hours and 45 mins of rock heaven! Not many bands put a show on like that. Tenacious D opened for them and did a hell of a job warming up the crowd and getting everyone amped for the Foo’s. Before Tenacous D, Canadian punk band Fucked Up played as well as Cairo Knife Fight = bad ass rock’n roll from a NZ band. I didn’t see either, but only heard they were amazing from other fans at the show. I didn’t even know Cairo Knife Fight were scheduled as I would have def gone early to see them – ah well next time! Dave Grohl has committed to come back to Auckland to play the Town Hall, which is a small venue for 2,500 ppl. He played it earlier in the year for a fundraiser for Christchurch. He did it completely free of charge, flew his band and roadies/gear over and raised $354,903 . Amazing. I will be getting tickets to that next show, regardless of the cost because they are that good!
Foo Fighters Concert Setlist
All My Life
Rope
The Pretender
My Hero
Learn to Fly
White Limo
Arlandria
Breakout
Cold Day in the Sun
Long Road to Ruin
Stacked Actors
Walk
Monkey Wrench
Let It Die
These Days
This is a Call
In the Flesh (Pink Floyd cover)
Best of You
Encore:
Wheels
Times Like These (Started acoustic, then full band)
Generator Tie Your Mother (Queen cover) – Tenacious D came out in short-shorts with suspenders and rocked out with the Foos!
On my way back from Canada in August I made a list of things I wanted to do in the following year. One of the things was to read 15 books – now to me, that is A LOT of books! I didn’t specify whether it was to the end of 2011 or a year from that date, but ive been burning through books trying to get 15 books before the end of 2011!
To be honest I don’t think I’ve ready 15 books in the last 15 years of my life. Yah, yah I know it’s a shame. But I am a now a born again reader ahah believe it Mom! So far I’ve read 11 books…I have 28 days to get through 4 books (unlikely, but you never know.)
Life: Keith Richard’s Autobiography – Amazing. The man should be dead, but has somehow come away from decades of drug and alcohol abuse almost unscathed.
A Sting in the Tale – Good read: Humourus New Zealand bush and hunting stories from ‘good kiwi bastards’.
127 Hours – Average book. I thought the guy is a bit of douche. If you are going out for a big hike, don’t be a dick – tell someone or write a note. It may save your arm.
Adventures in Doubtful Sound – Read this on the flight back to NZ. Stories from a young Canadian kid growing up in Doubtful Sound way up inNorthern BC. Very entertaining/fun read!
Scar Tissue – Really good read, but I do think there is a lot of bullshit in it. He should be dead.
Marching Powder – Totally recommend this book – best one I have read so far! A guy is caught smuggling drugs in Boliva, gets sent to prison where the prisoners have to buy their cells, they can come and go throughout the day, the best cocaine in the country is produced in the jail, he runs a walking tour inside the jail for tourist. Read this book!
Into the Wild – Loved this book. Read the book, watch the movie and then buy the soundtrack!
Into Thin Air – Exciting read about an Everest expidition that goes wrong.
Heaven is for Real - Cool book about a child who has a near death experince and has out of body experiences. Def makes you think about what happens after you kick it.
I know I have been a bit slack on the blog lately, but I have an excuse. Ive moved house! I am no longer living on Queen St in the midst of the downtown core. I now live in a garage that has been converted into a 1 bedroom apt. It’s better than it sounds eheh.
We started looking for a new place while back, but were pretty picky on what we wanted. There had to be an outdoor space, big kitchen, lots of natural light, washing machine and parking space. After visiting and applying for a few rentals we finally got one that checked all the boxes!
The new place is located in Eden Terrace, which is a short bus ride or ½ hour walk to work, which is located in Auckland’s CBD (central business district). Though I keep saying that I now have a new excuse to get a new bike for the commute to work – hello dirt jumper!
Our place is conveniently located near a grocery, fruit, dairy and liquor store – I must have the essentials close by! Best of all we have security in the neighborhood, meaning; we live around the corner from the Hells Angels Motor Cycle Club Auckland. You can’t beat that security. They don’t shit in their own back yard, so I don’t really expect any trouble and really who is going t fuck with the Hells Angles. You can always hear the roar of their bikes when ever they are coming or going. The club house looks pretty cool; high stone walls, what looks like a nice house and two huge garages… though I won’t be going over to take a closer look.
The flat is all windows – two sky lights! We have French doors on two sides of the house allowing for the cool summer breeze to act as our air condition, a nice court yard at the side of the house with a bit of yard where we can hangout (re bbq and get on piss) and front area with clothes line and did I mention that I have my own driveway. Pretty sweet! House warming party to come… bring on summer.
I just heard that New Zealander’s based in Auckland experience some of the top rated quality of life in the world! Oh yah.. no wonder I love this place so much. (Don’t kid yourself though, Canada always ranks near the top too!) NZ held 3rd spot on the Mercer 2011 Quality of Life Survey for the 4th straight year and taking the highest ranking in the Asian Pacific region… take that Australia. The researches considered 39 pieces of criteria including economic environment, health, education, transport, housing, personal freedom and recreational factors like restaurants, sports facilities and cinemas. Out of 221 cities Auckland took third place… suck that Wellington! If you don’t know there is a bit of competition Wellington and Auckland… not really surprised to hear this as NZ has a pretty chill lifestyle. If you don’t believe, come down and give it go!
This past weekend was Michelle’s Birthday weekend, so we headed down to Raglan for a little R&R! We scored a deal from grabone, which is an online discount site where you can get deals on everything from clothing to weekend getaways. For $150 we got 2 nights accommodation at Solscape and surf lesson (board and wetsuit included)… pretty good deal.
Upon arrival to Raglan we had some fish and chips and then headed out to check out Bridal Falls – a 60-meter waterfall just outside of Raglan. There are three viewing decks; top, middle and bottom. It only takes about 10 mins to walk to the waterfall and another 10 to walk to the bottom. Very picturesque, def worth the walk. It is here I realized that I didn’t charge my battery for my camera, even though I had thought I did… oops! After Bridal Falls went back into Raglan to get some food and pick up a disposable camera – who knew they still made them! Finished shopping we headed out of Raglan to Solscape an eco hostel part of the YHA chain.
Solscape is nestled in the hills mount Karioi which over looks the tasman sea. They have a variety of accommodation 1) Cabooses – 12 NZ rail cars that have been fitted out for a good nights sleep, which offer singles, double and dorms. 2) Tipis – 3 different sized tipis that are outfitted with beds and are located a short 5 minute walk into the bush – def want to go back and stay in them 3) Camping – 6 camper van and 8 tent sites that overlook the ocean. All of the accommodation have access to the two kitchens and lots of shower facilities and we cannot forget an eco reading room… yup this place is run by hippies! It is a great little hostel and I would totally recommend it to anyone looking for a unique hostel in Raglan. The staff was very friendly and helpful and even provided a bit about the history of the hostel.
We stayed in the caboose which was a new experience for both Michelle and I. It was outfitted with a double bed, a couple shelves and a heater to keep that tin can warm! It was really cozy! After settling in there we went into Raglan for a nice birthday dinner at the hotel. There isn’t a lot of choices for restaurants in Raglan but the hotel did put on a mean feed! After dinner we picked up some beers and chilled back in our caboose ahaha that just sounds funny eh! The next morning we went to the beach, collected sea shells and drift wood (michelle’s choice) and then toured the touristy shops of Raglan where we scored some sweet xmas presents from some family back home.
Our surf lesson was at 2pm so we had a quick lunch and headed back to the hostel to chill before our lesson. There were only 4 people in the lesson, which was way better than the last one I had at another hostel in Raglan (40 ppl in that) We did a bit of a briefing at the hostel and then squeezed into our wetsuits and headed down to the beach. Once at the beach we did a couple more practice paddles on the sand and then it was straight into the water. I did so much better this time around! I got up the majority of the time.. I loved it! Michelle on the other hand wasn’t enjoying it as much as me. After a few attempts she decided it wasn’t for her and called it a day.
Once back at the hostel it was a quick shower and then off to a mates place down the road for a BBQ. Their batch was sick! It had a hot tub and nice private deck – super chill! Here we had a couple beers and a good feed. I didn’t get carried away as i usually do since i was driving..yup i had to behave. We were sitting around on the deck when we heard a rustle in the bush. At first we thought it was a Tui bird, but it seemed a bit loud for that. All of a sudden a shadow emerged and started coming towards the table. I thought it must be a possum and as soon as i said that one of the girls at the table screamed. Just after the scream emerged a dog. Im guessing it smelt BBQ and was hoping for a treat. It hung around for a while and then wandered off. We stuck around a couple more hours and then headed off to our caboose to call it a night.
Michelle getting ready to unload on some poor bastard!
This past weekend we hit up Action Paintball with a group of friends to celebrate Michelle’s birthday. When Michelle told me she wanted to go paintballing for her birthday I was a little taken back. Ive been before and didn’t think it would be something she would have been keen to try being that it does leave a little bruise/welt when your struck. But she surprised me and booked a game so we rounded up our mates and off we went.
Blasting away!
We arrived just past noon where we had our debrief on what the rules were and how to play and then it was go time! We broke into two teams and started blasting at one another. The adrenalin really starts pumping when you are running around and paintballs are whizzing by your head. It was a blast. Everyone was really into it!
Afterwards we had a BBQ and a couple beers on site where we showed off our war wounds and recounted the shots and hits we had taken to all parts of the body. Yes there were bruises and some welts, but in the end everyone was smiling and had a great time.
So this week I was too head down to Wellington to attend a conference put on by Tourism New Zealand. I heard about this conference last minute so I registered pretty late in the game. By doing so I unfortunately I booked a flight on Jet Star, going against a promis I made to myself to never book on that airline, as Ive always had shit experinces. Looking at flight costs Jet Star was a couple hundred dollars cheaper compared to Air New Zealand, so ill save the company some money and take the cheap flight. Turns out that cheap flight would cost me more in time and money!
The conference started on Thursday at 9am, meaning it was going to be an early morning. I was up at 5am to catch the bus at 5:30am, which would have gotten me to the airport at 6:10am. All airlines will ask you to arrive at least a ½ hour early before your domestic flight. This is what I had planned on, but the the airbus running 5 mins late I arrived at the airport at 6:15am. I really didnt think much of it as it was 5 mins and there was still plenty of time to board. WRONG! I guess Jet Star closes the gates exactly 30 mins priror too departure. Being that I was only 25 minutes early to my flight I was denied to boarding. BRUTAL! I didnt have any luggage to check – I told them that, but they said they had already printed the passanger list. I guess they limited ink and paper, so reprinting was out of the question. WTF! Customer serivice doesnt live at Jet Star. I had to pay $90 and catch a flight at 10:30am making me late for the start of the conference.
I finally get into Wellington and hit up the conference, which is great by the way. Day one went off without a hitch, well other than not catching my flight. Day two was just as good. Learnt lots of useful and interesting things and the day flew by. I catch my shuttle to the airport for my 7:25pm flight. This time I am a good hour early – not missing this flight. Little did I know…
Things are ticking a long like they should. I grab a bite to eat, have a beer, read some of my book and then proceed through security. No problems.. so far. Get on plane, buckle up and we start to make the move to take off and then all of a sudden the pilot comes on and tells us there is a problem and that he will have to park the plane and have one of the engineers come on and take a look at the problem. Ok, a little hickup and we will be off soon. WRONG!
After sitting on the plane for an hour we were asked to get off the plane and sit in the departure lounge. 5 hours later we are still sitting in the lounge waiting for some information – any infomration, but no we are being kept in the dark. We ask the flight attendants what is going on and they give the same old line, ‘we dont know anytthing, but as soon as we do we will let you know.’ There is another Jet Star plane sitting at the next gate and someone ask, ‘cant we just use that one?’ to which they reply ‘sorry, that plane is not working as well.’ My confidence in the Jet Star fleet of planes is at an all time low. Do I even want to get on one of these fucking planes?
All this time Im just rolling with it, what else can you do eh! So im reading, listening to music and just waiting for info. Then I see all of the staff come off the plane, bags in hand and head the opposite way of the passangers. They didnt even bother coming to tell us that the flight had been cancelled. WTF!
As soon as I saw them come off the plane I new it was time to book it to the Jet Star checkin desk to rebook and see where they were going to put me up for the night. The line was long – I pretty much said fuck it and walked to the front of the line and asked what the deal was. I was then rebooked for another Jet Star flight to Auckland the next day at 3:35pm ahha. So there goes my weekend. They were putting us up at a hotel and would shuttle us back and forth. I arrived at the hotel at about midnight and checked into my room. I then called Michelle asked her too book me a flight home with Air New Zealand called Jet Star and refunded my return flight.
Jet Star is just a comedy of errors. In the end it would have been cheaper just too book that flight with Air New Zealand even though the initial cost was a couple hundred more. My only advice is dont book with Jet Star if you want to arrive at your desintation on time. Jet Star definitely lives up to their nickname.. Shit Star. If for some reason Jet Star ever reads this post because you care about your PR and oline profile I just want them to know – YOU SUCK MONKEY BALLS!
I returned from my trip back to Auckland on Saturday for one reason: to be in Auckland when the All Blacks play France in the finals of the Rugby World Cup! The game was to take place on Sunday night, so I flew home on Sat night from Queenstown to ensure the I would have a good nights sleep and that I would be ready to party when the All Blacks WIN!
Sunday there was a nervous buzz in the air! Today the All Blacks would once again be play for the rugby world cup. Up early to prepare – grocery store to get food for next day (i.e. hang over food) and stalk up on beers, plus get some all blacks gear and tattoos to look the part! By noon we were ready to go. I had an All Blacks flag, which I used as a cape, Michelle was rocking her jersey and our faces had tattoos! Go the ALL BLACKS!
We had a couple drinks at our place and at 3pm it was off to the Bluestone Room to meet up with some mates watch the game. We had watched a lot of the RWC games here and figured it was only right to finish off the drive for the championship at the pub! The game didn’t start until 9pm, but everywhere was getting packed out early! The place was packed full of fans – both NZ and France. We had a bite to eat and many a beer to warm up for the big match.
At 9pm it was standing room only. The pub was at capacity – ive never seen it so busy! The All Blacks drew first blood with a try and the French were being held at bay by their amazing defence. It was a tense game to say the least, in which the All Blacks pulled out the narrow victory. The bar erupted in joy! Everyone was high-fiving, hugging, kissing, up on tables, chugging beers… it was pandemonium! More beer and then to the streets to celebrate!
Downtown was packed full of fans. No cars, just a see of All Blacks fans! Joyous is the only way it can be described. The All Blacks had finally brought the cup home! We ended up at another bar for a couple more beers and then Michelle and I called it a night. What an amazing experience to be in NZ when the ALL BLACKS win the Rugby World Cup. This was definitely one of the most exciting times Ive had in NZ! Congrats to New Zealand and the All Blacks!
ps.. this video is fuck’n halarious! This boy has written a song to inspire the All Blacks to WIN… well it must have worked. I can only hope he writes a song about the WIN! Good on ya kid!
