Aussie rule football

I am also putting this in the "What the" section.

Don't mess - I'm a Viking

Well here is my bit of culture for the month. With the maritime museum just round the corner from my hostel (and free entry) it was an easy choice to make - especially as there was a special Viking feature on at the moment.

The museum is mainly made up from Australia's boating history dating back to the trees the aborigines floated round in through good old Cooky and his boat all the way up to some modern boats - even the coxless four from the 2004 Athens Olympics (only with a small plague though and not mentioning that they were beaten by GB -hehe and the stirring starts :> )

The one thing missing was the exact working reconstruction of the Endeavor which was down in Melbourne for the Commonwealth Games. Will have to pop back when it returns.

With that I leave you with this picture of what I would of looked like if I had been around back in the good old days - oh and the Vikings didn't go looking for new land to rape and pillage on (how they go down in my expirations)



- Children, don't worry. This is not a real Viking.

What the

If any one can let me know what this is and why it needs such a big mouth I would love to know. There are some strange creatures over here - and not all of them live next door.


My guess is "a bird"

Touchdown Greece

And all with out leaving Sydney. Today was Greek day down at Darling Harbor and the whole place was taken over by little stalls all related to Greece. There was Greek music playing all day and lots of people getting down and funky with some Greek dancing. And to top it off the Greek food was top notch - I made a point of regular sampling.

The harbor area seems to have these sort of events of all the time so looks like it will be a great place to spend many hours of lazy time.

Touchdown Sydney

I know, you are trying to think back to the days of GCSE geography and thinking where in New Zealand Sydney is. That’s right, I have left the country of sheep and lord of the rings and am now in a land where the animals either bounce or, if so desired, could kill you in a slow and painful way. Bring on Australia.

The flight over was good and I some how managed to get one of the window seats next to a door - love the leg room. After a 3am check in at Auckland airport (Thanks to Jarrod for getting me there at that crazy hour) and a flight that takes about the same time as getting to London from Stratford on the train - and for about the same cost - I hit Sydney city mid morning

From what I can tell so far, this is a great place (not as good as nz though :> ) - a bit like London but with friendly people.

A Spot of Washing

With a quick 2 day stop over on the way up to Auckland with my kind and generous Aunt and Uncle in Tauranga I decided to treat my clothes to a was which had the option of using hot water.

Now this is a washing machine that could control a NASA rocket launch with all of its options and sensors. And so it started sensing which was my cloths required. A short time late on hearing strange noises from the laundry we returned to find that the machine had decided that my cloths required and active wash and can only be described as giving them a good seeing to. I am informed that in the entire life of the washing machine it has never felt the need for an active wash before.

I must say though that my cloths now look like they did when I first started and completely different to when they went into the machine. So after a few quick "discussion" on whether or not every thing was dry - I apparently have a different opinion on what is classed as dry - every thing was packed up and I am now ready to head off again looking slightly more civilized.

St Guinness Day

For a moment I thought I had some how ended up in Dublin. It is amazing how on one day a year every one suddenly realize that they know some Irish bloke, therefore they are Irish are will greet every one in the street with "Top of the morning" (even at 11:30pm)

When we got to the first pub we could tell that it was a good place - Stepping over unconscious people on the floor as you queue to get in is always a good sign. A couple of pints and a krazzy hat later we left and moved on the pub 2

It always impresses me how much people love their sport over here. Slap bang in the middle of a nice little hard house number they cut the music and put all the TV's on and every one just stopped and spent the next 30 mins watching NZ win the gold in the rugby 7s final against England (NZ 29, UK 21). Yet another strange sight - watching a room full of people dressed in green and waving Irish flags supporting NZ. Match over the music continued as if nothing had happened. Great.

Middle Earth

And no, I am not talking Lord of the Rings. On a sunny hill top just out side Nelson is the center point of New Zealand. As I have been to the most northerly and easterly points it would be a shame to miss this on as I was staying so near.

A quick hours walk up the hill proved to be well worth it with the views of Nelson below lit by the afternoon sun looked amazing. Summit concurred and claimed in the name of Iain I headed back to town for a quick pint and some food to regain some energy for the night ahead - I slept well.

Swimming with Dolphins (or not)

The night before I met up with the group of girls I had met in Christchurch a few days earlier and we ate in the Thai restaurant by the pool at the back of the hostel - a great location if you ignore the splashing. I had also forgotten how you women have the ability to talk in depth for 20-30 minutes about chocolate. Amazing.

At a time that should not exist (4:50am) my alarm went off and after a few minutes of cursing the phone for having the ability to make a noise at that hour got up into the darkness. On steeping outside into the howling winds which instantly blew away any remains of sleepiness we all climbed into the car. I found a nice little spot in the boot and after a short trip and several comments about how I resembled a dog we arrived at Dolphin HQ.

By this time the wind had picked up and people were starting to think what the sea would be like. This was confirmed by the dolphin staff suggesting that we take any drugs we could get out hands on.

Moments later, pills all popped and halfway though a wet suit fitting (I tell you - I look good in an all-in-one wet suit :> ) the skipper called in to say that the sea was a tad choppy and that the boats may not make it back so trip was off, sorry folks.

So with that I returned to the spa just as the drowsy effect of the drugs kicked in and spent the morning thinking of what swimming with lots of large fish would of been like. Well here is an artist impression to get the idea:

Christchurch

This is a city I could easily live in. Throughout the city there are little parks and courtyards scattered along the Avon Rivers banks making it a great place to forget about work and life and just sit around relaxing. Plus they some how manage to fit a golf course in one of these parks.

The main center square is a great place and in the time I was there they had something on every day ranging from markets to something with crazy cars. There were also a scattering of very talented street performers giving it the feel on Covent Garden. And to ice the cake there is one of those large chess sets for intellectual people (and the occasional student) to battle it out for the grand title of "I am better than you"

To ensure that things stay nice and pretty in the city they have the "Christchurch Beautifing Assosiation" whose sole job is to go around the city and make things look nice. My favorite was a waterwheel in the river surrounded by a little park. The wheel served no purpose and was not attached to anything - Its sole reason for existing was to make the place look nice. This was confirmed by a couple sitting next to me who kept saying "My that looks nice"

1.2.3. Draw

A couple of months ago I would of considered the situation I now found myself in a bit on the random side but nowadays this was just a normal night out.

I was in a bar in a hostel I was not staying (Fred: Sorry, I didn't manage to find your name on the wall in Saints & Sinners) at with a group of girls, a couple of Swedish guys and a bus driver which I had only met a couple of hours ago (who were a great group). Not only this but I was now entered in the world championships of Paper, Scissor & Stones where international competitors from all over the world had traveled many meters from their seats at the bar to compete.


The first round I took a clean victory over Holland with a 2-0 (best of 3) result - old faithful stone never fails. The quarter and semi finals saw Sweden, New Zealand and Australia fall to the power of the Brits leaving and all British Final.

Feeling confident with my faithful stone I stepped into the ring for the first to 7 final. With nerves starting to kick in disaster strikes. My rock gets met with paper twice to take me behind 2-0, something had to be done. With a change to scissors I manage to pull it back to 2-2 and then with the next 3 draws scrape ahead to 4-3. With a "you're going down" stare form my opponents eyes the tension in the room was mounting and saw 5 consecutive matching draws at which point the reffs called a time out.

After a quick consolation with the bar man who advised another pint and feeling refreshed I stepped back up to the ring. Then in a moment of enlightenment I whipped out a scissor, stone, stone combo to take the remaining 3 points to victory. The crowd went wild (well at least 2 drunks in the corner shouted something - but was probably unconnected) and I am now the proud owner of a free 3 day car hire. (Subject to availability. Terms and conditions apply)

(Thanks to my opponents and to the boys back home who have given me years of paper, scissor, stone tactical experience :> )

Rafting - Rangitata River

At stupid o'clock am (8:30) I got picked up by our driver, Ian, so I was instantly his best friend which came with great inside knowledge of the bus. Don't sit there - the seat is wobberly.

The two hour trip out to the rafting lodge which was passed by the amusement of the poor soul who got the wobberly seat. The whole trip was spent looking like he was planning to launch himself out the door at any moment. On arrival we were treated to lunch and tea and coffee (after two months of traveling little things like free tea and coffee will make that the best day ever) which instantly put this rafting above Queenstowns attempt on the Shootover river.

The river its self was pretty amazing - Middle Earth is looking good these days - and there was a good amount of water flowing through it. Our guide was great and had lots of useful knowledge such as: today 1500 tons of water is passing through this point every second, or at 2000 tons the water level would be here, or at 3000 tons the water would be here and you would be dead.

After 3 hours on the river we finished off with a nice little cliff jump. Now there are not many times you find you self in mid air and have the opportunity to think to your self "Shouldn't I of hit the ground by now" and "Have I actually left the cliff edge" and then "Its a bit windy - I must be falling" and then that suddenly is replaced by "Oh my, this water is a bit nippy"

The day was finished off by a great bbq and a bus back to Christchurch - And then the pub

Dunedin

After the thrills and spills of Queenstown Dunedin was a bit on the quiet side - although very welcomed.

Tours seem to be the thing here so did both the Cadburys and Speight's tours. The remaining time I spent wondering the city and Gardens. The city is a nice enough place with the university taking up one corner of it so I had a wonder through it and was pleasantly suppressed by the place - I would of happily spent my uni days there lounging on the grass by the stream or attending lectures in the student bars.

Out past the university were the city gardens which were split up into different parts of the world featuring their local shrubbery. I was even entertained by an African drum band who were playing in the band stand.

The Hostel I stayed in was up a very steep hill over looking the city - I was told that the street holds the Guinness world record for the steepest hill in the world where (crazy) people choose to live. Not that I can guarantee the integrity of my sauce (we were in a pub) but I can say that the hill required full use of my clamp-ons and climbing axe.

Speight's - Tour

Now we are talking. This was a great tour taking us through the history of beer in New Zealand (where all the workers seemed to be alcoholics) right up to how the beer is made today.

And the best part of the tour, well after the 1 hour walking bit there was a 30 min tasting session going though 6 of Speight's beers. Now is it morally wrong to drink at 11am? Probably but lucky for us the clock in the bar had stopped at 7:30pm so we drunk on. 30 minutes later we all staggered out onto the street in the mood for a night out with only the bright sunlight bringing us back to reality - It sucked.

Cadburys - Tour

Now it is nearly impossible to stay down the road from a large chocolate factory with out popping in.

The Cadburys factory in Duneeded is not as big as in Birmingham but still the was more chocolate that I could eat on an afternoon (they were pumping out 10,000 bars an hour + a variety of buttons and other choco bits)

The tour took us through the history of chocolate - yes even with the tasting of pure chocolate to start with (an yes - it tastes bad). But a useful fact: Chocolate is actual good for your teeth (as long as you leave the sugar out)

After the 45 min tour through the factory we finished up in one of the old storage towers which they have converted into a choco waterfall (not actual use in the chocolate mixing process though). For all of you who want one of those little 49.99 waterfalls from Argos would soon set you sights higher if you could of seen this on. It could drop 1 tone of chocolate in 20 seconds. We had to hold one girl back from jumping in.

And as all tours finish we ended up in the shop with oh so cheap chocolate - I now have a good supply to keep me going.

Queenstown

Now this is a town where its sole purpose is for people to find new and exciting ways to hurt/kill your self - It was great.

With the exception of a Bungy I managed to get through most activities. With a walk up to the top of the hill (mountain) over looking the town to take in the views it occurred to me that this was not quite in the danger danger spirit of the town so had a couple of runs on the luge (an 800m concrete track which you fly down on a tea tray with wheels) - statistically speaking this was more dangerous than a bungy. Mainly due to the non existent health and safety. I also managed to get through a days white water rafting and a jet boat ride - and the water, as it was mainly snow melt from the mountains, was well, refreshing.

On my last night in the town I met up with some old friends from the house boat in Abel Tasmin (The Sweed and the Brazilian) who were still in party mode. So as it was I found myself 2 hours before my bus left finishing off a round of tequila which toped of the surreal night of drinking out of tea pots (got to love the world bar) nicely.

3..2..1.. Bungy

As if. It would take a lot more beer to get me to jump of a ledge with a rubber band attached to my foot.

I did however have a look round the 3 Queenstown AJ (I am a crazy fool) Hackett Bungy jumps. Out of the 3, the worst would be the ledge - Although at 134m the Nevis is the highest it is in a nice big canyon so there is plenty of space to fall to your death.

The Ledge on the other had allows the poor fool to fall in very close proximity of rock and trees which would be my worst.


I must add though that NZ Bungy has a 100% safety record with no fatalities (but still - I am not going to be the first :> )