a huge week had

Last weekend kicked off a fairly big week for me which has been sadly absent recently and long overdue. Saturday, I caught up with Suze, a chick from Essex whom I met on my first night in Aotearoa. We had planned on meeting up in Qtown but for some reason that never eventuated, and now we'd even both been in Welly for a good few months before catching up! It was nice finally seeing her again..
The following day, Tom (a dude from work; coincidentally also from Essex) and I caught up for some sushi and to check out the botannic gardens. We found this (apparently famous) tree which you can climb up and sit on top of, which we did. I found a traffic cone somewhere along the way to the gardens and dragged it up the tree with me - ultimately becoming a makeshift megaphone for a couple of skater-boys, also up the tree, to make animal sounds much to the bewilderment, amusement and sometimes horror of unsuspecting passers-by.
Myself, Tom and couple of his buddies went to the cinema to watch The Good Shepherd on Tuesday night. I personally think it would make for a good DVD movie.. I kept almost falling asleep.. :P
On Courtenay Place (one of the main hubs of activity in Wellington), there is a games parlour which is where we ended up on Wednesday night. $10 for 3 hours unlimited arcade-style entertainment, including laser skirmish! I've never done any kind of skirmish before - it was a riot.. Might try my hand at paintballing, but I've heard that's a little more painful..
The next night there was a Motor-X type competition in the middle of the city when a narrow sidestreet was blocked off and a big 75ft jump set up. Myself, Brian (another dude from work; from Glasgow) and a couple of his mates, Rob and Pablo, went to check it out. There were some pretty daring stunts pulled off by the guys on motorbikes, very entertaining. And what night wouldn't be complete without having a photo taken with the Jim Beam girls?
This weekend just gone, Wellington was host to New Zealand's biggest free street festival, the Cuba Street Carnival (Cuba St being a slightly more alternative version of our Rundle Mall back home with a bunch more clubs and bars). Friday night there were short movies playing, including This is Spinal Tap - hilarious! Partying into the wee hours of the morning ensued.. On Saturday: Hundreds of stalls, plenty of street performers (including a man driving around in a toilet bowl!?!), a huge night illuminated parade and thousands of Real Hot Bitches! Now, before you call the People Against Sexism hotline, I must explain that there is a very fashionable, lycra-wearing dance troupe based in Wellington that call themselves the Real Hot Bitches. Basically a bunch of (mainly, athough not exclusively) 30-50-something women that get together on Saturdays to bust some moves in overly-flattering attire. Suze and I were luckily in the right place at the right time early on Saturday evening when the Bitches were attempting to organise the largest sychnronised dance routine the world has ever seen, out the front of a Courtenay Place bar called The Establishment.. Along with over 1700 other shameless participants, we helped break this world record by performing a cheesy dance routine to Bon Jovi's '84 classic, "Shot Through The Heart". Such fun being able to openly claim Hot Bitch status (not that I didn't already)!!! More partying into the wee hours of the morning ensued..
OK, so I've been staying in the Adelaide Road flat for 10 weeks.. Yesterday we had to be out.. After a marathon cleaning/packing session on Sunday, we all finally left around 2130hr. Sash and I grabbed a bite at Nando's after this and went on to play a few games of pool in the nearby pool lounge. By the time 2300hr came, I still hadn't found a place to stay for the night! Brian is staying in a hostel called Nomads (which is incidentally where I stayed in Melbourne when I decided on the date of my flight to New Zealand), and so I bunked down there for the night. Because Uni has just started back this week, almost all the hostels in Wellington are full of returning students so it's quite difficult to find a spare bed; I've only been able to book 3 more nights at Nomads since after that they're all booked out! I'm still not quite sure what I'm going to be doing, but I have been throwing around the idea of chucking in my job here at the Polytech in a couple of weeks time, and moving up to Taupo (the massive lake in the centre of the North Island) to find some bar work. Eh, only time will tell..

I'll get some photos up here for the last 2 posts soon.

Check these guys out: Flight of the Conchords. Sweet as bro!

Photos:
1. DJ's 21st (night out with guys from the flat): Me, Louise, Kelly, Jason, Sash and DJ - Anyone up for beer bowling?
2. View over the city from the top of that tree
3. "Daddy, what's that man doing?", "Just keep walking, son..."
4. Our team at work - Clockwise: Brian, Harry, Me, Sana, Tom and Brendan
5. Told you we met them.. with Rob and Brian
6. Covered in foam at the night parade - Suze, Tom, James and Me
7. Those are some Real Hot Bitches!
8. A float at the parade
9. Save time, just don't get up from your desk!
10. The painted man + Suze and me
11. That's me in the middle! ;)

12. Oh the things we do when we're drunk.. Brian and Pablo

Taking over the world!

I'm back in Wellington now, and back at work after spending this past weekend in the City of Churches. I was, of course, there for Lee's 21st/going away get up - and what a get up it was! Thousands of people were out on the town.. All of them out in force for Lee! Plus, I got to see my family and a whole bunch of my mates again which was great - not to mention my little furry friends, Jassie Grey and Billie! The big Saturday night was so much fun beginning with dinner at the Tap Inn and then onto First and the Stag to round the night off.. Think I was a little drunk - were you rubbing my upper thigh at some point Ryan?
Sunday came - Lee's actual birthday - and we spent a good deal of time down at Henley beach having breakfast at two in the afternoon after I awoke at midday. Gabrielle and Nick also came down for a coffee which was nice.
Gabby, Nick, Ma, a few of Lee's friends and myself went to the airport to see her off on the Monday.. I'm so proud of her! And frankly a little envious.. I mean Ghana, what an experience and huge culture shock!!! She's in Dubai now actually for a couple of days. Lee, try get on a desert safari!
Tuesday night, I went to see Mike and the Tweeds, and then my crew (you know who you are) came round for a few last beers. See you guys in Europe! And Bradtke, I'm sure you'll be able to see us in Europe from your desk.. Damn spy satellites!
Midday on Tuesday, and back at the airport this time for my farewell. It was just mum and I there which made it hard to leave, but it had to be done - the Polytech and the rest of the North Island was calling (not to mention my bags were already on the plane at this stage). Passing through Sydney on the way, I discovered that Sydney airport is the only one in the world that charges its passengers to travel between the domestic and international terminals.. Australia - always ahead of the competition!!
Going back in time a little: The Tuesday before I made the trip across the Tasman to Adelaide was Waitangi Day here in NZ. On the 6th of February, 1840, at Waitangi in the Bay of Islands, representatives of the British Crown and about 43 Māori chiefs (later extended to over 500 after the document was taken around the rest of the country) signed what is New Zealand's founding document, the Treaty of Waitangi. Essentially it allowed British migrants to peacefully acquire land for settlement purposes and the Crown to set up a government. In return, the Crown were to actively protect Māori tribal authority over their lands, fisheries, forests, villages, treasures and culture and extend to them the status and rights of British citizens. The day was first officially commemorated in 1934 and has been a public holiday since 1974.
The weather was fantastic on Waitangi Day so a whole bunch of us from our flat and neighbouring flats went to New World (a semi-flash supermarket) and bought six 12-packs of beer and a few bottles of wine then cruised down to the beach. From 1100hr to about 1600hr we sat on the beach and I think we all got bloody burnt (which some of you maybe saw when I came back over the weekend). There was some traditional Māori music and dancing nearby, but we had our own jukebox when a random guy sat down with us and started playing 80's and 90's rock classics on his acoustic guitar. Later in the night, after a bit of a chill out, we played a 2-hour game of poker in one of the other flats.. I sucked (as expected) and was the second player out. Drinking from 1100hr (in the sun) right through to midnight really took it out of me, but was an awesome day nonetheless.
So I'm still looking for a flat, with just over a week to go 'til I have to be out.. My phone has also shit itself - the power switch has snapped completely off. I'll hopefully be borrowing one from a mate at work so I can be once again aurally (and orally) contactable - get your minds out of the gutter!

Gabrielle, can you send me that pic of the three of us from Saturday night?

Until then... Peace

Photos:

1. Lee at the airport

2. Lee and Tobias

3. The boys - Micah, Ryan, Me n Jubby

4. Should I be scared?

5. Me, Bee n Ma

6. Lee's B'day

7. And that's just her medication...

8. Who is that?!? - Waitangi Day

9. Pirates of the Wellington Harbour

Happy Birthday Ma!

xxx

...update

This morning at 0700hr, I drove Nic to the train station to catch the Overlander train. After a very decent last minute packing effort, a lot of stressing, selling her beloved Nigel (her car) for scrap, and a teary goodbye at the train station, she is now on her way to Auckland. The last 2 weeks have roused many emotions, in both of us, not the least being sadness. A sense of the exact opposite has also surfaced in that I did not expect to make a true friend on my travels here in Aotearoa. And a true friend she is - an absolute bloody legend... Keeping with traditional Aussie slanguage.
To clarify what has happened here... This whole decision for Nic to move came about essentially because our friendship was becoming quite strained. It's the classic case of spending just too much time together, and not really doing much with our spare time. I'm sure you can understand the disappointment I feel when realising that we could have most likely averted the whole issue by being sensible and spending more time as individuals. I guess this is simply another lesson that had to be learned. I definitely think this decision came at the right time, however, as we hadn't reached that point of no return where we hate each other, in fact we're not even close to that point which I'm very thankful for. We'll certainly be keeping in contact and I'll go up to visit sometime in the near future.
The past two weekends, we have gone out with a bunch of guys from our flat and had a blast! Last weekend was actually the first time we've all gone out together.. What have I been missing out on?! I guess I did have the excuse of trying to save money..
So the lease on this current flat runs out in 3 weeks time and after that I will need to find another room/flat to finish out my remaining days in Wellington. I have had offers from 3 of my flatties (Sash the Sri Lankan; Kelly the Aussie, and; Meenal the Fijian) to crash on their couch or in a spare room if I can't find a place immediately which is great. We'll see how it all goes, plus I might have the opportunity to extend my length of work for another month or so, who knows what's going to happen?!?

So that's current news up to date.

And what about this rumour? Well, sounds like most of you know about it anyway.. Word on the grapevine is that a B-grade celebrity will be gracing Adelaide with his presence over Lee's 21st weekend.

Photos:
1. Clockwise: Me, Kelly, Jason, Pip and Nic
2. Yannick (middle - remember the guys from down in Wanaka?) and I out with his mates
3. Give us a kiss, Love!
4. Kelly and Pip rippin' it up on the dancefloor
5. Sash, myself and Nic - clearly quite drunk
6. Look at those puppy eyes!!
7. Kelly and Nic