Recent Times

All my recaps bring me up to now. Which, to be honest, i haven't got much to stay.

The major excitement of the moment has been the release of the new "Where the Hell Is Matt' Video 2008, with Me and Matt dancing with Matt. Regular readers will remember that Matt and i danced with Matt back in November. We weren't really sure whether we would make it in as he was going to loads of places and only 5 of us showed up to dance with him.

Here's the clip. I find it inspiring and really a testament to how much the human spirit can do. That's us in Auckland at 3:16 in to the clip.



It was shown on CNN and even our clip has made it! It's wonderful.

Other than our recent 2 seconds of fame, not much more has happened. I submitted my assignment and am desperately trying to get back in to the swing of studying.

Auckland has been under a sea of rain lately which is pretty dreary. It's the kind of cold that was like in Ireland - wet and gets right to your bones.

We've booked our tickets and are going back to the US for Christmas which should be lovely.

I'm thinking about doing a mid-winter Thanksgiving so we can enjoy the wonderful food that is Thanksgiving when it warms the soul during cold weather.

Well, that should bring you up to date. I'd like to thank Lauren for her wonderful blog which has really prompted me to start making an effort with mine.

Ciao!

The Queens Birthday and Adventures in The Coromandel

The last weekend of May/June was a long weekend here in honor of the Queens birthday. Even though you wouldn't know it New Zealand is a part of the Commonwealth. Other than paying out to the Crown and being able to compete in the Commonwealth Games i'm not really sure what else it means. In any event we had a long weekend! Matt and i decided to stretch our legs and take the "leggy" on a trip. So we headed south to The Coromandel. The Coromandel is a peninsula about 3 hours south of Auckland famous for it's beaches. We drove down on Saturday and made camp in Whitianga. Actually we didn't really camp, we just stayed at a hostel. In any event we went for a walk on the beach, had a lovely dinner and then had drinks back at our hostel.

The beach across from our hostel in Whitianga


Shell collecting


Pretty Tree


:-)


We got up the next morning and drove just a bit further south to the hot water beach. I'd heard about the hot water beach but really had no idea how it worked. Basically when the tide is out you can go to this lovely beach, rent a shovel and you dig yourself a hole. Basically as the tide goes out water gets trapped in the holes and the thermal lava streams (or whatever that run under neath the beach) heat the holes. Even though it's winter here Matt and i bared down to our skivvies (ha i just said skivves) and started digging.

The Hot Water Beach


However digging isn't quite my thing (i tried!) according to Matt and so we jumped in to someone else's hole and then we fortified their walls.

Me digging (not really)


Matt (really digging!)


All the holes


Me and Matt


Me


In any event it was super cool (hot really!). Certain areas were really hot and the tour guide we'd met the night before in the hostel told us that some people had actually boiled an egg in their pool the day before!

After an hour or so at the beach we packed in the car and headed to Cathedral Cove. The hike to the cove took about an hour or so before we finally arrived at the cove (Which is only accessible by hike or boat).

You can see why it might be called Cathedral Cove




Awesome Rock, Man i feel short!



After our hike we headed back to Auckland and enjoyed the last of our long weekend. A lovely weekend all together.

Birthday Party Adventures

Shortly after returning from Christchurch Rooney and i shared milestones in our lives. His 30th birthday and my 25th. Since they are only 2 days apart we decided to combine forces (and powers) and throw a big, bad joint birthday.


We rent out a nearby bar, Brooklyn and we got heaps of platters and food. Overall we had close to thirty or so people attend our gathering which went on in to the night. It all worked out really well as because Rooney and i worked together we shared a lot of the same friends.

The sign outside the private lounge in the bar


Me and Kylie


Matt (x2) and Me and Vix


The Birthday people! Do we look any older?


The next day with some serious force i managed to make it out of the house and Matt and Megan and i went to see Arj Barker perform as a part of the Auckland Comedy festival. Arj Barker is Dave from "Flight of the Conchords" and freaking hilarious.

Things were kind of quiet after that. Sadly Rooney left to move back to Ireland in the middle of May. It crossed my mind some time ago that with all foreign friends here i was in for some sadness when they left and Rooney leaving has been quite a bummer.

I also started a course for work. I decided awhile ago that i should start doing my papers for the NZX, in case i ever decide that being an Investment adviser is the path for me. So i started my first course in May - 405N The New Zealand Stockmarket. While i'm learning heaps i'm finding i'm struggling with distance learning. We're given the text book, assigned one assignment and then have an exam at the end and that's that. You have to pass both the exam and the test to pass the course. So some of my freetime is no longer free and is now spent in the books.

Next, our trip to the Coromandel and the long weekend!

Ok i'm bad.

I'm really bad.

I'm so sorry for taking a month, sorry 3 months to finish my travel post and well just make any update to here.

But i've been busy.

Anyways, let me use this post to wrap up the details of our trip and then i'll start fresh to bring you all up to date!

When last i left you we were boarding a train to cross the width of the south island to Greymouth. Once again we ran in to George and his mom and George spent the bulk of the train ride trying to play cars with us. The Tranz Apline train across the south island is in the worlds top ten train journey's. Sadly for us, we spent most of the trip in rain. The sun, did make it out for a bit and we got to go back to the picture car. The picture car, was possibly the closest experience to being a cow moved by train i think i will ever have. Basically it was just the bottom and top of the train car with completely exposed sides with the exceptions of a few rails. Anyways, it was cold but managed to see some beautiful country. The other interesting event in the trip was the long tunnel between Arthurs Pass and Otira. The Otira tunnel is 7km long and is rather an incredible feat to go through and one that Mom spent the whole time cringing and closing her eyes through.

The tracks


Us in our seats


Me, Matt and George


Scenery on the Way


A lovely gradient


Me and Matt in the Viewing car


When we arrived in Christchurch we headed to our B&B which was just slightly outside of town but was amazing. It was in this lovely house and was an all organic vegetarian B&B. We walked in to town (which took us about 35 minutes) and got some dinner at a lovely thai restaurant.

The next morning we got up and caught a bus in to town and went on a walk. Downtown in the main square there was a huge celebration going on for Buddha's birthday with all sorts of performances and stalls set up. We stopped at this lovely outside market outside the art museum.

Statue


After the Art museum we went to the botanical gardens. Although it was cold we spent at least an hour or two wandering around the lovely gardens. A huge park/garden downtown it had a variety of plants, trees and flowers including a collection of Bonzai trees, a huge greenhouse and a magnificent rose garden.

Flowers


More Flowers


Garden


Inside the Greenhouse


After we had some lunch we headed to the Canterbury Museum which had some fascinating exhibits on early Maori and historic New Zealand. We stayed until the museum closed.

Oh and i should note that today was Pat's Birthday! Afterwards we went and played some pool to celebrate and then went to the movies to see Gone Baby Gone (a very thoughtful and provocative movie. We then went and had a lovely dinner at this Italian restaurant. Much to Pat's relief, we spared him the cake and candles.

The Birthday Man in action


The next day we rented a car and drove out to Akaroa. Going up the mountains and looking back you get a great view of the Canterbury plains and out to the harbour.

Christchurch and the plains


Near Akaroa


Akaroa is famous for being a French settlement in New Zealand and had the English not jumped in boats at the word that the French were headed here to colonize it we would like be speaking French here. Anyways, many friends had raved on and i can see why. Akaroa was lovely and so quaint from the little street signs and cafes to the beautiful boats and beaches.


White picket fences and quaint street signs


French flags on the beach


After lunch we took a boat ride out to see some wildlife. Akaroa (and New Zealand) is famous for having Hector's Dolphins which are among the tiniest Dolphins in the world and are only found in New Zealand's waters. Other highlights were huge seal colonies and birds.

Hectors Dolphins


Seals


After our day in Akaroa (and a stop at a cheese farm on the way home) we went back to Christchurch, had dinner at the lovely Italian restaurant again (hey when you find a place you like you may as well enjoy it) and even managed to see a school band/choir perform at the Christchurch cathedral! We packed up for our early flight home and headed back to Auckland early the next morning.

The Cathedral


And that, folks, was our trip!