Week 45 - Pole Dancing, Disk Golf & The Kapiti Coast (All in a weekend!)

Hey Everybody!

With Vietnam on the horizon in just 3 days, it's hard to think about much else! I'll most likely have some late nights at work making sure everything is up to date, but well worth it to have peace of mind and be able to leave work behind for the time I'm away! 

This week has seen me say goodbye to my OT student, and the start of the 3rd and final cricket test between NZ & England - and it looks like New Zealand will win! I could easily talk about these points, but I think my weekend that just passed was so full of varied activity that I just had to share it all with you! 

FRIDAY NIGHT - POLE DANCING SHOW

Kala, Me & Tibo @ the Fringe Bar!

It was all about a return the now infamous Cuba Street 'Fringe Bar' - the last time I went there with my flatmate Kala, was to see the 'Bare & Back Again' Burlesque show! This time it was a $25 (£12) - 2 hour show of pole dancing! I was initially thinking the worst when I saw the same host from the burlesque show, but that was probably as bad as it got! 

Pole Dancing venue....

The dancers, both male and female, were incredible and showed feats of strength that were nothing short of amazing! Even though the venue was pretty crap, the dancers, made up for it with their amazing performances! 

Pole Dancing @ the Fringe...

Pole Dancers @ the Fringe

SATURDAY AFTERNOON - DISC GOLF

Yes it's a real sport, honest! It was another Adventure Wellington event, and this time I was reliant on the generousity of a stranger (another Activity Wellington Member) to give me a lift up to Upper Hutt ( 40 min drive away). Josi, who was originally from Germany picked me up near my flat,  and we headed off for a game of Disc Golf / Frisbee Golf, without knowing what it was all about! Our guide (Sky) explained that it was basically about getting a disc (frisbee type thing) from the starting point, and into the 'basket' (see picture below) - in a specific number of throws! 

Disc Golf

Now, it sounds simple right!? But there are many different styles of throws, and discs, which spin in different ways! Getting the disc released at the right angle can make such a difference to how far the disc flies! see the technique below! 

Disc Golf Technique!

The scenery in Harcourt Park, Upper Hutt was pretty spectacular and the weather was a pretty great - a perfect was to spend a Saturday afternoon!

After being tips and having 9 'holes' of practice the organisers then offered for us to have another free go around, but this time to have a bit of friendly competition in a team event! So off we went, and it seemed the competition brought out some quite brilliant shots from everyone involved, and a few people had to climb trees to recover lost discs!

SUNDAY - UP KAPITI COAST

Having wanted to have another spontaneous day trip to explore more of the North Island, I travelled up the eastern coast from Wellington the area known as 'Kapiti' There are quite a few towns along this coastal area, and it was just an hour train ride away for just $14 (£7), for a return ticket. I'd tried to hire a car but somewhat bizarrely, all the car rental places were fully booked. However, I wasn't going to let that stop the adventure. I was joined by a rather shy colleague of mine, (so they will remain nameless). We decided to randomly pick a stop, called 'Paraparaumu', as we heard it had a nice beach, and caught a bus for the 10 minute ride to get there. The beach was just lovely! (See below).

Paraparaumu Beach, Kapiti Coast

Paraparaumu beach, Kapiti Coast

Me @ Paraparaumu

 I couldn't resist the 'jump' shot, and I think we just about nailed it!

Jump shot @ Paraparaumu

Paraparaumu seagulls!

We stayed around Paraparaumu for a while, as the day was so lovely, and a light breeze kept the temperature own. Eventually after a very chilled couple of hours, we headed back tot he train, but not before eating some seriously gorgeous ice cream - 'after dinner mint / blueberry muffin'! 

After getting on the train again, we hopped a couple of stops down the track to 'Plimmerton' (my Xmas day beach), where we found a great little 'chippy' - fish & chip shop, and had some chips on the beach! we soon drew a crowd of seriously noisy seagulls! We escaped without injury from the crazy seagulls, and returned to Wellington, relaxed and a little sun-kissed...

Plimmerton Beach, Kapiti Coast

Plimmerton Beach, Kaptit Coast

A truly varied, challenging, and fun weekend came to an end, with yet more reasons to be thankful to explore all the amazing things Wellington, and New Zealand has to offer! I'll be on holiday the next few weeks, so no blog, and soon I'll have reached the year mark, and we'll make the posts less regular! 

As always, thanks for reading, and...

Regards from New Zealand 

Dan

Week 44 - As time goes by, cricket comes to town & Wellington continues to be 'absolutely positively' wonderful!

Hi Everyone!

The 2nd Cricket Test between NZ and England looks like heading for a draw after day 4 (today) was pretty much washed out by the first proper rain we have had here for weeks! More to come on the cricket! This week has been just another reminder of what an awesome city Wellington is!

After the last big meet-up group adventure weekend away, my next activity was a little more local, but no less fun. The 'Wellington Wonders' group had organised a 'go-karting' session on the edge of town on Wednesday night. It was just what I need to de-stress after a busy week at work, and as most of you who know me well, I like a bit of friendly competition. I recognised a few faces on arrival and especially Andy - who I have met on a few adventure activities...

Me 7 Andy at Go-Karting!

The hairnets were compulsory! The track was pretty small and let about 6 of us on the track at once, as we had split in 6 teams, and each team had 3 drivers, and swapped after every ten laps... so we had 30 laps each per driver. We finished third in the team race, and might have been a touch higher if the race controller hadn't have given me some very questionable penalties for 'aggressive driving' - I accidentally bumped a couple of people on the tight corner, but I politely waved at them afterwards - as I passed them! ;) 

BUSY WEEKENDS: (FRIDAY)

The week had been pretty busy with catching up with new friends in their place, and a few late nights at work, as it seems to be a busy time of year for us right now. I already the knew the weekend was going to be busy, with after work drinks on Friday with the team, and a gorgeous mexican meal. The night continued after the meal with an invite to Betty's Bar for Lizzie's birthday drinks. (I met Lizzie on the adventure weekend). I then spent a really nice hour or so with Lizzie and her lawyer friends learning about lots of legal stuff. 

(SATURDAY) - One of the best days I've had for a while (and that's saying something!), started out with a bit of frustration as I turned up at the Basin Reserve to watch the 3rd day of the Cricket match between England and NZ! The sign read 'Saturday sold out'! I couldn't believe it! Still, I have learned many things in my travels, especially that with a bit of good luck, positive attitude and patience, things can turn out better than you might expect. I waited around the main gate for 30 mins, and sure enough a a couple of people came out of the ground with spare tickets. The guy even gave me the ticket for face value - $30 (£15). After getting a hot dog and a couple of beers I headed over to the famous grass bank at the Basin Reserve ground, where I suddenly heard some familiar voices shouting my name! 

Basin Reserve Cricket Ground - England vz NZ

At the Basin Reserve grass bank!

England step out on the pitch!

The match was well underway and England were trying to bowl NZ out for less than 266, after making 465 runs, (to make NZ bat again - which they eventually did). The sun was shining and the crowd were in good voice, a perfect way to spend Saturday afternoon, before the highlight of the day's cricket = lunch! The reason that the lunch break was so great was because: quite unbelievably there is a tradition at lunch where the crowd are allowed to go on the pitch, (just not the important part), and basically walk around or have a play themselves! So not wanting to miss out I went for a walk around myself! 

Me on the Basin Reserve pitch at 'lunch'

On the pitch at 'lunch'

On the pitch at 'lunch'

The day continued and England finished the day well enough, as did Myself Steph and Derek who ate heartily and enjoyed sitting in the sun... 

Derek, Steph & Sarah

The sun comes out! 

The scoreboard day 3

The day's entertainment was not ending there, as after nipping home for a quick shower, I then went directly to meet my friend Loan, and headed over to the waterfront where the bi-annual South East Asian markets were in full swing, with numerous food stalls and some evening entertainment, it was pretty busy though! Wellington's array of festivals just never seems to end, and pretty much most of the stuff is free and accessible to everyone.

S.E Asian food markets!

SE Asian Markets...

The night was not due to end, as after eating some delicious spicy pork and pad thai food from one of the stalls, we headed to the TSB arena for the night's main event, the concert of Rodriguez - one of the most humble men you are ever likely to meet. The subject of the movie 'Searching for Sugarman' (the story of one man's music leading to an uprising in South Africa against apartheid - all unknown to the guy himself) - until he found out years later! The guy himself is pretty old now, and he needed help walking up the stairs onto the stage. Once he started playing his guitar and the music started, he came to life and his music filled the arena. I'd urge anyone to checkout the story to this guy's music as it makes it all the more remarkable! 

 Rodriguez in Concert

SUNDAY - To be honest, I pretty much slept most of the day as I woke up at 04:00 to watch Liverpool get beat, then see England rugby team get thrashed by Wales to lose the whole championship in the last game! It was a nightmare start to Sunday, which didn't really get much better, as the rain came and the only people happy about that were the NZ farmers! 

Vietnam is just over a week away - and after 10 months of working with just one week off, and moving my life to the other side of the world, I am ready for a break!

Regards from New Zealand!

Week 43 - The randomness of life...

Hello everybody, and a big congratulations to my beloved Liverpool won finally managed to beat a good team this season! (3-2 Vs Tottenham)! This made me smile lots especially as I had woken up at 05:00 to watch them play! Sports have been a pretty big subject of conversation around these parts lately. Well I say sport, but of course I mean rugby and cricket, because the rugby season has started and Wellington actually have a decent team - The Hurricanes! They did lose their first two games of the season, but somehow managed to steal a 29-28 win against the Crusaders on Friday night. The game was exciting with such a good late win, but the number of basic mistakes, like dropping the ball, and throwing it forwards (so that's basically the two most fundamental parts of the game) - made me think they had secretly used the Wellington Phoenix (football) team players instead! Still, in sports as in life you just sometimes need a little bit of luck, and that's what happened when the Hurricane's winger intercepted a long pass and ran to score the try unopposed, much to the delight of the home crowd, myself included! 

The England cricket team have arrived in NZ and played the first 'Test' (That's a 5 day game of cricket). Unsurprisingly, they started awfully and just about rescued a draw! They second 5 day test starts Thursday, here in Wellington, and I'll be hoping to at least see some of the match as I can see the stadium from my balcony! 

Now to the main point this week... It's been a very social week, with plenty of social drinks both in the city, and in people's homes - that's how I know I feel more settled as I start to get invited around to people's homes. A lovely night at the movies watching the brilliantly funny 'I give it a year' was followed by a gorgeous tapas meal at Havana Bar with an OT colleague of mine. Drinks with Soo Yin and a review of all the photos from last weekend was also good, fun, before a busy old weekend with the rugby, and drinks with flat mates & John, from the 'week 40' - adventure weekend made the whole weekend feel pretty busy. Then sunday cam along, which brings me to the picture below....  

Sunday's scene...

...picture the scene above.... our living room table, with wine, water, cider, and beer, alongside grapes, cheese, olives, and gingernut biscuits (no prizes for guessing who the biscuits belong to!). Now picture the views, as you can see in the original picture at the start of the blog..... and to add a truly surreal bit of detail, the 5 people around the table, include a Frenchman, Englishman Chilean, with a Malaysian and Kiwi (NZ) to complete the group! The very randomness of my new life, and the people in my life, and the people that these people bring into my life, really made me think a little about that moment I took the picture. 5 people, from 5 nationalities and from 4 continents, who 7 months ago had never even met each other or knew of each other's existence were sat around a table in NZ, spending the afternoon together talking and joking around!  A most random day indeed! 

Anyway, at the risk of leaving this week's blog a bit shorter than usual, I am in desperate need of sleep after very busy start to the week, and the need to complete the yearly re-registering process for the OT Board, which costs a staggering $558 (£280) - just for a 'Practicing Certificate' which you can't work without.  There is also Go-Karting tomorrow night after work too with the Wellington Wonders' Group that will allow me to get competitive and relax in a different kind of way! 

I can almost see myself getting on that plane to Vietnam soon!

Regards from New Zealand! 

Dan 

Week 42 - What can you do with a random 36 hours? = Be Adventurous!

The Interislander Ferry!

Hello everybody, and you'll probably be pleased to know after lasts week's double read, this week's adventures will be mainly told through pictures! I'm going to share one of the more adventurous and random weekend's that I've had here, and quite possibly, ever had! 

Having previously postponed this trip by a few weeks, we (me and my flatmate) had rescheduled the trip for this weekend. Unfortunately it looked like I was going to take the trip by myself, as Kala couldn't make it - I asked pretty much anyone I thought I knew well enough that might consider coming away with me for a weekend, but it was too short notice for everyone - so I started to ask just anyone I met. On Thursday at the FINAL OUTDOOR SALSA class, I happened to mention to a friend of a friend (Soo-Yin - colleague of Steph) that I had a spare ticket for a weekend trip, and thought "oh sod it - I'll ask her if she's up for an adventure"! Quite surprisingly, Soo-Yin said she'd be up for joining me on this trip - despite the fact that we had only really met briefly twice before! Now I had my travel buddy sorted, there was only one thing left to do - get to the ferry on time! 

As I wanted a true random experience, I had not made a single plan for the trip, and all we knew was that we would leave Wellington on Saturday morning at 10:25, and return from the South Island on Sunday at 18:40! 

Map of the Crossing from North island (right), to South Island (left)

The crossing itself is listed in the top 5 FERRY CROSSINGS in the world, and it did not disappoint! Leaving Wellington by sea is beautiful enough, complete with dolphins swimming by the boat, but sailing through the 'Malbrough Sounds'  to reach Picton is spectacular! (See Below)

Malbrough Sounds - South Island

Malbrough Sounds

On arriving at Picton (pictures come later), we were faced with our biggest challenge - getting a hire car! It seemed like al 10 hire car companies were booked out, and as the queues built up it looked like everyone on the ferry had a car booking apart from us! I even shouted to people passing by if they were going our way, to ask if we could get a cheeky lift! 

We had made our way to the local tourist office and were just about to accept our fate of staying in Picton for the weekend, when we decided to check one last rental place! Not only did they have a car for $120 (£60), they had a nice car! The lady even gave us a little discount, and didn't charge us for going over the 24 hr period by a few hours, and the lady gave us advice about some nice wineries! So big thumbs up to AVIS car hire for making our weekend possible!  

Our lovely transport for the weekend! 

So after 90 mins on the road, with some very dodgy in-car singing - (mine, not Soo-Yin's), we reached Nelson, and searched for a place to stay. Deciding enjoy a little more comfort than available at 'Shortbread's Backpackers' we headed for a motel, and met a lovely English lady who told us about a festival "Taste Nelson" that was happening at that very moment! She even directed us to other motels as she didn't have an appropriate room! The Riverside Motel certainly did have a twin room with a very strange half of a 'twin' bed - more to come about that!

We found the MUSIC, FOOD, & WINE - 'Taste Nelson' festival in full swing when we arrived at the venue, and quickly grabbed a cider and a bite to eat, whilst sat listening to the country / Irish bands playing into the evening! I even managed to drag Soo-Yin up for a little dance with the crowd!

Taste Nelson - Festival

At the 'Taste Nelson' festival

After the festival finished around 19:30 - we headed off to try and catch the sunset at a local beach just a 10 minute drive away. We got lucky and despite the cloudy day, we managed to get some decent  pictures from the Neslon coastline - see below!

Nelson sunsets

Nelson Sunsets

Beach football????

After a walk, we ate some super hot Thai take out that had Soo-Yin blowing smoke out of her ears, and my chuckling at my wise decision to take the 'medium' Thai curry! We then retired for the night, with Soo-Yin forcing me to take the 'prisoner's room' / cupboard! (She didn't force me really!) The bed was literally tucked away in the corner of the room - see below! 

The 'prisoner' twin bed!

SUNDAY - After expecting rain all day, I was truly amazed to wake up to glorious sunshine in Nelson, so we were keen to make the most of the time we had, and took out host's advice to head to Rabbit Island! (before leaving without paying - tut, tut, Soo-Yin - we paid later after calling the motel to apologize!). On the way to Rabbit Island we stopped to take some photos of the Nelson coastline.

Rabbit Island was a little piece of paradise, with forests, beaches, and river beds to explore - if only we had more time! I was certainly in no mood to waste any opportunity, and was soon getting my 'toggs' (swimming trunks) ready for use!

Rabbit Island

Happy Dan @ Rabbit Island

Bird bathing.... Rabbit Island

Rabbit island Beach...

Rabbit Island river beds...

Rabbit Island river beds... 

There were quite a few random sights along the way, but none more so than this unusual flower pot - a full blown car! 

Random sights!

After all this adventure, we needed a bite to eat and a glass of gorgeous New Zealand wine, to relax in the sun and reflect on the amazing day so far! Having been unlucky to find our first choice winery full, it turned out pretty well as we found this beautiful food and wine at this cafe..... 

Venison pie! hmmmm...

Nothing could be more fitting after a good meal in this part of the world, than a spot of wine tasting! There are literally dozens of wineries around Nelson, and we found a quaint little place - one that even had some decent basket weaving! (Professional private joke)!

Nelson Winery

After wine, food, beaches, swimming and forests, the time came to head back home and another 2 hour drive back to Picton - through some stunning scenery - which included seeing a Hawk swoop down to grab some 'road-kill' - amazing!

Driving back to Picton!

Driving back to Picot

 No trip is ever complete without some ice cream, and Soo-Yin got a little greedy with her ice cream!

We finally arrived back in Picton with an hour or so spare before boarding the ferry home. We had a little look around this picturesque town - and noted the places where we could come back to check out, and hire kayaks, sea planes, water taxis and mouton bikes! 

Picton

Picton

Picton 

Picton

Me in Picton 

Captain Cook info!

So the day, and the trip ended as it begun, on the Inter-islander Ferry home to Wellington, and for the first time since I've been living here, I returned to Wellington feeling like it was quite a large city - a real reminder of the differences between the north & South Island of New Zealand! 

I was left to think about this quite amazing trip, with so much adventure, totally unplanned and left to chance, with a relative stranger -  and how this was a great reminder to see what can happen when you allow yourself to step outside of your comfort zone once in a while...

Regards from New Zealand! 

Dan