Auckland trip

I'm back home now, but here are a few snippets from my trip to see Ben.
Here's the view from Ben's apartment before our night out on Saturday

It's a very cool apartment right next to the Sky Tower with views out to the Harbour Bridge too

Here's a vid I made with the view and a classic Fleetwood Mac song. Ben spent lots of the weekend thinking (and talking about) how the track would make an awesome parade song with performers dressed up as cave men... He's special!

Ben's boyfriend, Mana, sings at Sky City every week, and we went along to watch. He's really good!

Ben and Mana, awww

After Mana finished work we went and had a nosey in the casino. As a casino virgin I was amazed at how big it was, and after seeing it I think Las Vagas would be quite a cool place to visit!

I wanted to have a go, and gave myself $20 to spend. Ben suggested we play a version of roulette, which was faster than the norm as everyone uses touch screens to place their bets and the game is all automated... I was placing $2.50 bets (cause I like to live on the edge!) and wasn't doing very well, hemorrhaging my stash to a measly $2.50. But with only one bet left, I ended up getting a few lucky breaks and ended up with $37.50, WOOT! I'm such a high roller, I know...

Then I took it and ran, I think nearly doubling my money was a good place to end it! I'm glad that Ben and Mana were there though, you can see how addictive it could become - especially if you didn't have friends there to keep an eye on you!

Unfortunately no pics inside the casino or of the chips I earned - no camera's allowed :(

Thank you so much to Ben and Mana, it was a nice wee weekend break :)

On the way home I had a nice chat (on the plane) with an 84 year old called Molly. (The name of my late Nana which was nice!) She was in Auckland for the weekend for her great grandson's birthday which was quite epic at her age I think. As well as the classic old persons tales of how her husband and various other family members had died, she also tried to slip in a bit of Jesus talk, the crafty old minx! I had told her I was doing my MSc, and at one point she said "The sky is so beautiful, scientists couldn't possibly have made it" and then of course made some reference to how God did it with a finger... I did point out that actually scientists don't claim to have made the sky, they just like to study it. I then decided not to push the issue - I did have to sit next to her for another 20 mins after all, and I believe in respecting your elders, not slapping them :P

South Coast paddle

Yesterday I went for a kayak along the South Coast with Matt M. We borrowed 2 open kayaks, and it was a bit choppy too so we got quite wet (especially Matt who had a chodey boat which didn't 'cut through' the water, but more just splashed it over him!!)


We went west from Owhiro Bay, and there was a bit of a current which took us into some VERY choppy water (no photos of that I was too busy not dieing!!) I ended up surfing down some large erratic waves which nearly knocked me out!! :S

Then we had to go against the current back to where we started...

The sun came out for the last 30 mins which was a nice way to finish too, aahhhhh :)

It was a nice way to spend an avo, and a good 3 1/2 hours exercise too, thanks for coming along Matt!

Boys visit

Michael and Gabriel came up to visit for a few days over their holidays last week. The forecast wasn't very good but thankfully we got some nice weather to do outside things!

The first day we went for a paddle on the harbour with EJ

It was a really nice afternoon and perfect day for it I think

Even so, everyone apart from me, managed to get really wet! It was good exercise too, paddling against the wind to get back to our base was a good bit of cardio!



The next day we went up to Mt Bruce. It's a 2 hour drive but more than worth it for the boys, who'd never seen a kiwi...

So here's one of the 2 that we saw - didn't want to use the flash so not such a great photo, but you can see it!

We also found out that the kokako which they have there is the one in the genesis energy tree people adverts...

The day after that we played some pool and went bowling, here's Michael getting a strike

And Gabriel

We also went and saw a 3D movie (Monsters vs Aliens), took the dogs for a few walks, played Wii and went for an explore around the south coast.

It was a great few days, and Fenn enjoyed being spoilt and allowed to sleep on the bed with them!

day 3 - the wedding

Today was the big day! (Well, not my big day, but my flatmates)

To start the day off I went for an early morning walk with Marg. Went went up to a local dam and did a circuit up the hill with awesome views of the sunrise...

The rocks in Central Otago are SO cool!

And Jake had a good walk too (the plan was to tire him out before the wedding!)

One thing about central is that there are very few native plants - especially ones higher than 10cm... One of the few relatively large natives was this kowhai tree, it had made it to an impressive 1.2m!

I also saw some Raoulia which is a very cool alpine plant

Back to Burn's house to get everything ready of the wedding - the reception was going to be here after the ceremony in a local church

And Jake struck a pose with the view behind him.

This is the view from 'the peninsula' at Burn's place - her garden is basically wild Otago and there is a rock peninsula which juts out covered in rocks and wild thyme. The view is VERY impressive!!

After that I spend a bit of time taking picks of the local wildlife - HEAPS of Californian Quail and lots of skinks on the rocks too

One of my tasks at the wedding was to send Jake down the aisle with the rings around the neck - we both did a good job of that!

Nick, Honor, Me and Chris

Everyone gathered round for the cutting of the cake on the peninsula

Chris and Nick being very romantic and ridiculously good looking!

The night went really well, with lots of very funny speaches. Our MC was Richard - a good mate of Nicks with a great sense of humour - here is a snippet (sorry the lighting is crap)

Round the table

What is the best thing about going to a Chinese restaurant?!
You can put your camera on the bit in the middle and spin it round to see everyone!
(well, that and the good food... errr I ate too much...)

Christmas day...

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!!
I had a great day with my Flatties and their families.
Nick's mum and I drinking some very nice Rosé

Everyone around the table...

We also had a trail run of Chris and Nick's wedding cake, and they had a trail run of cutting it!

Tui in Chris' parents garden

Chris and Nick also gave me my FAVOURITE present - this cool book about New Zealand natural history called "NZ's Wilderness Heritage"

They said they would like to look at it too... I'm sure I'll allow them the odd peak, if I'm not looking at it!

Out and about in Wellington

Si was down for the weekend, so we did lots of cool stuff, including:
Driving my car...


Playing lots of pool with Ritchie and some very nice lesbians...



We went out on Friday night to S&M's, it was a nice relaxed evening though cause I was working heaps the next day...

We had the goodness that comes from Satay Noodle House (and had a look at the fish)...

And Si helped me out with my website, so now it's the same layout as my blog... Its a good place to download free stuff! (If I'm feeling nice that is...)

Si and I also went to see Rock n Rolla, which I liked a lot, pleasing to the eye and funny too!

Thanks Ritchie for taking some of those AWESOME pics ;) - see now you can't sue me!

So yeah, was a nice time, but back to reality now...

Oh, and yesterday I also played the Boxing game on my Wii for 35 mins as a bit of a workout. It was really intense and now I'm REALLY sore! I'm going to start doing it daily, but I'll have a day off today I think... And maybe work into it slowly!

Also I've decided I don't like being on my own, so I'm contemplating an nzdating profile... oh dear!