Cuz I'm movin' on up, movin' on out, movin' on up, nuuuthing can stop me..

Anyone who has stayed for a period of time in hostels - in particular, dorms - would agree that forty-three days' residency with five constantly changing roommates is long enough. So, I had a sombre farewell from the ACB and moved in with Georgina (a friend from work) and Steve. Well, it wasn't that sombre, I'm pretty much there with the lads every other day anyway.

The new place, well, it's tres chic. One big plus is that the rent is cheaper than a six bed dorm amazingly and the flat itself is huge, a loft conversion above an art gallery. Oh, did I mention that we've also got a slate pool table and Sky TV? No I didn't mention it, I just read it back and saw that that was the first time I wrote it. So yea it's sweet. One thing that puts a damper on things is the fact that I can't really update my website from home because of the abhorrently slow dial-up connection, might have to remedy that. For now, I'll do some write-ups from work :)

Speaking of work, life at GE is going well. We had a staff barbecue last Friday which was $5 all you can eat and drink - what a bargain. We also played football with the managers; naturally a few slide tackles were going in here and there - friendly competition. After all, everyone is even on the football field. We then proceeded to cause disturbances at the docks of the Viaduct by kicking the ball around the quiet walkpaths and against the walls of the posh apartments. We also managed to hit the mast of a yacht as one of the over-audacious staff overhit and the ball and we watched it sail (see what I did there: "sail," talking about "yachts." Great) over the walkway barriers. We were being rather juvenile and it was great.

After not seeing her for three weeks or so, I finally met up with my old mate Denise at her place for a barbecue. It was all very civilised until a couple of Kiwis turned up and it started to heat up. Apparently Kevin and Jamie are Auckland pool champions - we'll have to see about that. And thanks to Denise's housemate Martina for the fantastic food - you cook too well!

We had our weekly backpacker's gathering at Victoria Park for the "Soccer Sunday" in which the winners walk away with $100. We had all the big boys out today: Tony, Andy, Mike and myself were out to cause some havoc. And we did. We won. Thanks for the 100 bucks, let's get to the Balcony and the Globe! We couldn't double our money as we all lost early in the pool competition in the evening. Typical. But we were happy with our footballing performance and came out the deserved and inevitable champions.

This week I believe Georgina and I are going rock climbing. In fact she has been consistently adamant that we're going. So, I best get back to work and will keep you up to date with this week's events. As for pictures, well, I need to either find a new internet cafe or sort out something better at home before any more are posted. Dial-up is the information superhighway equivalent of piles. Piles that come out *really slow*, to be exact.

Now *this* is what I'm talking about: the Tao Drummers giving it their synchronised all at Aotea Square. I want to be like them when I grow up.

After most of the recent pictures have been generally themed on pool, dancing, silly boys and cheeky girls, I thought I'd post something a little more serene and appropriate for the family: a relaxing sunset in Albert Park.

The super-hard Japanese guy goes for broke on the massive drum.

The "wave" drumming from these guys: one of them would play an incredibly difficult drum sequence and then pass it on to the person next to them. They make it look so easy man.

We both thought the Stomach of Steel was pretty funny anyway. Michelle, one of the lovely and super-friendly ACB reception staff, finally poses for a picture with me nearly six weeks of staying at her money-sucking establishment.

Out of the four contestants, our two friends wet out early on. Scotty wasn't too pleased, but by god he stank. Is that really Marmite on his finger? What about that residue on his face? Ominous.

Poor Scotty couldnt handle the Weetabix covered in cat food and proceeded to wretch with a lovely full mouth shot.

1st Course: Whole Raw Onion a la Marmite. Tom couldn't hack it.

Ahhh, the next sequence of events you will witness is called "The Stomach of Steel", in which four contestants must eat three courses of "food" in a) the alloted time b) or the most food c) without throwing up. The guys shake hands and get ready to sample some culinary delights.

"At the Globe Bar, Globe Bar, Globe Bar!" Marie gets chucked out by a bouncer for being too Quebecoise.

......Ooo there he is again.

A girl that plays pool, what I like to see. But with rabbit ears? Fantastique.

Jimmy, the resident ACB entertainer, wears what over the course of weeks have seemed to become his normal style of attire....

A conservative photo at the Balcony Bar of myself and Mademoiselle Linteau. She checked into my dorm as I was having a midday lie-in. You see, there are advantages of sharing with other people! (and disadvantages as we learned later)

(Left to Right): Dickie, Scotty, Heady, Tony. Very very drunky drunky..

ITS YOUR GO MARC, YOU BURNED THE DECK. My capable cardplaying companions from Adelaide meet me at the ACB reception. Cheers to Paul and Neil.

The Three Pool Demons. Or so we all like to think.. A Westpac pose from myself, "Lil' Pimp" Mike and Thomas "The Tank Engine." I'm not big enough to have one of such mature nicknames.

Hostel is still Home..

Danny and I had grand designs of moving to a city apartment...........................that was about two weeks ago now. Yes, Joe is still in the six bed dorm at the Auckland Central Backpackers. People coming and going, turning the light on at 4 in the morning after they stagger back from the karaoke, housekeeping changing the linen far too early when you're on your day off, and so on and so forth. Best of all is that I love the place.

But it may be time to move on. Danny has found a hostel for much much cheaper just down the road, and a girl from work is living with a few people who are looking for one more - so the options are growing.

My local night space, The Globe Bar, was the scene of unfortunate events during the daily pool competition. There I was in the final of the speedpool (pictures will be up showing what I mean) when I lost on the black. The $100 prize, so close to my back pocket, was won by some random punter - gutted. My poor fate was compounded when I reached into my pocket to notice I cracked the screen of my P900 - no phone for me! And just to make me feel better I was told it was going to cost $300 to fix it up. So I told them where to shove it and bought a cheap and nasty Nokia 2600. Well, it's not too bad, a far cry from my touch-screen, "Here Comes the Hotsteppa" mp3 ringtone, recognise-my-handwriting skills phone. Oh well, I'll fix it for way way less when I get back to the UK.

My luck and morale were both at a low, so, as d:ream said about twelve years ago: "Thiiiiiiiings, can only get betterrrrr..." - and they did. AK05 cheered me up immensely when I went down to the cultural overload that is Aotea Square to watch the Japanese Tao Drummers. They are an equivalent of the martial arts monestries, but instead of karate kicks for 18 hours a day, they play the drums. They were sensational, and their website is well worth a look - check them out at http://www.drum-tao.com - the Auckland Festival, finishing in a few days, really flares up the colour of the city, it's been pretty sweet. There's another show from Def Poetry Jam which looks hilarious - guys like Chris Rock getting up on stage doing some sort of rap-come-comedy-come-poetry sort of thing. And those guys are f u n n y. Might go see it if I can muster up the cash!

My 'council' boys from Adelaide, Paul and Neil, have been doing a runaround of the North Island, but have been basing themselves in Auckland for a while, so the 'Anal Grande playing cards have been coming out, as well have the timeless jokes that Team America: World Police have left us. Perhaps the best film in the world.

I also met a lovely girl called Marie, a little French-Canadian surfer. We had a lovely few days before she moved on from Auckland on her travels from New Zealand. And it wasn't all just walks in the park and tasty Chinese food; we ended up in the Globe Bar for a couple of nights involving some incredible female pool (something one comes across rarely), bouncers boogie'ing to Michael Jackson, and rabbit ears. More to follow in the way of photgraphic delights.

Looking forward to this weekend when a few of us from work are hopefully going down to the beach for a chiling out session, before a barbecue at Liam's, one of our very own TAs. He knows how to blow doors in with the equivalent of electrochemically unstable blu-tack. How McGuyver is that, man.