A four week nutshell: Anzac weekend.. and Wagamama!

I've been self-weaned. I frequent the Globe on a decreasing basis and have been doing productive things. Days of dorms, of daily Burger King and not much else have been replaced by refereeing Sunday football, boxing and road trips. Since it's time to play catch-up for four weeks, let's start from the top.

We've been popping down to Escape where there are GE employee-exclusive happy hours which seem to have attracted the punters from work. So an hour or two there and then I've managed to show my colleagues, supervisors and a manager or two the inside of my lovely Globe Bar (I know I just said I'm not going there much, this was one of the last times.) Another guaranteed good night was had by all. Add to that a couple of house parties, a social in GE's boardroom, and a *sweet* meal at Auckland's new Wagamama (yum yum yum) and there have been good times had with mates from work. In fact, people were totally ignorant to the institution that is Wagamama. So ignorant in fact, that when I asked Amanda if she wanted to come along, she asked why I wanted to 'Whack a Mama.' Hmm.. On the whole, GE has been sweet; best area in Auckland to work, good friends, lots of Internet (take a few calls now and then) and frequent socials - a toast to General Electric. Hurrah!

But the meat and drink of this post is our trip over Anzac weekend (22nd - 25th April) to the North. It was absolutely stunning. Georgina, being the shrewd event organiser that she is, took it upon herself (with no reservation from myself or Liam) to put together a plan for our few days out of the city. After a short drive to Paihia on Friday evening, Liam and I checked out the nightlife in relaxed fashion before getting a decent kip for Saturday's boat trip. Funny how my ex-girlfriend and I still manage to do similar things on her birthday.. Anyhoo, we were lucky enough to see a pod (not sure if that's the right term) of killer whales swimming around in the Bay, I'll get some video footage up soon of that. Graceful, placid things to watch, definitely a treat.

After indulging in a cheese plate at New Zealand's first inn, the Duke of Malborough, Russell, we drove up to Kaitaia to spend the night there before driving north to Cape Reinga. Highway 1, New Zealand's main road, turns into a gravel track, a delight for aspiring rally drivers in hire cars like myself. Good fun drive up to the top, tried to avoid windscreen chips and paint scratches as much as possible, but at the end of the day, it's Georgina's credit card they've got, not mine. Cheers love. We also tried our hands at sand tobogganing - George picked the biggest dune to walk up, which took us fifteen minutes and the possibility of a stroke every couple of tiresome strides, and as we sat on the top, with volumes of sand being blown in our faces, thinking 'who's sodding idea was this?' we decided to do one down and it was *great* fun. Word of advice to anyone doing it: look at the landscape and climb up the highest, steepest one. It's more fun that way.

We stopped off at a beach or two and the odd lookout point before arriving in Keri-Keri, a quaint town on the West coast. Liam and I decided to have a bit of a toke and go driving. "Give Way, man!" Dicey, dicey stuff.

Anzac day saw everything shut, so it was a McDonalds for breakfast, making us all feel worse and sluggish for a couple hours. And what better way to cure such a feeling than visiting a diet-wicked and over-indulging chocolate factory? Yum. We'd also made time to visit NZ's oldest stone and wooden houses (bit of sightseeing has to be done), chill out at a cafe with friendly dogs and a gay dolphin, and making it to the kauri forests. These are where some of the world's largest trees are found amongst the rainforests in the West. They are towering, gargantuan things (check the pictures below) which made men feel inferior as girls cheekily chuckled about the girth of such beasts. Symbolised as the Father of the Jungle, these things really were the Daddy.

A quick stop-off at a lake on the way home, and we then burned it, mostly in 3rd gear, down the windy highways back home, back to smelly air, back to reality, back to work, back to Auckland. I love it here, but booo I wanna go back on the road. George, Liam and I agreed it was a fantastic few days - have a peek at the pictures. I'm actually leaving in a few days, on a Stray Bus tour from next week, I'll post more details of my future plans in the next few days.

And if you're reading this, please please click on the 'comments' link below and leave us one, it's nice to hear from friends who have made it here.

fond farewells to some nz friends..

Let me start off with the cliche of most web logs by saying I've not updated this in a while. I hate reading that on websites, but I have become one of those lazy beggars myself.

That is not to say, however, there's not much to report. Since my last entry, I've settled in snugly to my temporary home just outside Auckland's CBD, just a little out of the city and a pleasant walk to work (although I almost always get the bus - too lazy.)

Since the last instalment, I've had to say my goodbyes to good friends who have moved on. Firstly, to Paul and Neil, who were off to spend a few days in Fiji before heading back to Blighty. Initially dorm mates in Adelaide, we again met up in Auckland, frequently partaking in jokes unanimously referring to Team America: World Police. So, a "herro" and goodbye to the Oxford boys.

Also, to Tony and Amy, Auckland's 'Entertainment Couple.' These two had been here for months and had established sporting and entertainment socials for backpackers staying in many of the hostels here - fantastic people to spend time with. I helped out with a pub crawl organised by Tony and Stray (http://www.straytravel.co.nz) - well all had such a good time, I managed to lose my camera. And I'll tell you, the pictures I had on that memory card were incriminating, titillating, juvenile and degrading. Fantastic stuff; thanks for the top evening, Tony!

Last month, Amy mentioned to me that she knew someone from Saudi Arabia. It turned out that one of her old teachers in the UK, Trevor Marsden, was also my teacher when I was at school in Jeddah. Proper madness. She, along with Tony, is in Queenstown now, I believe organising events down there whilst I run the Sunday football up here until next week. It's a temporary goodbye to them as I'll be catching up with those two crazy kids when I head down South myself.

Mr. Collingwood (the guy with the blond mohawk in the pictures) also left a few weeks ago, also moving south to Queenstown. He's currently working as a plumber there, good money by the sounds of it! I'll be catching up with you soon mate, unlike Southampton, who won't be catching up with the rest of the teams in the Premiership. Unlucky, kiddo.

This is the first pub in New Zealand, called the Duke of Malborough, at Russell (shout out to Ali!!) in the Bay of Islands. It has all the hallmarks of a top-class, albeit nostalgic, English Inn. Ah, colonialism.

As we walked through the Kauri forests, I decided "this would be a great place for a new Westpac branch."

Georgina suggested we buy fish and chips here in Devonport before going to Denise's barbecue in Takapuna. Knowing what George is like with food (she likes it, a lot of it) I sheepishly agreed. And it was a good call, notwithstanding our arrival at Denise's with nothing but full stomachs..

Not in keeping with the Globe/Road Trip, but Georgina took this great picture of the Auckland skyline, so here it is, for good measure.

New Zealand's pretty and dainty ferns, adopted by many sports as their national symbol.

The ancient Kauri trees, HUGE. The 2nd largest of these trees had a girth of 16.41m. Hello, girls.

I got to drive quite a bit round the North of New Zealand. This is literally one of dozens of spots where one can pull up and take pictures of beautiful, imposing scenery. It is truly the most picturesque countries I've seen (and that's without seeing any of the South Island yet..)

Georgina looking rather lovely.

Where to next? Oh it's okay, been to those places already.

This is the lighthouse at Cape Reinga, the top of New Zealand where the Tasman Sea from Australia meets the Pacific Ocean coming in from the East.

Hi Liam! Hi George! Mmmhh now I have to follow.

I told you we walked a long way..

We got an Irish lass to take this, they must have different kinds of viewfinders over there or something.

It's a rather long way up. I nearly had an embolism trying to get up there.

"What the hell is this doing here?" Must admit I'm looking a little Gay Paris in my pink t-shirt and rolled up trousers. Must remember not to do that again.

After an hour's drive from luscious greenery, we stumble upon a desert wasteland. New Zealand is weird.

The beginning of the Anzac Road Trip. Here we have my lovely housemate Georgina and Big Man Liam on our boat trip, where we were fortunate enough to see killer whales chilling out somwhere in the Bay of Islands.

Woooohoooo, my favourite restauarant ever, and it's opening in Auckland! Had a top meal there. If you've not been to Wagamama, sort it out.

Yep, and the Blues score another try. Thanks for coming, Cats.

And here we have Eden Park where Georgina and I settle down to watch the locals take on the Cats from South Africa. George knows nothing about rugby, yet is on the British Lions Tour. She even muttered, whilst on the rugby stands: "what does 'conversion' mean?" Jesus.

The epitome of class: Gaz and Lisa enjoying an alcohol-induced smile on Queen street, with the obligatory (and illegal) pint in Gareth's grasp. These two are fantastic. Come on, Dribsy!

Caught on camera checking out Gareth in the bogs.

Liam settles in for a session as light descends from above (it's just a bulb) and looks towards the imbibing of poisons (crappy shaker.)

And here we have the after-work weekend relaxation session. Depends how relaxing it cam be when you're with yanks, and kiwis who insist on totally mixing up their vowel pronunciation. "Wistpic, ohh yii?"

My supervisor at work. He's more camp than a row of tents - we love you, Grant! Oooh Donna Karan.

And then the homies turned up. Westpac. Watch out or they'll steal your socks.

This was Kynsley's last evening at GE, before moving up in the world at Vodafone. That there is what we attribute the name "Bucket Bong." Fantastic, have a bit of that, Kynsley.

Kitty! Say "herro" to Harry.

Here we're at the Domain in Auckland, big big park. Thought I'd do a poo-crouch with the Skytower in the background. Nice.

Even the bouncers are proud of their work. Nice cup of coffee, Jarrod?

Work mates and locals come and say bye to Andy (idiot in Globe Bar t-shirt, not me) who has his last day in Auckland before moving on to Queenstown.

At the (reading from left to right) Globe Bar, Globe Bar, Globe Bar!

I didn't fart, was it you?

Our Globe during times of tranquility. What a lovely place to reside and converse over a half-pint of milk and cranberry. Or not?

Action starts early at the Globe, with Peter (Dutchie) and Mike usually the ones to kick things off. Notice Heady's arm on the right; a pretty weak attempt at stopping the fracass. That's the Globe attitude!