Friends of the family from Oz (but living in Dunedin) were in town for a night. It was great to have a BBQ on the lawn and give them a tour of the house and garden. Ok, so this garden is kinda Mona Vale (the old (for NZ) house opposite – now city owned) – but still, it’s like our back garden as we have our own bridge into it :)

You can just about see our house hidden amongst the trees. I love this place.

Q: If a friend who is a helicopter pilot invites you to come with him when they fly 200km up the coast on a Friday morning do you:

• A). Say you can’t because you have to work
• B). Burn Airwolf and Ride of the Valkyries to CD, take the day off (and work it back on the weekend), fly up and hitch back?

Bit of a no-brainer really.

So.. Dom organised a lift out to the airport with a friend, and I messed about looking at Really Big Socket Wrenches and at the insides of helicopters while Dom got things ready.

Then, cranking on the Airwolf CD, it was time to take off.

It took about 50 minutes to do the usually 3 hour drive up the coast.. and I’ll just put some scenery pictures up. Seamus came along for the ride.

As we were coming into Kaikoura it was time for ride of the Valkyries…

Of course, then I was 3 hours from ChCh with no helicopter to take me back again.. so, I hitched. It took about 30 mins before I was picked up by two.. young gentlemen. One back from Afghanistan and thinking about becoming a private security guard (read mercenary) for about 20K cash a month. Still, they were good drivers, it was a new comfortable Audi, the dope they smoked (for lunch) didn’t impair their judgement (yes, I would have got out if I’d felt uncomfortable) and all in all it was actually quite fun.

So, a 500km round trip for $0.00. And in pretty good time too.

Thanks to Dom – brilliant.

Short entry.

Stayed in Takaka at Sylvia and Jualian’s parents (almost complete) house. It’s build on limestone rock – should have taken a pic.

Anyway.. here’s a video of a game called Face-Off we played. Mad.

Finally – on the way back had lunch at the Riverside Cafe (damn I love that place – even has the Wild Things..)

Finally – I thought this was hilarious.

Does nominative determinism apply to cars too?

Well, this may well be the second best New Years of all-time (note, this includes the potential of the future). Maaike couldn’t make it as she was meeting her mother in Auckland and is currently off exploring the North Island.

I have met a lot of really great people through the Canterbury University Tramping Club (CUTC), and I think my first tramp was with Sylvia – who organised this New Years along with her brother Julian.

Sylvia and Julian’s parents bought 1000 acres of bush and an old paper mill up in Takaka (Golden Bay) for $17 an acre in 1970. It is an awesome place. They’re still discovering caves there.

There was a great bunch of friends there – some (like Jana and Julian I’ve not seen in 2 years since they left to Germany)? The trip was spent exploring and playing games. For example, golf (with hokey sticks – playing balls off trees / buildings / tents etc. very much encouraged). Michelle (playing) was killer.

They have mobile lawnmowers (sheep). Some of them are self shedding. One of these was shawn by Mark Hooker. Can you guess which one?

So yes, exploring the bush and caves was fun. About 2km from their property is a 7km long cave (this pic is not that one).

Their water they get from a stream 100 (vertical) metres downhill. But they use a hydrostatic pump to get it up the hill. Basically (as far as my very ageing engineering brain can understand) you create a header tank (pressure) and then use this pressure to force a (small amount) of water through a one way valve. Effectively you use a relatively large amount of water at lower pressure to push a small amount of water at high pressure. And it works with very few moving parts and little maintenance. It is, almost, magic. And here’s a rubbish picture.

Steve & Mark shot a goat each (wild – pests here) on New Years eve.. so that was prepared for dinner. The fire was insanely big – considering bush all about. Luckily all the tents had been removed first ;)

The goat (backstakes) were grilled (on a small fire – honestly, a little tough – but the curry the following night was way better). We also toasted marshmallows on (very) long sticks.

There were so many little things that made the place groovy.. just two of which were their ingenious wood system. Basically there was a hole in the back of the kitchen cupboard that you could pull through from the wood pile outside. Very clever. And their toilet in use sign (blue hand) was also quite neat. Also a picture of Michelle looking happy as Steve enjoys taking out a splinter (too much wood chopping)

Also went for a really enjoyable scramble with Jana (yay to have her back for a visit!) and Lachlain (damn tough kiwi). Just scrambling around waterfalls and up block-strewn rivers. So much fun. And a pic of Al Wood, in a boat, on the 20m long pond.

All in all, an amazing new years (and good to be out of mobile reception for it too ;)

I am extremely fortunate to have an Aunt and cousins who live in New Zealand. This year Maaike came up with me to Palmy and experienced her first Christmas lunch with Turkey & Ham etc. (Dutchies are weird and don’t have that tradition).

Maaike was an immediate hit with the wee cousins.

I suspect the circus course helped. But when she tried slapstick and they wound up in hospital* it wasn’t so funny.

It was lovely seeing Mary (Aunt) and just relaxing.. a gentle?! intro to what awaits us in Europe when we visit our respective families (more details to follow – just as soon as all the flights are booked – but arrive into Dublin on the 2nd April)

Went to this old (for NZ) house for a bbq and drinks. Lovely place. They did have a real skull on the mantelpiece though. Which was strange (left over from anatomy lessons I think).

Also took in a quick trip to OTaki, spent far too much in the merino outlet store (if that’s possible) and went for a walk on the beach (above), saw my cousin Williams garden (very cool – has all the ingrediants for Mojito’s in a single tub (ok, Lime tree + mint). I think this is an idea to be copied.

All in all really good times.

*may not be true

The last three weeks have been spent tidying, cleaning, cooking and organising.

Moving in takes quite a bit of effort and time to be spent on these things. After we’d got most things organised it was time for our first guest. Val, who’d just left the flat – came back for a couple of nights before leaving for the Antarctic (again). Also, we won a rocky road cake (unrelated).

Which is, probably (certainly?! – definitely, absolutely / completely …) why Maaike chose these few weeks to run away and join the circus. Well, run away and do a three week (5 days a week, 4->8pm) circus course. Coming home to cooked meals and cleaned rooms. Hope she doesn’t learn to expect these things ;)

Heh… anyway.. she can now juggle, knows one end of a trapese from the other, can beat people up even more effectively – create human pyramids etc. I’m actually really impressed and more than a little jealous. Might have to go on a course myself.

Anyways – here are a few video’s of the performers..

Trampoline…

---

Rollo Bollo?! (something like that anyway)

---

juggling (and passing)

---

trapeze

---

Maaike’s part in the performance was as MC. She gets really really really irritable though when anyone gets in her way (on or off the stage).. next three video’s of Maaike..

Most impressive..

---

Finally for the performance there was a human pyramid formed (well, lots of different figures really). Well done to Ollie (housemate) for organising the whole thing – and to all the up and coming performing artists.. great work.

Not quite finally for the evening though – Maaike took out the rest of her agression in the pub. Narrowly avoiding being thrown out on her ear..

Honestly… no idea where she gets it from – but will be meeting Maaike’s mother in the New Year, and will have a few questions..

p.s. … I’m sure you’ll agree the best thing about Maaike’s performance was, of course, my shirt..

So… happy and sad I suppose. Val and Dom (below) have moved out from “The House” (39 Fendalton Road) – and have moved up to Kaikoura… which is the sad part. They have really been amazing house mates. From organising dinners and whiskey evenings, volleyball opponents (never did beat them) – to just being around for a cuppa tea and a chat. I will really miss them.

That said, there’s the upside that there will be trips to Kaikoura – and hopefully catching Paua fresh out of the ocean.

So yes, it’s a real shame to loose Val & Dom, but great to be able to move into their flat. No pictures yet though, it’s not ship-shape :)

So I was toying with The end of the world as I know it as the title – but shied away at the last minute…

In a couple of days (less than 72 hours) Maaike and I move in together. My cave has been (happily) invaded (but invaded all the same – Maaike feels exactly the same!).

Still, exciting stuff. Picked up some couches at the weekend so the place should be decked out nicely in a wee while – flat warming to follow.

The new (house) phone number will be +64 3 3551426. Now I need to find all the places where that has to be updated. Going with Powershop.co.nz which is a smart retailer of electricity. You buy your power online and can track usage etc.

Shit this is a ridiculously domestic post. Isn’t it?

I have enjoyed playing backgammon for quite a while now (since 17? – maybe earlier). I really only play online (on FIBS) – as I don’t know anyone who plays in ChCh*… FIBS = First Internet Backgammon Server. It’s a free server and there are decent players there.

Anyway – about a year or so ago I played against a kiwi player online (Grant Hoffman) and we got to chatting – and I was complaining that there was no tournament in NZ. Long story short.. he and his friend Tony were thinking about setting up a tourney – and this weekend was the result.

So I flew up on Friday night – and Tony (and his lovely partner Jo) put me up for the weekend. Everyone (I hope!) has their eccentricities, Tony’s is collecting vases. However, he and Jo put them to excellent use and the house is just filled with flowers. It’s great.

Onto the competition then.. 12 of us were split into two pools of 6 for a round robin qualifier. So, you had to play five, 9 point matches. Top two from each pool went through to a semi final – and then final.

I had the nervous pleasure of playing Mike McManaway (inventor of Tantrix, gravity trap, and now Palagos).

Mike was also the NZ Backgammon champ back in 1986 – though I think he has played more tantrix than backgammon recently. I’m sure it’s not all roses, but being a (successful) games inventor would be quite a bit of fun I suspect. Good work. I would reccommend Tantrix or Palago’s to anyone – fun games to play, and really enjoyably tactile.

That evening we had a bbq at Rays (another of the competitors). This view would cost you $320K(NZ) (about 6 months ago).

Yet another reason to move here ;) Heh. Interestingly Rays dad (grandad?) was into early industrial espionage and spent his days touring the world and … identifying products which hadn’t made it to NZ yet. The pictures below (called Greedy Nigger Boys) are things that his company manufactured out of Christchurch!. Obviously wrong at the time, and wrong now.. but.. that aside – they were really cool! And I do like the idea of kiwi industrial espionage well ahead of time…

I *wish* I had taken a video of these.. You put a coin in their tray – and then pull a lever. The tray gets lifted up and the coin goes into the mouth while the eyes roll back. Quite the piggy bank really.

---

Then came the semi final (11 point match) on Sunday morning. I played Grant (having qualified behind Mike) and Mike played pip. Grant and I had an epic battle. He’s definitely the better player – but I think the dice were a little favourable to me (yay for chance – and the four leaf clover imprint that Maaike had given me). So scraped my way through that – but was defeated by Pip in the final.

It was a good match – unfortunately got gammoned when the cube was at 4 (going from 5:5 to 13:5) and didn’t come back from that. In any game involving dice – sometimes you feel that chance robbed you. However, Pip definitely deserved to win the match – the better player on the day. (will get her next year ;)

We split the winnings 50:50 – which almost but not quite paid for my flight up!.

Oh, the tourney was played in Founders park. A great period themed attraction close to the city centre.

Finally – met up with an old work mate and Squash terror Fraser. He is now the area manager for Red Cross (top of the South Island). Sounds like a fascinating job – and one that he is enjoying and doing really well in.

Well, he would make it sound like that ;) but still. From organising the first aid courses, charity shops, relief work etc. etc… certainly varied!

And then back to ChCh. Maaike picked me up from the airport (with a bottle of champagne) – Val, Steve, Mark and Maaike had made a delicious dinner… and Val a poster!

It was simply a superb weekend. Roll on next years tourney!

*
Note, I do have friends who I play against on Wednesdays (often) in ChCh – Magnus set it up… and it is great, it’s just I’ve played about 9 years longer! so it’s not quite the same as the Nelson Crowd

This weekend it was off up to Wellington to see Glynn and Jayne. It’s a really stunning flight up from ChCh.. assuming you remember to pick your seats facing the Kaikouras.

---

Saturday was spent showing Maaike around Wellington (she’d not properly visited before). We went to see an exhibition by Yayoi Kusama a Japanese artist. She’s quite mad – but her art is really quite cool. Here’s a google images result

Food was eaten and drink was drunk. I was absolutely knackered after lunch (and in this pic with Glynn!)

…So had a wee nap before the evenings Roller derby entertainment.

Now – Matt Pepler who used to live in ChCh is going out with a lovely, pretty, demure lady – Silke. We met up with Matt in the D4 bar (populated by Irish Bar staff – as you’d expect)

And then onto the game. Now, roller derby. Well it’s an odd game – kinda like chariot racing – except on roller skates, with a good bit of WWF style theatrics thrown in for good measure. We were supporting the Silken Dagger (Silke) who plays for Brutel Pagent (they lost to Smashed Malice).

Basically there are 5 players from each team playing at any time. They roll around in an anticlockwise direction – and one player from each team is the Jammer (person who can score). They have to get through the pack before they can score – and their opponents try to block them. In a nutshell.

There was also an interval where we saw some pretty skilled break-roller-dancing (or whatever you call it)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHq9siIoXKM]

So – an interesting night. I must say – it was quite intimidating when we went down on the court after and Silke came over to say hi. She’s tall enough to begin with – let alone with face-paint, padding etc!

Still – it’s amazingly impressive what they’ve achieved. There were 1000 people watching the match – and they only formed a group 2 years ago. Very impressive.

---

On Sunday Maaike and I met up with my friend Mandy (who I first went to Rai Lay with). It was great to meet up and hear more stories. Mandy is someone to whom improbable things happen to. She’s an art teacher and was looking for a cleaner whilst moving house. Somehow ended up trying to be hired as a mercenary by the supposed cleaner she was put in touch with. Mandy is the furthest person I can imagine from becoming a mercenary. Hilarious.

Anyways – then it was on to the market, ice-cream, sunburn (mmmm love that sunburn), scribblings on the pavement…

And then to Te Papa (our place) to have a look around. They have a (baby 4m) Collosal Squid there. Those are seriously cool creatures. They can take a whale.

Also played on their interactive wall..

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNlp3ogEbGE]

On a final note – well, firstly – thanks to Glynn and Jayne for having us.. but secondly, Glynn and I get a lot of stick (well, me esp from Maaike ;) about sometimes, occasionally, needing some me time to just grab a second or two to go onto the internet, read an email or two, catch up on news.. – which engenders ceaseless heckling and abuse for being unsociable. However, here I was, trying to make conversation and Maaike was studiously ignoring me reading the paper (and Jayne was trying to entice Glynn back from the pub… without much luck).

Anyway – I reckon it all evens out in the end ;)