So this weekend it was off to Wellington for Glynn’s stag weekend. On the Friday we went and got fitted for suits (well, I did).. and had some general chillout times. There was plenty of time to be thrashed at darts.

I also managed to meet up with my friend Mandy who I went to Thailand with back in January 2005 for rock climbing. Anyway – great to see her back in the country again, this time married to a bloke wot seems pretty groovy (and fun).

So yes, the stag itself.. so it started for Glynno with a shot of rum at about 8ish, followed shortly afterwards by a pint – and then off to paintball Wellington. Now.. I’d never done paintball before – and hadn’t quite realised what it was like.

It’s more painful than you think it’s going to be. That said, it is fun. Mostly. This place was mad though – I mean upstairs (it was indoors) was something straight out of James Bond. Deserted corridoors with lots of little rooms… smashed windows!! glass on the floor. I’ve not yet rung them up about that.. but I think someone needs to. I know kiwi’s have a … quite refreshing… sense of “She’ll be right“… but honestly.. that was a little too far.

So – I have no pictures, but at the end of the time we joined another stag group and all lined up (about 20 testosterone filled blokes). The stags then had to do a relay out to a point and back. It was great fun shooting an unarmed stag.

Then someone (Mikey) had the bleedin’ great idea that the best men (me) should do it too.

Silly, silly idea.

Anyway – off I ran .. then I did something sneaky AND CLEVER. It was clever, honestly… I ducked out to the side of the room and, sheltering behind pillars made my way mostly back to the start. Then I lined up for the finish, put my head down, and ran into a hail of bullets.

Unfortunately I also ran straight into a concrete pillar, and shortly after, fell down.

Bleeding.

Head wounds bleed a lot – even if non serious (as mine was). So.. besides scaring the shit out of all the other punters in the lobby (honestly, their faces were priceless) it wasn’t that bad. I did have to go to A&E; to have my wound glued shut.

The rest of the party continued on – and I met them in the Beer Festival later on that evening – where Glynn was well and truly on his way into intoxication.

This is what he looked like at the end… not tooooo bad all things considered.

It was fun though – but slightly tempered for me with my little mishap with the pillar. Concrete 1, Patrick 0.

A much needed break away to Akaroa. I think I’m getting old. I think that should, in fact, be the definition of getting old – needing weekend breaks. Gone are the days of tramping every weekend (or climbing, caving, biking).. oh no, now it’s a long slow slippery slope to sipping iced drinks on the verandah rocking slowly on a wooden chair.

Sounds ok to me ;)

Kidding.. still, it was a nice getaway… many games were played.. Pente and Tantrix being the main two.. the Almost in the title comes from the lapse in concentration on the 17th hole at Mini-Golf, but sure, that’s pretty unimportant – and the wind was blowing (my) shots off course.

So yes, some good fridge art.

Ok, so I’m really not that philosophical, but – I did like this picture. To me it represented a struggle between the natural (left hand side) and man-made / sterile on the right… with what you accept being the dividing line… Feel free to add your interpretations (even anonymously if you like!) :)

There’s a really nicely carved church down by the sea at Onuku, and the house is Halfmoon Cottage – a BBH hostel. It was a really nice place – about 110 years old (which is old for here!) nice high ceilings, original fireplaces from ye olde country.. more expensive than Onuku, but a pretty nice venue.

Finally, on Sunday went to Bryan and Mindy’s goodbye party. They’re heading back to the States – I suppose with Obama pumping $700 Billion into the place, there will be a few jobs there soon enough. Though their children’s children may not thank them for the debt!

Also, my good friend Maeve from college climbing days got married to Andy.. would have been great to be able to celebrate with them. I know I’ve said it before, but would someone, please, just hurry up and invent teleportation.

Well, well well.. Another friend down. Poor thing ;) Hehehe, kidding.. lots of weddings coming up. This weekend it was David Forde & Vicki getting married. Dave is a kiwi with a wicked and sharp sense of humour. But then he does have Irish blood in him. It was a small and simple ceremony – perfect.

Afterwards Maaike and I went on to a free summertime show. This one was the complete history of film (abridged). It really was quite fun. It took us right from silent films and slapstick..

[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=1324494256849020176]

All the way through to that Titanic of films – Titanic. Good name for it. Biggest grossing ever apparently. I suppose that’s just box office rather than merchandising too?

[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=4437380078392950642]

If you’re going to play a video – then the above one (Ice-T Titanic Rap) is probably the one to play.

Then on Sunday, Warrick and Hannah and Neil kindly took Maaike and I for a blast down the Hurunui. No pictures unfortunately, but it was a great day. My roll somehow came back (though I only practised in calm water) – and I didn’t have to swim once. Really – a great great day.

So this weekend was a long one for Waitangi Day. Had a great night on the Thursday at Sparks in the Park.. classical music and fireworks. Excellent. This time (sans camera) set to the William Tell overture (the won wot the young boy stands while his dad shoots an arrow through an apple)… quite good in fireworks.

Anyway – then Friday morning headed off with Steve & Michelle, Andrew, Amy, Maaike and I. Cedar Flats is over on the West Coast of New Zealand close to Hokitika. I should put a map in but I’m afraid I’m feeling lazy (as you would be after the amount of walking we did on Saturday!)

The first day is a 4 hour walk up a valley to reach the huts (no pics). There were quite a few people so we elected to camp… much the best choice as it meant we were a swingbridge closer to the hot pools.

From time to time the wind blows more than at others. I’m even reading a book on it called ‘The New Zealand Weather Book’… climate change modellers must be *quite* clever. Hopefully. Anyway – there were a few trees down to slow progress, but still, all good. We saw (left) the biggest moss in the world (wikipedia quote below)… and a weevil too. Oooohhh

The tallest land moss, a member of the Polytrichidae is probably Dawsonia superba, a native to New Zealand and other parts of Australasia.

So yes, a lovely well earned soak in the hot pools that night. I *love* being able to walk 4 hours, put up a tent, make some yum food (blue cheese, bacon, sour cream, and couscous) and then walk 10 mins to Gods own bath (if He/She/They had one). Honestly.. it’s magic..

(second nights dinner – well, Steve’s lot – Maaike and I had curry)

The next day was the long one – off up to Mullins Creek hut. Seemed like it should have been an easy one (certainly how Steve sold it ;) But ended up being a 9 hour walk – which is old enough for my thirtysomething bones. Sigh. Lovely little hut though..

So that was it really… quite looking forward to a more relaxed few days, and then Billy Connolly on Friday.. should be really excellent. Well, hopefully, he is getting on ;)

P.S. Hope I’m not putting in toooo many pictures?

Maaike was determined that I should do something new for my birthday.. I chose horse riding (from that or surfing). Stupidly opting for the 2.5 hour trip rather than the one hour. 10 day meditation course instead of a 3 day… you think you’d learn?!?

On the way there was to be a competitive element to the weekend (I learned on the way there) and Maaike had found out the location of Dutch Golf, one thinks she was trying to give herself the edge. Heh.

Basically it’s golf, played in a field, with a 4 inch diameter ball with the clubs head being shaped like a clog.

Maaike did manage to take the ladies title… but still wasn’t *quite* enough ;)

Next it was on to horse riding. Now, there is a reason I’ve never tried this ‘sport’ – or whatever it is.. and I didn’t know that Maaike had taken lessons for two years and was really quite comfortable with the beasties.

Anyway.. my horse, named Katie, was a nice enough beast. Quite content to follow along behind the leader. She did, at a pretty regular basis jerk her head sharply downwards to try and get the rains out of my hand. This was so that she could then eat away uninterrupted (above).

Katie did like to attack any horses that got close to her – so had to be quite careful that she didn’t see anyone passing her ..

About 4.5 seconds into the trip, the leader (a lovely German lady) said “Would you like to trot”.. and Maaike, after looking at my terrified face shouted “Yes please, that would be just great”. Or something like that, I’ve tried to blot the painful memory from my almost damaged head.

I was rubbish at trotting. Did not get the rhythm at all. At all. I felt quite sorry for Katie.. in fact, that’s what I really didn’t like about horse riding.. it just didn’t seem fair putting my 85kg ish lump on an animals back and cruising about in 35 degree heat. Poor things.

The picture above of Maaike on her own was hilarious. She was given a last opportunity to canter – and off she went, pointed the horse uphill, and did the whole clicky thumpy thing.. and her horse (Sultami sp?) quite refused to move. For at least 2 minutes. Ish.

We were lucky to get to go riding at all – as Hanmer has been quite dry.

So dry that the forests have been closed and we weren’t able to go mountain biking. Probably an escape for me – I wilt in the heat.

Did manage to get another game of mini-golf in though..

I dunno how bad her family must be if Maaike is the family champ. Depressing really. ;)

Oh – and my blog is now XHTML Transitional. So there. (from this point on.. no, can’t be bothered re doing all the posts).

update
I have been threatened with disembowelment if I don’t mention this. I was walking back to the van ready to drive back to ChCh when Maaike said “Do you want the good news or the bad news”. Opting to get the bad news out of the way ASAP, she brought me over to the van and pointed to the keys, locked on the inside. I thought she was joking – but after trying all the windows and doors it seemed she really had locked them inside.

Then she started laughing.. and showed me that she had taken my key off the keyring, put another in it’s place, and then put it in the van (so it looked like the distinctive van keyring was there).

It was, moderately amusing.