All Blacks vs Ireland in New Plymouth

Last weekend, The boys and I took a 5 hour drive up to New Plymouth to visit Tristin & Kirsten and to attend the rugby match between The All Blacks and Ireland. Since we were up in farm country, we stopped in at bottle-o to get a 12 pack of 440ml 8% Kentucky Bourbon & Cola. The first can was good but every can after tasted like diesel. It was great to see Tristin and Kirten again before they head off to London for their OE. They prepared us a huge leg of ham for dinner which we demolished throughout the night. A quick overview of the binge drinking night goes as follow; drinks > ham (dinner) > drinks > ham (post match) > drinks > ham (post clubbing).

The game was average we had had crap standing tickets but the most entertaining part of the night was walking home at 3:30am. We all had been drinking for the last 8 hours but meatloaf decided to chase after Ham (This is my mate's name, not a coincident that he had also been eating ham all night). It was raining, cold and very wet; basically a disaster waiting to happen and it did. Meatloaf's leg fell into drain as it was missing the grill, he almost broke his leg. Anyway, he managed to get a great big nugget on his shin and was in pain all weekend. Gutted!

Only 9 weeks before I depart off the shores of New Zealand again.

a bientot

Sam

Pregame - 4.9 MB

At the game1 - 6.7 MB

At the game2 - 7.6 MB

Postgame - 11.5 MB

The boys admiring the guttering

Game Time









Idiot

Sleepover

au revoir mon ami, au revoir

Home Sweet Home

Settling back in NZ lifestyle has been somewhat good and bad. The good being a job; working with a great group of friends makes the whole 9-5 days so much more enjoyable, visiting friends and family that I has neglected for 2 years and living in this beautiful city. The bad side of it is that I am getting way too comfortable in my surrounding. Everything is just too familiar here; I know where to go for a drink or a meal and where to keep away from. It’s a pretty good life.

I have also recently spent a week in Brisbane visiting friends, relaxing, wining and dining while engaging in minimal activities. What an amazing week it has been. This trip has given me more determination to move back overseas to continue my travels.

Currently, my plan is to move to Montreal, Canada in August 2010. My 12 month working holiday visa has been approved and I am counting down the days before I depart.

So far, my itinerary looks something like this:

August 17, Fly from Wellington to San Francisco
August 20-22, Drive from San Francisco to Los Angeles
August 26, Fly from Los Angeles to Las Vegas
August 31, Fly from Las Vegas to Montreal

The last 5 months have obviously flown by fast. I managed to enrol in night classes for French which I probably only attended 50% of the time, spent a day at the races (horses), watched the semi-finals of the A-league football match between Wellington Phoenix & Perth Glory from the corporate box, had dinner at my bosses whilst getting very hammered on Canadian Club, went to another race day, watched another football match involving Wellington Phoenix, celebrated my dad's 55th birthday and that’s all I can remember as I have the memory of a goldfish.

12 weeks to go!

Sam

Waikanae Bach

Wellington Phoenix

Meatloaf at the Races

Go No. 4