Party Party Party

My agenda for this weekend was to get loose. With 3 parties to attend, I was in for a night of liver destruction.
The day started off at 3pm at Matt Cresswell’s place with a lot of drinking games. At 8pm, I said goodbye and made my way to the work function. I was unable to walk a straight line and my speech was incoherent. The work function was very typical, people standing around in their group of work colleagues.
So Olger (He’s Dutch) and I decided to liven up the party by getting on the dance floor in front of 250 people. Although it seemed like a good idea at that time, I am slowly regretting it now. I hope no one recognises me at work tomorrow. We left the work function at 11pm to attend the cocktail party. Everything was thrown down my throat; there was basically a party in my belly. They should have called it a Rocket Fuel Party, the drinks were all very potent! I decided to call it a night at 2am, my liver was unable to handle anymore alcohol.
I spent today at Cresswell’s place hung over watching Ocean’s Thirteen and eating pods and watermelon. Mmmmm……….watermelon

All and all, a great weekend. I’m off to Melbourne this week and Perth the week after. Hopefully I will have time to provide an update.

Merry Christmas

Sam




I don't know what Cresswell was doing, looked like the funky chicken






Lisa the Kiwi









Olger the Dutchman

Go Kevin 07!!

As you all may know by now, Kevin Rudd has won the election and Labor is now in Government. It will be interesting to see how everything pans out from here.
I wasn't going to update the blog tonight but Lynch, Cresswell and I went out to dinner at a Turkish restaurant. The whole place had a turkish theme (obviously) so it was nicely decked out with weird benches with cushions and low tables. I think this is the only time being short is an advantage as my legs fit quite comfortably under the table. It would be a total bitch if you were built like a tree. After dinner, we fluffed around as usual and Lynch decided to deep throat a kebab. He is also a part time G porn star. I'm not sure if anyone was paying attention but we were pretty loud in the restaurant.
2.5Mb clip can be viewed Here





Lynchy and Cresswell








Cresswells dirty Mo

Home Sweet Home

As I walked outside the terminal at Wellington airport, my first thought was “I miss the cold” but after a few minutes, I was thinking “Man Wellington is cold!”
The main reason for my trip back to Wellington was to attend a wedding but I also managed to catch up with most people and partied throughout the night.
Dinner with the lads on Friday night was great. Lots of food, wine and a lot of tourist action with the camera. I caught up with Gav and Will around midnight. I was fully mashed by this stage. What better way to carry on the night than to smash Jager bombs at Basement, memories. The night ended with more liver destruction and I had to call it quits at 3am as the groom wanted me to be at his place by 9am.

Saturday morning started at 8am with a raging hangover and stinking of wine, vodka and jager. I basically had speech impairment till about 2pm. During this time, the tea ceremony begun. It is very traditional and symbolises respect. This was all very new to me so it was kind of exciting. The banquet dinner was held at the Duxton Hotel with 140 guest, 3 course meal and lots of alcohol mmmm….Hennessy……..
Basically, the trip home was fun; I got to catch up with everyone and at the same time got very drunk.

On Monday morning, I flew to Melbourne for work. I was totally shatted by 10am due to the early flight and slight jet lag. We left work at 9pm and went straight to the bar at the Hotel. I worked out that I have been awake for nearly 24 hours and only slept for 19 hours during my 4 nights in Wellington. The next morning, I missed breakfast again and got to work at 10:30am. This is starting to become a regular occurrence, not a good sign.
I went for a walk one night to take some pictures and of course try to win some money at the famous crown casino. The casino was huge! I almost got a cramp walking from one end to the other. It has its own food court and plenty of fine dining restaurants. Outside the casino, more cafes and restaurants were stacked side by side and runs for about 500 metres. Tremendous sight.

Melbourne is an awesome city; it is basically a larger Wellington with better weather. Although there are also more to see and do in Melbourne but you would expect that for a population of 3.8 million people compared to Wellington’s 450,000.
Its late, I’m tired and cranky.

Night

Sam




Everyone having a blast at dinner








oh snap......









Pimping it at the wedding










4am on Mike's couch eating Burger King

Speed Dating is hilarious

Where do I start, the boys here decided to sign up for speed dating. After 2 weeks of peer pressure, I gave in and decided to join them. The night started off at the lads apartment (Cresswell, Lynchy and Jimmy) with a few beers then every got into their number 1’s. Everyone looked pretty good, and there I was in jeans and a t-shirt. At this point, I’m still very skeptical about all this, it just seems weird having to judge someone in 6 minutes.

Anyway, we made an entrance at the venue as we were the last to arrive. The email did state “Be there early”, ah well.
After getting some 42 below vodka, we were straight into it. Everyone sitting around with their name tags with a number assigned to each name. After each 6 minute date, we had to tick whether we wanted to be friends, go on a date or simply “no”. It was quite hard to judge someone when they are sitting right in front of you. But everyone had to do it so it was equal feelings all around.
After 17 dates, it was time to hand in my card and head on home.
The organisers will then put all the values into a program and see if there are any matches. Should be some funny results coming out.
The whole event took 3 hours as we had 2 intermissions.

The funniest part of the night was the debriefing session back at the apartment. We sat around and discussed all 17 dates including the Friends, Date or No option that we chose. We sounded like little girls.

Conclusion: Speed dating is fun. Everyone is having a good time and in the same shoes as you are. Although there are some people out there looking for girlfriends/boyfriends. The majority are there to meet new people and see how it evolves.

Anyway, its 1am, I’m off to bed as I’m flying back to NZ tomorrow. WOOHOO!

Rating: 8

Sam





Debrief Session








Jimmy, Lynch and Cresswell identifying a UFO

Darling Harbour Rocks!

Sydney is totally awesome. Everyone says it’s fast paced, but that’s what makes it so exciting. I guess my opinion doesn’t really count as I only spent 1 day in the CBD. For me, first impression counts and Sydney gets the 2 thumbs up.
I managed to catch up with Blair, Colin and Glenis (ex-colleagues from Grosvenor in Wellington) and a mate from Brisbane. We went for a few cheeky beers at Darling Harbour. Although it does look poshy at first glance, it is actually pretty laid back.
Everyone started fading at around 10pm but Glenis was out with us till after 1am. She’s a party animal.

When Glenis left, Rob and I jumped into a cab to our next destination. We made a detour to a random pie store on the side of the road. It was possibly the best curry pie I’ve had in my life. As the driver stopped the meter, I asked where we were. His reply was “Kings Cross”. The prostitution and crime district of Sydney. Due to the fact that it was early Wednesday morning, the place was pretty dead. Since I’m at the Cross, I had to go into a strip bar. As I ordered a drink at the bar, I could hear different conversations going on with lines like:

“Kia ora cuz”
“Oh true aye”
“Giss a smoke ow”

All with the strong kiwiana/maori accent. Was hilarious.
Anyway, there were 1 dancer and 1 guy seated in the corner. Probably wacking off or something. Felt sorry for the poor girl so Rob brought out his cell phone and took a photo of her. She came screaming over and snatch the phone off him and deleted the picture. What a funny way to end the night.
I woke up with a ragging hangover, missed breakfast with work colleagues and did not get to work till after 10am. Everyone knew I was in a bad way and they kinda left me alone to deal with the self inflicted pain.

Bed time

Sam

Skydiving is not for the faint-hearted

So I basically got peer pressured into taking an Advanced Freefall course (AFF) and I’m afraid of heights!
The solo course consists of 9 stages (9 jumps) with criteria’s you have to pass to move on to the next stage. For the first 3 stages, 2 jumpmasters would leap off the plane with you while they critique you on your posture and make sure you are checking your altimeter at regular intervals, after that, its all on you.
We did 8 hours of classroom training yesterday and jumped out of the plane today.
The adrenaline rush is amazing. Cold air rushing past you at 10,500ft with your life hanging off a few pieces of rope. The view is indescribable. The hardest part for first time skydivers is learning to control the canopy (parachute).
We all know how to jump of diving boards at a pool and we can learn how to arc our backs on the floor but learning to fly the canopy would be a first. We can only be verbally taught how to fly the canopy but the rest is based on experience and completing more jumps. Practise makes perfect.
Once I pass this course and sit a few tests, I will be able to leap off the plane anywhere in the world.
On my return to NZ, I will definitely be getting friends to join in, so look out and make sure you have a spare pair of underwear. Will take better pics next time.

Airbourne Sam

Gosford – Back in 10 mins

Well where do I start? Spent 3 days in Gosford last week and it was another interesting sight.
Gosford is about 90mins drive from Newcastle. Locals from Sydney/Newcastle would migrate to Gosford in the summer to take advantage of the beautiful beaches.
It was 1pm on a Friday afternoon, was warm as usual. I wanted to have lunch in an air conditioned environment. Across the road was a plaza, probably one of the main plazas in Gosford. As I approached the food court, there were 10 eateries but only 2 were open. I mean come on……..Friday afternoon, 1pm, hungry, food. Due to the over whelming selection of food, I had to settle for burger and fries.

Do you remember watching movies where the retailers would put signs out like
“Out to lunch, back in 20 mins”

Well this is a common thing in Gosford, without exaggerating; there were about 8 stores with those signs on the window. Was very amusing to me, I don’t think the locals manage to figure out why I was staring at the closed shop laughing.

Anywho, it’s only been 3 hours since I arrived back to my apartment from 4 days in Mackay. Mackay is on the Eastern Coast of Queensland, roughly half way between Cairns and Brisbane. Mining generates around AU$1.5Billion of Mackay’s annual gross product. Cash Cow?
We finished work early one night and decided to check out the night life. I think it is illegal to use the phrase “night life” in Mackay because it was a ghost town. Ended the night with dinner at hogs breath which I have to say is 10 times better tasting than any hogs breath in NZ. We jumped into a cab and my conversation with the lady went like this.

Sam: So……….Mackay is an interesting place.
Old Lady: There’s not too much to do here, although we do have nice pubs.
Sam: Really? We’ve been walking around and couldn’t find anything.
Old Lady: Well there’s the platinum which is a nice club with dancers, there’s the [Cannot remember] Hotel which turns into a strip bar at night, there’s [Cannot remember] on the corner which have girls dancing Monday, Wednesday and Friday which they fly up from Sydney and the [Cannot remember] with a pub and upstairs lounge with dancers.

So maybe Mackay can be an interesting place to be, although I did not experience it first hand. My conclusion of Mackay is every pub turns into a strip bar with dancers who fly up from Sydney.

Wow, this blog has taken me 30mins to write.

Bed time

Sam

AB’s are a disappointment

What more can I say. We all felt that this could be the year for the AB's to pull off the 20 year drought. But deep down inside, we sense that they could choke and choke they did on a cockerel bone. I was excited when England beat Australia and was looking forward to sleeping for 3 hours and waking up for the ABs vs. France (4am). But it turns out, I was robbed of my sleep. People with tickets to the Semi/Final must be quite gutted they don't get to watch the All Blacks play.
Ahh well, NZ 2011 here we come.

The sole purpose of my update tonight was because we had a cool thunderstorm. Apparently it's a regular appearance due to the tropical weather.
So it got to 32 degrees today. After 2 mins of leaving an air conditioned room, I was sweating profusely. Not a very nice feeling turning up to work all sticky.
I manage to take a short video clip of the thunderstorm along with some images. Was very rewarding. You can watch the 3.2Mb clip Here.

Sam

It is WARM!!!

Bon Soir,

Spent a few days in Cairns this week. It was extremely warm. 30 degrees heat at around 90% humidity, 23 degrees in the evenings and its not even summer. Was great with the air conditioner cranked up on high.
There are loads of Japanese tourists in Cairns as it is now an international airport with direct flights from Japan. The Great Barrier Reef is the biggest attraction there.

I have also been peer pressured into taking a sky diving course which commences in 3 weeks. The course consists of 9 jumps and the final jump will be solo. I am honestly shit scared. The adrenaline rush will be amazing but I’m getting butterflies just thinking bout it. Will definitely update everyone with my progress.
Too lazy to write about anything as I am quite hung over.

Ca va

Sam

Hervey Bay, the Kaikoura of New Zealand

Sorry all, I am getting more and more useless with updates.
I am turning into a lazy Aussie slob. I am probably generalising a bit too much. I should have said lazy Brisbane slob. My theory is that it is so hot and humid outside that people either lay around and drink or sit in the pub and drink. I have experienced this first hand as I am now 5 kg fatter. My shorts don’t fit and jeans cuts off blood circulation to the you know where. Time to go for runs or I’ll just be another statistic.

I just got back from 3 days in Hervey Bay. Hervey Bay is best known for its Whale watching and off road 4WD on Fraser Island. People come from all around the World and even Australia to partake in these activities. Unfortunately I didn’t do either for the following reasons:

a) We have bigger whales in NZ
b) No time (shit excuse I know but fat people have less energy)
c) We have bigger whales in NZ

My impression of Hervey Bay was that it was a nice laid back town so I didn’t mind when a cup of Flat White took 20mins. I just presumed they flew to Brazil to collect the beans themselves.
We finished work early and decided to have a few drinks at the local pub. I was by far the youngest there, although I am only 19. So as I stood at the bar waiting to get served, I noticed that the Bar tender was pregnant. As she turned toward me, my jaws dropped, she was honestly 13 years old. Shocking!
A few more drinks later, we saw the bartenders sprint out the door. Being the nosey drunk kiwi, I decided to take a look and saw the following:

1) 15 year old, 58kg male (drunk) pinned against the wall.
2) 15 year old female (drunk) trying to fight off the guys holding the male subject.
3) Liquor store within 10 meters of the tussle
4) Case of beer (24 pack) on the floor.
5) No sign of getaway car.

If you haven’t figured it out, the couples were trying to take off with a case of beers on foot. It was the funniest thing I’ve ever seen. It was hilarious. The girlfriend knew I was laughing at them so she verbally abused me, I laughed louder, she replied with more heated words, I laughed even louder, she was trying to fight off guys to get to me, I reach for my mobile phone and took a photo then laughed some more. Too bad the quality came out crap. Cops turned up 2 hours later (must have been too busy whale watching) and took the culprit away.

That’s all for now, It’s late and I need my sleep. Apparently the more sleep I get the skinnier I get says Australian media, go figure.
Off to Cairns next and will return with more updates.

Sam
P.S. It was 31 degrees today!