The Mighty Huka

The mighty Huka Falls - anywhere other than river left is most definately sub-optimal!!!

The mighty Huka Falls on the Waikato River flowing out of Lake Taupo. Is it runnable? Well yes its been done before. And i am sure it will be done again. But will it be done by me - errrrr, well we shall see. It's a bit of a monster. The line is definately river left, down the tongue. Anywhere else would definately be sub- optimal. The lead in seems to be the main issue. A couple of nice holes to gobble you up if you are not careful. Swimming is not an option. And interestingly, about 15m upstream from the lip of the fall, middle of the river, there is a really really sweet wave. However, i think if you played on this you would also surely hold the world record for having the worlds biggest balls!!! In which case you would need a special kayak to carry them!!!

Polo Down Under

This weekend was my first taste of a polo comp NZ style. I was playing for Auckland in the North Island friendly competition held in Taupo. Taupo is freezing. It was proper winter down there (middle of the North Island) not the psuedo winter Auckland gets. I was glad that the comp was being held indoors. The comp was also an opportunity to test out my new (2nd hand) polo boat in anger. I am now the proud owner of a Vampire 2001 in black. Needs a little tlc, but nowhere near as much as my last polo boat.

So the polo then. Well i didn't get to play that much. My teams 3rd game in on saturday I, well actually the opposition managed to dislocate my right ring finger. Ouch - it smarted somewhat! Apparently paddle fouls don't exist in NZ. Well thats what it seems anyway. Interestingly, you are also allowed to push people onto other boats. Now i am not an expert in the rules (as my record of getting crads will justify), but i am pretty sure you are not allowed to push people onto boats (can someone clarify this for me please - Elan? Ceri?). In the NZ rules however it states that being pushed onto the deck of an opponent is considered a legal tackle and should not be penalised. Well fair enough i guess, as it is not that dangerous - IF it is only onto the deck. But players seem to read this as 'you can bin people onto or into any part of the boat'. And the refs just seem to let it happen. I saw several nasty instances that could have caused bad injury, yet the ref seemed to be perfectly happy. I guess i will just have to get used to it. Anyway, on with the comp.

The team played really well and only narrowly lost a few games. We ahould have won more - but going 3-0 up at half time and then losing 4-5 is not acceptable. We paid for many a result like this by bringing up the rear in the standings. Ah well. It was a good laugh - while it lasted for me anyway.

A variation of the Hoonerburger - an inverted 4G negative dive Hoonerburger perhaps?

Practical Transport for a City? - errr, not really

Well it is now August so i have been here for over a month now and i am settling in nicely.

I have moved into a house in Mt Eden, a suburb of Auckland. The location is superb. Close to town and about 25 minutes drive from work. The house is also fantastic, if a little chilly. The New Zealanders don't seem to believe in central heating. We have one gas fire in the lounge and the rest of the heating is provided by thick wooly jumpers. Its not too bad though, and for winter i think it is boardering on a heat wave!!! Others would disagree.

My House - Its behind the tree!!!

Right, my house mates. Well i am living with 3 gorgeous girls. Heidi, Jamie and Tracy. They are a great laugh and have made my transition to NZ painless and simple. My only reservation about these guys is their obsessive watching of NZ Idol, Shortland Street and Footballers Wives on tv. Thankfully the latter has now finished, but I am still stuck with NZ Idol and 'Shorties'!!!

I also now have my own transport. I have a truck. The budget for my new car wasn't enourmous, but I was pointed in the direction of Ellerslie Car Fair. Every sunday morning, anybody selling a car can turn up at Ellerslie Racecourse and sell their car. I was expecting a few cars to be there, but that few turned out to be hundreds, of all shapes, sizes, ages, makes, types, everything. After an hour or so of mooching around i was drawn to the 4x4's (after i deliberately ignored them at the start of my quest). And there it was. A Toyota Hilux Surf. What a beast - 3.0L V6 with all the trimmings. A little worn and battle hardened shall we say, but it goes well and everything works. It was mine!!! How practical for a city!!!

The Beast!!!

I am still waiting for my stuff to arrive from the UK so my room is a little baron at the moment. I am getting by though. I am only really missing my paddling kit - i want to go paddling - and some tunes. But hey, it will be here in a few weeks - if it gets through customs that is!!! I am also looking forward to getting my bike here. As it comes into summer i can dodge the traffic, cut through the park to work (One Tree Hill) and stop getting cake fined at work for being totally unsustainable by cruising around in my fuel guzzling beast!!!

Things here are pretty cheap. But i guess that is partly because in some ways i am still working to UK living. I got a new stereo for my truck last week. Was considering the total pimp out with a sub and an amp but couldn't bring myself round to the Tim Tits school of driving sounds. It is dead cheap over here as imports come direct from Japan. The damn thing took me a whole day for fit and wire up. I had to dismantle the entire dashboard to get it in. But i now have the piece of mind that if anyone tries to nick the stereo in the night, they will still be there in the morning trying to figure out how to get the damn thing out. And you know how you take something apart, not really knowing how, and then rebuild it, again not really knowing how, and then you get the odd bit left over. Well i managed to rebuild my dash minus 3 bolts and a random cable and connector (a little worrying). At the moment everything is working fine though.

New Zealand Baby!!!

Well i have finally made it. I am in Auckland. City of sails. After several weeks of goodbyes in the UK it is detox time here in NZ. And what better time to do it than in the middle of a Lions tour in the middle of winter!!! Well, i think that is enough about the Lions. Less said the better - although the kiwi folk are dead friendly, and enjoying (hmmmm or not) the rugby at the Barmy Army HQ in the Viaduct (harbour area) is certainly an experience.

So what is it like here. Well it is big. 2nd biggest city area wise in the world apparently. Doesn't suprise me. It is huge. This is due to every single property being a detactched house with a garden. No inner city terraces here. Quite nice really. Just takes a while to get around. Oh and Auckland is built on several volcanoes. These make for good viewspots of the city. And there are several more volcanoes forming islands out in the gulf of whwetjhwfuygfw or whatever it is (Not up to speed with Moari yet). And it is these volcanoes in the gulf that are due to blast next. Cool.

So at the moment i am still motelling it. Bit of a pain now but i move into my house in Mt Eden on sunday. I am sharing with 3 girls. Hmmmmm, should be interesting. And seeing as the room is somewhat smaller than back in Cardiff it is sure going to be fun trying to fit everything in. Its a nice house. Wooden villa, big open living space, electric cooker in the kitchen (annoying but it seems the norm over here) and no heating (again, no heating seems to be totally normal over here. But then they all complain about being cold. Hmmmm).

Sorry there are no photos yet. Not got my computer here with me. It is hopefully somewhere oceany (south Atlantic? Indian ocean?) on its way here. Thats if the Rusky boat captain can find his way to NZ through his vodka fuelled haze. (Pirate pete and all that!!!)

Well there we go. Thats it for now. All seems good here. Although i am still struggling a little with being upside down!!!

The Lions Adventure Begins

The British and Irish Lions played a 'warm up' test match at the Millennium Stadium. Bish, Fran, Dave and i were lucky eneough to get hold of some tickets and see witness the action. The opponents for the Lions were the Argies. And a weakened side at that so hopes were high of a resounding victory. Afterall the team can call on guys that are amongst the best 45 rugby players in Britain and Ireland right? Well, err, yeah, but a resounding victory it was not!!!







With the action underway it was the Argies that drew first blood with a well worked try that was certainly not in the script. The Lions seemed to be struggling to string phases together and conceeded too many penalties within kicking range, which were duly converted by the inform Pumas fly half.

The Lions remained in touch thanks to good play from Jonny and Ollie Smith resulting in a good try. However this seemed like the only try the Lions would score as there were just too many errors. Perhaps a sign of a team that had not played together much before.



The rest was really a kicking contest between Jonny and the Argies. Although a few good line breaks got the crowd going the finishing pass or move just wan't there. But it was a good game for Jonny, and looking at this i think he may well have secured his spot in the test team.

Oh and by the way, what on earth is the Lions anthem about - the power of four. Whatever!!!