It's Chriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiistmaaaaaaaaaaaaaaas!

Hard At Work

Me an Baaaarrington, hard at work in Bicouac/Outdoor, Auckland

Rugby.

****VIDEOS WILL BE UPLOADED SOON, SO CHECK BACK!****

The Rugby World Cup (And The International Mullet Spotting Competition*) is fully underway.

There's just two weekends left now, the Semi-finals this weekend:

France -Vs- Wales
Australia -Vs- New Zealand

The winners meet in the Final next sunday; the losers in the Bronze Final on saturday.

From this point I just can't bring myself to support either the French or the Welsh, and supporting the Aussies while here in New Zealand will just be awkward. So it's All Blacks all the way!!

The atmosphere here has been fantastic. The opening night was wonderful - for hours before the opening ceremony there were thousands and thousands of people going up and down Queen St (sort of the main street in Auckland). The Tongans and the Samoans have definitely been making the most noise!!

I managed to see three games in total, so I'll upload a few videos and photos from each one.

Here's a video of the welcoming ceremony for the Australia team at Aotea Square in Auckland city centre (apologies for probable shaky video and other people's hands in the way)

video

Thursday 23rd September 2011, 8PM
South Africa -Vs- Namibia Pool D
North Harbour Stadium, Auckland


The tickets for this one were only $40! That's 20 quid! It was great to be in the company of Southern Africans again, though it just left me desperately wanting a nice cold Tafel or Windhoek and to have a decent braai.

Me at the game, wearing my South Africa scarf and a Namibia top. I was being neutral.

"Namibians" (Actually Kiwis in support of Namibia....)

A slightly blurry photo of the match going on (my phone's camera is shit)

South Africa ruled the game completely. Namibia had the ball inside the Springbok's 22 a few times but just couldn't get through their defence.

Final Score: South Africa 87 - 0 Namibia



Saturday 1st October 2011, 8.30PM
England -Vs- Scotland Pool B
Eden Park, Auckland


This was a great experience. The tickets themselves were comparatively expensive at $190 (£95), but my reasoning for paying that much is that I DID once get to see England -Vs- Wales in the Six Nations at Cardiff for free (I'm sure you will have heard the story at some point).

So myself and Tom went to the match, draped in St Georges flags, soaking up the atmosphere - everyone seemed to be in such a great mood, ready for a party almost. Here's a short video to show you what I mean:

That was the queue for the toilets.

People even dressed up for the occasion, though to be honest I'm not sure they were genuine Brits:

Tom with two women dressed up as I don't know what, a Beefeater, a Queen's Guard and a man wearing a kilt and a Margret Thatcher mask (I don't think he knows much about Scotland, or Margret Thatcher)

We got into the stadium to find ourselves surrounded by Scots (Well Kiwis dressed as Scots), who happily took our picture:

The National Anthems being sung:

England

Scotland

Then the game begun - it was enjoyable enough, Scotland were probably the better team overall but then it's about winning isn't it? If the better team won every time Leicester City would be Champions of the Universe by now.

Here's some celebrations from the English after the final whistle:

VIDEO

Yippee!

Final Score: England 16 - 12 Scotland

To celebrate I went to the pub at the bottom of Queen St (just so happens to be the cheapest place in Auckland for Guinness. Dangerous). I don't remember much after that, though I do know I won $80 on the slot machines. The next morning I woke up with an empty wallet and a terrible hangover.




Saturday 8th October 2011, 8.30pm
England -Vs- France Quarter Final
Eden Park, Auckland

Fast forward to saturday; I'd already started work and had moved into a flat (more on that in a separate post), when I got a text message from a Scottish girl I'd met on the previous saturday night. I had absolutely no memory of speaking to her, or saying that I'd be interested in buying a ticket for England -Vs- France in the Quarter Final. We met up in the pub to chat; I told her that I couldn't quite afford it, but I would help her try to get rid of them (she had two for sale).

After meeting I went back to my flat and lazed around for a bit, then went on a bit of a stroll to discover my local area. I very quickly found a pub called the Edinburgh Castle not too far from my flat. Like many pubs here, it has slot machines in, the kind that you'd find in a casino. I won myself $170!! I thought great, that's a weeks rent! So I went left and went to the pub on the end of my street to watch some of the Wales -Vs- Ireland game.

At half time I decided to head back up to the Edinburgh Castle pub, because the beer was much cheaper; I ended up going onto the slot machines again, and roughly just over an hour before kick-off of the England game, I won another $120! So I did some quick thinking, thought what the hell, it's essentially a free ticket! I jumped in a taxi down to Queen St to find this Scottish girl, bought the ticket and jumped on the free bus to the stadium. I got to my seat JUST before the National Anthem!! It was when I was standing singing it loudly that I realised I was surround by mostly French - and a few Scots with French flags. Awkward!

Let's just say it wasn't a great game. England were much better in the second half, though we just couldn't get through the defence to score a second try. England are now out, which is upsetting (even more so because the Welsh are still in it; which brought about some hilarious Facebook posts from some of my Welsh friends - apparently England have won nothing - coming from a Welshman this is nothing short of fucking comical!! Anyway)

Oh well.

Final Score: England 12 - 19 France

So there you go. England are out, Scotland are out, Ireland are out. Wales are through to the semi-finals. The next two weekends are going to be busy - One thing's for sure: Auckland is going to have a party!

I'll do another blog update as soon as possible; to be honest internet in New Zealand has been pretty shocking speed-wise. They've just brought in a new law against internet piracy which could result in  $15,000 fine. This has resulted in fast internet access becoming rarer in order to stop people downloading. Every single Kiwi I have spoken to has said it's an utterly stupid law.

So uploading photos and videos is a bit of a bother.

I might do a couple of article-type posts, who knows? I've got three days off work from Friday so I might rent a car and head up to Coromandel - expect some good pictures soon.

In the mean time you might want to read about Fran's adventures - she's cycling through Europe as we speak, and seems to be having an amazing time! Yes, I know I am in New Zealand but I am so totally jealous of what she's doing. Loving the pictures too.

Ian


*The International Mullet Spotting Competition works like this: You get 5 points for the initial spotting of the Mullet, then up to 5 bonus points for the severity of said Mullet. The competition is going swimmingly; there's a surprising number out and about. I saw a dreadlocked Mullet the other day which was almost enough to win the competition outright!

I'm In Auckland

This was supposed to be a rather long update but it ended up being quite short.


Ian
x


(Will this do, Grandma?)

Two Years Ago Today

This happened:

I apologise for the poor quality of the picture. It was taken on a crap phone camera with a shaky hand. You can read the whole story here.

One thing that I didn't really get across in the post about that night: I should have died. That crash should have killed me. But it didn't. I survived. And I've never felt more alive than I did at that point.

Come to think about it, I've honestly never felt so alive than the whole of the time I spent in Africa. Which is important to remember. For example, the whole of last year, 2010, was the worst year I've ever had. My whole time was spent at Blacks & Millets; I managed to somehow lose sight of what I should have been doing: what makes me happy.

Which is what I'm doing now! I'm enjoying myself in New Zealand, trying to get a flat and job sorted out, hopefully by the end of next week. As for Africa - next time, definitely.

Auckland

Another day, another stamp in my passport. Page 20 is now no longer empty; I have 11 and a half pages to fill and just under two years to do it!

So I've been in Auckland since Monday, and the one thing you notice so far is that it's quite cold. About October sort of cold. (round about 7 degrees is the average I've had). I don't know what I'm complaining about because I've lived in Flagstaff! Fortunately it is unusually cold for Auckland, even for winter, and it should be warming up even as soon as the World Cup.

To be honest, I haven't really done much since arriving, except for sleep quite a lot. The other day I slept for 15 hours straight! Other than that I've been to the cinema a couple of times, wandered around for quite a bit, drank a bit, and wandered some more.

Today I went for my IEP orientation thing, which is basically the company that will be looking after me while I am here. They've already sorted me out with a working holiday visa, and today was about getting a tax code and opening up a bank account. Weirdly, the guy who helped me up the bank account was having his last day at work - next week he's moving to Leicester!!! I love it when random shit like that happens!

The rest of the orientation was basically about how to get work, where to get it, where to stay, how much it will be etc. Then we had a huge enthusiastic introduction about New Zealand; and that familiar thing happened where the eyes glaze over and reality fades away - I want to do everything.

Of course that isn't entirely possible - I will do as much as I can, but first I will have to earn my way and get a job. I'll get on that very, very soon.

So anyway, here's my address for my time in New Zealand;

PO BOX 1786,
Shortland St,
Auckland,
New Zealand,
1140

It's IEP's post box, so just address it to me and they'll let me know when it's arrived. They will also forward it to me wherever I am in the country, which is great! So don't worry about wherever I might be, just send it!

Got a list of stuff I wanted to do today, so I'll stop writing now. Hope everyone is OK!

Two Days In Hong Kong

Is not enough. By a long way.

Hong Kong is a great city - already one of my favourites. I arrived very early in the morning on Friday - about 7am, after a rather nice flight with Cathay Pacific. The food was surprisingly nice, and the entertainment system is among the best I've seen, although I'd already seen most of the films on there and the remaining few looked shite. I watched the entire first series of The Inbetweeners for the first time - very funny, very impressive. I talked for a long while with a nice Welsh chap sitting next to me, who was on a rather ill-advised journey to propose to a woman he'd met on the internet a few months ago.

Anyway. After landing I went straight to my hotel - one of dozens of small independent guest houses in a huge dedicated building, called "mansions". My room wasn't ready yet, but they let me leave my rucksack behind until it was. So I went off, little backpack in hand, to have a wander.

I was in Kowloon - one of the main areas of Hong Kong - which is a very busy, popular area. You can't help but notice the thousands of people buzzing about. It's the middle of summer here and you really notice it. 35C all the time, even at night. I've got to say it became a bit unbearable at times. It gets to the point where you're soaked through in sweat where you have to bail out and head indoors somewhere - nearly every shop/restaurant/pub is overloaded with air conditioning, which was handy, and very often a life-saver.

I must confess that I didn't really do much on my first day except take a wander. To be honest I feel that is quite a good way to get to grips with a new city - walk around it, explore it, get lost in it. It's perhaps the best way to navigate yourself around the entire time you're there.

One thing I did notice is that you did feel quite safe - it's a very clean city with a subtly large police presence. It's also extremely clean - I don't remember seeing even one piece of litter on the floor! There's also a lot of improvements going on to buildings, especially in Kowloon. Here is Hong Kong's version of scaffolding:

Bamboo!

This is a typical street in Hong Kong:

There is a rather large number of hawkers on the streets - mainly Indian men offering you discounted suits or watches, or locals offering you cheap massages and "more"... Fortunately they are no where near as bad as the Zambians - just say no and they'll back off on at least the second rejection (Unlike in Zambia where you literally have to tell them to f*ck off - twice)

When it came time to properly check into my room I took the time to sort a few things out, and decided to leave my little backpack behind too. It was just too warm to carry it along. A bit more exploring and a badly scalded hand later (long story; it bloody hurt) I found an Irish pub down the road (If in doubt, find an Irish pub) then went back to my room for sleep.

Fully rested, the next morning I made a plan for the day - to be a tourist, but to try not to cram too much in. I really wanted to go to see the Giant Buddha - but it was far too far and perhaps expensive to get to; I'll do it next time.

Instead, I wandered down to the pier at Kowloon, where I got my first, proper look part of the city - and wow, it's impressive.

You can't even fit it in one photograph! I got ferry (The green and white thing in the right of the picture) across to Central - total cost 30p each way - then caught a bus up to Garden Rd  - total cost 40p - in order to catch the tram to The Peak. I had to queue for an hour, which is where I noticed this:

Flagstaff House!

Random! I didn't have time to do any investigating  - perhaps next time.

Finally, I reached the end of the queue for the tram, and boarded. It is a very steep journey, but very much worth it, because at the end of it you get to see this:

WOW. What an incredible sight! It's just HUGE! And so vast!

This is The Peak

From which you can see that view. Total cost? About a fiver for the tram and entry to observation deck.

I caught a taxi back down (the queue looked almost as long to get down to get up) to the pier, and with the sun setting, decided to head back over to Kowloon and to the Sky100 - the tallest building in Hong Kong and the fourth tallest building in the world

It costs about a tenner to go up to 100th floor - 379metres up! You go from 2nd floor to 100th in 60 seconds!

Once again - it's an impressive sight. (Please ignore the reflections in some of these pictures - it really could not be helped)

A new favourite sunset picture - from the fourth tallest building in the world:

SO there you go. I've had to stop writing for now as boarding for Auckland is about to start; forgive me if this seems rushed.

It's a huge regret that I have only spent 2 days here. I've nearly fallen in love with the place. It's certainly opened my eyes up to seeing more of Asia, something I could not have said two days ago. I wish I had longer - I'll definitely be coming back on the journey home from New Zealand  - and for longer.

See you soon, Hong Kong

Possibly One Of My Favourites So Far

我在香港 (I am in Hong Kong)

And it's very, very, VERY fucking warm!
它非常，非常，非常他妈的温暖！

Have you packed yet?

Of course not.

Seven Days and Counting....

Hello!


As the title might suggest, one week from this very moment I will be sitting on a plane on my merry way to New Zealand. Not directly, of course; I will be staying for two days in Hong Kong! And I've got to be honest: excitement is gathering like a snowball halfway down the hill! I think by Thursday morning I might burst!


It's been quite a strange trip in planning, this one. I've been meaning to do it for quite a while; way before USA. My plan when I returned from America was to look at going in late June/early July. Sadly, that didn't happen for a number of reasons, mainly procrastination, so I changed said plans to late July. Then, as I started to sort out the necessary paperwork at the beginning of July, sod's law intervened, as it usually does. The visa application form asked if I had spent 3 months or more in the last five years in a country that was not on the provided list. Botswana wasn't on it. So I had to go and get myself a chest X-Ray at the cost of £95. NINETY-FIVE POUNDS!! The hospital sent off the form for me, to New Zealand Immigration, who took more than two weeks to reply.


I was getting more anxious by the day. I couldn't book the flights until I had the Working Holiday Visa confirmed. And at the start of this process the flights were already £800. With it being the summer and with a Rugby World Cup on the way, I knew that they would get dearer and dearer and worried that it might have become prohibitively so.


Fortunately, the confirmation arrived last Monday, and I booked my flights that day. At £700! That was lucky! I also booked somewhere in Hong Kong for two nights, and through BUNAC I now have two nights for free in Auckland. Hooray!


As mentioned above, I am getting very excited!!


It is also worth mentioning that I have made a few changes to the blog. First of all, it's slightly wider. Mainly so I can now post bigger pictures on my updates. Secondly, I've moved a few things around on the right hand side; you can now choose to read entries from certain trips on their own; there's also the option to read a random entry. 


Thirdly, also new on the right, I've added two new pages. First of which is dedicated to Muhammad The Monkey - an ongoing photographic chronicle of all his movements! I found some pictures going back to 2006, when we first started travelling together. I'll endeavour to keep it updated with the latest pictures next to international "Welcome To" signs, famous landmarks and possibly celebrities (doubtful). The second is Things I've Learned, again an ongoing list of things that I've learned on my travels, dating back to my Africa trip. I've put quite a lot of effort into both of these pages including a lot of coding to get them looking how I want them, so I hope you enjoy them!


Finally, you might notice that there's some adverts dotted around. Essentially, they're there because Google will give me a penny every few clicks or so (if that), and eventually, in a few years or so, I will earn a pound! Feel free to ignore them, especially you Grandma(s), as they will just break the internet.


So there you go! I'm ready to go! There's a quite few people I won't be able to see before I go, which I feel very sad about, and I will miss certain people dearly, but I will definitely make sure I see you when I come home in May/June/July next year.


That's enough banging on for now; I'm going to have an afternoon nap so that I've got enough energy for the big sleep.


Toodles.


Ian x





P.S - 
DId I mention I'm extremely excited?

New Zealand

New York

Here's some photos from my time in New York. Did quite a bit of sightseeing (or tried to), quite a bit of lazing around, and quite a bit of drinking...


Here goes.... As always, click to make bigger


First off, I tried to go to the Statue of Liberty about 3 days in a row, but the place was just so full of tourists that I eventually couldn't go. SO instead I did an impromptu tour of a few filming locations...

Apartment in Flight Of The Conchords

Headquarters of the Men In Black!!

Headquarters of the GHOSTBUSTERS!!

There you go.


This is the house of the first American saint - Elizabeth Ann Seton - near Battery Park in New York City.

Quite nice that they've preserved it, especially next to these newer buildings!


Anyway, on to the Empire State Building....

No sign of any monkeys trying to climb it...

'Cept this one!!

From the observation deck on the 86th floor...

You can see the Flat Iron building to the right....

Grand Central Station....

Not many people know it, but Grand Central Station's actual name is Grand Central Terminal...

Grand Central Station was the setting for one of my favourite ever scenes

Flat Iron building:

A few photos from the roof of my hotel at night, during snow:

A few photos from the Rockerfeller Centre, which is famous for it's ice skating rink, a huge Christmas tree during the festive season and is surrounded by flags of the world...

BOTSWANA!!!

There you go. Can't be bothered to add any more. Currently sitting at the airport waiting for my flight. Can't quite believe how quickly my time in America has gone! Sayingt hat though, I am definitely ready to come home. America is nice, but is just quite as exciting to me as Africa is. I've met some lovely people and had a great time, but I think my time in America is done for now. There's a few places I didn't get to go and a few things I didn't get to do, but then, America's going nowhere. Plenty of time to do that another time.


When I get home I think I'm going to start planning my next adventure... New Zealand here I come!!