Auckland Action
The story since I arrived in Auckland in May to start work.
(Oct 11) I just had the worst financial news ever. The company has just announced a VSP program in an effort to reduce costs. Some staff members are being offered a redundancy package. I don't qualify because I've already handed in my notice. Effectively if I delayed my resignation by two weeks I would have received five months salary (I've only been working here for the same period). I'm off to the pub now for what is sure to be a long liquid lunch.
On the positive side I've got my last weekend with the campervan tomorrow. I'm going to head down to Raglan which featured in the movie "Endless Summer".
In the last few weeks I've been up to Northland visiting the Bay of Islands (Cruising with Dolphins) and a kauri forest (big old trees). I went back and explored Piha and Bethells Beach and South Head with Keith and Britta who had just toured New Zealand and were off to Fiji. Went clubbing last weekend.
So, it's not all that bad really. It's my commitment to travelling that has caused this bad luck and if I wasn't prepared to do that I'd still be sitting in a portakabin in a warehouse in Tallaght.
I'm off to Buenos Aires on Oct 30. I'm heading straight down to Patagonia. I'm not exactly sure what's going to happen then. Stay tuned.
(August 18) I got the ferry to Waiheke Island yesterday. It took about half an hour. Very pleasant. Sunny but not too hot. I decided to rent a mountain bike at Matiatia and explore the island. There was a couple renting bikes just ahead of me and the rental guy explained the route to all three of us. Noticing his Irish accent, I suggested that the winetasting was a must. He was David from Waterford and she was Jane from Clonakilty and they are living round the corner from me in Devonport. We agreed to meet up in Molly Malones later. The bike was a bit small but the 21 gears worked OK. I separated from Jane and David at Oneroa and continued to Palm Beach and met a couple from Wellington who reckoned Waiheke and Devonport were the the two nicest places in Auckland unlike the city centre. On to Onetangi which was a long and almost deserted beach where I balmed out for a while. It was quite a tiring, hilly cycle. On to a vineyard where I had a tasting and bought a bottle of red. Went for lunch in Ostend. Risotto with pistachios. Yum. Molly Malones had a makeshift sign saying closed til 5pm. Spotting the two rented bikes outside I took a chance and entered. Jane and David hadn't seen the sign and they were chatting to the barman waiting for a Guinness to settle. The pint was surprisingly good. We got the ferry back to Devonport. Went shopping and arrived back to candlelit, atmospheric gaff where Diana was having pre-ball drinks. I arrived just before the crowds who plied me with beer, punch, champagne and all manner of finger food. They had a spare ticket and tried to convince me to come along but I had to decline due to my limited wardrobe. I soon took control of the tunes and switched Di's tasteful operatic stuff with beats for the slightly more upbeat Thievery Corporation to get everyone in the mood. A bloke called Grant was going on about whitewater kayaking which can be done down in Tauranga. This could be my next extreme adventure. Just as the revellers were about to leave one of them told me one of his favourite things about Ireland was that you can ask someone to "give us a song" and out they come with one no bother, no instruments. This was a red flag to a bull so I launched into "Thousands Are Sailing" which I hadn't had an opportunity to sing to an audience yet. He had to leave before the second verse which is my favourite bit. I called round to Jane and Davids huge gaff on the harbourfront with a fussball table and chilled for a while.
(August 13) A gang of us from work took off early on Friday and headed down skiing at Mt Ruapehu. Took it easy Friday night. Up early on Saturday. The bus was late cos there wsa fierce crowds heading up the mountain cos there was loads of snow the night before. Thankfully the driver was able to overtake all the cars waiting to get their chains put on. The snow-laden trees looked like coral. I got a snowboarding lesson from a young English skibunny who had perfect poise on the boards and cute little pigtails. I took a break after the lesson and found I couldn't get my boots into the board so I brought it up to the board rental place and I clicked in no bother, then I went back down to the top of the slope and the I still had the problem so I brought it back up and they told me I was set up goofy so they adjusted the bindings and off I went. I had no problem acheiving frightening speeds going down the beginners slopes. Steering and stopping without crashing into someone were problems though. I soon took pride in being a member of the snowboarding tribe and got perverse pleasure in taking out the skiers and scowled when overhearing comments like "I feel so sorry for the snowboarders, I don't know how they do it". The drag lifts proved to be the toughest challenge. I failed to last longer than 10 seconds on them. Energy-sapping. So I resigned myself to carrying my board up the beginners slope. I didn't feel I was ready for the lower mountain, which had chair lifts, or more appropriately the lower mountain may not have been ready for me given the amount of collisions I was causing. I felt that I had raised the spectacular fall into an artform. Later the sun got clouded over and the numbers dropped and silhouettes of skiers and boarders were emerging from the fog. I had managed to find my edge but was still having trouble changing edges. On the way home I planned to head out again on the Sunday. We discovered we had paid too much for the accomodation so we ran a tab in the restaurant then headed down to the disco to watch the New Zealand vs South Africa match above the casino. I pulled out of the snowboarding the next day cos the joints were a bit stiff. When I brought the gear back the lads noticed that I had a different board - and I thought someone had played a trick on me. I think I was in a worse state Monday morning without a hangover to dull the pain. Its Tuesday night now and the worst is over. Worth the pain though.
(August 3)I've just done a skydive and I'm trying to work out how to keep that adrenalin buzz going. Red Bull is the obvious choice. Beer is out. I'm currently sipping Vodka and orange juice, a dash of lime and a slice of lemon from the back garden. My latest concoction. I got up all excited this morning went for an early run on Takapuna beach. Glorious sunshine at 08:30. Found a new extra high rock to sit on and contemplate Rangitoto. The king of the North Shore. Called into the local charcuterie on Cheltenham beach to get my usual steak and sausages and chanced the smoked tuna. The butcher, Christian from Toulouse, was a veteran of 82 skydives and wished me luck. I drove down to Mercer about half an hour south of Auckland. Got chatting to a Japanese kindergarten teacher who drives racing cars because she "likes speed", which reminded me of a claim made by Aldous Huxley that speed (velocity) is the only truly novel drug invented by humansin modern history which I read in "Design for Dying" by the late Timothy Leary. Rob, my tandem skydiving instructor, informed me that we would be reaching 200km/hr. It was his first week as an instructor. We were waiting for a Kiwi lad who was celebrating his 21st and he arrived blindfolded led by his three mates. He donned his jump suit and his straps were applied and he was given some incomprehensible instructions in Japanese. He took off the blindfold and we squeezed into the tiny plane. There was a worrying layer of cloud at 6000 feet. Once we broke through it I snapped away my last few shots and put in a new film and tucked my camera into my sleeve. When we reached 12,000 feet the birthday boy jumped first, then I edged over to the door, stuck out my feet, held onto the fuselage until Rob reminded me to put my hands on my shoulder straps, stuck out my chest, threw back my head, Rob launched us and we were falling and I was shouting. The wind in my ears was gale force. I tried to angle my arms so that we rotated. We caught a nice gap in the clouds. Then Rob pulled the cord and I was jerked upwards and everything was incredibly calm. I pulled out my camera and took shots from all angles until I realised that the photo counter wasn't incrementing. Rob said we were at roughly freezing point and that it was too cold for the battery. We were at 2000 feet before you knew it. The landing was fine. I took the scenic route back playing the loudest pumpingest music I could through my computer speakers. Bledisloe Cup tonight starting at 9, should go off afterwards if the All Blacks win. Where to go though...
(June 28) Disappointing rugby match last Saturday. We didn't win as much ball up front as the first test. Good to have scored a try though. Sorrows were thoroughly drowned in the Muddy Farmer a newish Irish pub in the city centre. Aido was in top form. I hadn't seen a face from home since Brian Dillon left in mid-April. Nice one. It's getting a bit wintry here now. Having said that I was in shorts all day Sunday. Aido was wearing about 5 layers and pining for the Sydney sun. I think the temperature here is about the same as Ireland at the moment. Probably less rain. Enjoy Aido - keep practising the crazy golf. I realised that I had missed my flight to Argentina so I went down to book only to discover that Qantas have stopped flying into Buenos Aires and that they only fly to Santiago. I thought how bad. When I got to the office they told me they'd arrange a connecting flight to BA. Free stopover. Nice one. The only problem is the date - Oct 30. My flight from Rio to London is on Dec 1 which is the latest possible date. Anyway I'm supposed to be working here for two years so these dates should be irrelevant. I'm starting more Spanish classes on Monday. I met my teacher Carmen from Santiago. She's developed an accelerated learning course where you listen to the tape with the English whispered before the Spanish, read cartoons, and listen to Spanish with baroque music in the background that slows your heartbeat and makes you more receptive. I have a plan to put the photos online. It just takes ages to upload on this crap connection so I'll have to do it from work. If anyone's up for online dossing register with www.itsyourturn.com and challenge 2ks. Also how can I fill the void that the shutting down of audiogalaxy will make in my music collection?
(June 16) I'm writing from my gaff in Devonport 4.5 hours before the kickoff of our biggest soccer match since 1990 (against Spain). Come on ye chicos verdes. Watched the rugby last night on telly. It really reminded me of the England game last year. We put so much pressure on the All-Blacks and forced loads of errors from players that have been almost perfect throughout the Super 12. They had the skills though and got their tries and that's all that counts. The Irish can walk with pride though. Wood and O'Driscoll were immense as usual. Maybe they've saved their best till Eden Park next Saturday or more likely the All Blacks have. Fingers crossed though.
This is Devonport. I get the ferry from the terminal in the foreground. You can see Rangitoto island in the distance which is an extinct volcano. It's almost symmetrical. Rangitoto means "blood red sky" in Maori. Just to the left and on the mainland is North Head. I run from the gaff to Cheltenham Beach, whip off the sandals and go Baywatch style up the beach, running to save my life. On Saturday I decided to add North Head to the run. Great spot. It's where they had all the defenses for World War II. They could set off water mines and they had boomnets to catch the subs and force them up. The japs were really close to invading NZ. I was told that they're plan was to kill all the men and breed with all the women. Fair play. I have absolutely no evidence to back up this theory though. The whole head is riddled with mysterious tunnels. It's like something out of the famous five. I play tennis up on Mount Victoria which has a spectacular backdrop with the harbour full of sailboats at the weekend. I got paid on Friday. Back into the familiar routine, but in pleasantly unfamiliar surroundings.
(May 31) I'm writing from my desk in a corner office on the 11th floor of my new workplace on Shortland Street. In front of me are two large windows. Through the left-hand one is the narrow rocket shape of the Skytower. Straight ahead and below and walking to and fro are the people on Queenstreet. Through the right-hand one I can see the Irish flag on Downtown backpackers where I stayed the night before I bought the van. I assume they have a row of flags of various nationalities, but that's the only one I can see. I'm sharing the office with a chinaman and a Kiwi who were slightly concerned that I didn't have enough space. I described the conditions in the campervan. In the morning I use the bathroom after Diana and Isabella have gone to work and school. Diana lectures in Physiotherapy. Isabella can spell "truck". Then I walk/jog for ten/five minutes with the Waitemata harbour on my left and nice old wooden buildings on my right to the Devonport ferry terminal to make the ten minute voyage across the harbour and get swallowed up by office blocks and walk purposefully to number 34. I got the bus last night to Eden Park. Traffic was hell. It may have been a worst case scenario thoguh cos there was a big crowd gathering there to listen to the
Dalai Lama speak. It was an unusual place to hear such peaceful advice considering the next time I visit there will be to watch Ireland take on the All Blacks on June 22. Roy should be flown off to India to listen to him for a while. Where is the love, Roy? The DL said that if you're obsessed with yourself that your problems appear to be large, but if you care about the rest of the world and other people (e.g. Irish soccer fans) your problems appear small. There's nothing wrong with complaining, but you've got to watch the language. For clarity that's my idea not the DL's. The DL is off to India today and will hopefully defuse the situation there. I don't know if he'll have a chance to visit Mayfield. Free Tibet.
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