Maz NZ and Oz

Well, it was a week for me to watch rugby in unusual circumstances. As you may recall, last weekend, I watched the last twenty minutes of the Munster match through a pub window in Wellington. This weekend, I struggled to watch the Super14 final through a thick layer of fog that descended on Jade Stadium about an hour and a half before kick off.

It was truly a bizarre evening. Those unlucky enough to be seated in the upper bowl of the stand had no chance of seeing any rugby (but I'm told they caught brief glimpses of the ball when any of the players sent up a Garryowen, only to have it disappear back into the mist as gravity did its thing). In fact, we learned the following day that many of the people in the upper bowl left the grounds and either went home or to a nearby pub to watch the game. On the plus side, though, the Crusaders Horsemen did look rather cool emerging out of the mist on their lap around the grounds...
If only the teams had stuck to playing their rugby in our corner of the pitch as they did here... then I would've felt I'd gotten my money's worth!

That glowing thing off in the distance, may or not be the big screen... I couldn't be too sure...

Oh, and for the record, The Crusaders (Canterbury) beat The Hurricanes (Wellington) 19-12. As it happened, we weren't too sure when the match had ended, so thank you to Andrew's Mum, Marion for letting us know when it was time to go home! ;)

An ex-flatmate of Andrew's, called Peter Bethune, will be attempting to break the round-the-world record in his boat, Earthrace, in March of next year. The boat is run on BioDiesel and Peter and his crew hope to show the world that this fuel is a viable alternative to oil. Until the start of the race, the team are touring the world promoting their cause and last week, they called at Lyttleton, a port just over the hills (or through the tunnel, if you like) from Christchurch, so we paid them a visit. You can find out more at www.earthrace.net

Oh. My. God. What a game!! I came up to Wellington to watch the match with Genny and we headed down the to the city centre at about 12 to have a bite to eat before watching the match (which started at 2am NZ time) in Kitty O'Shea's. However, as we were passing the pub on our way to get a burger, we noticed that it was looking suspiciously closed. Closer investigation revealed that our initial perception was, in fact, accurate. A sign on the door informed us that the reason for the closure was a burst water pipe. Distraught, we went from pub to pub trying in vain to find one that would be staying open late enough, and indeed inclined, to show the match. We had no luck however, until we discovered that one of the bars that had earlier told us they were not going to show the match, The Sports Cafe in Courtney Place, had put it on their TVs. They still kept the Disco music going though, so for the first half hour or so, we watched Munster play Biarritz to the soundtrack of Counting Crows and Abba (a bizarre combination... but the Kiwis seem to like it). It wasn't a great start to the match either, with Biarritz going over for a try after three minutes! Boo!! Eventually, we got to watch the match with commentary which was an improvement over Destiny's Child. About twenty minutes into the second half, the bar manager told us that he was very sorry, but he had already exceeded the limit of his license by letting us stay that long, and that we had to leave. But he left the TV on and let us watch through the window while the bar staff cleaned up. So there we all were, at 3:2am standing out in the street looking in the window of the bar watching the last twenty minutes of the game. And nailbiting stuff it was too... I very nearly cried when the final whistle went and Munster had finally, finally won the European Cup!!! Happy happy happy days!! :) :) :D

Me in my 'fro From left to right: Escapee from the muppet show, ditto, Rock God....
We reckoned Tom (left) fitted the part of "low-budget" film director... we weren't quite sure what to make of Peter, to be honest...Or Hamish, for that matter...

Friday the 28th of April was the night of our company bus trip, and this year, the theme was 'boogie nights'. Many people went to great lengths to ensure that their ensemble was appropriately Disco. And pulled it off pretty well, it has to be said.

This is Mike and Zoe. Zoe was a mistress of disguise that night, because she kept trying everyone's wigs on and you never knew what her hairstyle would be from one minute to the next. I figured I had enough hair of my own and spent ages trying to get my front layers to flick out like Farrah Fawcett's... It worked, for about five minutes and then it was gone again... :( Rowena (below) went for the 'fro and it suited her rather well
Zoe was eyeing up Andrew's wig all evening, waiting for a chance to try it on for herself, but he wasn't giving up his Rock Star locks... no way....
Sue got some body paint, and looked like a member of the Supreme's for the evening

What to do on a rainy Sunday when you can't really do jobs around the house 'cos it's so rainy... well, there was some drizzle in the morning... well, it was cloudy right!? So off we went to Orana Park, which is a very nice wildlife just on the outskirts of Christchurch. The feeding times are organised so that you can walk around the park, watching the feeding of some of the animals, and in some cases... even taking part. The whole day was fun, but best of all, best of all... was that I got to feed the Giraffes!!!! I was such a happy camper :)

Happy birthday to ME! Just had a fantastic birthday in Welly. Went out for a bite to eat with Genny in JJ Murphy's Irish Bar on Cuba St and then we were joined by her flatmates, Liz and Josh. Kieran, a pal of Josh's joined us there later for a few drinky-poos and then we went to the Welsh Bar (remember, from the weekend in Wellington back in April?) where we were entertained by the owner, who showed us some pretty nifty bar tricks.... tremendous fun altogether, v tired today though! So anyway, thank you to everyone who send me texts, e-mails... etc for my birthday, I appreciated them all :) So it's back to Christchurch this afternoon and I reckon I might take a nice nap before volleyball this evening...