Monday, August 30, 2010
NZ 2010
Headed over to NZ for my annual ski trip, So an early start with Fred and Amanda took off and flew into Queenstown after being told 31kg over the total weight limit and let on a
nyway. The flight in was amazing coming in over the mount
ains being able to see all the mountains and . On arrival we headed directly to our hotel, Peppers Beacon Resort to catch up with Nige and Bevan our NZ counterparts - Tui, Speights and Ferg for dinner cant get much more kiwi. We had
Emma join our ranks for a few days, which gave another excuse to go out in town and have Ferg burger for a 2nd time.
View from the plane as coming into Queenstown
Nige and Emma mounting a Moa in Q'town
We had a great time and hit up Cardrona, the Remarkables, the conditions and snow were very variable, it was still a great time and had some great days towards the end of the week.
So the Remarkables a great place to ski but watch out for those huts
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-8dcMKhYl8
View up the chair at the Remarkables
After Queenstown we jumped in the car and headed to Methven to catch up with Sammie and hit up Mt Hutt and Porters these were some great days and there is some pretty exciting plans in the works for Porters putting in a new village and gondolas so will have to check it out in about 4 years.
View at Wanaka over the lake - Nige just testing the water
It was a great trip and thanks to Fred for organising - really would love to try and do another ski season but think work has now taken precedence.
Labels: NZ, Queenstown, Remarkables
Friday, August 06, 2010
AFL, Bledisloe Cup, Horse Races
and Mumford and Sons
Well been a busy week and have tried to fit in as much as possible in regards to extra curricular activities before making my come back from injury for hockey this weekend. On the weekend I headed down to Melbourne to catch up with Dad and his cycling group who were having a gents weekend away.
Part 1 - So who can climb?
Upon arrival we made our way to the hotel dropped off our gear and headed straight out to a bit of rock climbing. The climbing was at the Hardrock CBD indoor centre on Swanston St, this was a really good venue with plenty of climbing options, it took a while to get started as staff were a bit slow getting onto doing the required safety (no one really wanted to help out) but once this was done we all went off and tried our arm at climbing, it was good to get back into climbing but really struggled as havent done in ages, will have to look into climbing walls round Sydney and finding a climbing partner so can catch up to Travis who's leading climbs in and around Whistler.
Hardrock CBD - Swanston St Melbourne - view from the
street
Rate the venue 8 out of 10 lost marks cause of the staff
Part 2 - Essendon destroy Saints
After finishing up climbing and everyone had developed a thirst we headed to the St Kilda vs Essendon at Etihad Stadium via Young and Jacksons one of Melbourne oldest pubs (and famous supposedly) for a well earnt pint. The game was all in all disappointing, I had tipped the Saints
for a 20 point win in the end they were smashed by the Bombers by 40 points. I was hoping for a close game, Essendon were on fire and looked in control the whole time and basically were in
cruise control from the start of the second quarter. Upon leaving the game we wandered back to our hotel and visited some of the pubs Melbourne is famous for.
Part 3 - So lets lose some money!
Headed to Caulfield race course for the last race day of the winter season. This was a good day out, all from the riding group in there Orange shirts with everyone asking if th
ey were Dutch, I skipped this embarrassment. The weather wasn't to bad but my tips on the races were horrible and so were Dads, we got one return each, the whole day - on the same race and both paying low odds so didn't cover for the bets but was still fun.
Stanzout winning at Caulfied over Shootout - this was our winning tips pity didn't have more money on it.
Part 4 - The rugby, possibly a game to forget
The start of the tri-nations and a lot of expectations were up for this game as the All Blacks and Wallabies had destroyed Sth Africa. It started well with a try to the Au
ssies though the All Blacks quickly retaliated. From there it was alot of one way traffic and Joubert loved blowing his whistle making dubious decisions and holding up the game, the group except Dad and I left with at least 20 to go in the 2nd half which says alot about the game and the end score of 49 - 28 with the Aussies lucky of that score and if the whistle hadn't gone so often could of been worse but then again if Aussies weren't a player down in the 2nd half could of been a closer affair, will
swallow my pride and say though the All Black would of still won much better team for this game. At least went home to watch th NZ vs Aus hockey match for the champions trophy and the Aussies won 9-1 with some great play looking on track for 3 champions trophy in a row with coming through pool undefeated.
Part 5 - Definately not smarter than a 5th grader!
I flew back in from Melbourne early and got to coach my 8th grade girls in time, we had 10 players this week and I think for the rest of the season we will start to have full squad. We lost the game 10 -1 which was very disappointing but I think not unexpected with such a rotation of players. After this there was SUHC pub trivia on at the Coopers arms, there was pretty low turn
out for this about 20 odd club members so split into teams of 3. I teamed up with Elle and Lloyd, we were travelling alright and in 3rd with 2 rounds to go and from here we crashed and burned, and ended up well off the pace with the music and miscellaneous round killing us.
If anyone is in Sydney and keen for trivia, Fred and I head to the DOG in Randwick on Wednesdays, good test of brain power and a good way to spend Wednesday evening.
Part 6 - Mumford & Sons at the Enmore
Passed on trivia this week to head to Mumford and Sons at the enmore theatre with Fred, Amanda and Erin. This was a great gig and thoroughly enjoyable. The band put on a great show that was full of energy and even played some new songs they had recently written, one being
written in Melbourne whilst they were touring, interesting to see if it makes the next album. Enmore is a great venue and perfectly suited to this style of gig. This badn had had a meteoric rise in Australia playing at the Oxford Art Factory 12 months ago to headlining Splendour in the Grass. Enjoyed it all some of best tunes were The Cave and rollaway your stone.
Rate 9 out 10 - up there with some of the better gigs I have seen, see how they progress with new albums
