All Work And No Play?

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ALL WORK AND NO PLAY?

OK firstly a huuuuuge thanks to my new very good friend Kat. She has sent me a whole bunch of photos from Fiji which I have added to the Fiji blog and my photo site - I have been through the slow painful process of attaching photos to emails before - it's not fun - so big thanks Kat! Gonna try and get all my photos online up to date today...

I've been pretty busy in Auckland. As I write this I have my first day off in at least 2 weeks, although I was supposed to be working tonight I managed to get it off... I guess after the ups and down and bouncing around of my last blog, I settled down to some good ol' hard work... Well kind of...

I left my last blog in the middle of a night shift, this was after doing 9-5 in the office during the day. I decided, randomly (for a change), to jump on a bus to Rotorua the next morning and sleep on the bus instead of going to bed. I had a couple hours nap before hitting the bus, which is about a 4 hour journey, not a bad sleep by usual standards!

I had planned to meet my mate Dave, also travelling the world (see previous mentions), in Rotorua but he emailed to say he was going another route and we would catch up in Auckland. However, I do have another friend who lives down there... I met this particular chap in Toronto - see my very first blog. I will give you a clue as to who it might be. 1...2...3...ROCK! 1...2...3...PAPER! That's right I met up with Kiwi Matt, the reigning New Zealand Paper Scissor Rock champion and 8th best in the world - officially! (If you have no idea what I'm talking about read Toronto - Part 1)

Matt picked me up at the bus station and took me round to a couple who are good friends with him, Julian and Nicole (Cole). First thing you notice about Rotorua though is it's 'famous' smell. Rotorua is one of the most famous places in New Zealand, full of hot springs - but the sulphur in the air as a result of these leaves a bad smell lingering - but you get used to it quickly! Anyway, Julian and I took a little dip in one of the fresh spring baths - this was about the most tourist thing I did in Rotorua! I spent the rest of the time catching up with Kiwi Matt and seeing the beautiful insides of Kiwi bars... Matt is working as a journalist, so gets paid to watch rugby matches and write up the reports - which he enjoys! His friends Julian and Cole are a crazy and very friendly couple, a great laugh and a lot of fun - my sort of people 😉 - some more great Kiwi hospitality from them as they let me crash at their place... Cole is also very good on the guitar, so not for the first time on my trip I was treated to some great guitar music - might this inspire me to do something random later on? Read on...!

Anyway a good night was enjoyed in Rotorua, I got a little tour by car - very cool to see huge expanses of steam coming out in the night sky surrounding the town. Rotorua is also home to Waitako beer, on a par with Monteiths as my favourite Kiwi beers... I havent mentioned anything about Kiwi beers so far, they are all pretty standard - Lions Red, Tui, Macs/Macs Gold - nothing really that special... However Monteiths and Waitako are very good bitters. Also I changed my mind about Victoria Bitter (see Vancouver blog) I actually think it is a lot better than I gave credit for! I need to do another brewery tour actually, only really done one, in Toronto, on my whole trip - pretty poor considering at the start I was thinking about trying to see one brewery every city!

Anyway, after a short visit to Rotorua I went back up to Auckland as I was working a mammoth shift (I slept on the bus going up so literally didnt see any of the countryside on either journey down - never mind I will be back). I then worked 22 hours in the space of 25 - quite impressive really! Even more impressive was how I started these 22 hours... I finally got to meet up with Dave in Auckland for a few hours before I started the night shift. Dave has adopted a no-shaving policy and has grown a huge beard, which I spent most of the time taking the piss out of. For those of you who are confused which Dave this is, well this Dave studied the same subject as me, graduated the same year as me, from the same university, is going to work for the same company as me, in the same department as me and is travelling beforehand the same as me (although going the opposite direction)... While it might seem we have a lot of common, I think that basically Dave is copying my life; you can read his copycat blog at www.travelblog.org/bloggers/daveydave64 and see his copycat photo page the same at http://s135.photobucket.com/albums/q128/daveydave64/ .... (Only kiddin Dave! 😉

Anyway, back to the story, I met Dave and some of the friends he had made in New Zealand and decided to partake in a few pints of Monteith - the perfect way to start a 22 hour working day! As I mentioned before I have 3 jobs and this is the first (and probably last) time I had all 3 scheduled back to back! It really wasnt as bad as I thought it would be, night shift passed quickly (maybe thanks to the beer) and I enjoy the office job, so it never drags... the bar work which I did last dragged a bit but I still had a good bit of energy - and I wasnt even tired for some strange reason after it all (the only time I was tired was in between jobs on the bus/train etc)! I felt kind of hyper and very happy - strange how you feel when you push yourself and do something like this, so I had a beer as a reward for myself, before I grabbed some sleep... I was in early in the office the next day of course!

So, while I worked, Dave nipped up north for a bit, returning to Auckland on the Wednesday, before flying to Fiji on the Thursday. I booked him (as I had the first night he stayed - the things you can do on a hostel reception 😉 into our ensuite double room in the hostel. I had decided to take Dave out to see the delights of a Hash run and meet some of the Kiwi alcoholics that take part in this! It was out on the north east bay and was actually (run wise) one of the best we've done, it finished with a 2km stretch along the beach (still fun despite the dark and slippy conditions!) and then back to Sue and Steve's (Hooka and Whores Pisses) for some food and the usual good hash banter and hospitality...naturally Dave had a drinking fine for being a visitor...I was fined for running into a bush!

I was actually very surprised to only be fined once, as on this particular day I was wearing an extremely bright Hawaiian shirt I had bought earlier...the sort of thing you usually get a drinking fine for! This is a little thing that I do (and so does my good friend Jen (Ba)) every 25th April to celebrate the life of a good friend of ours, Fraser Marr, who sadly died in a car crash on April 25th 2003. Every year Jen and I, instead of laying his flowers at his grave, pay our own tribute by wearing a bright shirt as there couldnt be a better item of clothes to sum up Fraser - fun, bright and always doing and wearing his own thing! I was very happy I could find one and celebrate his life with some beers and new friends on the other side of the world 😊

After a good catch up over pool and beers I said goodbye to Dave. Actually the next night I remembered a funny story back from our uni days that I should tell. The next night I was working for Price Waterhouse Coopers - the bar company I work for had a shift there and I thought it would be funny to be serving drinks to members of the company I will be joining in September! It was a pretty easy shift and also PWC in Auckland have a huge, beautiful office tower right on the water front with a STUNNING view! Anyways while I was serving drinks it reminded me of an event Dave and I went to back in Glasgow. We were going to a meal and drinks night for KPMG - one of the other big accounting firms. The aim of the evening is to see how you handle yourself in a social environment, not get too drunk etc - boy did we fail that one! Dave and I decided to nail back the wine, our table being the only one to run out, so we sent Dave up to the bar to get another 2 bottles... So as Dave grabs the bottles the senior partner from KPMG stands up to give a speech... Dave had to stand behind him the whole time, a bottle of wine in each hand - it was hilarious!!

But back to Auckland stories... I've been getting to work (at the office) I have been taking the bus or train most days. I had the idea of getting a bike, so I went on Trade Me (NZ's version of eBay) and managed to snap one up for $87 - about 25 quid! The helmet and lights cost almost as much as the bike - and it works great, in great condition - a total bargain! So I'm cycling to and from work most days, about 10km... Only problem is that I had forgotten how hilly Auckland is, there are some monster hills on this cycle!

While I am enjoying myself, I am also working very hard - probably too many hours between all my jobs. I spoke to my boss at the office and they agreed to give me 50 hours a week. This meant I could get rid of my other two jobs, 50 hours will be a cut back from what I was doing before! (However, hostel has just asked me to work this weekend but daytime not night time - think I might do it...)

There have been some lively nights around the hostel. A girl who works here called Jen returned from a holiday. She is Canadian so naturally I got along very well with her - and she had Tim Hortons coffee with her, not had that in a long long time! We ended up going out for a drink with a couple of English girls one night - Tami and Sophie - and met more Canadians at the bar! Anyway the reason I remember this was that the Canadian guys - Jeff and Cam I think - played a game that I used to play with Tom back in Glasgow, it's kind of hard to explain so Ill just splurt it out: basically you make a little circle with your thumb and index finger (must be below waist height) and if you can get the other person to look at it you get to punch them in the arm! Anyways this probably wont make much sense to anyone other than me and people who played it back home, but it was hilarious to meet some Canadians who play the exact same silly game Tom used to play!

A couple of nights later I was sitting talking to Sophie and Tami and was telling them about my trips to Dave's and his spa and everything, they seemed quite interested so I gave Dave a text and he said bring them over! So the 3 of us jumped out on the bus to Dave's for some drinks and a spa session - very random! Tami and Sophie cooked Dave and I dinner (Sandy was at work; Chelsea was in bed 😉 and Dave was astounded by the lack of meat in their meal. This is something that I'm not sure if I mentioned before, but basically I have had more barbeques in New Zealand than I have had in my entire life - mainly thanks to Dave's hospitality when I stayed there!

We had a cool night at Dave's and enjoyed the sauna. Went out for a few drinks with Sophie and Tami another couple of nights, nothing special - did beat them both at pool on the hostels brand spanking new pool table (sadly they dont give keys for it to reception staff - I did look 😉.

All in all, I think that's a decent update of what I've been doing. Oh I forgot I did drop a hint earlier about something... Basically I came home a bit merry one night and was looking at my bike auction on Trade Me, I spotted something else and put in a bid thinking that I would not win one so cheap but I did... I won a guitar! $52 - not even 20 quid! It seems to work fine, but then I wouldnt really know since I dont really have a clue how to play it... Anyways I guess I can learn! So if you were wondering about that strange clue I dropped earlier about being inspired to do something random - this was it... So learn guitar has been added to the list of many many things I want to do on this trip!

Anyways, not a bad update for someone who is working their ass off eh? Whoever said that you cant play when your working is wrong... And I havent even mentioned several more random strands of Mich banter - finding a bar that serves Tennants, why the New Zealand coin system is so great and...pies!

These will have to wait for next time, I'm sure you cant wait!

Give me a shout what everyone's up to, I can get on hotmail at work so I can respond to emails if I have time (cant get on Trade Me - probably a good thing)

It's bed time for me now - a rare occasion in recent times 😊

Mich

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Photos

Rotorua
Rotorua - home of the hot springs. Yes, you can even dip your feet at the bus station while you wait!

Kiwi Matt
Me n Kiwi Matt, no idea what we're doing here!

Sight seeing?
About one of the only landscapes I saw around Rotorua, just up the road from Julian n Coles!

The Office
A standard day at the office - my boss, Peter, is on far right... (Was actually a wear a hat to work day btw.. ;)

At Work
Me working for Bravo doing hospitality, sadly I have to serve the drinks not consume them :(

Me n Dave
Me n Dave havin a few beers before I started my 22 hour work shift!

Hash fines
All Hash fines must be finished off by turning your cup upside down on your head...

See you in Glasgow!
Me n Dave after a few drinks the night before he flew out, glad I found this shirt!

Nice view
The view from the PWC tower down at the riverfront - PWC in Glasgow doesnt have as nice a view as this!

Spa Session
Me in the pool with the girls ;) - Sophie, Sandy and Tami (left to right)

This Is The Life
This is how life is in Auckland, beer and massages :)