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Published: December 15th 2005
So d'you like my new bike?
Jo-Ann showing off her pride and joy on Oriental Parade on one of our regular eveing ridesIt’s been way too long since the last blog so I’ll make this a bit of an epic! Plenty to report on so here goes the highlights in no particular order:
I Want To Ride My Bicycle We’ve at last started to get out on our mountain bikes and we’re out about 2-3 times a week weather and general business pending. There are loads of cycle lanes and tracks in Wellington and around the city but the flat ones are few and far between. Wellington is so hilly that it makes San Francisco look like Holland so it can get pretty intense especially when you add the strong winds into the equation. Jo-Ann got a new bike for Christmas (early, I know) and she loves it more than me - comfortably!
Our favourite ride so far is to head out of the flat and around the harbour and dockside, past the Te Papa Museum, along Oriental Parade and around a few bays to Evans Day Parade and all the way back - not that those names will mean anything to any of you, except perhaps Simon & Liann! It takes about 50 minutes and can be hard work
depending on how strong the wind is. Last Sunday, we went all the way round the bays, past the airport at both ends, through Island Bay and up the long hill that is the Happy Valley Road and then home - 22kms and 2.30 hours! Damned hard work but most enjoyable.
One ride we did about a month ago really was hellish - it was about 20 kms to the lighthouse at Bearing Point and the way back was into a vicious northerly that blew us clean of our bikes twice and made us get off and push sometimes because it was just impossible to cycle.
This weekend we took our biking to the next level at the Makara Peak Mountain Bike Park just past the suburb of Karori. We only went on the so-called ‘easy’ runs but we found them fairly tough and we learned that there’s a huge difference between a sealed road or pavement and an off-road track about 4 feet wide with rocks, tree stumps and gorse bushes to break your fall if you come off your bike! Which Jo-Ann did....ouch! Lots of mud too which added a certain somthing to the mix.
Such a mucky pup
After the Makara Peak Track Hmmm....a very fruity number with exceptional body! No, it wasn’t a strip club! It was the annual Martinborough Wine, Food and Music Festival more commonly known as Toast Martinborough. The population of the famous wine-making town of Martinborough increases tenfold one Sunday each November as 10,500 people come to town to sample the wonderful wines and the fantastic cooking as well as some quality music. Tickets usually sell out in hours and they went on sale while we were away on holiday - luckily we managed to get some from a variety of sources and headed out on the bus from Wellington at 9:30am.
The weather was great - sunny all day with a high of 24 degrees but a pretty strong breeze, which was good for cooling down. It was an enormously civilised affair all round considering how much wine was consumed but there was early signs of madness as women were seen dancing round their handbags to the Abba tribute band before the clock had struck mid-day - oh dear.
We sampled wine and food at about 6 vineyards with our favourite being Ata Rangi which featured in an earlier blog. Their Pinot Noir was
spectacular as was the setting and the amazing food they had on. They also had top Kiwi band Goldenhorse performing on the wee stage - they’re not too shabby really and their music has a handy knack of sounding much better live, especially after a few pinots. The lead singer is also a bit of a honey as well which helps!
We were both fairly cancelled by the end of the day and I fell asleep on the bus and woke up back in Wellington with a bit of a hangover. We both can’t wait for next year’s event.
Everywhere you go, you always bring the weather with you... We had some special guests visiting us a couple of weekends ago - we had the pleasure of Rodger & Rosemary Baillie’s company for the day. For those of who know my best man Andrew Baillie (yes, he who made THAT speech!) they’re his Mum & Dad. I was always quite lucky in that I got on pretty well with all my friends’ parents but I liked Andrew’s Mum & Dad probably more than any others - don’t know why but there you go!
Anyway, they were
Toasting Martinborough
The crowd of wine samplers at Ata Rangi down this way on holiday and after 2 weeks in Sydney and a week or so in Auckland and the Bay of Islands, they drove down to Wellington via Rotorua and we hooked up with them on the Saturday. Unfortunately, they brought the weather with them as it was pretty wet and miserable with a strong cold southerly wind - it sure made them feel at home as it was just like a Scottish summer’s day really. The weather had been very good for the weeks before they arrived so it was unfortunate timing for them! They’d also fallen into the same trap as many visitors who assume that New Zealand is always as hot as Australia - it’s so not!! It had been high 20s in Sydney and then about 13 degrees with wind chill in Wellington! Needless to say, they rushed out and bought fleeces when they arrived here.
We had a great day, though. We picked them up and drove them round the scenic bays, stopping to sample the views of a wet and cold city from the Mount Victoria lookout in the driving rain and then a spot of lunch at the legendary Chocolate Fish
Café. Then we dropped the car off at our place and walked back into town via the historic Old St. Paul’s Church and then headed up the cable car to the Botanic Gardens. Luckily by this time the weather was looking up and the sun even came out and suddenly it was warm again - well, for a few minutes anyway. Then we hooked up again for a lovely dinner at Aubergine on Tinakori Road and then said our goodbyes - we had a brilliant day and it was great to have our first visitors to show around Wellington. The good news is that despite the weather they enjoyed it a lot more than Auckland - hah, in your face big city!!
Wizz-bang!! On 5 November, we had a BBQ and fireworks party at Graeme’s house where we had a good view of the official Fireworks that were firing from the barge in the harbour. We also set off our own fireworks, which was entertaining if a little dodgy. Luckily we didn’t start a bushfire unlike many others - the fire department always has their busiest night of the year on Guy Fawke’s night for obvious reasons!
Wellington’s alive to the sound of music....and laughter The much anticipated Foo Fighters gig met all expectations despite a dreadful venue that was a cross between Edinburgh’s Corn Exchange and Hall 1 at Meadowbank Sports Centre i.e. rubbish. However, Dave and the boys showed us all how rock is played live and we went home happy if a little deaf. Very deaf actually!
Last night we once again saw Wellington’s legendary super group, Fly My Pretties this time at the Opera House. It was another show that sold out very quickly and it was fantastic. With 14 members all swapping places between and even during songs, there is such a variety of music played and there’s no way you can say that all their songs sound the same.
On the laughs front we also saw John Cleese’s stand-up show a few weeks ago, which was also at the Opera House. It wasn’t bad at all - not great, but not bad. Some very funny anecdotes and a great NZ version of the famous Monty Python Dead Parrot Sketch...yep, you guessed it, the Dead Sheep Sketch.
Howzat! Fore! We have numerous people from IBM working with
Weedge & Tony
Tony's not impressed at all us at the moment on one of my projects and as 6 of them had just arrived from India, a trip to the one day international between New Zealand and Australia was hastily arranged. It was at the Stadium in Wellington just 5 minutes from home for me!
It was an amazing game on a gloriously sunny and hot day with the beer and the runs flowing willy nilly! 642 runs were scored (for the uninitiated, that’s a lot!) and the finish was nail biting - unfortunately the Black Caps found a way to blow it and lost due by 2 runs to a couple of crazy run-outs in the last over.
The Indian guys were in heaven and loved the game and the atmosphere. Cricket fans in India go pretty nuts but they don’t dress up in fancy dress, get totally plastered and get thrown out the ground by the police for throwing their empty beer bottles at the Australian outfielders and chanting “Brett Lee’s a w*nker” constantly for several hours. Not that I’m condoning that kind of behaviour, of course - it's just not cricket!!
The game just last Saturday in Christchurch actually surpassed the
Wellington one - even more runs, even more ejections and arrests and the Black Caps winning with an over to spare by performing the biggest ever comeback by a batting side in international one day cricket history!
On the golf front, I’ve finally joined club and I’m playing more regularly now. My game is still not great but the scores and my shots are heading in the right direction! My new club is Shandon and its only about 15-20 minutes away by car in Petone, Lower Hutt. It’s situated in a pretty exposed place and every time I’ve played there the northerly has been howling and it’s been very tough. Until yesterday when I went out for 9 holes on my own and it was dead calm - what a difference! Suddenly the par 4s that are usually into the prevailing wind were actually reachable in two!!
Despite the fact that its one of the best courses in Wellington its still cheaper than Lothianburn was and is also quite informal and relaxed - not remotely stuffy. No waiting list, no joining fee - nice. The last time I played 18 holes, we went into the lounge to buy
And you call this Summer?
Rosemary, Jo-Ann & Rodger enjoy the conditions on the Mt. Vic Lookout the losers' drinks and there was a scene of total carnage - we witnessed the aftermath of the Annual Petone Working Mens' Club golf tournemant and I have never in my life seen so many completely hoovered golfers in my life...and the 3 drunkest were the club captain, the head pro and the head greenkeeper! People were falling over tables, falling asleep in the corner....total carnage. Rumours that a Hof tap was in existence were proved to be false - they just can't take their ale at Shandon. They're the Shandon Shandies!!
Scots Wha Hae! We hosted a wee St Andrew’s Day dinner on 30 November attended by Graeme from Edinburgh, Graeme from Gourock, and Anna and Tony from Wellington who were both honorary Scots for the day. The night was a roaring success despite the dodgy haggis. We got it couriered all the way from Leckie’s Butcher in Dunedin but it didn’t live up to expectations, which were already set low. It tasted haggis-like but had the consistency of dog food and looked like tripe! It also arrived in a real sheep’s stomach (I guess they have plenty to spare here) and it wasn’t a pleasant sight
The city of Wellington
Taken atop the cold and wet Mt Vic Lookout I can tell you. It looked more like a giant sheep’s testicle that had been badly shaved - needless to say, we didn’t show our guests where it had come from until after the meal. Jo-Ann’s majestic pancakes with ice cream were a triumph though!
Don’t blame it on the sunshine.... No, not sun burn but work Christmas parties!! Both of our work nights out are at Wellington’s 70s disco themed nightclub called Boogie Wonderland. Mine was last Friday 2nd and was carnage - a free bar from 4:30-7:00pm, the whole team dressed up ridiculously (me especially you’ll not be surprised to hear), even more ridiculous dancing for hours on end and best of all... I didn’t make any career limiting errors in judgement!
Jo-Ann’s is this Thursday so I’ll see if I can get a photo of her in her outfit for the blog!
I can’t believe I’ve written this much - I’m sure no-one’s managed to read this far so I could probably say some really bad things but I won’t. Hopefully there’ll be another blog pre-Christmas and New Year but if there isn’t then we wish everyone festive greetings from the warm side
of the planet!!
All the best everyone!!
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