Rugby stars and opening ceremonies.

 

So, it is a quiet Friday afternoon, and I’ve decided it’s is time to bring you all up to date on the latest goings on in New Zealand. Truth be told its been a fairly quiet week, bit of sight seeing, bit of shopping and bit of falling out of campervans, but I will get to that later on.

So, after a quiet Friday last week, on Saturday we headed into Christchurch and the RWC fanzone that had been set up. Sadly Christchurch has been robbed of RWC games at the city’s AMI stadium due to the earthquake in February. (I touched on this in an earlier post.) This has not stopped the event organizers setting up a fanzone in one of the parks in the city. A stage, mini rugby pitch, 2 stands and 2 big screens aim to bring a little bit of the RWC to a place that has been cruelly robbed of it.

Big screen and goal posts at Christchurch fanzone

The main reason for going to the fanzone was too see part of the Scotland team and watch them hand over a cheque for over $85,000 to the Christchurch earthquake appeal.

We arrived a little bit late and missed the start of proceedings, though I don’t think we had missed out on much. A stage had been erected at one end of the fanzone and various people were on it, Scotland team members, Andy Robinson (Scotland head coach) Gregor Townsend (Scotland attack coach) and Al Kellock (Scotland captain) were all in attendance as well as SRU president Ian McLauchlan who presented the cheque. After this Al Kellock was presented with a box of "Aftersocks". Once the pleasantries were done, it was time for the younger people in attendance to meet and greet their hero's! (please note, that may have possibly included a certain young(ish) Blogger who got rather start stuck while speaking to Gregor Townsend!)

Al Kellock with young fan, Eilidh Forsyth.

Al Kellock holding Rannoch, then (L-R) Bell, Eilidh and Lachie Forsyth

Gregor Townsend with Eilidh and Lachie Forsyth.

SRU president Ian McLauchlan with the Forsyth clan.

So after this I got what was being touted as the “earthquake” tour. Colin drove us around various sites in Christchurch and explained what happed and what in some cases were missing.

You can’t really comprehend the scale of the damage until you see it for your self, and this is seeing it 7 months after the event, what it must have looked like at the time, I shiver when I think about it. (by a strange twist of fate, I am writing this, the day after the 7 month anniversary of the quake)

After this rather sobering tour, we done a bit of shopping, picked up some presents and a book about the earthquake and the aftermath of it, proceeds of which go to the recovery fund. (as do funds from the Aftersocks site)

Sunday was another quiet day, brunch at friends house and wee trip for me with Sam up into the hills to check out paddock he will be doing some work on. Time for a wee pint with him on the way home, and that was that.

Monday morning, and that can only mean one thing. It is a school day in the house, and it is a very special day at the kids school, it is the opening of the new library! This is in the afternoon though, my plans for the morning consisted of, even by my own admission, being very lazy and having a morning of doing nothing other than relaxing (I am on holiday after all!)

That afternoon, we loaded into the car and headed for the school.  We arrived in plenty of time for the start, directed to our seats, given fudge and a programme of events by some of the older children and we took our seats.

There was a Traditional welcome in Māori and then the national anthem was sung by the kids, all very nice. It was interesting to be on the other side of this, having done it a few times as a kid in my own school.

The special guest to open the new library was a local author who’s name escapes me at this moment in time. (terrible sorry about this)

Mystery local author tells the kids a tall tale!

Mystery author cuts the ribbon to open the new library.

After this, we went in and had a wee look, was very nice, then got nibbles and coffee in one of the other classrooms and that was it, home time! (for us, not the kids)

And that as they say is that! Much more to bring you all up to date on, but that is for another post (mainly because this one is exceedingly long and yawn inducing)

Speak soon people!

The fastest Indian, steak challenges, bluff and beyond!

So Sunday was a pretty grey and wet day, a perfect summer’s day in Scotland! Only we are no in Scotland are we? At this point we are sitting in a campervan on a campsite just outside Invercargill, watching the hail (yes proper hail stones) coming down, we done the only logical thing we could, we hit the town!
We ended up in Hayes hardware of Invercargill, the home of the worlds fastest Indian! For those of you who don’t know. The worlds fastest Indian was a bike ridden by local man, H.J. (Burt) Munro.


The Munro Special.


The ideal place for any man to spend some quality time with other men!
After this we went for some dinner and watched some more rugby, good day all things considered.
The next day we had arranged to visit the local truck museum, seemingly this was by appointment only (we had to phone ahead and got told 1P.M. would be fine.)
This place was something else! It was MASSIVE! it kept on going, when ever you thought it was over and you had seen it all, there was another shed/warehouse! Each one had even more trucks than the last, if you like trucks, you are in heaven at this point.


A small selection of the trucks.


After this it was time for lunch, and by this point I had worked up one hell of an appetite! I was in the mood for something big…


Waxy o’ Shea's Big steak challenge.


Nearly 20 Oz of steak, served on a bed of roast potato's, with bacon, fried eggs and salad! This was just the ticket for me! 
I can honestly say, I gave this a damn good try, but I was defeated, not by the steak nor the bacon. Not the eggs or the potatoes, but the salad! Yes, my life time of avoiding my greens had cost me a free dessert! (not that I could have even looked at one after this!) So the moral of the tale is this. Kids, always eat your greens, it might just get you a free dessert one day!
The next day was a trip to Bluff and Stirling Point (I come halfway round the world and end up in place that sounds like it is ten minutes from home).
This is home to a big sign post with various places on it, the distance to them in KM. At this point I am nearer the Antarctic that London, that is when you know you have travelled a fair distance!


Colin and dad looking decidedly dodgy!



Some very odd people hang about sign posts!


As this was right by the sea, I decided to break out the camera and the big lens! here are some of the results



Waves keep on crashing.



One end of the chain that keeps Stewart Island attached to New Zealand!


Before we had left the site in the morning, we had spoke to Garry and Karen (wonderful owners of the site) and told them we would be having a wee Scottish doo in the old bar, if it was ok, which it was and they even said they would spread the word!

We returned from bluff, grabbed some pizza and headed back to the site to get ready and set up. When I went in to check the layout, I was greeted by this…


Someone (and I won’t name names,) had fell asleep here on the first night.


It was not fantastically busy that night, but enough people turned up to get a wee dance or two going!
The drink flowed, the jokes were told and stories shared, a proper Scottish night all in all. (despite the fact that there was at least 3 English, one Welshman and a Canadian!)


Colin is in there somewhere leading the charge!


The next day was our last full day at Invercargill, so we done the decent thing, and visited the Scottish hall, it was a wonderful wee place and the walls were covered in clan crests and tartan, how very homely!







My clan, Hamilton.


After spending some time chatting to the man who seemed to be in charge, we left for lunch, a quick change and then back into town for pre match drinks and more munchies of potato wedges and fries!
The less said about the match the better, Scotland won, that is all that matters!
So it was time to leave, we packed up and headed off early, but not before saying goodbye to Garry and Karen, if you are ever down that neck of the woods, Lorneville holiday park is THE place to stay! Wonderful site, fantastic people and a great location.

We stopped off in Oamaru for brunch and then a diver change in Timaru and that brings up nicely to now, we are back at Colin’s and enjoying a proper bed and proper food! Not sure how long this luxury shall last, best enjoy it while I can.

Speak soon!

Road Tripping!

 

Ok, so we are here and ready to rock! or something to that effect, we landed on Thursday afternoon and spent less than 24 hours there before starting our road trip.

The most Rag-tag road trippers you are ever likely to see!

1st stop, Dunedin!

it was about a 2.5 hour drive down to Dunedin, plenty of lovely scenery and scenic views to take it, but also, as I will be driving at some point, lots to learn about NZ roads.

Like i said, some stunning scenery.

So eventually we made it to our camp site for the night and once we were set up, we met up with Brett and Anna and hit the bars!

It was the first night of the tournament, so it was the all blacks vs. Tonga tonight. We had seen a bar as we drove through Dunedin, the Duke of Wellington. A more English pub you won’t find! pork pies and pints of bitter! So there we are 3 scots, 1 in a kilt, standing in this most English of bars, cheering the all blacks! It was Fantastic! We conversed with the locals, drank the drink and eat the pies! (that age old question was finally answered, we ate all the pies!)

We went back to our wee home away from home and slept off our excesses ready to hit the road in the morning.

At 7am an alarm breaks the silence of the camp site, it is mine, it’s time to get moving, got to get to Invercargill by 11am, a 2.5 hour drive away, we would get breakfast on the road.

We rolled in to Balclutha around 8.30am, partly due to needing to stop for fuel, but  mostly due to only realizing that in the middle of nowhere and spending 45 minutes driving around looking for a petrol station, like I said, rag-tag!

After monster sausage and egg foot long sub from the local subway, It was time to hit the road again, a mixture of Billy Connolly and Greatest American Anthems kept sprits up!

Once in the site, the owners were running shuttle buses to the town centre for the game, we accepted the offer and got dropped off at the ground, game time!

We had GA (general admission) tickets, which essentially meant terracing!

Not a bad view!

I would love to tell you that Scotland played some amazing rugby, but that would be a lie, to say that they played good rugby is still a bit of a stretch, but at the end of the day, we won the game, and got the bonus point for scoring 4 try's, good days work.

After the match we headed to Waxy O’Sheas Irish bar, the local pipe band would be playing and it seemed like the place to go, and oh, it was!

The place was Rocking to the pipes!

After this, we hit Devil’s Burger, for some very tasty dinner. Then off to another bar for A quick half before getting picked up and taken back to the site, where we would watch the England – Argentina game.

The venue for this was an old converted barn, it reminded me of a holiday park I went to when I was little, ah memories!

By the time the game kicked off there were about 15-20 of us sitting watching, what turned out to be a typical English performance, I.E. the stole the win, despite being the poorer team. Typical.

So with that it was back to “Bessy” (the van) and to bed.

That Brings us to now, it is 8.28am on Sunday 11th September] 2011. Today marks the Tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, A quiet moment will be had later.

Also today it is Colin’s Birthday! So a birthday day out is on the cards, Brett and Anna are coming to town today, so we will hook up with them and party like it’s 1999!

See you next time!

So, we are on our way!

 

Well, we are on our way! I’m writing this entry from somewhere in the sky, possibly over Europe, I'm not really sure.

As I type this I think I've been awake for about 20 hours or so, with another 20 or so to go at least, will I last the pace? No, I won’t I can feel my self dozing off as I type, and more to the point, it has taken me about 10 minutes to type this. My average is around 30 WPM, clearly I need to sleep, but cant. is it the excitement? is it the long haul flight? or is that I'm passed the stage of caring and just want to get to New Zealand? The smart money is on the latter!

The flight to London wasn't the best, but then with easy jet involved, is anyone surprised? No. Cramped, unorganized and being treated like cattle is the norm on the these domestic flights it seems, oh how I miss proper service.

in Stansted we grabbed a bit to eat and I took a few photos of the sun setting over the airport (one of which is on Facebook!) it was a wonderful send off and hopefully a sign of good things to come.

The flight to Kuala Lumpur (KL) has, so far, restored my faith in air travel! excellent service, wonderful meals and the cabin crew are not to hard on the eyes! (well, the female one’s anyway!)

So far, we have been served out meal in a timely fashion, had cleared away as soon as we finished (restaurants take note!) and my mum has been escorted somewhere more comfortable for her (if she has been upgraded, there will be a row!)

This will Hopefully be posted from KL something in the afternoon UK time, not sure why I’m telling you this, by the time you read this paragraph, the smarter people among you will have noticed that it has been published, like I said, extreme lack of sleep.

I may well have another post ready by the time we land in Christchurch (around 2pm local time) and that being the case, I shall make sure to include some photos and maybe even a video! (ooooh)

Anyway, must go and try to get some sleep, Night night all!

Really should have packed by now. shouldn't I?

 

Well, it is less than three days until I leave these fair shores for New Zealand and I still have not packed, should i be panicking? or should that be packing. hmm.

To be honest the last couple weeks have flown by and now it is here! I’m finally going.

Not packed

 

Ten minutes later… PACKED!!

 

 

That was easy! Now, I can truly say “yes sir, I packed this my self”

Well, up to this stage it was packed by me, what it will be like by the time it gets on the plane in Edinburgh is anybody's guess!

Oh and for those of you wondering where my kilt is, it’s getting worn on the plane to London then packed away (saves weight)

Short and sweet blog for the moment, next time, it will be coming all the way from New Zealand the 2011 Rugby World Cup!

 

See you on the other side! (of the world!)