The South Pacific and All Black Initiation

Kia Ora!

I'll start with some good news. It's great news really, I'm an honorary member of SPIES! (South Pacific Indigenous Students Association). It's great, I really got along well with them at the BBQ the other week, they had a vote and now I'm in. I'm the first honorary member in two years as well! It must be the British accent haha.

Now on to a story from last weekend I forgot to mention. Well, it's not so much a story, but it was an event. And I didn't really forget to mention it, I just chose not to. Why? Was I keeping some cards close to my chest. Why, that's very observant of you; yes, yes I was.

So, after last weeks trip to Piha (I really miss that waterfall) I came home and ended up in the pub ;-). It wasn't a coincidence that the rugby was on: Australia vs New Zealand being played in Sydney. I was there with Josh (housemate, Aussie), Matt (Housemate, Kiwi) and Jess (Kiwi) and we had a pretty good night. The quality of the rugby wasn't great and it ended in a 12-12 draw. No tries, just penalty conversions. But that was only the first leg and the second leg was coming to New Zealand...

Auckland, Mount Eden. The All Blacks on home soil! Very decent seats. So good! And a chance to show of my home kit, my England (football) top! I think I got away with it haha. And these are the lovely people I shared it with!

That video made us two new friends haha

 And now the first highlight of many: the Haka!

I was a little disappointed that Ma'a Nonu wasn't playing. He's one of the only rugby players I knew when I was younger. But injury kept him away. Still, the All Blacks played really well and dominated Australia, especially in the second half. We saw most of the All Black tries down our end! They overpowered Australia in every department. A top job (coming from my now expert self after being in to the game for just a few weeks haha). Here's some action shots.

 

All Blacks try!

Final score: New Zealand 51 - 20  Australia. Here's New Zealand being presented with the Bedisloe Cup for the 13th year running!

I took a video thinking it would be the last play of the game. I was nearly right, but what I got was so much better!

More adventures and misdemeanors to come. This match was so good and that's another thing on the checklist ticked off! 

Kia Ora!

The Rainforest Expedition

Kia Ora.

It's taken long enough, but at last I have set foot outside of Auckland and into rural New Zealand. Sure Auckland is great, but I'm here to explore more than a city and so it was nice to boot up and let the Auckland skyline fade away in the rear view mirror.

Having a car certainly offers a lot more freedom to explore. No, unfortunately I don't have one. But Daniel and Nora have bought themselves a nifty camper van for their journeys around the country. Better still, they have kindly offered to share some of their experiences. It's funny, but just lately I consider them to be best friends ;-) Haha.

So Pauline, Timo and me were sharing this journey with them. We drove for about an hour and came to a small village called Piha. On the west coast looking over the Tasman Sea, the village is completely surrounded by the Waitakere Ranges, essentially a giant rainforest. Here was our first view of the town and the distinctive Lions Rock. The sun wasn't out (as promised by forecasts), but of course we still ended up climbing it!

To get to the rock we had to jump over some water, maybe a meter and a half at its smallest width. I'm sad we don't have a video, but statically with five jumpers we should have known one of us would end up in the drink. But we didn't expect that Pauline wanted miss the jump by enough of a distance to take a bath in it! That was so funny and she was soaked so early in the day. But we all laughed so much. Anyway, here's the ascent, the view from the top and a selfie for good measure.

Between climbing Lions Rock and visiting the rainforest we took a wander on the beach and ate some locally caught fish with chips. Look, here's a shell we found!!!

In to the rainforest we went along the Kitekite track we went. Walking through the rainforest was amazing- like all things the photo's are enough to capture the area. It was a day where I really wish I owned an Akubra hat; maybe one day soon I will. But we saw some great things including undoubtedly the best thing I have seen so far: Kitekite falls. A 40 meter waterfall in the rainforest. I've only included a small handful of the photos I took of it and I could have happily stayed there all day. Wow.

Nearly at the waterfall, but first, I'm gonna take a selfie.

From the bottom of the waterfall you can only see the last 25 meters of the waterfall. But we sat here for a quite a long time absorbing it all.

These two photos are taken from the very top of the waterfall. With the intermittent pools you can't see much of the waterfall. Watch the movie. Ah go on. Go on, go on, go on.

Recognise the leaf below? It's the Silver Fern which appears on many New Zealand logos. I have a feeling I'll be seeing a few more of them soon ;-)

And a picture of the group of explorers.

We were in the rainforest for roughly 5 hours and covered a good distance. We went for one last look at the beach afterwards where we made a new friend. I've been told since that this is a rare thing to see on Piha beach, so we got very lucky. We followed it's tracks as we left and found the leftovers of a fish dinner too.

Hope you enjoyed the photos! I've got the travelling bug and want to get back out there as soon as possible!

Kia Ora,

Ben

The Work Load Realisation and the Father Ted Discovery

Kia Ora!

I've been absent for a little while. Well, lets lay it down.

As you've probably guessed already I've been heavily absorbed into university work. It's not what I had hoped so early in the process, but it's what I anticipated and really it comes down to the academic year. I'm not sure if I've said already, but I am technically studying in semester 2. What that basically means is I have missed a few of the core concepts taught in semester 1. That's a disadvantage of doing an exchange in the southern hemisphere.

With looking for a flat and the general initiation to Auckland, I also started my independent work a few weeks later than the starting date of the semester. So I have spent the last two weeks working hard. Three tests next week and deadlines fast approaching. But I found some time for some fun. You may not believe I've been working...

"Cup of tea, Father? Oh, go on. Go on, go on go on."

Two weeks ago I went to a great bar for Daniels (my German friend) birthday. Any guess's why I liked it? As with almost every Irish pub, this place was great. The drinks were flowing and the live band were playing. I even did a selfie with an Irish guy on request because I looked like Sheldon! It seems I will never leave that behind.

Just a portion of my wonderful friends

The night after I was out again, this time with my flatmates. A first outing for the gang! This was also a good laugh and we explored a few of the bars in the Britomart area. After visiting a few bars I realised that Auckland bars play a high ratio of classic music. I think that includes every big hit from the 70's to the 00's. Of course there's some newer stuff to, but not as much.

Back to the world of daylight and casual clothes we go and on to a BBQ I went to last week. Through my course I have met a couple of friends from South Pacific islands, such as Samoa and Tonga. They're welcoming friends and they invited me to a BBQ for the South Pacific engineers within the university. They've got quite a big crowd- I know I was the only non-member there. I loved it there. Best of all, they're all Game of Thrones fans (but of course they were, who isn't?). I don't think any photo's exist, which is disappointing. But it was a good afternoon!

I've got two really good weekends lined up. Tomorrow I'm going away and the week after... Wow. Wait and see! It'll be a great way to celebrate finishing a week of tests!

This photo actually has a purpose for somebody! But who?

Finally, any ideas what this mug shot is about?

Keep well all!

Kia Ora,

Ben