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As the song goes:
I see girls,
Here there and everywhere,
Short skirts, long hair,
Love it when they walk yeah!
I love New Zealand in the summer. I have had a fantastic time and I’ll share some snippets.
Wandering the back streets of Parnell I came across a sight to stoke a man’s excitement so to speak. A fully restored and working steam engine puffing gently whilst enthusiasts clambered over the polished and gleaming black body. Suppressed titanic forces ready to be unleashed in order to fulfill the fantasies of an obsessive few. How cool is that? Two weddings and four life-long partners. Warms the cockles of my heart and fills my liver!
Sitting on the beach at Matapouri after a wedding. Maybe 3am. Satellites streaking the sky overhead, racing past never to be seen in the city. Glowing phosphorescence in the sea as I swirl my hands vigorously in the warm water. Parochial accents asking whether you want a hokey pokey or raspberry ripple-flavoured ice-cream. A place where drinking quarts of Bushmans out of a crate is acceptable. My favourite Chinese restaurant in Auckland, Canton, and the abusive staff. The sounds of the sizzle! My sisters engagement party and the realisation that I am gaining a brother which makes me very happy! Arguing over whether hanging a hogget for four days in the garage at a day time temperature 25 deg is a good idea. For future reference, attempting to spit roast something that has shades of green in it, is unwise. Reconnecting with the family and soaking up the sun. Swimming in the pool and relaxing with a beer in hand.
I am currently in London, spring weather with sunny skies. Heading to Belgium tomorrow via Chunnel then onto Amsterdam to seek my fortune. I have created a stick for myself to assist me in the task of looking for work: “reject convention. It’s fucking conventional you idiot!” I trust the meaning is clear. Cheerio!
Crash! Landed in New Zealand just over three weeks ago.
It’s stunning. In both a visual and mental sense. The humidity, heat, shops that have changed, people that have not, familiarity of my own room, Wrangles same-same and a thousand and one people to see. I have reveled in the reconnections I’ve made with New Zealand. It truly is something you appreciate all the more once you return. New perspectives, noticing details you hadn’t deigned to see before, and giving greater credit to those aspects of your previous life you’d taken for granted. The peculiar shade of blue the atmosphere projects, the red glow of budding pohutukawa flowers, the burnt smell of rain on freshly laid tarseal, the familiar water pressure of your shower, the easy banter of long-standing friendships and the love in the fierce hugs of your family.
Since I have been back I have revisted the family bach in Whiritoa, Coromandel Peninsula, sweated and shimmied my way through AC/DC’s concert at Western Springs, thrown away three bins of crap from my parents house, seen the dentist, got a booster jab for my Hepatitis vaccinations, chilled out in Wellington with my sisters, congratulated my future brother-in-law with a manly hug and hugged my newly engaged sister, braved the masses at the Wellington Rugby Sevens afterparty in Courtney Place (NZ’s biggest party by far), massacred zombies at Willy’s stag party, cheered the bride and groom at Megan and William’s wedding (and admittedly drank a little too much), got a little tipsy at Ben’s stag party and am mentally preparing myself for the Matapouri wedding of the year, saw Auckland fail during a bat-off in the 20/20 Cricket semi-final to the Central Stags, felt Avatar was awesome and also the movie-that-c(sh)ould have been, dropped into my old work and noted my delight in not working, lounged around the pool and languidly dipped my toes in as I supped a cold Tui in the summer sun, tut-tutted in various coffee catch-ups as long-delayed gossip finally reached my fertile ears and of course saw Tristan my erstwhile Asian travel companion and reminisced over all that Beer Lao, various shenanigans and the suckiness of being broke. Some pictures below from various places for your edification.
