Big holiday - post 4

Day 5 (Fri 19 Oct) - Boat ride to Manley/Flight to NZ

Got up and lazed around in the lovely apartment in which I was staying in Darling Harbour, then walked through town for an hour to get the main harbour (with yet another Starbucks coffee) and then hopped on the ferry to Manley for the morning. I found (another) stunning beach and then proceeded to get lost for an hour or two down the backstreets. Thought for a bit that I'd ended up the other side of Manley and that I was going to miss my flight but thankfully I wasn't so things turned out alright. I also found the best pie shop ever on route. If you ever make it there, go for the meat and potato. Mmmmm.

Got some old bloke to take my snap for me on Manly beach.

Later that day, I hopped on the plane and met OG and his lovely ladyf Jo at Auckland airport. I was greeted with the below. Revenge, when I exact it, will be sweet!

OG and Jo with the age old ambiguous 'L' gag. This is war.

Day 6 (Sat 21 Oct) - Sniffing around Auckland, rugby final in Eden Park

That man OG gave me a whistle stop tour of Auckland, taking me up to one of the (47 odd) volcanoes that are in NZ. Was more like a little mound than something like Vesuvius but was still cool as you could see the whole of the city. We then headed off to the supra scenic Browns Bay for some scram and then hit Eden Park for a rugby union final. Wet and cold but still good to see some really high standard rugby in a country that is obsessed with the sport (you should hear the whinging they've been doing about NZ getting dumped out of the rugby world cup on the radio phone ins).

OG and Jo on the beach at Browns Bay.

OG, espressing his dissatistfaction with the
actions of the tow away bloke people.

Day 7 (Sun 22 Oct) - Rugby World Cup final and the dogs for Rob's b'day.

Up bright and early (6am) in order to drink beer, get dressed up in 'dead man's clothes' (v old shockingly bad taste suits from a local charity shop) and hit a bar in town to watch England make a good stab at winning the final in time for the 8am kick off. Was a great atmosphere - with loads of singing and screaming (i.e. pissed up - at 8am) England and SA fans in their team's colours. Atmosphere was similar to a busy bar on a Friday night, but at 8am on a Saturday. We then went for some breakie at an American style diner and had the car towed away as we stuck it in the wrong bay. Whoops! It was 10.30am on a Sat and town was dead. Fair enough we made a mistake but these people really are low lives. There was loads of spaces in the wrong bit as well as in the right bit next door. The result - a taxi to the compound and a $200 release fee, thank you very much.

OG, Rob and me at 8.30am, looking snappy and enjoying a beverage.

Rob and bro showing a bit of brotherly love at the after dogs house party.

Musical aside

Been listening to some albums. Listen to the Polly Jean track below. Is the greatest thing since sliced wombat. I really love the album (White Chalk), although sometimes she sings so high pitched only dogs can hear it. Her lyrics are great as well - apart maybe for the one where she goes an about her boots being on the floor, but makes it sound a bit too much like boobs (which conjures up all kinds of unpleasant images). I prefer this to the new Radiohead album at the mo, by quite a way (though Reckoning is a class song, also below).

The Devils - PJ Harvey
http://youtube.com/watch?v=SSqRJbA9Duo

Reckoner - Radiohead
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Tv2GvJyY5JY