First off I'd like to apologise for the month long deprivation of news regarding my exploits down here in the land of the Kiwis. However there was method behind my delay; I theorised that the longer I procrastinated the updates, the more I would have to talk about with you lovely people back home. And believe you me, folks, you and I have a lot of catching up to do.
But before we dive into what I've been doing in the month since we last spoke, I'd just like to let you know that my photo albums on Facebook have been updated, and can be viewed by following this link here:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/album.php?aid=145622&id=719348724
Anyway, without further ado, here is the news.
As I said, many exciting things have happened, so I will tell them in chronological order. One week after my last update, I experienced my first live Rugby match; the local Dunedin team, the Highlanders, playing against a foreign team, the Lions, (who are apparently at the bottom of the league) at Carlsbrook Stadium, also known as the "House of Pain", so called due to the fact that any opposing team playing there would have it's arse handed to them...at least in the old days. Anyway, it was a good fun experience, and the seats were not half bad either, seeing as John had acquired tickets to a private box...however, this did also hamper the experience for me, as I was not allowed to shout...and, indeed, got in trouble for doing so on a few occasions. Anyway, it was a good game, and ultimately the Highlanders won 39-29...good thing too, as losing to the worst team in the league would have just been mortifying.
Anyway, things were a little quiet for a while, with nothing of very much interest happening, although I did attend a very interesting lecture, (being university staff I was able to get in), given by a former member of the CIA with regards to Fidel Castro, and what the USA tried doing about him, with some rather Pythonesque plans that fortunately never got off the ground, such as an LSD laced cigar. I also got drunk during the after function, but let us not dwell on that. Moving on.
The next really interesting thing that I have done was on Easter Sunday, where Claire, John and I went to see the "Warbirds Over Wannaka" air show, and let me tell you, it was absolutely fantastic, with mock dogfights, aerial stunts, demonstrations of military tech, air races, sky divers, explosions from mock bombing runs, formation flying, wing-walkers and one of the last few remaining Japanese Zero fighter planes on display, it was truly worth every penny. If you are interested, then check out my photos of the day by following the link above. I apologise about the quality, but I only had my digital camera to hand, and it's not really suited for long distance photos.
Anyway, things have been pretty quiet for the rest of the month, Claire has started her "travel cycle" portion of work, so it has been just John and myself, recently. Anyway, last Thursday I decided to have a bit of an adventure, so I booked a ticket on the Taieri Gorge Railway tour, (both Claire and John recommended doing it, so I figured what the heck). And let me tell you, it was absolutely amazing...the scenery out there...you just wouldn't believe it...it was just mind boggling, the sheer beauty and scale of it all. Well you'll be able to see some of it for yourselves after I publish the photos. Anyway, last Saturday we also went to the wedding of Mark and Leah, (Mark being Paul's younger brother), I was volunteered to help prepare the venue for the party, along with Claire, John, Emma and the rest of the gang, and that was all well and good; good food, good music, however, there wasn't much dancing, at least until people had had enough to drink.
Right, so that pretty much brings you up to speed in the important events which have happened in the last month, now onto more local news, as it were.
Work has been going fine, however, as the leaves have started to drop with true intent now, we are now fighting a losing battle with nature, even though they will eventually stop, this fact does little to quell the frustration felt when the wind blows through a pile of leaves that you have just bloody finished raking/sweeping! Ahem, anyway, what else, oh yes, Simon's XBOX 360 suffered from the red ring of death early on in the holidays, so as you can imagine he has had a rather dull Easter, at least until he pulled out his original XBOX.
And that, as they say, is that. You are now fully updated in everything I have done in the last month, and I promise you now that I will not allow a build up of this degree again. I'm serious, I will not go back on it. I swear.
Anyway, I hope that you are all doing well out there, and that you are having a good time.
Laters, Alex
PS. this is to Matt, Katie, Dion, Sam, Miran, Brewer and all my other friends out there: Please get Skype if you can. Its not difficult, its free, and it will allow me to talk to you guys face to face...sort of.
Bye.
