New Zealand Kingfisher

Just spotted this bird out of our back window today and thought he looked suspiciously like a Kookaburra so I took a photo. After a bit of research it turns out he is a cousin of the Kookaburra and is a New Zealand kingfisher (aka the Sacred Kingfisher). These guys and the kookaburra are related to all Kingfishers. Here endeth the lesson on birds of NZ.

Karate Grading

Yesterday was also my latest Karate grading - I was attempting to go up to the next level which was Advanced Yellow. I am pleased to report that it all went well and that I successfully got my black tab for my yellow belt. Hurrah!

The next grading is in June and that will be for Green belt.

(just realised that I still haven't posted photos of this new house we are in - the carpet in this photo tells you a little bit about the age of the decor!)

Blackcaps versus Australia

Yesterday was yet another afternoon at the Westpac stadium, this time we were there to watch the Cricket One day International between NZ(The Blackcaps) and the arrogant Aussie's.

This was the final game in the series that Australia had already won by by winning 3 of the games so far so there really wasn't much to play for. However, as us Scots can understand - there is always a good reason to stuff your sporting neighbours. There is also always good reason as a spectator to get really drunk whilst watching.

We were there from 2pm until about 10pm and I can honestly say that I didn't watch much of the cricket. I was however looking forward to seeing Australian batting legend Ricky Ponting play so when he came on the match had my full attention - unfortunately for Ricky (and me) he got caught first ball and off he went. I went back to drinking beer.

We then went into town with Katie's Australian colleague Clint - and had a bit of a wild night on the town - still recovering!

Round the Bays 2010

Katie and I went for a run recently and here are a couple of shots that a "professional" took (seriously) that we have borrowed rather than paid $25 for.

For the statisticians amongst you

Katie did the 7k in 34 minutes

I did the 21k in 1hr 48 minutes

;o)

ACDC gig

So we arrive back in Wellington after our Australian adventure and the next big thing on the agenda was ACDC at the Westpac stadium.

Paul had sneakily managed to get a ticket for the gig from Scotland and it was all go - Paul had already seen them in Glasgow and had raved non-stop about the show, the fact he was really excited about seeing them again made the whole build up even better.

We went for the obligatory few beers before the gig but we were determined to get there nice and early to soak up some atmosphere so Paul, Steve and I headed off to the stadium. when we arrived we found out that there were different areas and depending on which ticket you had you might be restricted to the back of the field. Paul, having purchased his ticket much later than ours, unfortunately ended up in zone 3 when Steve and I were in zones 1&2. We were gutted, for Paul to have travelled all this way and to be so excited about the concert then to end up in a different area from us would have been a nightmare. (In reality it would actually have meant Steve would have been on his own though as I would have stayed at the back with Paul.)

Anyway, what happens is if you are in the front sections you present your ticket and get a blue band - I was racking my brains thinking about ways in which we could beg for or obtain a blue band from somewhere when my eyes were drawn to the ground near where the blue band fella was standing. There was a stray blue band lying on the floor next to his feet - it was a sign! A chance I had to take - so I hid my own band and swooped on the other one as if I had just dropped it, scooped it up right in front of a couple of Police officers and hastily made my way back to Paul and Steve.

It was an absolutely amazing stroke of luck - the band was in perfect nick and it now meant that as soon as Paul had that band on his wrist nobody would check his ticket again and we would be all together for the gig down the front. Fantastic.

So we made our way down to the front and had a flippin amazing time. Lots of noise, bouncing up and down and a spectacular set from the old geezers.

Best concert ever, and one that i will be thinking about long into old age. (when I will probably still be wearing the T-shirt Paul bought me)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gXTxWAeaj4

Attention!

Sorry about the lack of entries recently - just to let you know that I have put in 3 or so new entries tonight so you will need to use the links to see the older posts.

Hope you are well! (and not too cold!)

I lied - here are some tennis shots I couldn't leave out

Mornington Peninsula

In true 100mph fashion we decided to give the tennis a rest and get out of Melbourne in an effort to show Paul and Lorna (both new to Australia) some wildlife and some countryside. We hired a car from a company who employed a crazy girl from LA

(here is the car)



and we splashed out the extra $10 to get a sat nav because there was somewhere we needed to go in Melbourne before we headed south that a Sat Nav would take us straight to - one of the best known Australian streets for people in the UK - Pin Oak Court.

Don't recognise it? Perhaps you will recognise it from the photos.




Yep, you guessed it - home of Harold, Madge, Mrs Mangel and Helen Daniels (not forgetting Bouncer) - Ramsay Street.

I must admit when I suggested the trip (Katie and I had been there before) I thought that Lorna and Paul wouldn't really enjoy it but they both loved it! (as you can see from the sheer excitement in the photos). In fairness, this street played a huge part in the teenage years of most people our age so it is quite something to finally stand there. (even the 2nd time) Paul was never a huge Neighbours fan but even he conceded that it was pretty cool to be standing where Kylie had once tread.

Once we had gotten over the excitement we reprogrammed the SatNav and headed for a beautiful part of Victoria - the Mornington Peninsula and in particular Phillip Island where we had some more beer and caught up with some of the local wildlife.

an unimpressed Koala (you shouldn't call him a bear by the way)


A Kookaburra





The main attraction down at Phillip Island though is the dusk penguin march - we weren't allowed to take any photos so here is a penguin photographed yesterday to give you an idea what we saw......



ok, so that's obviously not right so here is a photo I found on the net that gives you more of an idea - picture thousands of penguins running up the beach to go and meet their kids and regurgitate some smelly fish;



It was one heck of a trip and it was a quick one - just an overnight stay so we packed in an awful lot. It was back to Melbourne for our final night and there had been another surprise development in our plans. An old friend of mine who I last saw in 1996 had flown into Melbourne especially to say hi. Tanya now lives in Cairns and has two wee kids, she was asking for everyone back home and said she has such fond memories of her time in Glasgow - she really hasn't changed a bit.



So that as they say was that - our time in Melbourne was at an end. We all flew out the next day and the way things worked Paul actually flew into Wellington an hour before Katie and I got there. When we arrived we were all absolutely knackered and Paul and I only had two days to prepare for the ACDC concert (as part of the surprise Paul had also booked a concert ticket - I was already going!). So in true Brown brother style we went to the pub and came second in the pub quiz to a team of 16.

Some more Tennis action

I am not going to bore you with all of our tennis shots (we have many) so this will be the final tennis post - if you want to see all the tennis shots then go to www.flickr.com/katieandsteph88

For the rest of the time at the Open we spent most of our time soaking up the atmosphere, soaking up the beer and basically cramming in as much action as possible.

Notable tennis highlights were:

1) Seeing Andy Murray play a few times and getting our Scotland flag signed.
2) Queueing for 3 hours to get tickets to the Rod Laver to see Federer.
3) Seeing the William's sisters play doubles.
4) Recording a segment for Eurosport where we had to walk towards the camera and shout C'mon Murray. I am not sure if it was ever broadcast but Lorna's brother said he did see us in the crowd at one point.

Here are the final tennis pics







I almost forgot - Prince William turned up at the Federer game - I'll bet he didn't queue for 3 hours.



He seemed like a good laugh though and when someone n the crowd shouted "give us a wave" - he laughed and did indeed give a wave! Good lad.

Australian Open

Once we had checked into our hostel we then had to plan our strategy for getting some maximum tennis action and trying to see most of Murray's games.

Katie had already managed to secure some tickets from her colleagues which was great but we had to plan when to use them to fit in everything we wanted to do whilst in Melbourne. Primarily we planned to drink beer and watch tennis but we did have other things to do as well.

Off we went to the tennis then and it was spectacular, they put on quite a show in Melbourne and we were all blown away with how simple everything was. The way it worked out it made sense for Lorna to become a Member (there was a decent package available that Katie already had as a member) so we got some more tickets and access to the members lounge.

On the first day we got into the Hisense arena and there we got to see Del Potro, Roddick, Henin and Dementieva. 4 big stars done in day 1. Here are some shots.









It's hard to describe exactly what the atmosphere was like but it was all pretty laid back mixed with almost a football type of supporter - singing songs, waving flags and generally having a good time.