Tag Archives: Events

Saturday at the Races

9 Apr

The horse races are a pretty big deal down in Australia with everyone putting on their best clothes and heading down to the track to hopefully make a buck or two. We woke up and my buddy Bazzo’s place and cooked a big breakfast to line our stomachs for the huge day we were about to have. (Beers and eggs are a fantastic combo FYI) We got all kitted up in our best attires and continued to our friend Matt’s place for the next pre drink venue. We got to the races just before noon and everyone was all dressed fancy and in a great mood. I tried following some instructions on the betting but my luck just didn’t seem to pan out; I might still have to keep my day job. We hit the town of Brisbane afterwards and showed the bar how to really dance. It was a long day by the end of it and surprised I lasted that long but I can’t wait until the next one.

Foggy

Horse Races

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My First Cricket Game

6 Mar

The lads all met up after work and we headed down to Wespac Stadium to catch some 20/20 cricket. I have gotten pretty into the sport down here but had never actually seen it live yet. 20/20 form means that each team gets 20 overs to bat (in baseball terms an over is 6 pitches long) and takes about as long as a baseball game would. There are the obvious similarities between the two sports with someone throwing a ball at a batter and the fielders trying to get them out. The best similarity though was that cricket fans like their beer as much as baseball fans do. It was an awesome night and I felt like I was back at Safeco watching the Mariners kick the Blue Jays ass.

Foggy

Wellington

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Wellington Sevens

15 Feb

People inWellingtonhave to put up with a lot living in this city. The constant wind capable of thwarting any sunny day, the hipster scene growing far too out of control and the price of a beer costing the majority of your pay cheque, but all is forgotten on one weekend during the summer. For one weekendWellingtonplays host to the biggest party inNew Zealandand possibly one of the biggest ones I have ever attended. The Wellington Sevens tournament drawing all top rugby sevens teams from across the globe. This is no regular sporting event though; everyone dresses up in their best costumes and heads down to the two day event. New Zealand not being into Halloween(one of my favourite days of the year) I felt a little cheated when I did not get to dress up back in October but this weekend well made up for it. The boys herded together in their cow costumes and went off to the venue. The whole walk to the stadium is a party within itself checking out everyone’s getups. Once inside not a second of rugby is watched and the mayhem really begins. You do not get out of your costume for two full days which of course makes the walk of shame that much better. In the endNew Zealandwon the tournament in the one game people actually decided to turn around and watch. The weekend was just another event on the growing list of amazing things this country has to offer and I can’t wait for the next one to creep up.

Foggy

Wellington Sevens

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Australian Open

24 Jan

Got off the plane in Melbourne and headed straight for Burley and Kate’s place to enjoy some beers and watch the tennis for the night. Early the next morning I kitted up in my shorts and singlet and caught the tram to the grounds of the Australian Open. This was the number one thing I wanted to do on this trip as the Australian Open is my favourite tennis tournament ever since my buddy Chris opened up his restaurant to watch the finals late into the night a couple of years ago. Sitting there enjoying beers in the dark restaurant I promised myself I would go to the tourney. Two years later I found myself outside the gates with no ticket in hand. The tickets were all sold out and after asking around, everybody seemed to be in the same situation I was. I decided to make a sign that read “1 ticket needed please”. A whole hour passed and I was verging the point of giving up when a group of three approached me and asked if I needed a ticket. I asked how much they wanted for it and they refused any money and told me I would just have to behave because I was sitting with them. I thanked them and entered the grounds with them and then on into Rod Laver Arena. We took our seats and watched the rest of Maria Sharapova (4) vs. Angelique Kerber (30) and then watched Novak Djokovic (1) vs. Nicolas Mahut.  After the games I hit the beer gardens for the night sessions before catching the tram back to the house. They were having a party so I joined in on the festivities until the early hours of the morning.

Australian Open

I woke up on Sunday with the bright sun shining in on me, I was too hot to sleep any longer so I set out for another day at the Open. I actually had tickets for Sunday so I did not have to repeat my pan handler technique of the previous day. I made my way to my seats and found them directly in the sun. I watched the first match between Agnieszka Radwanska (8) and Julia Goerges (22) and could not take the heat any longer as I was dripping with sweat. I made my way to the gift shop to buy a hat and then got some cold beers before hitting my seats again for Tomas Berdych (7) vs. Nicolas Almagro (10). Luckily the shade line was creeping towards me and it engulfed my seats before I had to bail out again. After the game I was cruising around when a gorgeous Australian girl caught my eye, I was stuck staring as my jandal* caught a lip and tore it right off. My momentary lapse left me walking on the hot ground with bare feet the rest of the day. Hoping from different shadowy grounds I finally made it to the Heineken tent. I saw a group of girls and went and joined them for some drinks. We watched the Federer game together and then they invited me out for the night. I told them about the footwear problem and they quickly offered up a hair elastic to temporarily fix the problem. I threw on my change of clothes and we hit the town of Melbourne for some drinks. It was a perfect way to end the weekend before I took the flight back to New Zealand the next day. It wasn’t a cheap weekend and I will be living off the bare minimum until next pay day but completely worth it to cross off one of the highest ranking events on my bucket list.

Foggy

*Jandal- The terrible kiwi word for flip flops

Australian Open

Australian Open

Australian Open

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Earthquake Fun

4 Dec

It was just another casual Saturday night in Wellington. Tom and I went down to the TSB arena to watch some New Zealand Roller Derby. It was between races when our seats were suddenly rattled quite sharply. Half the audience got up and walked out and the rest of us sat there in amazement. Debris floated down from the rafters and I was left feeling a little shaken. I still didn’t really know what had happened because it was so sudden. We were finally told it was an earthquake, it was a 5.7 magnitude that struck off the coast of Picton. This is now the second earthquake I have felt down here but I have never felt one that strong. The feeling in my chest took a while to subside, but eventually got over it. Now I just hope that is the biggest one I will face.

Foggy

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All Blacks Parade

26 Oct

I ducked out of work for a little while to brave the elements and watch The All Blacks Victory Parade in Wellington.

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Rugby World Cup Final

25 Oct

The boys decided that if The All Blacks made the World Cup Final we would drive up to Auckland. Once the semi-final was won the road trip was set in stone. Saturday morning we got into the car and drove the 7 hours until Taraunga where my buddy lives. We had a night of home cooking until we continued the next day up to Auckland. We stopped and got some beers for the drive (which is legal in New Zealand) and smashed it out. We got to our home base and took in the warm sun which we haven’t felt it a while.

We walked to Eden Park to try and score some scalpers but there were none to be seen so we cabbed downtown. Our driver just happened to be a Calgary Flames fan so there was some great banter in the car. The streets were packed but we eventually found a bar that would let us in. The game started and New Zealand went silent, you could feel the collective nerves of a whole country riding on the next 80 minutes. After the final kick went out the liveliness came back to the streets and New Zealand was again World Champs. We all poured out into the street and threw high fives to anyone we passed. It definitely brought me back to the Olympics in Vancouver but not on the same scale. 24 years after they won their only World Cup The All Blacks finally got their hands on it again. The long wait was worth it as the party that night was on another level.

Foggy

Rugby World Cup

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rugby World Cup

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Oktoberfest

26 Sep

My friend Franzi picked me up and we drove down to Munich together. We met up with his 2 buddies from Australia Paulo and Keeno and a friend from Austria Lisa. The 5 of us piled into a tiny hotel room for two and the debauchery began.

We chose the Hoffen Brau tent to set up shop and settled in with a large table of Aussie’s that Paulo and Keeno knew. The huge beers started flowing and we thought it would be a good idea to do a big cheers photo. We all wound up and smashed our glasses but one of them exploded and cut Franzi’s knuckle, he was then whisked away to the medical tent. People would get up on the table and thousands of people would be cheering you on to down your whole 1 litre of beer, but if you messed up be prepared for boos and half eaten chicken carcasses to be flown at you. I eventually met up with Franzi and we went to go purchase Lederhosen, we spent way too much money but at least now we fit in.

The next day was filled with more of the same except now that I was wearing the lederhosen I was being grabbed in every direction by ladies in the tent. It was a wild day that ended in me having to take my bags and head to the train station. An overnight train to Frankfurt followed by a plane back to Vancouver, all the time wearing my lederhosen. I feel bad for the people sitting next to me on those rides as I must have stunk of meat and beer the whole way home.

Foggy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oktoberfest

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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