Santa's coming to town

Who's that?<


So guess who got to decide who's been naughty or nice? Yup, yours truly. Had about 50 kids ages 8 months to 6 years all around me, giddy as hell, waiting for me to call out their name and give them a present. The smiles, the happy faces, the scared faces, the believing faces, it was all good.

I got driven up in a car (wearing a seatbelt of course, must set the good example) waving out the window and ho ho ho-ing. Kids gathering around getting all excited as I got out with my bag of presents. Felt like a celebrity, decked out in a wicked beard and costume, snazzy pillow belly to boot.

Sitting in a throne (what I call it, others might say chair), I was handed presents for each of the kids by my elves (flatmate Hannah and her coworker) and called out their names. Talk about having people's attention, all the parents and kids waiting for the name to be called out, pretty darn cool. Got some compliments on how Santa didn't sound like just a typical Kiwi, but rather international, perhaps from the north pole. At least the northern hemisphere and like he sounds in movies.

All was good, kids were happy, presents were opened and then there was just the one kid right in front of me, super eager the whole time and it turned out he didn't have a present while every other kid did. He was the brother of one of the kids at the school, and all the siblings only got presents if the parents brought one. Turned out they didn't and little Max had a big pout cause he wasn't leaving til Santa gave him a present. Lovely. At that time, Santa was thanked and escorted out leaving the parents (who didn't get him the present in the first place) to deal with the kiddo. More waves and happiness on the exit, a quick change in the car and I was back to being the sex symbol I am.

Good times, good times, giving happiness to one and all. Now I'm packing the bags and getting ready to head up to the northern hemisphere to a little country called the USA for a thing we call a White Christmas. Better get me some snow, none of this cold, cloudy, shite weather. Want the real deal and looking forward to seeing every member of my family that's currently in the US.

Flat roast

Had us a traditional Kiwi roast the other night. Roast pork with roasted veg (sweet potato, carrot, parsnip, potato, garlic and pepper) along with mint peas, gravy and apple sauce. It was a feast and fed all 6 of us. Damn fine stuff cooked up by Laura. Fun stuff to get the flatmates all together for a meal, chatting it up. Good people and been a fun flat so far.
Pic of Laura and Sam cutting up the roast, plus one of the steaming roast on our olive green 70s counter

Roller Derby

Last weekend I went to my first roller derby game. To put it short, it was amazing. One of my workmates is on a team and so as well as supporting her, the fact that women wearing leotards on roller skates bump each other as a sport sounds amazing. Fairly simple rules, the skaters have one person who can score, called the jammer. The jammer scores points by skating past her teammates. The other 4 on the team try to allow her to get by, while the 4 on the other team try to stop her. Simple stuff.

The arena was packed, over a 1000 people there for the championship bout (not a match, or game, but a bout). Signs supporting their favorite players, such as Thigh Voltage, Huttbreaker or Punk Pantha for example. Lots of enthusiasm that just grew with the game as people actually started to understand what was going on. Towards the end, it got close, but my mate's team, Smash Malice won. Big celebration and the crowd loved it.

As Wellington is pretty small, there are only 2 teams so far and they practice with each other, so there's no real animosity. Good natured and yet physical, the girls battled to the finish, with some good time spent in the penalty box for being too rough. I thought it was a great sport, but my mates weren't so sure, with a couple saying one and done, but I'm keen for the bout against Auckland in a few weeks. Here are some pics and videos to check out.

Yesterday hit both the lower and upper parts of society with visits to the mental hospital and a red carpet movie premiere.

One of our most loyal and crazier customers is a local busker named Simon, always in the cafe, from when I get there to at the end of the day at 3am when we close. Quite a character and always with interesting stories and hypotheses. Not exactly everyone's favorite person, but someone you expect to see. Couple days ago we got a call that he was in the mental hospital and wanted to see some friendly faces, so I went with my co-worker, Rebekah, to check him out.

First trip to the land of the crazies was pretty fun. Signing in and then going through 5 long corridors through lots of doors to get to the ward he was in, and then got locked into his ward. Got a big ol' hug and lots new stories, which were still along the same lines as before. He's living large there with free coffee, food and a private room, along with a shrink and the best yet, a basketball court. Fenced in outside, next to the smoking room, we shot a few hoops, watched the short guy try to dunk it over and over to no avail and had Simon demand a tornado to come along with the wind. Hypotheses ranged from the the silent revolution, to how England looks like a man sitting on a pig. He'll be out soon, within the week most likely, as he's not as nuts as the woman who kept talking to herself and pacing the halls the entire time.

In the evening I attended the premiere of the German Film Festival, first annual with the German ambassador, Wellington Mayor and other hot shots, including 2 German film directors. Pretty sweet stuff, being in the largest theatre where they had the Lord of the Rings premiers.

The red carpet led into the foyer where an old Trabi (standard East German car) was chilling. Going on 20 years since the wall fell down, Nov 9th coming up. This festival is to tell the story of Germany and the stuggles around that time, and the film shown did just that. With a reception of free German beer, wine and snacks afterwards, it was quite a nice evening. Saw a bunch of familiar faces from the Goethe Insititute who I'm still in touch with as well as other friends from around town.

Quite a solid day off after a day of beating my squash partner in 3 out of 5 games, damn if feels good to be a gangster.

Ah yeah, sweep of the Cards in the first round. Divisional series coming up. Pretty pumped about it down in New Zealand. Rocking it like they should, a return to the glory days of the late 80s.

Urban Golf

We hit up the streets of Wellington once again for a round of golf in parking lots, alleys and side streets. The fashion was in full effect and there was actually a hole in one, sadly not mine.

For those who don't know, urban golf is the sport of golf played with a tennis ball around the city, finding potholes down alleys to use as holes, going up and down levels, around corners and with many water hazzards (puddles) in the way. It's a blast having people stop and check us out around town, not sure what we're doing, although it's pretty obvious. Golf clubs, golf attire and balls, pretty simple stuff.

Here's some pics for better clarification:

Sad day in island paradise

Super sad news about Samoa. I spent 4 nights in one of the hardest hit places, over 40 dead there. Pretty crazy seeing the Friday paper with before and after pictures of where we stayed on the cover. Just devastaed. I have the same before picture and now it's completely gone. On the news footage I saw an empty cement block where theh dining hall and bar had once stood. Quite different from all the fun times we had there.

Thoughts go out to all the families in Samoa. Tough times. But I'm glad I was able to see the country and enjoy the culture before it was changed.

Samoa!

Living it up on the island of Upolu in Samoa


Location is everything says our beach hut


Mr Peacock and Mr Turtle



Hey everyone! Hope things are good wherever you are, whether it's turning to fall or mid spring already.

I just got back from an amazing holiday out in Samoa, super chill and laid back island culture. I travelled with my flatmate Sam for 8 days, over which I turned 25 years old. We explored both of the main islands spending many an hour upon the beach, both in the water and out. The hair was pretty salty by the end and the mattress was filled with sand every night. We spent the nights in open beach huts called Fales. No locks, no frills, just a mattress, sheet and mosquito net with thatch wall hangings to cover the sides if wanted and just a few steps away from the water.

Got to swim with 8 turtles out in a lagoon. Pretty friendly animals that come right up to you. Fun to swim around with them and get smacked in the back when wasn't looking. They'd often gain up on us, surrounding us and get in a good whack when we weren't looking. Fed them some papaya and they loved it.

Outside of Apia, the capital, we slid down a couple waterfalls which didn't look too safe, but turned out to be just grand. In the city we hit up the food market where you get fresh coconuts, taro, vegetables and fish. Just make sure you buy the fish from the place where they wave a fan around the keep the flies away.

Snorkelling was amazing, with schools of fish all around and bright blue starfish a shallow dive down. One of the places we stayed had a great coral reef just 15 feet out.

I helped cooked a traditional Samoan meal, starting with making fire by hand and using hot stones to cook the food. Using fresh coconuts that a guy climbed a 50 foot tree to get, along with fresh vegetables and fresh fish, we cooked the meal over the stones with lots of leaves on top keeping the heat in. Turned out to be a damn tasty meal along with the freshly cut coconuts which had been cut open for us.

Played some beach volleyball, met lots of cool people, saw several whales, ate lobster and crab caught off the shore and just lived it up. Now I'm back ready to rock in Wellington, NZ. Good to be back with some structure in the life, working at the same cafe and loving it. The visa extension is taking a few turns, but is nearing completion as my current visa runs out. Pretty soon I'll be all set to stay legally and enjoy my time down here in the coming summer, and then start planning a big trip up through Australia and SE Asia when the summer ends in March.

Here are some pics of the latest trip. Enjoy!

http://picasaweb.google.com/JustusPB/Samoa#

Cheers,
Justus

Off to Samoa

Tomorrow my flatmate Sam and I are off to Samoa. We leave Saturday at 10am from Wellington and get into Samoa Friday night at 9pm, so I'll get to have 2 Friday nights. When we come back I lose a Sunday night, a fair trade in my opinion thanks to the international dateline.

It's currently windy and rainy, so a perfect time to take off north to a more tropical south pacific island. Aim to be swimmin with turtles by this time tomorrow, with a volcano in the background.

I had a bout with the flu that kicked my butt and kept me in bed for 5 days, but now I'm back on top of my game, full of attitude and life. Good to be back and rocking, ready for the holiday.

Still working on getting my visa sorted out, luckily I got my passport back so I can leave the country, but it may be a bit tricky upon returning as my current visa ends the 30th of this month, a few days after I get back from Samoa.

I'll be turning 25 on holiday, celebrating by chilling on a beach and snorkeling around. Going to be cruisy.

Hope everyone is rocking and rolling.

Next time, pictures from Samoa and stories of the adventures.

The weather has turned and it's definitely spring with sunny days, and clear cold nights. The allergy season has started for people and we get more and more sunlight. It just gets better and better.

Today I've been out urban golfing with some mates around town. We play different holes around town that we made up, choosing some spot in the distance, around the corner, across a back alley, over stairs etc. which we then hit our tennis balls towards. The slight hills around town make it a challenge, plus parked cars and busy streets, but it's a damn good time. Plus the golf fashion is in full effect.

Every Saturday I've been playing hoops with my mate Steve from work with other people. Getting more and more people and today had our first fullcourt game of 4x4. Good times and new people every week.

In the month of August, the zoo is only $5 on Wednesdays so Rebekah from work and I went to check out the new monkeys, Pgymy Marmosets, smallest in the world and the rest of the animals. The monkeys are about the side of a coke can and walk in slow motion, with quirky head motions, plus they look funky. Check out the pic down below. The best 2 animals at the zoo are the red panda (more of a racoon)and the sun bear (more of a monkey bear). Watched the tiger get fed and fed a giraffe myself.

Got a trip to Samoa coming up in a few weeks for the birthday. Going to get solid summer sun, hike to waterfalls and volcanos, swim to underwater caves and go down natural rock slides on waterfalls as well as chilling at the beach.

Work's going good as always, busy as with the good weather and making some great food. I've got the art of making a basic coffee down as well as rocking the kitchen. Good people there, one big happy family.

Feeding the giraffes at the zoo
Marmoset monkeys at the Wellington zoo, smallest in the world

Morning sunrise from our balcony

Hello! You still out there? Someone has been slacking on the blog front. Life's been busy in Wellington, filled with work, friends, a new flat and some cold weather. It's been 3 months since I got back from my van travels. Time has flown by, but it's good to be in a fun city with a lot going on and busy days.

Midnight Espresso is still as busy as ever, the students are back from their 2 week holiday which did slow things down a bit, but now with the youth and a new pinball machine, the cafe is bumping. I've added some new spicy peanut egg rolls to the counter food as well as continuing to make my vegan and gluten free chocolate nut cupcakes that sell big time. It's fun to try new things out and then to perfect them and make them something that people come back for.

Although I have a full time job, it feels like a holiday for me as it's fun and laid back and I only work 4 days. Still almost 40 hours in 4 days isn't exactly easy on the body with lots of standing up. But it's a good time and I'm still enjoying it. With my days off I've been getting a lot of music from the library as well as books to catch up on everything from ancient numeric systems to trademark logos. Plus on Mondays I can get any movie for $1 at the local video shop so I'm playing catchup with some movies.

I'm in the final stages of extending my visa. Immigration called to check on payment and said all was in order, so it sounds like it passed, but I haven't received the official confirmation yet. With the visa extension, I'll be able to stick around until Sept 2010 if I want to. Just keeping the options open.

Lastly, the flat is still going great. My German flatmate Stefan got the travel bug from our travels around and decided to take off for Indonesia. So he's been gone for a couple weeks now and we have a new guy in his room now. Now I'm the only foreigner here, living with 5 Kiwis. Still a fun place and we're having a good time together, joking around and going out. It's a great flat with an amazing view and good times.

Hope all is well with everyone. Must be warmer up in the northern hemisphere. We average around 10 degrees celcius now which is high 40s in farenheit. Pretty nippy with the wind when it's in full effect, but managable. Can't wait for the summer to come again, plus I'm planning a trip to Samoa in the near future to get some warm island beach experience in.

Cheers,
Justus

I've been in the new flat for over 2 weeks and things are going great. Went to the dump shop today where everything is super cheap and they sell literally everything from skis to paints to candlesticks. Got some excellent things to finish up the room with the highlights being a sliding door that has become the top of my table. It's all polished and comes complete with a brass handle that gives it good character to match the flat. I also got an old poster of James Dean advertising for McDonalds. Not sure if it's legit, but it's pretty funny.

Been super busy at work as always. Just did 40 hours in 4 days, over a busy weekend which was fun, but tiring. Went with a friend to see Shakespeare's Richard II done in a circus style. Different, interesting and hilarious. Also went to a mate's birthday party at an old cinema he'd rented out on Friday night. Awesome venue, with lots of old movie memoribilia and some classic films to watch.

The weather had been super cold, but we just had a good week of sun most days, after not seeing it for 5 days. Slight snow flurries in that patch, but now we're on to traditional fall weather down here after setting record lows. It's tolerable and the room isn't too cold which is nice. Plus working in a kitchen with free heat is an extra bonus.

View from my living room

James Dean munching on some McDonalds poster I bought at the dump shop

My table, set up with 6 milk crates and an old polished sliding door for the top, full of books and paint

The room setup these days

The bread crates that keep my bed above ground and airated

All moved in to the new flat

So I'm in my new flat now, moved over this morning. Feels pretty damn good to be here. I've got most of my stuff organized and still have to get more furniture for the room, but that'll come quickly. I'll most likley move my couch into the room as well as add a table/desk, plus get some good posters and wall hangings to cover up the marks. I'm going to buy a base for the bed to get it off the ground to avoid mould problems and give some more storage underneath.

Storage is definitely not an issue here, it's a huge place. I've got a massive closet which pretty much does the job, plus there's hidden closets, cupboards and such all around the house. I explored them all and got some new clothes, a hot water bottle, a bunch of food and a first aid training kit including a blow up doll to practice on. Really hit the jackpot on that one.

The past couple of days have been really bad weatherwise and today is no change. My amazing view is just of flying rain, wind and clouds. So I'm excited for a good day soon to take some pictures and enjoy a primo view of the whole city.

It's fun getting to know the flatmates. Only 2 around right now, but been fun. Good people and all of them are around the same age.

I'm looking forward to being just a 5 minute walk to work, pracitally being able to see work since we're up on a hill. No more waiting for the bus in the cold and then getting to town 25 minutes later. I'm back in the city and pumped about it.

My room, with the 70s orange carpet

The huge closet on the other side of the room

The stairs from the front entrance coming up in the middle of the flat

The living room with lovely wall paneling

View from living room of the study and kitchen through the slding door

Study view looking at the kitchen, slightly lighter wood paneling on the walls

Kitchen with view of the back where we have a garage, bbq and another balcony

Looking back to the living room from the kitchen

New flat

The whole top is ours, big balcony and huge living room.

The view from the balcony of the harbour and city


While I've been cat sitting out in the ritzy suburbs, I've been looking for a new flat in town, one that I aim to stick with for the next 10 months or so of my stay in Wellington. After checking out a couple duds, I viewed one last night that was perfect. Such a wicked house with an amazing view. I don't move in for a week and a half while I cat sit, but I'm getting pretty pumped about it.

The flat is the whole top floor of a huge house, with a big balcony out back overlooking the whole city and harbour, plus a back balcony. Inside, when you come up the stairs, you are in the middle of the flat with everything all around you. Nice big kitchen and dining room, plus a spacious living room with lots of couches.

I'll have 4 flatmates, 3 girls and 1 guy. All around the same age and all workers. Going to be good company and many good times to come.

The price is super cheap for what it is and the location. I'm about a 5 minute walk to work downhill and 7 minutes uphill back to the flat so it's perfect.

Things have come along nicely. Working on getting the medical exam taken care of to extend my visa and once that's done, I'll be set to live in a cool flat, with a great job and an extended visa for a long happy time.

Tree planting

Since it's way wicked to be back in Wellington, I figured it was time to plant some roots. Not mine, but rather a tree's roots. I was at a wind power concert last week and got a free tree, just a wee little baby one. I worked 5 days straight and had no time to plant it, but on my first day off, that was exactly what I did.

A Rata, is a native tree of New Zealand. Like most countries these days, NZ is trying to plant just native trees and return it to how it used to be. of course they can't get rid of everything like the cows, sheep and vineyards which make the most money for the country. But with planting trees like the rata, steps are taken in the right direction. And yours truly is taking a couple steps, making up for all the breathing going on down in NZ. Check out more info on my tree at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metrosideros_robusta


Here are a few pics of me planting the tree, tucked away in a park with a great view of the city, the water and the hills. Should last a while before anyone notices it there and hopefully it will stay for a long long time.
My baby rata tree in it's bag admiring it's new home

The planter

Mr. Rata loving the view

Me and Katy down by the schoolyard

So I'm a bonafide catsitter these days. Yup, a change of career. This one pays differently, tossing in free accomation in a 3 story townhouse, minus any actual payment. So I'm living like a king, out in a nice suburb, living with a cat and taking a bus to work.

The life is good out here, except for the bad weather which has been rainy, windy and cloudy for a few days now. Had to borrow a bike to get into work before 6am yesterday and lets just say, the ride wasn't that nice. But the perks of not paying rent and getting the cash flow problem fixed are quite nice. The main problem with the cash flow, was that there was no cash flowing in for 2 months of travel in a van, therefore, the account got down to the double digits and I got back to working. Now with money coming in and not much going out, the future looks like I found the golden treasure of El Dorado.

I've got a sweet view from my bedroom on the third story. Overlooking a huge park with several playing fields, and Mount Kaukau across the way. I'm up on a hill which is wicked, giving a sort of valley texture to the area between myself and the mountain. I've attached a photo of a sunrise and will get more once the current clouds go away.

Hope all is rocking with everyone. Enjoy the pictures

Katy giving me the staredown

Spotting something much more interesting outside

What's that, who's playing reggae?

Sunrise colours at 6:20, time to head off to work

More travel photos

Jumping over the Moeraki Boulders
What a penguin would do if it could



The boys tackling the world's steepest street in Dunedin

Check out the beard and the steep street

That'sa me, way up there

The tranzscenic train going from Christchurch to Picton

More good views along the way from the open air viewing car

Me in the viewing car with no view at all thanks to my wonderful photographer

Kaikoura with the snow capped mountains meeting the ocean

The travels are done. It’s been a bit over 2 months and we’ve been to pretty much most of NZ. Done both islands, seeing both sides of each, plus some good stuff in the middle. The trip has been amazing and I’ll miss traveling around in the van. I’ve got to get back to civilization, taking showers not in the ocean and sleeping in a bed once again.

On Easter, I took the train from Christchurch up to Picton where I then took a ferry to Wellington. The train was definitely the highlight of the day, starting at 7am with the sunrise through the fog and out along the coast, past seal colonies, snow capped mountains, vineyards and salt flats. Pretty much you get to see a lot of types of NZ landscapes all on a 5 hour trip, in the cushiness of a train. There was a open viewing car, where you could go and get some fresh train air with no windows to mess up your photos. Pretty sweet stuff.

Now I’m back in Wellington, and back working at Midnight Espresso. Things are golden as always. It’s good to be back in town, seeing a bunch of friends in the first few days and staying with some up on a hill over the city. I’ve got myself a nice walk into the city for this week, before moving in next week to a townhouse I’ll be house sitting for. So this week, I’m close to the city and able to get around quite easily.

Work is sweet as, as the Kiwis would say. Cooking and doing some baking shifts as well. Baked some wicked peanut butter chocolate cookies yesterday that got rave reviews as did my caramel slice. It’s been fun to mess around and try new recipes, things that are typical in NZ. Baked some Anzac Biscuits today, sugary coconut cookies that are named after the Australia New Zealand Armed Corp. They’ve been baked since WWI.

The south of the south starring the Catlins

Nugget Point Sunrise
The scruff and the falls

The southernmost point on the south island

The travelers see Stewart Island in the distance

Big Blue spends a night on the beach


Named after a former landowner, the Catlins is basically the very southern part of NZ, along the water, full of beaches, waterfalls, caves, fields and heaps of sheep. At Slope Point, you are at the southernmost part of the south island. Since we’d already been to the northernmost point on the north island, it was customary to be a good tourist and do the bottom of the bottom. Pretty rough water out there, with a few islands a ways off being the actual southern part of NZ. We saw some sweet 4 tiered waterfalls along with an old shipwreck from 50 years ago. Several lighthouses, along with seal sightings were other stops that we hit up along the way, going from sealed to unsealed roads, taking our time, enjoying it all and trying to stay ahead of the rain, which we actually did for a while.

For about the third night in a row, we ended up camping on top of a hill. With it being autumn and having had a cold spell lately, it was again a cold night. Bundled up in some woolen socks that were used in Antarctica (not sure if that means they work in the cold, or they didn’t work and therefore were sent back) and an extra blanket, we made it through to wake up for another sunrise. Unlike the last few days where there were too many clouds, we had some breaks of blue skies for the sunrise over Nugget Point.

Nugget Point is unbelievable. Nugget shaped rocks spread around the water, with a lighthouse on the cliffs above make it a good photo op. Watching the sun come up, with nothing but you and nature, is tough to beat. That’s definitely been one of the highlights of each day on the trip. The clouds which were there, rained and then hailed on us, but that couldn’t take away from the place. Nothing like watching the sun rise, with blue skies in the distance and yet getting pelted with small frozen raindrops. Definitely better than the blowhole from the day before that wasn’t blowing. Anyways, from Invercargill through the Catlins, we made it out to the eastern part of the southland.

Dunedin is a wicked city, full of students and some great microbreweries, plus one of the best botanic gardens around. From beer tasting, to walking up the steepest paved street in the world, to viewing the city from the highest mountain around, Dunedin was a good stop. Nearby, the Otago Peninsula, is full of seals, albatrosses and lots of other wildlife. We spent a day out there, swimming around in the cold water and checking everything out. At the beach where we swam, there were some seals showing off and posing, while the penguins were in hiding. It was a wicked day, even with having to hike up for 20 minutes up sand dunes. Great views, blue skies and not many people, out in nature: what the Otago Peninusla is all about.