Bloggles

Hmm. It’s been a while since I’ve posted, hey? I blame the long and painfully drawn out process of looking for a job for my absence and lack of motivation. It has been sucking the life out of me How I wish I were back in the land of COWS (and not sheep, surprisingly!). Here are a few photos I’ve managed to scab off David’s Flickr.

Rotorua

We spent the firstleg of our trip in Rotorua where we got to experience the wonder of its geothermal activity (fart smell) and of course, the Redwoods Mountain Bike Park in Whakarewarewa Forest. It was soooo awesome. Think Stromlo but with trees and better! My favourite trails off the top of my head were: A-Trail, Be Rude Not To and definitely the Exit Trail. Bikes were hired and time was limited so we didn’t get to ride as many as we would have liked. Getting lost through Genesis and being unfit didn’t help but it was an excellent experience and I’d definitely love to go back one day if I happen to be down in NZ.

With his hired GT Force on our way into the park

Trying to navigate with our $5 waterproof map. It was hard at first but got easier as we got a feel for the place.

Me riding through the Tickler on my hired Norco. Saying I missed my Trance would be an understatement. Lagging behind means the person in front can stop to take pictures of you

On a more low key day, we visited the Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland. While there was an initial assault on our senses, the sights were worth it after some adjustment.

I forget what this was called. Maybe the “Champagne Pool”? All the minerals and what not made for awesome coloured water while the sulphur steaming out of it made for a very cool effect. Yes, my descriptive skills are at their all time high tonight!

This was the “Devil’s Home”. Radioactive-green coloured water in a crater. I think “Three-eyed Fish’s Home” would have been a better name!

Lady Knox Geyser. “When 9°C water meets 150°C waters”. Powwww! Mother Nature shooting her load.

And it wasn’t only in a nature park that you saw this kind of activity. This is a shot of a body of water that we had to ride over to get to the Redwoods. Don’t be alarmed if you see steam rising out of lakes or random holes in the ground – it’s quite normal around Rotorua.

And this concludes my post on Rotorua. I might surprise you all with other installments on the other parts of our NZ trip.

We were lucky enough to see Phoenix play last night at The Hordern. At the risk of sounding like a teenager, I have to say that they were FRICKEN AWWWWESOMMME!! Music sounds so much better live and loud and when the stage it’s coming from is ablaze with flashing coloured lights. I’m glad they didn’t disappoint. We heard old stuff as well as the new stuff and even a cover of Air’s Playground Love.  My favourite bit would have been their live rendition of If I Ever Feel Better and the round they did. A*MAZING! (ha! anyone remember that kid’s show on after school in the arvos?). We all got to hear our songs, even Thien who was hanging out to hear Funky Squaredance!

One thing that caught me by surprise was how big they actually are. I wasn’t expecting such a ‘huge’ show and the overabundance of teeny boppers but then what could I really expect? Everything is mainstream these days and suppose it all makes sense considering how catchy their music is. One thing that really pissed Rob and I off though, was hearing one teenage twat whine that she “only like[d] shit [she] c[ould] dance to” Well, Sweetheart, maybe you should stick to buying CD singles instead of coming to the whole fucking concert. Or maybe I should suggest, rather, that she stick to downloading singles off iTunes. Bitch, have some respect! Geez.

We tried the mosh during the opening act (Miami Horror) but I think my stature (or lack thereof) and misanthropy got in the way of my enjoyment of it. I got pretty narky, having people constantly push in front of me and I wasn’t sure if it was because they thought I was some sort of easy target or if they were just cunty McCunts in general. It was all good once we headed to the stands for Phoenix though (thank you Paul’s neck for playing up and presenting me with the opportunity to extract myself from the shovefest that was the mosh!), but I will always be torn by the trade off between proximity (and the chance to bust out) and actually being able to SEE the performance. What does a girl of 153cm and 45kg do in these situations?

All in all, I had an excellent time and any voice I had left from being sick was definitely gone by the end of the night. But of course, it was worth it! I don’t have any photos but here’s a video from YouTube that someone took that night.

22.01.10 – Big Day Out

We battled it out with the heat to attend our first music festival together. While it wasn’t mine, it was a first for all the boys and for Nghi (but she isn’t really a stranger to these events). Glad we made it this time after our failed attempt last year. Muse was awesome and so was Calvin Harris (for the 10 mintues of his set that we actually endured the boiler Room for. It was just way too stuffy in there). I was surprised at how many fans Dizzee Rascal actually has. Wow, he packed out that stadium like a mother fucker. Here’s some proof that we went Grape Tropical Sno snow cones saved my life!

It was so hottttt. We spent alot of time trying to stay cool in the shade during the day.

Nghi and TN. You know, chillin’.

Paul Tang a.k.a Dumpster Boy!

Why, hello there! Nghi and I could spot the boys assuming their positions in the mosh while we chilled out in the grand stand.

Chilling out in said grand stand. More like sweating it out, actaully. SO. FOCKING. HOT.

The crowd getting ready to see Dizeee Rascal perform. Wow, it sure filled up!

Here we are waiting for Muse to come on. Powderfinger’s set seemed to last aaaaaaggges. LOL @ seedy Will & TN.

Yes, we were sitting amongst all that rubbish. And again, LOL @ bad ass Will.

Our first sweaty, dirty festival together. I was shiny with a slick of sweat all day. Groossssss. You don’t know how satisfying it was to shower that night. OHHHHH LAWWWD! CLEANLINESS!

09.01.09 – Annual Camping trip at Tuncurry – Day 1

Christmas came around and it went away and we suddenly found ourselves in January which meant it was time for our annual camping trip! These little escapades started with our trip to The Entrance last year and it seems to be turning into a tradition of sorts. It was nice to kick back and relax but only after putting in the hard yards of setting up. We had to relocate because it wasn’t long before some locals approached us to tell us we were in the middle of a flooding cause way. Oops. Good thing we moved though, because our first site was plagued by mozzies and it ended up raining on our last day! That would have been interesting. Anyway, here are the first round of photos.

Rob with the Tang Mobiles all packed with our gear. Thank you Mr & Mrs Tang! Please don’t hesitate to go on holidays again, hehe.

Setting up at our first site

Ahh, Westcoast. What camping trip would be complete without a white wine cooler with fruit flavours?

I have a hideous case of out-of-control baby hair at the moment. Had to cover it up with Thien’s hat.

This is what happens after enough bottles of Westcoast, haha.

… and eventually this!

HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHEHEHHEHEHEHE.  Snail trail, anyone?

Springing into action to seize the opportunity~!

It seems no nail polish can save these Cambodian feet…

Those who have seen Blur’s Coffee and TV music video will already be familiar with Milky, the adorable milk carton who takes matters into his own hands and sets out to find his missing person. He’s so awesome, there is a whole website dedicated to him at Milkfan.com!! You can imagine how excited I was when I came across it while Googling pics of him! Check out the cool Milkys you can adopt.

Milky

Zombie Milky

Falling Over Milky

Dizzy Ecstasy Milky

And let’s not forget;

Miss Milky!

… Whose Japanese cousin we spent a buttload of money on trying to get rescue from the Skill Tester upstairs Capitol Square!

I knew I had to have her when I saw her in the machine!  I instantly thought of the Coffee and TV clip. We were about to give up before giving it one last shot but it paid off because we managed to snag two prizes at once – this little girl Milk plush and a similar Tofu shaped one. A fruitful night it was – we also succeeded in winning Thien’s Sony Cat and three other small toys including a funky smelling graduation Mashi Maro. Thanks William! I can’t really say I’m into plush toys, I think it’s more about the adrenaline rush of successfully extracting them with the claw and safely transiting them to the chute. There is so much suspense, will it make it all the way?!! I guess this is our funner and cheaper version of a night out to Star City Casino!