Goat Island snorkeling

This weekend I went snorkeling at Goat Island with Eri and Rob from work. It was extraordinary.

There were colourful fish everywhere. So many that I have never seen before. The largest ones were the snappers. One was almost as long as my arm (seriously, not fisherman's talk). And they are not shy. I touched one and was just as surprised as the fish was.

Caves
We swam around on the leeward side of the island were the waters were most calm. Here there were some caves which begged exploring. Unfortunately I didn't bring a flashlight and the caves were completely dark. Completely. Imagine complete darkness and you in the water. I was done exploring real soon.

Photo credit: Jessicaoneil

A ray and some eggs

At one point I found a cluster of squid eggs. I whirled them up from the sand and a large snapper came by and ate one. That happened between my hands.

Later an eagle ray came by. The way it glides is so graceful. We were reverent. Rays are out of this world. Also, we didn't know if it was a stingray, so we kept a respectful distance as it passed.

The magic of Goat Island is found below the surface

I love driving in New Zealand, its scenic everywhere
Photo by Eri

Did anyone say paradise?
Photo by Eri

I had such a great time. I feel like I should thank the guy we rented equipment from. He had everything we needed. For a fair price we all got suited up and I even got myself a weight belt so I could dive freely. Thanks Octopus Hideaway.

Weekend away

This Friday we went to Waiheke for our much anticipated weekend away. Everyone has been preparing for weeks. Organising, planning events and getting or making their costumes.
 

We met at the ferry Friday morning

Not a cloud in the sky. Perfect island weather.

So ready!

A bus took us to The Venue in Onetangi. Everything was by the beach. Fantastic.

There were orcas playing in the bay, but that didn't seem to scare the Kiwis. We had a nice swim.

Challenges
The events planned by the teams were all fun. We had planned a sandcastle challenge for the other teams. This one is my favourite.

The next team made us dance and perform a play. Our Titanic play was so much fun. Everyone jumped when the iceberg hit.

The final challenge of the day was an engineering challenge. We were given an egg and asked to transport it across a 10 meter gap in a creative way. Ours sailed across with a kite made of paper. Yes, it was marvellous.

The next morning we were a bit worse for wear. It had been a long night of costume partying and midnight swimming. Nevertheless, we completed one final challenge. We created an animal model and performed a haka to honour it. The best one was clearly the shark team. Their massive, sharp toothed mouth chomped to the rythm of their haka.

It's a wingsuit
I was flying all night

Art at the vineyard
To round off the weekend, a few of us stayed on the island. We went to Cable Bay Vineyard to share a bottle of wine in the sun. It was my first vineyard experience in New Zealand, but I have feeling it was not a typical vineyard visit.

I had expected a vineyard to look like an old farm, so I was very surprised, when I first saw Cable Bay. It looks like an art gallery. It almost is an art gallery. I saw two magnificent sculptures there and I am sure there were many more.

From our spot in the sun we had a perfect view of the sculpture "Ratyte" against the backdrop of Matiatia Bay. I instantly recognised the style. I bet there is only one artist in the world who makes sculptures like that. I've been a fan without knowing his name since 2011, when he exhibited Morpheus in my home town Aarhus. Now I know. Phil Price, from New Zealand. I hope I'll see more of his work.

The elegance is in its balanced, ever changing movements
its natural fluidity seems to defy the hard material it is made of

Perhaps if you watch a video you can appreciate it more.
Video of how it moves in the wind

All Blacks parade
This Wednesday we spent our lunch break in a very crowded Victoria park. The welcome parade for the national heroes, The All Blacks, was cool to be a part of.

 

At 2:00 Richie McCaw walks past us with the cup

Maria, our MD, touched the cup and her son got
autographs from 14 of the players
You should have seen her smile when she showed us this photo

A night to remember

I just had the most incredible weekend. And I'm not the only one. I think everyone in Auckland must have had an incredible weekend. This weekend had something for everybody. Party goers celebrated halloween, rugby fans watched the All Blacks make history and runners crossed the Auckland harbour bridge in an epic city marathon.

But who says you have to choose? In one epic night I celebrated halloween, watched the game in a rowdy crowd and ... didn't run a marathon.

Getting a costume
The day begun with errands, like any other weekend day. In the morning, I went to a car mechanic and got my windscreen repaired. When it was done, I started my search for a costume. I had a plan, carefully crafted the night before. I would dress up in the most classic of all halloween costumes. The vampire. But not just any vampire. I would go as Edward, the puritan, teenage dream of a vampire.

I thought I was being really smart. Edward doesn't have wings or fangs and he wears regular clothes. He glimmers in sunlight, but guess what, halloween is at night. How hard could it be? All I would need was a yellow glow in my eyes, fancy hair and an incredibly handsome, pale face.

I'm already very handsome so that part was easy. It was much harder to get the eyes right. I went to Look Sharp in Albany first. It had everything for any costume or party. The only problem was that everyone knows that. It was like Christmas day shopping. Impossible to move. And yellow contacts were sold out.

Next door there was a pharmacy, where they also sold coloured lenses. Here there was no crowd, but crazy lenses were sold out anyway. Undeterred I visited another Look Sharp store and 4 more pharmacies before I found a pair of honey glamour lenses. They would have to do. I also bought some cheap black and white facepaint to get some of that paleness going for me.

Finally got my Halloween costume

Hi Jenni
When I got home, I packed a bag with my new costume and my outfit for the game later. Then I waited for Jenni to come and pick me up. She's a cool girl, that I recently met at a Research Association function. This whole day happened because of her and her man Nic. When I said, that I had no one to watch the game with they invited me not just to the game, but to an entire epic night.

At four, she picked me up and took me to West Auckland, to watch a game of netball. It's the first game of netball I have ever watched. Netball is huge here. So big, that nobody knows what basketball is. The two games are very similar, when you are just watching. Two teams throwing a ball around and trying to shoot it through the hoop of the other team. But from a players perspective I imagine it will feel very different. Basketball feels fast and physical, netball is about technique and tactics.

Well played Jenni

Jenni's team won a crushing victory. Meanwhile, I was being entertained so much by my fellow spectators that I must have missed at least a third of the game. On my right two cheery Maori were telling me all about the game and the players and on my right a flamboyant gay was joking with me. Hilarious.



Dress up
Back at Jenni's place we changed into our costumes. I tried for an hour to apply the facepaint in an even, unnaturally cold blooded way. It didn't work. Jenni succeeded in applying her makeup, but I gave up on the white. But I did get the contrast right. I think some dark shading around the eyes and black eyebrows go a long way to make you look paler. I'll let you be the judge of that.

Yes, it's too subtle and the eyes look almost natural
I should get points for effort though - applying makeup is not easy

The game
After two great Halloween parties, we changed once again. This time into All Blacks fan wear. I felt awesome in my new All Blacks jersey. I borrowed a New Zealand flag from Jenni to wear as a cape and later we put on temporary tattoos as well.

It was a great game. An overpowering performance by the All Blacks. I couldn't have wished for a better game. But I do wish I had been less tired. My eyelids were so heavy during the halftime break I almost fell asleep on my feet. It had been a long day. And night. So all in all, I fancied taking a cap home to my bed more than joining the marathon runners. They were running in the streets as the sun rose over Auckland.

Racing Playbuoy

This week I gathered up my courage and was rewarded in the best possible way. I went to the harbour Wednesday after work and introduced myself to the first sailor I met. He wasn't able to help, but I kept looking and the next one was.

He invited me on board Playbuoy, even though they already had a full crew of 8. I was introduced as a "pier-find" and welcomed kindly. Playbuoy is a Stuart 34 with a deceptive appearance. For the untrained eye she might not seem like much of a racing model. Even I would probably have doubted her, if it wasn't for the look of the crew and the rigging.

The crew spans 3 generations, from owner and living legend, Roy, who is past 80, to a couple of young guys like myself. The core crew are all highly experienced sailors, perhaps in their 50's. Once we got racing, I learned that Roy, even at his age, can still compete with the best of them (knees permitting). I love my sport for making that possible.

The rigging is not new, but nothing is old either. It looks cared for and trusty. The fittings are made for racing. There are enough options to trim and an absence of family friendly solutions. That extends to the interior as well; The boat is empty inside, except for spare sails and navigation equipment.

The race was too intense for me to take any pictures,
so here is one from when we got back to shore

I enjoyed the race immensely. I was on the main, so I was working hard in the gusty conditions. We had everything from 5 to 20 knots of wind and some tactically interesting shifts as well. Our downwind start had perfect timing and speed, but we couldn't find a clear track, so everyone else caught up to us. On the upwind Playbuoy impressed with a boat speed of 6.8 to 7.2, but some our tactical choices didn't pay off, so in the end our result was mediocre.

Being back on the water after almost a year without sailing feels great. So I've joined the crew.

Early weekend
This weekend is a long one, because today is Labour day. For me it has been even longer, because I unexpectedly got half of Friday off. Our servers were down and we had no internet connection, so there was absolutely nothing we could do. We went home and enjoyed a nicely extended weekend.

Deserted office at noon

Chinese duck
Since both Ross and Marie will be leaving soon, we are making the most of our last days together in NZ. Sunday night we had a memorable meal of Chinese roast duck with plum sauce. A very tasty dish, that I hope to be able to serve for a special occasion some day.

With a heavy, sharp cleaver and decisive cuts,
Sin Yat expertly prepares the duck

The first time I saw Sin Yat use that cleaver I was shocked. Since then I have learned so much about Chinese food culture. It now seems to me like the only right way to make the cut. How else would you cut a duck into pieces fit for eating with chopsticks without being wasteful? Of course you must not cut away the bones, because your guests like to chew on them and savour the duck taste.

The crispy skin and the fatty meat go perfectly together with the sweet plum sauce and the intensity of a good pinot noir. Highly recommended.

See you, Jess

This Wednesday I went to an event with the Research Association. It was an introduction for new members, so we were lots of young researchers there. Cool people. They make me feel like I'm in the right place.

In the office
Campbell keeps surprising Mariyam with his hilariously detailed knowledge of Indian culture. She still doesn't know that his girlfriend is from India.

Jess' leaving party
Jess, had her last day at NeedScope this Friday. She is going to work in a job with less hours, so she can focus more on her actor/director career. I'm sad to see her go, she is such an amazing person.

Of course we made the most of the occasion. Lunch with entire office at Food Truck Garage, drinks after work at La Zeppa and all night dancing at Sweat Shop Brew Kitchen. That just got better and better.

BBQ
And it seems like the introductions will never end this week. Sunday, I met up with 15 young church people for a barbecue at their pastor's place. Great fun, but also a bit intense for a fundamentally atheistic guy who is just being curious...

Way too much food (not enough wine)

Meeting lots of people

It's been an exciting week. I'm feeling bubbly even now, one workday into the next week.

Reunion
Our flat family came back together this week. Sin Yat returned from a three week vacation in Europe and Marie is back with us too. She has been travelling all over New Zealand for three months, but it doesn't feel that long. It's great to see them both again. We celebrated the occasion with a big family dinner cooked by our two French couchsurfers, Yvan and Florent.

Meeting new people
Wednesday I went to my first Meetup event! It was a casual dinner and drinks event by the generic "Auckland 20's and 30's" group. So much fun. Weird and wonderful people. It's hard to describe them as a group, because it seemed like everyone was there for a different reason. Or maybe it's all the same reason. Meet new people and have fun. I did.

Hunua falls
This Saturday I joined my colleague Eri and her friend Michelle for a hike at Hunua Falls. The weather was perfect for it. Cold by New Zealand standards and cloudy, but not raining. I wore shorts and t-shirt and felt very comfortable.

I did bring my swimwear, but the girls didn't fancy a swim
In truth, neither did I - It wasn't that hot

The Cossey Dam has sheep walking on it

Majestic kauri trees gathered in a grove

Meet up

This week was a bit average. There was nothing particularly bad about it, but a couple of things just didn't work out the way I had hoped.

Open day at the marina
Saturday the main harbour in Auckland hosted an open day event. I arrived early, eager to take part, only to find the harbour almost empty. Not too surprised, I went to a bakery to get a pie for breakfast. Very Kiwi of me.
When I returned, the harbour still felt empty. The busiest area was the car park, where there was a car boot sale on. I visited a couple of the sailing clubs, trying to find a way to go sailing. No luck. One of them offered me to go sailing in a Splash. I showed polite interest, but honestly... I'm not a kid.
The other sailing club I visited didn't seem to care about it being open day at all. I'm sure I could have been persistent enough to find a crew there, but I didn't feel welcome. So I left. Disappointed.

The most interesting part of the open day for me
was reading the history of Lipton Cup
It is sailed in boats like the one in the model

 

No longer on Tinder
After two weeks of swiping left and right, I've given up on Tinder. I haven't managed to get a single conversation from the 15 matches I have had. The only reply I got was from a bot. I have no idea whether that is common or not, but I'm disappointed.

Joining Meetup
I'm not giving up completely though. I've joined Meetup.com instead. Now that might sound like the same thing to you, but it's not an actual online dating site. Meetup is an event site, where you join groups of people who have similar interests to yourself and then attend their events. So I've joined a group of people who are tired of online dating. They organise dating. No irony intended.

I also joined a lot of other groups, so hopefully I'll start going to lots of fun events.