intern

Bay of Islands last December. Pretty amazing to cruise around there, find a beach, park the boat up and have a picnic. Going again this Dec.

Pretty fascinating from my point of view to see the things that new arrivals find remarkable. A lot of stuff we now take fully for granted - playgrounds for the kids everywhere, shared trails (another pro tip, invest in a bell if you don't already have one), well-looked after public facilities, etc. For my part, this is home; as I've said elsewhere, my Mrs is a bit homesick because with 2 small children and no support it can be pretty tough and she misses her 'rents, but I couldn't imagine living anywhere else. What don't I like? As WP has noted, property in Auckland is moer expensive, but if you look in the regions, it is a lot more accessible. We're a million miles from anywhere, so most stuff is kind of expensive, TBH. Auckland I find is too spread out, hard to stay in touch with friends and that. I by far preferred living in Whakatane, small town NZ is truly awesome, real sense of community and your neighbours become your mates. Something special about friends randomly popping in to say hi because they were walking or biking past..

I can't speak for all Kiwis or even any, but in my experience, local folk expect you to back the Boks and are pretty surprised and impressed when you say 'nope, I'm here for good, so I'm behind the All Blacks'.

You need to make friends with the deer hunters, heaps of venison around if you know the right locals ;-)

You do know that you failed to score on account of your outfit and not the hot dog incident? On that note...man, there were some hot chicks around when I was young. Jolled at the Doors occasionally, but my Joburg days were more ESP, Hideout, Gecko Lounge and other similar pits of iniquity.

These days I have a sachet of suntan lotion in my wallet in place of the connie. After all, the only thing I'm gonna get f--ked by is the sun.

Not interested in anything that requires regular charging. Love my el cheapo Vivofit though, it's replaced the stainless steel watch I wore every day for over a decade

To all the okes on the original 'I got schnaaid with a swak taayir deal' thread, thanks a mil, I was lank tired in Changi airport in Singapore, stumbled upon that one and spent a good hour laughing my backside off. Absolute classic. Got to about P15 before it got canned. Seriously funny stuff. Expect my Evanescent lift selfie Tuesday, we've got public holiday here Monday...

Excellent to see some more compo for Garmin Vector etc and a slightly different take on tapping power at the pedal. An aside, those things immediately reminded me of the very first set of clipless pedals I ever owned - Look PP 56. Those were my pride and joy back in the day.

Yeah I had a Hansom 501 as my first 'real' race bike. Had *** Simplex gears, was way too big for me as a 58cm frame, and it was a vile yellow and white. Loved that bike long time. Subsequently had a few Zinis, Le Turbos, a red Alpina 531p, a Exocet (which broke), a Peugeot Classique which Wally Flint at Jowett's helped me out with, a Colnago Master, a Colnago Tecnos, and god knows how many Cannondales and other assorted things over the years.

It may be the case for most sports, but we're not discussing most sports here. The tu quo que diversion is just that, a diversion.

WHat do you mean 'smoke'? There is actually 'fire'. Dude was caught breaking a rule for which there is a sanction. There's nothing to speculate about that. What he was using 'medical testing' and injecting paraphernalia for, well, that's a whole new bag of issues, isn't it. Anyway, cycling and cheating are like hand and glove. Always has been, probably always will be. Provides entertainment, though.

Don't think they called it; Duminy should have left it for Behardien.

Watched this match live (and yes, sorry, I was supporting the Black Caps, after all I've lived here for over 4 years). Absolutely excellent game of cricket. And Blitzer, guess what, the Kiwis played a better game, it is reflected in the outcome. SA's fielding and especially the dropped catch and two missed runouts are what lost the match for them. Full credit though - SA played a magnificent game, making for one of the best matches I've ever watched (I'd previously reserved that for the earlier NZ/Aus game.)

Once again we see that being a top pro cyclist depends on a team which consists of doctors, pharmacists, lawyers and spin doctors. But mostly lawyers and spin doctors, the higher you go. See Richard Poplak's rather good story on Daily Maverick: http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2014-07-02-impey-on-the-edge-the-tour-de-france-yellow-jersey-wearer-busted/#.U7XJR_mSySo Probenecid? Nah, never heard of that! Though I might have gout, you never know. Bah, humbug. It's the usual lie, deny, what, me?! Never! And I'm SUCH a nice guy, so why would I dope? As if being a nice guy doesn't mean you juice. Come on man. How long has this been going on for in pro cycling? Forever - look at George, Stewart, Fouche, Pepper, McLeod, Hoffman - and now Impey. You think these guys aren't juicing? And quite a lot of them are simply welcomed back into the fold, good old omerta alive and well, just like in the protour peloton.

As we all do - then it's still just you who can do something about it!

You and me

Lost me completely on cutting out beer....

Never have heroes, apart from your own self. You will be disappointed.

They. ALL. Dope. Still. End of.

Yup, if you get caught doing knots, you are in SERIOUS trouble - and will make the news for sure. Which isn't to say people don't do it. The trick is not to get caught

Got this 17 year old the other day. Had only done 2900 miles when I got it; lashed a Yoshi pipe on it and love it. Might be 90s technology (1997 RF900R-V) but still goes like a cut cat. 101kW at 11000RPM and tops out, I'm told, at 165MPH. Haven't seen it, though, do speeds like that and you lose your license and have to sell the bike to pay the fine...

Awesome. Queenstown is gorgeous, went there last winter. Didn't see the lil ferrets, though!

Bruce Foulis explains that in the CB clip - it is worthless and so it should be.

Seems Robbie falls into the camp of 'some people who want a look-alike, but can't afford to pay the price.'