intern

Vegetable tunnel.

Yes, Susi is going to learn much that week

Ha ha Swiss, I was just going to post that. I'm heading down to Whakatane/Ohope this weekend, got the MTBs locked and loaded, gonna go smash the trails there which I haven't ridden for ages. Might snap some pics and share over here/in the NZ good bad n ugly thread...happy weekend to all!

Hahaha yes Welly is consistent all right! Consistently sh*t. But Welly is also like Cape Town in another way: on those rare occasions when the weather is good, you have to tell the whole rest of the country because it is pretty spectacular

Constantly amazes me how fast the checkout people work. And they are friendly, too.

Interesting, that - I chose NZ because it is a lot less regulated than Aussie; for example, any fool can buy a boat and go to sea here, no training or license necessary (sensible people do a skipper's and radio course first). But as always, it is different strokes for different folks - some Safas here I know were outraged that they got a parking ticket 5 minutes after their time expired (um, that was the deal all along, when it expires it expires). I don't find it over-regulated, but then I am slipping into middle age and like and appreciate the need for rules and regulations and the necessity for (most) people to follow them. Makes for a better functioning society I spose. Hope you're coming in summer, reckon you should have a great holiday. Winter...erm, yes, well now there is that.

First bicycle was a blue single speed Raleigh Bomber; think I was 13 or so. Rode that thing to school and back every day - 8 kays each way.

There is little question that if I attempted to use one of those old razors, I'd be lucky if it only cost an arm and a leg.

Some weird goings on at Hideout. I remember sitting around a bonfire there with a large 'cigarette' being passed around. Some creep came along trying to bum some Ront, the one dude stood up and chooned the greezer - 'You know what, I'm gonna get cane rat f--ked and you aren't, you know why, because YOU haven't got any MONEY!'. Man, I laughed...

Ha ha ha classic molester right there!

Vantage point on Kawau Island, just north of Auckland, + mansion. You park your boat on the beach, walk past the mansion (which belong to Governer George Grey - the same one who gave Grey's Hospital, in Pmb, where I was born, it's name, as well as Grey College, Greytown, etc, in SA) and tackle the walking tracks which take you above these bays. Nice views.

Fishing off Pikowai, near Whakatane. If you like fishing, NZ is the country for you.

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.

She is 40