MOVEMBER - Update #3, Movember 8, 2012

The ol' moustache is coming in rather nicely, now (almost) thicker than my eyebrows (though, in the interest of full disclosure, I have thick eyebrows). Big thanks to all those who have donated thus far, almost halfway to my goal of $750! Great work all around.

As always, www.mobro.co/davidreinhardt to donate if you haven't already.

Just give it a little more time...

MOVEMBER - Update #2, Movember 4, 2012

Just a quick one today. The moustache is coming in rather nicely. I wrote a haiku to commemorate my nose neighbour:

Hair above my lip
Thick as Siberian woods
A portrait of man

DONATE TO MY FACE

Also, as self-serving as it is, Happy Birthday to ME.

That is all.

MOVEMBER - Post #1, Movember 1, 2012

Hello dear readers. As we move into November here in NZ, I would like to call your attention to a great charity event that occurs in this month every year - MOVEMBER. For the uninitiated, men across the globe grow moustaches in an effort raise money and awareness for a wide range of men's health issues, chief among them prostate cancer and depression. As I have done for the past 4 years, I will be growing a moustache and raising money for the cause.

Due to the varying quality of soup-strainers that are on display throughout the month, Movember often gets a negative rap - "Everyone looks so gross" they say. "You look like you should be in jail" they cry. Well, I am here not to disagree with (some) of those sentiments, but to say that to get lost in those arguments misses the whole point of the month. At last count, approximately 50% of the earth's population is male, and thus directly impacted by the prospect of prostate cancer. When adding in the mental health aspect as well, the number of people, both men and women, that stand to benefit from the money raised by the Movember campaign surely stands in the hundreds of millions. Thus, if you are making some type of stand against Movember (or know someone who is) based on "moustaches are gross," I say to you: pull your head out of your ass and make a positive difference!

Now, for my personal campaign - why donate to me? I'll give you 3 reasons:
1. As I am currently living in New Zealand, I'll actually be growing my moustache while upside down. Truly an impressive feat, and one worth donating to.
2. Even though I'm thousands of miles away from anywhere, it's really easy to find me and donate: my Movember homepage URL is mobro.co/davidreinhardt (just type it into your browser and you'll come to my page), and I'll be posting updates there every 3-4 days. Also, both my Facebook and this blog will be getting regular updates as well.
3. BUT, the BEST reason to donate to me is...If I raise AT LEAST $750, I pledge to keep my moustache until I return home! The date of my return is a top secret date (so donating is a bit of a gamble - will I have my mo for 1 extra day, or 20? WHO KNOWS?) in December, but push me over that donation threshold and I'll have a moustache for at least some of the following life events: Grad. Job interviews. Hiking the Milford and Kepler Tracks. Climbing Mount Doom. Dealing with airport security. So yeah, let's make that happen.

Well, that's about it. Thanks for reading this waffle, and remember to donate for a worthy cause this month - if not to me, then anyone else you know, it's a great cause and a great campaign.

Cheers from NZ,

Dave

Day 01. Feel the intensity.

Beer Friday! - Cider Saturday?

Good morning/afternoon/evening to all, and welcome to yet another specially themed edition of Beer Friday!. I am aware that having weekly special editions takes away from the whole concept of what makes them special, but that's something you'll have to reconcile as you read along. I believe you can do it.

As I'm sure you can tell from the title of the post, the theme of this week's Beer Friday! is not actually beer at all, but CIDER. Summer is rapidly approaching here in the Southern Hemisphere, and while Dunedin does its best to cling on to the last vestiges of winter, it has stopped raining enough lately for the sun to make a cameo appearance or two. As such, I was rather feeling like a summery type drink this week, and what better than cider to fill that need? How about three different ciders? Yeah. When I wrote that little section, I was intending it to be a rhetorical question, but then I realized halfway through I had an answer. Writer's craft at its finest! Anyway, read on for the reviews...

Beer Friday! - Recession Special

Hello again folks, and welcome to a specially themed edition of Beer Friday! I've been in New Zealand for over 8 months now (!), and as I have not been working, my funds are starting to show signs of drying up. I will make it to the end of my time here without having to resort to nefarious means of money-making or dumpster-diving for food, but I am starting to feel the pinch (my trip to Australia did not help matters, but that is not likely to elicit any sympathy, as Australia was AWESOME). As such, I've passed on trips down to Castle MacAdam the past few weeks, and instead will be delving deep into my memory to review three beers that can be kindly described as "cheap" (but realistically described as "fit only for butt-chugging"). Read on for a (hopefully) humourous look at some of the lower-echelon beers this fine nation has to offer.

Upside Down Dave Goes Across the Ditch

PROGRAMMING NOTE: Apparently it's been a month since I last made a post, and that's just embarrassing for all parties involved, but mostly just me. I don't have a good excuse, but here are some bad ones:
- I was busy with school
- My internet cut out for a few days at the end of September
- I was in Australia
- I lost my fingers motivation to write for a while
So, deepest apologies, there will be more frequent posts in the next few weeks as I hit the stretch-drive of my New Zealand experience. Now, back to the show!

As I mentioned in the bad excuse section above, I recently spent some time in the great nation of Australia, in and around the delightful city of Melbourne (or as the locals call it, "Melbin." I could expend a few thousand words discussing the horrible butchery that the Aussies submit the English language to, but I'll just say that it is often cringe-worthy . Loyal readers - should that be pluralized? - of this blog will remember my July vacation, when my cousin made a visit to NZ and we spent a few days tearing up the slopes and bars of Queenstown. Well, this trip served as a reciprocation of that visit, as I crossed the Tasman to visit him on his territory. Read on for a recap of all the eating cool stuff we did!

A Black Night to be Green

This past Saturday, September 15th, I had the privilege of attending an All Blacks v. South Africa Rugby match - their first meeting in the expanded Rugby Championship. Below is a recap of the game and experience, written in the "Purple Prose" style of turn-of-the-century sportswriters. Do enjoy.

The grass below sat expectantly, an emerald carpet smooth as a dance floor, pining eagerly for the unchoreographed monster truck waltz between Springbok and All Black. Shielded from the harsh, biting wind and rain on offer in Dunedin, the turf could have been a transplant from Versailles, with the Sun King himself as likely to run out of the tunnel as the modern-day gladiators the crowd was shouting for. The dome above shone and reflected an ethereal light, a glittering monolith standing in stark contrast to its predecessor - if Carisbrook, the original "House of Pain" was built on gritty, dirt-under-the-fingernails footy, then this, the "House of Pane" is a fitting monument to the new game; flashier, faster and made-for-TV.

Beer Friday!

Sorry kids, no Beer Friday! this week, due to circumstances mostly beyond my control. As a substitute, please enjoy this picture of Chewbacca riding a giant squirrel battling some Nazis :)

YEP.

RANT Part II - This Time It's PERSONAL

Yes folks, it's about that time: something in New Zealand has caused me enough frustration to warrant me pulling out my soapbox and climbing aloft to begin ranting and raving like a lunatic. As a quick aside before I unleash a torrent of vitriol strong enough to wash away whole city blocks, I'd like to thanks Jaws 4, truly one of the worst movies of all time, for the tagline for this post. Yes, "This Time It's Personal" is the actual tagline of an actual movie, and just any movie, a movie about a giant shark that has somehow developed the cognitive ability to HARBOUR A VENDETTA AGAINST A WOMAN AND HER FAMILY (but somehow Michael Caine is in it?). That kind of quality screen writing can't be taught folks, you're just born with it.

Beer Friday! - Emerson's Southern Clam Stout

Hello all, and welcome back. Before I start with the review today, I'd like to put out a special WELCOME TO NEW ZEALAND to Mal, Carson, Pezz and Zak! It'll be nice to have a little bit of Canadiana close by (relatively speaking), and I'm looking forward to your visit (speeding down the coast from CHCH even as I write), and reciprocating that visit with a trip to Queenstown in October. I know you guys will love it here, and best of luck with the job and house hunt in QTown!

Back on track now, and my brew of the week comes from Emerson's Brewery, a wonderful little spot based right here in Dunedin. Emerson's churns out one top-notch beer after the other, winning "Champion Brewery of NZ" in 2009. The brewery itself was started by Food Science graduate Richard Emerson in the early 90's with the first brew, London Porter, getting its first release in 1993. Emerson was looking to expand on the selection available to NZ beer aficionados, and with a brewery that is capable of putting out 1 million litres per annum (I know I've said this before, but that seems to be a lot) and a range of 7 core beers, plus seasonal releases (5 as of RIGHT NOW), he has done exactly that.

Beer Friday! - Tuatara Aotearoa Pale Ale

Good morning/afternoon/evening/night (choose at your discretion) dear readers, and welcome to another edition of Beer Friday!, the only bit of writing that is keeping this blog above water. I realize the last three posts have been Beer Friday! in nature, and I do sincerely apologize for this. I was thinking today that, when I started this blog, perhaps I overestimated the amount of interesting stuff I would be doing, and that I should have stretched out my recap posts a little longer. But, alas, I didn't do that, and here we are. I will say, however, that hopefully things will turn around soon. After all, the All Blacks v South Africa rugby test is a mere two weeks away, and I depart for an Australian adventure in under a month. So things might be getting spicier in the near future (I also understand that I've been saying that for a few weeks now. Bear with me).

Beer Friday! - Yeastie Boys Brewery

Hello folks, and welcome to another edition of Beer Friday!. This week, I'd first like to share a fantastic discovery I made. Here, in Dunedin, there is a CRAFT BEER STORE. Yeah. A place where I can go to pick up all sorts of NZ (and international) microbrews, as well as delicious scotch (if I could afford it) and fantastic wines (if I was Peter Dinklage). SO, I raise my literal and metaphorical glass to Castle MacAdam Wine. May we have a wonderful, alcohol based friendship over the next 100 or so (is that a hint as to my return date? MAYBE?) days.

As for the beer(s) this week, I went with two selections, purchased from the aforementioned Castle MacAdam, from Yeastie Boys Brewery. Based out of Miramar in Wellington, YB was founded by Stu McKinlay and Sam Posseniskie. They exploded onto the craft brewing scene in 2009 with their fantastically named Pot Kettle Black porter (winning two trophies at BrewNZ 2009), and have since been putting out top quality brown pops and making it rain, PACMAN JONES STYLE, international beer awards. Everything I've heard and read about these guys had been overwhelmingly positive, so I'm very excited to review TWO of their beers for you, as always, after the jump.

Beer Friday! - Renaissance Brewing Co.

Hello again folks, and welcome to another edition of Beer Friday! Jumping straight into it, this week I elected to purchase the Craftsman Chocolate Oatmeal Stout from Renaissance Brewing Company. Based out of Blenheim, the heart of New Zealand's wine-producing region, Renaissance is actually the only brewery (that I am aware of) that had product in the LCBO at the time of my departure. As such, this particular beer is not the first Renaissance offering I've had, but it is certainly the first that I remember.

The brewery, being located in a world-renowned wine producing region, certainly has a lot to live up to in terms of the quality its neighbours put out. Renaissance takes on this challenge with zeal, with their website stating "We produce top end, ultra premium ales that enlighten the palate and thrill the senses. Our beers are made from the pure waters that flow from the southern alps and we only use locally grown hops from our own backyard." This mantra and committment to producing top quality product has led them to being nominated for a number of awards, including winning an Australasian Brewery of the Year for 2012. Renaissance are is a great example of a New Zealand craft brewery that puts out top quality product.

2012 NZ International Film Festival

If you care to review some of my previous posts, you will note that in some of them, I have pointed out the fact that New Zealand is mind-bottlingly behind the times in certain technological areas. Not that big a deal really, and frankly, not all that surprising when you look at where New Zealand is in relation to ANYTHING else - goddamn far away. So, the unreliability of the internet, something that is taken for granted in North America, isn't that shocking. Despite this difficulty, however, one thing NZ does not lag behind in is MOVIES (not counting Oamaru). When I moved here, I was expecting to encounter major delays in seeing big-time movies, mainly due to the fact that we're way down near Antarctica, not exactly a bastion of cinemophiles (not a real word, but you get the idea). Imagine my surprise when i got to see THE film event of 2012, The Dark Knight Rises, BEFORE all of my Canada-based friends (SPOILER ALERT: Snape kills Dumbledore Alfred is a BOSS) - finally, a benefit to living in the future.

In addition to not being years behind on the cinema scene, NZ actually has quite an impressive film scene/culture/community, which is likely a driving force behind the solid lineup at the NZ International Film Festival. There are a series of these festivals across the country, showing movies from all over world, and fortunately for me, one of the locations for the festival was Dunedin. Now, being a regular human being, I like movies, so I took advantage of the festival a number of times, and after the jump, you can read my arbitrary and non-sensical reviews of the movies I saw. ACTION! (movie joke!)

Beer Friday! - EPIC Pale Ale

Good morning/afternoon/evening my international friends, and welcome to another edition of Beer Friday! As I'm sure you've noticed (UpsideDownDave readers being noted for their incredible powers of observation), once again, this post is not appearing on a Friday, no matter where on the globe you are. I'm just going to say it: Beer Friday! is pretty much a Friday post in name only at this point. I did drink a beer this Friday, but general apathy has resulted in me putting off the writing of this post for a few days. Thus, henceforth, Beer Friday! will become more of a weekend post. I will still drink the beer on Friday, but the post could appear at any point during the weekend. This has a double benefit: you, the reader, are kept on your toes, constantly refreshing your browser as you await my meaningless and meandering review, and I have a justification for my laziness. THAT IS A WIN-WIN SCENARIO IN MY BOOKS. So, without further ado, I present...

Minor Differences: Part 1

First things first. No, I am not dead. No, my hands have not fallen off. Yes, I still know how to type and all my fingers are, at last check, still attached (though I figure I could misplace at least 70% of my fingers and not lose anything off my words per minute score). Quite simply, I've been doing nothing interesting, unless you count schoolwork, exercise and countless hours of Football Manager interesting. I of course, do find those things passably engaging (at least two of them anyway), so if I were writing a blog just for me, I guess I'd be in great shape. I am, however, writing this blog for you, my intrepid reader, so posts about all that guff would be frivolous in the extreme. Much like this introduction.

Back to the whole purpose of this post (an admittedly half-assed premise), and that is some casual observations about small differences between Canadian and Kiwi life. The idea is shamelessly appropriated from The Oatmeal, one of my favourite blogs and a generally hilarious corner of the internet. To avoid copyright restrictions, my versions of Minor Differences will differ in two ways: A) It will not be very funny and B) It won't have amusing drawings. Pretty much the only similarity is the title I guess. Sorry to disappoint. Anyway, after the jump.

Beer Friday!...Sunday Edition

Welcome to what will hopefully be a weekly series examining the wide range of brews on offer here in New Zealand. Each week I will endeavor to try something new and update you on how delicious (or not) it is. Ratings will be given in a completely arbitrary manner, because really, is there such thing as a truly bad beer? Didn't think so. This week, a look at a newer beer from an old favourite: Ein Stein from the Boundary Road Brewery.

Hello again dear friends, and welcome to yet another (albeit belated) edition of Beer Friday!! I'm writing this on a Sunday evening, and must apologize for the lateness of this typically Friday-timed feature. As I mentioned previously, I am rather busy with school work, and thus couldn't find the time to get this review to the metaphorical presses on time (also, I had no beer). Nevertheless, I am here now with, as the introductory paragraph alludes to, another selection from one of my favourite NZ brewing establishments: Boundary Road Brewery. Last time we met these folks, I took a look at their Chocolate Moose porter and Bouncing Czech pilsener. This time, we'll take a look at BRB's Munich-style lager, the ingeniously named Ein Stein. Read on after the break!

Summer July in Winter July - Abel Tasman National Park

Hello again, and sorry for the long-ish layoff. If you've been holding your breath for a new post, I'm sorry on at least two levels. Then again, you've managed to hold your breath for like, 4 whole days, so good on you for that. A real accomplishment if you ask me.

There are, however, a few reasons why the posts have been a little thin on the ground lately. Firstly, I'm back in school, so I don't have a lot of exciting things to write about. Oh for the halcyon days when I was wandering the New Zealand countryside, seeing the sights, eating the food and drinking the beer. Now, I'm just in regular ole Dunedin, toiling away on a seemingly never-ending pile of work. Which brings me to my second reason: I'm back in school, and thus have assignments, unit plans, personal reflections and resource files due almost non-stop until I go out on my second placement in mid-August. And as doubtlessly exciting as my writing can be, I don't have much faith in my ability to thrill you, the reader, with how I stayed shut in my room all weekend writing "Learning Objectives" and "Success Criteria".

Nevertheless, there is a point to this post, and as I'm sure you've inferred from the title, it concerns my trip to the Abel Tasman National Park to walk the Coastal Track, one of NZ's ten (and my second) "Great Walks". I have alluded to this adventure before, and here I will attempt to expand, ever so slightly, on the sheer adventure of it all. There's more blather, if you'd care to continue, after the jump.

Beer Friday! - Stoke Brewery

After a one-week hiatus, this week Beer Friday! returns with a vengeance. Well, not really a vengeance, but it is returning, and that is the important bit that we all need to focus on. I forgot to mention this in last week's explanation of the missing Beer Friday!, but because I deprived you all of what I'm sure was developing into a weekly tradition (where you gathered your children around the warm glow of the computer screen to read about whatever beer I chose to get pissed up with that week), I've decided to, in the near future, give you a special Beer Friday! treat. Whenever it is financially responsible for me to do so (hopefully in August), I will be LIVE-BLOGGING a super special, super sexy edition of Beer Friday!. Get your popcorn ready Terrell.

Anyway, on to THIS week's beer, Stoke Gold, which comes to us from Stoke Brewery, located in a suburb of Nelson called, fittingly enough, Stoke (I may have just set the record for most uses of the word "Stoke" in a sentence). I selected this beer not only because I had never tried it, but also because I spent some time in Nelson on my most recent break, so it ties in nicely with what I've been doing lately. Read on for the review, as always, after the jump.

I MADE THE PAPER!

That's right, your dear Blogger made it onto page 7 of the Otago Daily Times (Independent Voice of the South)! That's one item added to and then immediately checked off the ol' Bucket List.

The ultimate goal should be GETTING IN THE PAPER. Mission accomplished.

Does it matter that it's a small picture, you can barely see me and it's on a 2-page ad for an all-girls school? Not in the slightest. Any press is good press.

Dave

RANT

Thus far, this blog has been a fairly happy-go-lucky, "look at all the pretty scenery" general New Zealand love fest. And realistically, that makes perfect sense, as I have enjoyed my time here immensely. The scenery is indeed magnificent, the people are friendly to a fault, the beer is tasty and overall, things here are just peachey peachy. All is well in the world, and there is sunshine and rainbows everywhere and unicorns are prancing about all magical and stuff (metaphorically speaking of course. Unicorns aren't real...yet).

HOWEVER, last week arose a situation that provided me with my first real "bone to pick" here in New Zealand. So, if you'd like to read on in what will likely be a post filled with ALL CAPS (anger!), frustration and probably some unintentional comedy please do. Be warned though, this post is all about frustration and anger, and thus there may be some accompanying harsh language. If you can't handle that kind of heat, best stay out of this kitchen hombre.

Ferg Babies, BNO, Sunny and Shredding Gnar - Queenstown Boarding Trip (Feat. Ping)

Hello again dearest readers, I've missed you all greatly over the past few weeks. I feel like I haven't been giving you enough attention lately (just one post in July? Unacceptable!), but I'm back now to rectify that situation.

For loyal followers of the blog, you'll likely be wondering "Where is Beer Friday!? I need that post to get me geared for the weekend!" Unfortunately, there will be no Beer Friday! this week, for two reasons. Firstly, I haven't really had a new type of beer lately (I could review some of the Monteith's range, which I am quite familiar with, but I'd like to have it fresher on the palette to do it justice) and secondly, I don't want to have back-to-back Beer Friday! posts - this is, after all, primarily a travel blog.

So with that out of the way, what follows will be a thrilling recap of what went down in Queenstown, where I spent the first part of my school holiday snowboarding, nerding it up and generally causing a ruckus. Read on my intrepid friends, and figure out what that blog title means!

Beer Friday! - Tui

Welcome to what will hopefully be a weekly series examining the wide range of brews on offer here in New Zealand. Each week I will endeavor to try something new and update you on how delicious (or not) it is. Ratings will be given in a completely arbitrary manner, because really, is there such thing as a truly bad beer? Didn't think so. This week, a look at Tui.

When I moved to New Zealand and began my quest to sample as many beers as this wonderful nation could deign to offer me, one simple question kept floating into my brain. "Which beer," my brain asked, "is the Kiwi equivalent to Pabst Blue Ribbon, aka PBR, aka the official cheap beer choice of 80 Dorset (my former residence for the uninitiated)?" Not that PBR is particularly delicious (it's decidedly average, and the "Blue Ribbon" in the name is a prize from the 1800's or something), but I felt it was critical to find the NZ equivalent, in the event I needed to acquire an above average amount of an average beer for a below average price. And I did. And it is Tui. Read on for my review, I promise it's not too mainstream for all the hipsters following along at home.

Guess the Bon Jovi Song!

Today is my New Zealand 5 month-aversary, and give or take a few days, is the halfway point of my time here. Hard to believe that from this day forward, I will be on the back half of my New Zealand adventure. It seems like just yesterday and all that associated reminiscing stuff. To mark this momentous occasion, I figured I'd put together something of a "Clip Show" - looking at my favourite things thus far, what I've liked and disliked about NZ and what I'll be up to over the next 5 months or so. All of those goodies after the jump.

Beer Friday! - Boundary Road Brewery

Welcome to what will hopefully be a weekly series examining the wide range of brews on offer here in New Zealand. Each week I will endeavor to try something new and update you on how delicious (or not) it is. Ratings will be given in a completely arbitrary manner, because really, is there such thing as a truly bad beer? Didn't think so. This week, a look at selections from Boundary Road Brewery.

My original thought for the post today was a recap of my last weekend - the Flight of the Conchords came to Dunedin to play the Regent Theatre, and I was privileged enough to get tickets. But then I thought to myself, "What's the point in attempting to be funny when writing a review of a comedy show, you're nor nearly as funny as they are anyway. And your pictures are shit." So that's that, not going to write about the FotC show beyond saying they were hilarious and were everything I ever imagined and more.

Anyway, back to the topic "du jour", another addition of Beer Friday!. This week I'm taking a look at two selections from Boundary Road Brewery, a smaller operation based in the Hunua Hills south of Auckland. What flavours you ask? What half-assed rating scheme are you using this week you ponder? More flaming furniture perhaps? Read on to find out good people, the answers lie forwards, not backwards, upwards, not forwards and always twirling, twirling, twirling...Ahem. Read on then.

Ice Axes and NZ Snow - Mt. Armstrong

June 16 was certainly a momentous occasion for me. For it was on that day two weekends ago, that I climbed my first mountain. None of this "Roy's Peak" business from earlier, a piddly 1600m at the summit. No, this one was a proper mountain snow-capped and everything, and at a height of 2174m (7132.5ft), made for both an extremely challenging and incredibly exciting weekend adventure. Read on after the jump for a blow-by-blow account of my battle Mt. Armstrong.

Kiss from a Rose

Well, now that the monthly recaps are over, I can begin writing about things that are a little fresher in the memory. Today, it'll be a fairly light post writing wise, just a few pics of my closest brush with some real life, New Zealand wildlife. As always, after the jump.

OaMAYru

As I've said, the first few posts will attempt to provide you, the intrepid reader, with a summary of what's been going on in the first few months of my New Zealand adventure. Next up is the last of my full month recaps, this time looking back at the month of May.

As was mentioned in the conclusion to my previous post, the entirety of the month of May (and the last week of April, but who's counting?) was spent in the wonderful little town of Oamaru, population about 11,000, located an hour and a bit north up the coast from Dunedin. The reason I was temporarily located here was due to my first Teacher's College practicum, at Waitaki Boys High School. As I doubt very heavily that you're reading this blog to hear about my time teaching (if anyone's even reading about this blog at all, which is perhaps even more doubtful), I'll simply say that my time at WBHS was incredible, I learned an absolute ton (tonne?) and the staff and students there were great to me.

In terms of what I actually DID while I was in Oamaru, honestly, it wasn't much. It's a pretty small community with not a whole lot going on, and as such, I mostly focused on my work. One thing I should have done, but didn't, was go visit the Blue Penguin colony. Yes, once again, I do not have any penguin pictures or penguin-related experiences to share with you. Sorry, I'll have penguins up on here someday. I will, however, recount the two major events of my time in Oamaru (both of which, coincidentally, took place entirely outside of that fair city), firstly THE LONGEST DAY EVER and second Road Trip to Rohan. After the jump kiddos!

BONUS COVERAGE - More April Adventures

As I've said, the first few posts will attempt to provide you, the intrepid reader, with a summary of what's been going on in the first few months of my New Zealand adventure. Next up, BONUS COVERAGE of one last set of April shenanigans.

Upon my return from "the SIRT," I had the opportunity to go along to Wanaka on a four-day field trip with Columba College, a school I'm placed at once a week for Classics lectures (for teaching practice). The basics of the trip were as follows: spend four days at Glendhu Bay Campground, just outside of Wanaka, and do a selection of day walks in the area. The Wanaka area, located at the base of the Southern Alps and Mt. Aspiring National Park, was a part of the country I only briefly passed through on the road trip, so I of course was very excited about the opportunity. Read on after the jump for a summary of each day's events.

April Adventures, Part Deux

As I've said, the first few posts will attempt to provide you, the intrepid reader, with a summary of what's been going on in the first few months of my New Zealand adventure. Next up, the second of a two-part look at April, the busiest month yet.

I'll start off by admitting something. I said that I would think of a better name for "the SIRT." But I haven't. So that's what we're going with, and if you don't like it, tough bananas for you. I'm in command here.

Anyway, what follows will be a day-by-day breakdown (with accompanying photos!) of the trip, outlining things we saw and did on the way. Enjoy!

Beer Friday! - Speight's, Pride of the South

Welcome to what will hopefully be a weekly series examining the wide range of brews on offer here in New Zealand. Each week I will endeavor to try something new and update you on how delicious (or not) it is. Ratings will be given in a completely arbitrary manner, because really, is there such thing as a truly bad beer? Didn't think so. This week, a look at the range of beers produced by Dunedin-based Speight's Brewery.

Billing it self as the "Pride of the South", Speight's Brewery offers a range of eight beers, ranging from their flagship, Speight's Gold Medal Ale, all the way to Speight's Distinction, a darker, heavier style. I have had the privilege, thanks to the wonderful Speight's Brewery Tour, of sampling six of these brews, and below I will attempt to review them for you.

April Adventures, Part One

As I've said, the first few posts will attempt to provide you, the intrepid reader, with a summary of what's been going on in the first few months of my New Zealand adventure. Next up, the first of a two-part look at April, the busiest month yet.

Coming off the back off a much more interesting March, I was really looking forward to April. After the first week, school was off for a two week break in which I would be packing in a whole lot of adventure/touring/driving/assorted other activities. It is the first week of April and the first week of break that I will be looking at in this post.

First up was an April Fool's Day adventure into the mouth of an active supervolcano. I rented gear from the local lava surfing shop, hopped on the bus and was off into a truly exhilarating experience...

March of the Penguins (not really)

As I've said, the first few posts will attempt to provide you, the intrepid reader, with a summary of what's been going on in the first few months of my New Zealand adventure. Next up, March, a much sunnier experience on the whole.

No, I did not see any penguins in March. Or April. Or at all. Do not expect to see any pictures of penguins in this post, or any post, for a while now.

Now that both of my readers have abandoned this blog due to the lack of penguin-related news, I'll go ahead and proceed with my recap of the wonderful month of March, my second here in NZ. February, as discussed earlier, was a rather dull month, I didn't get up to much beyond settling in to a new routine in Dunners (another nickname for this wonderful city that seems to have more names than P-Diddy and Aragorn combined).

And the Recaps Begin - February

As I've said, the first few posts will attempt to provide you, the intrepid reader, with a summary of what's been going on in the first few months of my New Zealand adventure. February is the first month to get the summary treatment.


I arrived in New Zealand sometime on February 1st. I say sometime because I'm not entirely sure what  time it actually was, due to the fact I had been on a plane/in airports for the better part of 48 hours, despite having left home three days prior (thanks to the International Date Line for throwing a wrench in my previous mastery of being able to follow a calendar). Touching down in Auckland, my first impressions were: it is warmer here (not hard seeing as I left behind temperatures of -10 Celsius), it smells like flowers (!) and it's dark (very observant). Soon I was boarding connecting flight to Dunedin, the city I would be calling home for the next 10 months.

Here we go...

If you've made it here, I can tell already tell a few things about you. Firstly, you're incredibly bored, but not likely as bored as I am. I, after all, am the one writing posts on a blog about my life that is destined to average about three and half hits per year, all from my parents (or someone else who is irretrievably lost in the depths of the internet). Secondly, you at least have a passing curiosity in what life is like here in New Zealand, or have some type of interest in checking in on me, hopefully not because I owe you money. Thirdly, you know how to use the internet. Well done.

There I am! Look at the ocean and rocks too!

As it says in the column off to the right, this blog will be an attempt to provide a running catalogue of what I'm up to in this tiny country 8 billion miles away from anywhere else. Yes, I realize that I've been here for almost 5 months already, so the first few posts will not be updates so much as recaps of what I've gotten in to. I will post pictures when it makes sense to do so, and maybe some other stuff as well, just to break the general monotony of my forced attempts at humour.  

Whether it's because you're genuinely interested (best case scenario), bored out of your skull (acceptable) or just want to laugh at my pitiful attempts at writing (I'll take it), I sincerely hope that you enjoy reading and looking at whatever I end up posting on here.

Dave