Arrogant Australians

Ok so we just won the Rugby League World Cup final as underdogs beating Australia convincingly in the last 20 mins of the game. Then at the awards ceremony following they have the arrogance to award the man of the match award to Darren Lockyer--what a joke!! If winning the world cup final is the big deal it should be and your team are major underdogs and in the last 20 mins you blow the more favoured team off the park then one of your team has to win man of the match!! How can he possibly be man of the match when his team lost the biggest game in 5 years?!!! Man of the match should go to everyone in our whole team--they all outplayed Lockyer and took the biggest prize in Rugby League away from him!! Good stuff kiwis!!

Giant sundials and royal silliness

Monday my friend Carla flew in from NZ for a quick trip through this land and into Europe. So I took Tuesday and Wednesday off work and here's what we got up to! Tuesday we rented a car and drove south west to Stonehenge on the Salisbury plains. This was my first time to visit the famous landmark and although impressive when you read the history of it its not that impressive just to look at! It's not helped by a £6.50 entry to walk around it from a rather far away distance. It was also bitterly cold with a strong wind whipping across the plains. Then we drove off towards Bath stopping at a nice country pub for a baguette lunch. Then on to Bath where we wandered around the city centre which is very quaint and old--more like a European city than an English one. And with the Avon river running right through the middle it is a beautiful sight. We were going to drive over the Severn Bridge so Carla could say she had been to Wales but it was getting dark so she would have seen nothing so we drove back to London. After a late dinner we met Carla's friend Jen at Euston station and I drove them on a tour of London by night, past all the main locations. London is a whole lot more beautiful at night than during the day! Wednesday we were up early to get the rental car back on time. We then walked up to Buckingham Palace and down Pall Mall to Trafalgar Square and New Zealand house. Then back to Buckingham Palace to watch the changing of the guard. What a waste of money!! In my opinion it brings more shame on the royal family and England as a country. I don't know how much a year they waste in paying those people to march around and ride horses looking all historical etc all for a few tourists to be shouted at by English policemen in high vis yellow jackets looking all modern and silly. The people are half climbing the fence to take pics of a ceremony that none of us understand or can hear or really know what is going on. England and the royal family would do much better to feed some hungry orphans or tackle some much bigger issues. Another example of British reluctance to let go of the past and move on. We then took a black cab to Harrods which has everything at crazy prices but also has a Krispey Kreme store! Next up we went to Camden Markets for lunch and browsing. Then home so the girls could have naps while I cooked them dinner and then we went back into London to see the Lion King. A brilliant show!! We had great seats--up quite high but central and all clear views. The music and costumes were amazing and was a great night out.

summer down under!

So its 4 weeks till I land in Aotearoa, land of the long white cloud for a much needed summer holiday. Here's my planned itinerary so far. Would be great to see as many people as possible so love to hear from you to meet up when I'm in your area.

Dec 6 flight from London with 1 night stopover in L.A.

Dec 9 land in Auckland

Dec 11 or 12 drive south to Nelson with possible stop in New Plymouth for beach vball tournament on Dec 13-14. If not then cross on ferry to south island on Dec 12. Can't wait to see everyone in sunny Nelson and enjoy the beach etc.

Dec 23 cross on ferry to Wellington for family reunion at Waitoke.

Dec 29 cross back to south island --back to Nelson

New Years --???

Jan 2 - 4  National Pro Beach Tour begins in Christchurch

Jan 6-7 Nelson Grand Slam Tournament

Jan 10-11 Wellington

Jan 14-15 Ohope

Jan 17-18 Mt Maunganui

Jan 23-25 Auckland

More details of the tour and results, blogs etc can be found on www.annasbeach.com

Jan 27 flight back to cold wintry London!