Poor Old New Zealand!

We really have been battered with winter weather this week. A “severe weather bomb” is what the weather authorities are calling the pig of a storm that is currently tearing roof’s off of houses and wrecking ships up on the north island this weekend. We, down on the south island are merely getting icy southerly chills and strong gusts. Although we are in no immediate danger, these icy chills and gusts are more than enough to stop me looking at the sloppy surf conditions with enthusiasm. When you wake up early in the morning and the first thing you see is the condensation from your own breath, motivating yourself to clamber into a dripping wet suit and enter the glacial waters of the deep south is pretty tough! But hold on it’s the height of summer here? The warmest month of the year! Hmmmmm……. Good ol New Zealand.

Saying that, I’ve surfed every other day this week. The things you do for adrenaline  eh.

Well I had another night working for Radio One as their photographer on Thursday evening. It was at a small club in the centre of the Octagon (City Centre) and the night consisted of three DJ’s, going on from 10pm till 4am (I left shortly after 1:30am when the final DJ came on). The night was more of a success than the previous gig, but still lacked a decent crowd. Oh well better luck next time. I still got paid so i’m happy. Very happy might I add as I spent my earnings on a new music DVD, 5 performances of Rory Gallagher! My newest inspiration/hero. The guy is a folk, blues, rock legend from Ireland back in the 70s and 80s. To sum it up for me I found a Hendrix quote in which Jimi is asked how it feels to be the best guitarist ever. He replied…

“I don’t know, ask Rory Gallagher.”

So I bought tickets for me and Bex to go to see a Rugby match on Sat evening. Unexpectedly the only tickets left were the cheap ones, now this is because they were on a stand called “The Zoo”. This stand is home to the kind of sights that you might see if you crossed the TV shows “Planet Earth” and “Bottom”. A rowdy bunch of drunken students dressed up in all manners of bed sheets, one pieces, animal costumes etc. Still, the match was a good one and our Otago team won by three points. I was surprised when I saw what looked like James Haskell (an english player who I last saw at this very same stadium months before, playing for England in the world cup). I said to Bex “look it’s Haskell”. I didn’t believe it myself and was ready to settle onto the idea of Haskell’s identical Southern Hemisphere twin, when the commentator announced his name “James Haskell”, well I never!

As always my collection of stunning images taken from our back door grows daily. This time though it was taken from the beach in front of our house.

You may have noticed that I’ve changed a few things around on my blog. Let me know if you prefer this version or not? Oh and I have updated my Portfolio page as well with some more of my latest material. Enjoy!

Thanks for reading and see you next Sunday