After we pushed started the diesel truck (which I hear is hard to do) we left it there in case we had to push it again...which we did. 

New Zealand is beautiful. Absolutely. 

Mike and Thomas (our flatmate) went tramping the other day. Here are a few pix from their adventure into the mountains just about an hour and bit outside of Christchurch. 

There's the real Mike come out. 

Thomas and the train. Thomas is our new flatmate. He's known Mike for awhile. He's very cool and happens to love to do many of the same things as Mike. 

The hike out. They came from that valley though. 

changing weather 

They walked up and over that... 

They walked up that valley, dropped their bags at the hut and climbed up to a lake in the mountains. 

Go Mike Go 

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Last Saturday Mike and Mack (mike's brother) took me to my first Cricket game. We were playing Austrailia (ranked #1) in a 3-day tournament. We had lost two of the games but this game was in Christchurch so we went along. Cricket is a long game but I sort of got into it by the end and I understood what I was watching. What was so ironic is that on the field it is such a colonial, sort of gentlemanly game, while in the stands, well at least the one we were in, it is a complete riotous mess. Apparently cricket is an excuse to get completely drunk out of your mind. Beer was consumed in innumerable quanities. I don't even think some of the people knew they were at a game. It was very entertaining for sure, even if at times the cricket was dull, the crowd was not. 

We sat in the DB stand which is known for being full of drunks but they are the cheapest seats. I must say it was entertaining, especially when the game was slow. This shot doesn't give justice to the riotious drinking that was going on. The crowd would join in shouting such things as "You f-ed up" and "You are gay" to cerain players on the Aussie team and they had accompanying signage to bolster their drunken stupors. One guy kept pouring beer all over this stuffed dog and chanting "the dog drinks piss" and then get everyone to join in...so the whole crowd around me is chanting this and there is a big soggy, beer soaked, dog being thrown in the air. What alcohol can do to intensify a crowd mentality is amazing. It was so amusing. 

At this point, NX wasn't doing too well. Austrailia batted first and we were in the field. The team at bat has 50 overs and each over is 6 throws so you can imagine why a game can take hours. After 50 overs the other team is at bat. That is a very simplified version of Cricket...then there are different "runs" or points for how far the balls goes. I am going to stop trying to explain it now. 

This would be a Kangaroo hanging by a noose. We don't like Aussies down here I guess. Very subtle eh? This guy was swinging it around all day. 

This doesn't quite get the action of it all but this was a very common scene during the six hours we were there. Notice the crowd and their faces. Granted the cops were using, what seemed to be, undue force, but then again, these people were drunk off their faces. There were like 22 arrests and 50 expulsions from the game. 

During the lunch break these two fellas got up in the high stands, stripped down, and stutted around for awhile. Once they got the drunk crowd's attention, they were getting cheered to high heaven. Eventually the cops caught on and when the poor guys tried to exit they were met up by force. Quite a half time show really. 

This is streaker #2 being tackled to the ground and covered with a trash bag. Streaker #1 didn't get very far either. He was a wiggly streaker, that's for sure. 

Right before the winning bowl. 6 pointer and the NZ black caps beat the Aussies. Needless to say it was quite an interesting 6 hours and I've been told it was some of the best cricket I could have been witness to not to mention everything else I was witness to....