Pride 2007

What a mind blowing experience. To be in one place with so many people and then that the majority of them were gay! Here is the story of our day at Pride!


It all started on a beautiful morning in Hove. I looked out the window and it felt a bit like kid Christmas. The anticipation of the days events made me wake up early. I took a pic out our back window cos it was so lovely.

The sky was clear and the neighbourhood still sleepy and quiet.

We stoked up with a bit of breaky - smoothie and raisin toast with butter. Slapped on some sunscreen and headed off to the Parade.

The parade runs a little under 3 miles from the water front in Brighton up towards Preston Park. A 63 acre park which was decked out with fair rides and food and merchandise stalls.

http://tourism.brighton.co.uk/attractions/attractiondet.asp?Attraction=19&attractiontype=Parks+%26+Gardens

Getting to the parade was a bit of a mission for us. We tried to catch a bus only to discover that due to the parade they wouldn't be going close enough for us. But, we had our trusty bikes! Lucky. Pedal power and we were at the Viaduct on Preston Street in plenty of time to sip our NZ wine before the first parade participants arrived.


The theme for the parade was "Musicals". We were delighted to see 18 Dorothy's from the Wizard of Oz marching and dancing down the street.

Of course there were the Fire Service and Police Service too. There has to be a fire truck only this time it was trussed up in pastel pink and blue balloons!




According to the Argus, Brightons local newspaper around 120,000 people visited Preston Park where the parade finished. You can see a few thousand people in my pic above making their way up Preston Street.

Once through the gates and past the protesting Christians it was simply a matter of finding a green space to relax on. We were visited by hawkers selling vodka jelly and chocolate treats. Queues for the toilets were insane which forced most of us to go "bush" during our drinking session.

As the sun started to slip away and headaches from the heat increased we retreated to town and the stony shore. This was packed too. The water was almost warm enough to swim in after several days of sunshine.

The lights of Brighton pier were sparkling brighter than usual I think. Making my first big Pride celebration very beautiful.

Music Fest in Gdynia

Heineken Open'er Festival 2007! Camping with one small down pour to make things interesting. Otherwise it was BBQ's, sunshine and live music. What fun.

The festival was held at an old airfield at Babie Doly.



We caught the train from Gdansk to Gdynia and then bused the rest of the way.

Baby Doly is on the north coast of Poland so we could walk and see the Baltic Sea. I put my feet in it and got ankle ice cream ache! A few silly buggers went swimming in it. I imagine that they were a pickled on vodka.



It was my first true back packing and camping European adventure. I really enjoyed stooging around the streets of Gdansk and making geeky visits to the museum to find out more about the local history. Unfortunately most of the information was in Polish or German so I didn't learn a lot.

Food was really cheap but very nice. We went to a fancy restaurant where we sang along with a pianist who knew heaps of movie theme tunes and show tunes. A real "you hum it and I'll play it" experience. He even played Rufus Wainwright's "Hallelujah" he gave us a round of applause when we sang it.

Wild boar, Pierogi (vege or meat filled dumplings) hot beetroot soup, frosty freeze ice creams about a foot tall (Lody) were all interesting and delicious!


Camping was good. We had a complete set of tent pegs which made things better than my last camping effort in Roxburgh. (Having a set of screwdrivers was ever so helpful!!) Clare and I were the slowest to erect our tent and we managed to choose the spot that got a big puddle right outside our door when it rained.

This gave a nice waterbed effect inside the tent until I found a spade and dug a drain.



We purchased disposable BBQ's and attempted to cook sausages. Polish sausages are very thick and only 1/2 the embers on the BBQ would go at one time despite huffing and puffing to get them going.



It was a focus nevertheless and provided us with some warmth. I did my best to support the festival sponsor. Partly because it became increasingly difficult to smuggle in vodka as they would check bags at the gate.

The music itself was great. The highlight for me was Bjork and Icelandic Brass Band. They really rocked out. With the help of some amazing technology tehy replaced the usual swirly graphics and stuff displayed on the big screens with digital DJ decks and a Reactable which looked a but like a fortune telling device.

So to conclude as if I were a tourism adviser. Go to Gdansk. Cheap sweet people, quality food and drink and lovely scenery.

POLAND - Gdynia and Gdansk

What a lovely country. Well the small part that I saw of it anyway!

Our main objective when visiting Poland was to buy Zubrowka bison grass flavoured vodka and to see the artists performing at the Heineken Open er Festival.

We succeeded in drinking many kinds of vodka, lots of cheap beer and not only to rock out on the mud covered arena but see some nice historic buildings.

The town that we stayed in was pretty much destroyed thanks to both Axis and Allied invastions. Many of the beautiful buildings and courtyards have been rebuilt.

St Mary's church has been a major project in Gdansk. It has massive and ornate pieces like the organ you can see below and the glass window. Not all the windows have been replaced but there is the odd panel of coloured glass that has survived which is scattered amongst regular coloured glass. It made me wonder what a mess the church must have been.

The streets were cobbled with stairways leading up to the shops on either side. A dog barked out the shutters on the second floor between flower pots.

We talked to a German visitor who said that although the older locals speak German they would not speak to him. Gdansk was actually renamed by the German's to Danzig. I'm not sure when it returned to the original name. This was common all throughout Poland.

Basketball in Dunedin

We made a trip to Dunedin to catch up with some mates and also got to see Clare's little brother play basketball. Representing his region.

Wanaka tripping continued

I tried out my camouflage hairdo in the dry grasses of Wanaka.

Clare and her mum Jenny on top of the mount on the Lake Diamond walk. Brilliant sparkling day.

At the other end of the lake we took a walk up Mount Iron which had some lovely views also. Lots of rosehips were out enjoying the heat.


Here are some golfing pros playing at the Wanaka Have a Shot one afternoon.

South Island Travels

It really was a beautiful contrast to come from super urban South Korea to small town and rural New Zealand. I couldn't keep my eyes off the different landscapes as I travelled through.

This series of pics includes a shot of Clare and her Dad inland from Timaru. It was blowing and cold. It was the quickest photo ever as I didn't want to ask them to pose for long or they would be blown away.















Clare, Tommy (Clare's 2nd brother) and his mate Tim are on the bench at Ruby Island which is situated in Lake Wanaka. We Kayaked out and then took the short walk to the top to enjoy our snacks. It took about 1/2 hour to kayak there. As inexperienced kayakers we felt our arms the next day!

The orchard scene is from Southern Orchard in Roxburgh. It is the largest apple orchard in the Southern Hemisphere! I spent 10 days staying with my mate Ian (in the separate photo with his dog Thor) picking apples.

Matt and Karen's Wedding

It was a beautiful sunny Hawkes Bay day. Perfect for a garden wedding. Here are some of the really sweet pictures I managed to get from the day.

Some lovely people I saw in NZ

Here are some of the lovely people that I got to catch up with in NZ. I was actually not very good at taking photo's of all of you!

Top is Raj and Paul at the Wellesly Club in Wellington.

Lyn with Clare in Christchurch where we ate nachos in the sun.

The little dog is training to be a bomb dog while staying with Maree and Jane.

Finally is a pretty picture of The Avon in Christcurch

ECC Gang - minus Dave

For our last hurrah we went to Sta Serra for lots of italian food and the WINE BAR. In the pic we have Clare, Regm Marie, Sun Mi, Alfie, Kelly (in front) and me!

Below you can see that travelling on the subway is so tiring after eating and drinking!

Favourite Korean Class

Wellington

Here I am!

I made it to Wellington, New Zealand in one piece and with all my luggage (well, minus my toothbrush).

It was an entertaining trip. I am glad that I had nothing pressing to do once I got here.

We got out of the apartment in Uijongbu at about 3:30pm. Marie came to bid us farewell again. She was also moving into our nice apartment and inherited all sorts of treasures!?


Bus from Uijongbu to Incheon took a good 2 hours. No fee for excess baggage at check-in. Booyah! All though I did have some nice lotions confiscated due to the whole liquid restriction. Trying to reduce weight in the checked in baggage meant that I took a lot of bottles on with me. The customs officers were quite bemused by my collection.


There was an hour delay taking off from Incheon but we did get personal screens with channels which was a bonus.


We sat next to a very sweet Korean guy who was going to Sydney. It was his first time in a plane and he was very excited to be going to another country. He was going to a 10 month English course so that he could become a "salary man". He told us that he is the only child and so his mother cried a lot at the airport. He also would be away from his girl friend of one year.

I gave him one free English lesson and taught him how to say "gudday mate". I think he thought I was crazy.

There was a spectacular sunrise as we hit the Australian continent. It was a blazing angry orange which softened into full daylight as we approached Sydney. We strained our eyes looking out for the Sydney Opera house. Although we couldn't see it the Sydney coast line is pretty impressive. I told our Korean friend that he would have to go to the beach. First, he will need to learn how to swim!


Our late departure from Incheon meant that I missed my connecting flight to Wellington. Clare was still able to connect to her flight to Christchurch. So I got to spend 9 hours hanging out in Sydney airport. The staff were pretty friendly and they gave me food vouchers. I bought a couple of magazines and wandered in circles in between articles. I had a good opportunity to watch the ballet of vehicles and planes on the tarmac. I have the greatest respect for the drivers who reverse the Boeings on to the runway. If you need some onto help you reverse a trailier then call one of those guys!

I arrived in Wellington at about12:30am. My sister Megan was still waiting patiently for me. Out in to the breezy Wellington Summer evening. Lovely.

Here are four of my cute Kindy kids.
1st pic - Emilie
2nd - Helen
3rd - Jeff
4th - Dorothy

Brendon hid under the table and then I forgot to get a pic of him! Brat!

Graduation

 

Only 2 days left working at ECC! It's a nice relaxed pace as there is break for kindergarten before the start of their new classes.

Last weekend was the kindergarten graduation. Clare's class was involved in this as they were 7 year olds and will be progressing to elementary at ECC this year. Graduation was a big deal. All the kids wore robes and mortar boards which looked pretty cute. Their parents came to a big ceremony which had been practiced for several weeks! Each student gave a little speech and their class gave a celebratory chant. Clare had to say good bye to her kids which added to the emotion of the day. She was especially sad to see her favourite student Kelly leave.

I almost cried saying good bye to Columbus class the Friday before the graduation. We held a little goodbye party where we played games and ate snacks. I've included some pictures of my kids.