Learning Rugby

I'm really getting into the culture down here. I've joined a touch rugby league. I'm on a co-ed PwC team and we play every Tuesday night. Tonight was our 2nd game and I scored my first try (or touchdown as it would be called in American Football). On a side note about American Football, many people down here call it Gridiron and wonder why I don't call it the same thing.

Our touch rugby team isn't great, but we are improving and it's a nice way to run around for a bit. One of the toughest parts is staying behind the ball and waiting for someone to pass it back to me.

Marathon Sunday and The Red Sox

Today was the Auckland City Marathon. We live right on the route for the marathon so we decided to have a small party to cheer on the runners. There were 7 of us who cheered the runners on for 3 hours in the morning. It was great to cheer for them on the balcony and have the runners wave to us and give us smiles.

After the marathon ended, we watched the Red Sox win Game 3 of the World Series. Although we were watching the Red Sox on MLB live, it was easier to watch the WS games on TV, so we purchased Sky Sports for the month. 1 more win and the World Series title is back in Boston again!

Great Barrier Island

What a weekend. We headed 100km from Auckland to an island called Great Barrier Island. The total population is around 700 which soars to around 10,000 during the summer time. We rented a "bach" (a kiwi word for a house) with 6 of our friends. We were with Phil and Anna (Sweden), Jeroen and Mascha (Netherlands), Jochen (Germany), and Jacco (Netherlands). Some of the highlights from the weekend are listed below.

-The weather was great. It was sunny all 3 days although pretty windy at times on Sunday and Monday
-Our place was a 2 minute walk to the beach which was awesome with fine white sand
-Saturday was filled with a hike (tramp as it's called over here) up to the top of Mt. Hobson. Our hike was supposed to be 3 and 1/2 hours, but we decided to take a different route back and it turned into a 7 hour grueling hike up and down very steep inclines which were very slippery. We crossed many rivers, and crawled up and down. We were all very satisfied when we finished and our muscles were very tired the next day. (Check out the pictures of our hike and some of the steep inclines and declines that we went on)

-We spent a lot of time drinking and eating (white wine, red wine, 42 below vodka, and lots of beer)
-Hung out at the beach and played some cricket
-Went swimming in the chilly water to cool off (only lasted a couple minutes as it was very cold)
-Drove a very old bus on the skinny 1 lane roads
-Hung out with some local fisherman who were all very well intoxicated, 1 was missing his arm and had a hook, and another was missing all his teeth and pinky finger
-Had a very rough 2 and 1/2 hour boat ride back to Auckland on Monday with big waves where Erin ended up getting sick and having a very unpleasant time

A worldly weekend

We have a long weekend down here as Monday is Labour Day. We are heading to Great Barrier Island which is an island about 100km by boat from Auckland. We have rented a place for us and 8 others and can't wait for a fun weekend. Although we are vacationing in New Zealand, we will be traveling with people from South Africa, Sweden, Germany, and the Netherlands. No Kiwi's this weekend.

Stay tuned for some pictures when we return.

Can you jump?

This weekend was a big weekend for Jeremy as he decided to leap from the highest building in the Southern Hemisphere. The Sky Tower in Auckland has the Sky Jump which is 192 meters (630 feet) off the ground. Thanks to PwC Boston I had a gift certificate to do this jump and I had my reservation on Saturday at 11am.

I wasn't too nervous through the whole morning, but when I walked out the door 630 feet in the air onto the platform, my legs and stomach decided that I was getting myself into an interesting situation. It was pretty scary, but I did it and it was a ton of fun. They gave me a free 2nd jump as well, so I've now done it 2 times. We've attached a couple videos that were taken by Erin at the landing zone with her sweaty palms.

All Blacks are All Done

It's been a tough beginning to the week over here in New Zealand as a result of last weekends Rugby World Cup matches. The All Blacks lost to the French team in the quarter finals. Although the All Blacks were ranked number 1 in the world, this loss was the earliest they have been knocked out of the Rugby World Cup.

It will be 4 years until they will be able to compete in the World Cup again and it will be here in AUCKLAND!!!

Pink Star Walk

Last night we participated in the Dove Pink Star Walk with some of our friends. The 5k walk was a fundraiser for Breast Cancer Research. It was held under the stars in the Auckland Domain (park) and was lots of fun.

Everyone was encouraged to wear pink and Angel wings. Sadly, our registration packs, including wing template never arrived, so we were wingless, but we were pink!

At the end of the walk there were fireworks and awards for the best dressed groups. We didn't win any prizes, but did get some exciting Dove goody bags for participating!