2kiwis

St John’s in the City.

Last night we went to a concert held at St John’s in the City here in Wellington. I had got into town early to queue if required but this wasn’t necessary so I joined Keryn and Will at the General Practitioner on Willis Street. Will has only been in New Zealand for a few weeks now, having come over to live with his kiwi wife Lydia (who Keryn and I worked with at the Warehouse while we were all at University). Lydia and Will had been living in Reading but came over when Will got a job at Victoria University. We had the two of them over for dinner, along with Sam and Jules, a few weekends back and agreed to meet up before the concert seeing as we all had tickets.

So we had a drink and then headed out to find something reasonably quick to eat. This ended up being AbraKebabra and we each had a variation on a chicken kebab which was tasty. The seating at the back of the place is decked out in wood and Turkish carpets and reminded me of touristy restaurants overseas, helped by the two Irish girls talking on the next table.

We then wandered up to the Church and milled around inside the foyer waiting for the doors to open. The organisation wasn’t the best and Keryn and I ended up in two separate queues. I was standing next to the wife of the man next to Keryn in the other queue so rather than swap around I used our two tickets to get me and the ‘other wife’ in while Keryn entered on the other guys ticket, all very strange.

Inside the Church.

Inside Lydia and Will had found seats in the second row right up the front. The Church is an all wooden construction and is very well maintained. The pews also had a nice cushion running the length of the seat and it was quite comfortable.

There were four main performers with various band members as well. First up was Lydia Cole, a newcomer to the NZ music scene playing sweet singer-songwriter numbers. The acoustics were good and her set, while short, was pleasant and kept the audience captivated and quiet.

Lydia Cole.

Next up was Nathan King, accompanied by guitarist friend Joe Faris. Nathan’s set was also short but was full of energy and witty banter. For the last song, a Zed favourite, Nathan invited Lydia back on to stage and joked about how she was a big fan of the song when it came out.

Nathan King (right) with Lydia Cole and Joe Faris.

The main act was Greg Johnson and Boh Runga playing together, each singing some of their own songs with accompaniment from the other. They were supported by guitarists Dave Goodison and Ben King who also provided backing vocals and were the focus for humorous jibes when Greg wasn’t taking the mickey out of himself of Boh. The songs were good, the reworking of Isabelle my favourite.

Greg Johnson.

Boh Runga.

One last duet.

So a good night had by all, and another pub found worth another visit…

Last weekend we flew up to Auckland to visit Travis and Sophie. We flew up with JetStar and had no problems, there were more issues with Air NZ on the return due to a delayed previous flight. Arriving at the house in we got to meet the cats for the first time. Tikal and Denali are rag dolls and for less than a year old they’re large, almost as big as our beasts. We had a lot of fun watching them run around, chasing toys and playing on their tall climbing platform and crinkly cat tunnel. Being rag dolls they tend to not fight being picked up and their think fur is very soft adding to the cuteness factor.

On the Saturday we were driven out to visit the Muriwai gannet colony and it was an impressive sight. Unfortunately our visit coincided with what appeared to be a University field trip as there lots of students crowding the viewing platforms and they were all filling out observing the birds and filling out forms. Thankfully the students were moving around so we were able to get up to the railing to look down on the gannets below, nesting on the broad rocky hilltop.

Up close with a gannet.

Coming in to land.

We could also see some fisherman braving the surf and casting from a rocky promenade that projected out from the base of the cliff. It was mildly distressing to watch as a fisherman failed to deal with a gannet he caught on his line, by the time the line snapped he had dragged the poor bird close into the waves breaking over the rock and it appeared that the bird damaged its caught wing. The bird slowly drifted out to sea, unable to take off from the water and struggling fitfully to escape. We saw another bird get hooked later on, this one being freed much earlier and still able to fly away.

caught on the line.

There was constant activity in the colony and gannets were always flying in, out and around. There was a colony of terns around the corner from the viewing platform and they decided at one point to all take off, circle around a bit and then head back to roost, filling the sky with a mass of moving white.

There were also lots of people surfing out in the distance, the waves being quite large and regular in the breeze. We stayed for an hour or so in the end I think, definitely worth a visit if you’re in the area (though the gannets are only here August – March generally, hiking off to Australia as the weather gets colder).

We then headed for a coastal drive towards Piha. The weather was pretty bad, raining and windy, only improving as we reached Piha. The journey was slow mainly due to an exceptionally slow driver who we couldn’t pass, and who missed a number of opportunities to pull into slow passing lanes. Very frustrating. As the weather had cleared we parked and walked along the beach for a while. The black sand sparkled in the sun

On the beach.

Keryn and Sophie.

Keryn’s parents had come down from Whangarei and in the evening we all went out for dinner to celebrate their 39th wedding anniversary. We drove into the city and had our meal at Wildfire, a restaurant styled on a Brazilian theme. Rather than have a menu at this restaurant you wait at your table and the waiters bring around skewers of meat and you have whatever you wish whether it be slices of ham/beef/chicken, portions of salmon, sausages, pasta (only there to fill you up so you eat less I reckon), calamari and other selections. I think we suffered for being close to the kitchen, some of the meat being sliced for the first time at our table and leaving some pieces more edge fat and gristle than lovely tender fillets. Still, most of the food was tasty and we had a good time.

This was the day Telecom released their new logo (“Make of it what you will” I read one Telecom marketing person say – sounds to me like they don’t know why they chose it, I don’t know either). Part of the release was a show down at the Ferry Building on Quay Street. We went down after eating (and after a walk up queen street for some Giapo gelato) and I was quite unimpressed. The projection parts at the start of the loop were quite impressive, bold video being projected onto the facade of the Ferry Building including such things as an ice storm slowly covering the building in ice and a giant breaking through the building walls before lowering himself into the water below. The later interactive sections were not so successful, the movement of people in front of giant light boxes not obviously translating into the seen projections. It was diverting but I wouldn’t bother seeing it again.

On Sunday Keryn’s parents left before lunch and dropped us off at a retail park where we met Janet. We went for lunch at a nice cafe which backed onto an orchard and ate while outside the weather went from wind and rain to sun in some sort of random cycle. It was good to catch up and we ended by doing a bit of shopping at JB Hifi and the Warehouse.

Back at Travis and Sophie’s we played on the Wii to kill time before heading back to the airport. All in all a quick but pleasant weekend away.