Graduation

Three years of hard work and 10 months of waiting later, I have finally graduated!

The four graduates.

I acheived my Master of Music Therapy, along with three other wonderful women - Judy, Anna and Fiona. We only found out the grade of our entire Masters when we got handed out the programmes and we looked beside our names. Do I really need to say anything more about Massey university besides thank god I don't have to go there anymore?

Myself, Vida and Marianna after the parade through town.

It was a wonderful day. Marianna also graduated with her Masters in Linguistics in the same ceremony. It was a long day though as the ceremony wasn't til the evening and I was the last person in the ceremony! (251)

A proud mum.

Thank you so much to all those that supported me during this Masters.
Good luck to those current students coming through the course. It is possible to finish and still keep a small amount of sanity (although this is debatable).

Music therapy final year students and graduates

U2 - The Post.

Almost a year to the day of waiting. And once again, it was Gitika and I.
Waiting.
Queuing
For U2.



The journey began on the Thursday when Gitika and I drove up to Auckland. Once out of Wellington, it was amazing weather and Gitika instantly regretted her decision to wear track pants.
The drive was long and Gitz did well to do it alone (through sheer stubborness to relinquish the wheel). I did have to coach her how to drive on the motorway. Wait .. shouldn't I get a medal for that? :) Just kidding Gitz.

Unable to accept that fact that I may have to watch U2 from many rows back and through a sea of heads and hands, I took Joel's advice and decided to line up early to get in the eclipse. 10.30am with no thought as to supplies to keep me going until 5pm when they opened the gates. Only 200 people had beaten me to it. Good numbers when you consider the fact that 2000 fit into the eclipse. Urgent texting followed as I implored Gitz to come early before the 'hordes' arrived and she didn't make it into the tent. What is it with New Zealanders and their laidback excitement? In the end, they didn't need to shut the tent til 4pm.

Gitz and I had befriended those next in line, who discussed tactics with us on how to get to the bar and which place is best for viewing. Authorities drummed into us that we were under no circumstances to RUN to the field. Anyone caught running will be held back. Held back! There was no way we were risking that and decided that as long as both feet didn't leave the ground at the same time, we weren't running.



We ended up splitting up from our fellow liner-uppers and going for the bar at the end of the right arm. There we met Earl and Rach who helped guard our post when nature called or thirst descended on us.

Of course it rained (if you don't like the weather in Auckland, wait ten minutes). We got cold. My fingers were numb and the only thing to do to warm up was to dance to Kanye West. Who came out wearing dark sunglasses. Need I say more?

Nothing could prepare us for the opening of U2. As we realised band members were walking onto stage, Rach and Lisa starting screaming "Oh my f***king god it's Bono!". Bono had walked up the steps across the arm from us. Bono was no more than 3 m from us. He circled the end of the arm basking in arrogant glory and I completely lost it.

Does that surprise you?

Friday's concert:
It's so hard to describe the concert. The lighting was incredible - 3 stories high of lights is almost certainly going to make for an impressive concert.



I was overcome with emotion when they played One Tree Hill. I had no money on my phone to call Martin and I thought of how sobering the concert would have been for us had it been played on the 17th March - having just lost a friend suddenly earlier that week.



During Where the Streets Have No Name, the entire eclipse had blown up balloons (Green, White and Orange) and let them all go during the middle 'Love Love Love' bit. Bono was completely speechless after that song. (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pnbnQgd5lU)





Larry came and played his snare drum down on our arm (only metres away!) for Sunday Bloody Sunday.







Bono brought his girl from the crowd down the right arm for With Or Without You. She was really into hugging him and kissing him ... a little too much. And then there is a huge write up about it in the paper - even though it happens at every U2 concert. Still, at least it meant Bono was down near us again!

The concert was 2 1/2 hours long with 2 encores. During Kite, Bono let go of a kite (now for sale on Trade Me for upwards of $1200) and of course it got stuck in the lighting fixtures when he let it free (all dramatic-like with a lighter to sever the rope). Oh well - it can't always be perfect!

Friday's Set List:

City of Blinding Lights
Vertigo
Elevation
I Will follow
New Year’s Day
Beautiful Day
One Tree Hill
Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own
Love and Peace
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Bullet The Blue Sky
Miss Sarajevo
Pride (in the Name of Love)
Where the Streets Have No Name
One

Encores
The Fly
Mysterious Ways
With or Without You

The Saints are Coming
Angel of Harlem
Kite


Some extraordinarily generous person bought me a ticket to Saturday's show as well. Knowing how things worked, I again lined up around 11 - 11.30am. Derek joined me not long after that - with Andy (not to be confused with Andy Pandy Pants) who had saved Derek's arse by flashing his ticket at the gate keepers. Derek decided rather than text me he'd just walk into Mt. Smart Stadium without showing a ticket. Got away with it too.

Our friendly line neighbours were Liv and Linda (who were completely fabulous to share the concert with!) who supplied us with cushions and crackers (once again I was unprepared food wise).
To be honest, I think Saturday's show was bigger than Friday's. The entire stadium seemed charged. Derek and I had speed-walked to get prime position on the bar again (for the four of us as Linda and Liv were sticking with us. This time we were further around the right arm than Friday night so that we had a clearer view to the stage (no heads to look through) but still right on the rail. We had our rail safe-keeping in place, allowing us to be supplied with drinks and toilet stops. The wine went down quite nicely until I knocked the remaining bottles over and they soaked into the chips. Whoops.



(Bono as he enters onto the stage at the start of the show)

The band didn't come down the extended stage so much this concert and we never got to see The Edge up close, but could see easily enough over to the other arm when him and Bono did their thing over there. They played Bad (which Derek nearly had a heart attack when they began the opening riff) and Desire - huge songs!

Here are pictures of Adam ... when he was playing to us. To Us!!!!












Set List for Saturday:

City of Blinding Lights
Vertigo
Elevation
Until The End of the World
Still Haven’t Found What I'm Looking For
Beautiful Day
Angel of Harlem
Walk On
Sometimes
Bad
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Bullet The Blue Sky
Miss Sarajevo
Pride in the Name of Love
Where the Streets have no Name
One

Encores
The Fly
Mysterious Ways
With or Without You

The Saints are Coming
Desire
One Tree Hill



Bono got another girl up during Mysterious Ways (thank god she could dance) and sang to her for With or Without You. Thankfully a little less seedy this time.

He also got a child up on stage for Sunday Bloody Sunday. He put a COEXIST bandanna on her (upside down I might add) and got her to start the "No more!" chant for the crowd.

Ending on One Tree Hill was almost emotional (what is it with concerts being an excuse to leave all logical emotion at home?). Even the band seemed overwhelmed as they waved goodbye and parted finally.


Now comes the part to make you all green with envy. See this pick?



It says U2. Yup, it's a U2 pick. Not purchased from anywhere. Not recieved from the roadie soundchecking the cordless bass/guitar ... no siree. This pick was given to me personally by ..

ADAM CLAYTON!!!

During Where the Streets Have No Name (Saturday), Adam came down our arm and stood in front of us. He has this great look on his face. His smile implies that we look like a bunch of idiots all yelling and screaming at him but he loves it anyway. I decided that this was the 'now or never' moment, so I pleaded "Pick! Please! Pick! Please!" - it's amazing how well people can lipread when you exaggerate your mouth movements, lean over the handrail, cup your hands, hold them up and have this pained look on your face. Pure class.


As the song finished, I couldn't believe it when he leant down and reached out his hand. Liv also reached out (her dream come true! A "moment" with Adam!) and touched his hand. He pulled his hand away before squatting down further and placing his hand in mine, making sure I had a hold of the prized possession before he let it go.

Unbelievable.

The next song was One and I can hardly remember it from leaping around going "Oh my god Oh my god Oh my god Oh my god!". Derek asked me on several occasions if I was okay. I wasn't. My hands were shaking and I quadruple checked that I had safely zipped the pick up in my jacket.

He could of handed me anything! It was the simple fact that he purposely gave it to me that still has me having little leaping around "Oh My God" moments. Stupid really. He's only a person.

Still. I might make a pendant out of it. Hang it round my neck .. right next to Jesus .

For more photos, see http://www.getjealous.com/U2

U2 concert ...

ahhhh, did I mention concertS? ..


yes ..



that's right.



Not once, but twice.



Two days ... two concerts ... my presence at both ..




BOTH!


I think I'm a little insane ..


(watch for the post-concert update)

Cape Palliser

A long weekend was upon us. What better thing to do than spend the morning lazing about, catch some free 'jazz' at Frank Kitts Park in the sun, flip the coin between mountains or sea, then jump in the car and just drive.

We ended up at Lake Ferry. The Rimutakas held the clouds back but not the wind. Exploring the beach left us with sandblasted legs and grit through our hair.


A nights accomodation proved hard to find. The sign on the office said "Office closed. Open 9am tomorrow morning. If you need a tent site, just choose one". Even the local pub was completely booked up. All five rooms. Amazing.

The last option was a "motel". Two cabin like structures. All enquires to 52 Lake Ferry Road (400m down the road). Turns out the wife was down at the pub and the husband had to go and get her anyway.

Don't you love small towns?

Ngawi and Palliser Bay.

What's a roadtrip without random stop-offs to see parts of New Zealand you didn't even know were hiding in your back yard? And celebrating the season that is meant to be spring (a rare occurance of sunshine). From the lookout, the high snow topped peak of part of the Kaikoura Range could just be seen.

The Putangirua Pinnacles - massive rock structures formed millions of years ago (the number varies between 9 and 13 million years ago). A hot sunny day made the view/rocky riverbed walk worth it.

Ngawi

Ngawi is a sleepy little fishing village with a variety of ancient tractors lining the side of the road and sheep roaming around the shore. These ones were 'coming straight for us'.

Cape Palliser

Cape Palliser has a lighthouse with around 250 steps up to the top, and a beautiful view of the bay and the sun setting over the South Island. True to form, it was cold and windy.




The rocky beaches provide a safe haven for one of New Zealand's largest seal colonies.



The seals lounge around, smell alot and generally hide in the rocks to scare several unsuspecting tourists, making them almost fall backwards over the rocks and their girlfriends. Tricksey seals.



The entire weekend was finished with a picnic on the otherside of Lake Ferry. The picnic was purchased from a small town Four Square, where the store's cat took an extreme liking to me and followed me around the store miaowing. Such friendly creatures these small town folk ...


(Photography by Beck and Derek)

Photography

Hawk - Kinloch



For Sale - Kinloch



Bridge - Routeburn

"Adventure" Queenstown

Saturday

The Adventure Quest.

It was less of an adventure quest and more of a "lets see how many people are willing to cheat for answers" Quest. Basically it was a huge arse treasure hunt with 80 teams. You had 1 - 3 hours to do the Mountain Bike stage before you could begin the 1 - 3 hour Walk stage (also known as the Run stage). We spent a good two hours on our bike stage, following instructions to obey ALL the roadrules. Good thing too, because traffic was hurrendous! We passed three cars in the first half an hour (only one of them was parked).


Truth be told, it was actually quite fun. We were in the Social Catagory (of course). Some people were willing to share clue answers, some weren't (and didn't seem impressed at our attempts to get them to). Some got lost for an hour and a half up in the bush and had no qualms about copying all of our answers.

The walk part became unappealing once I saw the Big Hill area where most of the clues were hidden. I think we lasted an hour on the Walking stage.


That included time taken to check out the real estate at the Chinese Settlement along the river. We did go 'off the track' for a couple of the clues
(pretty brave considering Derek's track record of getting lost once leaving a clearly marked trail - see www.6degrees.net.nz for a very entertaining story and for further details on the Adventure Quest).


I, of course, got distracted by the cat in the graveyard during the hunt for one clue. But it was just SO cute!

Just after 2pm, a large bank of cloud started to shroud the sun. It was definately time to leave. The race organisers didn't seem the least bit worried about our lack of effort. They were even amused that we had created words to make up a story from the answers.


In fact, they were the ones that recommended people who become bored hand their answers in early and go for a beer. It was only fair to follow his words of wisdom.



Kinloch Lodge


Over an hour out of Queenstown. No cellphone reception. Apparentely an amazing view (the clouds remained low for most of the remainder of the trip) out over the lake.
The hosts John and Toni were great. We mostly spent time talking to John, who provided the history of the lodge and answered our most important questions like, "are there any ghosts?" (which apparentely there are) and "Which wine on the menu do you recommend?"

We were put up in one of the Heritage rooms (you know the type, front room of cute little house with view over lake, a bed with excessive amount of pillows - what do you need nine pillows for?).

Some DOC guy came and did a talk about the history of the local area, detailing the lives of the short and long tailed bat, some yellowhead bird and the mountain, silver and red beech trees. It was actually quite interesting (unless you fell asleep, huh Derek).

Sunday



We were meant to go jet boating at 8.45am (daylight saving time) but the day dawned dull with low cloud hanging over the lake. John recommend we save the Dart River Safari for a sunny day. Plus, sitting in a warm cosy dining room with freshly brewed coffee, juice, a delightful breakfast spread and a talkative host made it very easy to decline the option of sitting in a freezing cold boat with water being splashed in your face.



So instead we drove to the start of the Routeburn Track, played around on the swingbridge and enjoyed being in the mountains. My camera got a good workout as there is so much amazing scenery and wildlife around that area.

Sadly, my bus left at 3pm and so we had only had about an hour in the Hot tub that overlooks the lake. Bummer huh.

And that was my trip to Queenstown.



For another perspective on the story, check out the Herald - http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/7/story.cfm?c_id=7&objectid=10404840 (I think it's in the Tuesday travel section ...)

Adventure Queenstown

I was blessed with a four day holiday in Queenstown last weekend. Something about exploring the Spring Loaded Festival and the extensive thrill seeker adventures available in the area. Here's an attempt to skite to others about what Derek and I got to do ...


Thursday


We flew down to Queenstown on a beautiful clear day. For those of you who haven't flown into Q'town before, the plane (large plane, none of these pencil plane things) comes down over top of ski fields (wave to the skiers everyone) and inbetween the mountains. It's quite breaktaking.
Our accomodation was The Dairy - a boutique hotel with a hot tub that looks out over the town, up to the Remarkables. We were the youngest people there by about 30 years. Still, can't complain when you can order a cooked breakfast including pancakes, with fresh orange juice and coffee brewed for you.




We got given a Jeep (with ridiculously low milage on it) as our rental car because we needed something to put our mountain bikes into (yeah right). This Jeep had seat warmers, electric seats that moved when you turned the ignition on and off, individual air conditioning controls, electric sunroof and my personal favourite, rain sensitive windscreen wipers. Rain sensitive!!!

We were taken out to dinner (where we tasted Sam Neill's Two Paddocks wine .. suppose it was pretty good for a $60 bottle of wine) and to see Rent (a rock musical about drugs, Aids and Bohemian life), which was pretty good for local theatre.


Friday

Parasailing


9am start. A gentle introduction into Q'town activities with a ten minute parasail around the lake. The parachute (charming smiley face) takes you up 200m above the lake. Nothing too adventurous. Only got slightly nervous when we appeared to be dropping down towards the water. Turns out it's the 'thrilling' part of the ride, when the boat suddenly moves forward, making you launch back up into the air at a medium rate of knots.

Hang gliding



THIS was my favourite of the weekend. We launched 2000ft up the Remarkables. My pilot was Matt, who had been flying for 13 years. After launching, we saw a hawk who had caught a thermal and so we followed him. I know it's cheesy but I was flying with the birds and it was an amazing feeling! We rode a thermal, keeping our altitude as opposed to dropping. Matt even let me have a go at steering (if you can call holding the bar and keeping it straight 'steering').



As you can see, you get dressed up like a punching bag before taking flight. I quite liked the red ... red makes you go faster you know. But tell me .. did the suit make my bum look big?
Coming in to land was as much of a highlight as launching. We came in a lot faster than I expected, but it was a pretty smooth landing - with a styley skid at the end. The camera on the glider unfortunately didn't work so I didn't get any pictures of us when we were up. Gutted.


Canyon Swinging.



After having had the time of my life hang gliding, I thought canyon swinging would be a logical flow on. Amped up and talking a lot, we marched down the five minute walk talking to our guide Crispy. He seemed a nice guy... (little did I realise how much of a teasing bastard he was)
We arrived intime to see Haggis leap off the platform in a very dramatic way, finishing with a ballet pose at the end (supposedly ballet). These guys jump off in climbing harnesses. We, however, had a full-body harness to keep us attached to the ropes.



Thinking I was ready, I went second. Who was I kidding? As soon as I got to the end of the Canyon, my coherent conversation turned into pitiful whimpers.
"Gone a bit quiet there?" (Crispy)
"Yeah. Yeah I have."

Crispy had decided I was going to jump off sideways with my hands held behind my back. After standing there for a minute, I decided that wasn't going to work and I created my own jump - affectionately named by Derek as "Hang On and Pray". I did it though! I finally 'jumped'. Reviewing the dvd showed I actually kinda just stepped off, in a very reluctant way.



I think my one word to describe the experience of a rushing towards certain death was 'shit' (edited out of the dvd). For the fall itself I think I shut my eyes, but as soon as the arc started, it was a blast! Nothing like letting go of the rope and spread eagling (or yoga star fishing on your back) while rushing through a canyon.

(Now this, is a big F*** off swing Jay, Tim and Martin!)

The guys that work at the Canyon Swing are great. They try to give you the most exciting ride by messing with your mind. Derek didn't get to choose what he wanted to do. He was given the chair of Death. Nothing like being strapped to a chair, then toppled over the platform backwards mid sentence.

Adventure day - led to a great sleep that night and a low key Saturday and Sunday .. more soon.

Best of Malo

It was my last day at Malo yesterday. I've been there a year and a half and have plenty of adventures to remember it by.

There was the time I locked myself in the toilet while closing up alone. Faced with 13 hours of listening to Radiohead full bore on repeat, in a cold tiled room with flurescent lighting spurred me on to kick open another outside door (blocked outside by a ton of rubbish) by two inches, smashing the pane of glass in the meantime and yelling for help. Romie came to the rescue.

I've been asked out for a drink by two cafe regulars by the passing of notes while ordering coffee.

I've been caught out using the number stand as a microphone and dancing around to Bowie in the far room, by the Number 12 bus that stopped outside for the lights.

My first Wellington "gig" was at Malo cafe with Michaela. We called ourselves 'Self-Induced Crises', a name suggested by the most flamboyant of Front of House managers, Steve.

My puny coffees-in-one-day record stands somewhere above 200. And I can kinda draw ferns now.



The things I'll miss most are stealing chips, my favourite regulars, those "favourite" regulars and the general abusive banter/yelling that occured between the staff .. okay mostly John and I.

Buon giorno Malo!

Titahi Bay

Another spur-of-the-moment photography expedition to a beach.



This time it was Titahi Bay, which looked out to the sun setting over Mana Island.



For the record, it was really cold. And windy. Then I spent three days off work sick. Worth it?


Completely.




Photographer: Derek