Day 366 - 367 - Seals, The World Cup and Earthquakes
Day 366 - 367 – 9th - 10th June 2006 +11:00 GMT
Friday night was the last night for a few of the Maple Lodge long termers so a night on the town was called for. A friendly game of poker at the lodge started the night and just after 11pm we headed into the city centre, around 15 of us went out to an irish bar J J Murphys, We stayed in the bar all night as the pool tables were free and the beer a reasonable price, we headed back at 4am after a good night out, wlthough several people stayed out to watch the opening game of the world cup. In the morning Myself, Sabine, Dennis and Huw drove the 10 minute drive to Lyall Bay and had a walk around the coast to a near by Seal Colony. The walk took about 90 minutes around past Red Rocks and through Devils Gate which are coastal land marks.
Red Rocks
The Coast
We saw lots seals although they all were living alone in their own space to sleep.
The Seal Colony
The Seal Colony
The Seal Colony
You can walk right up to them although your not advised to get to close as they have large sharp teeth and may bite.
Dennis, Me, Sabine And Huw
From this area you get an amazing view of the mountains on the south island and it is quite amazing you can be in such a beautiful spot so close to the city centre.
The Mountains Of The South Island
The walk back only took about 40 minutes and then we sat down and watched the highlights from the Germany vs Costa Rica game and Poland vs Ecuador.
A few hours sleep where then needed before meeting at midnight to go out and watch the England game, we saw that a certain pub was advertising the game and cheap beer so we went to a nearby bar and settled at a table with a beer, then 5 minutes before the game was due to kick off the owners announced that they were not showing the game and started laughing, obviously just advertised it rake the money in at the bar, so we suddenly had around 150 English fans rushing out to find somewhere else to watch it,
We managed to find a pub showing the game and watched as England beat Paraguay, I was torn who to cheer for as I had picked Paraguay as my sweepsteak team, but had to cheer for England. The atmosphere in the pub was great and headed home at 3:15am when it ended. I had just got home and got to sleep when Jill and I were awoken by the walls shaking and everything in the room rattling. We suddenly realised it was an Earthquake, the first one I had felt since being in New Zealand. There is actually an earthquake on average every 8 hours in New Zealand but they are usually too weak to feel only between 2 and 4 on the Richter scale. This one went off at 4:01am lasted for about 5 seconds it was 4.7 on the Richter Scale but afterwards you always worry that it could be a pre-shock and a much larger one will follow. I has survived my first New Zealand earthquake. We soon got back to sleep and had a long lie in the next morning. Jill and I went to the wholesale shops and bought some cleaning products for the hostel and I bought some fresh fish and vegetables, and cooked a wonderfully Sunday dinner. We then showed the highlights of the next 3 games from the world cup and all sat around chatting and discussing the games.
Friday night was the last night for a few of the Maple Lodge long termers so a night on the town was called for. A friendly game of poker at the lodge started the night and just after 11pm we headed into the city centre, around 15 of us went out to an irish bar J J Murphys, We stayed in the bar all night as the pool tables were free and the beer a reasonable price, we headed back at 4am after a good night out, wlthough several people stayed out to watch the opening game of the world cup. In the morning Myself, Sabine, Dennis and Huw drove the 10 minute drive to Lyall Bay and had a walk around the coast to a near by Seal Colony. The walk took about 90 minutes around past Red Rocks and through Devils Gate which are coastal land marks.
Red Rocks
The Coast
We saw lots seals although they all were living alone in their own space to sleep.
The Seal Colony
The Seal Colony
The Seal Colony
You can walk right up to them although your not advised to get to close as they have large sharp teeth and may bite.
Dennis, Me, Sabine And Huw
From this area you get an amazing view of the mountains on the south island and it is quite amazing you can be in such a beautiful spot so close to the city centre.
The Mountains Of The South Island
The walk back only took about 40 minutes and then we sat down and watched the highlights from the Germany vs Costa Rica game and Poland vs Ecuador.
A few hours sleep where then needed before meeting at midnight to go out and watch the England game, we saw that a certain pub was advertising the game and cheap beer so we went to a nearby bar and settled at a table with a beer, then 5 minutes before the game was due to kick off the owners announced that they were not showing the game and started laughing, obviously just advertised it rake the money in at the bar, so we suddenly had around 150 English fans rushing out to find somewhere else to watch it,
We managed to find a pub showing the game and watched as England beat Paraguay, I was torn who to cheer for as I had picked Paraguay as my sweepsteak team, but had to cheer for England. The atmosphere in the pub was great and headed home at 3:15am when it ended. I had just got home and got to sleep when Jill and I were awoken by the walls shaking and everything in the room rattling. We suddenly realised it was an Earthquake, the first one I had felt since being in New Zealand. There is actually an earthquake on average every 8 hours in New Zealand but they are usually too weak to feel only between 2 and 4 on the Richter scale. This one went off at 4:01am lasted for about 5 seconds it was 4.7 on the Richter Scale but afterwards you always worry that it could be a pre-shock and a much larger one will follow. I has survived my first New Zealand earthquake. We soon got back to sleep and had a long lie in the next morning. Jill and I went to the wholesale shops and bought some cleaning products for the hostel and I bought some fresh fish and vegetables, and cooked a wonderfully Sunday dinner. We then showed the highlights of the next 3 games from the world cup and all sat around chatting and discussing the games.
posted by Simon at 7:07 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home