Had to get up at 5:00 this morning to drive to Hamilton to run some courses down there.  Because it was school holidays the traffic was great and I made it at exactly 8:02 – the time my TomTom said I would arrive.

The weather in Hamilton was beautiful warm and sunny.  Went for a walk down by the river at lunch time to take this photo.

I decided not to rush back to Auckland after training coz the traffic would be awful.  I figured if I delay my departure the usual traffic would have cleared by the time I got to Auckland, so I took my time packing up and saying goodbye – BIG mistake.  I arrived in the Auckland area at about 5:30 which meant the usual 10 minute drive to the CBD from Mt Wellington took more than half an hour and seemed worse than the 4:30 crowd.  I guess I can’t win with the drive back to Auckland from the south at any time!

The Royal Wedding was on tonight, so I figured I would wait till the dress made it’s appearance at the church and then go to bed.  This is not my normal Friday night activity but this week has been exhausting.  I did get to see the dress but only just – it was perfect!

How come Harry’s outfit was more flash than William’s???

Today we went up the Sky Tower to the revolving restaurant “Orbit” for lunch.  It wasn’t really a special occasion, just our boss had never been up the tower.

The food was very good and the service was lovely, down to earth and friendly – not at all snooty like it has been in the past.  In case you’re wondering… that’s Devonport, North Head and Rangitoto in the distance.

Yesterday I flew to Wellington for work. The highlight of the day was definitely the trip home. I love airplanes so travelling on the brand new Airbus A320 was very exciting. As you can see it’s painted with the All Black and silver fern theme which looks very cool.

The inside was as impressive as I imagined it to be. Stunning overhead lighting, luxurious black leather seats and amazingly spacious. The service was great too, they served cheese and crackers plus a choice of beer or wine (or tea/coffee etc) and it was all part of the cost unlike the revolting Jetstar who give you nothing and don’t even allow you to bring your own snacks or drinks on board the aircraft – you have to pay for everything and the choice is terrible.

The funniest thing happened the other day, although this was not funny for the guys it happened to, their boss, or the company that owns the building.

While sitting at my desk I heard a big crash outside. So I got up to look out the window to see if I could see anything. There were two guys standing on top of an atrium roof. One was on a cell phone shaking his head the other was furiously scrubbing the roof with a broom and because it was a very windy day, their ladder had blown over – smashing a skylight and leaving them a bit stuck up there. Luckily one of them had a cell phone and must have called someone for help.

About 10 minutes later a guy dressed in a suit turned up and helped put the ladder back where where they could secure it to the building properly. 10 minutes after that two more guys turned up to cover up the broken skylight hole with a bit of wood.

A bit of excitement for the afternoon 🙂

Last weekend I went away with a group of people to experience something called “On Yer Bike”.  It was AWESOME, I loved it.  Basically you rent a bike from the “On Yer Bike” company in the Hawkes Bay and ride to a whole bunch of fabulous vineyards trying as many wines as you like.  Because you’re on a bike you don’t even have to worry about drink driving – but you do have to worry about falling off your bike.

The company provide you with a bike, helmets, maps, packed lunch, backup support and a collection service to gather up all the wine you have purchased so you don’t have to worry about it getting broken or heavy while riding around.  All this for just $50 – it was well worth it, I totally recommend it and would love to do it again.

After lunch at Te Rau our first stop was the Huka Falls.

Huka Falls

Ever since visiting the falls many years ago and missing out on photographing them, I had wanted to return one day to photograph them.  Unbelievably all those years ago (before digital cameras) just as I was about to take a photo I realised I had run out of film!  Luckily there is a shop at the falls which sells stuff and back then I could buy film.  I loaded up the film, got all excited and then the battery went flat.  The shop did not sell the type of battery my camera needed, so I was doomed.

Rothmans Art Deco Building

It has been a dream of mine for a very long time to go to Napier and take photos of the famous Art Deco buildings in Napier.  On our way to Havelock North we made a special stop so I could photograph the most iconic of all the Napier buildings – the Rothmans building, now called the National Tobacco Company building.

On Yer Bike

Originally uploaded by beejayge

At the start of the bike ride it was a bit like the Amazing Race on TV, coz everybody rushed towards the bikes to make sure they got a good one. Funny thing was I had raved to everybody for days how I wanted a bike with a flag, coz it would be just like when I was 12 years old and had a purple “Chopper” with a big orange safety flag. But when I tried to get onto a bike with a flag, I got stuck with the flag caught between my legs, felt very stupid and rushed for a bike without a flag, giving everybody the excuse that the seat was too high on that bike and never mind I could do without a flag!

After all that wine tasting this is what I bought.  A wee collection of goodies from my favourite three vineyards.