Merry Xmas from the Lads

First Xmas with the boys, so very cool. Its all about the wrapping this year!

Couple of pics from first thing this morning, its time to fly, quite literally for Daddy and Jordan!

We hope eveyone is having a fantastic day :)

Razor in Xmas Eve Bike Disaster!

Ok, it wasn't a motorbike, and it wasn't really elephants that I ran into.

However, me and the Fish and Chips had an incident with a power pole this evening when the brake cable snapped on my trusty mountainbike.

I am delighted to report the dinner was unscathed. I can also confirm the author is unscathed, apart from a tiny little graze on the knee, so unfortunately no cool war wounds for Xmas dinner anecdotes I'm afraid.

I knew all those crazy mountainbike trips where its almost compulsory to fall off were for good reason, it teaches you how to fall off properly and safely.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!!

The Kepler Challenge 2008

5th time round. Damn it felt good! 60km, I never knew I could do it once let alone 5 times. Now I want the 10 year medal...

The thing I always take away from Kepler is the Te Anau people- their spirit and the sheer will and guts of all the other competitors. Martin Lukes after 4 second places now has won the thing twice in a row. Costley got the record for the Grunt to go with his Kepler record.

But what really sticks in the head is the stories, the lady with cancer who gave her medal away to a committee member who was just starting her own cancer battle. The couple on their honeymoon, fortunately they finished together. Not sure about the rest of their 'holiday' though! The identical twins who finished together. The identical twins who finished an hour apart! The thousands of $$$ raised for the Te Anau community. The hospitality of Pete and Jane et al. The stories at the Moose that night. The Town of Silly Walks (aka The Kepler Shuffle). And on it goes- you have to see it to believe it!


Glenn nailed the crap out of me, but so he should have, with what he is training for in the Himalaya's soon! Hats off to Madman Marvin though, he took over an hour off his time from last year romping round in about 8 and a half hours. A Magnificent effort, I had him in my sights 2 hours along but ate his dust the rest of the day.


I was delighted to finish in 9hrs 17 mins- within around half an hour of last years time, and I certainly felt in better shape on the finish line, which was surprising given how the training went this year compared to last. Augurs well for sub 8hrs 30 in 2009!

No boring blurb this year, just a few pretty pics. Being the 5th time round I decided it was time I took a camera and got some nice pics to share, so here they are!

Hats off to Glenn for a fantastic run, and well done on getting the trophy that I'm going to win back in the next year or so... ;-)

Mulling around on the start line at 6am with 400 other mad men and women

One of these men purchased approximately half of Gore and two thirds of Mataura the previous day. Care to guess who?

View back to the start from Luxmore Hut, 2 hours in

The Kepler Challenge is truly the best organised event in NZ, because its all done by the community, for the community. They really look after us on this race!

Janes Office, the Murchison Mountains, and South Fiord below

The Kepler is a wonderful track. I'm pretty sure you could bike it....

There was just a wee dusting of snow the night before. Enough to make for cool crisp running and spectacular views

Starting the long knee crunching descent into the Iris Burn. Eighty odd switchbacks on a solid 30-45 minute downhill grind. Nearly Half way at the bottom...gulp!

Everytime you hit the wall on this race (a regular feeling) you just need to look around to be re-energised.. This is the stunningly beautiful Iris Burn.

...And the best lake in NZ, Lake Manapouri

Yes....its a mirror on the sign! But such a welcome sign :)

....And that makes five successful Kepler's for Razor

Bye Bye to the Razor - Marvin Trophy...FOR NOW!!!!!

Read This Often.....

There are many blogs out there. Many are Sports Blogs. Very few are Blogs by actual topline international sportsmen.


So I bring you to the attention of a fantastic blog run by Black Caps bowler Iain O'Brien. If ever you wanted to get inside the sanctum of what it would be like to play international cricket, then Iain is your man.

An absolute must read for anyone who even has a passing interest in cricket. Resfreshing, alive and honest. Read, support Iain, and enjoy, well done Mr O'Brien!

His Blog is Here

For all your movie needs...

What did you think it said you dirty sods?

Everything A Rock Band Should Be

In case you wonder why us Maiden Fans are so excited about February, well I'll let this little 15 minute CNN ditty tell the story.

Counting the days :)

IRON MAIDEN Somewhere back in Time 1/2
by Sacripan

Updates coming soon...Promise!

Yes....still here....

Its been a busy month!

Arty Boys

As well as Willowbank the lads got to watch some club cricket and go to the art gallery over the weekend. They slept at the cricket, but really enjoyed the gallery, not a peep and some very serious looking at stuff as we did the rounds. Sush!, can't you see we're busy???

My brother the light addict

Taming the Cass Lagoon Track in 7.5 hours

Had an absolutely stunning training run over the weekend, 33km in just over seven and a half hours. I might just be ready for the Kepler now...less than three weeks to go. I took a camera around the Cass Lagoon, and having tramped it twice before it was great to travel light and hoon around the mix of trail running, boulder hopping and pass bagging. Magic day, perfect weather, if a little hot at over 30 degrees. Gulp!


A few pics....and hopefully a movie from the Lagoon Saddle showing the panorama around the Main Divide though Mt Rolleston, Avalanche Peak, Arthurs Pass, etc

Heading up the Cass

Who puts a loo in the middle of the main track???

Looking down to Hamilton Hut (The Hilton) from Cass Saddle 1430m asl

Unnamed peaks about Cass Saddle

Heading up the West Harper, looking at the back end of the Craigieburn Range

View From Lagoon Saddle looking up to Arthurs Pass and Mt Rolleston

Here's the wee movie flick of the panorama, the nor'wester was picking up so it may be a bit noisy and a little bit shaky

Boys on Safari

We had a great Show Day...bailed on the queues at the show, went to Willowbank instead. Gorgeous day...I'll leave the pics to tell the stories :)

As always here if you click on the pic it blows up to full screen

The Boys First Dinosaur

Mum's friends, including the mate of the Llama that spat all over Mummy

Canadian Wood Duck- very spectacular plumage

I can and I will eat my clothes since my parents never feed me enough

Darth Jordan feels the force

Razor Review: Southern Amp 2008

Midnight Youth were great, but to be fair teenybopper girls aren't their target audience

I've heard of talking horses, but rock star horses??

All the fun of the circus

My first attendance at a Southern Amp, thanks to my wonderful whanau, and for the first time a truly international flavour at this fledgling South Island music festival. What a great day out, in fact I'd go as far as to say we had a BIG Day Out... which I certainly won't be doing at the ever increasingly lacklustre Big Day Out festival in January. But thats another blog post....

Lindon Puffin warms up the crowd with a giant CD release

We arrived soon after lunchtime and quickly familiarised ourselves with the 4 stage set up. One big one inside, a dance tent to the south, the NZ tent to the west, and a small but highly enjoyable Christchurch stage to the east. Overall I have to give a bouquet right from the get go, the organisation was great, no long queues, a great vibe and easy access to each of the stages all day. Hats off, we probably got to see 2 or 3 extra bands due to the fantastic set up and staffing.

We spent the first few hours grazing on up and coming and established NZ acts. In a whirlwind walkabout we saw snippets of highly promising bands such as The Exiles, Clap Clap Riot, Midnight Youth, Audio Empire, Goodnight Nurse, the newly reformed Weta, and the Lyttelton Legend that is Lindon Puffin. I am suitably reassured that the future of NZ music is in wonderful hands, I was truly impressed by each of the above bands, particularly Midnight Youth- a real Pulp feel to their set.

Who the F&ck is Luck????

Then after a cold one it was back to the main stage to check out where Jordan Luck and Band are at these days. Any sign of an album Mr Luck??? Mr Bell??? They played a typical set, parts dreadful, parts engaging and entertaining, even unhinged, and some real diamonds interspersed. Victoria and Christchurch (In Cashel Street I Wait) still cut the mustard in a big way. Jordan Luck is truly the Keith Richards of NZ rock, a true living legend and it was great to see him live for the 400th time.

After Jordan we went to check out the end of The Valves set. These guys are truly stunning and gave one of the three biggest highlights of the day. Part Shihad, part AC/DC, the packed NZ stage just went mental. If you haven't seen these guys do it soon. At that point it was time for a quiet beer next to the dance tent that was bouncing vigorously to the sounds of Tiki Tane, who always plays a varied and surprising set. From all accounts Southern Amp was no exception.

The Dandy Warhols should have headlined

Then it was time for the first international acts, The Charlatans followed by the Dandy Warhols. Two completely different bands, one a British pop institution who dragged in us oldies with a gorgeous set of classic songs mixed with new ones from their recent release. The Dandys followed with trippy psychedelia, including all the big hits. I have to say the Dandy's were Major Highlight Number 2 for me in a very strong lineup. I must hunt out their back catalogue. And yes Rat, she was great on keyboards.

The Charlatans...Madchester memorabilia

The Living End thrashing away mightily

After refueling (again, no queues!) it was back to the NZ stage for Fur Patrol, then the main stage for a snippet of the Living End, and back to NZ Stage for a truly stunning set from my highlight of the day, Dimmer. Shayne Carter, rock god extraordinaire, and with the highly talented James Duncan (also in SJD) it would be fair to say all watching (including Paul's future wife Julia Deans) were all completely entranced by the Radiohead-like set of pure and unbridled majesty.

Mrs Christensen

Thats God playing lead guitar

At this point I was quite knackered. So any comments about Seether are probably a little bit overly-scathing, but really, to be a headline act you should not be a mediocre covers band. Lets face it, these guys are ripping off Kurt Cobain with every breath they exhale. To the point that they covered a Nirvana song, and the irony was not lost on me that they chose Rape Me...talk about turning in ones grave. They even flogged the music to Come As You Are, note for note, and changed it to their own words. They should have been run out of town- we left early.

So in summary, apart from Seether, Southern Amp was a great day out and I'm still buzzing now. I hope the growth of this festival continues next year with some international acts of note. Its a great venue, well organised and I have to say it, far more attractive to me than next years Big Day Out (apart from the Neil Young bit)

Seether truly was unbearable

Christchurch

....is now New Zealands second most populous city, relegating Wellington to third place.

All the cool people are living here. And to be fair, I guess some of us are breeding a little over efficiently!

It truly is the best place I've lived, recommend it to anyone.

The Best News in the History of My Blog

Ch-Ch and Auckland

February.

Stunned.

(Southern Amp pics and review to follow over the weekend, promise!)