Kia Ora

I left SF to take the dreaded 14 hour flight to Auckland. I was more panicked than usual since I didn't have a seat pre-assigned. There's no way in hell I'm sitting in a middle seat in coach for more than half a day. Luckily my soon-to-be-history elite flier status scored me an exit row seat with legroom for days. Plus they had a ton of great movies on demand. I watched The Darjeeling Limited, Control (the Anton Corbijn movie about Ian Curtis & Joy Division) and some of Casablanca. It ended up being a smooth flight and I touched down in Auckland feeling pretty human. I hit the hotel and slept until about 3. I figured this would keep me relatively safe from jetlag since New Zealand is really only 3 hours behind the west coast, but a day ahead. So time-wise it's not such a big change. I left on a 7pm flight went to sleep and woke up in Auckland at about 5am. Sleep until 3 and I'm pretty much on track. It worked ok at first but got progressively worse as the other elements of jetlag took hold and the circadian rhythyms start to fall apart. After waking up I connected with the rest of the team (minus Kirk & Dan) and took a ferry to Waiheke Island where Claude's wife Ila's family (she's a Kiwi) treated us to an amazing Kiwi barbecue with tons of great, fresh, local food & wine. Huge green-lipped mussels, whitebait fritters (apparently a Kiwi delicacy) and so much more. They live on 5 acres of macadamia trees and it made for a beautiful, relaxing setting. As the sun set, Ila's neice sang a beautiful traditional Maori song from the balcony before we had to head off to catch the last ferry back to Auckland. It was a perfect way to land in New Zealand.

Auckland from the ferry...

Gabe gave a photo shoot on the ferry. Oh that hair!
Glen soaks up the sun...

Ila's auntie's house on Waiheke island...

Gener getting his mussel on...
The next day was show day. We played some weird 80s dance club outside of town a bit. It was a good show and the band played over 3 hours which they haven't done in a while. The crowd deserved it though. It's been like 10 years since Ween played down here, and the kids were psyched.

Mickey in Auckland...

The next day we had a late morning flight to Wellington and a show at a club with the absolutely most ridiculous name ever: The San Francisco Bath House. I mean, I have no problem with the existence of bath house culture in SF or anywhere else, but come on. Who names a rock club after that shit? Ween paid homage, playing Homo Rainbow in the encore. It was a tiny place and a pain in the ass to set up the gig, but the band loves those places and tore it up. The crowd gave it right back and with that we had brought the Ween to New Zealand.

Here's Chip on the patio of the SF Bath House...

High over New Zealand...
Now it's Wednesday and we had a day off in Wellington. The weather was stellar and I set off in a rental car with Claude, Chip and Kirk for some 'splorin. We drove up the coast to Waikanae Beach where we did some wading and had a drink at a cafe where the chef gave us directions to a "bushwalk". After some trial and error we found the trail head and headed off. It was a great trail that criss-crossed a rocky creek a bunch of times before heading straight up the side of a small mountain. It was more exertion than I've experienced in a while and it felt good to be sweating and get the blood pumping. We got pretty far up and found an amazing vista where we sat awhile before turning back. The landscape was unreal. Not unlike California's coast but with all kinds of crazy plants and the incessant sound of cicadas or some such animal. The air here is so clean and fresh it's like I can't suck enough of it in. On our way back to the car Kirk & I detoured for some blackberry picking. A perfect end to a healthy dose of nature. I'm really wishing I was able to come down here early and do some real exploring but I guess there's always next time. It's only the other side of the world. Tomorrow we're off early to fly to Brisbane. Wish me luck.

Waikanae Beach...

Me & Kapiti Island...

Knee deep in the Tasman Sea...

Chip digs the sights...

We worked hard for this view...

Blackberries...


The thing they don't tell you about New Zealand is how cheap the pony poo is...