Feestpaleis/Wellington blog

It’s already been a week since I got back. So about time to give a small report. Some of you have been following the performance of my team Zeal and probably noticed that the results of our team didn’t look too good. However, looking back at the kind of team we had we didn’t play too bad. Our team consisted of a mix of players of all levels, but most players didn’t have the experience of playing at such a high level tournament. We only just formed a team and we had to play against teams that had been playing together for some time.

We had two goals, one was to become a team and second, and more importantly, to have FUN! The first goal we achieved during the last game which resulted in a win against Shiok!, a wonderful team from Singapore. I had already accomplished the second goal before the tournament started. I had a lot of fun hanging out with all the players from NZ. In the first week, we cooked and had dinner together with Amy, Nico, Phil, Kiri and Adrian, we played funny games in the evening (Jungle speed), Bronwyn, Q and I hung out at the golden beaches and swam in the sea when we didn’t need to train, we went to visit and cycle around Rottnest island, a wonderful subtropical island with golden beaches and strange animals: quokkas, harmless and curious looking kangeroolike rats or ratlike kangeroos.

At the tournament I also caught up with Renate, Sandra and the other players of the Red Lights. The red lights did really well (of course, because I cheered for them)! We stayed at the same hotel and the NZ squad and the red lights got along really well. The bus back to the hotel would be filled with chanting of Dutch songs such as: “Ik heb een tante in Marokka en die komt…” with everyone joining in with the chorus: “Hiep hoi, bubbel, bubbel, pief poef, …”. Great fun!

The tournament was well-organised. As temperatures went up to 35 degrees, the volunteers (among which, Tom Waijers and Karin Wiersma, both former UFO players!) organisation provided lots of much needed water and 30+ sunscreen. The lunches and dinners for over 2000 hungry players and volunteers were really good. And it was great to hang out at the couches and listen to some relaxing music and drink a refreshing beer at the spirit lounge in the evening. Ok, we didn’t make it in the top ten, but at least we had fun. Our motto after a few losses was: “It doesn’t matter if we lose, as long as we look cool!” And we did; the NZ squad had the nicest and most wanted shirts of all teams. I am proud that I could wear it.

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On this sunny and altogether very lovely sunday, we got the keys to our house, the Feestpaleis mark II!

We haven’t moved in yet, since our furniture is still in the “container”, that mysterious object that must be somewhere on this planet, containing our stuff. Its existence has turned into a legend among our friends - our promise that “Soon, anyday now” it will arrive is regarded as a myth, a madman’s prophecy, here in Wellington. We’re still convinced that it will arrive soon, though, and when that happens, we’ll be able to show our friends that there really are such things as “my bicycle” and “our surfboards”. Legend has it that the Container also holds a tiger, and once held a duck that has since been eaten by the tiger, but I guess it is inevitable that falsehoods and inaccuracies creep into ancient tales of Containers and Bicycles and Surfboards…

Anyhoo, this means that our new Feestpaleis is still empty, but it was such a nice day that I dashed off to the Island Bay supermarket (a 15 minute walk, 20 minutes back) to get a sixpack of nice cold Kingfisher beers. As I sat on our deck with a beer, overlooking the sea and the beachgoers in the bay, I just couldn’t get this smile off my face for some reason…

See more photos.

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I discovered this little gem today that will undoubtedly evoke strong nostalgic memories if you happened to grow up in New Zealand (yes that’s you Dan and Brigit ;-)), but I’m sure you’ll like it even if your roots lie elsewhere. The Goodnight Kiwi and his cat starred in an end-of-broadcast animation used by Television NZ during the 80s and early 90s. Update: much better quality movie from youtube, recently added by TVNZ:

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Ask anyone who grew up here about earthquakes, and they’ll shrug in indifference, like the dutch shrug when being questioned about living below sealevel. It’s just a fact of life and nobody gives it a second thought. However, for me it’s still an extraordinary experience. It usually occurs without anyone noticing - if you suddenly wake up in the middle of the night for no apparent reason, it could very well have been an earthquake.

But last night, I was awake when I heard a very deep rumble for about five seconds, like prolonged and distant thunder, before feeling the earth gently shake for just a short moment. Makes me realise that I’m living on a nothing more than a crusty cake.

hmmm, cake….

For more on earthquakes in New Zealand, visit GeoNet.

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The World Ultimate frisbee Club championships have started! While the Allblacks kicked France’s arse by beating them 47 to 3 in last weekend’s rugby game, Willemijn and her Zeal team lost from the Dutch team Red Lights unfortunately, according to Zeal’s schedule and results website. Good luck with the next game Zeal!

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I had a fantastic weekend as Kate and a bunch of her friends invited me along for a few days of tramping in Orongorongo valley.

For those of you that don’t know, tramping is a popular pastime for Kiwis, and it typically involves walking through rainforest, climbing steep ridges and wading through refreshingly cold rivers to explore the many wonderful remote areas of the country, with a sleeping bag, a dry pair of socks and lots of food (because you’ll be hungry at the end of the day) tucked away in your backpack. Public, private and doc huts are hidden in the bush and provide shelter and some bunks, and usually a fireplace, fresh water (collected from a nearby stream) and a gas cooker.

We escaped friday afternoon rush hour and drove to the other side of Wellington Harbour, to Catchpool Valley car park. After walking along Orongorongo track for an hour and a quarter, we arrived at Orongorongo river which we followed 1 1/2 hours upstream. Just before dusk we found the orange triangle marker on the left bank of the river bed, indicating the location of Shamrock hut that was hidden in the forest a short walk away.

We made ourselves at home in the hut, lit some candles (these huts have no electricity so you need to bring some lights) and enjoyed our evening with nice food, wine and singing. My tramping companions are all members of the same choir, so I had front-row seats to some wonderful private concerts. Before calling it a day, we collected all food and stored it out of reach from the rats that we heard gnawing on the floorboards. Apparently, a rat was seen strolling over the mantle piece in the middle of the night, but I was fast asleep and missed out on all the rodent entertainment.

We spent the next bright and sunny day exploring more of the Orongorongo river and its sidestreams, birds, trees and plants. My fellow trampers knew the names of all flora and fauna and showed me different kinds of trees, ferns, orchids and much more. Unfortunately, I can’t remember a single name - I’m not much of a botanist I’m afraid… After an excellent meal, copious amounts of wine and some nice games of the ever popular and addictive game 6 Nimmt, we headed off to a sheltered spot in the river bed where we lit a beautiful fire and spent the night relaxing, roasting marshmellows and singing (or listening to song, in my case). Back in Wellington, a huge Guy Fawkes fireworks show was on, and it was so loud that we could hear it!

On sunday, we packed our stuff, cleaned the hut and followed the river downstream, making a small detour so that Kate, who is a volunteer for a kiwi conservation project in Rimutaka forest park, could check some of the stoat traps that are placed throughout the area. The traps (the type of trap used is the DOC 200) contain a chicken egg as bait, and a weight-triggered mechanism that slams down a metal grill with enough force to snap tree branches, instantly killing the stoat (if you look carefully at the picture, you’ll see the marks the trap left on the stoat’s back).

After a last lunch in the Orongorongo river bed, at the end of the Turere stream, it was time for us to walk back to the car park, drive back home, let our shoes dry and have a nice hot shower. What a great weekend! Check out the photos.

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Cleats, shorts, suncream, sunglasses, disc, … All set! Ready to go!

As some of you know, I’m going to play at the World Ultimate Championship Clubs with the mixed team Zeal, for New Zealand that is. The team is a great mix of players: men and women, Kiwi, Australian, Finnish, Canadian, French and Dutch players, fast runners and keen throwers. I’m really looking forward to play with them. The mixed division consists of 41 teams from all over the world, divided in 9 pools. And what a coincidence, we are in the same pool as the Dutch mixed team, the Red Lights. Our first game, on Sunday 12 November, will be against them!

But first, we will have a week of practicing with the team, getting used to the heat, and getting into the mood of playing. Some links to follow us during the tournament (11-18 November):

• The official WUCC’06 pages
• The NZ Ultimate kicks ass! squad site with the results of the NZ teams
• The weather forecast in Perth

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Gidday everyone! How’s it going? Everything’s sweet as over here. Gert’s obsessive Internet house hunting has paid off: we have found a house! It’s a nice 1980s two-bedroom house, situated in a quiet location on a steep hillside, right next to the sea in Island Bay! It’s a great place - smaller than our former Feestpaleis, but with a beautiful deck and garden, afternoon and evening sun, somewhat sheltered from the northerlies, a gas heater and most excellent views! It’s about 7km from the city centre but most of the route is flat so we could cycle, and there are excellent bus connections.

The only small drawbacks are that it has an electrical stove (no gas cooking) and it doesn’t have a garage for woodworking and telescope building and the like. These things are not that common in cheap rental places anyway, and we’ll try to improvise around these issues. No worries, because other than that it’s exactly what we want: a nice house with a garden, in Island Bay, close to the sea…

We’re moving around the end of November. More pictures will follow!

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