M.I.A. in the B.O.P.

So last you heard was me at mum and dads work. I ended up helping out there for most days of 2.5 weeks. I had an interview in that time. One day Dad and I did some deliveries to Tokoroa, another day I went with him to Whangamata where he was sales repping. That was quite nice, he showed me the Waihi mine - a huge hole in the ground, probably the best part of a kilometre deep. We also went to Opoutere .


One night I went to the Trade day at Gilmours - unfortunately I was too late for the freebies.

However, I happened to stop next to a Zm truck one day and got some freebies - soup mixs and tissues and a ticket to the premier of Rock of Ages at the movies- pretty cool, funny and well done.

I also went to the Field days again, which was interesting again. On the way home I stopped at the Scottish shop in Melville and picked up a McDonald crest badge.

On the 18th of June I started another temporary assignment - this time at Familyworks, at Mt Maunganui. As it happens, I had only recently dropped into my agency (Kelly Services) to ask if they had any work coming in, my agent mentioned something about some in Tauranga, so I mentioned that I would keen for work in Tauranga if any came up, as I could always stay at our house in Papamoa. So I have been here for about a month now, and have a couple of weeks to go.

The first week I was here, I went to The Dictator at the movies, - which was good - and not too cringe worthy, like Borat, and especially Bruno were. That weekend I came back to Hamilton and went to a YouTube night, and caught up with Scott who is back from Kuwait. Suzanne and Bevan came home from their trip also.

The next weekend I came home as well, and went to see Dads Army at the Riverlea theatre (where I was in Don Quixote earlier this year. The acting was good, but it ended up dragging a little, probably because I wasn't so familiar with the show.

On the Wednesday I caught up with my mate Baz and watched a DVD. We were going to have a couple of Pizzas for dinner, but Baz told me Pak'N'Save was having their trade day - so I went down and checked it out - and they were very generous with their samples - I got 3 sausages, amongst some soup, cheese and cracker samples.

The weekend after that I went to Flight of the Conchords on the Friday night - I had to leave work early and drive up to Auckland - I hadn't realised until I researched it how far it is to Auckland from Tauranga - I had always just assumed it was a similar distance as it is to Hamilton, instead it is double that - which is probably why the couple of times I have done that trip that it feels it takes forever - it is actually because it is forever. Anyhow, they were great - not as exciting as when I saw them in London at the Wembley Arena, but still good. I particularly liked their rendition of I'm Not Crying - they had a guy accompanying them on a viola, so instead of being humorous, it was genuinely sad.

The following Thursday night I decided to walk around the Mount to wear in my new hiking shoes (one Sunday a few weeks before-hand I had gotten frustrated with my lack of waterproof and decent shoes, so I went and spent $600 on 5 pairs of shoes - 2 x work shoes, 1 pair of hiking shoes, 1 x gym/running shoes, and 1 pair of skate shoes - this has then led me to discard old holey socks, because if I don't it will just ruin the shoes, which in turn will ruin more socks...) Unfortunately by the time I got down there it was quite dark, however I did it - the first time in 3 years, I realised. On the way home I stopped at Pizza Hut and picked up a couple of $4.90 pizzas, and then dropped in to watch some of the Boxing at the Pap tavern. Seems as though people were drunk before they got there looking at the parking.

On the Friday I decided I would have a night in Tauranga as I wasn't going home. I also worked out it was half the price (and far more convenient) to book a night in a hostel rather than catching a bus and then a cab back to Papamoa.

The next morning I got up, and went and had a Wendy's breakfast and headed to the Karangahake Gorge. For forever I have had it on my list of things to do. I got there at 11.30, grabbed some quick lunch at the Waitoa railway station, and then just started walking. At the start of the walk was some buildings related to gold mining - kilns etc, and a museum, so I checked them out. Anyhow, I kept on, it seemed to take forever before I got to the tunnel through the hill - but it was worth it - the tunnel was really long and came out further along the gorge. The return walk didn't seem to drag as much which was good. All up I would have walked 14kms, not a bad effort. I texted my Uncle on the way back, as I would be passing where they would staying - so I ended up having dinner with my cousins which was nice - and rather entertaining, especially as they are now teenagers and wind their parents up like me and my sister to do ours, and as you can imagine - get similar reactions "You are just showing off because XYZ is here".

The following weekend Mum & Dad came to stay over here which was a nice change.

Tuesday I went to the movies again and saw Ted. Good, but not laugh-a-minute.

Friday I went to see Raybon Kan perform (stand-up) in Tauranga. He was good, but he started off badly I thought - I think he wanted to theme his show attacking religion, but didn't get the positive reaction he was hoping for, so he had to change tact. Near the very end he was getting good, but then it finished.

Today (Saturday 21/7/12) I just did Rock'N'Roll things like doing the washing, and sorting out my stamp collection - not a five-minute job unfortunately.