This is the New Zealand Trip report for the 4th to the 13 March (By the way just click on a picture to see a larger version in a pop-up window. - You may have to enable pop-ups in your browser)
Saturday
I set off to Incheon on Saturday morning - first stop Nonsan station to secure a train to Seoul in order to do a spot of shopping before heading to the airport and New Zealand. However the trains weren't running and I had to come back home, laden with bags,only return to the station later on Saturday afternoon to catch the train. I finally arrived at Incheon with plenty of time to spare. Which was just as well. I was pulled out of the passport control area and branded an overstayer. I had to be escorted out of immigration back into the terminal and through to another immigration stand, passport re-stamped, Alien Registration card cut up and let go. (I had overstayed a whole 3 days). Luckily my luck was continuing and was upgraded to Business Class for the trip home and so had a lovely Korean Air Hostess to hold my bags and Business Class boarding pass as I went through the wholly embarressing process. Duty Free tucked away I had a quick cigarette before boarding. The flight was wholly uneventful and I got a good 7 hours sleep so it all went quite quickly.
Sunday
Mum and Mark were at the airport to pick me up and we headed out to Howick to see The Family. The Grandparents, Two Aunts, Two Uncles and 3 cousins were in attendance and it was good to see everyone and dish out a few gifts. The cousins were particularly impressed with their pencil cases that had built in Tetris and Pop was touched to receive a bottle of Johnnie Walker Gold.
Mum and Mark
Tea and Jam scones gave way to an impromptu birthday party for my benefit in that everyone had missed my last 2 and would miss my next one later this month. Nana and Pop got me some (needed but not particularly suprising) socks and underwear. Somehow I missed out on a piece of birthday cake.
Me and two out of three of my cousins
Aunts Diane and Fiona
The Grandparents and me.
Of particular note Howick has a large Asian community - as such there is a Buddhist temple. Quite strange viewing a temple built within the last 2 years rather than the temples I have seen in Korea that are thousands of years old in some cases.
After seeing everyone off it was down to the middle of no where Waiuku to the "Kewish Ranch" for a bit of a rest and dinner of Fish and Chips. Chips, Potato Fritters, a fresh piece of Schnapper and a Battered Sausage - Perfec', a slice of fried gold if you will. Mum showed me the DVD of her world trip and then it was off to bed.
Images of the Kewish Ranch
Monday
Despite being relativly tired I only managed about 4 hours sleep. The fact that I got up at 6am (or 2am Korea time - i.e. when I'm usually heading off to bed) didn't escape me. Anyway why up so early on the first day of my holiday? You might ask. Well for the commute into Panmure that Mum does pretty much every day to get into work. I remember the last time I did that trip - about 2 years ago - we would be the only car on the road. Nowadys, with the whole lifestyle block thing being so popular we hit traffic from Karaka onwards. Nevertheless I managed to stay awake and get into town by 9am.
First stop: The Korean Consulate in downtown Auckland...As if someone had been listening to all my whining about Korean immigration I was unable to get my visa in Auckland...what?...Where do I get a visa then?...Wellington?...The Capital....Oh F*&^!
Second stop: Air New Zealand. I'll have a return flight to Wellington for tomorrow thanks. OK, That'll be $577.00. Oh thank you. Thank you sooooo much! Having plonked down an unexpected six hundred bucks that sort of took the fun out of Monday. But a quick stop at The Warehouse soon had my spirits back up. Aaaah The Warehouse. I don't know how I have survived two years without it. With it's temptingly low prices and it's money back garuntee. I visited the Sony store in Newmarket and picked up a copy of Grand Theft Auto (banned in Korea) and somehow got conned into buying $150 odd dollars worth of stuff at CLinique -oh well.
From there it was off to the Mt Eden shops for lunch with Jacquie whom I hadn't of course seen for 2 years. After a good couple of hours gossiping over a couple of flat whites and a bagel it was back to Panmure to catch the Mummy express back to the middle of nowhere...Waiuku. Dinner was another gem: steak (medium) and a fresh green salad made entirely from vegetables out of Mum's Garden. Then it was off to bed for the early start Tuesday morning.
Tuesday
All of about 2 hours sleep and I found myself back at the airport for the flight down to Wellington to get my Visa. For $600 bucks I was expecting more than a tiny crampt seat and a cup of coffee, but the coffee was welcome and Air New Zealand still gives out lollies to suck on upon decent - hows that for old skool? I ended up catching a relativly expensive shuttle into the city in order to get into the Embassy first thing - the woman on the phone on Monday had said it should only take a couple of hours to process my visa, but that it could take two days depending on how busy they were. And there was no way I wanted to be in Wellington for longer than wholly necessary. I got into the Embassy and dropped off my passport without problem then found myself in the capital with little to do and a few hours to kill. Well, when in Wellington, as an ex-political studies student - parliament is a must see, even though the politicians were on recess.
Parliament building with The Beehive at left
New Zealand's longest serving Prime Minister Richard Seddon served from 1 May 1893 until 10 June 1906
New Zealand's first parliament buildings and now Parliamentary Library
So I decided to take lunch on the lawn infront of the Parliament and then take the tour. Unfortunately one is prohibited from taking photos within Parliament, and the tour guide was relativly uninformed about how it all worked, and I had to put up with ignorant and annoying questions from the Americans on the tour, but it killed about an hour and it was very cool to be able to sit in Winston Peters' chair in the debating chamber (even though you're not supposed to!).
For those who don't know Wellington is known as 'The Windy City' and on Tuesday it was truely blowing a gale.
A gale blows in from across the Cook's Straight
After Parliament I decided to go and stand on Marine Parade for a few moments and almost got blown into the Cook Straight! I wandered along to the National Museum Te Papa (and used the bathroom) and then went into the Mac's Brewery opposite and had a Mac's Gold and a steak and cheese pie for lunch. (The pie being on my list of things I wanted to eat, along with the fish and chips.)
Memorial on Marine Parade
I walked back into town and found a Starbucks on Courtney Place and had a Grande just to fill in a bit more time before heading back to the Embassy where, thankfully, my Passport, with new visa, was waiting for me. From there it was back to the airport. This time I just took the bus (Wellington is good in that it is about 50 times smaller than Auckland and you can get everywhere on the bus) and arrived in good time to have a quick ciggie and a coffee before jet-setting it back to City of Sails where Mum and Mark picked me up for a quick trip back down to the farm.
As a result of my unscheduled trip to the Nation's capital I have decided that, upon my return to New Zealand, whenever that may be, I would like to settle there. Despite the wind it is a beautiful city with all the houses in the hills, and the people are so nice.
Wednesday
So I had been looking forward to Wednesday since I had first organised the trip home. I should have known better. Needless to say that old familiar feeling of disappointment is still as bitter now as it was 2 years ago, but hey, what am I gonna do? Ya know? Anyway with Wednesday's plans out the window I was presented with the opportunity to take Mum and Mark out to lunch - this time in Pukekohe where I had a pretty good rendition of Eggs Benedict with lashings of Hollandaise washed down with a Monteiths Summer Ale. Then it was to the bank where I replenished my spending monies (remember nearly six hundred bucks to go down to Welliington?) and then another quick stop at The Warehouse much to Mark's discontent. Wednesday evening was The Two Fat Cows - a hidden treasure in the boondocks of Drury. Mum and Mark took The Grandparents and I out to dinner where I had scallops, a garlic infused sirloin and steamed vegetables. A couple of scotch and dries, half a pretty decent shiraz with Pop and a Khallua. Mum and I were at odds over the service of the waitress - frankly here attitude was a little fresh - I want my wait-person to be pleasant, polite and even a little colloquial, but I thought this one was just a little over the top, not withstanding her impeccable appearence, speed and agility. Anyway after dinner we ordered coffee and I thought I would try my luck with a straight double espresso. It came to the table as a luke warm crema-less demitase cup of vomit, frankly. However I didn't even have half a chance to complain before the waitress arrived at the table, apologised and offered me a new cup which I greatfully accepted. What arrived second time round was one of the best double espresso's I have ever had the pleasure of drinking. It was the only black coffee I drank over the course of the week and I tell you, while I dodn't say anything at the time, That one tiny cup should keep me going for another 12 months. Well done 2 Fat Cows!
Thursday
If I hadn't been looking forward to Wednesday, then I would definately been looking forward to Thursday. It was a chance to catch up with the two big loves of my life. I was at Eden Park to see the first ball on the opening day of the first Test between New Zealand and the West Indies.
The Umpires walk out to the middle
The first ball is bowled
I truely don't know what I have been doing the last two years without live cricket. There is something to say about being at a game live. I would say that a test match is a little better than a one dayer in terms of being able to watch the game-play but what an enormously fantastic feeling to see live cricket. At the lunch break the fans are allowed to walk out on the oval, so I did. While admiring the pitch I saw a strangly familiar man being hounded by a gaggle of screaming elementary school kids..."Hadliegh!" and What do you know it was my old school chum Hadleigh Benson who had decided to take his form 1 (?) class to the cricket. (Some unit standard about co-operation or team work or something.) We were having a quick catch up then who should walk up than Lee's Mum! A quick exchange of numbers and confirmation that 'Bumson' would be at the school centenary celebrations over the weekend then it was on to the days next engagement.
It is worth adding that I saw a number of wickets on the first day of the test which confirmed to me that while NZ is quite good at the one day version of the game we suck at Test Cricket, and despite a well earned century from Scotty Styris I thought we were going to get smashed. This feeling became ever so stronger as the weekend progressed and I regularly checked the score. It was with some rancor that I got home on Monday to discover NZ had won the test by 80 odd runs!!
In the middle
The stumps
Unlike most of the encounters over the course of the week I spent in New Zealand (and there are more not detailed here) this one wasn't a case of not seeing someone for only the two years I have been in Korea. This one was a result of a pretty random email I sent the week before simply asking "What are you doing on Thursday?" On Thursday night I had the enviable pleasure of powering through a bottle of Deutz with a dear old friend who I hadn't seen in a good 4 years before heading out for a steaming bowl of Laksa (The remnants of which have stained my favourite blue shirt forever) and a side of Bok Choi in Oyster sauce. Not only did I get to catch up with the irreverant Miss Marina Vaxman but also her good friend (and flatmate) Emily. (Miss Angela Brisbane, the third part of this historical triumverate was conspicuous by her abscence. - But then all I have to say to that is "Risata in tensione di amore" - or words to that effect). It is amazing how grown up people are after not seeing them in ages. Not suprisingly these two wonderful individuals wear it quite well.
Friday
The plan was to wake at a reasonable hour and go to Founder's Assembly at school to kick off the weekend of centenary celebrations. However the Deutz had kicked in by about 9am on Friday morning and I had probably the worst Hangover I've had in a looooong time. So I stayed in bed. (By now I had checked into The Princeton on Symonds Street which, with it's large Korean Student resident population, was just like being home.) It is a decision I regret as it seems there was only one person from my year who bothered to turn up (surprise surprise!), So hats off to James Arlidge for going to Assembly. Unfortunately I didn't get to catch up with him during the rest of the weekend as he flew back to Japan on Saturday morning to play rugby or some such - oh dear, too bad, what a shame.Dragging myself out of bed at around 11:30 I cleaned up the vomit out of the sink in the hotel room's kitchette (Yes apparently it was that bad - but I don't remember) and I came to the conclusion that the only trusted remedy for my hangover would be a big steaming plate of Dokbukki. And I thought this wouldn't be too much of a challenge considering the huge Korean population in Auckland and the great number of signs written in Hangul I had seen in town, especially around Customs and Commerce Streets. Sure enough I settled on the Arirang Shik Dang. Honestly, how could you go wrong at a Korean restaurant called Arirang? Well I was in for a shock. The Dokbukki I got was hard (like it had been microwaved or something), really bland, (where's the 고추장?) and over all just added to the horrid feeling in my stomach! Of course the proudly displayed 'B' rating from the City Council hygene inspector didn't help matters. So I downed another of several bottles of water and headed back to bed for a few hours.
Friday night was the official Meet 'n' Greet held at Dilworth in the Hall / Dining Room / Courtyard area. As predicted there were very few of us from the class of '97 but I did get to see Vincent Roxburgh who during his current lack of employ as a stuntman is sign writing with Simon Brady. Simon "Buddha" McKenzie was there as well with Hadleigh and Myself. Also of note the incomperable Mssrs. Hodder (Who has returned from teaching in Japan for good by the looks of things) and Mathieson (Who is packing it all in and going to teach in Japan!). Of abject freakiness; the number of guys, once my junior, now 100 feet tall displaying their facial hair and deep voices (especially Francis Mossman who I bumped into On Saturday Afternoon.). Whilest I'm always complaining about feeling old looking after all these 10 year old kids at work, nothing drives it home quite as much as John-Paul Fey telling me he's been a flight insctructor at Ardmore for a couple of years and Francis is staring in some TV show!I assiduously avoided Donald Maclean for the entire night but was greeted when I first arrived by a spine tingling "Mr Lumsden!" from Shirly-Ann McCrystal. Peter Vos, Robin Smith and John Proctor were in good form and despite my wishing otherwise knew
exactly who I was and what I was upto with out looking at my name badge while they had to stop and think about everyone else around me. Iain Adamson looks old. I exchanged Arabic greetings with Paul Artus (I still remember them), and I had to walk halfway down the driveway by the chapel to have a cigarette with Brent Peters who is still going strong cutting hair at school as he has done for the last 24 years! I also had a royal tour of the new (3rd) wing of the Senior hostel or Wilton house from Rowan MacCullam which was also another excuse for a ciggie and a bit of a think back to the helicone days of the school's production of 'Oklahoma', which according to Rowan was the best show the school has ever put on and far more interesting than 'Antics'.
Hadliegh got his woman to come and pick him up and so I spent a good couple of minutes being silly with Hadleigh in front of here. (Poor girl what would did she think?) and in True Dilworth Boy fashion Bumson nicked off with a bottle of Centenary vintage shiraz and a pair of matching glasses.
Things wound up at about half past eleven and it was down to The Claddagh for a pint. (Thanks to the New Deputy Head for the lift.) It was packed with old boys young and old. Being that just like everywhere else in New Zealand I had to go outside for a cigarette and I was still suffereing somewhat from the effects of the bubbly the night before I made my excuses and headed back to the hotel.
However in an act of total randomness I bumped into an even older friend (One of 'The Russians') who had some of 'that stuff' that does 'that thing'. Having not endulged for a good two and a half years, two puffs and I was blazed so I staggered off to bed very happy and very tired.
The Chapel of St Patrick, Dilworth School
Irish High Cross modeled on the Donegmore Cross in Ireland, Gifted to the school by Oldboys to mark the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Dilworth Trust
'The A Frame', Dilworth School
The 'Gateway to Knowledge' Straddles the entrance to the courtyard. Dilworth School
Saturday
Feeling quite seedy and a little shakey I made my way back to school on Saturday afternoon to have a look around and attend the Old Boys AGM. Heading down the C floor corridor brought back a flood of memories. Stopped in on Julia Brown and had a chat with her. Always full of good ideas she noted that nowadays a number of schools in Auckland (Westlake Boys, Kelston) are offereing unit standards in Korean and that I should work hard to learn the language - it might come in handy if I go into secondary teaching. And then I headed next door to the Classics Department. After emailing him several times Artus parted with a signed copy of his new Augustus textbook that he has published and I and David Moore appear in photos froom Hadrian's Villa in his Art and Architecture text (which unfortunately was unavailable and currently in it's 3rd reprint). And somehow I managed to slip in to famous lines, "Sitting back and slyly thinking to myself Aha!..." and "(sigh) The Pantheon, Built by Marcus Agrippa in 27 BC" The AGM was, as these things often are, not increadibly exciting despite a brief dispute between outgoing President Paul Mathieson and long time DOBA stalwart Bill Barker (or was it Ben I can never tell the two apart - isn't one of them dead even?!).
After 2 years as President Paul is stepping down (as mentioned he isoff to Japan in April I think) and he is succeded by Graham Watson of AUSA fame. The AGM did give me a chance to down a couple of cups of coffee, orange juice and a few Pastries. I ran into Nick Mattison whose brother Jeremy from my year is apparently in Kansas, USA preparing for some transcontinental road trip.
Saturday night saw us all assemble at Sky City for the gala centenary dinner in the New Zealand Room. Again because I was hanging about outside having a cigarette (like some criminal) I bumbed into some (much older) Oldboys who I wouldn't have otherwise met. One of the things I had to do a couple of times during the weekend was explain that yes I am related to Darrell Lumsden and also the circumstances of his passing away. Interesting, but sad nevertheless. I wasn't particularly happy with the seating but did get stuck next to Travis Hoani, a fellow smoker and old skool South Aucklander and so we snuck off periodically for a fag.
Hadleigh and me
And again with Scott Unsworth
In the smokeing area we ran into John Proctor, who, by the way despite the fag hangin' out his mouth is not smoking again. Our year was the first time he taught Form 1 and he was lamenting the fact that his kids these days don't have the nouse to read the classics like 'Swallows and Amazons', 'The Black Cat', 'The Machine Gunners' and so on - books that I fondly look back on and remember as being some of my favourite times at school. We also recalled how John would spark up a cigarette in class as soon as the Morning Break bell rung - aaaah, those were the days aye.
The evening was MC-ed by Simon Curran who has recently returned from London and set up his own ad agency, and who took the time to stop and say hello and ask what I was upto as we passed halfway through the evening. John Rice also stopped me for the (what was now becoming routine) "What are you doing? Where are you living? How's it going?" speech. He apparently left Dilworth a while ago and is now teaching Sport Science at AUT. The evenings speakers could have been better I thought. Grace was performed by John, Our Bishop and then the Archbishop of All of Ireland stood up to make a few remarks. Frankly drunk Irish priests are increadibly funny. The other two speakers were the Dobson Twins. Two Old Boys who have gone to be leaders in their various scientific and Academic fields - One (don't ask me which) was recently the Head of Mathematics at York University. No one at our table was really paying attention and we were being a bit noisy on it and we got told off by Graham Watson.
The speakers at the dinner were terribly interesting
Of my year in attendance there was Me and Hadleigh, Andrew Trafford (just back from the UK), Andrew Reynolds-Rowe (teacher and 1st XV coach at Manurewa High), Nick Lawrence (on his way to becoming a CPA) Simon McKenzie and Scott Unsworth. A bollocks turn out by any one's account but if you look at the numbers a fair few of us are overseas so are excused. But not the likes of Ben Wood, who is doing something vaguely related to marketing, in Auckland, but is just too cool.
Renny, Me, Traff, Bumson, Lawrence, Scott
I also ran into Sally Linn (nee Paul), Mike and Matthew's mum who was in good spirits and delighted to see even one guy from our year.
With current Principal Donald McLean
Me and Hadleigh with former Headmaster Murray Wilton
With Form 1 teacher Robin Smith and 7th Form History teacher Mark "Shina" Cleaver
The meal was entirely secondary to the evenings other events - indeed it was like you couldn't move 6 feet without having to stop and explain yourself to someone - but consisted of a salmon fillet on a bed of spinich for entree, I had the chicken breast as the main, lightly seared with mushrooms and beets with a potato hash and I believe the dessert was some sort of mini pavlova deal but I went out for a cigarette and by the time I got back to the table Hadleigh's missus had eaten mine.
So the evening came to something of a close and it was decided to head over to Bar 3. Nowadays being in Korea, I don't have to line up to get into a place on account of my westerness, besides which any place that makes me line up obviously doesn't want my money. So a bit peeved that people had got in ahead of me I texted everyone whose number I had that I was going somewhere else and if anyone came the first round was on me. Next thing you know Paul and Hod are with me downstairs at Atrium (my suggestion of the Corner Bar was perhaps a little far away) and we were joined by Adam Hiron and Richard Rountree who is back in the country after being laid off from his job as a tour driver in England. I think he said he was with Brady and Vinnie doing the signs for some Beach Volleyball tournament - I dunno too much to drink by that time. And for the record I got the 3rd round. After that we hit the Blackjack tables, I played a few hands at the $15 table and came out $45 ahead. And finally to bring the night to a complete and well deserved close Paul, Chris and I headed across the road for an American Dog at Brucies. Nice one.
With Chris Hodder and outgoing DOBA President Paul Matthieson
Sunday
The onnly shite day in terms of weather for the whole week I woke up on Sunday (again after all of 4 hours sleep) to pissing rain. It abated long enough for me to get my things together, check out and pile into Mum's car to head to Aunt Diane's to say good bye to her, Craig and Kayla and The Grandparents. I introduced my 11 year old cousin Kayla to Red Bull (a commodity I dearly iss in Korea) and she went mental. I said goodbye to the Grandparents and we made it to the airport in time to check in swiftly (no upgrade this time, but my favorite seat right at the back with plenty of leg room) and take Kayla to McDonalds. (I had a water.)
Again the flight was pleasant, and this time I was armed with some nicorette gum, and I got in 5 or 6 hours of sleep before arriving at Incheon at just before 5am. Can you say cold? I finally go home at about 9am on Monday morning just in time to see it start snowing! With an international flight, minimal sleep and a couple of loads of washing under my belt it was off to school for a full days work and back to a modicum of normality.
Conclusions
I shouldn't have left dishes in the sink before I left. Eeeeew!
New Zealand has changed very little, but I will continue to complain about not being able to smoke anywhere without people looking down their noses as if to imply smokers are some sort of 2nd rate citizen / criminal.Things are very expensive in Korea, For one week I spent about 2.4 Million Won - you do the math. (It does include that unexpected ticket to Wellington, and I did actually come back with NZD$300 in hand).There are certain people I miss in New Zealand, but apart from fish and chips, mince and cheese pies and ginger ale, not a lot else.
I am so happy that Mum made the decision to send me to Dilworth - had I not gone to Dilworth there is no doubt in my mind that a) she wouldn't be doing as well as she is, thinking of semi-retirement at age 50, and b) I wouldn't have ended up in Korea having probably gone to Howick College.
Korea is now, truely, feels like home.
That was the New Zealand Trip report for the 4th to the 13 March.
PS since we're feeling all nostelgic on it you will see my primary photo on my friendster profile - and hopefully displayed above is from the day I left school - what was I thinking with a) that shirt and b) my hair. Big ups to Hadleigh for the photo
