New Zealand 2011

12th - 24th October

12th Oct: A former America's Cup yacht	Simon and Pete see us off	Ben, the skipper, gives the introductory talk	Mike The Grinder
James and Nobby	Mike wonders when to start enacting the Rio video	Approaching the North Harbour Bridge	Ben and Steve
Steve Rider at the helm	The windswept look		Chris and Mike
Mike Tope at the helm	Approaching the North Harbour Bridge	Going under the bridge - metres to spare!
Sail of the century	Rupert's turn	My turn
Vic leads the Sea Shanties		Mike, Nobby, Steve, Simon, Nick	Post-sail lunch
13th Sept. The YikeBike - a display in The Cloud	I'm far from convinced	Dinner out in 'Prego'. Ask for a bit of bread & you get a whole loaf	$100 worth of wine
Mmmm, pie!	'How Much!'	15th Sept. Guess where the French are.	A London RT, slightly lost
The smallest of the cruise ships in for the Semis	17th Oct. Auckland Art Gallery. Get your eyes around Painting No.1 (Gordon Walters 1965)	These are easy - all called 'untitled' (Para Matchitt 1969)	Hmmm, read on...
	This was called 'Clear Glass Stack'	Vic raised a titter by saying slightly too loudly 'I call this piece "Accident Waiting to Happen"'
	Scots outside the Queens Ferry Hotel drinking Champagne not Heavy	So this is what all those 'S' numbers do	What fun we have at BBQs! (Hosted by SkyNZ - 'A traditional New Zealand indoor barbeque.' Well, it will rain.)
18th Oct. A day out to Waiheke Island, courtesy New Zealand Tourism
			Hey Pete, where are you going with that gun in your hand?
No clay pigeons were hurt during this session! (A trick of the light)	All five of Vic's arrows on the target board (better than Waterloo darts!), and the balloon wasn't hurt.	Back in natural habitat - Waiheke Brewery	Vic corrects brewers assertion that this is every "bloke's" dream
Then it returns to normal - rain.	Every vineyard should have one.	The ferry home - a bit chilly up top	Hair styling by 'Force 9'
Yes, you can see the rain coming		Vic gets beaten up by her own hood.
Another 'Accident Waiting to Happen'		North Head
The Cloud under clouds	But there is blue stuff there somewhere	19th Oct. A picture of pitchers	Auckland WInter Gardens - Hot House
Um, very few plants here from New Zealand. The botanical gardens started life as an acclimatisation garden (presumably for European species).	The cool house.		Auckland War Memorial Museum. This one complements the Spitfire way back on 31st August.
Caption competition - email your entries	So, how long a leash does a sheep dog need?
20th Oct: Amazing, a fine day, & our turn with the Sky Tower pictures		Shiny buildings	Eden Park. Three Kings is the old volcano in the distant left.
This tower fell asleep at a beer festival party ;-)	Auckland's 'Occupy' camp has trouble filling the square.	The silly walkway. Too windy today for anyone to be allowed on it.	Shiny shiny. (Points for continuing the lyrics)
	Reach for the ~~Sky~~ Beer		The Japanese tourists would be proud of our posing
On the Whale Not Watching trip	Wave watching was a different matter		Eventually we go right out into the ocean following the gannets who lead us to the dolphins, thousands of them.
And they love boats	Yellow headed Australasian Gannet - tricky to photograph.	Dolphins are also tricky	Ah, there we go.
21st Oct. Bucket!	Lunch at The Belgian Café in Mission Bay	Mission Bay	Self portrait
The gulls are taking over...	It's my sandcastle now!	Yes, this photo is the right way up.	Eden Park
We've got the tickets	Michael Jones has no visible means of support	20 mins before the match - the pointless dancers	And the Welsh team warming up
Anthems	Wales about to lose their one point lead	Pub (Galbraith's) on the way home - hot outside, and there was a gas fire toasting my head as well.	The local Steve Powell does his bit for global warming.
22nd October: Impromptu party to finish up some beer & wine.	23rd October. Build up for the final down in Quay Street		Media Centre at the Cloud - yes Vic qualified with her pink wristband
Set up for ITV's coverage of the fan park	Queens Wharf Fanzone - the ship is Pacific Dawn	Inside The Cloud	Match begins
	Celebrations	& Jubilations	Fuzzy fireworks
Dave with hanger on!! (Michael Lynagh)	Vic with hanger on (Scott Hastings)	Francois Pienaar asks to have his photo taken with Dave.	Becs gets a gift...
... Her own All Blacks shirt	Both in the frame? Just impossible!	Well, OK.	Wrap party in full swing
Cameraman Chris with one of his minders.	Who's that helping behind the bar?		Francois Pienaar at his day job ;-)
Da Management, plus some of us.	Er, words fail...	Globecast trio	24th October. All Blacks Victory parade
There's one! They needed a double decker bus really.

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Pictures from New Zealand 2011