Things they don't tell you before you move to Enzed
It's a rainy day in West Auckland. The summer downpours give the place a tropical vibe, and I was drenched in 10 seconds after stepping outside. The rolling thunder and fat raindrops are a refreshing break from the steamy heat.
After 3 years of moving houses and hemispheres I'm starting to feel settled, though 2003 was another whirlwind year. Sometimes you need to come to a complete stop to be able to take stock of how far you have really come. My mate 'Goth' Liz [now happily married and a redhead] has moved from Bristol to Sydney, and we've been catching up on the phone. We both agreed that we were glad we'd both done it before knowing how tough emigrating would be. If any of you are thinking of moving to Middle Earth, then here's a few things they don't tell you before you move to Enzed:
1. Auckland is not New Zealand. The country consists of Auckland [harbouring a third of the country] and The Rest of New Zealand. The Rest of New Zealand is like Britain in the 70s, and in some places a little like the Far Side, but I like that. Auckland is the New Zealand equivalent of what London is to Britain [though nowhere near as bad]. Aucklanders tend to look down on The Rest of New Zealand as inbred yokels, while The Rest of New Zealand fumes and pays for their roads and facilities.
2. At first you'll find it hard to get a job. Kiwis don't like to employ fresh immigrants until they have acclimatised, and it can take a couple of years before you fully fit in. You'll earn far less than you have been used to, but a little here can go a long way. New Zealand is about having a great lifestyle, not having lots of money. To paraphrase Gaetan Philppart, you won't have a cruise every year, but you will have fun every day.
3. Kiwis deny that winter exists. Don't throw away your woollies. If you arrive between May to October expecting tropical sunshine, you will freeze your nuts off. The houses here are not insulated, and central heating has not been invented yet, but you do get to feel all primal with your wood-burner. Ugg Boots are essential for toasty toes.
4. 'Not far', or 'just up the road' to a Kiwi means anything from a 20 minute to a 2 hour drive.
5. Kiwis are in denial about the hole in the ozone layer and think sun-block is for pussy white poms. Even though everyone knows someone who has had skin cancer. You will burn in summer in 9 minutes, and you'll need Factor 30 even on cloudy days. Here's a round up of some good fake tans: Fake - Don't Bake!
6. The first mosquito bites you get will be painful. Chelfyn's arm once swelled up so much it looked like Fat Bastard's from Austin Powers. Never dance next to a river at dawn or dusk without drenching yourself in DEET, or the sandflies will carve craters from your skin. I still bear scars from The Gathering.
7. The west coast beaches are dangerous even to champion swimmers and the black sand will burn your toes. However they are perfect for windswept winter walks and leching at surfers.
8. Kiwis are not all clean and green. The reason most of the country is so unspoilt is that most of the country lives in Auckland. All of their recycling gets sent overseas and they love their big muscle cars. There is however some really cool, alternative energy and bio-sustainable stuff going on further south, like the dude in the West Coast of the South Island with a water powered tank.
9. When a Kiwi says they'll get back to you tomorrow, expect a call the following week.
10. New Zealand is definitely the best place in the world to live.
January 30, 2004
Smart Drugs
I‘ve just watched a programme called Body Shots about smart drugs which was fascinating. It had a rare interview with the king and queen of the psychonauts - Dr Alexander Shulgin and his wife Anne. My first company was a smart drugs and herbal high company called The Herbal Highway, which I launched back in 1994. I was working at Glastonbury Festival like I did every summer, and on the Sunday night I took a trip down to the dance tent. I saw a huge banner proclaiming ‘Ecstacy available here!’, and came across herbal E’s for the very first time. I was really excited to find a safe, legal, natural alternative to illegal drugs. Within a few weeks I was selling them by mail order, and then from a website.
I worked with my bofriend 'Lord Alex' as he was known in the Bristol party scene. We met a registered herbalist and mad chemist called Simon who helped us devise our recipies. Soon we were making our own products called Upstart [for energy], Chill [to relax], and Recover [post party detox.] I even had two [legitimate] pill making machines. We were doing pretty well and had been invited to a 'meeting of minds' in Cornwall with other herbal high manufacturers, like Herman and the Hippy. That’s where I head about the MAL8 legislation.
Due to pressures from the pharmaceutical companies [If We Can’t Patent It and Make Millions – We’ll Force the Government to Ban It!] and led by the media [We Must Protect Our Children from Evil Hippies and their Herbal Drugs!], the UK government had changed the law. They started out trying to ban all herbs including culinary and essential oils, but toned it down when there was a public outcry. Instead of banning our herbal mixes they removed our ability to tell people how they worked. Anyone selling a compound of herbs that “alters the body’s natural physiological functions when ingested” [water does that] needed a medicinal license.
To apply for a medicinal license cost £30,000 per product, and it would have been hopeless even if I'd had the money. In a radio interview a representative of the British Medical Association admitted that even if we applied for a license we would never be granted one, as our products were clearly for recreational, not medicinal use. Overnight, safe, legal, natural alternatives were taken away from responsible club kids and it was back to illegal drugs and associating with dealers.
The US led War on Drugs causes untold misery. Not that Americans aren't as high as kites. They make up 7% of the world’s population and consume over 60% of the world's presciption drugs. When you start medicating children as young as three, you should realise there's a problem. My inbox is overflowing with spam offering to sell me US made drugs, and yet pot is illegal. The trouble is they can’t patent a plant. I hope the NZ government follows the UK’s lead and decriminalises soon. It’s heartbreaking that people can still be put in jail for smoking a herb, that's been used safely for years in pain relief.
I‘ve just watched a programme called Body Shots about smart drugs which was fascinating. It had a rare interview with the king and queen of the psychonauts - Dr Alexander Shulgin and his wife Anne. My first company was a smart drugs and herbal high company called The Herbal Highway, which I launched back in 1994. I was working at Glastonbury Festival like I did every summer, and on the Sunday night I took a trip down to the dance tent. I saw a huge banner proclaiming ‘Ecstacy available here!’, and came across herbal E’s for the very first time. I was really excited to find a safe, legal, natural alternative to illegal drugs. Within a few weeks I was selling them by mail order, and then from a website.
I worked with my bofriend 'Lord Alex' as he was known in the Bristol party scene. We met a registered herbalist and mad chemist called Simon who helped us devise our recipies. Soon we were making our own products called Upstart [for energy], Chill [to relax], and Recover [post party detox.] I even had two [legitimate] pill making machines. We were doing pretty well and had been invited to a 'meeting of minds' in Cornwall with other herbal high manufacturers, like Herman and the Hippy. That’s where I head about the MAL8 legislation.
Due to pressures from the pharmaceutical companies [If We Can’t Patent It and Make Millions – We’ll Force the Government to Ban It!] and led by the media [We Must Protect Our Children from Evil Hippies and their Herbal Drugs!], the UK government had changed the law. They started out trying to ban all herbs including culinary and essential oils, but toned it down when there was a public outcry. Instead of banning our herbal mixes they removed our ability to tell people how they worked. Anyone selling a compound of herbs that “alters the body’s natural physiological functions when ingested” [water does that] needed a medicinal license.
To apply for a medicinal license cost £30,000 per product, and it would have been hopeless even if I'd had the money. In a radio interview a representative of the British Medical Association admitted that even if we applied for a license we would never be granted one, as our products were clearly for recreational, not medicinal use. Overnight, safe, legal, natural alternatives were taken away from responsible club kids and it was back to illegal drugs and associating with dealers.
The US led War on Drugs causes untold misery. Not that Americans aren't as high as kites. They make up 7% of the world’s population and consume over 60% of the world's presciption drugs. When you start medicating children as young as three, you should realise there's a problem. My inbox is overflowing with spam offering to sell me US made drugs, and yet pot is illegal. The trouble is they can’t patent a plant. I hope the NZ government follows the UK’s lead and decriminalises soon. It’s heartbreaking that people can still be put in jail for smoking a herb, that's been used safely for years in pain relief.
January 27, 2004
Keep it clean, keep it green, keep it Tidy New Zealand
A Tidy night out with free CDs, energy pills, icepops, melon, and nine hours of tasty tunes across two glowing rooms. Highlights for me were the Untidy couple who had made their own shirts [front / back], meeting the lovely Paul Maddox [here with a veritable bevy of babes], and the last Recycled hour with all of the DJs mixing it up in the main room, dropping one tune each in a giant back to back. Big ups to Kyle Donegan & Chelfyn, Hoover Kitty, Phunky Dave, Nikki Six, Matt Camp, Jet Bradley, Justin Sane, Taz and Paul Maddox and all the crowd for a really top night.
Check out Twisted [set 1 / set 2] and Hardhouse (set 1/ set 2) for more photos.
Here's Justin Sane's review:
"Friday 23rd January saw Tidy's own Mad Dog, Paul Maddox, unleashed and left to ravage spectacularly on the thankful clubbers of New Zealand.
Tidy Trax New Zealand's second party at Cube couldn't have started more successfully with a queue of punters standing eagerly outside prior to the doors opening, Kyle Donegan kicked off the main room with a mixture of old and new tracks which drew people straight from the bar to the dance-floor before they'd even managed to get their first drink.
The TMet second room started on the same note, amidst the underwater UV decor bounced the familiar orange mohawk of Chelfyn churning out the funk to the ever growing crowd. Capacity had already reached good levels before midnight and thanks to the newly installed fans throughout the club everyone was keeping cool and happy, but that didn't stop people trying to raise the temperatures on the dance floor to the sounds of the delightful Hoover Kitty in the main room or the more laid back house of PhunkyDave in the playpen.
Just after midnight a large Dalmatian and a Kiwi crept through the club and started hugging various clubbers, particularly female ones and posing for photos. The lighting began to step up a notch with a blue laser piercing through the crowd whilst Justin Sane was building everyone up nicely with some hard trance and Tidy classics in time for the guest of honour at 2am.
Maddox stepped up to the decks with a triumphant roar from all those on the dance floor, excitement was at an all time high and as 'Candyman' wound down on the turntable everyone erupted with joy as JX's 'Restless' blasted through the speakers, there wasn't a unhappy face in the building. With temperatures soaring everywhere, fresh cut melon, ice blocks, t-shirts and CDs were handed out and Maddox churned his way through all the hits such as 'Azure Sunset' and a new remix of the forthcoming SJ & Babydoc track whilst a kaleidoscope of colour lasers pleasured all those dancing.
After a set which many proclaimed as one of the most upfront they had ever heard, local hero Taz took over to take the pace to another level, whilst Matt Camp and Jet Bradley kept up the magic in the second room and Maddox was happily left to attend the eager crowd which had gathered at the corner of the DJ box for autographs and record signings.
With smiles everywhere and our own Dalmatian and Kiwi dancing hard amongst the crowd, Nikki Six played the last solo set of the night and those remaining in the Tmet second room ventured through to the main room for the last hour with the final salute.
At 6am, we saw the launch of the Recycled Hour, all the DJs from both rooms standing centre stage together playing one last record and cheering each other along, even Maddox was there after choosing to spend the night and the crowd were showing their appreciation for every remaining minute - a salute which went down in style and at 7am the lights came on to a roaring cheer of appreciation.
All attendees received the highly sought after unreleased Paul Maddox album from Tw4 in the UK. All asked said that Paul Maddox exceeded all of their expectations and look forward to his return in the near future... To put it another way, a very nice party indeed!
Tidy Trax NZ - Keeping New Zealand Tidy!"
 | When you have a queue at the door before the first record spins, you know it’s going to be a great night. The doors opened at 10.00 to an excited flow of party people, a giant kiwi and a spotty dog. By the end of the opening sets both rooms were full of shiny, happy people, going hard all night. |
A Tidy night out with free CDs, energy pills, icepops, melon, and nine hours of tasty tunes across two glowing rooms. Highlights for me were the Untidy couple who had made their own shirts [front / back], meeting the lovely Paul Maddox [here with a veritable bevy of babes], and the last Recycled hour with all of the DJs mixing it up in the main room, dropping one tune each in a giant back to back. Big ups to Kyle Donegan & Chelfyn, Hoover Kitty, Phunky Dave, Nikki Six, Matt Camp, Jet Bradley, Justin Sane, Taz and Paul Maddox and all the crowd for a really top night.
Check out Twisted [set 1 / set 2] and Hardhouse (set 1/ set 2) for more photos.
Here's Justin Sane's review:
"Friday 23rd January saw Tidy's own Mad Dog, Paul Maddox, unleashed and left to ravage spectacularly on the thankful clubbers of New Zealand.
Tidy Trax New Zealand's second party at Cube couldn't have started more successfully with a queue of punters standing eagerly outside prior to the doors opening, Kyle Donegan kicked off the main room with a mixture of old and new tracks which drew people straight from the bar to the dance-floor before they'd even managed to get their first drink.
The TMet second room started on the same note, amidst the underwater UV decor bounced the familiar orange mohawk of Chelfyn churning out the funk to the ever growing crowd. Capacity had already reached good levels before midnight and thanks to the newly installed fans throughout the club everyone was keeping cool and happy, but that didn't stop people trying to raise the temperatures on the dance floor to the sounds of the delightful Hoover Kitty in the main room or the more laid back house of PhunkyDave in the playpen.
Just after midnight a large Dalmatian and a Kiwi crept through the club and started hugging various clubbers, particularly female ones and posing for photos. The lighting began to step up a notch with a blue laser piercing through the crowd whilst Justin Sane was building everyone up nicely with some hard trance and Tidy classics in time for the guest of honour at 2am.
Maddox stepped up to the decks with a triumphant roar from all those on the dance floor, excitement was at an all time high and as 'Candyman' wound down on the turntable everyone erupted with joy as JX's 'Restless' blasted through the speakers, there wasn't a unhappy face in the building. With temperatures soaring everywhere, fresh cut melon, ice blocks, t-shirts and CDs were handed out and Maddox churned his way through all the hits such as 'Azure Sunset' and a new remix of the forthcoming SJ & Babydoc track whilst a kaleidoscope of colour lasers pleasured all those dancing.
After a set which many proclaimed as one of the most upfront they had ever heard, local hero Taz took over to take the pace to another level, whilst Matt Camp and Jet Bradley kept up the magic in the second room and Maddox was happily left to attend the eager crowd which had gathered at the corner of the DJ box for autographs and record signings.
With smiles everywhere and our own Dalmatian and Kiwi dancing hard amongst the crowd, Nikki Six played the last solo set of the night and those remaining in the Tmet second room ventured through to the main room for the last hour with the final salute.
At 6am, we saw the launch of the Recycled Hour, all the DJs from both rooms standing centre stage together playing one last record and cheering each other along, even Maddox was there after choosing to spend the night and the crowd were showing their appreciation for every remaining minute - a salute which went down in style and at 7am the lights came on to a roaring cheer of appreciation.
All attendees received the highly sought after unreleased Paul Maddox album from Tw4 in the UK. All asked said that Paul Maddox exceeded all of their expectations and look forward to his return in the near future... To put it another way, a very nice party indeed!
Tidy Trax NZ - Keeping New Zealand Tidy!"
January 22, 2004
Adventures in Wonderland
We set off on our roadtrip to Wonderland a week ago, and spent a night with Cathy and Clayton at the farm rather than get stuck in rush hour traffic. I woke to sunshine, glorious views and Escapee the mad chicken glaring at me through the window.
We set off early for SoBo [the area South of the Bombay hills] and headed for Hamilton, a farming town that welcomes you with the immortal line ‘Hamilton – more than you’d expect’. The further south you go the more New Zealandish it feels, and there are more signs of Kiwi eccentricity. Driving through the town of Tirau you are greeted with the Big Dog & the Big Sheep, and as you leave it's hard to miss the castle called Pamela.
With the windows down we could hear the roar of the cicadas as we passed by thick pockets of trees. After blink and you’ll miss them villages and various small towns, we reached the great lake at Taupo backed by Ruapehu's snowy peaks. We pressed on south through Bulls, Foxton [the Foxtown!] and onto Wellington for our interview on the Radio Active drive show. The studios are in central Wellington with a great view over the harbour.
Next stop was the Wonderland site at Tunnel Gully Plateau in Upper Hutt. We pitched the tent, my head hit the pillow and I slept like a log while the crew watched Liquid Crystal Vision on a sheet hung from the trees. I fell asleep to the sound of the Morepork and woke to the Tui and the Bellbird. It was a scorching day, but there was no hot tempers in the closely knit crew. Many of them have worked on parties like Checkpoint Charlie and The Gathering, so know exactly what to do.
Chelfyn kicked off after Helix, with the unreleased D.A.V.E. the Drummer remix of Oh Superman [by Laurie Anderson] followed by One night in Hackney, homegrown Kiwi tracks from TMet Recordings, and live drumming. I filmed a blur of lasers, lights, and hands in the air, with whoops and hollars from the crowd.
Watch a 1 minute video of Chelfyn Live @ Wonderland. [9MB]
Before I knew it DJ Maya was dropping some blinding techno tracks and all too soon it was dawn. We had a breakfast of strawberries & bubbly with the crew and then fell asleep in the balmy afternoon. We woke to a triple rainbow at dusk.
There's some Wonderland pics up at Twisted, and Biggie [set 1 / set 2 / set 3].
I asked him what the biggest one was - 35,000 tickets and a guest list of 6,000! More recently he was an extra in Lord of the Rings and at 6ft 6” may have been their tallest elf. Chelfyn had lots of fun playing with soft synths in Mr Oz's studio before we headed back to Auckland. We got back into the office to confirm three more bookings in February, and we're doing a TMet Room at Tidy NZ tomorrow. It’s already shaping up to be a very busy year!
We set off on our roadtrip to Wonderland a week ago, and spent a night with Cathy and Clayton at the farm rather than get stuck in rush hour traffic. I woke to sunshine, glorious views and Escapee the mad chicken glaring at me through the window.
We set off early for SoBo [the area South of the Bombay hills] and headed for Hamilton, a farming town that welcomes you with the immortal line ‘Hamilton – more than you’d expect’. The further south you go the more New Zealandish it feels, and there are more signs of Kiwi eccentricity. Driving through the town of Tirau you are greeted with the Big Dog & the Big Sheep, and as you leave it's hard to miss the castle called Pamela.
 |  |
With the windows down we could hear the roar of the cicadas as we passed by thick pockets of trees. After blink and you’ll miss them villages and various small towns, we reached the great lake at Taupo backed by Ruapehu's snowy peaks. We pressed on south through Bulls, Foxton [the Foxtown!] and onto Wellington for our interview on the Radio Active drive show. The studios are in central Wellington with a great view over the harbour.
Next stop was the Wonderland site at Tunnel Gully Plateau in Upper Hutt. We pitched the tent, my head hit the pillow and I slept like a log while the crew watched Liquid Crystal Vision on a sheet hung from the trees. I fell asleep to the sound of the Morepork and woke to the Tui and the Bellbird. It was a scorching day, but there was no hot tempers in the closely knit crew. Many of them have worked on parties like Checkpoint Charlie and The Gathering, so know exactly what to do.
 | It was of the most enjoyable set ups I've ever done. My job was painting signs for the 6 Zones; Earth for tribal, Venus for house, Mars for drum & bass, Jupiter for trance, Neptune for chill & psy, Area 54 for the up and comings and my last minute addition Uranus - the toilet zone. |
| The gates opened at 10.00 p.m. to a flood of excited people. After a walk through the bush they were greeted by emerald green shafts of lasers piercing a diamond studded sky, jaws dropping as they saw Wonderland for the first time. I caught some of Minuit’s excellent live show before heading back down to the trance stage to film Chelfyn's set, stopping to watch the Taiko drummers, stiltwalkers and the aerial artist in the trees. |  |
Chelfyn kicked off after Helix, with the unreleased D.A.V.E. the Drummer remix of Oh Superman [by Laurie Anderson] followed by One night in Hackney, homegrown Kiwi tracks from TMet Recordings, and live drumming. I filmed a blur of lasers, lights, and hands in the air, with whoops and hollars from the crowd.
Watch a 1 minute video of Chelfyn Live @ Wonderland. [9MB]Before I knew it DJ Maya was dropping some blinding techno tracks and all too soon it was dawn. We had a breakfast of strawberries & bubbly with the crew and then fell asleep in the balmy afternoon. We woke to a triple rainbow at dusk.
There's some Wonderland pics up at Twisted, and Biggie [set 1 / set 2 / set 3]. | We spent our last night in Poirua with Mr Oz and his lovely wife Siobhan. UK DJ/Producer Mr Oz moved to New Zealand about 6 months after us and now lives overlooking a surf beach near Wellington. An international DJ, he was label manager at React and Lush Records, and one of the organisers of the Universe and Tribal Gathering parties, some of the biggest dance parties ever held in the UK. |
I asked him what the biggest one was - 35,000 tickets and a guest list of 6,000! More recently he was an extra in Lord of the Rings and at 6ft 6” may have been their tallest elf. Chelfyn had lots of fun playing with soft synths in Mr Oz's studio before we headed back to Auckland. We got back into the office to confirm three more bookings in February, and we're doing a TMet Room at Tidy NZ tomorrow. It’s already shaping up to be a very busy year!
January 15, 2004
Fatboy Kitten and Mixmaster Muff
Chelfyn is doing the dress rehearsal of his new live set, a kind of one man band for Wonderland. He’s using digital decks, effects, live drumming and is also taking his guitar down. We’re off on our roadtrip to Wellington tomorrow. I love roadtrips, especially when you get to drive through the beautiful New Zealand countryside. It’s about an 8 hour drive from Auckland and we have to be there by 4.00 p.m.to do an interview on Radio Active. It’s funny how I don’t mind getting up really early when there’s a gig involved. It’s normally very hard to prise me out of bed.
Anna is coming round to house sit and look after the Kits. Milo is still bald. The vet said that we can either give him more drugs or make him wear a lampshade. Maybe he's copying Chelfyn and going for a mohawk - I have no idea what is going on in his head. The vet has also told me off and put him on a diet. Adult Ragdolls can grow up to 20 pounds and he is well on the way. You can certainly pinch more than an inch. So from now on it’s low fat food and chasing string for Fatboy Kitten [the other one’s DJ name is Mixmaster Muff].
Chelfyn is doing the dress rehearsal of his new live set, a kind of one man band for Wonderland. He’s using digital decks, effects, live drumming and is also taking his guitar down. We’re off on our roadtrip to Wellington tomorrow. I love roadtrips, especially when you get to drive through the beautiful New Zealand countryside. It’s about an 8 hour drive from Auckland and we have to be there by 4.00 p.m.to do an interview on Radio Active. It’s funny how I don’t mind getting up really early when there’s a gig involved. It’s normally very hard to prise me out of bed.
Anna is coming round to house sit and look after the Kits. Milo is still bald. The vet said that we can either give him more drugs or make him wear a lampshade. Maybe he's copying Chelfyn and going for a mohawk - I have no idea what is going on in his head. The vet has also told me off and put him on a diet. Adult Ragdolls can grow up to 20 pounds and he is well on the way. You can certainly pinch more than an inch. So from now on it’s low fat food and chasing string for Fatboy Kitten [the other one’s DJ name is Mixmaster Muff].
January 13, 2004
Goodbye Lightning Man
Yesterday was our last Muntday Lunchout on UpFM. It was quite sad to say goodbye to our regular listeners like Horse [who adores his wife], Jiffy [young ladies - watch out for this one] and the westie techno-bogans Ice Man and Lightning Man [who once pissed on an electric fence]. It's amazing what you learn about your listeners from text competitions. Sexual preferences, evil things done to an ex. Loads of blackmail material with thoughtfully provided contact details. We'll still be doing our Saturday night show, and I'll miss our Monday morning banters, but Monday is our Sunday and I'm looking forward to being able to stay in bed.
Nick who is in State of It with Clayton lives in the garden with his girlfriend and they have a menagerie of feathered and four legged friends. Their pig is called Brownie and they have assorted chickens, one of them called Escapee gets into the house through the cat flap. It was foisted on them as 'a good layer' by Clayton's brother Vaughn after it pecked through a window trying to get into his house. I think it's slightly psychotic, but not as psychotic as Tails [Lync's cat], scourge of all things that fly or squeak. Even the possums out there live in fear.
We had fun playing with Clayton's new Eye Toy. Watching the boys playing Boogie Down was hilarious. Chelfyn's mohawk kept setting the sensors off and he demolished Clayton's mirrorball chandelier. The window washing game is the funniest one, you look like the really bad dancer in Fatboy Slim's Praise You video. We were all knackered afterwards, so Chelfyn and I went out and bought a PS2 and Eye Toy today with the justification that it will help us to keep fit.
Yesterday was our last Muntday Lunchout on UpFM. It was quite sad to say goodbye to our regular listeners like Horse [who adores his wife], Jiffy [young ladies - watch out for this one] and the westie techno-bogans Ice Man and Lightning Man [who once pissed on an electric fence]. It's amazing what you learn about your listeners from text competitions. Sexual preferences, evil things done to an ex. Loads of blackmail material with thoughtfully provided contact details. We'll still be doing our Saturday night show, and I'll miss our Monday morning banters, but Monday is our Sunday and I'm looking forward to being able to stay in bed.
 | Having Monday back will give us more time to visit Clayton and Cathy who live down south in the country in a cosy wooden Lockwood home. They have a panoramic view and get the most amazing sunsets over what what Clayton calls The Vale. |
Nick who is in State of It with Clayton lives in the garden with his girlfriend and they have a menagerie of feathered and four legged friends. Their pig is called Brownie and they have assorted chickens, one of them called Escapee gets into the house through the cat flap. It was foisted on them as 'a good layer' by Clayton's brother Vaughn after it pecked through a window trying to get into his house. I think it's slightly psychotic, but not as psychotic as Tails [Lync's cat], scourge of all things that fly or squeak. Even the possums out there live in fear.
 |  |  |
We had fun playing with Clayton's new Eye Toy. Watching the boys playing Boogie Down was hilarious. Chelfyn's mohawk kept setting the sensors off and he demolished Clayton's mirrorball chandelier. The window washing game is the funniest one, you look like the really bad dancer in Fatboy Slim's Praise You video. We were all knackered afterwards, so Chelfyn and I went out and bought a PS2 and Eye Toy today with the justification that it will help us to keep fit.
January 05, 2004
We're all going on a summer holiday...
I've painted my office turquoise and stuck pictures of beaches on the walls. New Zealand goes on holiday for most of January, so we've there'll be a few more quiet weeks ahead. Chelfyn's next gig is Wonderland on the 17th January, TMet will be running the Playpen at the Tidy Trax NZ gig with Paul Maddox on the 23rd, and there's a gig pencilled in for Melbourne on the 20th February. Not a bad start to the year.
I've painted my office turquoise and stuck pictures of beaches on the walls. New Zealand goes on holiday for most of January, so we've there'll be a few more quiet weeks ahead. Chelfyn's next gig is Wonderland on the 17th January, TMet will be running the Playpen at the Tidy Trax NZ gig with Paul Maddox on the 23rd, and there's a gig pencilled in for Melbourne on the 20th February. Not a bad start to the year.
January 04, 2004
Pakiri Beach Bums...
We've just spent a few days lazing around at Pakiri Beach Holiday Camp with Cathy, Clayton and their son Lync. Our accommodation was positively palatial, a bunkhouse that sleeps 16 for just the two of us. We had our own kitchen, bathroom and the huge luxury of a TV.
I love going to Pakiri, it's one place where we get to really relax. Pakiri to me is long hot days, a soundtrack of birdsong, booming surf, and lazing with a good book in the shade of a pohutukawa tree. Sometimes the moonlight is so bright you can see colours at night and the beach is dazzling white by day. Even when it's busy it still feels like there's enough space, and the famous Goat Island marine reserve is nearby. Next time I really want to go out in the glass bottomed boat.
We've just spent a few days lazing around at Pakiri Beach Holiday Camp with Cathy, Clayton and their son Lync. Our accommodation was positively palatial, a bunkhouse that sleeps 16 for just the two of us. We had our own kitchen, bathroom and the huge luxury of a TV.
I love going to Pakiri, it's one place where we get to really relax. Pakiri to me is long hot days, a soundtrack of birdsong, booming surf, and lazing with a good book in the shade of a pohutukawa tree. Sometimes the moonlight is so bright you can see colours at night and the beach is dazzling white by day. Even when it's busy it still feels like there's enough space, and the famous Goat Island marine reserve is nearby. Next time I really want to go out in the glass bottomed boat.
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