SNOW WORRIES, BRO!

  Mt Hutt, Coronet Peak and The Not So Remarkables..., New Zealand
Tuesday, August 23, 2005

You know it was a good night out when you wake up with someone else's piss all over you...

G'day all -- hope all's well back home!? After a hectic few weeks trying to cram in as much daytime TV in between ALL the work in Christchurch, the Giggermeister and myself headed south to sleepy Methven for a few days boarding. The first day we headed up the mountain we were joined by a cool Spanish guy called Cesar, who was over for his holiday. He suggested we try and hitchhike after we told him about the Silver Bullet's tendency to misfire up the mountain road, so that's what we did... like dogs, on the back of a pickup truck! (Check out the pictures at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/51135834@N00/sets/700271/)It was a good few days and especially good to be boarding again, but we decided to head down to Queenstown instead because the snow was pretty crap, and Methven is utterly boring! Plus, every morning Giggsy kept complaining like a bitch about his sore arse, but back to snowboarding, I was impressed by how quickly he was picking it up...

Needless to say as soon as we arrived in QT, we were inundated with various job offers again and it wasn't long before I landed a manager / prisoner role in perhaps one of the fastest growing fast food chains in the world! Yep, Frank's European Cuisine! To get an idea of what the place was like, go to your nearest food court and look past McDonalds, Pizza Hut, KFC etc, until you find the only place EVERYBODY ignores! The job really entailed working on my own from 9:30 in the morning until 9:30 at night with no breaks. At least the money was good -- the equivalent of two-fifty an hour! I could just about handle the sheer boredom of serving only three customers a day, but I couldn't handle Frank, the German owner! He'd always show up at about 8:30 to close up and hurl a load of abuse in my general direction! Anyway, after three days in that concentration cafe, I started to get paranoid that I wasn't going to get paid, so I left... Three weeks on I haven't been paid... But me and Giggs do know mien Furher's address, so the war is not over...

Despite that little hiccup, our time in Queenstown has been fantastic. We met up with Gemma, who we met last time we were here through the guys I bought my second test ticket off, and have been staying at the hostel she works at. It's quite a cool place and we get looked after by all the girls who work there, although we keep having to change rooms because we always forget to pay! We managed to get a few days snowboarding in the first few days, but because global warming is selfish and only thinks of number one, NZ is having their mildest winter in years -- so the snow has been pants! Needless to say the rest of the time has been spent drinking as opposed to sightseeing! We've had some wicked nights out with Gemma and the girls, Cesar and Woody, but one notable one was with these South African guys who were staying in our dorm. We bumped into them after the rugger (Tri Nations) and then started to get really hammered. Of course me and Giggs were ordering the all worst shots and it wasn't long before things turned into a blur... Then, the next day I woke up to hear following conversation between the manager and Bryan:

Manager: Erm, is your bed wet?
Bryan: No
Manager: Are you sure?
Bryan: Yes
Manager: Can I feel?
Bryan: NOOOOO!!!!!

Anyway, I thought nothing of it and snuggled up to my slightly damp duvet and drifted into unconsciousness again! When I woke up later, yep, it turns out we got them so wasted that one of them pissed the bed, and I think one of the girls must have walked in to see me getting some kind of golden shower from the bed above! Of course, you imagine the amount of piss taking that went on over the next few days!! However, I must admit after three weeks here, I'm kind of bored of drinking -- I think in the last few months I've drank enough alcohol to kill a hundred elephants! Plus, I think Giggsy IS an alcoholic! He gets really angry whenever I say it and then tries to hit me... but luckily he's too pissed and falls over instead!

Anyway, I managed to get another job washing up and prepping food in a pretty cool pizza / restaurant / bar / club place. It's long hours, but at least it pays! Also, I get free food and cheap drinks! It's just sod's law that as soon as I started there it snowed loads up the mountain, so I missed out on all the powder days! Oh well, I've one more week working, then it's off to Wanaka to snowboard at Treble Cone, Cordrona and hopefully the world famous Snow Park! That's if there's any snow left...!

AND FINALLY... For those of you who didn't know, I visited the dentist just before leaving, and he told me I needed root canal work done on both sides of my back lower teeth and one back row on my upper. The look of horror on his face when I told him I was going travelling in a few days still haunts me. Maybe I should have visited him earlier... So far one tooth has been nearly obliterated on a kebab and a pie! I'm worried when you see me next I'll look more like this guy rather than the handsome model you're used to...