As The # Of Weeks Wind Down

“Blues are Poos” the cheering from a pack of 'clever' thirty something men that stood behind us at the Highlanders game versus the Blues.

I decided to go full out for my first Highlanders experience; a new Highlanders beanie, Uggs and my jacket. Warm, fuzzy and puffy. But I was not alone as Chrissy, Toby and Campbell all dawned the same fashion of “look warm, be warm”!

Our night began with quite possibly the cheapest, yet still tasty meal that I have ever had.  We agreed on takeaways from a Chinese fish and chip joint that was the size of a shoe box and even smelt like one. I ordered a chicken burger & chips and Campbell got a hamburger, chips and a fish stick. Our meal cost $10. I thought oh hell, for $10 that will be through me before we get to the game.  Happy to report it wasn’t and it was an excellent base for my beer.

During the game, we stood with the rowdy crowd in the legendary area called “The Terrace”.  Where the only warnings I received were “watch for flying beer bottles and people pissing on you”!

Even though we lost it was such an awesome experience.  We even bumped into the All Blacks coach along our travels, but apparently Toby knows him better than we do. As the four of us were walking in, he looks over to this gentleman and says "Graham" with a friendly nod. We were like jeeze high roller, we should have played the Canadian tourist card and got our photo taken with him. 

After the game we headed home and cracked open some wine just in time to see Billy & Kate get hitched.  Never mind what the bride was wearing, was anyone else paying attention to all those hats in the crowd? Imagine getting the invite to the wedding of the century and then getting there to have some lady wearing a massive hat with half a bird of feathers blocking your view. Not cool.

That Thursday was the rugby seasons first evening game.  It was awesome seeing the boys play under the bright lights while sipping away on our hot chocolates.  The crowd of 250+ was roaring as they scored try after try. Such a great night.

I experienced my first "hunting weekend" in a relationship as Campbell spent the next weekend away with the boys duck shooting.  Maybe a payback for making him watch the royal wedding.  As they headed into the middle of nowhere to do whatever men do on those kind of trips (?), me and the gals headed to a cooking demonstration at the Bendigo Homestead that included a lot of red wine. The main dish was a duck tarine.  If you know me at all, you'll know that I'm a chicken/pork/beef kind of gal and a bird fresh from the pond just isn't falling under one of those categories. I did try it... and washed it down with a very large glass of wine. Its a good thing the boys only got 2 ducks, because I sure wont be making a duck dinner anytime soon.

The next day Georgie, Macy and I had a girls day filled with ice chocolates from the Tarras Store and chicken nachos for dinner. All done in the comfort of our track pants. Such a great day and the kind I'll miss once I'm home. 

Last weekend had us back in Tarras for the Game Keepers Supper. Dressed in tweed and tartin and looking like characters out of a Sherlock Holmes movie, we drank mulled wine (among other things) and ate rabbit, duck and plenty of fish. Well someone at that sort of stuff.  Georgie and I thought we had the perfect plan by bringing "wild cow" meatballs to the pot luck dinner to ensure us picky people had something to eat.  However, being the young drunk table they had us go last for food and there were no meat balls left. So we filled up on salads and bread in hopes that would make a solid base for whatever antics the evening would bring. As desserts came out, we had a brainwave idea to stash some in the car for later.  Well later came around 4am after a guts full of gin & tonic and as I jumped into the back seat I forgot about the desserts and ended up with cake all over me.  Good thing I'm coming home to summer and wont require that suit jacket immediately!

Cheers To A Good Friend

I am a few weeks behind on my blog and have a lot to catch you up on, but I have decided to talk about a great friend today. 

On the weekend I got the news that my wonderful friend Aaron Whalen had passed away.  A character of such humour and honesty, always looking for a good time and putting smiles on faces every time he walked through a door.

Over the years Aaron has been the life of many parties, but I will always remember the first time I met him.  I was 15 on a road tour that led us to the hunting camp.  I walked in to see this guy singing along with the fish above the doorway saying "take me to the river, drop put me in the water"! Did I mention that he was naked?

There are so many Aaron stories that we all know and love. From biking down the hunting camp stairs to cannonballing on the hood of his truck at Havelock, the laughs are endless. 

I was fortunate enough to spend some time with Lindsey and Aaron during their recent trip to New Zealand.  I had never met Lindsey before, but our friendship quickly grew over a few gin and sodas and I knew instantly that she was perfect for Aaron.

We spent the weekend camping in the middle of nowhere, but I'm sure the laughter of 12 people echoed from miles away.   Aaron was in true Whalen form and landed the catch phrase of the weekend. 

Sitting around the fire, our New Zealand friends were trying to explain a drinking game. The game starts off when one person says "ship came into the harbour carrying" and you say the topic.  Each person in the circle has to list a brand within that topic.  Well at one point it was 'makeup' and when it came to Aarons turn he yelled out "Whalen all over your face"! It was hilarious and had the entire group in stitches.

We all have our own Aaron story that we will turn to on days like today when we are sad.  A story full of laughs, quick wit and a cowboy hat to boot.  He was a great friend and will be missed by many.  Until we meet again, cheers to you my friend xxoo