Auckland made it and survived the first Rugby World Cup weekend. I have to say it was not a bad one so far and especially the opening on Friday attracted may people. As far as I know more than 100.000 people have roamed the waterfront and queen street.
After all the opening was a well planned spectacle and even the fireworks have been quite spectacular although it didn’t last too long.
I’ve been watching the whole spectacle from my balcony. Here is a little impression what that looked like:
I read several traveler blogs regularly (although I don’t really network with them) and one of them is www.BackpackingMatt.com, who has also been in New Zealand for a while now and is based in Queenstown.
I really like his stories as they are interesting to read and sometimes he has even got some useful advice (although I wouldn’t comply to everything he’s writing, but that’s probably just me).
His recent post although made me more than happy. It was titled “Confessions of a Backpacker: I’m in Love” it is about the insight each and every traveler will get once he stopped traveling for a while.
One of the greatest things of going traveling is probably to leave all things and unnecessary baggage behind – in terms of belongings and mentally as well. It is like a huge clean-up, a restart into a better, more aware life driven be ideals and dreams.
But what if you own dreams are catching up with you? With traveling comes experiencing many great places in a more or less short period of time, depending on how fast you travel.
The slower you are the higher the chances that you’ll find a place eventually, which is actually more beautiful than any other place you’ve seen before. You might fall so much in love with it, that you stay for longer than expected.
This might be a very obvious problem of long-term travelers, but no one has written a very nice round-up about this issue like Matt for a long time in my opinion. I can see myself in each and every of his words in that article, so instead of trying to find my own words, I want you to read his article instead.
In case you are too lazy to read (I know you are), he outlines everything in the last sentence:
I love my life here and for the time being I’m content with that. There is certainly more of this world I want to see – but for now, that’ll have to wait for another day.
Maybe one of the reasons are that Matt and I have spent a similar amount of time in New Zealand. He has been here for 22 months according to his article, which is the same for me. Yes, 22 months, that makes nearly 2 years, gosh time goes by.
BackpackingMatt.com: Confessions of a Backpacker: I’m in love.
Today is the day New Zealand was waiting for such a long time. The Rugby World Cup 2011 will finally begin. Since Rugby is the national sport of NZ, the whole country was striving long for this event and how the “All Blacks” will perform.
Apparently it is the third biggest sports event in the world after the Olympics and the FIFA Football world cup, but to be honest that sounds a little bit like “the biggest something in the Southern Hemisphere” to me. Anyway, it is going to be a big event for sure and the country seems quite well prepared for it.
The Auckland Cloud - Rugby World Cup Party Central
One of the new installations is the Auckland Cloud that will function as some kind of Party Central. The temporary tent-like building can host around 7800 people and cost around 10 Million New Zealand Dollars, not bad for a tent.
Today Auckland will see an opening ceremony at the wharf with the reception of traditional Maori Boats called Wakas and then there will be a huge Haka (Maori War Dance) performed by over 600 people. Sounds like something worthwhile watching. Apparently they expect around 60.000 People for that, I am going to be one of them although I usually hate such big assemblies of people.
Before the opening game between the All Blacks and Tonga kicks off at 8pm Auckland will see the biggest firework since the Millennium, which I am already excited about in hope to snatch a few good shots.
So then, the next 6 weeks will be under the sign of the Rugby World Cup. Let’s see what face of New Zealand we are going to see. I remember the FIFA World Cup 2006 that put a cheering face on Germany we haven’t seen before. Let’s see how the Kiwis will deal with their self inflicted 6 weeks of sportive anarchy. At least they got their slogan right: “The world’s here to play”, and they certainly will.
The Wynyard Quarter is part of a formerly buzzing industrial zone in the heart of Auckland. It lies right next to the prestigious Viaduct Harbour with its expensive luxury yachts and stylish apartments and appears rather dull in comparison. For a long time the Wynyard Quarter was home for a big concrete factory with its huge storage silos. But those times are over and Auckland has to move on. Empty space in the central district of any city, directly at the water in particular, is hugely precious – nothing that is unknown to the city developers of Auckland and after years and years of planning the first part of this revived area has been opened to the public a few weeks ago.
Maybe it was just a coincidence that the opening was just before the upcoming opening of the Rugby World Cup this Friday, but although the Wynyard Quarter will become a business and housing oriented area, the actual finished projects revolve all around leisure activities, hospitality and a few other bits that might actually be useful for the world cup and attractive to visitors.
So let’s have a look at what New Zealand City developers think, a modern city needs.
Continue reading »
I’ve been down to Christchurch a couple of weeks ago. Although I was there to play handball in the first place, I also wanted to get a little impression of the Earthquake aftermath. Although several months have passed since the last shake, the effects are still clearly visible:
The inner city area is completely fenced off and no one is allowed in this kinda “forbidden zone”. Everything looks very scary around this zone.
Another place that was hit quite severely was the suburb of “Lyttleton”, where I have been before the big earthquakes took place. It feels strange to come back to a place that has been in good shape on your first visit. It feels like seeing an old school mate after many years again, realizing he has totally changed.
The big earthquakes of Christchurch have demanded many casualties and destruction. Many people were forced to leave their homes forever and settling in other areas of the country. Christchurch was known was one of the most cultural places in New Zealand, but it lost many of their historical buildings, such as this old church in Lyttleton.
It has been one year (and a little more) since I’ve started working as a Software Developer for Cegedim New Zealand. My first “real” workplace after I’ve graduated, and although I’ve worked somewhat full time for 1&1/Web.de Germany, I can’t compare those two experiences at all. So, I want to share a few insight, I’ve got about what it means to work in a country so far away from everything that matters. So let’s have a look what it means to be a random IT guy out there, but let me give you some explanations about my time before working in NZ.
First of all, people compare. So it is more than natural that I’ve been constantly comparing my new workplace with my old one. You compare the environment, the colleagues, your bosses and of course the style how we get stuff done.
Saying that, I really liked working for my former workplace. Of course, not everything was always perfect and some experiences has been more than dissatisfying, but after all it was a great joy to work there.
However, after I had finished my studies, I was somewhat fed up with software developing and the whole IT thing. There were various reasons for this, and I can honestly say I had enough, which went even so far that I never wanted to program again. I never said it like that, but deep inside that was my desire.
Programming and computers has been fascinating me pretty much my whole life, which makes it quite saddening to realize that your greatest passion doesn’t do it anymore for you. Have I really been that mislead? Or was it just time for a break? This has been in August 2009.
I've taken this picture in a rugged dead-end side street somewhere close to the Auckland CBD. Those narrow, dirty and dark passages are usually not very welcoming places and usually they put a very depressing face on a otherwise good image of a city. But when I took this picture I remembered something everyone should do in a big city once in a while: Look upwards towards the sky. You might find more beauty than on the ground, whatever that means. This picture is my reminder to do so.
…the Vikings from Wellington! :-)
The Vikings won a very exciting final match against Christchurch and won the tournament. As far as I can tell they deserved to win, although I’d say that Christchurch had a very good lineup as well.
For our very own Auckland team there was not much to win in this tournament unfortunately, means that we came second last, which is a little bit disappointing, because you want to be successful no matter what, but in the end the other teams were a tad better which made the difference in the end.
OK, OK and the amount of red cards we scored put us certainly down as well. Guess, I have to apologize for mine, too :-)
However, let’s move on and look towards the upcoming Auckland tournament in august. This is where we will take revenge! :-)
Thanks again to Chch for a great and well organized tournament.
Better luck next time: Unfortunately the tournament didn't allow us too many changes like here against Victoria Uni.
Christchurch Tournament pictures with courtesy of Jun Tanlayco. See more great pictures of that day on his website:
I don’t encounter many people who endorse public transport as much as I do. And to be honest, I can’t always see why people cling to their cars so strongly when public transport offers some really nice merits in everyday commuting. Well, don’t get me wrong, by far I am not a car hater or anybody like that. I love cars because they are convenient, but the more I like them as a toy (fast cars), as our cultural heritage (classic cars) our the best of both worlds (fast classic cars).
People say, that each tool has it’s purpose, that is why you don’t use your hammer to drill holes and you don’t use your power drill to hammer nails into a wall – at least you shouldn’t.
So, when we look at cars and public transport as mere tools, I can say that most people are using their tools in a wrong way. While a car is great for your weekend trip to an unknown destination or visiting the Grandparents in the country side, it doesn’t really offer you any benefit for a recurring day to day routine like commuting.
The main reason is the predictability of such a trip. There ain’t any surprises. Your workplace doesn’t shift every day unless you are an agent or anything the like. So you know where you are going to, and you know perfectly where you are going to after work. And usually you already know on a Monday what will happen at Wednesday.
The biggest advantage of a car is independence and flexibility, something very important if you are on a journey with some degrees of freedom. But on a day to day work commute I can only see one reason for the car: convenience – or in other words: laziness. Face it, it is the truth. You don’t want to be bothered dealing with a time table and leaving your cozy home in the morning for a 5 minute walk to the next bus stop. That is OK. As long as you are willing to pay for this convenience, there is nothing wrong with it.
It is your money, time and nerves that are wasted, not mine. That you are wasting limited resources like oil and polluting the environment the belongs to everyone around the world, I am even willing to neglect, because otherwise it would look like if I wouldn’t waste any resources, which is certainly not the case.
In fact, my idea of using public transport is pretty much a hedonistic approach as yours is to use your car. How is that possible?
The biggest advantage of relying on others driving is: You can deal with other, more important things. Driving a car in rush hour like traffic every day is nothing that is really improving your situation. You are squeezed behind a little wheel, having an early blood rush at the first traffic light that is out of order, turning that junction into a playground of chaos, where normal men turn into wild animals trying to make any progress.
Let the bus driver deal with road problems. As the designated king of the road, he will overcome them more superior as you would ever be capable of. Instead, lean back, open up your laptop, use your mobile phone as a modem and start working, since this is what you are going to do anyway. Or if you don’t feel like working, read a book or dream. The point is, you can use that time very very efficiently, since you are not distracted by the traffic that surrounds you.
I’ve never been a big reader of books. But when I started riding the bus on a day to day basis, I actually managed to create a habit of reading. 1,5 hours every day, as this is my time I spend at the bus – in fact, bus riding became the most valuable timespan throughout my whole day, partly because the bus works a little bit like a time capsule. Once you are on it, you are isolated from the rest of the world. You give away the responsibility of progress to the bus driver, which will enable you to deal with issues that you couldn’t address otherwise. Think of it as a very short holiday – this is leisure time, yes. And like holiday it is forced leisure time, if you like it or not.
Reflect and think of a moment in your day to day schedule that gives you such a privilege. Can you come up with something? If so, let me know. For me the bus works perfectly at this point, but I am always curious about alternatives.
So we have seen that public transport offers more than just a way to get to work and back home. Maybe you should give it a go. Like anything else it takes a while to give you full satisfaction, but I haven’t regretted it yet to rely on the bus completely, although I am living in Auckland, a city which is known to have bad support for such things.
If you are not really convinced, or if you are simply not content with my arguments, you might want to read the following article of Leo Babauta, who is sharing his thoughts about public transport, too.
Zen Habits – Leo Babauta: Lessons We’re Learning Riding Mass Transit
Today I’ve got something for the statistic nerds out there.
The NZ Government provides a little population counter, called the NZ population clock. It doesn’t really do anything apart from giving you a rough estimation about how many people live in NZ.
According to stats.gov.nz the current increase is:
New Zealand’s population is estimated to increase by one person every 29 minutes and 19 seconds.
So at this very point of writing there must be around 4,408,337 people down here. Not much for a country of the size of former West-Germany. (Screw you children, born after 1989 :p)
Anyway, in case you want to check the population growth now and then, just click on the following link.
