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Leg Two of the Soon-To-Be-Poor Triple Crown went fantastically in Auckland last weekend ... I headed up after work, bumped myself up to a seat at the front of the aircraft via the fantastic new self-check-in kiosk, jumped off the plane in the City of Sails, taxied into the Viaduct Basin, met Wade and the gang and commenced the drinking! We holed ourselves up in a very nice bar called Degree (complete with ice-frosted bar and big screen pop videos - just like the good old days at Escape) and sank a few surprisingly cheap pints (all class me) before heading off to a very groovy establishment called Cardiac to party the rest of the night away. We taxied out of the city at 4:30am (urgh), over to the North Shore and Wade's folks' house where I was kindly being put up for the next few days. Sleep good.

After sleeping late, Wade and I tarted ourselves up and walked a few minutes down Cheltenham Beach to North Head where Byron and Briar were to be married. It was a great little spot, a small grassy enclave looking out onto the beach and Rangitoto Island in the distance. Loads of familiar faces had joined us by that stage and it was great seeing all the old gang again, many of whom I hadn't caught up with since varsity days or leaving for England. The wedding party looked stunning of course and there'll be photos up here when I get the films developed. The reception was held at Milford Primary School which had an excellent hall and a great deck overlooking Lake Pupuke ... the remainder of the evening was spent eating, drinking, dancing and congratulating and a damn good time was had by all.

Slightly tender the next morning, we rose and headed over to Briar's parents' place to spend the rest of the afternoon barbequing, pétanquing and sipping gingerly by the pool to the strains of an absolute mountain of presents being unwrapped and duly catalogued. The fact that it was Byron's 30th birthday (married by 30 - just!) merely added to day. I also managed to squeeze in a quick drink or two with Jen, who was over with her partner David for a wedding as well, before dashing off to the airport and a return to Wellington. As I said, a fantastic weekend.

And so, to Leg Three ... Sydney beckons at the ungodly hour of 6:30am so I'll be breakfasting across the ditch before you can say Jack Robinson. The next five nights are going to be even madder ...
‹ 26.2.03 / 0 comment(s) ›

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