After a couple of false starts and last-minute drop-outs, I finally managed to get along to the Crown and Badger last night, to check them out.

Second Sense is a 4-piece, comprising Reid (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Trevor (lead guitar and backing vocals), Shane (Bass player and Blackwatch tartan kilt wearer) and Jed (drummer). They play a good range of classic rock covers and play them well. Last night's set included a number of my old favourites including the Doobie's Long Train Running, Pink Floyd's Another Brick in the Wall and Run Like Hell, Acka Dacka's Highway to Hell and Dragon's Rain. They even chucked in a good cover of Men at Work's Be good Johnny as an early bonus. Excellent!

The ladz have a regular circuit, that covers a fair chunk of the Bay of Plenty and Thames playing gigs in Tauranga, Rotorua, Hamilton, Cambridge, Matamata, Whitianga and the Coromandel.

Check em out for yourself when you are in the neighbourhood.

Despite all my travels around this little blue-green planet, I have to confess that I've never been to the South Island of New Zealand.

Well, technically that's not quite true; I once boarded the ferry from Wellington to Picton in a drunken stupor. When I arrived in Picton, it was 10pm and raining hard, everything was closed and the ferry was heading back sharpish, so I hopped back on and returned to Wellington. But I figure that this doesn't really count.

Over two decades later, it was nice to finally get down to the big island, in a much more sober and inquisitive state of mind. After grabbing a cheap Pacific Blue flight from Auckland to Christchurch, I touched down in the garden city around 9:30pm and within half an hour I was having a late bite and a beer with my old friends Nick and Sian at their groovy new apartment, overlooking Hagley Park.

Saturday dawned fairly bright and we headed off to a local farmers market in nearby Lyttleton, then drove back across the ridge, stopping to get a few snaps along the way (at least Nick did; like a prat, I'd left my camera at their place!). A light lunch was followed by a wander round the Canterbury museum (paying special attention to the weird and quirky Paua Shell House) and of course the famous Christchurch Cathedral.

Having done the culture thing, it was time to head to a the Holy Grail; a well-known local pub with a huge screen, to watch the 5th Tri-Nations match between the All-Blacks and the Wallabies. The match was being played in Christchurch and the town was heaving with supporters dressed in both black and the green and gold. 80 minutes later, the All-Blacks had once again emerged victorious (beating the Wallabies 20-10) and hordes of supporters spilled onto the streets and headed for the nearest bar. We headed over to the Twisted Hop for a pint or two, before rocking on to Fat Eddie's for a couple of rusty nails and a big dose of live music, courtesy of Kate Taylor and her 5-piece funk band KTO. It was getting onto after 2am by the time, we made it home.

After sleeping off the hangover, we decided to head back into town to attend the 2010 International Film Festival and see a screening of Please Give and a very enjoyable film it was too. We emerged from the cinema to find the rain pelting down and a chilly wind blowing, so we ducked into a nearby cafe for a hot cup of Chai and a chat about the film, before heading back to the apartment. Around 7pm we rounded off the evening with dinner in another local bar, followed by a pub quiz that kept us occupied until almost closing time.

Not a bad way to spend a weekend eh?

It was with some reluctance that I said my farewells on Monday morning after Nick and Sian dropped me at the airport, and headed back to Auckland. Christchurch is a fun town and is definitely on my: must-visit-again list. And many thanks to my friends there for their warmth and hospitality.

Awesome!

Rawdons new website is now online.

www.rawdons.com

It contains pretty much everything that a new recruit would want to know, so if you have ever thought it might be fun to give the whole reenactment thing a go, check it out. It's well worth it.

And well done Su for doing such an excellent job!

Well, it's been a pretty good day, all things considered.

I awoke around 7:30 to find a steady rain falling. By the time I had washed and eaten, it was pretty clear that there wasn't going to be much pruning done today. Fortunately, I have no job to go to and I already had lunch plans with an old family friend, so I headed over to Mount Maunganui to meet him for lunch at a nice Thai place, followed by a soak in the nearby mineral hot pools.

"It's the only time it's great to be up to your neck in hot water", a friend of mine once quipped, during a visit to the pools a few years ago (the group response was a long "aarrrhhhh" and a demand for the quipper to pay the everyone's entry fee by way of atonement). But he was right...it's a very satisfying feeling to be having a good soak.

...especially after a decent Pad Thai / Green curry combo, washed down with a cold Chang beer.
...especially in a warm, mineral, salt-water fed pool, while a light cooling rain falls overhead.

Bliss!

While the heat soothed aching backs and joints, my host and I talked some business, caught up on family news, discussed histories and exchanged ideas. I could almost feel the spirits of Socrates and Plato hovering nearby.

Visiting a mineral hot pool is something that - much like the Scandinavians - Kiwis do on at least a semi-regular basis. We just don't bother with all the self-flagellation stuff and the jumping into iced-over lakes. Seriously...wtf Sven? Hot pool visits were - and still are - a regular family favourite. Kids of similar ages often grow up dive-bombing each other from ever-greater heights until someone's Mum spots it and tells them off! At different times of the day, season or year, you will see a pretty reasonable cross-section of society, all using the hot pools. And why not? The health benefits are held to be widespread (even though you will find plenty of visitors who would say that's not proven, but who enjoy a soak just the same).

Arriving home, relaxed and refreshed, around 3pm, I ducked indoors, out of a squally shower for a cup of freshly brewed coffee and a minor Facebook update. Played a game or two of Warcraft, then a pal phones and suggests a pot luck feed and a DVD at his place. Choice!

A short drive in the pouring rain is followed by a couple of beers, a steaming plate of chops and veges, choco ice cream and a fresh cup of cappuccino, all consumed in front of a real log fire while "Traitors" plays on the box and the rain falls steadily outside. We watch the film, trade jokes, catch up on each others' news and generally have a laugh or three.

It's after 1am when I finally head home during a break in the rainfall. By 2am, I'm lying in bed, listening to the rain on the tin roof, letting it lull me off to the land of nod...

Yep - not a bad day at all!