The Haka Crew - 4AM Rules!!

Kamate...Kamate...the 4AM club goes to New Zealand!! Follow our adventures for the next 3 weeks as we hang out at the beach for Christmas, hear some music, surf, hang out in caves, drink wine, eat mutton, jet-boat, and bungy as we drive through the North and South Islands.

TRADITIONAL SPICED MUTTON

Ingredients :

Mutton joint (leg or shoulder)
ground black pepper
powdered thyme
ground mace
fine oatmeal
mutton dripping (or other fat)
cabbage
cider

Bone the joint, rub it well with black pepper, a little powdered thyme, a pinch of mace and fine oatmeal - do not use salt. Wrap the whole in cabbage leaves, and cover in foil (traditionally the meat would have been thickly covered in mutton fat). Roast very slowly, allowing 20 minutes/lb of meat. Baste well at least twice during cooking and when basted add a cupful of cider to the fat in the pan. It can be eaten either hot or cold.

12.21.05 Arriving in New Zealand

So far so good...sort of. My plane was a little delayed, but other than that everything went fine with my flight to New Zealand. Brad and Deb arrived later this afternoon, but it looks like Brad will be having to wash his underwear every night (or not) because the United people misplaced his bags.

We are currently at the airport waiting for Steve-o to come in from Sydney (he's been flying from London) so I'm sure he's glad to finally be on New Zealand soil.

We are planning to head out to a concert in Auckland tonight (will update later) and just catching up with Steve, who's been working with the South Africa America's Cup sailing team since the summer. Estevan has also been learning some Spanish, so we'll make sure and get him to teach us a few things.

We're hanging around the north part of the island for the next few days until the rest get here on the 24th.

12.22.05 Boating in the upper North Island

Sailing in ? Where are we sailing? We have to figure this one out. But we're planning on chartering a boat and spending the night out at sea.

Sleeping: probably camping this one on the boat

12.23.05 Back on our way to Auckland

UPDATE: Brad got his luggage back!

So we tried to go sailing today, but the wind was too strong. Instead, we drove around the Auckland suburbs and went to some of the beach area.

We also are getting prepared for our beach house trip to Whangemata (the "Wh" is pronounced as "F", as we just now learned). We just made a pit stop for some beach gear (water guns, floaties, wet suits) and plenty of food for our Christmass grill dinner. We'll celebrate Christmas there with Steve Kiwi's family and us. Tomorrow, April, Lauren, and Molly get in so there will be more trouble :)

Tonight, we are heading out in Auckland with Steve-O (Steve-O is a Kiwi so he's being our tour guide) with some of his friends who are in town. We are currently preparing some Christmas "jell-o shots" (i.e. a red and green Jell-o/alcohol concoction) for the early arrivals tomorrow. If you need the recipe, just let me know. Cheers!!

12.24.05 Lauren/Bedpan/Molly arrive! Off to Whangamata

Lauren (aka Blood Gulch), Bedpan (aka April), and Molly finally arrive to join us in New Zealand. We are planning to head straight to our beach house in Wangemata to get ready for the Christmas Eve festivities. In other words, we need to party.

Molly arrives: Sat Dec 24 5:30 am
Bedpan/Lauren arrive: Saturday, Dec 24 at 5:15A

Steve-O has offered up a friend's party to hang out at the night before, so we will be rolling up to the airport in the early morn' to pick these guys up minutes after the party. After which, we will either head back to the party or ride on over to the beach at Whangamata. Either way...the full crew is almost here...one more to go (hurry up, Tina!).

Steve-O's family is staying about 15 minutes from us in another beach house. We'll probably hang out with them some and then go back to our pad. We have a sweet(!) house set up with a football-field size front yard. We'll hang out in Wangemata for a few days and catch some good surf while we're at it - the place is famous for it.

12.25.05 Christmas in Whangamata

A small preview of Whangamata...we will have a beach house here and remain for a few days recuperating from the rough travels.

12.26.05 Surfing in Whangamata

This guy has got nothing on us. Since we are all professional water athletes, we will tear through any waves this New Zealand beach has to offer.

12.27.05 One more day in Whangamata

Who can resist leaving this place?

12.28.05 Check out from Whangamata and go to Rotorua

wooooo-ah!! stinky rotorua, where it smells like eggs, but the water is super warm. we're heading here for a day to soak in the hot springs before heading to Lake W.

12.29.05 Lake Waikaramoana

12.30.05 Hawke's Bay & Napier

12.31.05 New Year's Eve - Gisborne

Last but not least, Melissa finally arrives into Gizzy to meet up with us for the New Year's festivities. We are heading to Rhythm and Vines, a huge music concert with some of the best New Zealand music! Bust that mutton, Melissa!!

1.1.06 New Years Day - Rest up and drive to Waitomo

1.2.06 Waitomo Caves expedition

1.3.05 Back to the Auckland airport to Queenstown

Brad leaves back to the US and the rest of us will fly out to Queenstown for some good adventures.

1.4.06 Queenstown?

1.5.06

1.6.06

1.7.06

1.8.06 Christchurch to Auckland for Lauren/Bedpan/Mario

Lauren, April, and Mario return to Auckland from Christchurch.

1.9.06 The last two leave Christchurch for Auckland

Deb and Melissa take off from Christchurch to Auckland to catch a flight out to Sydney, Australia. Melissa will continue with her travels while Deb returns back to the United States. Safe travels everyone!!

1.10.06 Deb and Melissa hang out in Sydney

This concludes out trip out to New Zealand. Deb and Tina (aka Melissa) head to Sydney for a few hours before Deb heads back to the US; Melissa continues on in Australia for a few days. Watch out for them Spaniards, chica!

*Dragon does not equal Melissa, by the way. Deb has this tiny fascination with dragons and the picture has nothing to do with the two going to Sydney, but everything to do with teasing Deb.