BEER GARDEN!!!

PHOTOS: The fulla dressed as a chick is my bro Andy.. cuzzy hooked me up with free drinks all night..chur


Well a couple of weeks back we went to enjoy one of the great attractions that they have in KYOTO.. temples did you say,Geisha did you say.... no.. none of that crap... but with summer approaching here, one of the great attractions has reopened for the summer season...yes thats right BEER GARDENS!!!!! what are beer gardens i hear you say.. they are not lovely raked gardens with beer cans in them... no basically its heaps of tables and chairs on the top of the roof of a building with all the beer and food you can drink and eat for 4 hours....i went down early and meet up later on with our mates from shizuoka, Max and Hinekura plus our mate whetz from kobe who were down in kyoto for Kapa haka Business.. Chanel turned up later on, but called it an early night as she wasnt feeling well...

But this didnt stop these horis from going HARD!!! the system was suppose to be pint for pint.. hello what do these maoris do.. go around tables looking for empty classes then filling them up and stock pilling our beers... man it was MEAN!!!! lets just say we got hammered!!!!

after this closed we went to the pub to carry on the festivities...at about 1 or 2 we decided to hit the Clubs... Max and them decided to call it quits..but this was not the end of the night or me..oohhh no son.....lucky for me one of my mates was working on the bar, so just raged until 6am... somehow mangaged to stumble to the subway to catch the train..ended up going pass my stop by 3 stops so over to the other track to get back to my stop... got on my final train back to Omihachiman..sat down and crashed all the way to my stop.. just by dumb luck i guess, i opened my eyes as the train doors opened at my stop.. bam out the door and taxi to home to hit my pillow at 10am... mean night....

MAORI ART EXHIBITION IN JAPAN

well after 2 years of painting it has finally happened.. i was lucky to have my very own Art exhibition... The show was held here in Omihachiman in one of the malls here.. i was lucky enough to have 8 paintings on show.. The Paintings are quite large sizes and are all Maori contemporary art, with strong pacific influences linking the migration of Maori to Aotearoa.

I was really lucky that i have been supported by my Art teacher at school, Noguchi Sensei,who orgainised and guided me into exhibition sorted and out there for people to see..

The exhibition was for 3 days and i recieved alot of positve comments and responses about my works.. i am really lucky and thankful to be able to get this opportunity to not only develop my Painting but to also showcast it the masses has been a great experience and joy...
chur

The BIG 3 0

well its official.. im OLD... turned 30 on may the 4th... we had a BBQ and a few drinks at our place... was a primo night.. the day started at 2pm and it was a great day.. although i was pretty much stuck to my chair with my cast in all.. but this didnt stop me as we celebrated the day with a few quiets...

As the sun went down more peps turned up and it was raging...lets just say that i got hammered.. lucky that i didnt have to stumble too far to go to bed... was a top night...

Classic All Blacks!!!

Well after the Touch tourney i ended up being in a cast for 4 weeks... Man talk about hoha..Had a week off school but after that trooped and went back to school.. man what a mish..going up 2 flight of stairs for some classes..what a mish... but this didnt stop me from trooping to Kobe to watch the Classic All Blacks vs Japan.. Man it was primo to see some of the old school ABS... Jonah, Carlos, Justin Marshall, heck even Eric rush was playing..and boy at the age of 42 he was still carving up.. mean...
Japan played really well and took it to the ABs.. must be rustiness as the ABS were slow to get out of the gate.. only coming home in the last 5 mins...

Was a great night.. hooked up with heaps of kiwi mates and made a night of it..no aftermatch drinks for me though.. had to mish it back home to catch our last trip cast and crutches and all.. all in all a top night....

Touch Tourney.... CHAMPIONS!!!!!

April, was indeed a busy month as the Annual JET touch tourney was held in Tokushima.. This Tourney was to be a great and also tragic tourney as you will find out... We left friday night on our team bus ,2 teams-28 of us packed onto the bus... really bad start as the driver was koretake, turned up nearly an hour late and bloody got lost on the way... heck we didnt get to the venue until 3am..Not a great start...but the team bonded well on during the trip..

Saturday...
Touch time... well we started well easily winning a first 2 games..carving up in fact, but that led to my worse moment of the tourney.. during our 3rd game i ended up rupturing my archillies.... ohhh the pain as i fell to the ground.. felt like someone had kicked me from behind only to turn around to see no one was there.. well from then on i turned to being NO 1 supporter.. we ended the day unbeaten and looked good for the next day...

Party.. we had the BBQ/ piss up later that night... although injured badly, this didnt stop me from going hard and downing a few brews.. dont know if i did it more harm then good, but was not going to miss out on this party.. had a mean night catching up with all the maoris and kiwis there.. was a primo night..

SUNDAY-Championship Time...
Today we had a 4 game round robin for the championship... our team played really well and killed the opposition.. the combination of our ladies scoring tries and cuzzy anou carving up proved too strong for the opposition.. finally after 3 years of trying we had finally won.. although i didnt play as much as i wanted it was still good to take the tourney out...

Concerts...

PHOTOS: These were pics from the Beyonce concert in Osaka..


Kia ora all.. well was a busy month in March/April as we went to watch Stevie Wonder and Beyonce in concert in Osaka.. Man it was really primo to get the chance to see them both in concert..

first up was the Stevie wonder concert..Me , Chanel and our Mate Whetz went along and danced the night away..it was a primo night... for me, seeing him in concert was a highlight as he been one of my favourite singers for a long time. Stevie is getting on with age but man he can still sing...really awesome to hear him in person..

In April Me and Chanel went to see beyonce in concert.. damn she is HOT!!!! a real professional...she can sing the house down too.. was a really primo night and we really enjoyed ourselves...

Whanau in Japan

Chur whanau well long time since our last post.. so thought i will fill yous all in on what we have been up to for the last 3 months.... well since then we have been up to heaps.....

Whanau in Japan..
well we had the pleasure of My mum and two aunts from Australia come over for a holiday... it was so awesome having them all here and sharing with them the sights and sounds of Japan...we managed to check out the sights in kyoto, Nara and around here in Shiga... The whanau loved trying out the different Japanese Kai that we tasted... it was so good to catch up and be with whanau....

End of Winter

chur whanau.. well its been awhile since our last post... its fast getting to the end of winter and this is what we have been up to......
FAREWELL PARTY.......well cruised to one of our mates Lindsay's farewell which was in kobe..so hooked up with our mate whetz and went to the party.. it was mean catching up.. the party was a pretty quiet one.. so we trooped off to hook up with some other maoris who lived in kobe.. it was pretty mean.. and ee had a good time.. really getting hammered.. all in all it was a top night....

INDIA ARIE CONCERT...WAITANGI DAY...well it was chanels birthday so we decided to go and watch india arie in concert.. we hooked up with whetz again and trooped to osaka after school to watch the concert.. although i didnt know many of her songs.. it was an awesome concert and we really enjoyed ourselves.. it was a primo night...

KURAMA ONSEN...
we decided to get out to kyoto and heck out kurama onsen or hot spring..this onsen was out in the mountains and was a really beautiful place...bascially you wash you body before entering the huge outdoor bath.. it was really great to relax and take in some of the beautiful nature and soak in the outdoor bath.. mean alright...

KENDO... well i have been learning kendo for about 4 months and i am really enjoying it.. its mean.. and i enjoy learning the way of the samurai and it has the same kind of wairua as the taiaha.. i haqve started getting into sparring and i really love this.. although at the moment the students are hammering me.. but with a bit more practices should get abit better..

well the weather here is getting warmer and our time here is rapidly coming to a end.. well heaps of things coming up so watch this space..
chur
Paora and Chanel

Happy New Year

New Years... Welcome 2007

Well after getting back from Hawaii to Japan.. we had no rest.. as the Next day we had some friends -Max and Hinekura come and to stay and check out the sights of Kyoto, as well as see in the New Year..We met them at kyoto Station and also met their mates Rangimarie and Anou..We first headed to Kinkakuji-The Golden Temple.. One of the most famous temples in Japan...it was cool just chilling and dropping back into the old Hori Lingo again and hanging out with them..after this we headed to Kiyomizu dera Temple .. they really liked the markets that lined the street towards the temple..after seeing the temple we were really lucky to spot a geisha.. so heres all these maoris running after this one Japanese lady...it was really cool and it made their day...after this we headed to the pub for a few quiets...after that we just cruised home and chilled..

New years started slow as we slept in and then headed to kyoto again.. this time Hinekura was going to dress up as a geisha.. so us fullas went and checked out Heian Temple while Hinekura got dressed up... when we went to check on her it was like a totally different person and we felt like tourists getting their photo taken with her.. after this we cruised back to our hostel that we had booked the night and chillied.. we had a Onsen/Spa to relax and got ready for the night... after that we cracked open a few beers..after a few warm ups we headed to town to enjoy the night.. it was an awesome night..well the parts that i remember anyway.. it was a great night and an awesome way to enter the New Year....

New Years Day was spent at our favourite restaurant..Stamina Taro.. basically an all you can eat BBQ place where you cook you own meat.. an awesome fed and a great way to celebrate 2007..

It was so cool chilling with the whanau and seeing in the New year with them... well we look forward to what 2007 brings us this year...
Happy New Year to all..
Chur
Paora and Chanel

Oahu

OAHU...
Well after having spent a few days in Maui we heading to Oahu for a week. We decided to rent a car for 4 days and check out the sights outside of where we were staying in waikiki.. this proved to be the best part of our trip as we could go and check out the sights at our leisure as well check out those hidden sight that you cant see without a car.
our days were spent checking out different beach parks around oahu.. One of the highlights of the trip was checking out the Northshore known for its world famous surf spots-Haliewa,Waimea Bay, Pipeline and Sunset Beach.. We were lucky that there was abit of a swell up and pipeline was pumping.. probably the most primo waves i have ever seen.. just amazing..and had me buzzing about it for a couple of days..

Also while up at the Northshore we checked out the Polynesian Cultural Center which had different villages from throughout the pacific..we checked out the Aotearoa Village.. the had abit of a powhiri for vistors and we walked on with a group.. it abit touristy though.. but sweet as.. they had abit of a whaikorero.. and they had a group preform some waiatas... heck a couple of the bros got me to jump up with them to blast out Tika Tonu..Doitz!!!! that was cool and it was like i was back home...all in all it was a cool day

On xmas eve we checked out a first American football game.. we went to watch Hawaii Uni vs Arizona State Uni.. this was an awesome day and it was abit different not really knowing the rules, but it we had a great time and soaked up the atmostsphere and the buzz of gridiron..

Xmas... well this was our 3rd xmas away from home and we had a really cool time just chilling at the beach and going surfing which was cool.. also we did abit of bodyboarding which was primo and abit easier than surfing..That night we had a our Xmas dinner just me and chanel.. at first we thought we would go to a nice place for dinner...we went to a all you can eat place..heck asked them how much it costs and hello.. the say 130 bucks.. so hello we walk and find a all you can eat place that costed only 15 dollars and was a mean fed....so i hope every had a good xmas... Mele kalikimaka

The next day we spent bodyboarding for most of the day and chilling at the beach....On our last day we hired a car and went to the Leeward side of the island and just chilled at the beach.. after awhile we decided to cruise back to te Northshore and check out Pipeline one more time.. this was an awesome way to end our holiday...
Hawaii is a Beautiful place and is a great place to relax, unwind and has some of the most Beautiful beaches in the world.. All in all it was a primo trip and it was sad to leave...
Hui hou

Paora and Chanel

Maui

chur whanau, well tiki toured to Hawaii for xmas...we spent 5 days on the island of Maui and then 7 days in Oahu..What a mean holiday...


MAUI...
Got to Maui and man was it so good to get away from the cold Japanese Winter and into some Sun, we stayed in a hostel in Lahaina..
On our first day we headed to check out the Maui swap meet in Kahului..here they had heaps of Island stuff and goods for sale.. it was a good chance to check out and meet some of the locals..after this we headed back to lahaina and sorted out doing a surf lesson..the rest of the day was spent just chillin on the beach and swimming..

The next day we had our surf lesson early in the morning, we spent about an half hour on the beach learning the basics on how to stand up and catching waves..after this we were out on the water and trying to put into action what we learnt. Well it took awhile but after a few mishaps i started to catch some waves.. what an awesome feeling..primo as.. chanel was a natural and was up and standing in no time.. we really enjoyed oursleves..after abit of a rest and chill we headed back out to try on our own..surfs up cuzzys.

the next day we spent just chilling and sunbathing...and in the afternoon we jumped back into the water for another surf..

our last day we spent up the line at the beautiful Kapalua Bay, rated one of the best beaches in the world.. it was awesome to chill, work on the old tan and going for abit of a swim..primo day.. that night we went to the Old Lahaina Luau.. this was Mean, here we were greeted with a maitai and a lei..after this we were escorted to our table and it was all you can drink..after having a few drinks we had the mean traditional hawaiian feed.after the feed we watched the Hawaiian Hula show which was really awesome to see..it was a really awesome way to cap off our time in Maui...