Return to the Shire and reaching Beervana

After 10 years, I made my return to New Zealand. I spent a month in NZ my sophomore year of uni college and absolutely loved it. Most of that trip was spent risking my life in every extreme sport imaginable. This trip was a little less intense.

Being so far from home, the world can seem ginormous at times. Not so this weekend. My buddy from work and I booked our trip to Wellington (the capital of New Zealand) in order to attend the beer festival known as Beervana. I figured I'd wear my Elon t-shirt as a tribute to the institution that exposed me to this great country, and gave me the travel bug-which was a factor in my move to Australia for the year. While in line at one of the bars, I met a kid who didn't go to Elon, but actually grew up in the town of Elon (which I think has a graduating high school class of about 50 each year). What are the odds?
Here is where the world gets even smaller. One of our good friends from Elon (who is also married to one of my best friends from Elon) went on the New Zealand trip with me 10 years ago. This year, her sister is traveling New Zealand through a work grant, and just so happened to be in Wellington this weekend as well. Her trip through New Zealand is a little lot more noble than mine was (beer). You can read about her adventures here: http://adventuresofkiwilife.blogspot.com.au/

 Probably my favorite brewery in OZ/NZ. They had huge lines the whole time and a 'workshop' serving a beer slushy, beer jello, and...

Their porter (Cockswains Courage) topped with sugar and caramelized with a fire poker

My mate posing with 2 Fräuleins

Wellington is such a cool city, with more bars and restaurants than New York City! (Ok, more bars/restaurants per capita than NYC, but still). Everyone was super friendly all weekend as well, something I remember about the Kiwis from my first trip. Well, almost everyone. There was one guy at a bar who told us why he didn't like the US. He was wearing a Yankees hat (figures), so he immediately lost all credibility.

From a recommendation we stumbled upon Viva Mexico!  - this awesome little mexican joint that could've been in a strip mall in Arizona. So good!

A picture of Cuba St with shops/cafes/restaurants on both sides. We saw a guy juggling fire here the 1st night. (10 years ago I saw a guy juggling chainsaws on this street, so clearly not much has changed). This is also the street where I called my folks from a pay phone to tell them I had successfully bungee jumped and sky-dived (or should it be sky-dove?) because I didn't want to tell them before and freak them out

We were able to squeeze in about 5 minutes of culture driving up to the top of Mt. Victoria for a 360 degree view of Wellington. The surrounding greens below the mountain were used for the first scene in The Lord of the Rings. Unfortunately it was cloudy and rainy, but the views were still amazing from the top. (Of course, it was absolutely gorgeous out when we were inside drinking all day durning Beervana)

Left: A view of the harbor

Right: I remember the cricket pitch (field) in the middle from a picture I took on my first trip 

 A Maori totem pole on the top of the mountain

It felt like an entire weekend of deja vu. There were some things I remembered distinctly from my first trip to Wellington. I wish I could've have spent a little more time in Wellington and actually the rest of New Zealand. Maybe it's because it was my first international experience (sorry Canada, you don't count), but I hold a special place for New Zealand in my heart, and will try to get back there agains some day.

More monopoly money, just like Australia. Only they have birds on all of their bills. 

 One of my favorite parts of New Zealand...the ice cream! Can't go wrong with Tip Top!

Unfortunately, I didn't have time this week to review a Boston themed movie. Part of the reason is that I've been watching Showtime's new series: Ray Donovan. The main character, Ray Donovan (I know, so shocking!) played by Liev Schreiber, is from Boston, and the show has enough 'Boston' in it for me to include it in here.

Ray Donovan, a professional "fixer" for the rich and famous in LA, can make anyone's problems disappear except those created by his own family.

First off, this is the new show from the creator of Southland - another great recommendation by my twin brother, John - but to be fair, for every great show he's recommended, there are 5 terrible ones he recommends (see Burn Notice) He's like an 80's/early 90's power hitter in baseball. Not a great average, but when he hits one, its out of the park. John is the Rob Deer movie recommendations.

Southland was one of mine and Mere's favorite shows. Unfortunately Southland was cancelled after its 5th season a couple of months ago - and Mere swears the Nielsen Ratings people are specifically targeting her shows to cancel (Southland, Perfect Couples, Happy Endings). It starred one of her 3 tv 'boyfriends' - Ben McKenzie as Officer Ben Sherman. The other 2 (since you're obviously curious) are Timothy Olyphant (pronounced by Mere as 'Olympic Elephant' for some reason) as Raylan Givens on Justified, and the amazing Kyle Chandler as Coach Taylor on Friday Night Lights. Clear Eyes, Full Hearts.....

Wow, talk about a tangent. Back to Ray Donovan. The show has some great characters with a mix of good and terrible accents. John Voigt plays the patriarch of the Donovan family, Mickey and has some great lines. One of which he quotes the great Mike LaPierre (my dad) when saying: "Smile and the world smiles with you". Granted my dad may not have come up with the saying (blasphemy!) but he said it to us every morning dropping us off at school. And would only drive off if we gave him a smile. Otherwise, he would lean on the horn until we did (which isn't the coolest way to start high school).

Rating:

I like it, but it has too much of an LA/Entourage influence for me.

Official Mote's Reunion Countdown: 37 days!