Here I am cruising down the new inner-city bypass while chasing a cool little mini. This part of the bypass has actually been open for a while, but the southbonud route only just opened last week. At their own insistance, the new road bypasses the asses of several hundred anti-roading protestors who have plagued this city for years. However, as hated as they are, it turns out they were right all along - The bypass sucks! The part pictured is pretty much the only below-grade bit of the new road. The rest of the bypass is interupted by no fewer than five sets of traffic lights. Not much of a bypass at all really. Folk round here reckon it has done more harm than good to traffic congestion, unless they are reading the Dominion Post, who think its the best thing in Wellington since the council itself.

Since my last post I have moved to the great suburb of Newlands. An 8 minute drive to the city and half the rent i was paying, i can't complain. And despite saving all that money on rent I get to live in perhaps the most white trash suburb of Wellington (not including Upper Hutt). The suburb is anchored by the Innkeeper of Newlands, a neighborhood pub which allows its esteemed patrons to get shit-drunk and then continues to serve them booze, which sure makes it an interesting place to be. And with Newlands at the top of the property crime stats, and being nearly continuously buffetted by a northerly wind that would be considered hurricane-strength anywhere else in the world, i cant think of a better place to be. Seriously though it is actually a nice place!

I have been going out a fair bit, trying out some new bars and resturants, checking out standup comedy nights on thursdays (you're garanteed a good night as long as you don't sit in the front row!), and the other night i even went bowling at The Lanes which is a new tenpin place combined with bar downtown. Good fun. Have kept up my flying but have decided to put it on hold for a month or so cause its getting pretty expensive. And my last lesson was a complete waste of time due to crowded airspace meaning we had to go into a holding pattern for the whole lesson. Well it was almost a complete waste of time, except for the sightseeing. I was holding just south of the basin reserve with views all over the city below me. Was pretty easy to forget about flying the plane and decend a few hundred feet by accident!

Also I got into going to the gym... rarely.. but any excersise is good. And I'm thinking of getting a motorbike again.