The Big update!

Let the 2nd Year Begin

They say absence makes the heart grow fonder, 2 months since I last made Interweb contact. Well I say it make the blog grow stronger. Poor effort on my behalf, as I’m sure you’ve all been worried sick and have sent out the rescue teams to track me down. Well fear not worrisome readers, for I have re-surfaced like a pacific black pearl diver from the depths, clutching another bag full of yarns and undersized stories!

Sometimes while travelling its best to hold the correspondence until something worthwhile has happened, lucky for you lot the duChats and Co have been busy little beavers indeed. So lets ‘Dive’ right in… my last contact dealt with a few concerts and a messy tour around Ireland…… well as I like to keep things uniform, this one will be no different!

I left the Green Isle bound for London about a 6 weeks ago, with a faint hope of perhaps shifting the social life into a lower gear. After what was 3-4 going away bashes in Ireland I felt I was due for a small rest! So below are 3 posts, oneeach from Dublin, London and Paris! In reverse order....you'll see!

Also have added heaps of new photos! Even some old Globetrotter ones i found...haha. Good times.
http://flickr.com/photos/benduchateau/sets/

Also some other Vids down the Right hand side! Enjoy.

Paris - The Mother Land

A true highlight of the past year was my first trip to Paris to see the All Blacks. A home coming of sorts for the duChat, back to the land of my pioneering fore fathers. Well we all know how good Paris is, so I’ll refrain from crapping on about its finer points! Only to say that a £2 bottle of wine actually tastes better than one would expect, and with the advent of the plastic pop top…perfect for the long trip to the Game! Yes, I may have a flashy French name but there is top notch kiwi blood flowing thru my veins! A Rachel hunter quote springs to mind…..

As luck would have it, my musical concerting partner Troy had managed to get a few tickets to the Killers at a small venue in downtown Paris. So I hit town a few days before the test on the Wednesday to hook up and see them Live! Trip there was mint on the Eurostar, now my preferred travel method…well only to France to be fair. Felt very Secret Agent like on the Train, very fast. Sorry I digress.

A few warm up drinks in the shoebox sized hotel room, we hit the gig at pace. Troy and his Wife, Catherine, and yours truly straight to the bar. Then after getting a feel for the 1000 seat room, the mosh pit! No repeats of Gun’s N Roses incidents…as far as we know. Check out the vids below. Mr Brightside and All the things that I have done. They would be one of the best bands I’ve seen all year, just awesome!

KILLERS VIDEOS

All the things that I have done

I was informed some days later that we in fact ended up at the local….how do I say…strip bar in the Moulin Rouge Area! Which I had no recollection of then, or now as I write this. I’m squarely putting the blame on the triple Tequila’s we consumed…or so I’m told! Is there anything worse that going to a strip club and not actually remembering anything of it. The Lord works in mysterious ways my friends.

So after doing a fair bit of footwork (Fancy?) getting around Paris, and basically avoiding any verbal contact with the locals (A Shock to some but much to the dismay of Mr Holt. My 3^rd form French Teacher, I actually faired rather poorly in the subject. I blame a genetic disposition to the language, figuring that’s why my ancestors left the cheese eating surrender monkeys to it).

Friday came, and with it a huge influx of Lads from England and Dublin for the big test on the Saturday night. Through some cunning planning the

majority of us were all in the same establishment, with a few others dotted around the suitably dodgy red light district of Moulin Rouge. More sex shops than the internet! (That’s what I heard anyway)

As Jimmy Barnes once belted out, Cheap Wine!! A connoisseur of fine wine would have chocked on his Merlot, for our standards revolved more around price than locale or grape variety. I believe the cheapest was something around the €1.85, that was a bargain…even for vinegar, which it had a striking similarity too. We loaded up once again in the shoebox and decided to have an impromptu gathering, as more lads floated in for the weekend. Come 10pm, Tokaroa and Manu were in full singing voice, with classics such as November Sun in Paris! The owner decided enough was enough and pulled the fuse on the room. So lights out we all hit the town! Once again memory is not quite like when I appeared on mastermind that time in 86, but needless to say the lads took full toll on the local bars! Meaning the next morning involved enough pills to keep a retirement home open.

So the big day had arrived, all quietly rearing to go for the big AB’s v Frenchies test at Stade de France! We spent most of the day trying to decide on all manner of ways to get booze into the ground, which as it turned out was more like fort knox, than a Rugby ground. This frenzy of ideas was prompted by the astounding fact that they only serve NON-Alcoholic beer inside. We learnt this from some poor sod who had, in 2004, consumed about ½ Dozen brews only to realise he was still sober…the most freighting story ever heard! Well not us, so after tucking into the Red, we all packed the drinkers best friend – Hipflask! Unfortunately a few saw fit to lighten the load on the train to the ground, and drained their hippies! As you do…. Prob for the best, because we all had to at the gate, as the security was tighter than Jeremy Cameron before payday!

Game and ground were just awesome, hard to describe…..which is what I did with my old batting partner Harbott, who after consuming his (And Paris’s) share of Scotch was unable to make out who was who from the 90 odd people running around the field! Classic Harbott. See the eyes below! Good man

We all finished up the night over running a bar back in Moulin Rouge area. Foolishly the bouncer was letting in anyone claiming to be Kiwi, so we had ownership of the place. I also unleashed my refined break dancing skills on an unsuspecting French public, and floor! Took me a week to realise why my big toe was blue? Might be time to pack the steel toes when dancing! Also only made the train by absolute minutes in morning! From waking to train was under 25min! Some effort, and thanks Steve for the Alarm in the morning. I believe some might have actually missed there’s back!

So Paris, what can I say. Only I could write a whole 2 pages on the place without mentioning the main attractions. There’s always next time…..

(Photos all stolen/borrowed from Harbott and Dalton, Cheers Fellas)

London - The duChat has Landed

The thing about London is that there seem to no surprises, nothing that someone before you hasn’t done, and therefore plenty of advice as to what Not to do. But I say rubbish to their advice, so in the true Elderstatesmen way I’ll make them all again…some even twice.

First weekend as per is always a blur, but was actaully able to see some of Londons sights, this being my 4th visit here having not seen any bridge, palace or abbey yet! My Friend Jackie was over for a few days, so took the opportunity to see some of famous places. Kind of beats the Postcards.....

I had booked a lovely room in Hotel Ward, complete with Street side views and TV at the end of the sofa. Amanda and Joe welcomed me into there home like they child the never had, and frankly didn’t want! Bless them. My first real taste of the Backpacker lifestyle…Dosing! The first week was a nice relaxed beginning to my time here, but this was soon shattered with the arrival of Marty “String ‘em up” Veal fresh from the Orient and looking for a sparing partner in any bar around London. So being jobless i slipped into the role fast, who was I to turn down midday drinking while watching cricket!

I’d love mention the Vodka incident the following Saturday night at the Halloween Party, but to be completely honest I have no clue as to what transpired after that bottle was finished. But I’d sincerely like to apologise to the chap dressed in the Kiss outfit for breaking his Axe….and to Marty , the bouncers and most of all the coat check girl for spending at least 20min searching for my ‘Lost’ leather jacket…which I’m happy to report was found about 2hrs later sitting on the couch at home, having never left the house. Top work on my behalf! Well move on shall we!

A few weeks later Harbott and a few lads were over for the AB’s V England match at Twickers, which was a beauty. The Previous night we all met up in down town London. With Ward, Veale and myself holding fort waiting for the rather tardy Harbott (on 6 hour journey from Dublin, bi-plane i think), Sandy and Emma turned up. Then Leper, fresh from Canada! After what turned out to be an all day session on the Ciders we all decided to push on and find another bar in the Convent Garden area. The smell of fresh hot dogs and fried onions got the better of us, so we loaded up. You see in London there must be a dodgy hot dog stand every 20m, armed with this info we decided to tuck into our 2^nd course at the next sand. This is where it gets a little strange. As we waited for ‘Hasim’ to prepare the dogs, a Van full of under cover cops pulls up and 6 lads jump out and being to arrest ‘Hasim’ for illegal hot dogging! With out a word of a lie, they shut off the gas, and cuffed the poor bastard. Not letting an opportunity pass, I decided to dig into the ‘Evidence’ and we all got away with free dogs! Once word spread to the other Doggers, panic was rife…..hot dogs were going for basement prices! Tragic really…we were all full as fuck!

The game was a cracker, and there is nothing like smashing the poms on there sacred home turf! Girls Aloud at full time was special, thought they played better than the pommie back line.

Ireland - Some of the Best

So my time in Ireland came to a predictable end, a blur of going away do’s and impromptu send offs. The 2 best nights were the work send off and then the next week my final weekend in Dublin. Was really cool to gather of all my friends I have meet in Ireland over the past year.

On the Friday (Oct 6th) I met up with all my work crew. Much to my suprise a good turnout was there, must have thought I was going to do a shout..haha...fools! Cheers Team! Was a really good time, and will cherish all those memories, well up until memory loss kicked in around midnight! For those I’ll just see the photos!

Saturday involved a good night out in Town with all the Kiwi and Aussie travels I have collected, and call friends! Another top notch night on the gas in Dublin, perfect send off it has to be said. So to all the crew Cheers, love ya work.







Although most nights went smoothly, there was one exception; A night of random drinking with Troy after my last day at work. We headed out to a local for a celebratory pint, which lead to a 3am finish. After surveying our limited options of transport, we foolishly decided upon one of the local Rickshaw operators to get us safely home! Wrong. Now these are two words that don’t belong together on a page – Safely and Rickshaw. I would dearly love to fix the blame squarely on our inept eastern European driver, lets call him Sergey. But that would be unfair. You see after stopping for a hearting (Of the arteries) feed on route, I decided in all my infinite wisdom to help old Sergey out. Jumping from my seat I proceeded to help push the little rickshaw past it’s record speed (Which I believe is somewhere between the speed of smell and Rush hour traffic). What we failed to do was centre the load, this being Troy, and as we rounded a rather sharp bend……..we produced the kind of action stunt more at home in the chariot race from gladiator! Sending all 3 flying across the road and onto the pavement! Fortunately I came away unscathed, Troy however boor the brunt on his right hand, which swelled up like a little fat kids! The real winner of this was my Garlic fries, which I’m happy to report were left in perfect condition (well until I devoured them). We never saw Sergey again…last seen heading in the wrong direction, cursing something like 'Fuckin Foreigners' , couldn't agree more myself!



So a few more little gatherings finally ended my time in Ireland, which will go down as probably one of the best years in my life. To say I enjoyed the place and people would be an understatement akin too saying the Irish only like the odd drink. When looking back on my 12 months there it only brings good memories, the place is just so easy to live in and get around. Kind of like an alternative version of New Zealand. Amazing scenery, landscapes and a rich enduring history that you can’t help but get caught up in. For most of us Kiwi’s we really only hear the English side to the tales, but hearing the history of Ireland and trying to learn as much as possible was a real special aspect of my time there. And of course the people, which we all know are just brilliant. I can’t recall over the past year of ever meeting an Irish person who was rude to us. In ever bar and town they are just so welcoming. You can strike up a convo with anyone in a bar/train/cab ect, and generally they start them. Also meet some really great Kiwi and Aussie friends who I’ll hopefully have as friends for many years to come. It’s funny, from the 1st day there Harbott and myself really only knew 2 people, but by the end we had gained a whole new group of mates…I spouse that’s why we travel!

Right enough of the sentimental bullshit! On to London