Did you miss me?

I haven't been home to do much baking and cooking lately as I've been a bit of a social butterfly and sports spectator over the last few weekends.

First up was the Toyota Racing Series at Manfield. Watching sports, let alone motor racing is not really my thing but when you're watching from the comfort of a corporate box with your own bathroom and access to food and drink it makes the day much more enjoyable. We even got to "walk the grid" and go down onto the track before the race cars were getting ready to start.




Secondly I went to the Wellington Rugby Sevens tournament. This is a much loved sporting event and tickets sell out in minutes. I've been fortunate enough to attend the for the past three years. The day is as much about entertainment as it is about the sport. People put a lot of thought into their costumes and it's really fun seeing all the different groups of people. Of note this year were kermits, vikings, brides, flintsones, parking wardens, whoopie cushions (yes really) and convicts to name a few. You can't really pick anything specific from the photo but you can get an idea of the variety and colour. The official photo gallery is really worth checking out. One very popular person was someone who bore a striking resemblence to Colonel Sanders. As he moved through the crowd you could hear everyone chant "Colonel, Colonel, Colonel".


The entertainment was great and I particularly enjoyed the Austen Powers and Freddie Mercury impersonators - I love Austen in his Spy Who Shagged Me persona.


Crowd favourites are always the Kenyans. After every match they do a little dance which I tried unsuccesfully to capture here. They are so popular that despite losing their game the crowd spent more time cheering for them than watching the semi final that was being played as the Kenyans came off the field.


The day was finished off perfectly with a win by New Zealand. This is when I wish I had a better zoom on my camera so I could capture these perfect specimens of atheleticism with their shirts off doing a celebratory haka! Yeah baby. There's a better photo in the gallery.


We stayed at the Bolton Hotel which is one of my favourite places to stay in Wellington. The beds are really comfy and they have those faux fur rugs that feel so snuggly and they even have a pillow "menu" where you can order up a different pillow if the regular one doesn't suit your needs. One of these days I must try out their lavender scented pillows. Previously when we've stayed I've kicked myself for not having my camera because the view from hotel is of a little historic building (the Sexton's chapel in fact) and part of the Bolton Street Memorial Park which contains 1,334 gravestones and memorials dating back to about 1840.


Part of the Wellington motorway was built over the Cemetery which you can see here. The photo doesn't do it justice at all but Bolton street is really really steep.