Ginger DJ Rob

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After returning from our NZ trip and facing a £120 mobilephone bill it was nice to finally get some payback from Orange. My contract was up for renewal and I could finally replace my ancient Nokia 6680. Eighteen months is a long time in the mobile world and I’m lapping up the new functions that my new Sony Ericsson P990i can do. I think the best bit so far is the Wireless connection so I can use the neighbours (naughty me), my work’s wireless and any café or pub offering it for free. Plus they’ve promised £100 credit for my old phone. Still Orange is still pissing me off having not reconnected us to the broadband. The other shopping task on Saturday was exchanging my new specs. I love my Danish designer glasses but since summer, the blue plastic bits started to melt near the side of my head/right ear. The only reason for this is my skin/hair/sweat/whatever is toxic causing things to melt. It can’t be anything to do with how I hold a phone as I use my left side so no radioactive t

Hot Boosh news! Series 3 will be starting on BBC3 on Thursday 15th November at 10:30pm. Apparently the BBC website will have a preview online. New Mighty Boosh website Did anyone see the new Star Trek film news ? Lost director, JJ Abrams behind the revamp with the guy pictured right, Chris Pine as spooky Shatner lookalike. Sylar from Heroes plays Spock which is logical captain, Eric Bana gets in there as the bad guy, someone from Lord of the Rings, Karl Urban plays 'He's dead Jim' Bones McCoy and the Yanks can't get enough of him or his agent is earning his fee, Simon Pegg gets to play Scotty . Get ready to play catchphrase bingo, the Star Trek version next Christmas.

Blog's been quiet due to blogger illness. Picked up some crappy cold from work. I guess my immune system wasn't expecting this lurgy from coughing hell after our holiday/jetlag/moving house energy drainer. It was a pathetic cold that couldn't really be called 'man flu' but persisted for five days. Still it gave me a chance to update the blog with our NZ travels. Hope you enjoy. Paul and Sarah, our Ibizian castaways gave us a flying visit on Saturday. Slightly disappointed to find out their Brighton move won't be until next year. Returned to work on Monday with the Underworld gig to look forward to on Wednesday night. After our scrambled journey to Camden for the Roundhouse, we met the others in the Lock Tavern to the news that Steve had brought the wrong tickets. Slightly annoyed by the casualness of getting to the gig and as we waited in the reception we heard them come on. As I waited for the slackers to sort their tickets out, two gangly suited blokes whisked

I can’t believe I’m back at work. The past three weeks have rewired me – sitting in an office is alien, I struggled to remember my work colleagues’ names and I have no idea what I’m supposed to be doing. I putting it down to jetlag, an ear-condition picked up from the skydive, a new house full of unopened boxes to get used to and being totally shattered from moving in. We didn’t feel too bad after the flight home on Sunday thanks to Kerry upgrading us to premium economy but the depression of the holiday end and moving in really got to me. Even worse was visiting the new house which looked tiny, old and in need of a modern overhaul. The past owners left us a welcome pack warning us of a frog invasion from the pond and all the plants they planted. Monday was our move in date with help from Chandy, some guy I’d met through Ebay who has his own removals company. It took almost all day to shift our storage stuff and flat contents. I’m not sure if we would have finished by 5pm if I hadn’t of

Our holiday was nearly over and we weren’t looking forward to the end. James and Emma were ready for us at check out and the weather was behaving itself for once. The only thing left to do in Queenstown was the Sky Gondola and Luge. Kerry did well to control her fear of heights whilst me and James giggled like kids on the luge (a go-kart/toboggan type thing). Our last meal in New Zealand was going to be a good one so we went for the fatboy option of Fergburger , a Queenstown legend in a bap. It was just as good as the Wanaka burger and the Tropical Swine still lingers on the taste buds. There was no option to extend our stay as we had the last flight from Queenstown at 3:15pm. James and Emma dropped us off for a tearful goodbye. The internal flight to Auckland was a chance to review what we’d covered in 2 weeks crossing both islands. Within an hour the heart strings were tugging us to stay. Kerry spoiled us to premium economy tickets for the return journey. Other activities during our

What should have been a day of extreme highs turned out (for me) a bit of a downer. We had to be picked up for the skydive at 8:30am. Kerry had been building up her nerves all week whereas I was eager to do it. Arriving at the private airfield both me and Kerry would be the second group to go. We both met our tandem divers. Kerry got a friendly, caring ladies man who looked after her, consoling her all the way. I got Chris, a California guy who’s breath stunk of booze and not too chatty or bothered. After the first group had come down ok we packed ourselves in the cramped plane and flew up to a planned 15,000 feet. We were warned we would need oxygen past 11,000 ft. The 2 seconds of actually jumping out of the plane was ok for me but the rest of it I’d rather forget. Either I didn’t have enough oxygen or Chris didn’t warn me properly, I panicked and couldn’t breath gasping for air. Then the pain in my ears built up as the air pressure took its toll. The freefall and picturesque descent

Mixing the beers and cocktails is not good for me. With my sleep account seriously overdrawn, I needed an easy day. Rain also woke me up and at breakfast a permanent stream was running down the hotel road. Sky dive had been cancelled again until 2:30pm though looking very doubtful. Shopping and complimentary hotel coffees only delayed the expected cancellation; the sky dive was off again. Our back up plan was to book the Canyon Swing at 4:30pm and find something else to do in between. James played taxi driver and drove us to Arrowtown. I’d read in guides the small mining town had some decent clothes shops and quirky stores but had the feeling it was going to be a crappy retail outlet. I was right as it was both crap and a retail outlet dressed up as cowboy town. Even the café for lunch was rubbish with most of the afternoon waiting for the service and food. Back in Queenstown for our Canyon Swing and the preparation involved a weigh in and the reception staff member insisting on drawin

Yesterday’s snow on the high ground was still evident as we drove back to Queenstown. Loads of drivers including us were stopping to take photos of the white fields. Around halfway back we spotted a beautiful lakeside, snowy mountain view too perfect to pass up. As we set up the camera for a cheesy group shot along rolls up a Welsh version of Phoenix Nights’ Brian Potter with mobility scooter trying to sell us his marmalade and jams. It was almost scenic photo taxation. We checked into our super luxury hotel, the Dairy for the holiday remainder which meant dropping off our mobile home for the last few weeks. We had mixed feelings of seeing it go but looked forward to not having to prepare our bed for 30 minutes and not having to suffer drafty cold showers. As we drove back from the airport we spotted a couple of metal statues for mailboxes. We’d obviously stumbled across the local nutjob artist who’d welded a boozed up tin-man as a mailbox and tin-woman with kitchen sink. As I snapped

We woke up loads of times to the sound of pelting rain throughout the night. Poor Emma and James were in their tent so were paranoid they would be flooded out. The full day cruise to Doubtful Sound started early so another working day alarm. Real Journeys was the tour operator which consisted of a lake ferry, a coach ride and the main cruise through Doubtful Sound. The first lake we’d seen the day before and apparently was named incorrectly due to a map-maker’s mistake. It was also named after an old Maori name meaning ‘rainy lake’. Bit of an understatement really as not surprising that 2 out of 3 days it rains here. The coach journey on the country’s most expensive road revealed high altitude moss covered trees but the mists had covered the supposedly excellent views of waterfalls etc. The cold rain didn’t let up for the actual cruise which put off the wildlife to exhibit themselves. Only saw the one seal in the distance and no penguins on Penguin Island. The landscape was beautiful

Another early rise for the Shotover Jetboat experience. Apparently, Saturday night’s rain cancelled the boats due to too much water and we were warned that it could be a bumpy ride. The weather hadn’t improved with drizzle and cold winds so balaclavas would have been the best idea in an open boat. The jetboat ride itself was crazy, bumpy and friggin’ freezing with cold wetness pelting the face. Luckily it only last around 15 minutes with multiple 360 degree spins and fast turns close to the rocks – basically rally driving on the water. The rain properly came down again as we met up with James and Emma for our road trip to Doubtful Sound, New Zealand’s own fiordland. The journey took around 2 hours playing spot the dead sheep and singing to Rapture songs. We arrived in Manapouri, the starting point of the tomorrow’s tour around mid-afternoon and dismissed the idea of driving up to Milford Sound (another 2.5 hours). Instead we walked along the lake side spotting dead birds and eels (mus