Funkydodo!

Hey there,

Firstly, thanks for all the birthday wishes and pressies last month.  I was VERY SPOILT!  This getting old business is underrated I say!

Well lots has been happening since my arrival back to Mauritius… we went out on a beautiful catamaran on ANZAC Day for a friends birthday.  It was a GREAT night, I danced “Sega” with all the girls and crew on the deck whilst Kent  didn’t dance (surprise surprise) & instead lay on the net of the catamaran and chilled out with the guys & a few cold ones.

As my birthday present Kent is taking me away to South Africa to a private lodge at the Kruger National Park (hoping to go in a couple of weeks time).  Link to park: www.arathusa.co.nz  AWESOME! Can’t wait to go!

We went to our first Indian Wedding last weekend (well part thereof).  They usually celebrate over a five day period & we were invited to the Grooms place on the Saturday night (along with several hundred others).  The marriage ceremony is on the Sunday.  The women wore the most beautiful Sari’s & we ate the traditional seven curries (no utensils).  As a result I am having my first Sari made at the moment… bright pink with gold *BLING*.  I sure have come to the right place!!!!  (photos pending!)  Kent is still deliberating what style shirt & scarf to get & whether to get bells or curly toed shoes (don’t hold your breath for that photo) .

Below is one of our grand-kittens (all grown up) with Kent during a very mellow guitar hero session at our friends place.  Needless to say things did liven up not long after this photo was taken!

And finally here is an updated photo of Kent & Mack (our pup over here).  Well that is about all I can think of to add for now.  Am sure the next photos will be fantastic pictures from Africa!   Until then… take care. Love Nades, Kent, Mack & the rest of the zoo…  

Hey there one and all,

So great to get back to NZ & Australia and catch up with everyone!

Left Mauritius on the 9^th of Feb & flew into Melbourne, Australia for a spot of shopping & cocktails (as you do!) with Emily (be thankful there are no photos!). Missed seeing Marty as he was out fighting the big fires that week (great effort, sorry I missed you!).

Next I flew into Wellington (WLG) and stayed the first night with my brother Jared & his girlfriend Jess & finally had my first meal of FUSH’N'CHUPS in over 9 months… yummo!!! Stayed up way too late chatting (as you do!). HUGE supply of my fave NZ confectionary under my pillow that night (they know me too well!)

Caught up with my bride-to-be the following day (I was specifically coming home to NZ to be (serial) bridesmaid for my friend "Lydia’s" wedding in Plimmerton) & then went up to Hawkes Bay (HB) via my lovely rellies in Levin, to see the folks & all my friends up that way. Had a gorgeous welcome pressie from Alison upon my arrival. Nice work with the "Welcome Fruits" Nades style (lollies of course! You sensing a theme here?).

Had a few days at home in HB before heading back to WLG for the big wedding. Finally met brand new baby "Casey" & caught up with loads of friends.

Lydia & Dave’s wedding day back in Wellington was great! And a huge success! I think my rendition of "the sprinkler" was probably the highlight of the trip (can be found on u-tube under "Nades most embarrassing moments").

Mum & I then shot down south to Christchurch where we caught up with our favorite’s, the Marshall family & I saw my old "Pacific Blue" head office buddies and all my Christchurch friends. Had a fab BBQ at Maree’s & caught up on all the goss.

We then went home to HB just in time for the weekend and the "Mission Concert" which proved to be true to it’s name… as the weather was the worst of my entire trip, but where there’s a will, there’s a Randell! Poncho’s & gumboots in hand we took on the weather & had a great afternoon with 10,000 other wet idiots until the concert was finally announced cancelled shortly before the main act. Never mind, never let the weather get in the way of a Randell get together. We just changed venue’s & partied at Shirley’s for the remainder of the evening (some more than other’s aye Kirk! ).

Dad & I then drove to Gisborne to see all the Thomas family relatives. Excellent to see everyone! Grandma organised a fantastic BBQ & I finally got to catch up with all the new family additions. Paul even made it over from Rotorua (nice effort!). Great to have so much time to spend with my special cuzzy Belinda too!

The next week or so was spent back in HB with friends and family. Had a fantastic time & nice not to have to rush around! Some excellent times at various HB functions, luncheons, out on a friends farm, coffee’s (even up the peak) & dinners!

Sad leaving everyone in HB. Thanks to those of you who popped out to the airport to say goodbye!

One last stop on the way before leaving the beautiful Aotearoa! A couple of nights with my great friend Louise & her GORGEOUS family up in Auckland! Also managed to sneak in one last catch up with Barghie & Darin.

WOW that went WAY too quickly!

Time to hit Oz for one last week of my trip…

Great to arrive at Brissy airport to find Emily, Adam & Jen waiting for me! It was always going to be HUGE times catching up with everyone in Brisbane!

Managed to fit in a tour of both the Virgin Offices (hugged to death, good times!), shopping (goes without saying really!), a VB Friday night drinks session (VERY big night including Karaoke at the Vic), the Races (for those who managed to recover in time from previous nights festivities), a picnic by the river, a yummy dinner at Brett’s Wharf, a great time catching up with Kent’s Mum Robin, more shopping & the bonus of meeting the lovely Jemima (Jo & Neil’s gorgeous daughter). Would definitely sum that up as a good time, not a long time!

Very sad leaving Brissy, but a good send off by Jen & Emily with our last glass of champers at the airport, lots of farewell texts from friends & a few tears.

A million hours later I arrived back in Mauritius to my other life Kent had dragged himself up in the middle of the night to come and pick me up. He had morphed into this body building guy, so he was lucky I recognized him (or was I the lucky one?).

I was spoilt by my great friend Barbara who popped around with a HUGE bunch of gorgeous roses & lunch out to welcome me home. Lots of friends sent txts to welcome me home & the maid & I had a good catch up over a cuppa. I have already managed to catch up with a few friends… lots more to go!

Thanks to EVERYONE for making my trip such a great time!!!!

XOX

Nades

PS: I will throw some photos up on the gallery site (pics link on the top of this page) shortly!

gallery is fixed. it’s telling that the only person who noticed was Nadine.

internet still isn’t fixed. please backup the internet to dvd and post it to me.

daylight savings sucks. when you’re a small island in the middle of nowhere that no software vendor has ever heard of it sucks even more.

gordon ramsay doesn’t have to put up with this crap

I upgraded a bunch of stuff due to active sploits… prolly broke a bunch of stuff. email me if you find something… normally i’d check myself but my adsl is being mauritian.

which leads me to my impending imprisonment. Imagine you had to reboot your adsl router every 5-10 minutes, each reboot takes about 1 minute and it *might* re-connect or then again it might not. And even if it does connect you know you’ve only got about 10 minutes before you have to do it all over again. Now imagine you’re also trying to get some work done that requires internet during all this. How long do you think you could live like this before you started busting caps in various mauritian telco mofo’s?

I give myself another 3 days. Please include fresh towels in your red cross parcels.

Hey there, thanks to one and all for the fabulous emails, presents, cards and well wishes for the silly season and the commencement of 2009.  We hope you all had a fantastic start to the New Year also!

We’ve recently had a few more visitors to the lovely Mauritius and although Dirk & Brad were here for work, we did manage to sneak in a stealth mission to the East Coast.  Their commitment to the trip was to be commended!

On the week of Christmas “Oksa” my favorite semi-feral adopted cat gave birth to 4 little kittens (and if I hear even one of you expel the words “cat woman” you will automatically become the proud new parent of a 4 week old kitten!).  Mack (our pup) doesn’t quite understand that he’s not part of the feline family and is totally adorable and gentle with them. 

We’ve had some really nice times with friends over here recently (see photo at the beachouse below) and are looking forward to some Island visits and a trip out with the Dolphins presently.

Nothing too interesting to add for the moment… but there are loads more photos on http://www.funkydodo.com/gallery/main.php in case you’re interested!

Take care out there and keep in touch… love hearing from you!

XOX

Nades, Kent, Mack (the pup) and the rest of the resident RSPCA

Hey there… Merry Christmas to one and all!!!  Hope you’re having a wonderful day wherever you are in the world today.

I woke up to this (well the energetic version that is) today…

We’ve had an awesome morning listening to Chrissy music and opening pressies!!!

Kent brought me gumboots and a lilo for the pool… quite the combo!!!

Lunch was fab… *MEDIIUM* sized tiger prawns and fabulous marinated fillet. Yumo!

Kent says “HO HO HO” and wishes you all a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!

So all the best from us… enjoy your day!

XOX
Nadine, Kent, Mack and the 13 cats!!!!!

More Christmas photos if you click here

Hey there one and all…. has it already been 6 months?  Nooooo!

Things have been pretty flat out over here – what with all my cooking classes etc (naturally I’m kidding!)

We recently had a visit from Emily and Adam (my previous flatmate & her boyfriend)  which left me feeling a little homesick, but a few walks on the idyllic beaches over here and I think I’m back into the Mauritian way…

Here are a few photos from their visit…

Ask Adam how his quad bike wounds are coming along   We had an early surprise birthday party for Kent.  How cute are those party hats

We were adopted by some feral kittens when we first moved into our house (along with a long list of Mauritian animal inhabitants)… This is “Tinkerbell” with a rib.  Two of the three kittens cannot be handled but they regularly catch and deliver wee presents (ie: dead shrew’s click here to see what a shrew looks like) at our doorsteps (ahhh bless)

We have are getting a “Saturday night special” puppy at the end of the month to add to the entourage.

Well, Kent is grumbling for his dinner so I had better dash… will try and write something a little more entertaining next time… Hope you’re all well and happy.

Love Nades

XOX

welcome back….

it’s been almost 5 months since the last update. awesome commitment huh.

i blame joomla – it’s crap. which is why you will notice that we now have a shiny new interface (if you actually ever click on this link anymore… and seriously – if you’re still checking this page after 5 months of nothing you have way too much time on your hands).

those of you that have been in for the long haul will notice that it’s not actually a shiny new interface at all – it’s the same tried and true interface that the chicken had for all those years. what was i thinking? what were YOU thinking? why didn’t somebody stop me. DEATH to joomla, long live wordpress!

moving on… a lot has happened in the last 5 months. but i’m not going to tell you any of it. that’s not my job. it’s important to have a separation of duties in any relationship. which is why Nads is in charge of content, and I’m in charge of the ugly mess that the content sits on. I really would love to give you an update – but the clear breach of demarcation lines would mean the unions would get involved, and there’d be a strike, a picket line, and my ironing wouldn’t get done.

some general housekeeping – you’ll notice i moved all the posts (all *3* of them) from the previous joomla mess. comments unfortunately didn’t move, and lets face it – it’s not like any of you posted any kind of shakespearean prose, no intellectual insights, it barely made it through the spam filter. HOWEVER – comments are now new and improved… no longer do you need to wait for me to login and judge your post worthy or not of publishing. it now happens automagically! but what about the spam I hear you cry!?! wordpress has some funky new automagic spam filter…. if it works you’ll never hear about it again. if it doesn’t you’ll have to put up with my whingeing about blog spam for the next 2 years. AND i’ll disable comments too. so shoot a spammer today, preserve your commenting experience.

more housekeeping – there’s also a new and improved photo gallery. i went back to jalbum for awhile, and it’s great, but it’s not server based. which means when you move machines, rebuild machines, whatever – all your configs and stuff are lost. it’s all too hard. sorry Cres (official jalbum salesman), I’m giving gallery another run… and this time it doesn’t seem to suck too much. there’s even a funky java upload applet that lets you auto resize and stuff. you can access the new gallery at http://www.funkydodo.com/gallery . And before you tell me… YES I KNOW it’s empty. blame the content creator!! If you *really* can’t live without some damn photo’s then go to the old gallery at http://www.funkydodo.com/Jalbum . and don’t complain to me that it’s half broken – why do you think it’s the *old* album huh?

and then there’s microsoft live writer – it’s standalone publishing for wordpress… makes posting soooooo simple! and it supports offline composing / batch uploading. AND it supports embedded pics as well! i’m sure the help file has some steak knives hidden in there somewhere as well.

and then there’s the eepc – as part of a recent round of enterprise bargaining I bought Nads an eepc so she can provide content for you shmucks to gobble up for free until i can come up with a way to make you pay for it. eepc’s are cool… i tried to like the default linux install, i really did. it’s been nearly 3 weeks i’ve worked with it. but i just can’t stand it anymore. i’m putting windows on it. be gone, you pot smoking, crack head, open source hippies!

you’ll notice everything in this post is all about simplifying content creation. so there’s no excuses now. if you don’t see at least one post an hour from Nads I encourage you to voice your frustration by clicking on the paypal link on the left.

In true marketing fashion i’m now going to crack a bottle of champagne to celebrate the re-launch of funkydodo.com and standby while the sleek new site has 4million technical issues over the next week which I can of course blame on those IT idiots.

so when you want internet you go to your pc and you fire up IE and stuff happens…. over here you plug in your crappy little usb modem thing and stand on one leg, dance a bit, take your clothes off and stand on the balcony with a coat hanger pointing at the satellite and rejoice at your 2000ms ping times.

when you want cable tv you ring up foxtel and the guy comes out and hooks it up and you watch your 50 or so channels…. over here you ring up and try and describe where your house is because no-one over here uses street numbers – because of course "everyone knows everyone over here". and then if you’re lucky enough for the guy to actually find your house, turn up and do some kinda miracle hookup you then have maybe 6 channels in english (showing constant loops of "the gods must be crazy" and other similar african quality flicks) and the rest in french.

oh i could go on and on…. but my arm’s sore from holding up the coat hanger.

regards from,

the god forsaken speck of sand off africa.

Hey there,

Thanks for all your emails…

Well we have been having a laugh trying to find our way around over here. I attempted to navigated Kent around the top right of the Island yesterday as we were nearly taken out by a bus, found a humongous tortoise in a rock pen on the roadside, found a gorgeous little windsurfing bay and didn’t find the advertised factory outlet stores at all… pretty well sums life up in Mauritius so far J

Kent has a fairly good list of restaurants for us to try over here (surprise surprise) courtesy of the Mauritian Lonely Planet, but my fave so far (as an experience) is “Alchemy” which was closed the first few attempts, but on Friday night, mid deluge, we finally sat down, soaking wet and had a nice cold beer and a green “blue lagoon” (?). No other diners wasn’t a great sign… but I think the climax was when the mouse ran right through the restaurant (chased by the staff “faulty towers” style) and disappeared into the kitchen! I do have to add that our main (really good food) arrived with a disclaimer from the restaurant manager/waiter/barman that “if you don’t like it, you don’t pay” (kind of wish he hadn’t said that – I’m sure they never say that on Gordon Ramsay’s show!) anyway the meal was GREAT & the waiter/barman/manager couldn’t have been more attentive & finished our dining experience with two free shots of “Tsunami” so we all parted friends!

We finally got the keys to the house (and the official tour) today. Its really nice, huge dining/living area, plus another room (avo nana nap room I’m thinking ), large kitchen (kind of a wasted on me) & three bedrooms upstairs. The bonus is the gorgeous rock cottage outside… it has just been renovated into a really cute self-contained unit.

Sorry to ALL those of you who have offered to come and help me interview for the pool boy (you know who you are), but the position was already filled L

Kent’s role seems to come with his own car-wash guy, who cleans the car while Kent is at work. There are also separate cafeterias in Kent’s building, one for the staff ($40/month) and another for the managers. I haven’t seen a “subway” yet.

We decided to be social last night (& confirm your requests re the quality of the Long Island Tea’s) and went to the bar at the hotel. Kent was sure it was “Sega Night” – the national dance (not the PC version) but it turned out to be Karaoke night. You can stop holding your breath… we didn’t do sonny & cher or anything, but there were some pretty impressive singers & given Kent’s disposition today, I think the Long Island Iced Tea’s are pretty good

Well that is about it from us for now…. Hope all is well with you and your families.

Take care and keep in touch

Nades, Kent and the dodo…