Mini Golfing ... Vampire-Style!

Bought cheap tickets to a nightlight golf thing on one of those daily bargain websites that seem to be cropping up every other day at the moment so I dragged the boys along to it. It's called Transylvania Mini Golf and the whole thing was done in the dark with night lights, fake snow and trees. All very Christmassy Vampire-like.. if you like that kinda thing.

Entrance with JB getting ready to cam-whore for me:

My boys, oh and Damon and JB... see what I did there. Comedic genius, me:

Hard to take photos in weird lighting...

With flash:

Check my perfect form out. I got a hole-in-one... just sayin'.

The Circus Is In Town!

Two more days left of Cirque Du Soleil's Dralion in Auckland so get to it if you can, people!

Love Cirque's big top! The colours always make me feel cheerful for some reason.

Dralion is a show about East meets West - Dra being Dragon and Lion being, well, lion.

First up was the classic contortionist - this little Asian girl was like a giant raspberry twisty licorice stick!

Second act was the juggler slash contortionist - Think David Bowie in Labyrinth but even more awesome. I couldn't find a photo of him in a Dralion setting so this will have to do.

This was at a Dralion preview do apparently:

Then there was a whole lot of men running around while swishing these giant fans:

Acrobats jumping rope:

Highlight for me and Viv is this lovers dance on silk rope - so romantic!! Word of advice to all men - learn how to fling yourself while hanging on rope and carrying your lady!:

Ladies, you are welcome! But apparently, these two are siblings! Yiew!

Acrobats flipping all over the place on top of each other while balancing on a platform of lightbulbs!!!

Anyway, all photo credits go to someone and somewhere on the internet! It was great but I think I am somewhat desensitized towards all these amazing performances because we've seen them all to some extent in China. Sure Cirque was a colourful over the top production with the lighting, the props, the costumes, etc.. but in China, we saw the same amazing talent but stripped down to its very core - basic props, basic costumes, no atmosphere created whatsoever.. just raw, impossible human talent!

One Tree Hill

Operation Become Fit was still happening (past tense because it has been shelved while the parents are here and the needle on the scales is moving more towards the right as we speak... darn it) so we went for a walk at One Tree Hill... or No Tree Hill is probably more accurate these days..... some dude took an axe to the tree years ago to make some kind of a political statement.

Ground level:

Halfway up the hill:

It was a lovely sunny day and we could see Rangitoto Island clearly from across the dried up tree tops:

The sheep have an easy life...

The monument on top of the Hill:

Can you spot Sky City Tower?

The public is always making messages using the rocks at the base of the hill...

Spotted this lazy sheep feeding while resting on its front legs... it was moving around while kneeling too... looked funny... turned out it had sore front legs... poor sheep.

Spotted this little girl in her bright raincoat and gumboots...

I think Frodo is hiding around here somewhere...

The place was littered with sheep and cow poo... I stepped in one and shrieked my head off...

I present to you... Exhibit A:

Back on ground level again:

I love this tree...

On the way out, I drove past these guys and had to stop and take a pic... where's Fabio and his wench I wonder?

Dude had muscly legs..