We were put up at the Bayview Wairakei Resort which is right opposite the Wairakei Golf Course. We drove up on Friday afternoon and arrived about 7:30pm. We had the evening to ourselves as there were no events scheduled until Saturday. Of course there was the gathering at the bar on Friday where berverages were available.

Saturday morning had us scheduled for a team building event. There were four activities. We were split into fours teams with a even spread of kiddies and adults. Our self proclaimed team leader was a 6 year old girl who did an excellent job of . . . advising . . . the rest of us on best method practices :)

With the team building over we were left to our own devices for the afternoon. Again, an excellent way to run a conference. It’s about meeting people you work with and their families, rather than boring company things that can be better handled at work. After food, Carissa and I went to visit one of her Uncles who owns a hair salon in Taupo. Uncle Tuka and his wife Auntie Dawn. A man who is full of energy. The banter between Tuka and Dawn was absolutely hilarious. I think everyone should be like this. We stayed longer than intended but the tea and biccies were good.

Saturday evening saw the main event. Activities and a feed at the Prawn Farm. Most people stuck to the prawn fishing. There were some huge prawns caught. Richard Fowler’s family pulled up two 30cm fellas! As per usual, Carissa caught four with very little effort and I caught a big fat zero :(

There were presentations just before dinner, but the bar was open so it was a very jovial atmosphere. The food was great. Prawns were overflowing. I loved it!

It was a great event which I think other companies should embrace. It was also good to see the ABs scrape by with a win thanks in large to Dan Carter’s return. Good to see him back, but a bit sad that a nations confidence in their national rugby team relies on a single individual.

Sunday was travel day. First, a morning swim before breakfast. They keep the pools between 35 and 38 degrees celcius. Perfect when the outside temperature is more like 5 degrees. Showered, packed, feed we headed into Taupo for some shopping. We had some time to kill before Carissa flew to Auckland to pick up Tyler. I was driving back to Wellington to pick them up from the Airport. It was good to have a break from Tyler, but I think a week is too long and we missed him heaps.

I haven’t read the books but the movies are getting slowly darker and darker. Characters are getting stomped in the face, flung around like rag dolls, stuff blowing and generally inflicting damage and death on one another. Awesome :)

The movie was a little on the long side but still enjoyable. It seemed to amble along at a nice pace developing and developing the newly found interest in the opposite sex by the younger characters. Again, I haven’t read the books but one interesting item for me was the revelation that Severus Snape is actually an agent of the Dark Lord . . . or appears to be that way. Apart from the fact that he actually said he was working for the Dark Lord there were further actions that leads me to believe this was true. For example when he killed Dumbledore. Be careful, that was a spoiler.

A decent enough movie. Its one of those things you just have to see after watching the first five in the series anyway.

Ive seen the Varekai DVD which was brilliant, but seeing a Cirque du Soleil show live was amazing. Its an extremely well put together event. The production company rocks up to a location and plonks down I think 5 tents for food, refreshments and merchandise sales; another large tent for the Tapis Rouge where they serve complimentary beverages and finger food and the big top where the main event occurs.

Dralion was held at the ASB Showgrounds and they brought in some flash portable toilets so you didnt have to walk too far to find some amenities. There was a lot of parking available and with our VIP tickets we had a park close to the main gate. Of course this meant that we were on the tail end of the queue when leaving.

The show itself is about 2.5 hours long with a 25 minute intermission. Its broken up nicely with some very humourous clown skits while people are making their way in and when there are set changes.

The performances and acrobatics were outstanding. I dont really have a lot to say here except that you have to experience it for yourself. Any of the shows are recommended.

I’ll definately be going to see another one.