Watching the Hiroshima Carp in action

I never understood baseball, it's a bit like rounders only with more beer. Which isn't bad. I probably would have been bored out of my mind if it hadn't been for the amazing crowd singing and chanting the whole way through the game. Goooooooo Carp!

Do, Do, Do the Funky Gibbon! We are here to show you how.

I didn't get to see any gibbons in Laos but I got a second chance in Thailand. OK, so I didn't actually see any in Chiang Mai, but I did hear some in the forest canopy while doing the Flying Gibbon. We set out around 6.30am for some fun swinging through the trees. There were zip lines, abseiling and rope bridges to caper along in the green treetops of the hills above Chiang Mai. Our guide, Dave, was a little hung-over from too much rice wine the night before, but zipping through the trees soon cheered him up. It was all over very quickly, but time flies when your hanging upside down from a tree…

I'll have some photos up on flickr soon, but if you get sick of looking at me doing the funky gibbon, then check this out.

I like jumping off shit. Elaine Byrne for Best Cinematography Oscar!

Found this hidden gem on the Predator DVD special Edition. Apparently they shot a lot of it around the Abel Tasman Coastal Walk…

Elaine's Irish birthday we headed up to Cape Reinga via 90 Mile Beach (it's actually just over 55 miles ling, but it 55 Mile Beach doesn't have the same ring to it).

It was a great day, the drive up the beach was amazing (and fast), I got to go sandboarding down a giant dune (managed to scale the beast three times!) and we seen some massive kauri trees, some of which are over 2000 years old. We made it all the way up to Cape Reinga, which is the northern-most point of New Zealand, and the place from which Maori believe their spirits leave the earth. When they die their spirit goes on a journey up to Cape Reinga (or Te Rerenga Wairua in Māori, which means the jumping-off place of spirits) where their tears form a lake behind the main bluff. Then the spirit leaps of an ancient tree and return to the ancient ancestral home of Haiwiki.

It's really cool that the Māori have such tenable traditions, rituals and beliefs and stories, it makes you think about all the Irish legends and stories we learned in school and

Photos on Flickr

PS Apologies about the sound on the video…