Today is September 1st… the first day of Spring, and New Zealand’s National Random Acts of Kindness day!

As promised I did my best to brighten the day of just a few people in a little way.  This morning, armed with 12 Whittaker’s Dark Ghana chocolate bars (featuring RAK day labels) and a sunny disposition, I set out to share the love!

On the whole I’d say that my tokens of happiness hit the mark. The office was a pretty cheerful place today, and felt more like a Friday than a Thursday. I received smiles and thanks, and general kindness returned.

There was one person whose response put a bit of a damper on the day, and I’d just like to say: “WTF dude!?”

It’s a well-known fact that bus drivers can be among some of the grumpiest people on this planet. I’ve heard them curse at the traffic, seen them gesture rudely at other drivers, and experienced some pretty scary aggressive driving.  Despite all that, I’m sure most of them have a nice side, and so I thought I’d try today to get one of them to smile.

Boy was I wrong.

Dear Mr grumpypants bus driver. When someone smiles at you genuinely and hands you a chocolate bar saying “happy random acts of kindness day”, grabbing it and grunting is NOT the polite response!

Needless to say, bus drivers will not be on my list next year.

New Zealand flag

Flags of some RWC competing countries

I managed to skive off work a bit early on Friday, and headed down to the Auckland Viaduct to join in with all the Opening Night festivities.

Streams of people heading into the Auckland Viaduct

RWC 2011 sign

I don’t think Auckland has ever had so many people in one place at one time! It was completely over the top crazily packed downtown. The media said that around 50,000 people were expected to head into town for the opening, but that turned out to be a huge underestimation as around 200,000 people actually turned up!

Queen St / Customs Street

Quay Street

I was really lucky, and I managed find a pretty good spot to watch the wakas coming into the Viaduct, and an even better spot to see the procession of 600 kaihoe.

Watching the waka

One of the 20 wakas

Another waka

Thousands watching the wakas

Patiently waiting

Patriotic Kiwis were everywhere, and I couldn’t help grinning and feeling like one too!

Proud Kiwis

Proud Kiwi

All Blacks supporter

New Zealand supporter

When the kaihoe walked passed, I definitely felt more than a little intimidated. Sure their moko were drawn on with black pen, but it wasn’t hard to imagine how frightening it would have been, coming face to face with these guys in battle!

Kaihoe

Kaihoe

Kaihoe

High School Kapa Haka group

High School Kapa Haka group

After finally pushing my way out of the Quay Street crowd (all the while protectively cradling my camera), I headed up Queen Street which had been taken over by Tongan supporters. I knew that Auckland had a big Island community, but I wasn’t aware of just how big. There were car horns honking, Tongan flags being waved, and lots of enthusiastic yelling of “TONGA”.

Random guy striking a pose

Tongan supporters

Tongan supporters

Samoan and Tongan supporters

South African supporters taking it easy

After the sun went down I headed off for dinner with my family, and then back down to the Viaduct to watch the launching of three and a half tonnes of specially designed fireworks. Fireworks are always awesome to watch, but they’re extra amazing when they’re made to look like Nikau Palms and Pohutukawa Flowers! I’m so glad I was able to experience this “once in a life time” event in person!

Pretty fireworks

Pretty fireworks

More photos from the Rugby World Cup 2011 Opening Night can be found here.

Thanks to Little Green Envelope for the above.

RAK day is about doing something for absolutely no reason at all.  Something that pulls two strangers (or even friends) just a little closer together.  It doesn’t have to be a big gesture… just something small like gifting the remainder of your paid parking time to the next driver in your parking space, handing out flowers to people on the street, or buying lunch for a homeless person.

I know I’ll be doing my bit to make New Zealand have a sunshinier day!

Here’s a great RAK that one of my favourite bloggers (Shoot Tokyo) did in Japan… it’s so sweet

Inspired by the blog (The Awkward Cauliflower) of a friend and fellow foodie, I spent a couple of hours this afternoon doing one of my favourite things… BAKING!

A couple of years ago when I visited Taiwan, I discovered these amazing egg sponge cake balls (Ji Dan Gao - 雞蛋糕) that you could get from street vendors.  They’d pour the batter into a hot cast iron mold, and a minute later they’d tip out a batch of perfectly formed delicious cake balls!  Sometimes the cakes would have a filling in the centre, maybe coconut or custard… and sometimes they’d even come molded in the shape of some cute animal.  A couple of months after my Taiwan trip I decided to have a go at making Ji Dan Gao myself, and I found that it was pretty easy with the help of a takoyaki pan.

With this memory in mind, I pulled one of my most favourite recipe books (The Best of Annabel Langbein) off the shelf, and whipped up a few batches of  “Banana Puffs” using Annabel Langbein’s awesome Banana Cake recipe.

These little morsels are so much better than just a normal banana cake.  Each one is bite sized, and each one is crispy on the outside and soft in the middle.  The perfect thing for a rainy Sunday!

Banana Puffs

Here’s a few snaps of one of the latest additions to the area, that I took when I was walking to the bus.

Pretending not to see me

Do you really need to photograph me!?

Are you done yet?

An area of the Auckland waterfront that was previously an industrial no-man’s-land, has now had life breathed into it. There’re bars and restaurants, parks and a playground… AND… trams!! I’m so excited about the reintroduction of trams to Auckland’s CBD! It may only be a short loop track at the moment, but the possibilities for extending the tracks are endless

Here are few photos I took on an after work excursion around Wynyard Quarter. The full album can be found here.

One of the new tram stops

One of the restored trams

Restored tram

Tram "garage"

Building site at dusk

New Viaduct Events Centre

Entrance to Viaduct Event Centre

The hunter becomes the hunted

New Wynyard Quarter wharf

New Wynyard Quarter restaurant

Shiny new hoop at the new playground

Empty playground

Countdown to RWC 2011