Welcome back. It is the Danny Dot podcast. I am your host, danny, coming to you from Cromwell, central Otago, new Zealand, for all those new people that are joining us. And hey, look, I'm seeing the numbers and it warms my heart, so welcome. And also actually a shout out to the listener in Berlin that offered me a place to stay. Love that. Hate the fact that it's so far away, because I don't feel like I'll ever really get to the Northern Hemisphere again. It's not on my radar as such, but my mom is going over, I think, in like March next year, so I'll send her your way. I promise she's a treat. No, but hey, this is really special.
Speaker 1:Not only is it my 19th podcast, it's something that I thought about as a topic that makes me smile, warms my heart, and I've had so many good memories of like just growing up in Queenstown and everything that came with the club scene that I think that if people are listening to this that work in Queenstown that want to bring back anything I bring up should be reminded that I'm only saying it because it worked and it was fun. It shaped who I was as a person, if I could sort of start with something like when I turned 18 in 2005, I could probably count on one hand how many times I've been drunk. I didn't barely touch alcohol. I was in Australia in 2004 and honestly, I would say I brought alcohol with a fake ID more than I consumed it. It just wasn't something and I am kind of proud of that because, at the end of the day, mum was not strict, but she was also very like. You know, you'll want to get into this time of your life when you're legally allowed to do something, when you are legally allowed to do something, and that sort of resonated with me because I feel like the generation these days are getting into all the things that you shouldn't be allowed to do until a certain age and ruining it for themselves.
Speaker 1:When I turned 18, the Franklin Arms Tavern used to be in an old establishment, and it was only one day that I actually got to step foot in this dingy, dirty room with a pool table and some couches and some little lady behind a counter, because the next day it turned into what it is now, which is this big, beautiful establishment that, oh, I don't know. I was there on Friday. It just feels so like I am a local of the fat and I can walk in there as though I was there like yesterday. But it's been like two years. It's like a family and I love that and catching up with Tom, and just I said to him I'm going to do a part about my experiences clubbing. Do you have any stories to contribute? And he cracked up laughing and the weird thing was the stories that he told me were the ones I already had written down. But not only was mum standing there, but a couple of like locals that had definitely seen. You know, those actual stories come in different ways. I was like, oh, shut up. But no, hey, look, the new place I actually took mum to and we used to live on Franklin Road. I'm going to say 995 Franklin Road or 990 Franklin Road. I feel like that number is my address. Back in the day we didn't used to drive to the fat. We could actually walk along the waterfront and up through the camping ground onto Yulet Crescent to the fat. So, yeah, I had the best of both worlds because there was no drink driving for Danny Dot.
Speaker 1:But I fell in love with an Aquaman lookalike. He was the head bartender. Did he shape the way that I drank? Apps are freaking lutely. Did he take advantage? No, but I think he really knew that I didn't know a lot about alcohol and he wanted to teach me, and I, you know, when you have that sort of mindset with a guy, where you just sort of like throw the reins over them and you just give them complete control, you know, like I was this young, naive, 18 year old, and he I don't know, was he like 20, 24, maybe a little bit older than me, and there was this jukebox. It was the kind of bar where it was like chairs, where everybody knew your name Still is now. They don't have a jukebox, though, but I don't know how this came about, but I used to buy a box at the pub. So this isn't like I pulled into the pub with a box of KGB white Russians that he used to write my name and vivid and keep under the counter in the fridge, and he would just pour a KGB into a glass every time I came to the bar, and that's just how I would drink beer. I don't know, I didn't really touch beer until I came back to New Zealand in 2019.
Speaker 1:To be completely honest, it wasn't something I grew up. Unfortunately. I was a very expensive bitch and I drank a lot of cocktails, but if you're seeing the bartender, shits free. So, and this is where I made a promise to myself that I'm never going to date like a European bartender ever in my life, because I hated sitting at the bar seeing females wait for this hot bartender to finish work. It just drove me wild. So I wasn't exclusive with him, but I feel like I lived in his pocket for four plus years until he got deported.
Speaker 1:But in that time the things that he taught me and you know just the way that he treated me, I don't know. He knew a lot of people, so there was a lot of people looking out for me and, yeah, there were times I fell off my bar. Still, I was too pissed to do anything and they put me back and put a shot of Tekela in front of me. But I was young, who cares? I mean he used to finish work and then he would go into Bardot in Queenstown this is back in the day before they had a balcony that had a fence around it, so people just used to walk past and just say hi and come and have a seat and talk shit and whatever. He would pull up there, have his cheeseboard, his bottle of Lake Chalice Merlot and his Malibu and Dry Chaser and I would have a Long Island iced tea and we would just sit there until 4am when it was closing and just catch up and talk.
Speaker 1:And I wouldn't even go home with him. I don't even know what I was doing back in those days. I was just someone for him, just a debrief at the end of the night with, and we enjoyed each other's company. But we never really moved forward with that relation. So I probably loved him more than he liked me. No, I don't know.
Speaker 1:But yeah, as I say, he got deported. I think he did something dodgy. He was starting to do dodgy things with myself. I mean, he would send me up to Wellington to collect something. I'd never to this day sort of questioned it, but I kind of felt like I was a drug mule, but I don't know. But yeah, he got deported and then you kind of had to just cut it off. I didn't want to have contact with someone like that anymore.
Speaker 1:And the memories will still remain, don't get me wrong. He treated me like a queen and I met some amazing people. But it's just not worth it if someone can't actually come back into the country for a significant time period and you'll actually cut off from speaking to them. So once all that kind of happened, I actually had a friend who I used to work with and on the weekends we used to pull $150 each, so $300 collectively, and that would be our drinking money and we would get drunk. But the bars that I'm writing down here to talk about don't even exist anymore. Yet the memories are huge. So not only did we just, you know, have these days of the week that Queen's Town was really good at naming for drinks specials, and I'm talking Monday, mondays, tite Ass Tuesdays, wasted Wednesdays I never really remember Thursday, friday. Why is it that Thursdays and Fridays are always massive days at local pubs, like, is it because it's payday on Thursday? It's still a thing to this day.
Speaker 1:So, anyway, if people would come into the area of Queen's Town and I'd actually like take them for a night out I am always one of those people that loves a good bar crawl and before they had Queenstown big night out, I was it Not like commercially, I didn't own a business or anything, I just knew how to display the best of Queenstown's through some drink specials and a pub crawl. We would always start at phrases. Now phrases isn't there anymore. It was on Steam or Wharf. It was opposite the casino. We used to sit on wine barrels and just see all the high rollers falling out of the casino. They had a ladies night there that was $10 vodka, bubbles and red bull. I'm telling you all in the same glass. And I don't really know what even happened to that bar, but I understand that a bar tended, maybe got met in jacocco and it turned to shit. But the bar was shit anyway. Stupid toilets, never flushed. They had some really cheap drinks, but it was somewhere that all the like travelers went.
Speaker 1:You know people that were staying in hostels and whatnot, and it's kind of where you start the night and then you're toddling down to the boiler room, which isn't there anymore either. However, for some reason and you can ask anyone in Queenstown the boiler room was well known for mums up on the poles. So there was always these poles connected to tables. It was not a strip club, but you'd walk in there and you'd find like older, like mum type people dancing on the poles, but not like like sexually kind of like coyote ugly. You just dance on a bar, but these are like the older generation dancing on poles. I mean, I never saw my mum do it but I was like oh it's freaking me out. Why is it all these people up on these damn tables?
Speaker 1:But it was the bar that you lost your jacket at and they had this stupid cocktail called the St John, and if you had two you'd end up in a St John ambulance. I don't even know why. It was even something you could consume. But they had this delicious bartender called Pete Euketricks, who his sister, actually storm Euketricks. She married Ronan Keating, so that was mine and Pete's claim to fame. Back in those days we used to FaceTime Ronan and Storm. But yeah, that's Boiler Room. The exit to that bar came out onto the steamer wharf area, which was opposite the Ernst Law tugboat big bloody steamboat thing. So it was always fun just to sit there and see everyone lining up to go on their boat to go across the lake and have their afternoon tea.
Speaker 1:Dinner Depends what time I was there, but it's so wild to think that literally all of my favorite bars are no longer there. I mean, I'm talking. The Ministry of Sport, which then changed to Extreme Bar, is now juicy hostels up on the corner overlooking the rugby rec grounds, and my brother from another mother was a bartender out there and they used to disperse these man handles of one litre beer and there was people that would drink 100 of them and end up on the wall. Oh tell you, I couldn't even do one. I was like this is too exhausting. But I feel like every bar in Queenstown had its own theme and, for whatever reason, underneath the Extreme Bar was the CBC Stock Exchange and I love this concept. I think they should bring it back. It's something that's super fun.
Speaker 1:But to drink alcohol like, say, you've got a bar full of people and people are, you know, buying I don't know heaps of spates or heaps of export. The price would come down because the more people were buying it. It's like stocks, I don't know. It was so fun. That's where I used to drink Estrella, which is this weird Spanish beer, and if you had two pints of it you were legless. It was like magic beer and I remember it was like $4.50 for a pint and happy hour and oh, I don't know, that was just like such a vibe.
Speaker 1:But yeah, again, that bar shut down and became part of the hostel, and then the one on the very bottom, the walker, the walker to Putaven. That's where you used to go to do all your TAB betting and you'd find all your locals there. And Melbourne Cup was the day that. Obviously, when I used to work in town, you'd make sure that your lunchtime fell over the Melbourne Cup race because every man and his dog was at the walker to just drink and gamble and everything else. And I don't know if ever you felt like you wanted to have a drink but you didn't know who was going to be around, just go to the walker and see who's in there because I tell you you would have known everyone. It was such a family vibe and I always say to my brother, like the Frank Denarmes and the walker they go hand in hand and it's so sad that the one in town is no longer there anymore.
Speaker 1:But then up across from that, near the Sovertel, there used to be a bar called Code Bar which they used to sell the best Jagermeister apple pie shots and to this day I still have the Code Bar menu and a shot glass. Don't ask me how, but it wasn't open long, but I definitely think it should have been reopened because I don't know it was part of this bougie expensive hotel and they didn't have a bar on it. It was weird. But then across from that was Buffalo's and Buffalo's, for some strange reason, had a spa bath which everyone would always say oh, don't get in there, you'll get chlamydia. But I think Buffalo's invented the shot ski, so the ski that would have the five shot glasses like super glued into the ski and everyone had to drink at the same time a shot attached to the ski. It was quite inventive.
Speaker 1:And then if I went across town to my favorite, that's now what is with Bloody Queen's Town and having really fabulous places up top of stairwells. Chico's. Chico's had, and still does, fabulous security guards who were twins and you had to be straight faced. If you weren't straight faced you weren't getting up those stairs. And my mum, she raved about this bloody cocktail called a brain eraser that was given to you in a milk carton and she just loved it. I never really saw the gimmick in it, but I suppose she was just like it's really creative to drink like that. Yes, Susan, I agree, they had a really fun outdoor area. I'm not a smoker so I was barely out there, but I knew that if you were going to be out there, you'd say you'd make some really great friends, and this is even before social media, so I don't even know where some of these people ended up, but there's always a story. But then, underneath all of this and across town, you had TARDIS Bar and TARDIS was this weird nook. It's now a Japanese restaurant. It was right next to the bunker and the bunker is still there. If you had not hooked up with someone by the time you went to TARDIS, you weren't hooking up with anyone. Go home, you're drunk.
Speaker 1:The TARDIS was famous for having a 37 minute long song by Bob Marley and the whaler. Well, it's a Bob Marley, that cricket song. I don't like cricket. Anyway, they had a remix that went on for 37 minutes and still to this day, I still have my lighters and my t-shirts that I purchased there and we entered some really fun drum and bass contests and I'm not really even a drum and bass person, but if you were still there at 4am, shit was wild. I actually lent him to kiss a guy there and we were sitting down and he had a Jack Daniels in between his knees that he was balancing and I lent him and the bottle tipped and it went all over his crutch and I was like, okay, I'm going now bye. So TARDIS has a lot of memories for myself that, yeah, I wish that was still there. It was fun. But right next door was DeBajo, which is now Rhinos. Is it still Rhinos? Because now Rhinos has moved.
Speaker 1:Anyway, you go in the laneway entrance and you'd pop out in Queenstown Mall, kind of opposite Hell Pizza, and they had this stupid cocktail that was in the shape of a sombrero hat and the middle of the hat was where they put the tequila and the cinnamon. And I don't even know why. Why would we do this to ourselves? Oh, and they load it on fire. What is with this town on fire, I don't know. But yeah, it's just another drink. You go in one door, drink that drink and out the other door. It just cracks me up. I'm like every time I brought someone through there they were like fuck, that was the most randomest thing entered in one door and popped out into a mall on the other door. A lot of stairs Queenstown Nightlife has a lot of stairs actually, if I'm really honest.
Speaker 1:And then, lastly, I'm still salty about this is World Bar, and where it used to be had this magnificent entrance and they had this locals card that if you spent a certain amount per month and you were the highest consumer, you'd get to drink for free for a night. And you can never beat the chick that keep winning. But the chick that keep winning was my workmate and I'm so sad that fat badges, the pizza shop underneath at the time, had an oven fire and burnt the whole place down. Because, I mean, I could even tell you about a night that a friend of mine who looked like Nelly Fatardo she smuggled in a whole bottle of wine onto the dance floor from another establishment I don't even know where she got this from and we just, she just put a straw on it and we were just dancing and the DJ totally knew that we had this. He didn't do anything about it. She actually worked at the yacht club, which is now Pub on Wharf, and on her last night we why am I admitting this? We drank all the spirits in the yacht club and topped up all the bottles with water. My bad. But now she's in San Francisco living her best life, so it's all good and these are the types of things that happen and you just think oh, my God, I was a little shit.
Speaker 1:There has been some really fabulous drink the bar dry parties, one of which is the Pigan Whistle. Where they are now. I just feel like it's not it's very sterile, but where they used to be right next door. You used to have to walk through this beautiful garden area and there was like running water and you could sit in these massive tables outside and just drink and there was such a family atmosphere. When they drank the bar dry, everyone got given a t-shirt and all the beers were on the back of it and as they were being emptied, the kegs were being emptied you could tick off. I just thought that whole concept was just so wild and exciting. We definitely contributed to that party and the Arthur's Point pub, which was very. They just needed a bar out those ways. It's like on the way to Shot Over Jet. Now it's just a concrete slab. However, when they did that drink the bar dry, I actually wasn't able to attend, but the story behind it's kind of fun, so I'll share that. My mum was there, as she is, and I had to go pick her up. I was on my learner licence. I actually didn't have my full licence until I left New Zealand in 2016. So basically, I had to go pick her up.
Speaker 1:Upon coming back into Queenstown there'd been an accident on this windy ass country road. Mum sitting next to me freaking out because I'm on my learners and it's past 10 o'clock and those are the New Zealand requirements that you have to be home. You can't drive with a passenger after 10, or is that even a rule? Like, was I just being naughty because mum was in the car? I don't know, that sounds terrible, because what I do for work is actually to do with motor vehicle road rules, oh shit. However, I'm coming back.
Speaker 1:Mum like stressed out because there was police and I was being reckless and I got pulled over. The copper was like, oh, have you seen a lady? She's crashed her car. And I was like what? No, this woman coming back from the drink, the party dry drove and it crashed her car into someone's paddock and ran up this hill of, like I don't know, pine trees and whatever, and hid and waited for the police to Leave. They didn't leave. They brought a helicopter, ran. They were like full-blown, spotlighting the area, looking for this woman. And that was the one time that mum was really stressed and actually said Can we stop at McDonald's in the way home and I I pulled my adult pants up and I says no, susan, you've got frozen chips in the freezer. You can have the chips when you get home. To this day I have never said that anything so stupid to mum, since, like you know, as a parent anyway.
Speaker 1:However, those were just sort of like a couple of the bars that I wanted to touch on because they mean something to me and If I even got to like play on it, I'm a mini bar. Was this really neat little bar opposite Bardot and Before nomads Hostel was there? It actually used to be a golf putting green and when they demolished that, I remember sitting at mini bar and the Massive scaffolding that was building nomads started shaking and Queen's Town was put. Well, we're on this fault line for earthquakes and there was an earthquake and all the bottles fell off the Bar and I was like, oh my god, what's happening? And I look back now and I see you know just how established it is all and I just think, oh my gosh, back in those days you used to be able to sit at you know some places and look far across town. Now it's actually like a little. It's all so built up and commercialized. It's wild. But yeah, mini bars not even there anymore either.
Speaker 1:I had a few stories about that. Oh, they used to do these stupid drinks and these massive Goblet Chime a chime is a beer, isn't it? A chime a glass, and it's just too much alcohol for the low me. And I thought I spewed in the toilet and the bartender came back and goes Someone's really made a mess in the ladies and it was me. I thought I got it in the bowl. Yes, I'll admit to that. I'm sorry, but yeah, I knew the cocktail list off by heart in most places, but somewhere that had just complete control over my drinking life was Skybar, which is not the area there, it's now bungalow. I'm saying like back in the day, when what do they have? Porn star martini and Gin aviated drink with the cherry on the bottom. Those are the two drinks. That's kind of. I had two functions up there and they were the cocktail of the night.
Speaker 1:That was genuinely a cocktail lounge, but it didn't used to have a kitchen in it and bungalow, I think, does dumplings. Skybar just used to be this one slab of a bar and they used to light it on fire with alcohol and meth or something. I don't even know. But there was this girl and she really pissed me off one night. She kept taking photos of the bar staff who were in costume. I think it was like a Christmas party or something oh, bad, santa party, I think it was and I was trying to order a drink and she was getting up in my face trying to take photos of the bar staff. So I went to the bathroom and she was using the stupid disposable camera so she wouldn't have known until she got it developed. But I was standing in the background holding up a taller brush, like behind the bartenders that she was taking photos. And still to this day I think, oh, why do you do this to this people? But yeah, it's just One of those things. I suppose I just I'm marking off all these like bars that have been in, gone on. It's been terrible. I do have some fabulous bartender friends that came out of the woodwork over time. They're still in my life to this day.
Speaker 1:My 21st birthday, I actually Hired out two levels of the ridges hotel and I filled it with family and friends that came from far and wide and we had an event in the main area. I don't know to this day if this was actually planned. But mum told me to stay in the hotel room and wait till like five or ten minutes just so she can get people organized in the actual Room, and then to come up. And I entered the hallway and pushed the elevator button. If I could have caught this on camera it would just be the most magical thing. But the elevator doors opened and my good friend at Reese Evans and Christopher Skynar, who were extremely well-known bartenders from Skybar, was standing there with these backless tuxedos on, shaking their arses at me and they were escorting me to my 21st. So we walked in and there was probably like 60 people standing in this entrance way or waiting for me to arrive in my masquerade dress and it all. It looked really great from the front. I mean I'm walking in with beautiful guys and tuxedos until they turned around and my grandma almost passed out Because they're shaking their little arses.
Speaker 1:But I mean, when you are in that sort of drinking town and everything and everything, everyone knows everyone it's good to have, you know, really fun people in high places. And at Chris, reese and Pete those are my three little rascals. I kicked around with them for many, many, many, many years but this is like even like before, some of these bars had locals discount stickers that you could put on your F-bar. And that even cracks me up because Tom was like, do you still have your F-bar? That had all the. You know you got different coloured stickers that meant different things and you could upgrade. And you know that was the bartender's way of knowing that you have been to this establishment this many times and you're entitled to this discount or whatever.
Speaker 1:And I mean I'm not going to say to this day because I probably haven't been in surreal, but I used to use my boss's surreal card number I think it was 246 or 468, and I would probably go in there like I don't know one series six months and I'm like, yeah, I was here last week, 468, no, so yeah, I loved how the bars made you feel really like, looked after, and I don't think they do these types of things. Now I know that a couple of the ones that are run by, like Winnie's and Ballarat and everything else, is they do a Republic barcode the more you drink, the cheaper the drinks get. But if you drink heaps in one month, I understand that maybe you get the discount the next month and that to me is like not consistent, because I don't go out in Queenstown that much to get much of any sort of discount. Tom was laughing, though, because he was like remember back in the day when you used to take a taxi from downtown Queenstown to Riverside Road and Franklin, where he used to live, and it was $30 cash and you had the taxi driver's number in your phone as opposed to ringing for one? So I was sitting there like why, how much is it? Now he says, oh, it's $50 from Queenstown to the BP.
Speaker 1:So I know inflation's, you know, killed it, but when you were feeling sort of, you know, drunk and whatever, you had to rely on getting home, there's nothing worse than having to go to an ATM, which it's funny, because the other day I walked past the Kiwi Bank ATM on Shot Over Street and I remember the night where they put the tens and the 20s the wrong way around and when you went to get out 20 bucks, $10 came out. When you got $10, 20 bucks came out, and I remember people were withdrawing heaps of money. I was like what's going on? Um, god, I wish they did that these days, or even the petrol pumps, if they just, you know, put the decimal point around the other way, so it was like 89 cents a liter or 35 cents a liter instead of $3 50. Great, but no, I actually got asked.
Speaker 1:You know, how do they ever get over my hangover in those days? And I think it wasn't the case of being hung over as it was. I was young and I could just sort of I don't know cope with it. But Hamels, which is a cafe that was in Remarkables Park it's not there anymore, it's called something else they used to have a breakfast pizza which was bacon, egg, hash brown with Hollandaise sauce on a pizza, and it would be the end of me and my friends $300 bucket. We used to have a pint of coke and Coca-Cola. Why do I feel like I need to justify that? And the Hamels breakfast pizza. And also, you know, the older you get, the easier it is just to wake up the next day after a big night out and have a hair of the dog Drink, and when I say that I mean like bloody Mary's or something with a bit of substance to it. That makes you feel right. And even my birthday like a year night, not this birthday just gone, but the year before I had a friend over from Australia. We actually drove down the crown range and I was Significantly hung over, like I was Pistcroc. And when I got into Queenstown they were doing a $4 local drink. That was just Gin and juice and I tell you, a gin and juice made me feel a million times better than what I did when I first walked in and I was like dying. So here of the dog drinks are the way I got through everything. It's just one of those things I've written here.
Speaker 1:The famous people that I've come across which isn't like to rub in anything, it's just people that I've managed to Spot and, and you know, mark Ellis, greg Murphy, ali Williams, dan Carter to Kitane. I had a really fun run in with Jesse Metcalf, who was the Gardner from dispara housewives, and Jack Osborne, the bartender at Bar Muda actually said to me all, there's someone famous in here, introduce yourself to me and I'll let you go into the VIP area. So I said to him Hi, I'm Danny, I'm Taurus. I, taurus, was my star sign and I like long walks on the beach. He was like, yeah, go for it.
Speaker 1:I Actually didn't recognize who he might have thought was someone famous and I think it's just one of those things, that you just treat everyone with same level of respect and it's you know, you don't put anyone on a pedestal, so to me it didn't make any difference. However, I don't know what happened, but I got along with them really well and ended up back at the sofa tower drinking yeah, you're my star in Red Bull. Oh, no, it was Jack Daniels in Red Bull. And I Still to this day get the shakes thinking about the next day after that because I was so pissed crook. Like that is not something I want to ever do again in my whole life.
Speaker 1:My very dear friend actually was a bartender at the bunker when Jason Mamoa and Kate Winslet was in town, and this is way before I even knew who Jason Mamoa was. So I'm still kicking myself that like she got a photo where he is actually lifting her up. So yeah, they've been here as well, and I think it's one of those towns that someone can walk past you and you won't even know that that's even just happened until it's happened. But when you're on a night out I mean, even I had that fabulous night with Nick Cummins, the honey badger from Australia, the Bachelor as well, and I don't know just treat everyone with the same Understanding that we are all human and you'll you go places. So, if I look back on my Reflections of a club rat Danny sort of brainstorm actually, tom wanted to contribute his car crash story because he still, to this day, blames me, but as I was coming down skybar stairs one day, I fell down the stairs and fell out onto the street and Tom was coming out a KFC, and he ran up the back of a taxi because he was watching me, and he still is like salty about it because, yeah, my bad, but I guess.
Speaker 1:However, if I look back on all this, I just sort of think, wow, there's a good ten years of shit, and definitely bars that have been and gone, if anything, and that's kind of like Sad, because, of course, you want places to live forever, and when I was at the Franklin Arms Tavern, you look around and it's still the same bar. There's still the same people. Some of these other places that have been and gone, though, are like real nightclubby kind of things. I don't know if it just didn't work out for them or they wanted to change their concept or whatever, but If they could come back in some sort of way, I'd be really greatly appreciative.
Speaker 1:But I don't live in Queenstown anymore to be that type of person and I think starting up you know my drinking culture with someone like my gorgeous Aquaman lookalike was so like filling of my cup. It's something that's been and gone and I'm happy with it. And I had a friend just recently say to me I've been listening to your podcast and I just sort of want to check in and see that you're okay, because I feel like you're not as like free and wild anymore and I you okay, and I was like, well, I'm getting older. If anything, I don't want to be this nightclubbing drinking full that Stays out and, you know, has terrible Sundays and everything else. Like I've got priorities and I've got stuff that I want to do. So I'm not down and sad about it, I'm just moving on with my life. But it's something that you know, at 18 years old man, I was all over. I was having so much fun and To all those people that are still on my social media that I've come across and nightclub toilets and stuff, and let me tell you that social media introduction of people, that only happened when was Facebook even invented?
Speaker 1:I feel like I left Australia in 2004 and maybe it was happening then I don't know, but I still feel like there's a chunk of people that never made it to being on my Facebook and I'm like boo, those, those bathroom conversations at two in the morning, and you know they still play on in my mind. If I was to move on about anything that I've talked about and sort of changed pace a little bit, I am, I don't know nine essays into my 101 essays. That will change the way you think book and I've actually bookmarked a couple of things I just wanted to touch on, one of which is I've actually read an essay like four or five Times and that's essay number four how the people we once loved became strangers again. And that's massive because at the end of the day, like when you meet someone, and I think that essay kind of speaks volumes about people and Relationships, because when you once loved someone and then you sort of look at them as though they're a stranger again, I sort of put it in the perspective of like friendships and stuff where you know a friendship Just doesn't continue, how you've actually known them before. And I made mum read it and she was like whoa, that's deep. But I know a couple of you have brought the books since and, yeah, I want to have your thoughts and feelings on that essay in general. But, um, also, one thing that sort of was at the end of essay number five is Is that sort of played on my mind that I wanted to share is that the main thing Intelligent people understand is that your relationship to everyone else is an extension of your relationship to yourself.
Speaker 1:I'll say that again the main thing socially intelligent people understand Is that your relationship to everyone else is an extension of your relationship to yourself. So the way I sort of see that is that you have to have, like it's one of those things. What do they say? You can't love somebody else until you love yourself. I can't be a great friend until I'm a great like like giving person and myself, like if I am feeling like sad and down, like I can't be a good friend to anyone else, or it's kind of the way I see it, but also like I know that like as recently as a couple of weeks ago, I sort of was feeling a bit low about some stuff and I just it's one of those things that if you are feeling a bit below in yourself, take time to rebuild and come back as as good as you are normally. And it's not a bad thing, because there's so many pressures these days that obviously it's just been such a whirlwind. And I am not a socially intelligent person, don't get me wrong. It's just one of these things where I sort of saw that quote and I thought, hey, that makes sense, because I can't be the best version of myself or my friends.
Speaker 1:If I'm struggling with other things that are weird and like consuming of my time and even though I used to drink and be, you know, social and everything else you know, when I was 18, 19, all the way through my 20s and whatnot, and I've got so many stories to give and everything, if I am sort of realigning my goals and sort of hermit mode, I think it's because I'm getting older. I want to save money, I want to have some assets and I have like what I thought was three trips, as in my budget, is actually turned into five and Lord help me. I don't know how I'm gonna do this, but I'm managing that I had to refocus a few things on, but it doesn't make me less of a friend and I think that that quote spoke volumes. If you aren't able to give love where there should be a giving of love. Take a look at yourself and then be like, well, far out it's because I'm actually like needing a minute and it's not bad.
Speaker 1:So the other thing is is that I'm also deep diving into audiobooks at the moment. I went to buy some and I sort of thought about it. I was like if you oversell yourself with something like reading, you're not gonna enjoy it. So I'm kind of content with my 101 essays that will change the way you think book for now and it's it's good because it's easy and it's just light-hearted.
Speaker 1:I brought this stunning tea cup on the weekend. I actually massive shout out to the chickie at K mark Queenstown that let me climb into this stupid storage container thing to get this. But I was walking past and I saw this box of two tea cups that were just this absolutely like stunning design and I was like, oh my god, mom. And she was like, yeah, no, they're actually really cool, danny. So I brought them and now I've found myself like reading with a cup of tea anyway, an audiobook that I'm on at the moment through Spotify. It's free.
Speaker 1:I think it takes nine hours to have this chickie like read you the story that I found myself enjoying, because not only is it not a podcast, where it's like self-help or true crime or anything, it is just a story that someone's telling you that I've got on in the background is a New York bestseller called Yellow Face, and the concept is mind-blowing and I know people that own the actual book are struggling to put it down because it's so good. Basically, it's about an idea that this person had and then she passes away and the idea gets stolen and then it just sort of like goes on and it's crazy, it's. I think it's based on a true story, anyway it's. It's just one of those things I thought I'd share, because if you're actually interested in reading but you're just like picking up a book is not my favorite thing, I would recommend an audiobook. Not only is it like keeping your brain active and you're not like aimlessly scrolling and stuff, you're actually like listening to someone tell a story.
Speaker 1:I don't know, I'm here for it, I'm here for it, and the other thing that I sort of I've wanted to do for quite a long time and I've never really felt confident in doing it, but I'm starting as of today is journaling, which cracks me up because I'm all about gratitude and, like you know, giving out to the universe and taking it all in, and but when do I ever write anything down? I have this big, beautiful stand-up desk that is trashed it's got my whole job on it which sometimes I look at and I think, god damn it, it's this massive part of my bedroom that this desk is on that I don't actually apply myself to. So I had my little cup of tea this morning in my bougie mug that's from Kmart, and I brought this little journal book which actually on the front cover says just for me, a little self-care, and I don't know, I didn't find it hard anyway. I don't know the whole concept around journaling, so don't quote me on this yet. But it says quote of the day and you actually have to write something in the box, and so I actually didn't really have a quote, but I just said remind yourself of your self-worth. And then it went on to say I'm grateful for, and I was like, oh well, weird enough is, I'm grateful for mum and Tom, I'm grateful for my job and I'm grateful to have a warm bed, because I know that, like trying times are starting to stress people out and people aren't as lucky. So those are the things I'm definitely grateful for.
Speaker 1:Today's focus is on food, exercise and recording my podcast, which it's now getting up there in the afternoon, and I haven't even got this out to you guys yet. Some stressing about it how I felt today I'm feeling relaxed. I had a really great weekend. I don't really have anything out overdual or outstanding to do in life. I checked on my budget. Everything's all sweet. I'll come to that in a second.
Speaker 1:A happy moment that I had this morning was I was lifting weights at the gym this morning. That was a little bit heavier than two weeks ago, so I was like, yes, progress, I'm feeling it. I'll feel it tomorrow, but that's for tomorrow's problem, and tomorrow I actually want to go for a walk. So that was something I ended up finally finalizing in my journaling. I know it's not as in deep as some people do, right, but I don't feel like I'm there yet. So for now it's just sort of like gratitude and like being aware that you're, I don't know, giving back and I don't know, maybe feel warm and fuzzy and good. So I'm not I'm not hating on it.
Speaker 1:So if I could actually like loop back to my budget update, the weirdest thing happened, which cracked me up. So I got paid on Wednesday, just gone and, as you all know, I just got back from Auckland. So while I was in Auckland, I chucked all of my Auckland savings into my everyday spend account and I deleted my Auckland account. Got paid on the Wednesday, looked at my bank account, thought, oh, it still looks sick. Why does it look sick of like knocked off one of my budget things that I was saving for? This is annoying.
Speaker 1:Friday rolled round and I woke up to a deposit of $250 and I was sitting there and I was like what, where did that come from? And I was honestly about to burst out of my room and go down to the kitchen to tell mum that you know she didn't have to pay me for something that I brought for the house the other day. For the weirdest thing was is that that $250 was bouncing back from my Auckland account because I closed the account but it didn't turn off the automatic payment. So I was like, oh my god. And that's why when we went over to Queenstown to see Tom, I actually had extra money to go shopping it came up with and it was just like the best part about it was that I brought a candle, a journal, some tea cups and something else I can't remember. However, it was like $50 and this bag was literally like warm, fuzzy self-care stuff that I just was so happy about and I was like it's $50.
Speaker 1:And then I ended up in countdown, and countdown cracks me up because they just have really creative snacky things like and I haven't brought anything from a sooth market like countdown or pack and save for over two months because we have fresh choice in New World here in Cromwell and, let's be honest, when you're on a budget, you don't spend a lot of money on food. So, having this couple of hundred bucks, I was like you know what I'm literally down to, like flour and sugar, like your girl needs some creative food. So I went on a bit of a rampage I'm not even gonna lie and I was just so excited to buy some really fun food items that I hadn't had and so long, and it made me feel so good and I think, yeah, when you have these little wins, you got to celebrate it. However, I said to mum on the 1st of August that I wasn't gonna drink alcohol until my cousin Cam had been over on the 14th for a whole week and I was like I'm going to Australia in 29 days. I have to sort my shit out, because these are exciting times and here I am, just, you know, aimlessly having a glass of wine with dinner and shit. So, anyway, when I was in countdown, I came across Cask Rose and I was like, oh my god, it's not Sav Blanc, it's Rose. So I brought it and I had no intention of opening it, but the fact is is that I had it, so it was all cool. However, I had an unexpected house guest on Saturday, which was super fun, so stupid cast could open. But it's not my fault. And also, considering my budget, my cruise is now paid off. So now I have until the 1st of November to just save some spending money, which is crazy because I'm on a boat for eight days. What can I possibly spend money on? That's not like alcohol, but yeah, I feel like everything's coming to fruition when it comes to my budget. It was scary thinking that all this money had to go towards like big kind of exciting things and I was like, oh, I'm not coping, but I don't know, for some reason it's all just sort of worked and I know that I've been over saving. So it's really nice to actually have the money and then to go to something and then, if you don't spend it, I'll put it on towards the next thing. So I'm sort of compounding my trips in a way. But yeah, I'm so ecstatic with how this budget things worked out because, shit, it's been a ride. I'm not good at this stuff and my Tinder update makes me laugh so much.
Speaker 1:They have been very creative with their one-liners. I'll tell you there are some hotties in the region. This guy messages the other day and he says hi, how are you something, something, something. And I was like, oh yeah, how would you lead with a pickup line? And he sees something like shit, did I even write it down? I don't think I wrote it down. No, I didn't write it down. No, I've forgotten it. He said that he was some sort of If he could be any type of fabric, it would be husband material and I was like, oh snap, that is very creative.
Speaker 1:But anyway, one thing that seems to be an ongoing issue is the fact that there are guys in Queenstown that are talking to me that find out that I live in Cromwell and they're like, oh, it's transported an issue. No, I own a car, so that kind of cracked me up. But yeah, I'm definitely still having a lot of fun and nothing's really led to anything because or anything of substance, because I've been kind of busy and I've been under the weather. For some reason. I've got this cold and I feel like it traveled back from Auckland with me. But every time I cough or sneeze it feels like my head's going to pop off and I'm not like I haven't got COVID or anything stupid, but it's just lingering and I've just felt like literally under the weather and I haven't really gotten better. So I've put everything on the back burner. So there's no dates happening on Tinder, there's just a whole bunch of conversations. But I have been sharing with my girlfriends some of these chats. It's so fun, oh my gosh.
Speaker 1:One guy wanted to take me to the arcade and take me to a ping pong show, and obviously the first thing that came to my mind was like, is that, when the ping pong book comes out of your hua, like, are we going to Thailand? What ping pong show are you talking about? Because I don't remember there being a ping pong arcade in Queenstown, but whatever. And then the other thing I had heaps of people message me is about Jason Momoa being here for his 44th birthday. Yes, I knew where he was staying. My brother from another mother even confirmed it. He was like yeah, we worked on that house. He was in a gated community. I wasn't allowed in. However, don't think I didn't try, okay. So when he actually posted on a social media that he was drinking in a spa in the snow on his 44th birthday, I was literally grabbing keys Like I was running out the door, like I found him. He's here.
Speaker 1:But then to find out that he was actually at the Dunedin rugby game when it was New Zealand versus Australia on the weekend and he was just getting you know amongst the crowd and everything was just he's such a Kiwi, that's not a Kiwi, I can tell on you, he's so cool, but yeah. So I do know that he is here. Is he still here? I don't know. I did say on Friday to someone Did he fly down on like Air New Zealand from Auckland to Queenstown? And like no one said anything Like is that how much he blends in? I don't even know because I can't see him taking a private jet because of carbon emissions and all that shit. So I definitely think he like just traveled down randomly. Who knows? I'm not, I don't care, I'm not stalking him or anything, but these sort of come into my mind every now and then Also. Just lastly this is really funny I actually have a post-it note on my pad here. That's I. Also.
Speaker 1:Mum has had a very stressful couple of weeks at work and everything else, and she's struggling to sleep. And I gave her my this works sleep spray and she was so hesitant. I tell you, parents are so funny when it comes to trying things that their kids do. It just speaks volumes of you can get your parents to do anything. So I gave it to her one night and she was so scared she's like what's going to happen? Am I going to sleep through my alarm ready? Rast is no, no, no, it does this weird shit that makes your eyes heaven. You've got to shut your eyes.
Speaker 1:And anyway, the first night that she took it, I didn't hear from her the whole next day and I was like, holy fuck, what have I done? And she came home and I said so how'd that sleep spray go? And she went. What intonation is that? Shit, I am obsessed. I fell asleep, I stayed asleep and it was just delicious. I said I know, I know, anyway, she's brought some. She then told her workmates and they all brought some.
Speaker 1:Her workmate actually has I think he's like two years old and he struggles with sleep. She's brought the child's version of it. I'm like I just went down this massive caterpillar and I was like, oh my God. So if anyone's still on the fence about it, hey look if mum's, like you know, even obsessed. My brother actually. We told him and he said what's in it? Is it like THC or what's cannabis oil or some shit? And I'm like, no, it's from like a beauty store. But we're even contemplating getting him some, because sometimes, in the way I see it and I want to share this with everyone is that you need a little bit of help. You know you're not supposed to coast through life and struggle with. You know this that. You know there are things to take to help you fall asleep, get asleep, everything else. And this weird spray it's selling out because Nabesti and Brisbane went hunting for it yesterday and he got sent to three different stores. So yeah, I just wanted to loop back and let Yzzil know that that my mum actually has my bottle right now. She's waiting for hers to come in the mail, but it's delicious and if you're not coping with sleeping at the moment, for whatever reason I don't know, give it a go. Called this works a magic sleep spray.
Speaker 1:So, as we sort of like, come to the end of this podcast, I have no idea what my 20th podcast going to be about. I'm so excited to brainstorm and just sort of see where that takes us. But yeah, the reflections on me being a little nightclubbing princess. I actually didn't think that it would come out of me as much as it did about how many actually closed down and that's that's sad.
Speaker 1:You know, I have a lot of memories in these places and the establishment themselves still exist but the bar name might have changed and the ownership and everything else and these different specials and all that. Nothing stays the same. I get that. But I still took, I took. I took a lot away from when I was just socializing, networking, everything else, and even when I was living up Fern Hill and you know the Larry's Paddock in Sunshine Bay, you know, on the bones of my ass I'd still go out with 20 bucks and come home with 15 because I had to buy a pie on the way home. On that note, take care, everyone Reach out if you need anything. Of course I love all the chats, so yeah, on to the next podcast, say number 20. Take care, bye.