2009 FIBA U19 World Championship

Nyt tuleekin kaikkia korisihmisiä kiinnostavaa tekstiä.. Uusi-Seelanti sai järjetettäväksi alle 19 vuotiaiden poikien MM kisat ja ne ovat Aucklandissa 2-12.7.2009. Itse olen paikalla (ellei mitään mullistavaa tapahdu). Toivotan kaikki kiinnostuneet tervetulleiksi ja eikun matkoja varailemaan..

Sitten vähän faktaa, jotta saadaan kiinnostus kohoamaan: 19v poikien MM kisat ovat 2009 koripallokalenterin isoimmat ja ne ovat ensimmäiset isot koripallokisat jotka järjestetään Uudessa-Seelannissa. Lisäksi Uuden-Seelannin nuoret eivät ole koskaan ennen selviytyneet näihin kisoihin.. Lisäksi tämän kokoluokan tapahtuman järjestäminen pienelle maalle, kuten Uusi-Seelanti (väkeä 4,3 milj.), ei ole mikään pikkujuttu. Toissalta vuoden 2008 tyttöjen alle 19v jalkapallon MM kisat olivat huikea menestys: Ottelut vetivät täysiä areenoja!

Nuorten kisat ovat siinä mielessä äärimmäisen mielenkiintoiset, että yksittäiset urheilijat onnistuessaan voivat saada rahakkaita sopimuksia ja taas epäonnistuessaan... Varsinkin pienille maille tämä on oivallinen näytönpaikka!

Maanantaina (2.3.2009) järjestetyssä arvontatilaisuudessa Aucklandissa selivivät lohkojaot ja alkusarjojen otteluohjelmat. Lisää infoa löytyy FIBAn sivuilta.

Lohkojaot. Täällä ruvettiin jo spekuloimaan Uuden-Seelannin mahdollisuuksista.

Tässä muutamia poimintoja alkusarjasta:
Day 1 (2.7.2009)
Liettua - Puerto Rico, pitäähän sitä mennä Puerto Ricoa kannustamaan.
Iran - USA, onkohan jännitteitä mukana?
Argentiina - Uusi-Seelanti, isäntien pelejä ei missata!

Day 2 (3.7.2009)
USA - Ranska, odotettavissa tiukkaa vääntöä.
Australia - Espanja, mielenkiintoinen kohtaaminen.
Uusi-Seelanti - Kroatia, tämä olisi Tall Blacksien tärkeä voittaa.

Day 3 (4.7.2009)
Liettua - Kreikka, kumpi kaatuu?
Kanada - Espanja, luulisi Espanjan voittavan, mutta eihän sitä koskaan tiedä..
Uusi-Seelanti - Kazakstan, nyt Kiwit ovat jo ennakkosuosikkeja.

Ja historiaa..
Edelliset kisat järjettiin 2007 Serbiassa (järjetyksessään 8. kisat) ja sijoitukset olivat tuolloin:
Kultaa Serbialle(8-1), hopeaa USA:lle(8-1), pronssia Ranskalle(6-3) ja neljänneksi selvisi Brasilia(4-5). Viides oli Autralia(8-1), jolla oli tiukkoja voittoja alkusarjassa, mutta se ainoa tappio tuli pahimpaan mahdolliseen paikkaan pisteellä Brasilialle, mahtoi poikia hatuttaa.. Kuudes Argentiina(4-5), seitsemäs Turkki(4-5) ja kahdeksas Espanja(4-5).
Loput maat järjetyksessä: Liettua(4-4), Kanada(4-4), Korea(3-5), Kiina(1-7), Nigeria(2-3), Libanon(1-4), Mali(1-4) ja viimeisenä Puerto Rico(0-5) ilman yhtään voittoa. Mielenkiinnolla jäämme odottamaan miten Puerto Ricon pojat pärjäävät tällä kertaa.

Ja koska jenkit yleensä dominoivat koripallokenttiä niin tässä heidän recordinsa alle 19 vuotiaiden poikien kisoista: USA 53-11, kolme kultaa, kolme hopeaa, kerran viides ja kerran seitsemäs. Mikäs on veikkaus menestyksestä näissä kisoissa?

DramFest '09

DramFest is New Zealand's whisky festival. Last weekend it was organised for the second time (premiered in 2007) at the Convention Centre in Christchurch. We were, of course, on the spot, tasting this wonderful, complex spirit. Those of you who wrinkle your noses at the slightest mention of whisky, uisge beatha, the water of life, the oil of conversation, the philosophic wine and so forth (kärt barn har många namn) may wish to skip the whisky jargon which is about to follow. Those of you, on the other hand, who do appreciate the finer things life has to offer, please keep on reading!

It is perhaps not so surprising to find a large and lively whisky community in this country, New Zealand being a former member of the British Empire and many Brits and Scots having emigrated here. The Main Event on Saturday and Sunday was pretty much sold out, as were all Tasting Classes (more on these later). Around 30 whisky producers were represented and a total of up to 170 different whiskies were on display, the majority available for tasting. Most were Scotch Single Malts, but a few blends were also thrown into the mix, as well as Irish, American, Australian whiskeys and New Zealand whiskies. With your DramFest '09 glass in hand, you had four hours a day to walk from stand to stand and sample as many different drams as your heart desired.

We made it through around 14 different distilleries and 20 whiskies of varying age, type and strength on Saturday. I won't mention all of them, just the most interesting ones.

Besides tasting the pure stuff, you could also try some whisky drinks prepared by the bartenders during cocktail demonstrations. We had both the good and the really bad - it's a tricky thing making cocktails of single malt whisky!

First of all, you need to know about the only New Zealand whisky available. This is the "Milford" range of single malts and blends. Presently there is no operational distillery in New Zealand. However, the Willowbank distillery was opened in Dunedin in 1974. Being the first whisky distillery to operate in NZ, it first produced two blends until releasing a single malt whisky in 1984. It was named Lammerlaw. Unfortunately a turn of events forced the distillery to cease production in 1997. By this time there was a large stock of maturing whisky produced between 1987 and 1993. This was acquired by The New Zealand Malt Whisky Company and it is this whisky which is today sold with the Milford Single Malt label. As the number of old Lammerlaw casks is finite, this is a very exclusive whisky. When it's gone, it's gone for good! There are 10, 12, 15, 18 and 20 year old single malts available, as well as two cask strengths. In our opinion these are some first-rate whiskies that can compete with the plethora of quality Scotch single malts out there.

The New Zealand Malt Whisky Company is located in Oamaru on the east coast of the South Island, between Christchurch and Dunedin. It is well worth a visit even if you're not a whisky fan, since it lies in Oamaru's beautiful historic quarter (more on this in a later blog post) and the interior is stunning.

Kilchoman is a new farm distillery on Islay in Scotland. It has only been operational for three years, so there are no mature Kilchoman malts yet. We did, however, taste their 2 year old New Spirit maturing in Bourbon barrels and Oloroso Sherry butts. Kilchoman has great potential and if you are a fan of Islay whiskies, this is definitely a malt to keep an eye out for in 10 years or so (strong peat flavour). Kilchoman is the first distillery to be built on Islay for 124 years, and is unusual in the sense that it grows its own barley at the distillery and will do the bottling at the distillery too.

Giigan at the Ardbeg stand. Did you know there are 106 distilleries licensed to produce Scotch whisky?

At the Ardbeg stand we had the opportunity to taste the limited edition Supernova, which is a real peat monster with barley peated to 100 parts per million of phenols (almost twice as much as the signature 10 year old Ardbeg). At almost 60% Vol., it's an explosive experience with long lasting flavours!

One of our absolutely favourite whiskies at the DramFest was the 17 year old Old Pulteney. Its smooth vanilla and flower flavour was amazingly delightful. This is a whisky to be had on a summer evening sitting on the wharf by the sea at the summer cottage, or out on the sailing boat. A "Genuine Maritime Malt".

Two happy Finns at the Old Pulteney stand. Did you know 18,4 million casks of whisky lie maturing in warehouses around Scotland?

The Longrow by Springbank was a true discovery for me. The double distilled, double peated 10 year old has a good balance of smoothness and peat, proving that Islay-style single malts can be produced on the mainland too (the Springbank distillery lies in Campbeltown). There is also a 14 year old Longrow, but we didn't try it. A bottle of Longrow will definitely find its way into my whisky cupboard when I return from this journey :-)

Being a fan of Islay whiskies, my last dram for Saturday was a 26 year old Port Ellen from the Old Malt Cask range bottled by the independent bottlers and blenders Douglas Laing & Co. The Port Ellen distillery is no longer in business, so it was quite extraordinary to be able to sample this superb single malt coming from a single cask producing 721 bottles.

JBB enjoying his 26 year old Port Ellen in front of the Old Malt Cask stand. Did you know more Scotch is sold in a month in France than Cognac in a year?

As sure as having to drink a lot of water in between the drams makes you run to the toilet every now and then, drinking whisky half a day makes you hungry. We topped off this splendid Saturday by having dinner at The Flying Burrito Brothers. This Wellington-Christchurch-Tauranga-based restaurant serves top notch mexican food the likes of which you can't get in Finland. And a hint for the women unlikely to have read this far in this blog post: they make excellent margaritas. We know from experience. If you're more of a beer fan, head over to The Twisted Hop - a popular microbrewery pub in Christchurch. That's what we did having made our tummies happy with quesadillas and fajitas. The Twisted Hop uses quite a lot of hops in most of their beers. If you like that and bitter beers, don't miss out on this quality microbrewery!

The next day (Sunday) we participated in one of the Tasting Classes at the DramFest. The Tasting Classes are a way to dig deeper into the whisky range of a particular distillery. There were eight classes available. We attended the Glenfarclas class.

The Glenfarclas stand at the Main Event on Saturday.

The Glenfarclas distillery was officially established in 1836 (although there is indication that distillation had begun a number of years earlier, without a license). Glenfarclas lies in Speyside and is, contrary to most distilleries in Scotland, family owned. It has been in the hands of the Grant family since 1865 and was a farm distillery up until as late as 1988, when the then chairman George Grant decided that "we are distillers, not farmers". As a true independent distillery, Glenfarclas distills and matures its great single malts using time-honoured practices, producing traditional Speyside whiskies with a strong sherry touch.

Besides getting a presentation on the history of Glenfarclas, we got to taste five whiskies from the impressive Glenfarclas range.

The five Glenfarclas whiskies in the Tasting Class. Numbered 1 to 5 from left to right.

We started off with the family favourite, the signature Glenfarclas whisky if you will; the 15 year old. Like most Glenfarclas whiskies, it has been matured in Spanish sherry casks, giving it a good balance of sweetness, fruitiness and smokiness. An enjoyable malt.

Next in turn was the 21 year old. It was fresh yet spicy at the same time, and just sort of melted in the mouth. A dangerous whisky, as it always makes you crave for another dram of it! This one was my personal favourite.

Third in line was the 1984 Family Cask. The Family Casks is a unique collection of the very best single casks from 43 consequtive years. No other distillery can boast with a collection of so many rare whiskies. It was quite exceptional to have a Family Cask at the Tasting Class, and we thoroughly enjoyed this 23 year old non-typical Glenfarclas, which has actually been matured in a plain oak cask (hence its pale colour).

Moving on to the fourth, the 105 Cask Strength 60% Vol., proved to us that high alcohol content doesn't mean the spirit has to taste alcohol. The 105 has great smoothness bundled with sweet toffee flavours, making your mouth water and enabling you to drink it at cask strength.

An experience like this needs to end with something spectacular, and something like that was certainly in store for us. The fifth whisky was a limited edition release from just a few casks, producing only 893 bottles in total. Our Tasting Class was the the first group in the southern hemisphere to taste it. I'm talking about the 105 Cask Strength Aged 40 Years 60% Vol. Complex, smooth but strong with fruit and liquorice flavours, fully drinkable at cask strength, it was, perhaps, the best whisky I've ever tasted. But at 1500 NZ dollars per bottle, it should be too.

Giigan and JBB at the Convention Centre, making the last dram of the 40 year old Glenfarclas last for as long as possible.

When we are back in Finland drinking drams from our DramFest '09 souvenir glasses, we will certainly remember this very special weekend. If New Zealand was any closer to Scandinavia, DramFest would most likely become a tradition for us.

Drink responsibly - Drink for life!
(DramFest trademark)

Cape Palliser and Martinborough

The southernmost point of the North Island: the Cape Palliser lighthouse

After having climbed Mt Taranaki (by now over a month ago) we headed south towards Wellington, the capital of New Zealand. While in the region, we visited the southernmost point of the North Island and the Martinborough wine district. It was a magical moment to stand next to the Cape Palliser lighthouse. After all, now we had conquered the whole North Island. It took us 136 days to explore it!

It was awesome

Cape Palliser is quite remote. As we were driving there, we were suddenly confronted by an unusual road block having passed a blind curve. The road was filled with cows. We had to stop and wait for the pack of cows to wander by while they smelled on our car and marveled at us. Cape Palliser lies in the middle of a seal colony. When we arrived some seals were frolicking in the water just off the shore and tried to get their lunch. It was nice to watch how easily they swam in the turbulent water amidst very sharp and dangerous rocks.

What are you looking at?

There was good surfing waves too but we didn't start our surf careers yet.

JBB having some fun with the seals

After a good morning with the seals we headed to Martinborough - a well known wine district, most famous for its New World pinot noirs. This time we didn't go on a commercial wine tour but drove around some wineries ourselves instead. This time Giigan got to be the designated driver. We improved our wine know-how with four wineries: Murdoch James, Ata Rangi, Te Kairanga and Alana Estate. Of these four we liked the wines of Ata Rangi the most. In fact, it was also the one making you feel most welcome and the one with the best service. After this we felt more confident touring wineries by ourselves. It's typical for vintages from the Martinborough district to have very different flavours. We tasted, for instance, 2006 and 2007 wines of the same producer and grape, and found that they had indeed distinct flavours.

JBB at the Ata Rangi winery sampling its great Pinot Noir

Stay tuned for our next blog post, telling you about Wellington and the arrival of our first Finnish visitors.

Business as usual: MORE PICTURES available by clicking this link (hyvä että tietotekniikkaekspertimme Samikin on päässyt tästä lisäkuvien sijainnista kärryille pienen avunannon jälkeen ;-)).

The East Coast

At the time of writing we are in Dunedin on the South Island. We're driving around the southern part of the island while waiting for Giigan's parents to arrive in Christchurch in a couple of weeks or so. A lot has happened since we left Mt Maunganui (besides climbing Mt Taranaki which we already told you about) so we have lots and lots of stuff to write about. However, due to the trouble our laptop gave us in January, we haven't even had time to write about everything we experienced when we were still living in the Mount. So today's blog post will take us back to the first few days of this year and the road trip we did back then.

Our primary destination was the East Coast (of the North Island); the cities of Napier in Hawke's Bay and Gisborne in Poverty Bay, to be specific. We left from home on New Year's Day and spent four days in total touring this part of New Zealand.

We stayed two nights in Napier to begin with. On the way there we stopped in Rotorua, where Giigan went on the Rotorua Gondola and got some adrenaline kicks out of racing down the mountain side in what is called the Luge (a sealed downhill track on which you ride a three-wheeled cart with steering and brakes).

The gondola in Rotorua

Napier is one of the absolutely nicest towns we have visited in NZ. In 1931 an earthquake more or less leveled the city to the ground. At the same time huge areas that used to be seabed were lifted 2 metres above the sea level. This new land has, for instance, been used to build an airport. The city was rebuilt mainly in the Art Deco style, which gives it a classic look and feel. The architecture radiates adventure and creates a comfy atmosphere. The waterfront location of the town centre doesn't make it any worse either :-) It was also pleasant to notice that all the modern box-like buildings like giant supermarkets and department stores had been built outside the old town centre, and were thus effectively out of sight, but still easily reachable. Good street planning!

Art Deco in Napier

Hawke's Bay where Napier lies is the second largest wine producing region in the country and the principal region when it comes to red wine production. There are more than 30 wineries within a 30 minute drive from Napier. Most of them are open for cellar door sales and tastings. Some wineries even have restaurants or provide accommodation. If you have a car of your own it is an easy thing to tour some of the wineries. Simply collect the region's free winery guide from an i-site and drive to the cellar doors. Usually there is a nominal tasting fee, for which you may taste 4-8 different wines depending on which wines the winery have available for tasting for the moment. The downside of driving to the wineries yourself is, of course, that the driver needs to keep a rein on his consumption.

An alternative is to go on an organised wine tour. It's more expensive (but still not impossibly so) than driving around in your own car, but on the other hand no-one has to mind their drinking--I mean TASTING! Of course you're not drunk after touring four wineries, no, no, ehm...

JBB at the Ngatarawa winery, which used to be horse stables

Anyway, as this was the first wine producing region we had ever visited, we felt more comfortable with going on a real tour. The four hour afternoon tour took us to four wineries around Napier and included (besides the tastings) a cheese platter matched with a complimentary glass of wine. The wineries were Trinity Hill, Ngatarawa, Matariki and Moana Park. The wines of Ngatarawa were overall our favourites. Their Hawke's Bay Merlot and Merlot Cabernet would go excellently with game, whereas the Sauvignon Blanc made from Marlborough grapes lifts a cheese platter to entirely new heights. For those of you with a sweet tooth (like me) I recommend giving the Late Harvest Riesling a go. It's not overly sweet and has "a luscious palate of ripe mandarin with lingering flavours of dried apricots and honey" (at least that's what the tasting notes say).

The members of our wine tour enjoying the cheese platter and white wine at the Ngatarawa winery

The downside of going on an organised tour is that you can't choose the wineries yourself, but on the other hand, the guide is a professional and should thus be able to pick the good ones :-) The nice thing though, is that you may find interesting people on the same tour. Of the six other people on our tour two were, in fact, Finnish! We quickly befriended Jukka and Elina, who were in the same age as us. Elina is, like we are, on a working holiday in NZ, whereas Jukka was just visiting his friend. After the wine tour we challenged them to a game of mini golf with a round of beer in the pot (we were all kind of thirsty for something less wine-like after having sampled over 20 wines). Guess who won? ;-) It was fun talking Finnish in a group and to discuss the cultural differences we had encountered with someone sharing the same cultural background. Siinähän se ilta mukavasti pyörähti!

On our third day we left Napier in the morning and headed north along the curve of Hawke's Bay towards Gisborne.

On our way we strayed to the Te Urewera National Park. Besides vast stretches of rolling hills covered in untouched native forest, the national park is home to many lakes and rivers. Time allowing, we would have done some of the many walks in the area, but we had to settle for admiring the views.

Lake Waikaremoana in the Te Urewera National Park

Our flatmate Matt had recommended visiting the Mahia Peninsula south of Gisborne because of its beach. Despite the cloudy sky occasionally giving us a shower, we also strayed there. It turned out to be very fortunate, as there was a dolphin swimming with the people on the beach! We learned that the beach is its home, it's lonely and likes to swim with people. It's so tame, that it even lets you touch it. Giigan ventured into the cold-looking water and can now boast with having swum with a wild dolphin :-) He reported that its skin is very slimy and that its breathing sounds human.

Gisborne in Poverty Bay was a bit of a disappointment. Sure, the location is quite beautiful and there are endless miles of sandy beaches, but unless you're a surfer there isn't that much exciting to do. The city and the main street are a bit dull. There are, however, a lot of wineries around Gisborne too, but since we didn't have much time and we'd already done a wine tour recently we didn't go for it. Nevertheless, from a historical perspective, Gisborne is quite significant. It was in Poverty Bay that Captain James Cook stepped ashore in New Zealand as the first known European. The year was 1769. To commemorate this there is a statue of both Captain Cook and Young Nick, the boy who first sighted land on board the captain's ship, next to the beach in Gisborne.

Giigan striking a pose next to Captain Cook

All in all, it was once again a very successful road trip! The end of it also marked the end of our Christmas holidays. On Monday 5th January we both had to go back to work. As usual, you can access MORE PICTURES from this part of our journey by clicking this link.