So, decisions have been made... deportation is fast approaching...

I have decided to continue on the working holiday theme, heading to the UK this time. I leave Halifax on March 8, arriving in London the following day. Other details... well, they don't exist as of yet, but will come soon. Who am I kidding, it's all a game of whim & prayer with me. But I seem to be winning, so I'll keep playing until my luck changes.

I've started a new blog... http://beckygoesbritish.blogspot.com which I have taken the time to properly (we'll see) add links for your viewing enjoyment... so enjoy!

A report to say I have nothing to report; a progress report lacking of progress...

I'm still in PEI, enjoying another winter storm (25-30 cm dropped on us in the past day) and now starting to get bored. I brought the New Year in with some fantastic crazy friends in ole Ch'town. Forgot how I missed having musical friends and a live band performing at even the tiniest, most informal of gatherings! It was a great night with a group where there are no pretenses and everyone is completely themselves. No matter where I go or how long I'm there, there will never be a group like these guys who have seen each other through crazy times and know all there is to know. It's a comforting to know that we don't have to be in each others daily life to still maintain that closeness.

uhoh, she's getting reflective again...

New Years day brought me a big ole dose of the flu. Yuck. I was out for about 5 days, absolutely miserable with aches and coughs and fevers and all that other wonderful stuff. As awful as it is to feel sick, it is nice to have a few days of rest after such a long time. And to not get dressed... after a year of shared accomodation, a day of lazing about and not worrying about getting out of your pyjamas is a real treat. Funny the simple things you begin to appreciate. Unfortunately ny family did not appreciate this absence of personal hygiene like I.

But yes, I finally recovered (and bathed) and got a bit of time to spend with another great friend Sarah (rewind 6 months, this is the same Sarah who was in NZ for a month) before she & Paul head back to the UK for an undetermined length of time. Last Saturday I finally drug my arse over to NB, heading straight to my old stomping ground of Saint John to catch up with the ladies of San Juan for an evening. We had good fun, great food, and even a little educational game (a cannery is NOT a little yellow bird), then a bit of dancing to round the night out. Sunday I even got the pleasure of dining with my adopted Quispamsis family, the O'Neills, and then Shannon & I started talking... and talked until 4pm the next day! Didn't realize we had so much to catch up on!

Then off to Moncton so Shawn could have the couch back.... My aunt & uncle are Monctonians now, so it was great to spend some time with them. Dave was in the hospital most of the week (always looking for attention this guy) and Debbie was off work (she's a doting wife like you wouldn't believe... Stand by your man!) so what was going to be a 2 day visit turned into a week. It was fantastic to have the time with them and catch up on goings on in Monkeytown. Grumps (Dave) was released from captivity Saturday and made me stick around to figure out what stuff of his I had hidden... aren't I cute? He's a trooper that old bugger.

So Sunday night, accompanied by the funniest boy I know, my 8 year-old cousin (pronounced cuzint) Logan, I came back to my loving parents who were absolutely lost without me... well maybe not lost, but definitely feeloing the void... Now I guess it's time to start catching up with all the Summerside folk! And possibly start sorting out my life, but that's not as much of a priority.

Some strange things I've had to readjust to...
~Opening the newspaper - Cdn newspapers are narrower the NZ ones, meaning I almost ripped the Journal in half when I opened it first. But as I reflect, the first few times I read the paper in NZ, it was horribly awkward with a lot of folding and greatly extended arms

~Radio - too much top 40 pop here. I miss RDU

~I pulled into Sobey's (a major grocery store) to get a bottle of wine. It was't until I parked the car that I remembered alcohol is only sold in liquor stores here (which are all government run)

~Driving! I think it's taking me longer to get back on the right side than it did to get used to the left

~TV - all these shows I've never heard of, movies that are in the theatres in NZ are on video here, lack of British shows and humour, too many damn channels and too much American crap. And the commercials are done differently breaking the shows at different times

There's loads more things that have made me laugh as I realized my error, but of couse they escape me now. No fear, more babbling will come your way soon.

Home sweet snowy home...

Merry Christmas everyone! My uncle chided me for having not updated this since being home, wondering how he was to know if I arrived if I hadn't blogged about it. We had this discussion after the third day in a row he had been out for a visit.

So yes, after 3 good days in LA, I arrived into Halifax on Wednesday evening, just missing the Toronto snow storm. I entered the airport wearing a t-shirt and flip flops to find the beginnings of a major winter storm happening outside. Welcome home.

I was met at the airport by 3 of my bestest festive friends - Mark, Lisa & Carrie - and then we headed in to the city to find Sir Nicholas and tour the Granny flat. It's a 3 hour drive from Halifax to my parents abode on the ole Isle of Ed. I was a bit overwhelmed by Christmas lights ... but glad to not see snow.

It is nice to be home, to be forced to either sleep with a golden retriever or in a basement where the heat doesn't work, to be woken from naps by being thrown on the floor, and to be mocked at a consistent level... and that's just spending time with Mom & Dad! I arrived the wee hours of the 23rd, my sister the evening of the 25th and my brother (after spending Christmas day in a Washington motel, hating the world) about midnight the 25th. We thought we would have only one day together before Dad had to return to work, but it was not so... yet another Boxing Day blizzard has blown upon us the past 24 hours, leaving the entire Maritimes trapped in their homes, forcing Christmas to continue and family bonding to go on forever! (Wait til I post the pics of my brother's new hairdo...)

So about 50 cms of snow later I'm looking at these pics of sunny NZ, hearing of the bbq Christmas and beach holidays... pretending I'm not bitter...

Am in LA, arrived yesterday with no hassle. Enjoying it more than anticipated. Doing a city tour tomorrow but am staying in Hollywood and went shoping on Melrose Ave last night, to Farmers Market today and now am heading over to CBS studios to see live taping of Late Late show with Craig Kilbourn. Be sure to watch!

Bit disappointed - I've only seen 3 Hummers amidst the sea of SUVs. I have also seen a small clothes shop with it's own dj and a fountain choerographed to I'm dreaming of a White Christmas. This city is all about the bizarre...

Into the final hours now folks... 24 hours until boarding time... HELP!!!

Actually, I'm ready for change now. Iam in the stage where I despise my backpack and wish its incineration, constantly thinking soon... soon I will be free of you my friend! But then I take a second look at it and think how cool it is that everyhting I need to live I can carry on my back. Everything I need to survive Christmas I have to wear on my back, front, side and drag along behind me, but I'll deal with that in LA.

So I'm tired and poor and ready for my own bed and to see everyone I know again. I guess I am ready to go home. I will miss NZ desparately and many of the things that have become so normal here ... cafes, year round walks on the beach, mountains, sheep, SUMMER!!! ... but look forward to the faces and comforts of home. And a little snow would be nice. A little. A dusting. A thin covering. That's enough.

It's very hard to get in the Christmas spirit here... few decorations - why would you when it's light until 9:30pm? - and what there is seems to be mainly blue & silver, which I think is an influence of the beach and summer holiday. Towns generally have a few bells or angels hanging from lampposts (I even saw a fish in Whakatane - a fish! He may have been a dolphin, the glittery garland did not reveal great detail, but regardless, not a typical Christmas figure). Auckland is more decorated than most places, complete with the 5 storey Santa on Whitcoull's corner that beckons at small children. I wish I was lying, I will try to get a picture... he is in the ranks with Alien Santa he's so creepy!

Anyway, I just came back to Auckland this morning after 4 totally chilled out days on Waiheke Island. There I just wandered the beaches (still no beach days due to the intermittent rain!!) and met loads of cool travellers, having some great laughs and even a few rounds of crib (I'm ready for you Grampy!). In the words of Kim Mitchell, I am a wild party. But it's cool, I've just spent time enjoying all that I love about NZ.

So tomorrow I depart for the la la land that is LA, arriving hours before I ever left! There is a 21 hour time difference between NZ & LA but only a 12 hour flight. I leave here at 19:40 Sun but arrive there at 10:30 Sun... freaky shit going down... Not sure what I will do there, probably just catch up with Nicole, Julia, you know, see how the twins are... the norm. The back to Isle of Ed Wed night. Whoa.

Ever walked around an active volcano? I have! Monday I went out to White's island, NZ's only active marine volcano. The only other active volcano here is Ruapehu in the National Park, southern part of the North Island. But I didn't go tehre, so let's get back to White Island...

I eventually did get to Whakatane at 4pm Sunday (understand my griping now?) and stayed at a fantastic little hostel. Most hostels in NZ are omes that have been converted, making them small and cozy and completely spoiling the weary backpacker and tricking them into thinking this is how they deserve to be treated. But anyway, Monday turne out to be perfect weather for the trip out to the Island so on the boat I went.

It's 24 nautical miles to the island (about 50km) , taking at least 1.5 hours each way. We saw 2 pods of dolphins on the way there (bottle nosed?) who hung out with us for awhile. They are such fascinating animals and love to interact with boats and humans. I've been really lucky and have seen dolphins everytime I've been on a boat here, and am continually intrigued by them. But I digress...

So off we went in search of a volcano... White Island (so named by that Capt cook guy, who must have gotten so sick of naming this byt eh tiem he finished discovering the entire South Pacific!) came out of the ocean only a few hundred years ago and is about 2.4km in diamater. It's rated at 1 on a 0-5 scale, 0 being dormant and 5 being volatile. But it's last eruption... July 2001. Not a whole long time ago! There is bubbling mud and water everywhere, the smell of sulpher is incredibly strong and the earth is really warm to touch. I found my feet were getting quite hot through my sneakers as we walked around, but would cool off the higher we went up.

Tourists are only allowed to tour the island with a guide and provided they are wearing hard hats and have gas masks in case they are needed. There is a huge crater lake in the middle with a PH level of 1 - I'm told that's as acidic as it gets. The lake temperature is between 100 - 200 C. The island is still changing everyday, particularly in the lake levels. Check out the link form this page http://www.whiteisland.co.nz/ and you can see pictures of White Island upadated hourly.

Yesterday I came back up to Auckland and over to Wiheke Island, a 35 min ride from the city centre. Sherilyn & I came here in Feb-ish (remember the picture of me on the scooter?) and I thought it would be the perfect place to spend my last few days in NZ chilling out on the fantastic beaches. It's raining again. This is not funny anymore. I just want 1 mice beach day. I've been asking fro this for 2 weeks. Just one. please.

Sorry another extended absence... small internet is a costly affair in this country, ranging between $6-8/hour... would you like a limb with that as well? So I save my internet times for moments like this when I have a crappy bus waiting time.

I don't mean to sound negative today, I'm just missing Lucy (my car) in a BIG way! To travel the 90km from Tauranga to Whakatane it is taking me an entire day! I had to leave the hostel at 9:15am to get a lift into the city (no public buses on Sunday) the travel from Tauranga to Rotorua (1.5hrs), am now having a 1.5 hour wait until I get on another 1.5 hr bus to Whakatane. I should have just hitched. (But I would never do something as reckless as that mother dear.)

Anyway, enough on my rants, I do appreciate that (normally) there is a good public transportation network of both buses and shuttles so it is very easy to get around this country and into the strange places.

Speaking of strange places... where have I been this week?

I go tup to Auckland last Sunday morning, impressing myself with my memory of a city I had never driven in and returning the car with no problems. It was nice to be back in the city and visit some of my old haunts and fave spots ... mmm asian food court... I ended up spending 2 days there just enjoying city life but also realizing why South Islanders constantly slag it off. It is a beautiful city, but it is a city. It's not as laid back as the rest of NZ and the people are different - they're city folk. It's nice to have the contrast and I appreciate both sides, but can see why they give each other shit now!

So I headed out to the country to the Coromandel. This was the first "out of Auckland" experience I had in NZ - we went there the long weekend in Feb - and I had memories of spectacular scenery. They were right. It's an amazing place and I went straight for the beach areas (don't get jealous, I still haven't had a beach day). I stayed 3 nights in Whitianga (Fit-e-an-ga), wandering the beach (wearing a sweater!), visiting the Hot Water Beach (hot springs under the beach create hot pools so you can build yourself a little spa pool at low tide), Cathedral COve, Hahei (some may call it Habel...), Cooks Beach (where the infamous Capt Cook first landed in NZ), and maybe somehow managed to fit a winery into the schedule...

Friday I moved on to Tauranga, having another day of peaceful wandering, staying out of the damn wind that won't die down! Yesterday I went out to Mt Maunganui, a mountin just beside Tauranga, and walked around it and the beach and suburbs beside it. Later on a bottle of wine shared with some fellow travellers and talking shit... as you do!

Now, as I mentioned, I am taking the longest travel possible to Whakatane where, hopefully in the next day or two I will get out to White's Island, a still active volcano lying in the Bay of Plenty. And then, maybe, just maybe, a day on the beach...???

Sorry if anyone gets a "join this" email from me. It's safe to do but automaticaaly sends an email to everyone in your address book. Supposedly you can send text messages to people's mobile using the internet or something... Perhaps I disn't read it all in detail...

In Auckland now, getting reacquainted with the city... rain, then sun, rain then sun... I can't believe it has been over 8 months since I was last here!

So I recovered from my trip to the land of self-pity with a call from a Chch friend (who shall remain nameless for security reasons...) that said get on the ferry, we're going to Wellington for a few days. Sounds good to me. We came over on Wednesday and enjoyed a fantastic Malaysian dinner (went back to Cinta's Mark - the best roti in the world) and ended up going to see Bridget Jones. Ahh Bridget, you speak for all womenkind!

Anyway, yesterday was spent roaming about, shopping, going up th ecable car (merely to play on the swings at the top) and enjoying city life. Later we met up with Duncan for dinner and a drink or 2... or more... Let's just say that when we go thome we decided to offer a courteous wake up call to our poor, lowly working class friends in Chch... We're considerate people.

And now... well I have a plan! Sort of... I'm picking up a rental car tomorrow for another free relocation to Auckland where I can drop some of my stuff. Then I'll head back to the Coromandel and Mt Monganui area, hoping to get some decent beach days in ... my days of summer are rapidly diminishing...

I did have a lot more to say but my brain capacity also appears to be rapidly diminishing.

I am one sad little girl.

I left Christchurch yesterday, after 7 months of living in the best spot in NZ and one of the best in the world. It broke my heart to go. I cried from Kilmore St to Kaikoura, but know it was time to move on. When travelling I never expect to settle & build a life. All of a sudden I looked around me and I had a home, 2 families (Foley & J&G) and great friends. Not so easy to move on from all that. But as a wise man once told me (that's you Clay) that if it wasn't hard to leave it all, then it would have been a waste. So true.

So now I'm on holiday! I have no idea what to do with myself! I've come up to Picton with the intentions of doing some walking in the Marlborough Sound but twisted my bloody ankle again on the weekend, cancelling that plan. Ah well, maybe I'll take a boat cruise... it's more my style anyway!

Back to life in Chch... I finished at Foley on Wednesday, celebrated with one of Tom's fantasic cakes - they are reason to work there themselves! I gained 10 lbs just looking at it, then devoured a slice or 2... heaven! Thurs & Fri I spent at Doorways and Saturday night they hosted my leaving party (some of them referred to it as the Christmas party, but we all know what it really was). It was an absolute riot, playing Patonque (some silly French bowling type game), having a bbq and heading to town. (The twisted ankle came from a victory dance gone wrong as Jacqui & I beat the boss at a round of patonque. Teehee. ) It was a fantastic night, despite the speech the bastards made me give (I'm shy you know) and the perfect way to say goodbye to that crew. Sunday I spent with some friends, lounging in the sun barely able to communicate, before being forced to bake a carrot cake for our Foley family pot luck dinner. I t was fantastic with some great Japanese dishes and a lot of laughs, pictures & presents!!!

Yesterday I spent packing my room (shocker - i did it at the last minute!) and running around trying to buy a new suitcase! I had a free rental car relocation that got me up to Picton, where I am now, enjoying the sun and not quite sure what to do with myself! I will keep you posted on where I land next...

Sing with me now... 'Santa Claus is coming to town'...

That's right, I have been Christmas spirit-ized! Today was the annual Christchurch Santa Claus parade! We all donned normal Christmas parade attire - shorts, sandals, sunscreen - and watched the hour long parade! It was fantastic! One of the many things I love about NZ is how not everything is commercialised. So many of the floats were of story book characters or just something fun for the kids with no obvious company logo or 'sponsored by' sign visible. It's just about the day, not maximizing marketing potential. Kiwi's seem to have their priorities right - pleasure always comes first.

Another reason I love NZ? Last night Roz, Paul, Tam & I went to see Dido in concert. There were about 4000 people there, yet there was no traffic delays going to or from, no parking problems, no queues in or out, orderly lines at the bar, no one rushing the stage, minimal security and absolutely no problems. We all commented on how that one night summed up the lifestyle here. People are just laid back, and always have fun but not at the expense of someone else. There is a real respect here and almost a communal effort to ensure that everyone has a good time. It's a difficult element of the lifestyle to explain but it was so obvious last night. That's what I'll miss here.

So my time is winding down and I'm beginning to reflect on it... only 1 week left in the garden city... never expected to make a home so easily here. But as the weather gets warmer and both jobs get busier, I look more & more forward to holidaying again... being the eternal slacker. Returning to the filth of backpacker scum-dum. Ahh... I love it!

I'll be travelling alone this time, without even my beauty Lucy to protect me... that's right, I sold her off. It was time she had a new adventure and some lovely Swiss boys looked like they would treat her right (don't worry, I wouldn't just sell her to anyone). And selling her at a profit was easy - don't know why my father has so much trouble making money off cars... ;)

So tomorrow I start my last run at Foley, then finish the week off at Doorways. A couple of staff do's on the weekend and a last go in Christchurch and I'm off... destination undecided.

Oh - has anyone heard of Donovan Frankenright yet? He's fantastic! Man with guitar - right up my alley!

I just caught up on my brother's blog for this week. It said he had Kraft Dinner. It then said "thanks mom". This implys that he has recived a care package. Am I correct in assuming this? Because if so, it would imply that I, the child living further away and therefore the favourite, did not receive a care package. Mother, do you care to comment? Brother, this means war. And by war I mean I get home first and am claiming what was originally mine - the upstairs bedroom. You brought this on yourself big boy.

It's cup week in Christchurch! Horse racing cup that is ... yesterday was the big races (good because it meant Doorways was really quiet for the 7 hours I was working there, but bad because the hostel was frantic for the 7 hours I was working there...). Everyone dons "fancy dress" (costumes) and goes to the races and drinks all day. obviously I wasn't a participant - in fact I have no recollection of ever attending horse races - but hope to get to some of the festival on Friday, seeing as it's a public holiday and I am only working half the day (but getting well overpaid for it). Yeah!

Other than that, I have been working solid since I last wrote! No I lie, Saturday night I was out at a Doorways friend's place for a bit of a do, then came back in for the French guys (the 3 dirty bastards) leaving party which was a riot! More than half the hostel was involved and there were people everywhere! Eric (the original owner, his daughter Janet & her partner Tom now have it) came down at about 1:30 am to ask everyone to quiet down (their bedroom is directly above the kitchen where a massive jam session was underway) but took one look and went back upstairs! At that point there was still about 30 people going and they were playing every instrument you could imagine - bongos, guitars, cheese graters and Sam even turned a vaccuum pipe into a didgeredoo! The spontanaity was wicked!

The sun has been out in force lately... it's summer here! Bring it on! But not that I'm bragging...

Guy Fawkes Day, the celebration of the British execution of a guy who tried to blow up parliament 600 years ago. How does one celebrate in the colonies? Why with fireworks of course!

Yesterday was Guy Fawkes Day (also known as bonfire night in the UK & Ireland). There was a big fireworks display put on at New Brighton beach (a suburb area) so en masse, about 25 of us from the hostel went to see it. It was a great warm & clear night so we hopped on one of the free shuttles and plunked ourselves down on the beach for the evening. NZ laws are so lax - it's a real take caution and take responsibility for your actions society, but not overyly regulated like ours. Difficult to explain, but well summed up by one of the MCs lst night who said "it's not a 'do not" night, it's a 'do have fun' night". That probably doesn't make a whole lot of sense but the reason I said it is because you can drink in public places here and fireworks are legal for private sale. So all that transpires into a great relaxed atmosphere with small fireworks going off all through the crowd of about 10,000 or more. It was a wicked night. We just sat on the beach until most people had left, then checked out a few New Brighton pubs and headed home at a reasonable hour! Well, reasonable by comparison ...

Anyway, I had today off to get some crap done and then a party with work friends tonight and one with hostel friends to say au revoir to our French contingent. I have only 3 more weeks in Chch (ahhhh!!!) so I'm starting to get myself sorted... first order of business is selling my car! Second is working as much as possible!

Other than work what have I been up to? hmmm - oh I went back to Akaroa last weekend. the Banks Penninsula is just east of Chch and Akaroa only a 1.5 hour drive. The scenery is spectacular (sorry Mark - should have made it a priority to go there!) as the penninsula was formed by a volcano with what was the crater now being a harbour. For millions of year the penninsula was it's own island but eventually the silt from the Southern Alps filled in and joined it to the mainland. But because of this there are a number of different plants and whahaveyou on the penninsula that aren't found anywhere else in NZ!

So I stayed at the Onuku Farm hostel, this fantastic little spot out in the country, sitting on a 2000 acre working sheep farm. There were loads of walks to do along the hills and down to the beach... it was so fantastic. I also went on a harbour cruise while down there to see some dolphins, penguins and seals. The dolphins in Akaroa are Hector's Dolphins, also known as NZ dolphins because this is the only spot in the world they are found. They are the smallest dolphins in the world. Don't remember why they're only in NZ though... maybe because it's a small country?

Happy Hallowe'en to all! Particularly to Mom who is going through withdrawal - there's no one around to bitch about all the crap she puts up everywhere so it's lost it's festivity for her I fear. Damn shame that is...

Hallowe'en isn't nearly as big here as at home. People still have this notion they have to be scary and absolutely no one decorates for the occassion. They'll learn... soon enough it will be pushed in their innocent little consuming faces until they have no choice but to relish in the commercialism of every season. But until then they just have to suffer with Christmas music being played and Christmas trees in shop windows for 3 full months! But that's just my view.....

Nothing new this week. Monday was Labour Day here so it was great to have the extra day off from both jobs. Just putting my nose to the grind for the next month to build up a bit of cash and enjoy my last bit of time in Chch. Ian left this week and it was a bit of a wake up call for me to realize I really only have a matter of weeks left here! It's going to be hard to leave!

Okay must try to email some of you now.......

I really am crap at this, I know. But good news... I survived my 7-day stint!! It was a good week and really busy, but luckily Sophie was around for the first few days and could keep me posted on life beyond the gate, and then Ian came back from Aus and was able to assure me civilization was continuing as usual. I was supposed to be on duty until Sat morning but Friday not (With Eric covering for me) I got to go the whole 500m down the road to have a drink with Nick & Roz (just back from a week of tramping), Ian and Paul & Tam (former Foley managers who have come back to live at the hostel while the get themselves established).

I met them all down there after cashing up and walked in just laughing hysterically at myself - being springtime, I spent the entire walk down to the pub staring at the trees and gardens amazed by the growth. It felt like a new world! The day before when I had taken the recycling down to the curb I felt like I was going to get shocked like a dog crossing an electric fence if I went over the property lines! No illness, blizzard or anything has kept me confined to a small area for an extended period!

So since then I've been catching up on my courses in rinsing about. Paul, Tam, Ian & I have been coffeeing, shopping and doing generally not a whole lot the past few days. Clive, an Irish friend, and his gf Ruth came back for the weekend and was great to see them, although it's been quiet around the hostel lately since we lost Glen. He was ususally the instigator of all evil happenings...

And that's been my life... am making plans for the next 2 months... the remainder of my NZ time... another month working (hopefully) 2 jobs with a little road trip to visit Clive & Ruth in Westport and catch up with Gemma & Colm at the same time and then have about 3 weeks on the North Island before leaving. coming too quickly!!! Ahhhhhhhh!!!

Just lost a post. shiza. It said I'm working loads and you may not hear from me for another 2 weeks. It may magically reappear. They do that sometimes. Either way it's annoying. Oh well, life goes on.

Give me an S! Give me a U! Give me an M! Gime me all the letters until you get SUMMER because that's what it is here in sunny Chch!!! 20 degrees again today and now that the time has changed (spring ahead) we are getting nice long, warmer evenings too!

I am a workaholic! My semi-retirement has all but disappeared! Monday I was at Doorways for most of the day, then did a half day at the hostel. Tuesday - hostel. Wed, Thurs, Fri - Doorways. Sat - Fri - hostel. That's like 2 weeks without a break! I am so dedicated. And poor. It will be a definite test of my abilities to have an entire week tied to the hostel grounds... not able to even go to the sidewalk... will I make it? So, yes, this is another warning of extended absence. If any of you still have any hope for me that is...

Good to be back at Doorways - such a laugh with that crowd! You know how you don't realize you missed something until you have it back again? I miss working with other people! There's always loads of people around the hostel, but it's strange not having a coworker that has the same hours. That's my wise revelation.

Welcome back Kotter!

Sorry for the extened absence (but I believe, Mother, I did warn of it)! Since I last wrote I had a few days work at the hostel (where I'm tied to the grounds for the entire 24 hour period), the my friend Ian & I took off down to the bottom southwest corner of NZ to Fiordland. This is an amazing national park & world heritage sight that was carved out by glaciers and is now very young rainforest.

It took about 9 hours of driving to get there the first day when we stayed in Te Anau, the nearest town, with our friend Ada. The next day we wandered Te Anau for a bit and then went on to Milford Sound, the centre of the park where we stayed the next 2 days. Because it is all part of a national park, there is nothing in Milford - nothing!! Most people just do it as a day trip, but I decided we needed a couple days there. It was stunning and so relaxing to have no phones, email, tv, or anything to tie us to the world! We did a bit of walking, but there weren't as many tracks as we had hoped for near there. The second day there we joined one of the boat cruises (this is the thing to do in Milford) and had a great morning on a small boat seeing all the waterfalls (bonus of it being a rainy day) and the Mitre Peak, the highest sea cliff in the world. The mountains were truly fantastic and so hard to grasp the enormity of. Unlike anything I've ever seen! The highlight though was the dolphins! We had three bottle nose dolphins come over to the boat and, being a smaller ship, the stayed and swam with the boat doing flips and spins for about 20 minutes! Ian & I lucked out and had the best spots to see them, being no more than 1 metre from them!!

In one of the harbours of the sound there is an underwater observatory. It goes 9m under water where we became part of the 0.002% of the world to have seen black and red coral! It was incredible - we were in a round room with glass on all sides, able to view things you could only normally see when diving. It's really special to because in the sound plants grow much closer to the surface than normally. There is no soil in the mountains (they're granite), so when it rains (which it does more often than not) the green dye from the plants runs straight down to the water. This makes the water much darker on the surface and shades it from light. All this tricks the plants into thinking they are at a much greater depth than they are. Black coral is so rarely seen because anywhere else it grows in the world it is at a depth of about 70m. The normal human diving capacity is 30m.

So, after all that excitement and learning... on the drive back to Te Anau we had sunshine so we stopped for walk all over the places and saw lakes and these amazing rapids! The road wasn't great, very windy and got stepp very quickly as we drove from sea level to the snow line in about 3 minutes. I was very glad not to have forced Lucy through that with all 4 of us in the middle of winter! A large portion of the road is a big avalanche zone (found out when we got back it's illegal to drive the road without snow chains... teehee) and there were several areas where the snow had come across the road, but thankfully had been cleaned up! There's a 1.2km tunnel through a mountain too, The Hommer Tunnel. which is probably the scariest bit of road I have ever had to drive!! Very cool though! Once out of it and at the snow line again, we stopped at a safe zone (due to avalances, most of the road is a no-stopping zone) to take more pictures. As we were I heard a rumble of thunder and joked to Ian that it was an avanlanche - he laughed and then said "no, it is!" We could see in the distances a small avanlanche coming down. I was so impressed!

So to continue our adventures...

We got back to Te Anau Friday and enjoyed the lake views before going to the bird sanctuary. Don't know if I've exlplained this before, but NZ had no mammals except bats (they are mammals right?) before settlers came. dogs and rats introduced by the settlers and explorers killed many species of birds and plants off, but there are still a number of each that can be found only in NZ. The kea (I have pics of it from Arthur's Pass) is one of the alpine parrots, but there are loads more. So we went to a little park like thing run by the Dept of Conservation to see some of them. Almost all native NZ birds are endangered!

A night out on Friday with Ada, her sister Sinead and her bf Hamish, and another friend of Ada's. Was a funny night, hanging at the Moose and the Range, the local yocals....... Anyway, the next morning we were on to Lake Tekapo. It was an incredible drive inland where a number of times we were completely enveloped by mountians! We couldn't even see where the road was headed as it wound through!

The highlight of the day though was stopping at Lake Pukaiki(?), a tourquoise coloured lake surrouned by mountains and offering a perfect view of Mount Cook, NZ's highest mountain. (Is that Mt Cook? Yes, yes it is!!) Lake Tekapo (Te actually means lake in Maori) was lovely and we walked out to this quaint little church right on the shore and sat on teh rocks to see the sunset over the mountains... it was so peaceful.

Sunday I was back to Chch to start work that afternoon and worked until Thurs am. My friend Ada arrived then and we had Thursday to hang out before she flew off to Fiji on her way home. Friday I was back in at Doorways, having picked up a bit of work there for the next week or so. It was another Irish friend's last day then as well as one of the French guys' birthday, so there was nothing I could do but join in the celebrations that night! Saturday I wasn't quite so celebratory....

Happy Thanksgiving fellow Canucks and Happy 84th Grampy! Enjoy....

Copying my brother again... This is a link for current/former residents of ole Sside to get a free Summerside email address. I think it's great!

http://www.summersidefibrenet.com/freemail.htm

So that's about it in my excitement factor.... Yesterday was Roz's birthday so Ian cooked us a gormet dinner which was divine! It's so nice to have the supreme champagne backpacker amongst us again teaching us how to live properly! Tonight is another dinner gathering as some friends are in town and the former Foley managers (who checked me in way back in April!!) are back from 5 months of travelling. I work the next 3 days, then on Tuesday (provided I have a working car battery) Ian & I are heading down to Milford for about 6 days. Then I come back and work another 3 or 4 days... consider this a warning if you don't hear from me for another 10 days or so.

I really only have 1 interesting tidbit from my week... as I was baking today (Roz got a carrot cake), it was super cool to go outside and pull fresh lemons off the tree! As Roz said, how tropical are we??

So, new plan. Unfortunately, no Armenia for me right now. Not cool, but was just going to cost a ludicrous amount of money, so plans have been put on hold until the new year (when mon frere & I sort out which direction we are each heading in...).

It's definitely disappointing to not be going to Armenia, but in some ways I'm really glad to be staying here. Really don't think I would be ready to leave here in a month's time as planned! So, the new plan is to stay in Chch until early December doing a combination of hostel and temp work, then go back to the North Island for a few weeks to meet my plane in Auckland on December 19. But ... it's not straight home... I'll have 3 days in LA (not a lot, but am told it's definitely enough when travelling on a budget!) before landing in Halifax on the night of Dec 22. Only 3 months away!!!! Can't believe that ... Where have the past 8 months gone?? It will be nice to have the heat of a NZ summer before heading back to winter though....... I am very excited for that!! The prospect of going from a Cdn winter to NZ autumn/winter/spring to an Armenian winter back to a Cdn winter wasn't overly appealing...

The flowers are starting to bloom here as we see spring coming... the air is still cool, but the sun is so intense that the days reach about 16-17 degrees but go right down to about 5 once the sun goes in (about 6pm now). I'm wearing flipflops today... first time in a lot of months...

But, speaking of winter, went to a hockey game last week! There's one rink in Chch with a number of teams playing out of it - there's actually a couple summer leagues because there's not enough ice time for everyone to play in the winter! It was Chch's top teams playing... they were comparable to high school age players at home. That being said, I would love to see a the skill level of a Cdn Cricket team! The thing that struck me funniest was the lack of checking in the game. They're allowed to, but for the most part they don't! There was only 2 penalties during the whole thing, but thankfully, they saved a little face when a fight broke out!

Since I can't seem to get my links to work, here's some for you:

Chad: http://chadinarmenia.blogspot.com
Sarah: http://dennydownunder.blogspot.com
Keri: http://spreadingalittlekerintheworld.blogspot.com
Shannon: http://allshanadian.blogspot.com
Cheryl: http://scrappymac.blogspot.com
Foley Towers: http://www.backpack.co.nz/foley.html

Enjoy!

I just reviewed all my pictures - the first time I've seen most of them full size! Sorry - some of them aren't depicting what I thought when I added the note about them... teehee... Please file all complaints with the Customer Service department at www.idon'tgiveacrap,doitforyourself.com

Got me tarot cards done... they tell the next 3 months of my life. A dream of mine is going to come true... Hope Hugh Grant knows how to find me...

Another quiet week about town. Well, went to Akaroa again yesterday with some friends but the weather wasn't nice enough for the walks we had hoped to do. Other than that, I'm starting to organize myself and figure out what I'll do until I see you crazy birds again at Christmas time... hmmmmmm... what to do, what to do.

More pictures...
http://community.webshots.com/user/beckyinnz

enjoy!

If anyone is receiving messages from my old UPEI account DELETE IMMEDIATELY. I haven't used this account since December so it obviously has a virus. Beware the computer demons...

On a nicer note - go see/rent Plots With a View! Hilariously funny.

So there I was, innocently laying on the couch, watching a tv movie (yes, the dreaded evil tv has re-entered my life, but at a conveniently finacially-striken period). Home by myself, all curled up and all of a sudden the whole house moved! What the &*%$?? Why would someone push on the house? That's just silly! How would someone move the house? It definitely moved...

Okay so obviously I'm not a native and didn't have the instinct to realize that it was an earthquake! We just felt the one shake and it wasn't enough to cause any damage at all. It was the worst one I've felt (experienced 2 very minor ones while in Auckland. Minor as in I couldn't figure out why the water was splashing around in my glass minor). This one occured 30km away from Chch, 40km underground. When we were at Te Papa (the massive Wellington museum), there was an earthquake register there, detailing all the dates and degree of severity of NZ quakes. They happen about every second day! Most are very minor, and almost all occur on the North Island. NZ sits directly on a fault line where two of the earth's plates meet which causes the earthquakes & volcanoes and is the reason the land is so diverse & spectacular. All major mountain ranges in the world sit on a line where 2 plates collide.

Did I get that right Mr Ramsay? A+ in geography for me!

Happy labour day by the way. It's not a holiday here... the next long weekend here is in late October, but I forget what it's for.

So, other than experiencing earthquakes, it's been another quiet week. Whoops, thought I got paid every week, but it's not so... another few days off spent wandering and going to the library. I am so cool.

It's been a bit better than that... Sat night Nick & Roz let me sneak off to meet some of my old workmates up at the pub for a few quiet drinks. Sunday (so weird to experience a Sunday morning again...) Cat, her son Sean, her friend Sharon & I went to the markets and enjoyed a day of rinsing about. I caught up with other friends Pete & Veronica later that day and ended up working in their ski/snowboard shop yesterday so that Pete could hit the slopes.

Weirdest thing here - the ski shops also do their own rentals, not just the hills. But the shops rent more than the gear - they rent the clothing too! People here just don't own proper winter clothing because they need it so little, so they rent it when going up to the mountains! I was floored by this realization! Can you imagine never having your own snowsuit? Kids without mittens? It's inhumane!

Second weekend went well... no major upsets or "leakages"... It is weird to be tied to a property and unable to leave for days at a time! Wednesday night Gemma was back in town and drug the crowd down to our local, Harringtons. After many a pint of Ngahere Gold (about 9% beer that is just lethal), they drug themselves back and decide to drag me out of bed (again, I was on duty)... twice! How impressed was I? But it was Takako's last night, so it was a necessary evil.

This weekend we had to say goodbye to John & Scooby who are off to Australia and Clive who's moving on up to the north island. The best part of travelling is the people. The worst part is having to constantly say goodbye.

But then there's the Chch crowd... my crazy Kiwi friends! Saturday was Cat's birthday so some poor behaviour unsued... I am still feeling the wounds from that night. It was fun, although it has killed my couple of days off as I try to hobble around the city on a twisted ankle! It's okay though as I have to work all this weekend and I think next as well... healthy decisions!

Thanks all for your interest and concern, but I have no intentions of going to Scotland in January! Ths is all a ploy by crazy Islanders in Edinburgh, do not listen to them.

I do have thoughts on my whereabouts come the new year, but will update you when thoughts have become actions.

No real new adventures to talk about... am smarting from weekend injuries (self-induced) and hav been laying low.

1 more day til payday, 1 more day...

Seeing as I've been a little skint, the last few days have been fairly uneventful. Yesterday and today have been cold, wet and windy so not a whole lot has happened. Brought dinner to Cat & Quentin's last night and ended up watching a horror movie. Cat & I now know why we never watch horror movies. I think Quentin may have been offended by our laughter.

My fellow members of the un/semi-employed club are all male. I am continually entertained by watching a group of 20-something guys turn everything into a competition. My faves from yesterday alone included who can throw the pen in the cup, bust the balloon with the wine cork, and build the tallest structure using jenga blocks. (No one got the pen in the cup or burst the balloon. Clive had the one and only structure.)

Feel like I am living in a time warp when I try to give anything a time reference. Last summer was a year ago but I've been living in winter for a while... and last winter was 6 months ago to me, not last year... you get it!

As Nick (my friend and new manager) said, I had a baptism of fire! He likes to dramatize things though...

Foley's still standing with only a few minor incidents... we had a drunk guy piss on the floor of his room Friday night and I accidentally overcharged a crazy man's credit card by $300 on Saturday, but other than that all went well! It's not a difficult job but it is really tiring! The managers are responsible for all the laundry and some other cleaning during the day as well as all reception duties from 8:30am til 9:30pm and then are on duty (have to stay on hostel grounds in case of any alarm or emergency) until 8:30 the next morning. It's a busy day! But I really like it - very fun to get to chat to other travellers all day!

So yeah, training was Wed & Thurs, on my own Fri & Sat. I was absolutely wrecked by the time I finished on Sat night! That had a lot to do with the vicious late night game of spoons on Friday though... and I call these people my friends! Sunday Gemma was back in town so we went for coffee (and spinach pinwheels at the Globe Mark!) and then I basically wandered around town enjoying the sunshine and freedom. Another round of cards started up last night - Shithead was the game of choice then.

Today, after sleeping in I rounded up my fellow members of the un/semi-employed club (John, Scooby, Clive & Glen) and we went for a walk in Victoria Park in the Port Hills. It started with a walk in the woods (we lost the path before we even started) and then around the park and ended up in the playground (Joey - John didn't attempt the swings this time). Then we drove along the summit road but, surprisingly, I missed a sign and we ended up in Diamond's Harbour, facing Lyttleton, the town we were heading to. Whoops. Good thing none of us have anything to do! It was a gorgeous little spot as we walked along the cliffs and climbed on the rocks, but eventually the wind drove us back to the car.

And that's it - I've been too well behaved for my own good. This working thing relly gets in my way.

It's amazing how busy you become when you have absolutely nothing to do. I love it. I've done not one productive thing in the past week. Not one. But it's been a riot.

Not sure where I left off... Sunday Mark, Joeleen (Joey, my ScIrish friend) & I went to Arthur's Pass, a village in the middle of the mountains that is so peaceful & cozy & beautiful! We tried to do some walking but many of the paths were closed due to heavy rains that occurred all week. That's okay, we found other ways to amuse ourselves - a snowball fight with the bits of remaining white stuff, dinner in the cafe/cinema (consisting of a cafe with a big screen tv and mid-range stereo), cards and an evil box of wine back at the hostel. Fun ensued.

Tuesday was Mark's last day :( but life will resume... I got to catch up with the Doorways gang and others at the hostel. The rest of the week consisted of a bit of walking, hanging out with Joey & Rona before their departure this am, and playing games (cards, chess, connect 4) with John & Scooby, fellow members of the unemployed gang.

But when it rains it pours... this weekend was Joey's birthday (we're really good at celebrating those around Foley), and her, Rona & Ian's last weekend. Sarah & Paul were also around for the weekend before heading back to Australia, as was another friend Duncan who now lives in Wellington. To top it all off, last night we had a staff pot luck (mmm... something Canadian... potato salad it is!) to say goodbye to Ian (he was the hostel manager, now replaced by Nick & Roz) and our 3 cleaners Ayaka, Kazako & Takako - the 3 sweetest & funniest Japanese girls who all leave this month.

So to wrap up all that craziness, I spent the day doing airport runs! 5am wakeup to get the first lot off, breakfast with the rest of the gang before taking them at lunch time. 6 people, 4 flights, 2 runs... it was a busy day! And I had to move today - took about 5 minutes to get all my gear together! I now live in a staff house with the 3 cleaners just beside the hostel with - get this - my own room!!!!!!!!! This may not seem like a big deal to any of you, but I haven't had this luxury in 7 months! A double bed, a closet, a shower I can leave my gear in... so exciting!

I know I'm simple, but I'm happy.

But the best part of the whole weekend... the SNOW!!! Christchurch got it's annual snowfall yesterday. Big flakes falling all day, leaving 2-3 inches on the ground all over the city and covering the hills. Such a beautiful city in snow. Added so much atmosphere to the events of the weekend and made me appreciate the white stuff. Gave them all a laugh when I tried to explain what an average PEI winter was! Being dead serious talking about -40 degrees seems to entertain those who complain that anything in the single digits is unbearable. So much to learn about the ways of winter...

So that's my oh-so-busy week... trying to recover from some minor go-cart injuries (damn seatbelt rash) and over exposure to wine before starting work on Wednesday. Is Foley ready for this?

Back home in Christchurch! (No, not home home Mom, but home here home). I do love this city though!

I think we were in Golden Bay the last we left. We stayed there 3 nights, exploring some of the amazing Abel Tasman National Park. Abel Tasman was a Dutch explorer and was the first European to record discovery of New Zealand (named after Zealand in Holland; the Maori name for NZ is Aotearoa , "land of the long white cloud") circa 1650. He encountered trouble with the Maoris (as in they killed most of his crew) so he didn't waste any time heading over to Australia (crossing the Tasman Sea). Captain James Cook was the next European explorer to visit NZ in 1769. He got on better with the natives and quite successfully mapped most of the country to an incredibly accurate degree given his tools at the time. There is even a point of reference for long/latitude lines in the Abel Tasman that Cook made and is still used. Cook's really seen as a hero around here for the relations he had with the Maori and the accuracy of his work.

So, to make a short story long.... Saturday we drove the entire day to get up to Takaka, stopping in Punakiki to see the pancake rocks and other random breaks. The pancake rocks are limestone rocks where the sediment has been washed away, leaving the impression of a stack of huge flat rocks. The erosion also created blowholes which were fun to watch. But I'm simple.

Sunday we visited the Farewell Spit, the top of the South Island that is one massive sand bar. I think it's 30km long, 1km wide. Beautiful. Great walk through there that lasted a good few hours and involved a hike through mucky cow and sheep fields (the sheep weren't impressed. They kept pissing as we came closer in fact). Over to Whareriki beach with another great hike (along hilltops this time) and down to the most spectacular beach I've ever seen. We didn't have time to explore the sea caves, but we did happen along a seal pup colony at play time. It was amazing. About 15 pups all playing in a pool about 2 ft from us with the mums up on the rocks watching over. A local couple came along and explained that no one has yet to try to harm the colony so the pups grow up completely comfortable with people nearby. The mums are never far but they aren't nervous either. We watched them forever and, although the pups had appeared to be ignoring us, they came to the rocks when we walked away.

Monday was an all day kayaking adventure in another part of the park. Just the 4 of us with 1 guide, Banksy, and about 7 hours to kill. Mark claims I didn't have much rhythm (we were in 2-man kayaks) but I know I was carrying him all day. Typical. We had tea in a lagoon, lunch on a remote beach and then wandered (in the boats) about islands spotting seals and other NZ wildlife as we went. Paddled about 10km in the end! (Banksy was no Ross though Sherilyn!) It was a perfect day.

Tuesday - Wellington bound. We had about 8 hours to do a 4 hour journey so random wandering happened and another pit stop in Nelson. Eventually a 6pm crossing (Lucy stayed behind in Picton), into our Wellington hostel by 10pm, out for drinks with a Foley friend Duncan by 10:15. Wednesday, Sarah & Paul left us to explore the rest of the North Island. Mark & I met Duncan for lunch and got a tour of Island Bay area of Wlgtn. We did the city art gallery (very modern exhibits) and headed to the zoo. Highlights of the zoo: burping camels, horny baboons and suicidal chimps.

That night we caught the opera Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutte. Thoroughly enjoyed - can't say I was anticipating that! Thursday we had a full day at Te Papa, the national Museum that is MASSIVE like you wouldn't belive, a movie and drink with Duncan at night. Tour of the Parliament Buildings (Mark got opera, I got government, how predictable!) on Friday am and we were goners on the afternoon ferry. Late last night we arrived home to Chch. Only 3 more days with the Mark so he's making all the calls on our activities now!

Where did we last leave off? Right, I was dangling by my ankles. So since then minor pain set in (only me as a result of jumping feet first, not head) which ran through the abdominal (guttal) area and left me in tears as I attempted to roll over in bed each night. Other than that, no complaints. But, if you ever realize how much use the guttal area gets when rolling over and combined with my thrashing ways, you'll know that was a big complaint.

So... Queenstown eh? It was absolutely beautiful! Unfortunately the second day was crap weather so Mark & I didn't get the chance to get the views from the top of the gondola, but it was still a wicked town! (Mike you were right - it's so cool! Now you HAVE to go! Where are you anyway?)

Before heading out of town we visited the Deer Park to feed the sheep, donkeys, pigs, ponies, goats, bison (we more ran from them), deer, llamas (they stuck their heads right in the car!) and fairy cows. It's a huge park (drove 10km through it) and offers brilliant views of the mountians and lake. It's also where a lot of the Lord of the Rings was shot. Anyone heard of that movie?

On to Wanaka (rhymes with Hannukah, drinkin tia juanica, smokin marijuanica... the song's stuck in your head now isn't it?) but not without visiting a few wineries (Sarah & Paul hadn't gotten to do this yet, it was their request Mom). Central Otago is a red grape area, particularly pinot noir (Malbourough, where Mark & I were is a sauv blanc area). I'm sold on the guewertz though. Pretty drive and all of a sudden we were in Wanaka. Only one night there so we didn't get to take advantage of all the great walks in the national park, but we did get to Puzzle World! The most frustrating place on earth! About 1.5 hours in the giant outdoor maze (1.5 km, 2 stories), another hour in the crazy uneven rooms and face hallway and then eternity sitting playing with the small tricky puzzles. Frustration won over and we headed for the Glacier.

That's right , I said glacier. On Thursday we climbed a glacier! A full day hike starting with 1.5 hours tramping through sub-terrain rain forest (only about 200 years old since the glacier has retreated) and then a good 3+ hours hiking around, checking out caves & crevaces of a glacier. Fun times for all! Eventually I will look at the brochure and tell you important things about why there's a glacier there. Not now.

(Happy Birthday Case! Hope this is a good enough reason for having not gotten a hold of you sooner. Glaciers don't have great access to the outside world! Hope it was a good one! Will keep trying you this week).

Yesterday was Hokitika, jade capital of NZ for some small time life and souvenir shopping, today was a full day drive (with random stops at the Pancake rocks & Buller Gorge) to arrive in Takaka. 3 nights here so we can do some hiking and maybe even kayaking (brrrrr...) and on to Wellington.  To give you a guage on how far we'vew travelled, Mark & I have done 3100km in the almost 3 weeks he's been here, about 1800 of that since we picked up Sarah & Paul last Tues night.

43 metres. Rock on either side. Water below. One girl. One rope. One way down. I did it. I BUNGIED!!!!   Crazy Mark Ramsay bought me a birthday gift to remember... a chance to plummet to my death, the highlight being survival in which case I get to dangle above the rocky gorge by my ankles. It's okay - he did it first! It was SO fun!! Even though I missed that whole go head first, not feet first so that your body doesn't get snapped as bad instruction ... 1 instruction they gave me and I did it wrong. All is good.   Mom please note: Mark was the bad influence on ME! NOT the other way. Absolutely not!! It was ALL him!   So what else have we done since we last saw our penguin friends... We meandered the Oamaru side street (yes, just street) to find beautiful old buildings all made from Oamaru limestone. All about 100 yrs old and white in colour. On the way to Dunedin we stopped at the Moreaki Boulders, round boulders that are formed in the ground around sediment and are gradually exposed by erosion and roll down to sea. The waves wash away the calcite until eventually the boulders cave in and over time are carried out to sea in bits. They vary in size but average about 1m in diameter. Dunedin... a trip to Pine Hill to catch the view from under the satellite tower of the stunning city and penninsula (deja vu... I was there a few weeks ago too).  In the city for lunch at a funky not-for-profit cafe (The Arc) and a wander about. That night Mark & I caught "Touching the Void" a wicked docu-drama about two mountain climbers at the film festival. Saturday was action packed... Museum in the morning, Cadbury World (I have eaten 7lbs of choclate in the last 3 days, honest) early afternoon, topped off with a tour of the Speights brewery (the "pride of the south" beer). Chocolate and beer. Does life get more perfect? We met up with some friends of mine that night for a few on the town. Dunedin is a huge university town, making us realize we ain't no uni students anymore. We's old. So, yesterday we climbed Baldwin Street, the steepest street in the world (Sarah did it in heels) before leaving town to arrive in Queenstown. Actually first we had the biggest Becky Moment of my life. At the bottom I was playing photographer swinging 4 cameras around on my wrist while they all showed me luvin under the street sign. I wisely put my keys in my camera case and set it down beside me so as not to drop them. When I got up (clumsily as I was holding 4 cameras) I accidentally kicked the case and knocked the keys out. Would have been fine if I had noticed before that moment that I had set my things on top of the grate for the drainage. Down they went. We were lucky in that it wasn't deep nor draining quickly, but the procedure did require 2 coat hangers (nice people living on Baldwin St), a magnet and half an hour. Good samaritan who drove by with a magnet in her drunk saved the day. The guy who was washing his car up the hill and sending massive quantities of soapy water down didn't help. Thankfully no one killed me or lost their cool and Paul got introduced to a day in the life of me... Now I am really contemplating getting that spare key made. So we got here... a few photo stops along the way (magnificent scenery, we are in the middle of the southern alps now) and we are quickly going poor in Queenstown, the tourist capital of NZ. Even groceries are unbelievably expensive. All is good, tomorrow we move on. It's a great town though - population 8500 with approximately 3500 tourists coming through on any given day!!!!! unreal. So it's a lively town with wicked atmosphere, but you have to be travelling on the British pound in order to spend anytime here! We wandered today until Mark & I went jumping (so cool! I was so ready to chicken out!!) and just had a fantastic dinner. Now Sarah & I have a date with the hot tub (spa) and a bottle of champagne. It's for medicinal purposes, really.

Oamaru, Penguin Capital of New Zealand. That's where we are today, watching the little blue penguins (the smallest of the 18 breeds) waddle their way home after swimming 25kms out to sea to fish for the day. Very cute and highly entertaining, with an unexpected drama thrown in. One of the penguins (Petey) got separated from the group as they dried themselves off and re-waterproofed their feathers, while the rest wandered back to their burrows/nests. As he went to follow, Sly the seal appeared on the rocks and poor little Petey penguin had to dash all around and hide until more of his friends came in and they could make a run for it. Highly stressful in the meantime, leaving Sarah & I in a state of fear for Petey's life. (Note the names were provided by Sarah & I in the hopes Sly could hear us and is gentle enough to not eat food with names. And to amuse ourselves while we awaited Petey's fate.)

Yes Sarah & Paul are here!!! What have we been up to this week... we continued on in Nelson, doing some walks in the gardens and parks, a hike to the centre on NZ, an art gallery and coffee with a work friend of mine who I had only ever spoken to on the phone. Monday we were off to Hanmer Springs, stopping on the way at the Hoglund art glass studio (beautiful craftismanship - look it up), Buller Gorge to go over NZ's longest swing bridge (a tad bit freaky) and walk about an old gold mining area, and then on to the thermal springs. Sulpher pools at 41 degrees C... can you say heaven?

Tuesday we were back in Chch early and visited the Antartic centre. Chch is one of the key bases for antartic work/research besides, well Antartica. Pretty cool. Ice is so thick - in spots it's 5km deep. There are no polar bears on the continent. It's governed by a mutual agreement signed by 40+ countries. They had a storm simulation room that was intended to give guests the feel of a proper storm. Mark & I waited for the blizzard to appear and were fairly unimpressed by the windchill machine that made the room temp drop to -18 degrees C. Whoopdee ding, that's a fine day in April to us! It was cool though, the room being filled with snow & ice and kept at a constant -5.

We got a chance to catch up with some of my friends before the arrival of Sarah and the infamous Paul... (Sarah is another best friend from Sside, Paul is her Brit boyfriend of over a year who no one had met, seeing as they've been in Oz since Jan). Very exciting! (For those wanting the dirt, Paul's great, very funny and quite possibly out talks Sarah. I'm not sure I've even heard Mark speak since they arrived).

Wednesday we wandered Chch, touring the botanical gardens (I never knew how uninterested in plants I was until then) marvelling at the amount of flowers that are still in bloom, despite the regular frost now, visiting the arts centre and touring the Fudge cottage (an unexpected delight!), then dosing ourselves in salt via fish and chips to recover from the massive sugar shock. A few drinks with some of my Chch friends to celebrate good news... I found out yesterday that I got the job as relief manager at Foley Towers, starting mid-August once my touring is done and going until the end of October when I invade on my brother in Armenia. How perfect is that? Very excited! My good friends Roz & Nick will be the managers and I will work 2.5 days a week (13 hour days but on duty for full 24 hour period), leaving me loads of time to enjoy my last while in NZ. Amazing how much the city has become home to me in such a short time.

So yeah, a stop for cheese, cookies and lunch and here we are in Oamaru, hanging out with our webbed waddling friends. Tomorrow it's off to Dunedin!

Flash new design don't you reckon?

It's not just pretty, it's pretty functional... now you can add comments on the bottom of each post! I know, I said I wasn't going to add that in (for fear that the attention may briefly be taken off me and my self-absorbed life) but I've succombed to the pressure of being 2 months behind in emailing and am hoping this way I can actually get back to you all. And so that I can ask questions as they randomly appear in my head. Again, it's all about me. Note I haven't mentioned the benefits for you. All me.

So to start with question 1 ... I lost my links trying to add the bling. Fellow bloggers, how do I get them back and reconnect with all of you? Please help!

Coming to you live from Nelson... We arrived in at lunchtime, just in time to see the market. Pretty cool, but a bit overrated.  Walked the streets (it's a pumping little town comparable to Ch'town I think) and off to the World of Wearable Arts Museum. It's a festival each year and they have now created a museum to house winning entries. Very cool but not easy to describe. Bunch of bizzare things - some resembling clothing, most not - that people design and submit to the annual show. Highly impressive. Museum also housed a classic car area but I don't even think I could name 1 of the 30 cars. Sorry to disappoint Dad.
 
Yesterday Marcus & I did a tour of the Montana winery, the largest in NZ (producing 1% of the world's wine) and had our first tasting of the day. We were conveniently staying in relatively close proximity to about 25 other wineries, so we did the required - dropped the car off and visited 7 more for free tastings. That's what I call an afternoon. Mark has discovered he's a sauvignon blanc & dessert wine fan, I'm a sauv, guwertz and montipuciallno person myself.  I think - I may have to keep tasting...

In Blenheim now. Stayed yesterday in Kaikoura, saw seals up close (but not so personal) on the beach, came through to here today. Had minor car trouble but Lucy Loo is all good now. On for winerys tomorrow - Mark's making me, I don't really enjoy that sort of thing. (Janet & other confused ones, Mark is my best friend from Sside, yes you have met him).

Will properly update you on our wino adventures soon...

For those of you following us on the map... next stop Nelson! Sherilyn it's not the same drinking wine without you! Can you believe it's been over 3 months since we were in Nelson????

Oh and the scenery is spectacular, but I've come to take that for granted!

Markus Dorkus Orrilius has arrived!!! So excited. We just had a b-day breakfast and now he's emailing home to let the rents know he's here safe & sound. And then the adventure begins..........

So exciting!! Can life get any better???

11.5 hours until Mr. Mark is here on Chch soil!!!!!!!!! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE I am so excited!

Have had crazy week, working late to finish up projects and baking for the boys for my last dayand just trying to spend tiem with everyone. "Smoko" (coffee break) becomes your responsibility on your last day. You're also supposed to put on beer for everyone but they weren't getting that out of me. I broke Kiwi tradition. oh well.

Just really enjoying my last bit of time in Chch and the fact that I know I'll be back so I don't have to say any goodbyes because I will see everyone again. that's awesome. Life is so much easier then. Some really awesome people here.

Really can't remember what else I've been up to. Matt & I went to Dunedin on Friday night to visit friends of his. Sat we climbed the steepest street in the world (my ass muscles are reminding me of this adventure today) and went up the Pine Hills to see the most spectacular views I have ever seen. Could see the whole city, penninsula, and harbour and it was a beautiful clear day.

Last night was Ian's b-day celebrations so it involved another mad night on the town. So much fun to be had. Was out with the long termers but ended up joining up with the work crowd too. Loads of laughs.

Scary how at home I am in this city. May come back here to stay the rest of my time once Mark & Sarah leave me. Who knows... The only plan I have is to stick to my "living on a whim & a prayer theory". Worked so far!

You should have more regular posts from me as we start our travels but less regular emails (is it possible for me to get worse?). Stay tuned...

Happy belated Canada Day!

Hope the islanders enoyed Hootie... Can't believe the Hoot was there. Or that he's still alive. Too fun.

Had a great Canada Day - housesitting for Cat this week so I had 6 or 7 friends over there for supper. Couldn't figure out what to cook so I went with the potato theme... we had mashed, backed, skins and sliced (like for the bbq), roasted veg, sausages and for dessert pancakes w/ maple syrop. mmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Great night.

My birthday was perfect. Thank you to all who sent a note - much appreciated. Sat we went for lunch along the river, had a wander about town, had a fabulous supper and then about 15 of us went out on the town. Sunday, once we were all mobile and had mapped out the nights adventures, about 6 of us headed to the market so Anne, Majella & I could get our palms read. So cool. Left hand (hand you don't write with) is destiny, the other is reality. To sum it up, I'm destined to be a radical and extremist but in reality find balance and reason and lead a long, active, happy life. 2 relationships, 2 kids, am a nuturer and this affects career choices, retire at relatively young age but stay active in community. Young people are always important to me. No money but always comfortable and happy. How perfect is that?

Received some lovely cards and gifts from my friends here (no need to send mitts now Mom, they gave me a beautiful pair of merino wool ones). Just had a perfect day with awesome people. And cake - we went to the Coffee House for the best carrot cake in the city... mmmm...

Only one more week of work and then Mark is here and the travels begin. Will miss my co-workers and job - they are such a riot! But it's time to se some sights!

Off to Mt Hutt for the night. Roz & I are going to visit Sophie and see the sights of Methven. It really never stops!

Not too much today... low key week. Big weekend houhg... my 2-4... where have the years gone?? teehee..

Need help on 2 fronts:
1. Need to take advantage of Mark coming here and get him to bring things I can't get here. need help developing this list. After hair gel, deo, KD and reese's peanut butter cups, I'm stuck. Any suggestions (particularly from fellow transients)?

2. Going to somehow celebrate Canada Day here - suggestions on how to do it at work? Suggestions on what a true Canadian meal is that I can cook at the hostel? I'm depending on you to help me represent... haha, really though, all I can think of is french toast & maple syrop but french toast isn't Canadian. Please, please, please.

To all those annoyed by my lack of contact... know you're not alone. (And that I am slowly getting back to everyone... eventually).

Happy Birthday me! (And Lindsay Praught, same year and all). Made a friend here, Luke who's also celebrating on the 27th... all the more reason to party.

Happy Fathers Day Dad (and all paternals among you)! Hope you had a good one and didn't take it to heart that only your worst child (Molly) was near to celebrate with you!

Another weekend of random nothingness. Fantastic! Saturday morning (nice to reclaim some of these weekend mornings) I swam, socialized and shopped (YEAH A MALL!!! I had been disgustingly well behaved and was in desperate need of some retail therapy). I then helped a friend move and (well showed up as everything was finding order with a plant in my hand - niiiiice) and helped Cat run "settling in" errands. Later on we went to our work do at a Thai restaurant and had a wicked night! Great chats and loads of laughs, and the best Thai food I have ever had. mmmmmmmmmmmmm... I'm still drooling....

We had an awesome night on the town to follow (I won't even tell you what time I rolled in!!) and spent Sunday lounging and catching up with some friends. Ideal weekend. Followed by the most beautiful pizza tonight with Rona, Joey & Gemma. Ever put pumpkin on your pizza? Soooo good.

Gemma & I were just talking about how we feel guilty as if we're wasting our time by never sightseeing and doing cultural things on the weekend here. BUT - I can justify... I honestly love this feeling when I am so at home in a place that I don't feel the need to do any of that and think this is more of a true "Kiwi experience" then going away all the time and sight-seeing on a regular basis. I quite honestly get sick of too much sight seeing (it can be nauseating trying to find a worthwhile way to spend each day) and really love just living as a local for awhile. Of course, knowing that I'm not here for much longer (only 3 weeks!) really helps the justification. It's all about enjoying the now, and bloody hell, I'm loving it!

Happy Birthday Big Brother! (Not THE big brother, my big brother). Chadine is the ripe ole age of 28 today (but yes, derives from the same 30 year old mother. Strange...). Hope you have recovered enough to enjoy it in true Yerevan style!

Not much news on the NZ front... another quiet Friday after a somewhat large week. Tuesday I was at Cat & Wayne's for a bbq (absolutely divine, I had been deprived much too long) and a bottle of Harrington's honey ale. Wednesday Anne, Sol, Gemma, Cat & I ended up visiting Harrington's (staying much longer than intended) and last night Roz, Gemma & I (the lifers) went over to a cozy cafe nearby for a coffee and cake (hazelnut, caramel and chocolate. Tell me, who of you could have resisted?). Again, absolutely no cultural experiences but another fab week. Tonight Gem & I had a nice dinner with Pete & Veronica, a middle-aged British couple who have just bought 2 houses to turn into a hostel and a separate ski shop! Really interesting couple with great ideas.

That's all. I have no more. Tomorrow there is a "works do" (no, not a celebration of civil servants, a night out for the staff of Doorways). There are loads of mid-winter activities taking place now. Tuesday, the shortest day of the year, is our Christmas mid-winter feast at the hostel. I'm told Monday night we're going to watch a Christmas movie to make it feel like Christmas Eve. Too fun!

I'm braindead. Good night.

Forgot to mention the highlight of the weekend... Lucy was christened! That's right, I named my second child Lucy. It's a shame she'll never meet her older sister Betty, but I'm not sure they'd get along well. Or if they did, they'd just gang up and figure out ways to conicide their breakdowns to drive me crazy, as all children do.

(Yes, I'm talking about the car).

Happy Birthday Mumsy! Amazing how time goes by yet you are still 30! And don't look a day over 25. Enjoy it & know I'm thinking of you!

(take that brother brown nose)

Here it is Monday again already. It was a wonderful, relaxing, sober weekend! Friday I emailed to avoid peer pressure to go out and spend my non-exisistent funds, Saturday I got up early and was groomed (new hair and serious eye brow shaping), then Gemma & I went for a nice little adventure. We started in Lyttleton, a harbour/port village about 15 min out of the city that's quaint and cozy. The coolest part was taking the tunnel under the mountain to get there.

Leaving there, we took the summit road along the top of the mountains to get some killer views, then decided to pull over and climb the rest of the way to the top of the gondola.(Turns out gondolas aren't just boats chauffered by people in funny hats with painted on mustaches, they are also cable car/enclosed ski lift things that go up the sides of NZ mountains in high tourist areas to give some stunning views). Wicked views and a cheesy little museum passed some time before we noticed a massive cloud rolling over the track we had to get back down. Crap! All was good, we got back to the van and continued on to Sumner, a posh little suburb right on the coast. It was lovely to be on the beach just as the sun was setting (5pm!!!) and go for a wander through some of the sea caves. A coffee and back to town we went.

Sat night, again I chose books over beer and stayed in. GEEEEEEK! I love it. Sunday was a day of puttering and visiting friends, shovelling down a massive supper (my infamous guacamole was well received and mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm fahjitas!) before settling in for the final episode of Friends! (Yes, don't know if I've mentioned it before but there is a 2 month delay on all importing of American culture - tv, movies, music). It was rather anti-climatic but fitting. That's my professional opinion.

Today my friend Cat told me she's taking a week's holidays and not only is she training me to do some of her work so that I will (fingers crossed) be at Doorways until I'm ready to leave Chch, but I can also have her flat well she's gone. Space by myself! I could like blow dry my hair and turn on the light in the morning and crazy stuff like that. Wicked!

I did not call my brother a geek because he writes everyday. I did call him a dork but that's different. I'm sorry Charles, writing everyday doesn't make you a geek (maybe gek), it just shows you're too scared of mumsy not to write.

Another week down. It was absolutely mad at work. I guess I should be clearer about what I do. They hang doors in the frame (a fact for the ignorant like me: when building you buy the frame with the door as one unit). So they order the doors from other companies, stick them in the frame and sell them. Well no, they are all made to order. Doors aren't nearly as standard as you expect. Anyways, I think this was week 5 there (meaning I've been in Chch 8 weeks already!). I started off just answering the phones and taking messages, assisting with the odd bit of filing (eeee!!! filing!!!). Gradually, I've picked up more knowledge so that now I can price standard doors and process orders and handle some walk-in customers. So it is still a reception job, but with increasingly more customer service roles and always loads more to learn. And fun people. Love the people. Not sure how much longer I am there but am keeping my fingers crossed that they will need me for the next month. (everyone say your prayers)

And in a month... that's when Mr. Mark & Sarah come and we get to travel more of this incredible country!!! And remember, all of you with your wonderful birthday presents (a mere 2 weeks away) can send hem down with Mark! Or, if you just want to send a card or note (as my wonderful sister did - cheers Sweetums, I got it today!) My mailing address is:

Foley Towers
208 Kilmore St
Christchurch
New Zealand

Just in case you were wondering! (Insert evil grin) And for those of you expecting something from me... a little lesson about the postal system in NZ - it's crap! Just joking, but it is VERY difficult to get to. Post offices are only open M-F 9-4 and Sat mornings or something impossible like that. I did find an outlet in a shop the other day but when I went there right after work it was already closed too! Booooo... And so if more than 2 or 3 weeks beyond the date when you really should have seen something from me, blame the post for umm.. losing it or something. Yeah, their fault. ALL their fault.

Fascinating facts about the post:
1. All post offices are also Kiwi Bank offices. Assuming Bank is federally run, seems bizarre
2. There is only airmail for international things - no cheap boat freight

I know, I know, with facts like this you can only begin to understand the wonder of NZ.

More exciting things... driving! So fun, get used to really quickly. Although last night I had about 3 times where I was instinctively about to turn onto the wrong side of the road, I caught myself well before. Strangest driving rule in the world: When turning left you have to give way to someone coming in the opposite direction making a right turn on the same road. (Now for those of you who think that's normal, backwards it. The person crossing traffic has the right away). First night I drove my friend was following me. I got to the corner and made a left only to realize I shouldn't have done that. Especially not to a cop. Oh well, he didn't pull me over. And you can't make a left (right for you) turn on a red. And there's quite a few roundabouts but luckily I haven't come to a busy one yet. I only got Cat to explain last night how to signal on a roundabout (it depends on the number of roads going off it and whether it's a 1 or 2 lane).

Tax is GST here as well. 12.5%, included in the price of everything, yet when making major purchases the price is always quoted exclusive of GST.

Things I have been tormented for saying in the last week:
liquid paper (white out or "tweek")
tomato (toe-mat-o)
oregano (or-a-gan-o)
basil as in stewart (bah-sil)
charlie horse (cramp, so unoriginal)
dessert (pudding)
pudding (custard)
pylon (cone)
And everyone's favourite that I have to say about 10 time in the run of a day...
aluminum (al-u-min-e-um) They actually spell it aluminium (as do the Brits) and are thoroughly amused that I absolutely can not say it the way they do (it's like Debbie and processor).

Freaky shit going on round here. Some of my posts that disappeared into blogger blogger land have reappeared. See below to catch up. If anyone in blogger land is listening, I'm not adapting well to the new changes.

Happy Queen's birthday! No Victoria Day here, Kiwis celebrate their current queen (of England, same as us). I don't think today is her actual b-day seeing as in Oz they celebrate it next week or last week or Wednesday or something. But Australians always prove to be difficult. (Kiwi-Aussie relations are highly comparable to Canadian-American).

Speaking of birthdays, happy 75th Grumps! (Not 75? Must be close!) Hope that you're enjoying it to the utmost!

Long weekend, what to do, what to do... Friday I ended up on bus tour. Sounds respectable but bus tour is just another word for pubcrawl. It was with some friends from work and their friends and was an absolute riot. So much fun to be had. It took us to all these dives around the city and for most of the night I had no clue where I was as I don't know the suburbs at all. Another friend from work kept calling to see where we were and meet up with us but I was no help in trying to inform him. Eventually we ended up in the city centre and I was given a proper tour of some of the local haunts uninhabited by tourists. (Being the only foreigner in the group, guessing my accent was the game of the night. South African??)

Saturday I took a nice drive and ended up in New Brighton, a highly commercialized beach area on the out skirts of the city. Really beautiful views and lovely beach but too commercial. They've built a massive pier extending at least 1000m into the sea which looks like a miniature Confederation Bridge. There was an artist making this incredible design in the sand that was massive and only really visible from the pier which gave it all a little more character. How he could envision what he was doing from the ground is pretty astounding. Still looking for Old Brighton. Feel it would be more natural.

I really have to get off my ass and post some of these pics don't I?

Saturday night was a respectable one. Adrianne VanLunen, another UPEI Co-op student is doing her summer work term in Dunedin and made it to Chch for the holiday, so we went for a drink with a few others from the hostel, Andrea (a fellow east coaster from Kentville, NS) and Emma (N. Ireland) and Anne & Sol, British friends. 2 quiet pints and we were done in for. Or I was!

Yesterday Gemma & I slowly made our way to Akaroa (Sherilyn & I went down way back when she was here), stopping for coffee and meandering about. We met some people in the hostel and had a few drinks at the pub with them and others we met along the way. The entertainment value of a small town local is like no other. The weather was absolute crap down there today which we were disappointed in, but it gave us the chance to do exactly what Akaroa is best known for - lounge in the cafes - and forget this hiking and exercise business! We had a great breakfast, then went straight to the bakery for coffee and to wait for Anne & Sol. Once they arrived we wandered the shops a bit and walked around a little in between hailstorms before being forced into another cafe. It was just lovely. A scenic trip back and we played a quick game of scrabble in the hostel before Gemma guilted me into swimming off at least one latte. And that was my weekend. Another bunch of nothingness that combines into a fab time with loads of laughs. It really doesn't get better than this!

You may have boticed I added some links. Keri Shields & Shannon Courtney (university friends, Keri was also my Irish partner in crime) have just moved to Edinborough (how the hell do you spell that?), Scotland and are up to wild and crazy things. So when you long on and realize I haven't been bother to write in a month, instead of getting angry/worried/excited, click on their links and see how good people keep in touch and write of their adventures.

Yeah whatever, you girls will fade too. No one's that dedicated. Not unless they're a big dork. Right Chadine?

I have 15 minutes.

Not that I've been writing a lot, but when I have, this new blogger format has been losing my words of genius. Any others having this problem?

I guess that's my form of an apology. But it's not even sincere. And I'm okay with that. No, I'm not going to write any emails today either.

The past week I've been so busy with going away parties... (farewells) Greg & Scott left on Wednesday (finally, after a week of festivities!) so Saturday we went for a movie and obligatory pint (Troy, it was total fromage but entertaining), Sunday we cooked a HUGE roast dinner for 10 (I was banned to dish duty) that was spectacular! It was food that could bring a boy home from Kosovo (maybe even Yerevan). Monday a late "pudding" (dessert, which was pie & custard but they call the whole event pudding. Talk about let's confuse the Canuck!) and a few drinks and round of pool. Tuesday (their real last night!) we (appropriately) went to see Bon Voyage at the Arts Centre (French flick, highly entertaining) and for a drink. This was the best part of my whole week - I found Bulmers, my absolute favourite cider! Life is good.

By Wednesday I could hardly function i was so tired, so last night we got take away curry and a few bottles of wine and celebrated Posh's last night (a frequent Foley Tower-er). I still don't know his real name, but all were entertained by the idea of having dinner with Posh and Becks (read the British tabloids for further explanation).

But today the real excitement - I drove to work! I feeling like I'm living in Upside down bizzaro world. And realized that I have yet to use my rear view mirror (it's to the left!). Changing gears with my left hand is also a challenge (I give the clutch a month) but overall it's good. I made Cat parallel park it when we were downtown tonight because I just can't guage where the car is yet, but it's getting more normal by the mile. All is good.

1 minute to go...

I wrote that last post yesterday but it wouldn't publish, in case any of you are confused by the date. Sorry I haven't been writing much but without regular access to the internet, it just doesn't become a priority most days. Therefore I am trying to add Keri & Shannon's links so you can have steady reading! These are 2 university friends (Keri was also my partner in crime in Ireland) who have just moved to Edinburough, Scotland for the next undetermined amount of time.

Last night we decided to give our livers a break and went to see Troy. Brad is beautiful but that is the biggest bit of blockbuster cheese! It's entertaining yes, but so many parts that people we laughing out loud at the cheesiness. Anyway, the weirdest part of it all was that the theatre had assigned seats! What? It was only 2/3 full so Greg & I snuck over to the other side so we were in the middle. Of course, as luck would have it, people came in and those were their seats so they made us move! There were loads of other places but I guess everyone follows this rule closely here. So bizarre. We snuck to different seats then and almost got chucked out of them too! Again I was with a bunch of Brits and they found the assigned seating completely normal. I was not prepared. I didn't enjoy. Picking your seat is a big part of the movie-going experience. Don't take that away from me.

Of course we had to stop off and visit Gemma at the Irish pub she works at on the way home (it would be rude not to) but it was an early-ish night (finally!). Tonight we're making a roast dinner for about 10 people which will be sooooooo nice. Thankfully Pete & Kathy were taking me in and giving me a nice home cooked meal for a few weeks, but we all were absolutely drooling at the thought of doing a nice roast. I think I'm on choppong/wash up duty and will be kept away from the actual responsibilities of cooking (sweet!). I'm already hungry at the thought and it's hours away yet.

Good news this week - learned I can stay at Doorways for the next month! Yeah for employment! Yeah for challenging work! Yeah for fun co-workers! Yeah for a paycheck!

Aren't weekends supposed to be for resting? I'm exhausted and it's only Saturday afternoon!

Another action packed week in the life of me. Not really, but on Wednesday Scott, Pam & Beck landed back in Chch for a few days. We headed down to the "local" (the pub nearest the hostel that is really only visited by locals and away from the "strip") Harringtons. They brew their own really good beer there (no preservatives supposedly means no hangover) so we decided to sample. Made friends with the bartender who used to live in Alberta and was wary of a table full of Islanders! Also ate the most incredible nachos ever. Unreal.

Thursday night Scott & Greg (the Scotsmen) made us (Roz, Gemma & I - last of the long termers) a lovely dinner, which we decided to supplement with some Harringtons brew. Beck, Pam & Scott arrived after dinner as did Anne & Sol, friends of Gemma's and we had a such a pleasant evening just sitting around gabbing. Lots of laughs! Last night one of the customer service reps celebrated his last day by having us all to a pub for a few drinks. I knew I was becoming a local at Haringtons when the bartender, checking id's at the door knew me. He was confused by the fact that I was not just a travller and of all places, worked at J&G. (I'm still at the door place). Turns out he's a builder and knows the whole lot of them really well. Small town, feeling more like home every day!

So after a mere 5 hours there, I headed back to the hostel to meet up with the rest of our gang to enjoy Scott & Greg's last night out. It was a fab night that easily turned into a great morning. (Insert nod of understanding as to the incoherence of this post here). A few (and I only mean few) hours sleep and Gemma, Anne & I wandered the city this afternoon, shopping, eating and just Saturday-ing. Tonight will be quiet... I hope.

Really no exciting adventure stories, but, as I hope you're all coming to see, this is just normal life but in a different place. Well living in a hostel isn't exactly normal, but you get what I mean. I'm learning and experiencing new things every day, but most of that is about either doors and the building trade at work or people and new friends at home. I know about as much about Chch now as I did when I got here 6 weeks ago (6 weeks!!!) and that's totally cool. Some of you have said about how you find the whole idea of coming here scary. No way man. Once you're far enough away from home that you couldn't just pick up and visit on a whim, it doesn't matter how far away you are. Obviously (with effort) it's easy enough to keep in touch. In my eyes, I don't see much of a difference between living here or in Toronto distance-wise.

Okay there's a guy coughing and gagging at the computer next to me and I'm going to vomit if he does it one more time. I have to go.

Aren't weekends supposed to be for resting? I'm exhausted and it's only Saturday afternoon!

Another action packed week in the life of me. Not really, but on Wednesday Scott, Pam & Beck landed back in Chch for a few days. We headed down to the "local" (the pub nearest the hostel that is really only visited by locals and away from the "strip") Harringtons. They brew their own really good beer there (no preservatives supposedly means no hangover) so we decided to sample. Made friends with the bartender who used to live in Alberta and was wary of a table full of Islanders! Also ate the most incredible nachos ever. Unreal.

Thursday night Scott & Greg (the Scotsmen) made us (Roz, Gemma & I - last of the long termers) a lovely dinner, which we decided to supplement with some Harringtons brew. Beck, Pam & Scott arrived after dinner as did Anne & Sol, friends of Gemma's and we had a such a pleasant evening just sitting around gabbing. Lots of laughs! Last night one of the customer service reps celebrated his last day by having us all to a pub for a few drinks. I knew I was becoming a local at Haringtons when the bartender, checking id's at the door knew me. He was confused by the fact that I was not just a travller and of all places, worked at J&G. (I'm still at the door place). Turns out he's a builder and knows the whole lot of them really well. Small town, feeling more like home every day!

So after a mere 5 hours there, I headed back to the hostel to meet up with the rest of our gang to enjoy Scott & Greg's last night out. It was a fab night that easily turned into a great morning. (Insert nod of understanding as to the incoherence of this post here). A few (and I only mean few) hours sleep and Gemma, Anne & I wandered the city this afternoon, shopping, eating and just Saturday-ing. Tonight will be quiet... I hope.

Really no exciting adventure stories, but, as I hope you're all coming to see, this is just normal life but in a different place. Well living in a hostel isn't exactly normal, but you get what I mean. I'm learning and experiencing new things every day, but most of that is about either doors and the building trade at work or people and new friends at home. I know about as much about Chch now as I did when I got here 6 weeks ago (6 weeks!!!) and that's totally cool. Some of you have said about how you find the whole idea of coming here scary. No way man. Once you're far enough away from home that you couldn't just pick up and visit on a whim, it doesn't matter how far away you are. Obviously (with effort) it's easy enough to keep in touch. In my eyes, I don't see much of a difference between living here or in Toronto distance-wise.

Okay there's a guy coughing and gagging at the computer next to me and I'm going to vomit if he does it one more time. I have to go.