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.