Wohooo Friday’s here!! 38 minutes of corporate life to go…

Much to my brother’s disappointment, I didn’t actually go to another theatre production last night and it’s all his fault. I talked to him too long and was too late getting home to make it. And well, I might have poked along going home and possibly wandered in and out of a shop or two…

Anyway, point of the story is, there is no story because I did nothing but be lazy last night and watch a bit of tv. The prime time shows here are all behind - seeing as this is early autumn, the seasons are just beginning. Having spent the 90% of the month of January sprawled out on my parents’ couch absorbing immense amounts of crappy television, again I am in a position where I feel I can predict the future. Amazing the superhuman powers that came with this move.

Speaking of tv – another strange office thing. There’s a tv in the corner (remember it’s a completely open office concept) that most people can see from their desk. It’s usually turned to sports, especially lately since there’s been a lot of cricket matches on. People will stop on the way through and watch for a minute and, when the exciting parts the match happen (how cricket gets exciting I have yet to discover) they all slowly gather around and then drift off again. An employee bonding exercise?

What I forgot to say about the Scooter ride yesterday was that not only was I riding a mini-deathtrap (I'm no good on a standard bicycle let alone a motorized one), but about an hour into the ride, I noticed that I was also driving on the left-hand side of the road, another first. I really was so focused on just staying on the bike for the first while that the whole wrong-side-of-the-road thought failed to dawn on me. White knuckled was one way to describe me....

But anyway, nowhaving gotten over that fear (or at least reducing it to a state of mild panic), I'm all set to do some more crazy stuff. Bungee jumping will happen in the near future... this is the home of it after all! AJ Hackett (a kiwi) invented the sport and has a bunch of different spots throughout the country where you can do it. I think I may wait to do the Queenstown one where you jump off a bridge and actually go into the water. I think it's the longest jump too but I may be wrong. Should I wait for you for this one Mark?

Okay this is weird. This is the part I thought I lost a few minutes ago. I just deleted the duplicate stuff. Sorry for the grrrrrrrrr. It's my own stupidity I'm grrrrrrrrrrrring now.

Okay - I just lost another post. grrrrrrrrrrrr. I don't know what I hit but it made my screen go blank. So annoying.

Anyway, to summarize what I just wrote... I went to see The Talented Mr. Ripley last night at the university. Did you know that it was a book first? I'm assuming that the stage version follows more closely to the book than the movie did (damn Hollywood). It's been awhile since I've seen the movie, but I think the play was much darker and more disturbing. It was extremely well done although I wish they would just rewrite the minor details to make the characters Kiwis and not make the audience suffer through some terrible US accents. It just gets annoying. But, not to be negative, they held the audience the whole 2.5 hours and I really enjoyed it - the story was much better than the movie. Now I'll have to read the book.

Another busy day at work - I've been given responsibility! I know you're thinking, MORE responsibility? Doesn't she already deliver the mail? How much are they asking of her?? But it's okay - I get to pack up all the files in the filing room. Yep. Sure do. So far we're at about 60 boxes and I'm only maybe 1/2 done. I know you're jealous as you see how my career is so steadily taking shape down here, but don't be. This could all happen for any of you if you work hard enough - phones, mail and filing. I'm a lucky girl! Despite my sarcasm, I really don't mind as my thumbs were getting sore from all the twiddling.

We had a spectacularly wonderful weekend. Departing Auckland on the 6:30 ferry (a passenger ferry, the car ferry leaves from another port up the coast), we arrived on Waiheeeeeeeeke shortly after 7pm. Forgetting that we had fully loaded backpacks on, we chose to forego the $2 bus fare in favour of walking the 4km to the hostel that we had yet to book into. About 1km from our destination we discovered that it was not an easy place to find, particularly in the approaching darkness and called a cab, which cost us $5. The math doesn’t add up, but no matter.

So we got a place to sleep… there were no beds left, but thankfully Sherilyn was kind enough to share her tent. Her 1-man (not 2-woman) tent. It was cozy! It was a beautiful little hostel we were at – out in the woods with an outdoor pool and hot tub (neither of which I made it into, boooooo me) and a huge back deck which encouraged the free flow of wine and chat among fellow travellers. It appeared as though we arrived just in time to join in the “Canada takes Waiheke Weekend”, with half the hostels occupants being fellow canucks.

Saturday was a perfectly lazy day. A big breakfast (banana & bacon pancakes – unbelievably good) at the Lazy Lounge and some wandering through downtown Onerua (all four shops or so), a little hike in some rocky terrain (I think we found Middle Earth) and we were both ready for a nice nap on the beach for the afternoon. Life is rough. Saturday continued with a great supper, some local beer (Baroona, very nice & light) and more of what Waiheke is known for – sitting back with a bottle of wine! We made a friend Susan who is a trained viticulturist (wine maker/vineyard expert) and learned loads about the whole process and industry.

Don’t think I’m a wino – it’s a request on Waiheke that you drink beverages other than water as much as possible because all of their water is from rainwater – no groundwater wells. Cool eh? There’s only about 7000 permanent inhabitants on the whole island, almost all falling into 1 of 2 categories: hippies or richy rich with 4 other homes. There seems to be a real harmony of the 2 lifestyles which was best exemplified by the Lazy Lounge I thought. It’s a restaurant/lounge with a mishmash of furnishings but with beautiful food (many veggie options) and gourmet coffees. Sunday there was a “band” (singer, shakers and jembays) on the back deck with a large crowd finding their groove.

So yeah, back to our adventures. Sunday we went all out. Most of you wouldn’t know this but I am petrified of motorcycles. Can’t really think of anything I am more scared of. Don’t know why, especially since Dad has had so many, but I’ve never been on one and they frighten me. Against all better judgement, fears and aneurysms my body tried to give me, Sunday Sherilyn & rented scooters. Not quite a motorcycle mamma, but a big step. And, once I got remotely comfortable on it, they were an absolute BLAST! We had SO much fun!! We cruised around the island (preferring back roads!) and headed over to see some more of the stunning coastline.

Sherilyn, being more experienced with scooters, got a new peppy one, whereas I was given an oh-look-at-the-terror-on-her-face-give-her-the-oldest-we-don’t-care-if-she-crashes model. It suited me fine; I didn’t really want to go over 30 anyway (yes, that’s km) but when it came to hills we had a problem. As in Sherilyn would get to the top, have a look around, go for a walk, grab a coffee, read the paper and still no me as I was less than halfway there, laughing hysterically at myself trying to Fred Flinstone the damn thing up the hill. I didn’t make it. There was only one hill that I absolutely had to get up in order to get the bike back to the rental place and it was even more of a challenge since I flooded it. (Embarrassed yet Dad?) Sherilyn jumpstarted (told you she was the pro) and away we went, flying back into town at 35km an hour. Luckily we were only 3km away!
But wait – the fun doesn’t stop there! Once we got the bikes back we made a mad dash to the kayak shed to meet Ross, our guide for the afternoon. We lucked in and it was just the 2 of us (in a 2-man kayak) and Ross for the afternoon. He was so cool (cool bananas as he would say) and interspersed telling us about the land and rocks and sea with life philosophies. Not what I expected in a kayak guide to say the least, but we had such a great time. We were on the water for almost 3 hours and it was just the ultimate relaxing and peaceful experience (brought my blood pressure back down after the scootering!).

Back to the lazy Lounge for supper and we were homeward bound. It was a perfect day that was soooooooooo fun and full of new stuff. Now to plan the next adventure!

So I’m going to try this again. Last night I headed down to an internet café to update this and download some pics. Being dark out and all, I just went to one that is closest to our flat. It’s more a place for “gamers” but I went in anyway. It was more expensive than usual (I guess I was paying for the wide variety of games?). I had to pay before use, which annoys me but I did it. I got an hour. I needed a computer with a cd drive so I could upload pics, which gave me special privilege to go off into a smaller room. But I forgot the cd, so now I was stuck in a room with a really strange guy who was sleeping on the chairs but would wake up periodically to chain smoke. And there were ants. They were crawling around the keyboard. It was gross. I was going to leave but thought I would never get my money back from this guy and was too lazy to go somewhere else. Proving my devotion to the blog, I typed on. For the whole hour I wrote. It was detailed and well, just a blogging masterpiece. As I was spell checking (those of you who follow my blogging sibling may not believe it, but there is a spell check option) the %(*&^*^%&#$% computer turned off because my time was up. No warning (or not one that I could see as I type looking at the keyboard) and it was all gone. All of it. I was rather angry. Thankfully, I had Teitur, my accordion playing Scandinavian pop star in my discman to calm me down.

Moral of the story: don’t go to ant infested internet places when they stick you in a back room with a creepy, sleeping chain smoker. None of those things that made me lose my post, but just avoided such places regardless.

AHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am screaming in frustration right now as I have just spent the last HOUR updating this with my weekend adventures only to have it all disappear because I'm at a stupid bloody internet cafe that's stupid and am now annoyed to write it again.

GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I will write tomorrow. Assuming I have gotten over this. It won't be funny. It won't be witty. It won't be as detailed. I won't enjoy writing it beacuse I'm really mad. stupid computers. Good night.

Sorry for the disappearing act ... have actually been very busy at work. Had a wonderful weekend and will tell all about it a little later on. Thanks for all the concern as to my absence - I thought since Mom & Dad were away I wouldn't get in trouble!

Watch this space - Updates on Waiheke coming to a blog near you!