Thursday, October 06, 2005

Last week was a bit of a nightmare. I got home on Wednesday night after work to find that the flat was absolutely inhabitable after the painters had been there, they’d said we would be able to sleep there still, but they’d started on every room and the beds were piled high with furniture, so that would have been impossible. This sent me into a bit of a panic as it meant packing clothes to stay at a friends house for the next few days, and also getting my stuff packed for New Zealand, and there was nowhere to put anything as everywhere was covered in dirty sheets. Anyway, I managed to get it done eventually, it meant searching under the sheets on the bed for my suitcase, but I got it sorted. Then Todd gave me a lift to Rachel and Stu’s….by this time it was about 9.30pm. So, I got myself settled there and went to bed. Then Thursday at work, everything was going fine, until lunchtime…. Jeff was showing me how to do something on my PC and all of a sudden my vision went blurry and I couldn’t really see anything. Jeff phoned the first aid guy who came down to see what was the matter, I’d figured it was a migraine…I’d only had a couple before, and the symptoms were the same. Anyway, the first aid guy got it into his head that he should phone an ambulance (apparently they don’t like to take risks when it comes to problems with the head) I was mortified…. I tried to say that I just needed to lie down in a dark room and close my eyes, but he was determined. I guess if they didn’t and there really was something serious wrong then they’d be liable, so they can’t take any chances. So they took me to the sick bay where I could lie down and we waited for the ambulance…and waited, about 40 mins later, they realised that actually everybody thought that somebody else had called the ambulance and it turned out nobody had (which I was really relieved about….fancy calling an ambulance for a migraine!) It was a good job it wasn’t serious though, imagine if someone had had a heart attack or something and noone had called the ambulance! Anyway, by this time my vision had mostly come back, but my head was killing, so they asked what I wanted to do, I just said I’d go next door for a check up at the doctors to keep them happy…so they took me there where I was given some painkillers and written off work for the rest of the day. But to make matters worse, I didn’t have a key for the flat where I was staying, so I couldn’t even go to bed…I had to stay in the sick bay all afternoon. When I knew that someone would be at the flat,I got a taxi back (which work paid for and which I nearly threw up in!) nightmare!! Anyway, I slept for a while when I got back and started to feel better. I was really annoyed tho as I was supposed to go out and meet Aaron and Mike that night, but there was no way I could have gone out. I still felt a bit funny on Friday, my head was hurting so I took some more of the painkillers from the doctors, but a couple of hours later I felt nauseous again, I couldn’t do anything at work, I was useless, so I ended up having to go back to the flat again. Tanya from work was really sweet and drove me home…I had to get her to stop at one point though as I was going to be sick…how embarrassing!! So I just went to bed and slept for a couple of hours, and Rachel gave me some anti-nausea tablets which helped. I was really worried that I would be sick for my holiday, but I woke up early on Saturday morning and felt reasonably ok…. more excited than anything!

So onto nicer things…..
New Zealand was great, I was staying in North Palmerston, which is a city in the south of the north island. Jason had booked to go back and surprise his parents for their 25th wedding anniversary party, so I tagged along with him. We got there Saturday afternoon and were picked up by his friends Reece and Yvette who we were staying with. After a relaxing afternoon and some fish and chips we went to the anniversary party. We had a great night, Jason’s Mum was really shocked to see him there, she just burst out crying when she saw him! The music was quite old fashioned and at one point the whole room ended up doing the hokey cokey which was very amusing!! The drinks were free all night, so we all had quite a few…. the wine wasn’t bottled, but in a box, so I polished off quite a lot of chateau cardboard (as we like to call it!)
Sunday (feeling slightly hungover) we went to a local park with Jason’s family and then took a drive right up into the hills to have a look at the windfarm, there are hundreds of these windmills on the hills that generate power, unfortunately though the weather had taken a turn for the worse so we couldn’t get out of the car without getting soaked, and we couldn’t see the view either. Sunday night we went out for dinner with Yvette and Reece which was nice. Then Monday, Jason borrowed his brothers car and we took a drive to Wellington, which is 2 hours away. The day started off raining, but it cleared by the time we got there. We dropped in at Jason’s brothers house to say hi, they have a gorgeous house up in the hills with a fantastic view. After we’d had a cup of tea and some cake, we drove up to Mount Victoria and saw the view of the whole city (which is surprisingly small) it was absolutely freezing up there, and blowing a gale, I was glad I took my scarf! We then drove along the coastal road and stopped for a walk along the beach. It’s a very rugged coastline, it reminded me of home a bit. I also loved looking at the houses there, each one is so individual, you will never see two looking the same, most of them are built on the hills so they’re really high up, not sure if I would like to live that high! After that we parked the car in the city and had a look around, we walked to the Beehive (where the government offices are) and took a couple of pics, then we went to the cable car and took a trip in that. There are botanical gardens at the top, but we only had a quick look and then headed back down again as we were both starving. After we’d eaten, we drove back to where we were staying.
Tuesday morning it was raining again, the plan today was to go to Napier, which is on the east coast of the island and is supposed to be sunnier than the west. Jason’s parents had taken the day off work as it was their actual anniversary, so they picked us up in the morning to take us out for the day. The drive was quite a long one. As soon as we were out of Palmerston (or Palmy as the locals call it) the skies cleared and the sun came out. I tell you, it made such a difference when the sun was shining, the countryside is beautiful, it’s so green and there are hills everywhere…and the amount of sheep…well! It reminded me a lot of England, it’s such a contrast to all the places I’ve seen in Australia….quite unbelievable. All along the journey you can see the mountains in the distance, that actually reminded me of Germany and Austria a bit, there was even a bit of snow on top of some of them. It took about 2.5 hours to get there, we drove up to a view point called Bluff Hill where you can see a view of Napier and the beautiful green sea. We had some lunch there and took some photos, then drove back down to the town where we had a look around…I could definitely live there, it’s gorgeous…very pricey tho!! After that we fancied a bit of wine tasting (it’s a wine region) so they took me to the Mission, which is the oldest winery in New Zealand. It was established in 1851 by the French Marist religious order. The whole place is absolutely stunning, you drive up the hill, through the vineyards towards the main house, which is beautiful, and the view from up there is amazing. We tried 5 wines….well, I had an extra tasting as I couldn’t decide which wine to buy (honest!!) I decided on the Riesling, which I’m saving for a nice meal.
After that it was time to make a move back to Palmerston, it was also time for another sleep in the car for me…I tell you, every time I got in a car that holiday, I just couldn’t keep my eyes open, it got to be a bit embarrassing, I was that bad.... it was really annoying too as I wanted to see the scenery! Anyway, by the time we got back there we were starting to feel hungry again, so to celebrate their anniversary, Jason’s Mum and Dad took us out for an Indian. I hadn’t had a curry actually since I’d been in India in February, so I really enjoyed it.
What I saw of New Zealand, I really loved it, I had a really great time there. There are hardly any people (more sheep than anything) and they are so laid back (the people, not the sheep). Another thing I"ve got used to is they always add 'eh' on to the end of most sentences, even when they're not asking a question, very funny. I was a bit disappointed that I didn't see a kiwi (only the human kind!) maybe when I go back next year I will.
So yesterday it was time to come back to Sydney. Our flight was at 6am, so we were up at 4am, it was a long long day! The flight was not the best, I think the more tired I am, the more nervous I get, it was quite bumpy. It was a 3.5 hour flight too which didn’t help! So got back to the flat and it was a right state from when the painters had been there, apparently they didn’t finish until Monday night, so Todd and Lily hadn’t had a chance to clean anything…so yesterday morning was spent cleaning and washing, it took 5 hours...I was knackered…that’s all you need when you get back from your holidays, I just wanted to go to bed!! Anyway, it looks lovely now, a vast improvement….but today I feel like I’ve done a major workout at the gym…..I’m aching all over from scrubbing and hoovering!
I returned to work today to find we have an infestation of moths…they are flying around the whole office, in the toilets and kitchen too….there were a load of them lurking behind me on the blinds all day!! Apparently this happens at this time every year, luckily I haven’t been dive bombed at work, but I've just been to a shop and I tried on a t-shirt and about 6 moths flew out of it into my face...that scared me I tell you! Won't be trying on anymore clothes that are hanging outside a shop!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

hahahah very funny.. crazy moths