The weekend was quite a busy one. Friday night, we met up with a few people for dinner. We went to our local Thai restaurant, which is really cheap, but the food is fantastic. I opted for a change this time and had Cho Chee (I think) it was really yummy. It was nice to go our for a meal and to catch up with everyone.

Saturday day, Jason and I had to do a few things for our visa, it's really such a nightmare, he has to get re-sponsored (long story) and then we have to apply for our visas. I'm very stressed about it at the moment. Anyway, we did that, then Saturday night we went to Bondi for a friend's leaving party.

Yesterday I typed up a CV for Jason (for the immigration) so that kept me busy for a while. Then in the evening I went into the city to meet Mirjam (I'd met her in Auckland a few weeks ago, and she mailed me last week to say she'd be in Sydney). She is the one from Germany that lived in Munich and knew a few people I used to work with at HP. We had a really nice evening, we went down to Darling Harbour for a couple of drinks and chatted about Munich and all the different places we used to go to. She is actually going back there in a couple of weeks, so we're going to catch up again when I'm there in June. It was nice that she made the effort to contact me while she was here. When I got home I phoned up my Mum as we hadn't spoken for a few weeks (which is very unusual for us) so we had a nice long chat. That's about it really, this morning, we've just been running around trying to find a Justice of the Peace to certify all our documents for the visa....what a nightmare!!

We went to the Basement on Saturday night to watch a band, they were really good, it's very expensive there though, we spent a fortune. Sunday I didn't get much done at all, Jason's shifts have change at work, so he's now working every Sunday. I just lazed around really, but it was such a long boring day, the clocks went back too which made it much worse.

It's starting to cool down here now, the evenings are much more bearable and I'm even using a duvet (or doona as they call them here) at night which I love. The temperatures are now varying from about 23 - 27 degrees...and at night it is very cool. I'm really looking forward to wearing the small amount of winter clothes I have got! I didn't really have much of a winter last year as I was away for 6 weeks of it in Queensland, and it's like summer up there in winter. I really do miss the seasons, Autumn and Spring are mostly hot or warm, so you really get 9 months of summer weather in the year, so if you like changes in seasons, it's not really the greatest climate and I'm sick of wearing the same summer clothes....I'm happy it's going to be winter soon ;o) Sorry, listen to me moaning...you can tell I've got far too much time on my hands!!

Nothing much to tell this week, it's been good in a way not working, as it's given me the chance to catch up on things, but I'm sure I'll get bored soon. A few of us went out for a trivia night at the local RSL club on Tuesday night. That was good fun, we actually did quite well between us, we came 4th out of 7. The funniest was when we had to write down an answer and then run up to the quiz master with it for a free drinks voucher....Linn and I both tried to run up, I ended up tripping over her and headbutting the guys chest, very amusing! He thought it was most funny!

I've been watching a few dvd's in the daytime, I'm going to go down the beach for a swim in a bit as it's still really hot here...I really am counting down the days until it gets cooler!

I had a nice weekend. I went over to Manly on Friday evening to visit Sue, I hadn't been to her flat yet, so we thought it was about time! We had a few snacks first, then we got all dolled up to go out, but we'd walked out the door and it just started tipping it down with rain and we still had to walk 10 mins into Manly...so we made the split decision to just go back to her flat and share a bottle of wine. Actually I'm getting to the stage where I prefer to stay in with friends, at least you can talk properly (god, I do sound old don't I!!). Next day after breakfast we took a walk down to the beach and talked for a few hours, before I had to get the ferry back. As always, I had a really nice time.

Saturday night, Jason and I met Linn and Martin at the pub, we had a few drinks and a catch up together which was nice. Yesterday was a very lazy day, we just chilled out and watched lots of films on the TV.

I've been a real lady of leisure today, I had a facial this morning which was the most relaxing thing I've done for ages (it was a freebie, but still very good!). Then this afternoon I watched a dvd. All I need now is for some ladies to do lunch with!!!

I made it back into Sydney....yaay!!!

Leah took me for lunch before I left for my flight which was nice. I got onto the bus ok, and arrived at the airport with plenty of time to spare. I was really nervous about going back to Sydney for immigration reasons. I'd mentioned before on my blog that it was a palaver getting into New Zealand, well what happened was basically I had to give the airline an onward ticket from New Zealand (apparently New Zealand are one of the strictest immigration in the world), I did have a ticket, but that was back to Australia, so I couldn't show them that as they wouldn't have accepted it as I didn't have a visa to get back in. So anyway, after loads of faffing around, I had to buy a ticket from Auckland to Fiji, then they would let me on the flight. So I got that ok, then I did get questioned at New Zealand airport, but as I had an onward ticket, they let me in. So that was the hassle on the way. I had a lovely week in Auckland, but I always had it in the back of my mind about coming back!

So, yesterday, I got on the flight ok, no questions so that was fine. The flight was ok, I had a couple of glasses of wine to calm my nerves!! I got to immigration, and of course as soon as he typed in my passport number, a little bell rang, so he asked me to wait as I would have to speak to immigration (oh my god, that was scary!) then he was actually really funny, he saw on my arrival card where I was staying, and he then started asking me if I liked babysitting, and as I was staying near where he lived, he asked me if I could babysit his child tomorrow!! It was so funny, he was obviously just having a laugh, it was good though as it took my mind off seeing immigration!! Then I asked him what the problem was, and he started telling me about his why he needed a babysitter, I interrupted him saying, no I mean about me seeing immigration...he was like...it's all about you isn't it?!! it was very amusing!! Anyway, immigration finally came over and I was sooo nervous....they just asked me a few questions about why I had come back and where I worked before etc etc, then they just kept saying...you cannot work, you must realise you cannot work this time, I was like, yes, of course, I'm just on holiday...then they let me go....phew! It's not that I've done anything against the law, but they just don't like people coming back here again after they've already had a years working visa, but my reasons are legit, so that's fine ;o) So after that palaver, I picked up my bag (it was the lonesome one on the carousel!) then I went through customs, then I got my bloody bags all searched....they just picked me randomly...so he went all through my bags to check for food (which they are really strict about bringing in here) I told him I had some chocolate and a packet of crisps in there, he said that's ok, if I had an apple I'd be in trouble (luckily I'd just thrown an apple in the bin before hand!) So that's my story about getting home, it was quite funny looking back, but I don't want to go through that again!!

Anyway, here are a few pics from my trip

This is William and Paul

Me on St Paddy's Day

The Sky Tower

Views from the Sky Tower

Looking down...yes, I stood on the glass floor...I'm so brave!

This guy was doing the jump from the top....the horrible people made him hang in the front of the windows before they let him down...poor guy! (sorry, don't know why the pic is so small)

This is Roger, me and Elaine (my step mum)

on a night out.....Leah, me, Rebecca and Dirk (the blacks and the reds!)

I had a great evening last night. Myself, Leah, Dirk and Rebecca (who'd just checked in last night) went out for dinner. We went to a Thai restaurant around the corner which was very cheap and cheerful. After that we went to a bar to try and catch up with someone Dirk knew, but they weren't there, so we bought a bottle of red wine and went to the roof terrace of the hostel for a couple of hours. We had such a good laugh. It was funny talking to Leah, she's American, but was born in Cambodia, she's one of 12 children!! We were in hysterics from some of the stories she was telling....she refers to her siblings by number there's that many of them!!

So this morning, I'm just trying to pass a bit of time until I leave the city at about 2pm. I'm meeting Leah for lunch at 12, so that'll pass a bit of time too.

I've had a really good time there, especially as I didn't really want to come. It's so different travelling on your own here in New Zealand, compared to Australia, the people I've met here are all nearer to my age, so I don't always feel like I'm the old lady of the group..which is great!!!

I had another bad sleep last night, there was a new girl in the bed above me and she kept rocking the bed everytime she moved...I actually had motion sickness at one point (I am very sensitive!) it felt like I was on a boat!

I've got quite a lot done today, I got up early and caught the bus to Mount Eden, it's a dormant volcano. I walked to the summit (196m, I think) there, you get amazing views of the city. That didn't take me long, so I got the bus back into the city and walked to Victoria Park Market...which was a bit disappointing, there wasn't a lot there. I then walked to the Viaduct (the harbour) I had a quick stop at the fish market, but I wasn't yet hungry, so I didn't taste any of the fish and then walked along the waterfront. It's been a beautiful day today, it's really hot, I had to go back to the hostel and change out of my jeans. After my long walk I was tired, so I had some lunch, then this afternoon, I've just been browsing around the shops on Queens Street. I'm actually really unimpressed with the shops here (which is probably a good job) there is not much of a selection of shops along the main shopping street.

So, in a minute I'm off to try and pack my bags, I'm still wondering how on earth I'm going to get all those towels (engagement pressies) in my bag!!

I'm leaving Auckland tomorrow afternoon, I've had a great time here, but I'm now happy to go back to Sydney.

I've been a busy bee, such a lot to tell! St Paddys Day evening was good fun. I met up with Izzy (from the hostel) and some Irish lads in an Irish bar (of course) in the city at about 5pm. It was good fun, they were all really nice and a good laugh, we were all telling stories about our travels and adventures. One of the lads kept telling me I had the nicest brown eyes, he said he would, if I didn't have a boyfriend, even ask me out if he was sober...how's that for a compliment!! I wasn't sure how to take that comment, hahaa!! After a drink in that bar, we went to find another Irish bar, then I had to go back to the hostel to meet Paul and William (Jason's cousins) They'd brought over some engagement presents from Jason's family, there were 3 huge presents (don't ask me how I'm going to get them back!) which was very sweet. Anyway, we walked back up to the Irish bar and had a few drinks in there, they are really sweet lads, both in the Navy, so they were telling me all their stories. We ended up going to the hostel bar for a few, they had a special promotion where if you bought 3 shots, you get a free silly Irish hat, so we had some of those.... then before we knew it it was midnight, and they had to head back to get the last ferry. I stayed for one more drink, everyone else had bailed earlier too, then I thought I'd better call it a night too and went to bed.

I didn't really get that much sleep, I kept getting rudely awoken early in the morning by girls that were checking out, and I wasn't really feeling the best either (not suprisingly!) So I didn't get that much done yesterday, by the time I dragged myself out of bed, I went to get my visa, and then went to pass a bit of time at the cinema, it was all I was good for. I saw The Weatherman with Nicholas Cage, it was ok, but I was a bit impatient to get out after a while, it didn't really hook me. I just went back to the hostel, had some dinner and then went to lie down. I met some really nice girls who'd just checked in too, one, Leah is from the States, and Mirjam was from Munich. We had a long chat about Munich and it turns out she knows a couple of people through work that I used to work with at HP....such a small world! We swapped emails and maybe we can meet up when I go back there.

Today I had a really busy day, I'd arranged to go over on the ferry to Devonport to meet up with Paul and William again, but I had a phone call this morning from Elaine (my step mum) she was in Auckland just for the day and wanted to meet up. I knew she was going to try and come up here, but wasn't sure when as I hadn't heard anything....anyway, I had to cancel with Paul, and I went to meet her, Roger (her husband) and Darren (her son). It was great to see them again, it was a bit surreal seeing them over here, and I hadn't seen Darren for over 4 years, so it was great to catch up. Darren wanted to go up the Sky Tower, as he hadn't been up there, so he took me up there (again!!) as he didn't want to go on his own. We saw another couple of jumpers...the woman hanging in front of the window this time looked petrified!! it was quite funny though!! They had to leave in the afternoon to take Darren to the airport, so we bid each other farewell. As it wasn't too late, I tried Paul again, and he said it was cool for me to still go over, so I caught the ferry there. They picked me in their car and drove me around showing me all the beaches, it was a really lovely area. The houses are amazing, I guess it's really expensive to live there. After a few hours I came back to the city and had some dinner. Leah and her German friend Dirk (who also lived in Munich) joined me and we just had a really funny chat for a couple of hours. They've invited me for dinner with them tomorrow night, so I'm looking forward to that as they are really nice.

Friday 17th March

I finally got checked into my room yesterday. The hostel is much better and cleaner than the other one....although I had a really bad nights sleep, there is a bar/nightclub in the hostel, so the music kept me awake til all hours, my ear plugs didn't even work!

I went to the Sky Tower yesterday afternoon. It's the highest tower in the Southern hemisphere (328m). I paid the extra to go right up to the sky deck which is as high as you can go (220m, unless you do the vertical climb at 270m). When I got in the lift I immediately saw part of the floor was glass, not very nice...and then when we were going up in the lift, you could actually see the city through the glass in the building...it was a bit of a weird experience, and not one that I particularly liked!
When we got up the top, I went straight into the other lift up to the sky deck. It was a great view, and I even got to see a couple of people do the jump from above. It was funny, the second jumper was hanging on a wire outside the observation deck window for a few seconds, we were all waving at him, he looked a bit scared!! I just about managed to stand on the glass floor too, it took a lot of courage though!

I went to the bar in the hostel at 5pm to see if they needed any help handing out flyers so I could get a free night, but they told me they didn't have anything at that moment, so I just went back to my room for a rest. I even tried again this morning to see if I could help with the changing of beds, but there was another person that got there before me... I was a bit peeved, so I just decided to pay for the next 2 nights and not worry about working....after all, I am on holiday! I phoned Mum up this morning, was lovely to speak to her, we hadn't chatted for a while.

I was going to go on a harbour cruise this afternoon, but there is a big black cloud above, it looks like it may rain, so I thought I'll just do it tomorrow. I went for a bit of a walk earlier, I found some lovely gardens, Albert Park, it's really pretty there. I'm meeting Jason's cousin tonight, and also I was speaking to an Irish girl in my room, so she's coming out too, she's desperate to do something for St Paddys Day!

I'm really getting to like Auckland, it reminds me a little of Sydney, with the tower and the water etc, very nice.

I arrived in Auckland yesterday evening. The whole journey was a bit of a palaver, I'll explain when/if I get back to Sydney!! The flight was actually ok though, it was part of a long haul flight, so we had films and videos to watch which made the time pass by. I had my 'how to enjoy flying' book with me this time (Mum had had it sent over) so I managed to read half of that again before I got onto the flight, I quickly skipped to the chapters on turbulance and engine failure first though, just to calm me down!! I'd also taken a valium before the flight, but I made the mistake of having a small glass of wine on the flight and it totally knocked me out...first of all I got really spaced out, then I just fell into a deep sleep which I've never done on a flight before (actually maybe it was a good thing!!) So when we got to Auckland I got the bus to the hostel and after the horrible day I'd had, I was really unhappy to find that it was a real dump. Then I tried to phone Jason, but I couldn't find a phone that worked (coin pay phones are very few and far between here) so that just topped it all off! Anyway, as I'd only paid for one night at the hostel, I decided to find another one for the rest of my stay, so I went up the road and booked myself into a nicer one. I haven't been able to see my room yet though, they are still changing the beds. I saw that they are offering free accomodation for people in exchange for 4 hours work, so I will probably do that for a couple of days, save those pennies!

I'm hoping to go up the Sky Tower this afternoon, it's a beautiful clear day, so it's a great opportuntity. This time I came here prepared for cold weather, and it's not very cold...typical, I was freezing when I came in January! I'm hoping to meet up with Jason's cousin who lives here, so I'll try and call him later, maybe he can show me around a bit.

What an interesting last day at work I've had. I had to go down to the basement this morning to shred some documents in the industrial shredder (yes, my job was that interesting) I was nearly finished when I heard the fire alarm go off. I started to panic a bit as I had no idea where I was or where the exits were. Anyway, I finally saw someone who said don't worry it's not a fire, the pipes have burst on level 4 which caused the alarm to go off. I tried to get back up to level 18 in the lift, but it wasn't working, so I eventually found my way out via the ramp. When I got to the outside of the building, there were loads of people outside, and there was water pouring out the building and they weren't letting anyone back in (which was a good job as I didn't fancy walking up 18 flights of stairs). The fire brigade eventually turned up, and more and more people were coming out of the building. Apparently a fire hydrant had exploded and had flooded level 4 and level 3. I'd been waiting for ages, so I went over the road to sit down on the bench. Anyway, to cut a long story short, they evacuated the whole building, luckily I saw someone from my floor and he let me phone Nicole so I could ask her to bring all my stuff down (I was a bit worried as everything I had was up there...and of course it was my last day). So she came down with my stuff and we all had to go to Hyde Park to see what was going on.....in the end she told me I may as well go home, I'd done most of my work anyway...so I'm just off home now, only bummer is, I probably won't get paid for the afternoon :-(

I had a really nice weekend. Apart from Saturday morning where I spent most of my time at the doctors...trying to get everything sorted out before my Medicare card runs out this week! Saturday afternoon, Jason and I took a drive to Alexandria where they have all the outlet shops, he'd heard on the radio about a sale for mens suits, so we went to check it out (he needs a suit for my brothers wedding). Eventually we found the place, unluckily they were closing in 10 minutes....anyway, the woman picked out a suit in quick time, he tried it on and it was perfect, we still need to get a shirt, but we can do that anytime, so we were really impressed. There are just a few alterations to do and that's it. I had to laugh, I don't think Jason has ever worn a suit before...he did look a bit awkward in it, bless him!!

In the evening we just went out for dinner on our own (which doesn't happen too often!) we went to the local Thai, it's really good food, and really cheap too, I had my usual vegetable green curry, I must try something else next time. Then we went for a couple of drinks down at the seafront where we had a laugh watching all the drunk people, then we just got a DVD (Mr & Mrs Smith...I wouldn't recommend it, it was pretty bad!).

Sunday, we drove to Manly to meet Sue and her friend Mark, over from UK, for lunch. We met them at a cafe and had a really nice lunch (including a couple of glasses of wine...which I haven't done for lunch in ages!) we had a really nice couple of hours, it was nice to go somewhere different for a change....I do really like Manly. Then Jason and I had to make a move as unfortunately we could only find a parking space for 2 hours. I, as expected fell asleep in the car on the way back...I've never been a very good afternoon drinker! We stopped off quickly at the supermarket, then we went home, where I again fell asleep for an hour! After that, we walked down to the Palace and met up with a few friends there for a couple of hours. It wasn't a late one though....I was still shattered!!

I've only got today and tomorrow left at work....I'm off to New Zealand (yes, again) on Wednesday for a week. I have to get my tourist visa so I can come back here for a while. We've had a few more problems with our original plan :-( It does mean I can't work, but hopefully the other visa will be sorted out soon. So I'm going to Auckland, I haven't been there before and I'm quite looking forward to it...I'm such a jetsetter aren't I??!!

We heard yesterday that the U2 concert has been postponed. I'm so gutted, I was really looking forward to it. Jason's friend had even booked a flight to come over here from New Zealand for it...luckily I think he can get his money back! I tell you, I must be jinxed, first the Oasis concert in Munich, then the Kylie one here last year....and now this :-(

Nothing much to tell this week. I had my haircut last night, I was really pleased with it...first time in ages.

I forgot to say that I made the mistake of colouring my hair myself last weekend. I've been really bored with it and wanted a change, so I bought myself a red hair dye. Well, I made the stupidest mistake doing it (especially stupid as I used to be a hairdresser) I forgot that if you put a red colour directly onto bleached highlights (which is what I've got) it goes very orange. I'd only had the colour on 5 minutes when I remembered this... I looked at my hair and immediately washed the colour out, it was looking very orange already!! So I was kicking myself for doing it....it's not really that bad, it's just really grabbed and it's quite bright on my highlights. The colour really took after only 5 minutes, so I'm glad I didn't leave it on any longer. I've even had a few people say how nice it looks, but now I just want to go back to my old colour, it's a bit too coppery for my liking.

Anyway, that was my drama for the week!

This made me laugh...I was reading the news the other day, the UK pop group, Girls Aloud are in Sydney at the moment, they went to Taronga zoo and they were having their pictures taken with the koalas, and 2 of them got peed on by a koala...hahaa!! Also John Cleese has made the headlines here slagging off Palmerston North (in North island of New Zealand) where he recently toured. He said it was the most miserable place, and the weather was just awful...the funny thing is that Jason, Todd and a few of my other friends are all from there....I'm sure they won't be very happy with that!! To Palmerson North's credit, I've been there and it's not really that bad (well apart from the weather!).

Some photos from the Mardi Gras (as usual the night time ones didn't come out very well...gutted!)

Nice.....



Warming up, Sue, myself and Jason



Just before the parade started

I'm still suffering even now. The infection decided to turn into a cold on Friday....so I haven't really been sleeping very well as I haven't been able to breathe through my nose! Sorry, I sound like a right old whinger don't I! Anyway, Saturday afternoon, Jason and I headed into town early so we could get a good spot to watch the gay and lesbian Mardi Gras parade....I'd heard it was a must see. So we bought some drinks from the bottle shop, then met up with Sue at 4.30. We found a good spot to sit at the side of the street to wait for the carnival, it wasn't going to be starting until 8pm, but everyone gets there early. We saw some very funny sights, one guy was walking down the road with just his boots, and a thong…nice!! We had great fun whilst we were waiting, there were lots of organisers handing out whistles, balloons, shakers, lollypops...Sue and I did a good job of chatting to them and they kept giving us free stuff!! We were also playing beach volleyball with them. Rach, Stu and Liz and Mike had turned up by now too. A bit later on they had some more entertainment...a drag queen called Sandy Bottom, he/she made us all dance and sing along to the music, which passed a bit of time....so when it was time for the parade, we were all raring to go! First off were the 'dykes on bikes' there must have been hundreds of them on their motorbikes...it was really funny...most of them did look like blokes I have to say! There were some great floats, I've got some really great footage on my camera. There were guys dressed up as Kate Moss throwing white powder on the street and pretending to snort it all...they even had giant credit cards, very amusing. There were lots of sailors, cowboys, Snow White and the 7 dykes...in fact everything you could imagine...lots of people with skimpy outfits (some of them really shouldn't have!!) and one of the floats was based on Little Britain except their slogan was 'You're not the only gay in the village'. It was a pretty amazing carnival, I've never seen anything like it before. The streets were absolutely packed, apparently there was about 300,000 people there. After the parade had finished we fought our way down the road to the Burdekin which is mine and Sue’s old local. It took us ages to get in as it was so busy, but we eventually made it…we managed to lose everyone else in the process though. We had a couple of drinks in there, but it was so busy and hot, we thought we’d call it a night and went and had a slice of pizza.
Yesterday was a bit of a non event…Jason was sick as he’d drunk too much on Saturday night, and I wasn’t feeling too great either, so we just hung around the flat. Later on we went to the cinema to see Brokeback Mountain, which I really enjoyed.
I had a better nights’ sleep last night, although I was rudely awoken by a mosquito buzzing right in my ear…the bloody thing had bitten my arms and my legs! I’d only said to Jason that evening that we haven’t had any bugs for a while (this was also before I saw the huge cockroach on the floor!) Roll on the winter!!

I have been off work for the last couple of days. I started to have trouble breathing on Monday night because of all the yucky stuff that had travelled down to my chest, I had a bit of a panic about it at one point! Anyway, I went back to the docs on Tuesday and he said I had a chest infection, my airways were affected too, so he gave me a puffer and signed me off work for 2 days..... the puffer helped a lot. I'm still not feeling 100%, but I'm a lot better, hopefully it will all clear out in the next couple of days.

I've just been catching up on my emails, I can't believe how many of my friends are now pregnant, have just had babies, or are due over the next couple of months!! It must be something in the air. I'm really happy for them all, it's such an exciting time ;o)

Had a pretty quiet weekend really. My medical was pretty quick and straightforward on Saturday, I only had to have a chest x-ray which took a couple of seconds. I have to wait a week for the results. After that, Jason and I just had a look around the shops (I didn't buy anything!)

In the evening we went around to Linn and Martin's for dinner. Martin's brother was over from Sweden, and a couple of other friends, so that was a really nice evening. Sometimes I like just going to someones house rather than going to the pubs.

Last night we went to see Derailed at the cinema. It was a really good film, a good thriller.

I'm feeling pretty sick now, I thought I'd better go to the doctors after work on Friday as my cough was still really bad. He just prescribed me anti-biotics, which I wasn't going to take, I don't like just taking them for something like a cough, as you can just get immune to them. Anyway, I woke up on Saturday and I felt quite bad, so I thought I'd actually better go and get my prescription (and I got told off by my flatmate who said I should take them...she wasn't worried about me, she just didn't want me spreading my germs around...charming!) I didn't feel too bad yesterday, but I had a really bad sleep last night, and today my chest is really rattly and wheezy, I sound like an old woman and I'm hurting and exhausted from coughing so much...who'd have thought a little cough could cause so much hassle! I should really have stayed home today, but I really need to work as I need the money.

Wednesday afternoon after I'd caught up on my emails, I went for a swim at the ladies swimming baths down by the sea. It only costs 20 cents...bargain! They have made a swimming area by the cliffs for women and children. I had a lovely afternoon, I swam for about 20 minutes, it's much nicer than being in a swimming pool, for one, you have these lovely views of the beach, and also it's really sunny. After that I sat in the sun for a while....bliss!

I started work yesterday, it was fairly quiet, but I think I have a big job ahead of me, they want me to set up their new filing system. It's not going too badly so far, but I will have to archive a lot of records, I just hope it's not the same as the first job I had, nobody had a clue how to archive the old records!

I met up with Sue last night, we hadn't seen each other for about 2 months, as first my Mum was over, then we went to New Zealand, then Sue's parents have been over for 3 weeks, and they went away too. Anyway, we had a really good laugh as usual...my belly got a good workout from all our laughing!! We had so much to catch up on, we were both talking ten to the dozen. We'd had a few drinks when these 2 girls on the table next to us asked if we wanted to finish off their half a bottle of champagne as they had to go....of course we obliged! I'm paying the price for it today though!

I've got my medical test tomorrow for my visa application, so fingers crossed. I have to have a chest x-ray, I hope I can stop coughing for 5 mins though, I've had this cough for nearly 2 weeks, and it's doing my head in! So no going out for me tonight!

We had a really good day yesterday. We had an appointment with our immigration agent, and we finally got some positive news (it's mostly been bad news up until now). I won't go into it as it's really boring, but keep your fingers crossed!!

Also, because of this, we were able to book our flights to Europe for my brothers wedding in June. We first go to England for a week, then fly to Vienna and stay with Chris and Martina for a while, then we're going to go to Munich for a few days too, then back to Slovakia again for the wedding.....I'm going to be a bridesmaid too (I was really flattered to be asked by Martina ;o))....I'm so excited, Jason's getting earache from me cos I keep going on about it all, it'll be so lovely so see everyone again and be back in Europe and of course to see my big brother get married!!

I haven't started work yet, was supposed to start today, but I had a call from them asking if I could start tomorrow instead, it gives me time to sort out a few things for the immigration dept.

They gave me a lovely farewell at work on Friday, I was really touched. They'd bought a lovely pear and almond cake and they gave me a card and a present, how sweet! I got to take half of the cake home too, we just finished it last night...so much for the diet!!

I had to go to the doctors on Friday evening to get my Hepititus A & B booster immunisations. Last time I had it in my bum, but this time it was in my arm....it's still really sore now!! We were supposed to play tennis on Saturday afternoon, but it ached too much.

We had a pretty quiet weekend, didn't go out on Saturday night as we are trying to save some money. Yesterday we went to the gay and lesbian mardi gras show in the city. It was very interesting, we saw some funny sights. I've never seen so many dogs in one place, they all have these little tiny dogs with them. There was a dog show where the owners had to take their dogs over all these obstacles, including jumping through a tranvestites legs!! It was very amusing. We didn't stay there that long, the weather was so hot, the weekend has been a bit unbearable. We've had the fan on all weekend, even today the sun isn't out, but it's really muggy....I hate it when it's like this (you poor soul I hear you say!!)

We went for a swim yesterday afternoon to cool down, I only went for a dip, but Jason went for a snorkel.....poor him, he came back after a while...he'd been stung by a jellyfish, he'd had to go over to the first aid, I thought he'd been gone ages!! He was in agony, said it was like having really really bad sunburn, we put some ice on his back (it was bright red and blistered) when we got back, and it eased the pain. I'm so glad I didn't go with him, I'd have freaked out, and probably never have gone back in the sea again!!

I have today and tomorrow off before I start my new job on Wednesday, it's nice to have a long weekend.

I've got a bit of a cold this week, it's been a while since I had one, so I'm not complaining too much...it's just mucking up my exercise regime (that I still haven't really started!)

I finish work tomorrow, it's really really quiet now, so I'm quite relieved that I don't have to try and look busy anymore! I went for an interview today at Energy Australia, I start there on Wednesday for 3 weeks which is great, the job sounds really boring, lots of filing involved..but my agent, bless him, has given me a really good rate so I can't moan!

Oh, I forgot about Valentines day, we had a really nice evening, Jason took me to the local Mexican restaurant, we had a lovely bottle of wine and the most fattening dinner you could imagine, it must have had a days worth of calories in it....loads of cheese, guacamole, sour cream etc, it was lovely though, but afterwards I couldn't even bring myself to eat the chocolates he'd bought me!!

Had another nice weekend, the weather has been really great. Saturday night we met up with Rachel, Stu and Mike to watch the rugby...not that I was really interested, but I went to be sociable. After the game we went to another couple of bars, but it was a pretty early night. Yesterday Jason and I went snorkelling at Gordons Bay, it was quite funny as I'm really useless with getting myself ready in all my gear, but about half an hour later when I'd sorted myself out, we finally got in the water. It was a bit chilly, but we soon got used to it. The water was quite clear, we saw a few fish, but it wasn't as good as up in Queensland. I did enjoy it, I just need to get a bit more confidence in the water, I felt a bit of an idiot with my polystyrene noodle to keep me afloat!! It gave me a bit of reaassurance tho as it was pretty deep!! That was about it for the weekend, I'm trying desperately to save some money, so my blog will probably be really boring for the next months!!

Not much to report this week. My contract at work has been extended another week which is great news. It's quietened down a bit today, thank god, it was a bit stressful!

I went for a run last night, for the first time in ages, it was bloody hard, and I'm a bit stiff today (I'm trying to lose weight for my brothers wedding in June!) I managed to get rid of my gym membership in December, as I was trying to save money, so this is the first time in about 15 years I haven't been a member of a gym, and I must say it actually feels great, I don't have to beat myself up about it if I don't want to go. It's probably not as good for my body, but I'm going to be doing lots more outdoor activities....I really miss riding my bike tho, I loved that in Munich.

I will have been away a year tomorrow, it's gone sooo quick. I knew that would happen, time just goes by so fast.

Had a lovely weekend, on Saturday Jason and I went to a travel expo to check out prices for flights to Europe and also on wedding destinations...want to go somewhere exotic!! So we had a good look around and got lots of ideas to think over. In the evening, we went with Todd and Rach and Stu to watch Walk the Line at the cinema, it was a great film, I really recommend it, I loved the music. We ended up going to the pub after for a drink, it was supposed to be a quiet weekend, but after that we went to Linn and Martins and we ended up drinking lots of wine and their duty free liquor collection (butterscotch schnapps, mmmmm, tastes just like butterscotch angel delight!!) so it was another unplanned late night!

On Sunday, we took a drive to the Royal National Park, about an hours drive south of here. We had a really relaxing, chilled day, we took a picnic too. We were going to hire a rowing boat, but neither of us could be bothered, so we got back in the car and found a little beach and a lagoon...the water was blissful and it was very calm, so we were in the sea for ages....lovely!! Didn't do much in the evening, just watched some TV.

I'm still working at the same place, not sure whether they'll extend my contract onto next week, I'll find out tomorrow hopefully. It's been so busy, the students all went back on Monday, so we had loads of last minute enrollments to do, my feet didn't touch the ground, it was manic, but the days have been flying by, which is the most important thing!! I'm learning lots more now, so I don't have to ask the others everytime someone has a question, which is great.

Quite a busy week at work this week, I'm really glad it's Friday today. We had the student orientation day yesterday, so everyone has been really stressed out with that...luckily it's over now. I'm not sure how much longer I have left here, hopefully another couple of weeks, it's lovely being paid again!!

I cancelled my flight home last night....I hated doing it, what a waste of money....oh well, it's done now. If I hadn't of changed my plans, I'd be back in the UK this time next week....scary stuff, has it really been a year since I left England??!

Hopefully it will be a quieter weekend coming up, I'm really tired and it will be good to save a bit of money. That all sounds very boring doesn't it....back to reality I guess!!

Sorry I've been neglecting my blog a bit since I've been back, I've just been trying to catch up on emails and stuff, and not having my own PC at work, I can't do it in work time (which has been known!!) So, this is just a quick one!!

Had a good weekend, it was Jason's birthday on Saturday, so we went to the beach in the day, and then about 20 of us went out for a Thai meal in the evening. It was a good night, but far too much wine was drunk!

Yesterday we went to the shopping mall as it was extremely hot outside, and sometimes it's best just to get in the air conditioned malls. After that we went to see the film Munich. I was really excited about seeing this, I'd seen a documentary about the hostage situation a few years ago, and thought that the film would be about this....also I thought I'd see some familiar sights, but no, it wasn't like that at all, it was about tracking down and killing the terrorists after it happened, so there was only a few minutes of the hostage situation....and it was a pretty gruesome film too...oh well, you have to try these things!!

I just wanted to say, thanks for all your well wishes about our engagement, it really made us happy ;o)

I finished my first week back at work today, it's been pretty uneventful, it's a bit better than it was on Monday, but I still don't have my own desk, so it's a bit frustrating.

We had a day off yesterday for Australia Day. Jason and I went down to Darling Harbour and Hyde Park so see what was on, we didn't stay long though as we had to get over to Sue and Grants for dinner. We had a great evening there, it's never a dull moment! Also Aunty Betty and Uncle Derek were over from New Zealand (we just stayed with them last week) so it was nice to see them again. At about 9pm we took them to watch the fireworks, I'm glad we went cos they were really good. Am feeling a bit tired today, but I'm not going out tonight, so I can have an early night.

I have some big belated news from New Years Eve....my boyfriend, Jason and I got engaged, he proposed at midnight when the fireworks were going off…..I was very shocked I can tell you, but really happy, it still hasn’t really sunk in yet. I have only just announced it now as I've been on holiday and wanted to try and tell all my family and close friends before I wrote it on here. I’m really sorry if I haven’t told you personally, but I guess this way I don't miss anyone out!!

Back to the grindstone today for me, I started my first day at work since about 6 weeks. It seems that I always get the boring jobs and the jobs working for the most disfunctional groups!! I'm working at TAFE (adult education) again, (the Head office was the first place I worked when I arrived in Sydney...remember the Dragon!) anyway, I'm now at one of the campuses working in the International Students office, and today I spent the whole day sticking stickers onto some brochures they had made up...exciting stuff!! I know I shouldn't complain, it is money, but I must admit, I'm dying for this temping business to finish, it's a bit demeaning some of the work I've had to do since I've been here!

Anyway, as for the weekend, Jason and I went out for a lovely meal on Saturday night, we found a really nice Mexican restaurant which had great food. We then ended up going out till all hours to the club down the road....well, it was my first night out in ages!! so Sunday I was really tired. We went down the pub in the afternoon to catch up with friends that I hadn't seen for a while so that was nice. I had to come home at 8 though cos I wanted to phone Mum to check she got back ok after her long journey. She sounded quite well considering, she was very tired though. We ended up talking for about 45 mins, which is mad we had so much to talk about as we'd only just seen each other!! anyway, she said she had a lovely holiday.

I've just been on the bus home from work and 2 guys got on to check everyones bus tickets...I've never seen that before here, it brought back memories of being in Munich and getting checked all the time.

We had a lovely evening on Tuesday meeting all the family. There were lots of us there for dinner and we had a bit of a laugh, it was great to meet everyone finally.

Next day we went for a bit of a drive, and some ice cream, we saw a bit more of Christchurch. Then in the evening we went our for dinner at one of these all you can eat buffets...and I did eat all I could...I felt quite sick afterwards!
Today I was up at 3am to get to the airport for my 6am flight back to Sydney, I had a bit of a sleep when I got back home and feel a bit better now. I feel sorry for Mum, she's flying to Sydney, then she's got a 6 hour wait until her flight to England....it's going to be a long day for her! I was really sad saying goodbye to her, she's been with me for the last 5.5 weeks, and I kind of got used to her being around....I hate goodbyes. But we had a lovely holiday, I just hope I didn't wear her out with all the travelling and sightseeing!!

I've got some good news, I just phoned around all the recruitment agencies, and one phoned me back with a job that starts on Monday for 4 weeks, which is such good news as I'm very, very skint...I'll have to start saving up for my flight home now!

I haven’t had a chance to update for a couple of days, so I’ve separated the sections:

Monday 16th Jan

Our first stop today was Baldwin Street, the steepest street in the world. When the bus stopped and I looked up the hill, I though…oh my god, but we just had to walk up it, and boy was it hard work, Mum and I were out of breath within minutes and our hearts were in our throats, I thought I was going to be sick!! Anyway, we made it in the end….I feel sorry for the people that live on the road…imagine popping to the shops for a paper, not easy work to get back home! I’m relieved to say, walking down was a lot easier, I felt really good for doing it (at 8.30 in the morning!) but Mum and I did have a bad cough whenever we breathed in for the next half hour!!Fact time….the street has a gradient of 1 in 1.266.

So after that we stopped for a coffee at Moeraki, there are boulders on the beach there which are a bit of a tourist attraction ‘the Moeraki Boulders’. There are lots of them and they are all very round, noone is quite sure how they got there. We also stopped off at Lake Pukaki, and I have to say, it’s the most amazing lake I’ve ever seen (and I’ve seen a few!) The colour of it looked just like a swimming pool, a real turquoisey blue, it really was amazing, we also had views of Mount Cook, Mount Tasman and Mount Stirling from across the lake. Mount Cook is the tallest mountain in New Zealand, 230 people have died attempting to climb it, it’s supposed to be more dangerous than climbing Mount Everest because of the unpredictable weather. Anyway, back to the water, the turquoise blue of the lake is created by rock flour. The glaciers grind rock into fine dust on their journey down towards the lake, this is then suspended in the water and when combined with sunlight creates this colour water. After we’d taken lots of pics, we set off for Lake Tekapo, we finally arrived at 3pm. The lake, again was stunning, not quite the same colour as Lake Pukaki, but still a great sight. We got off the bus and took some pictures of the little church and the statue of the collie dog (it’s to do with the towns history, but I won’t bore you). The town is very small, the population is only 340 people…tiny!. At least it gave us a bit of time to relax before heading back to Christchurch, although I guarantee we’ll be doing lots of walking tomorrow….no rest for the wicked!!

And on another note, it’s a year today that I left Munich, where has the time gone?! I’m a little sad and nostalgic too, I especially miss being close to my brother. It was such an amazing time in my life, but I’m sure there are a lot more good times to come ;o)

Tuesday 17th January

As predicted, we did a lot of walking today. We headed off from the hostel at 10am to walk up to Mount John’s summit. At first we were not sure we were going the right way as the path wasn’t heading upwards, but rather around the mountain, but we asked a guy on a horse and he said to continue on the path. It took us about 3 hours to get to the top, and we walked around the summit 1.5 times (don’t ask!) then headed back down the opposite side to which we’d gone up. We eventually got back to the hostel, shattered and achey 4 hours later …it was a long way up (and down). We didn’t do much in the afternoon, just sat around reading and had fish and chips for dinner. I was hoping I’d get a better nights sleep tonight, the previous night one of the girls in the room was snoring like a trooper….which again reminds me to never stay in a hostel dorm again (how many times I said that before!!)

Wednesday 18th January

I did get an ok sleep last night, apart from getting woken up at 4am because of the howling wind. Anyway, we arrived in Christchurch a few hours ago, it was a pretty uneventful journey It’s freezing here, well it’s 13 degrees….where is the summer??!! Aunty Betty and Uncle Derek picked us up, and we’ve just been washing and going to the shops to buy dinner….the whole family are coming over tonight…it sounds like it’s going to be a houseful…and I’ve only met a couple of them before.

We’ve only got tomorrow left here, then it’s back home for Mum, and back to Australia for me. I’m really going to miss Mum, it’ll be weird not having her here :-(

We arrived in Dunedin on Friday afternoon. We stopped off a few times on the way, but we were here at about 2pm. We checked into the hostel, it's a really lovely place, it's old and huge, it used to be a hospital, there are so many hidden passages everywhere, it's quite easy to get lost! Our first stop of the afternoon was to Cadbury World, unfortunatley though it was only a small tour as the factory workers were still on holiday so we didn't get to see them making the chocolates :-( Anyway, we watched a short film then the guide took us inside the building, the smell of chocolate was so strong....yummy! She took us up to the chocolate fountain, which is where they drop a ton of chocolate in 30 seconds (or something), that was quite cool. We also got some free samples which we enjoyed and we bought some more chocolate in the shop there....chocolate is so much cheaper here than in Australia.

After that we took a walk to the railway station which is supposed to be the most photographed building in New Zealand, then we went to the supermarket for our dinner. Then it was pretty much an early night.

Yesterday we had a bit of a lie in, then took a walk into the city and had a look around. It really doesn't feel like summer here, the wind is really chilly even when the sun is out, and it is really windy here! We had to be back at the hostel in the afternoon for our wildlife tour, so we went back for lunch and then were picked up at 3.30. We had a bit of a drive to get to the conservation area, we had to drive right to the tip of the peninsula. As soon as we got out the bus, the wind just hit us, it was so strong as we were in a really exposed area, right on the top of a hill by the sea. We split up into 2 groups and our group walked through a field of sheep (actually we were blown down) towards the rocks where all the fur seals were. They have a little viewing station there so we were sheltered from the wind, we sat there for a while looking at the fur seals through our binoculars....they were pretty camaflagued by the rocks, but once you got used to it you could pick them out really well. It was amazing seeing them in the wild, there were loads of them, we saw a couple of bulls which were huge and there were also lots of pups too...so cute. We walked along to another viewing area and saw even more fur seals and birds (apparently the birds feed on the seals afterbirth so they are always hanging around....yuk). After that it was a big hike up the hill again, and then back down to the beach to see the yellow eyed penguins. It was quite steep coming down so we had to be careful what with the wind as well. When we got there we were lucky enough to see a few Sealions lazing around on the beach...the guide told us that they are not scared of people like the fur seals, but we had to be careful not to get too close as they like to play (and that can include biting!). They were absolutely huge, but really cute looking. Got some photos of them, then we headed along the beach to another lookout to see the penguins, there was already one that had just come out of the water and was hobbling up the beach, I love penguins, so it was great to see a wild one. It was headed up the cliff to where all their nests are based, so we walked up to another lookout by the hill and could see all the nests....and even some little chicks too. We were lucky enough to see a parent feed 2 chicks (by regurgatating the fish for them). It was a really cool experience. On the way back we walked by the Sealions again, they hadn't moved though, still in the same positions. We had another hike right back up the hill again, I tell you this holiday is giving me so much exercise, I'm going to be shattered by the time it finishes! Back to the bus, and then we headed for the Royal Albatross sanctuary. Again we were lucky to see a couple of these huge birds flying....they really are large, their wingspan is about 3metres. They can only fly when it is windy, which was definitely the case yesterday!! We didn't get back to the hostel until about 9.30, so we didn't get much done after that.

Today we started to walk to St Clair beach, we walked for about half an hour, but then the sky looked really dodgy and we weren't even nearly there yet, so we decided to turn back, and it was a good job we did, as soon as we got to the hostel it started to rain. We are just checking our emails now, and then later we'll go to the cinema. Tomorrow we are heading for Lake Takepo, our last destination before we head back to Christchurch.

Yesterday was a real wash out, it rained the whole day, so we didn't get anything done, but it gave us the chance to chill out and watch movies all day!

Today we went to Milford Sound, and how glad were we that the trip got postponed until today...the weather was fantastic (more on that later!). I was awake at 4.30am and couldn't get back to sleep as we had to get up at 6am anyway, so I was pretty shattered this morning. We had the best day, first we drove to Te Anau a little village about 2 hours from Queenstown, we stopped off there for a coffee, and then headed off again. We had a quick stop at the Mirror lakes, which were exactly what you'd expect them to be with that name, they were really amazing, you could see the mountains and the sky reflected in the water, there was even a sign, which didn't make sense looking at it, but when you looked in the reflection in the water, it said Mirror lakes, clear as day....cool!

At the Mirror Lakes

This is not the sky, but the reflection in the water

Next stop was lunch at Cascade Creek, we went for a bit of a bush walk while the guide started up the barby, and by the time we got back, it was all ready for us. After a great lunch, we stopped off at the stream of Eternal youth, if you drink it you're supposed to wake up the next day looking 10 years younger, I should have just jumped in it!! We'll have to wait and see what I look like in the morning, but unless I can catch up on my lost sleep, I'll probably look 10 years older!!

Stream of Eternal youth

We finally got to Milford Sound about 2pm, just in time to catch the boat for our trip. We were really lucky in that we were practically the only ones on the boat so we had lots of room. We learnt that Milford Sound is actually a fjord, not a sound, made by glacier activity, it was pretty spectacular, the boat slowly made it's way across the water, and we were surrounded by these amazing mountains the whole way, it was definitely a New

Zealand moment for me, absolutely stunning.

We were really lucky to see some little seals too, they were quite content sunning themselves on the rocks...so sweet! We headed out towards the start of the Tasman sea, so the water started to get a bit rougher. The captain of the boat was making his commentary and he said how lucky we were that the weather was so perfect today, it was only the second day in the last 10 that has been sunny, and he said it was a good job we weren't there yesterday as they had torrential rain and up to 116 miles an hour gusts of wind...how lucky that they cancelled our trip yesterday, Mum and I were so grateful!! The waterfalls on the mountains are supposed to be spectacular when it's raining, but we saw quite a few so we got the best of both worlds.

On the way back to the jetty, there was another large waterfall, again this one was supposed to make you look 10 years younger if you put your hands in it..... the captain said we would go quite close so we may get a little wet....anyway, he practically drove underneath it and everyone got soaked....very amusing! At least we'll all look younger tomorrow ;o)

some more pics of Milford Sound

We're off to Dunnedin tomorrow morning, it's our last night in Queenstown tonight, so we're quite sad, but we're uplifted a bit knowing that we can visit Cadbury World at our next destination!!

Had a fun day today. We had a bit of a lie in as we were both knackered from the last few days. I forgot to mention yesterday that our room consists of a bunk bed...I did book a twin room so was a bit annoyed about that, but Mum was quite happy to sleep on the top bunk...bless her, I was quite happy about that!! Anyway, we had a look around the shops this morning and went to the supermarket for some food, we were trying to hold out for the sky to clear up as we'd bought tickets to go up the mountain on the gondola. So after lunch we headed up the road to the gondolas. It wasn't a long trip, but it was an amazing view from up there, we went out onto the viewing platform and took some pictures.

View of Queenstown

Another view.... you can just spot the paraglider

So then it was time to go on the luge which are little carts you sit in and go flying down one of two windy tracks. It was fab fun, we were a bit slow to start with, but once you get a bit of confidence you can go flying, it was great. I had such a laugh at Mum, we both looked really silly with our helmets on driving these little carts.

After 2 runs on the 'scenic route' we decided to brave it and go on the 'advanced route'...First off we got a bit put off as we were given red carts instead of the normal black ones we'd been in, I don't know why, but both of us couldn't quite get the knack of the brakes at the starting point, we were of course just being silly, but I changed my cart to a black one and felt a lot better about it!! anyway it was brilliant, you have to really concentrate as you are going pretty fast down the hill and they have so many bends in them. We were in fits of giggles, at one point there is a little hill and straight after a really, really steep one...Mum happened to be in front of me at this point, and all I heard was 'oh my god' and she just disappeared, then it was my turn, and I must say it shook me up a bit, but it was a real buzz.....we had to go on the scenic route again after that just to calm our nerves!! We did go on the advanced one again on our last go though!! When we'd done with that, we got the gondola back down again. We didn't really do much for the rest of the afternoon. The guy from reception found us and told us that our Milford Sound tour had been cancelled for tomorrow, so we are going on Thursday instead, not sure what we're going to do tomorrow now. We've just been to the cinema, there wasn't much on, we saw Cheaper by the dozen 2, it was ok, just a bit of easy watching.

I took the last of my dressings from my New Years eve injuries last night, everything has healed up, apart from them looking a bit pink they're fine, I just hope I don't get any scars.

Here are some pics from yesterday...

Mum and I at Knights Point lookout

Me at Lake Hawea

Mum at Lake Wanaka

Someone jumping of the AJ Hackett bungy bridge

We arrived in Queenstown about 2 hours ago after a very long, but enjoyable day....and the weather was fantastic, which made it so much better. We got on the road at 7.45am, our first stop was Lake Matheson, which is a glacial created lake surrounded by ancient rainforest, we took a few photos there, and then were on our way again. Then we stopped at Knights Point lookout, the view there was fantastic, the Tasman sea was so beautiful and blue. There was supposed to be a colony of seals on some of the rocks there, but unfortunately we didn't see any. Then is was onto the Haast pass (which is named after an Austrian explorer). The roads are really windy and steep, the whole way from Franz Josef we were driving alongside the Southern Alps so the views were fantastic, some of the mountains even had snowfall on them. The Southern Alps are apparently as big in volume as the Austrian and Swiss Alps combined! Driving along the west coast has really made me miss Germany and Austria, all those mountains and the snow :-( Anyway, next stop was a 28m high waterfall called Thunder Creek falls, these flow into the Haast river, then it was onto Makarora for a quick lunch stop, there wasn't really much there, but we saw a few helicoptors and a plane land from doing their scenic flights.

After lunch we carried on and had a stop at Lake Hawea which was beautifully blue (it's 384m deep) and very, very big, it reminded me of lake Garda in Italy, except Lake Garda isn't as blue. After that, we drove alongside Lake Wanaka, which again is stunning (it's 311m deep and 193 sq km...I did my homework today didn't I!!). When we got to Wanaka we had another stop for photo opps, it is a lovely town, I would love to go back and stay there at some point, lots of lovely shops... of course the lake with the backdrop of the mountains....gorgeous! Again it reminded me of one of the little towns along Lake Garda (this trip is really making me homesick for Europe!) Apparently Shania Twain has a holiday home there (another useful bit of information!) anyway, unfortunately we only had a short stop there, then it was on to Queenstown. We stopped off to see the famous AJ Hackett bungee jump suspension bridge....we didn't go on, but hung around and watched some people jump...I tell you, I don't know how they do it, they all seemed so calm, and none of them hesitated...I was scared just being on the viewing platform!!

On the way to Queenstown we drove past the 45th parallel (it's an imaginary line, which I think marks halfway between the North Pole and the Equator...I had my headphones on at the time, so missed half of what the bus driver said!) Anyway, so we arrived here, had a quick tikky tour (thats what the kiwis call it) around town, then checked into the hostel. It's actually very nice, we have a lovely view of the lake here. We dropped off our stuff, booked a tour to Milford Sound for Wednesday, had a look around town, then bought a voucher for the gondala ride and 5 rides on the Luge (some sort of thing you sit on and you go whizzing down the hill). We've just been out for a Thai meal, and I think we'll be shortly going to bed...we're both shattered as it's been a really long day, almost 12 hours of sitting in a bus and sightseeing. But we've had a great day, the scenery is so amazing...it's definitely more beautiful the further south you drive.

It was an early start for us yesterday morning. We were ready for the bus to pick us up at 8am to take us to our next destination Franz Joseph. We had a couple of stops along the way, first one was at Hokitika, a tiny town where they make and sell the greenstone (Jade) jewellery. Next stop was at Ross which is the richest gold mining town in New Zealand, we had a bonus of being able to pan for gold too which was cool. The lady showed us what to do and then it was our turn. It was actually a lot harder than it looked..I was so worried about throwing any gold back in the water, but eventually I got there and there was 6 tiny fragments of gold...yaay!! Not quite enough to make me rich, but it was fun doing it. Then we put the gold in a little tube and filled it with water. Next stop after that was Lake Mapourika for a photo opportunity, unfortunately the driver didn't stop anywhere else as the weather wasn't clear enough to see the mountains.

So when we'd checked into the hostel we walked around to the glacier hiking shop to pay for our afternoons hike up the Franz Joseph glacier. We were a bit dubious about doing the hike, but we had to give it a go. So at 3pm we went back to the shop to get kitted out for our long afternoon. We got our boots, crampons, coats, trousers, hats etc and then jumped on the bus to take us there. It was about a 45 minute walk just to get to the glacier, we had to walk through small streams to get there, which was when I realised that my boots had lots of holes in them...my feet were soaking before we even started up the glacier!! Anyway, we finally made it to the foot of the glacier, it was a great sight, this huge glacier in the valley of the rainforest, but I was a bit scared as it was really high and steep....so we put the crampons onto our boots and set off. There are staircases sculpted into the ice which were pretty hard to climb up as some of them were really steep, but the guide was patient with us so we weren't under too much pressure. The further up we got the more amazing the ice was, and the bluer it got, it was pretty spectacular, well worth the hard work to get up there. At one point I got a bit carried away and wasn't really watching the guide and started to go up a staircase that wasn't supposed to be used.....it was a lot steeper and harder....then I realised my mistake and had to cross over, everyone thought that was quite funny! Apart from being a bit scared at first and the weather being pretty dismal (it was freezing and raining), we both thoroughly enjoyed it, it was really exhilarating...Mum did really well, she was up there with the best of them, I was really proud of her! The guides did give us lots of facts about the glacier, but unfortunately I was so busy concentrating, I didn't take much in, so I can't bore you facts and figures!! After about 2.5 hours (I think) of climbing up and down the glacier we were ready to be taken back to the hostel. We were shattered and my legs were really wobbly by this point. After a cold shower (not happy that there was no hot water left) we had some food and pretty much after that went to bed.

Today we were up early again to do the kayaking on lake Mapourika. My legs are still stiff today, so I was quite glad it was just rowing with my arms...but little did I know that I'd have to actually use my legs to steer the rudder too! We had a nice day, Mum was really nervous as she's not the best swimmer, but we did pretty well. The lake was massive and you could see the reflection of the trees in it. It was pretty windy though so was quite hard work getting to the other side of the lake. After we did that the guide took us down a windy stream which was lovely, it was like floating down a jungle river because of all the greenery around, very peaceful. Mum and I got stuck a few times, but the guide helped us out...we weren't the most competent rowers. I think we rowed approx 7km today, and our arms our really sore now, it was really tough work.

We're off to Queenstown tomorrow morning, we'll be doing a few stop offs on the way, I hope it stops raining...it's throwing down again now!

Here are some pictures from the past week

Akaroa

Panning for gold

View of the valley from Franz Joseph Glacier

Mum and I with our pick axe!

On the way down

View from the bottom

We were up at 6.15 on Wednesday morning to catch the Tranzalpine Express to Greymouth (East Coast to West Coast). The train journey was excellent, we thoroughly enjoyed it.... the scenery was amazing. First we headed out of Christchurch, crossing the Canterbury Plains. Then we climbed through the alpine foothills and the Waimakariri Gorge to Arthurs Pass National Park. Mum and I made our way to the front of the train so we could get some photos from the viewing carriage, it was absolutely freezing, I made Mum say there for over half an hour, I didn't want to leave in case I missed a good photo opportunity!! We did leave after a while though, our hands and faces were soooo cold, it was amazing how cold it was! Eventually we reached 737 metres high Arthurs Pass which was surrounded by snow capped mountain peaks. After that we headed downwards again and entered the Otira Tunnel, after 8.5 kms we came out again into the rainforest of the west coast. Our journey ended in Greymouth on the shores of the Tasman Sea. The journey was 231km long, and took 4.5 hours. There are 16 tunnels on the way and the highest viaduct is the Staircase at 73m. I would definitely recommend taking this trip, it really was worthwhile.

So we arrived in Greymouth yesterday afternoon, there isn't actually so much here. We dropped off our stuff at the hostel (which is really nice) and then we had a walk around town and went to the supermarket to get some food. When we got back, we tried to take off the dressing from my worst arm as it had gone a funny colour, but as soon as I tried to pull it off, it really hurt as it was stuck right down on the burn and then I started to feel all queazy and faint cos it looked horrible...I'm such a big wuss, we had to go upstairs to our room so I could lie down and Mum could pull it off for me!! Later on we played a few games, Jenga, Ludo, and we tried our hands at Draughts and Scrabble, but neither of us could remember how to play them, we had fun though and it passed the time! This morning we didn't get up until 11am (how lazy are we!) but I was so tired I really needed the lie in. We had some breakfast and then set off for a walk up the northern beach. We walked past lots of houses by the beach, it really is a small town, population of 9,000, it's so quiet and everyone is so friendly here, they all stop you and say hello, it's so nice. Anyway, it actually was 6km even to get to the beginning of the walk, so we gave up after 1.5 hours of walking and headed back again! We had some lunch and then have just been walking through the town, I managed to find a cheap internet in a Turkish kebab shop...it's a bit smelly, but it's cheap!!

Tomorrow we're off to Franz Josef.

We arrived safely in New Zealand, so I’ll continue with my update!
So Saturday night (New Years eve) Jason and I met up with Steve and Lisa at Lunar Park at Sydney Harbour, we had tickets which included entry into the theme park and free rides all night. I had a bit of a dodgy start though, even before I’d had a drink I had a slight accident, we were going down one of these big slides on a mat, and silly me, I tried to lie back cos that’s what makes you go faster, but instead of going faster, I started to spin around and nearly ended up going down head first, I tried my best to stop myself spinning, but unfortunately I ended up getting really bad friction burns on both my arms and on my back. I was a bit shaky after that, and they were stinging like mad, so I went to the first aid room and they put some cream on which helped for a while. (more to come on that later) But it sort of put me off going on any of the other rides after that!
Anyway, after a couple of drinks we went outside to see the 9pm fireworks (these are the ones for the families) they were pretty spectacular, I couldn’t imagine them being much better for the main spectacle at midnight. Anyway, we decided that we should go on the ferris wheel to see the fantastic view. The harbour looked amazing, the bridge had a pumping red heart in the middle which got brighter and bigger towards the end of the night, all the boats were lit up and also had big red hearts on them, the whole place looked amazing, we managed to get a few pics, but the night setting on my camera isn’t the best unfortunately.
After the ferris wheel we went to check out the music rooms for a while. Then at 11.30pm we went outside to get a good spot for the main fireworks at midnight. They were absolutely amazing, I have some video clips of them which I’m hoping to send out soon, the whole bridge was lit up with the fireworks and they went on for about 20 minutes, they were spectacular, truly an Australia moment!! We went back to the theme park after and Steve and Jason went on the rides while Lisa and I had a good gossip. After some food and the train ride back into the city, Jason and I went to Bondi for another party and to meet our friends that had been to see Fat Boy Slim on the beach. We didn’t stay so long though, but we still didn’t manage to get home until 5.30am!
Next day I didn’t get much done at all, and not surprisingly so, it was the hottest I’ve ever known….it was just under 44 degrees, the hottest it’s been in Australia since 1939, it was absolutely awful. Mum had gone out in the morning to the beach and she came stumbling back at about 2pm with a bright red, puffy face caused by the exertion of walking back up the hill…she was exhausted (I’m not surprised, the best thing to do on days like that is to stay inside). We watched a couple of dvd’s, but later on I had to venture down the road to meet up with Lisa and Steve to say goodbye. Going outside was like walking into an oven, I’ve never known anything like that before…thank god every day isn’t like that! Anyway, said goodbye to them, it’s been really great seeing them both, we had such a good time, and now they’re off to Thailand, lucky them!! Jason and I went out for a meal in the evening, I opted for the Thai green curry…god knows why in that heat!! Luckily the evening outside was a bit cooler by then.
Monday we were up early, Mum and I packed our bags as it was too hot to do it the day before, then we slowly got ready. We got to the airport, unfortunately we had separate flights to New Zealand as we’d both booked our tickets with different airlines…Mum’s left an hour before mine. I was a bit worried about the flight again…I’m getting quite bad lately…I’d been to the doctors for some more valium, so I was well prepared….but this time, I decided instead of having tablets, I’d just have a couple of glasses of wine (which is what I always used to do, but for some reason I stopped) and I tell you, it worked a treat, I wasn’t even worried when it was really bumpy on the descent into Christchurch….brilliant!!!
So I arrived (a bit tiddly) at the airport to find Mum already there with Aunty Betty, Uncle Derek and Bill and Brenda (our cousins). It was lovely to see them all again, it’d been a long time. Mum and I were staying at Aunty Betty’s, so they took us there, we had a little chat when we got there, but it was really late so we went to bed quite soon after.
Yesterday Bill and Brenda came round to take us out for the day. First off they took us through Christchurch city centre and then we headed for Akaroa (a small town about an hours drive south). We drove over the Cashmere/Port Hills and saw some amazing views, the countryside is beautiful there. It was a pretty windy, steep and long drive, eventually we got to the viewpoint for the best view of Akaroa and got out and took some pics, the sea looked beautiful. Then we headed down towards the town. It was a lovely little town, it was actually settled by the French…all the streets have French names, it really was lovely. We had some lunch there and a little walk, then we headed back up the hills and towards Lyttelton (which used to be bigger than Christchurch…a long time ago) We saw some amazing views of the Canterbury Plains. On one part of the hill we stopped the car and Mum, Bill and I walked down the bridal path to the bottom to meet Brenda who’d driven on in the car. It was a really steep walk down, but I’m glad I did it, better than walking up it anyhow!! At the bottom we had some Rocky road cake (which I think we’d deserved) then we set off again. Next stop was Scarborough beach, which was quite small and a bit muddy (and it was getting cold) so we didn’t stay there long. I wanted to get to a chemist as by now my arm (from my injuries on NYE) was really inflamed around the burns, it’d been painful for the past couple of days so I thought I’d better get it looked at. We found a chemist, the pharmacist took a look at it and said I should go to the doctors, as it looked really infected and I could even get blood poisoning from it….nightmare!! So we went over the way to the doctors to get it seen to. Finally we got in and he gave me some antibiotics and they put a dressing on them and I was told just to keep an eye on it in case the inflammation spreads. It’s still pretty painful today, and people keep squeezing or walking into it by accident which doesn’t help, but I can sleep better now as they are dressed and I don’t keep knocking them!! Anyway, after the doctors, we all went back to Aunty Betty’s to pick her and Uncle Derek up and then they took us out for dinner, it was an all you can eat carvery with all the different foods you could imagine…lovely!!
Today Aunty Betty took us to Christchurch to have a quick look around…it was very, very cold and windy though, and it started to rain, so we didn’t have much of a look around, we ended up just going to a shopping mall!! I really like what I’ve seen so far of Christchurch, it is very similar to England. It’s actually a refreshing change to come here after Australia, the climate is so different, I’ve even got a duvet at night so it’s nice and snuggly!! We now have to prepare for our trip around the South Island, we leave tomorrow on the Transalpine Express to Greymouth…I’m really looking forward to that.

Happy New Year to everyone! I hope all your celebrations went well. I'm just at the airport and have found time for a quick update....I'll start from Thursday.
We went to Featherdale wildlife park on Thursday. I wanted Mum to see the native Australian animals before she left. It was quite a small park, but had a variety of animals, including loads of koalas and kangaroos etc. I think Mum was quite impressed! Mum and I went into the petting zoo to see the goats and sheep, we nearly let the goats out (by accident of course!) they got through one of the gates, and we had to try to shoo them back inside...luckily this Irish chap came by and helped us out, otherwise we'd have been stuck there for hours! So we had a nice day there. Later on we went to the Rocks and met up with Lisa and Steve again, we just sat outside a pub and had some food and some drinks, it ended up being quite a late night.
Friday Mum and I went to the shopping mall, I wanted to find an outfit for New Years Eve (it's a running tradition of mine to buy something new to wear for it). I was in luck too!! After shopping, in the evening we went to the cinema and saw a soppy romantic film which we both really enjoyed.
Saturday we got up early and I took Mum on the ferry to Manly. We had a really nice time there, Mum enjoyed it, it's always good to take someone on the ferry, the scenery is so beautiful. We had a bit of a sunbathe and I had a swim in the sea....but it was very hot. I have to go now, my flight is due to board soon....I'll update again soon from New Zealand.