It's a hole. But it's the best hole!

It's weird for me to be able to think back to what I was doing last year at this time and realize I was already in Sydney and not at home. I've been gone for so long!

This year it was still very strange to be somewhere that was not cold during the holiday season. It's unfortunately not nearly as warm as it was in OZ last year but it's definitely not Winter. I think I picked the worst New Zealand city to live in when it comes to the weather. It's often grey and rainy and as I've mentioned before...VERY windy. Today the gusts are up to 120kms/hour. I just basically get blown around the city. If I'm standing on a street corner I have to be careful not to get blown into traffic.

So here, just like in OZ, for some reason they like to have fancy dress (costume) parties at X-Mas. I'm assuming it's because they don't celebrate Hallowe'en!? I worked as a Waitress for a mobile phone company X-Mas party and the theme was cowboys and everyone was dressed up...even us. We had to wear cowboy hats and handkerchiefs around our necks. The company spent so much money on the set up. There was one of those electronic bucking broncos and hay all over the floor and live bands. The whole place looked like a huge ranch and there was about 1000 people there. Some of the costumes were pretty good. Highlights include a full on life size horse that took 2 people for the costume and a piece of corn who kept asking if I had anything with corn in it whenever I came around with a tray of food. When I finally did come with something that had corn he refused it cause "it would be like being a cannibal". Right.

Lindsay's company party (which I went to as her date) was James Bond themed. We didn't want to spend money so we just went to the dollar store and bought plastic guns and wore dresses we already had. Plus I got these super sexy shoes at the Salvation Army for $4!

A few weeks before X-Mas there was a local fair that we went to which had some local vendors selling art etc. Strawberry season has just begun here and they are really cheap and super yummy so we had to have some with whipped cream. Mmmm!

On the 17th of December Hendrik came from Napier where he had been thinning trees for a few months (Boring!). I met Hendrik when he stayed at Travellers Hideaway on Magnetic Island for a few nights. He is from Germany and bought a car (which he lives in most of the time) to travel around NZ for about 6 months. He leaves Welly for the South Island on Jan 10th. It was really nice to have him around since all of my flat mates are Kiwi and have been away with their families for the past few weeks. He's been super easy to live with and for the most part we haven't been sick of each other. He's gone on a road trip now but will hopefully be back for a few days before he leaves Welly.

For about a week the Melbin' crew came to Welly and it was so great to see everyone again...especially Nerys! We all went to a party together for Chaz' home coming, well, for a week or so anyway...until he left us for Europe...and Nery for the U.S.:(

Lil is from Welly originally but has been working in OZ for a while now. He lived with Brady (Lisa) and Nerys in Melbs.

Nerys knows Phil from back home in Belfast. I first met him and his girlfriend Fiona in Melbin' and now they are living in Welly as well...

There was a good line up of bands that played at the party...including Brady. Hooray!

Chaz, Beava (cause he looks like Beavis) and Nerys...

Lindsay came to the party too. We tried to take several self portraits...

We weren't very successful...

For X-Mas day a bunch of backpackers/orphans got together at Lindsay's and had a Pot Luck.




I made mashed potatoes...

and this dessert which looks a lot more disgusting then it was (although to be fair it wasn't all that great. It was supposed to be Hello Dollies but it didn't really work out like it usually does).

It was a pretty sweet dinner. Not quite as good as the dinner I have with my extended family back home, but still pretty good. Good enough that we all ended the night with food comas in front of the T.V.

We also had a gift exchange. Some of us made more effort with our wrapping job then others...

We made it so you were either allowed to pick a new present when it was your turn or steal someone else's that had already been opened. I stole Ivan's. It was delicious smelling soap and incense, which I'm not usually into cause I don't like to smell like a dirty hippy but this stuff was actually pretty nice.

On the 27th Nathan came to visit me for one whole night while he was on his way up to Auckland where he will be living for a while. Lindsay and I took him out to a backpacker bar (classy! but cheap drinks!) and had a fun night which included losing the pub quiz by 1/2 point (prize was a $50 bar tab) and making up tourism slogans for Regina which is Lindsay's home town. Winning slogans (all thought up by Nathan) were "Regina: It's a hole, but it's the best hole!", "Regina: The next town over is a bit of an asshole," and "You are now leaving Regina. Thanks for coming!" Apologies to those who may not share my dry sense of humour.

I tried to get a nice pic of Nathan for you but he's just not into having his photo taken so this is the best I could do. I swear he's absolutely adorable.

A few days later Hendrik and I drove out of the city to Kaitoke Park, which is where some of Lord of the Rings was filmed. We were going to camp out for a night or 2 but as usual the weather sucked so we just went for the afternoon instead and did some hiking.

Apparently Rivendell was one of the filming locations for LOTR so I thought it was going to be extra amazing and beautiful like so many places in NZ are...


Instead it just looked like this...

But the hike we did was really pretty and reminded me a lot of the Rainforest that I walked through when I was in Cape Tribulation in OZ.

There was a swing bridge which we walked across which Hendrik thought it was really fun to rock back and forth as much as possible while we were on it.

I celebrated New Years Eve with Lindsay, Anette, Hendrik and some of his German mates that he had worked with in Napier while he was thinning trees. That is Svenya on the far left, then Melanie and her boyfriend Micheal next to her.

I like Svenya a lot. Hopefully I'll see her again some day...

We went to see a free live funk band at Southern Cross Bar which is close to where I live. We had fun...

On the right is Svenya's boyfriend Marco. Aren't they an adorable couple?

Last night was Nerys' last night in NZ before she headed off this morning to the States (and then hopefully Toronto *fingers crossed*). We went up to Phil and Fiona's house and they cooked us an amazing dinner. We had lasagna, salad, wine, and Banana bread and mousse for dessert. They live out of the city centre and sometimes get visits from the Kaka birds who live at the sanctuary nearby...

We fed them apples.

They have a nice view of the city from their place but you have to walk ages up a very steep hill to get there...
Today I finally made it to Te Papa museum which is free and 5 floors and huge. I didn't take as long as I should have to see everything because there were far too many children there (what was I thinking going on a Sunday!?) and I wasn't really in the mood for crowds but I did take a pic of the giant squid (biggest in the world on display) which was captured near NZ.

This was part of a contemporary instilation that I quite liked. The umbrellas opened and closed and lit up with really pretty sparkly lights.

These maps made me sad. The green shows the amount of land that was untouched wild growth before the European settlers came to NZ...

after they came...

and now...

Over the past few weeks there has been an influx of Unicycle riders in Wellington because they held the world championships called Unicon XV here. The weather put a damper on their events today but I managed to snap a few shots while trying to keep my camera from literally blowing out of my hand.

Since I last wrote I was able to find a new job as an Accounts Payable Officer for the Department of Corrections for the Government of New Zealand. Sounds pretty important hey? (Oh gawd I say "hey" now instead of "eh"...it's an Ozzie/Kiwi thing). Well it's not, although it will look great on my resume. But really we just process all the invoices from anything that is purchased through the NZ prison system from Psych appointments to lawyer fees to bread and milk to employment programs and pay the vendors. The people in my office are really nice and since I am a Temp my hours are very flexible (although I work as much as possible). Also, it pays better than my terrible other job. So I will work there until the end of January and then do some travelling around NZ. I was hoping to just Greyhound bus it around like I did in OZ but the thing about NZ is that all of the interesting things that you want to see are off the beaten track so you either have to rent a vehicle (which would cost $1100 for the month...ouch!) or take a bus tour. There is one called Stray which seems to have the most options and I can hop on/off where I want. It's a lot more expensive then in OZ, which is weird since NZ is so much smaller, but I guess there is less competition and they know it's one of the only ways to get around. A lot of backpackers buy vehicles in NZ and then sell them when they leave. A friend of mine called Amelia ia here right now visiting family and will do some travelling in Feb as well. Hopefully we will be able to do the Stray tour together.

At this point after Feb I am not sure what I am going to do yet. Options include: going to Thailand for a month (would anyone like to come and meet me there in March? We could sit on the most beautiful beaches and get $7 body massages from little old Thai ladies and stay in nice accomodation for $15/night!) or come home a month early and crash on someone's couch until I can move back into my apartment. In many ways I feel VERY ready to come home right now and am just kind of over travelling. I am sick of having the same annoying conversation with every stranger I meet about where they are from and how long they have been travelling blah blah bah (funny how I loved this conversation when I first started travelling and now it has become such a norm that it's just not so exotic anymore). I am over having to navigate my way through a new country all alone. I want to be with my friends. I want to sleep in my bed. I want to be with my friends. I want to have some consistancy. I want to be with my friends! Did I mention that I miss my friends??? and then there is another part of me that thinks I should go to Thailand since it's pretty much on my way home anyway and do what I love to do best which is lounge around on a beautiful beach for a month before coming home. That, of course, would cost extra money though (although not much since S/E Asia is so cheap). But still, more than if I cut my trip short a month and got a direct flight home. And so I am confused but want to make a decision relatively soon so that the flights don't get too expensive. Hmmm.

Any suggestions would be most appreciated. And while you're thinking about that, think about THIS:

New Zealand has on average 15,000 earthquakes per year. I have felt 2 of them since I've been here. You can check out the many earthquakes that happen on a daily basis here.

There are more sheep than people in NZ. As of 2009: 4.2 million people, 40 million sheep.

New Zealand is placed 3rd among OECD Nations for child deaths due to maltreatment (you see commercials all the time about having the courage to ask for help before abusing your child. Scary!)

This is the weather report for tomorrow: Fine until about breakfast time, then showers. Southeasterlies. Does everyone in this country eat breakfast at the same time???

As usual...biggest love to you all!