The beginning of the end

Things I have done since November:

1. Got soaked at Mt Manganui, first climbing 'the Mount' then hanging out in its hot pools. It was a fun weekend away with Mark, Andrea, Jessica and Kelsey.

2. Spent three days in a van travelling through beautiful Northland with Colleen and Olga. We played a lot of cards and listened to the only two CDs we had over and over again. One day we went kayaking. It was more fun than I care to admit. Russell was really beautiful too, although the half hour I spent driving on a very windy gravel road in the dark was disorientating.

3. Classes ended, which was weird because it was Kiwi end-of-year. We had a fun last PCL class. Even lecturer Ross Clark was convinced to wear a party hat. Then I did some exams, yawn. They went fairly well.

4. I got some new glasses, had an eat-a-thon with friend Jessica in various nice Auckland eateries and hung out and laughed a lot with Colleen, before she left, which was sad.

5. All my other friends left. Well, almost all. The best ones did ;)

6. I went to Samoa with Stephan and Mark. We explored bush-covered mountains in search of ruined pyramids, sat in little-fronted open beach huts, swam in crystal-clear blue water, went to a Mormon church in local attire, made new friends on a bike ride, saw churches destroyed by lava, helped the Red Cross with their tsunami-relief efforts and drank more beer than you can imagine.

7. I lived in a van in the South Island with Jamie, Amanda, Mark, Stephan and a nice chap called David Graham who was good at packing. We carried with us a type-writer, a machete, 17 pairs of Amanda's shoes, all our sleeping and living gear and some rapidly-rotting food. We also slept in some cool places, like on beaches and in burnt forests, swam in freezing but incredible lakes, battled strong winds to admire mountains covered in mist, visited beer factories and ate a lot of food with grit in it. Crunch. I've never seen so many cool sunsets either.

8. My parents came over and we travelled in the North Island, as well as spending Christmas Day in the sun with Jamie, Amanda and Cat. Mum liked seeing geysers and multi-coloured geological oddities, and Dad liked the strange birds and plants. I liked the Tongariro Crossing, tho it made my legs hurt.

9. After the 'rents left I travelled more with J, A and C. We went to Amanda's farm where Jamie shot a turkey with a crossbow and Cat got thrown off Amanda's nutter of a horse, Gypsy. Blimey.


The future... Well, we'll see. Off down south to explore by myself. Make some new friends. I need to find somewhere to live for next semester and I might look at getting a job or work experience, to pass the time. You should also all know that I'm tanned. But I'm still kinda jealous of your snow.

Hugs xxx

Uniquely Kiwi

Top 10 things that are peculiarly unique to this these twin isles:

1. Being so far away from literally everything, even the next town, let alone the majority of the world's population. As a result, you get things like Afghan biscuits, a sort of chocolate cookie that has a walnut on top, thus making it look like an Afghan (in one of those hats). The Kiwis get away with this because as far as I can see, there are no Afghan people here. It's too far to come.

2. Self-deprecating humour. 'Moro: probably about the 4th best chocolate bar in NZ.' L&P (fizzy drink): 'World famous in NZ since ages ago.'

3. L&P, Pineapple Lumps, kumara chips: food stuffs the rest of the world just don't give a shit about, because they already have something better (Coke, normal chocolate, potato chips).

4. EFTPOS. Stands for something like 'electronic f-something terminal point of sale'. Means a cash card, but that's what everyone uses instead of cash or a card. It's not like a debit card tho, cos you can't buy things online. The Kiwi banks have only just introduced those.

5. A strange array of place names. From Coromandel to Mangonui and Whenuakite ("fen-oo-ah-kee-tay").

6. A misplaced sense of irony: 'we're going tramping in the bush this weekend.'

7. False pride: 'NZ's premier theme park!' No, NZ's *only* theme park. 'The only ... in the southern hemisphere!' That's because there's fuck all in the bottom half of the globe.

8. A curious love of reggae, despite no Jamaican heritage and no easily discerned punk movement.

9. The worst TV and radio ads in the world, particularly the healhy eating, DIY and sheep dip info-mercials.

10. Single lane motorways. Want to get somewhere fast? Nope, sorry, State Highway 1 isn't even a dual carriageway most of the way.

Hmmm... A x