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