"I couldn't help but wonder..."

Right. The last time I spoke to you I believe I was hitching around the South Island...

I then met up with and had a lovely time staying with Rachel, Nick and (still utterly gorgeous) JJ in a beautiful bach overlooking mountains, vineyards and a river. I had a lot of fun babysitting JJ (dream child) and exploring the delights of Cromwell (which extended to enormous corrugated iron fruit and wine tasting. Guess which one was better.) All too soon tho my time was up and I had to bus it on to Dunedin (Rachel forbid me to hitch hike again. Yes mum.) I hoped to cycle the Central Otago Rail Trail, but I guess I got distracted. Another time, I hope.

Dunedin was ugly, I felt, like a Kiwi version of Newcastle. I did however manage to see four films, go on two factory tours (Speight's beer and Cadbury's chocolate), take a scenic train ride, visit the world's steepest street (it was indeed very steep), an art gallery (good), a musuem (I learnt about early settlers and freemasons) and several second hand book stores. All of these things were interesting (tho not overwhelmingly), time consuming (not like I had anything else to do) and by no means inexpensive.

The highlight of Dunedin however was the day I decided I had to go to the peninsula and see Lanarch Castle, NZ's only castle. They have lots of National Parks, lakes, gimmicky towns, native wildlife etc, but only one castle. And it was a pretty awesome castle too, with a suitably dodgy history, some good cake, attractive gardens and eery, well-preserved rooms. However, getting there without my own transport was tricky, tho not impossible. I took a bus along the foggy coast and then embarked on a 5km climb, in the mist, to/from the castle. On my descent, a car stopped and asked if I'd like a lift. Now, I would like to say, hitch hiking aside, I would not normally accept lifts from random cars. But we were on the only road to the castle, so they had to be tourists, and the car was very shiny in a rental car way. So I asked the two gents inside if they were going to rape and/or kill me. No, they said, and we joked about it. I assumed that if you were a serial killer, it wouldn't have been funny. And that you'd've sweated more.

As it turned out, the two guys, John and Neil, were originally from Auckland and worked in television. They were visiting Dunedin to film some interviews and we got on like that proverbial flaming homestead, and so I joined them to see the rest of the peninsula (which I wouldn't have been able to do otherwise) and for dinner and drinks. Great! It was like having friends. Friends who paid. Ideal.

After Dunedin I went on to a tiny place called Oamaru, or something like that. It's on the coast and good for penguins. I stayed a house converted in to a hostel with a lovely but slightly crazy owner called Agra, who was in to reading energies and would say things like 'I could tell by his body language he wasn't right for the house. I didn't want him to stay' or 'if you wash more than your socks I'll kill you! I need those washing lines for my sheets!' Luckily, I was allowed to stay, sharing a room with a 61 year old woman from Anglesea. We bagsed a lift in the very small car of two others staying there to go and see penguins, me literally hanging out the window sitting on the lady's lap in the front. But the penguins were super cool, and came up on to the road from the shore just 3ft in front of us before waddling off again quite happily to their nests.

The last leg of my South Island adventure was spent hanging out with Christchurch chums Rosie, Maisy and Jonny. Rosie, Maisy and I essentially spent the weekend watching more Sex and the City than I care to remember whilst making an incredibly complex and well decorated gingerbread house for Jonny, complete with magic mushroom garden and an icing swimming pool. I'll try to get some photos up soon so you can appreciate how truly awesome it was. The three of us also checked out some of the acts on at the International Busking Festival, which was fun, although the contortionist made me feel a bit sick...

Back in Auckland, as I have been for the last week, I have alternated between the free internet at the University and trailing around the city looking for somewhere to live. A depressing experience, although the weather is glorious with scorching sun that's keeping my tan in check. And today everything seemed to come together. Having seen about ten flats, from the sublime to the ridiculous, I ventured a little further out of town this afternoon to an area called Grey Lynn where a nice older lady who teaches 'graphic textiles' (I think, or something like it) owns a house with a cat (woohoo!) which is shared by a South African, a Kiwi and a French guy. They were all in their 20s and did a range of things and she lived in a small apartment and studio attached to the main house. The house was on two levels with a large kitchen and dining area, it was tidy AND clean, the room was furnished and it got oodles of sunlight, which is my most important criteria. It turns out Grey Lynn is really lovely too, lots of pretty little houses and tree-lined streets. So a bit of a WIN. And I can move in tomorrow.

Meanwhile, earlier this morning I had a very promising meeting with the Supporter Relations Manager for Greenpeace New Zealand, after finding an interesting sounding internship online this week. He and I were both enthusiastic and he seemed to think I was the right person for the job. We discussed when I could work and he said he would put together a project proposal and call me up start of next week. The project would be to look in to why Greenpeace loses so many supporters following their initial sign up and then putting together a report on this and possible solutions to present to key managers. Personally, I think it sounds really interesting, and potentially the work would go on til I leave. The man I met was nice too, and the office was open, airy and laid back, filled with 30 mostly young people in shorts and Converse. Ideal.

So that kind of takes us up to the present moment. I'm not sure what happens next, I mean, I haven't made any new friends yet, but at least I have somewhere to live and quite likely something to do too. And hopefully friends will come out of that. Some money would be nice too, really nice actually, but one thing at a time, eh?

Anyway, I hope you're all well and survived the snow. I miss you all and look forward to seeing you in early July. Less than five months til I leave NZ now! Scary.

Take care, love, A xx

Solitaire

So, I felt like my last post was a bit lame. I'm not saying this one will be any better, but I might try a bit harder. Kk, here goes.

Flew down to Queenstown on Saturday. I'm currently 100% homeless, 90% friendless and 50% penniless at the moment. As a result, I am a FREEBIRD, wooooo, who can do whatever the hell she likes. I can't tell you what a joy it's been these last few days to do what I want, when I want, how I want. Of course, I can tell you exactly how freaking tedious it is to have to tell everyone, all the time, what I do, where I've come from, what my plans are... Jeez. Maybe I'll make pamphlets. I like that word.

Any snooch, you've got to weigh these things off against each other. I had a pretty good run the first three or four nights, meeting people with exceptional ease, and cool people too, who were forthcoming and talkative and like, only 5% irritating. I also really liked Queenstown, getting a bit over excited and doing everything you can do - assuming jumping out of a plane/off a bridge/down a river/from tree to tree isn't your cup of tea (as far as I'm concerned, it's coffee all round please).

After that things slowed up a bit, but I've still had a good time. I have to say, world, Milford Sound is overrated, but that won't stop busloads of tourists bussing in every bussing day for like, forever. They've been coming for over a 100 years. Today I hitched back to Q'town from there, which was interesting, my first real hitching experience.

First man: 'are you not afraid to hitch hike?' (Should I be??? I kept my pen knife in my hoody pouch in case he returned from the farm he dropped me outside of with a shot gun and a shovel. Yup. Always be prepared. Failing that, I'd have to hope he had a nut allergy and hit him up with my trail mix.)

Second couple: 'you'll have to share the back with the dog.' Joy. Slobber.

Third couple: 'bonjour! nous sommes... erm, traveling, er... a Queenstown!'
Me: 'Great! Tres bien!'
Lady: 'D'accord. Allons y.'
They were pretty cool, actually, and we had a two hour conversation in Franglais. The husband n'est pas speaking the Englishes, but he did take his collection of short stories to libraries round NZ to leave them there, lest you rock up and realise you'd left Bertrand of Lyon's book at home (or at least, I presume that was why.)

And now I'm off to meet up with Rachel, Nick and JJ and enjoy not explaining myself and not having to stand in a cold, windy field with my thumb in the air, getting frost bite and keeping myself amused by trying to remember all 36 of my classmates from when I was four. I only ever got to 32.

Speak soon, People Who Know Me But Are Far Away. x