180 days til we leave!

Ok, this is going to be the longest countdown ever, but I don't care!! I'm so excited for our trip! Cameron isn't as excited as me, but I don't care any more! This trip is going to be fantastic!

The next thing we're going to be planning is New Years! We are heading up to Cooks Beach on the Coromandel to stay at Kim's bach. There are about 14 of us going up I think! I don't know, I loose count. But all I know is that me and my darling sister Jo are going to be the only non couple there! Talk about major "third wheel syndrome"! But I'm just looking forward to relaxing with a good book and a few drinks!

Only 17 days until I'm on Christmas break! YAY!

First Christmas Party

I went to my first Christmas Party on Saturday. It was our work social club event. I'd only spent the past 6 months organising it!! Yay to it finally being here!

We met at Sky City at 3.30pm where most of us headed upstairs for a game of ten pin bowling. I managed to get on the team with the "younger" people. We had quite a few laughs and good times. I ended up coming second in our lane! I had a camera so I wasn't really concentrating on the game, just trying to get photos of everyone else.

After the game everyone sort of spread around the place as the bus wasn't picking us up until 6pm. I played a few games of pool with Steph and her boyfriend Jarod.

From there, we went to the Waipa Delta (which is a paddle boat that crusies up and down the Waikato River). We had a 3 hour cruise with a buffet dinner. We were on the top deck as there were 56 of us! For those who know the boat, the top deck is normally open. On this cold and windy night (not summer at all!!) they had the plastic windows, which we all know blocks out about 50% of the weather! Lucky I live in Hamilton, so I knew to expect cold weather. I took my winter jacket!

The only decent photo (and that's stretching the truth a little!) is this one of me and Steph, in our winter jackets on a "summer" cruise!

I baked! Yes! WOW!

I can't believe I actually baked a fruit cake! Our cake decorating tutor gave us a recipe which I kind of followed! Was a little short of fruit, but I'm sure that doesn't matter.......much??

I forget how solid these things are though! It's like lifting weights!

Now just let it cool, then I can start putting the fondant icing on it, as it has to be ready for class on Wed!

Hope my roses will be ready by then?!

Time to bring back the 80s!

To celebrate Rachel finishing her studies and exams, we decided to have a SingStar Party! The 80s version was released just this week, so we decided to make it an 80s theme!

Everyone got dressed up for the occasion! There is always one who thinks outside the square…..Tobi!!!

Before we’d completely cleared the dishes from dinner, out came the Playstation and SingStar! From about 7pm until about 1am, there was constant singing!

The next day, Jo was walking out by the front gate, when the neighbour walked past and asked if we had karaoke last night?! OH NO, they heard us!!!

Below are just some photos from the day:

Me, Alice (Cameron's sister) and Rach

Cameron, Tobi and Nick

Quentin, Cameron and Nick cooking dinner

Cameron and Craig (our new flatmate) singing

Yes, even Jo had a go (of course she gets the rap part!)

Think twice before getting a cake decorated!

Last night I attended my 4th night class. I can't believe I only have 2 sessions to go!

We made roses last night. It took us about an hour to make 3. Small ones at that. Mine looked like crap, so no photos to show you, but I'm going to get some cutters and try again. If they are successful, then I will post a photo.

But our tutor was talking to us about pricing a cake if someone asked us to make one. She was saying they charge about $10 a flower!!!!! That does include a leaf or 2 and maybe a couple of filler flowers, but generally if you want a bunch of flowers done for your cake, start saving now! I don't get why you'd want to pay $10 for a fake flower when a real one costs about $2-5 each!

So I have a real appreciation for those that make cakes for a living. You'd want a comfy chair with a tv and drink on hand, otherwise you'd go insane doing a dozen roses! We took about an hour, but it should've taken longer. You're meant to let each layer set properly before putting on the next one. We just rushed it to get it done in class.

So in a couple of weeks, I will have a lovely decorated cake.......ummm.......if I get some more practice in!!!

We have finally done it!

Cameron and I went to the travel agent on Friday night - and came out about $2300 poorer!

We have bought our flights to Europe next year! Now it's all becoming rather real!

When we first arrive, we have 5 days to see London and surrounding areas. Then we are going to do a Contiki Tour for 25 days. Click here to see the one we've choosen.

From there we are heading to Denmark to stay with my host family for a couple of weeks. Bornholm is our first stop (where I did my student exchange MANY years ago). This is where my host parents live and half the extended family. I also hope to catch up with some old Danish school friends there. From there we will go to Copenhagen where my 4 host sisters and brother-in-law live. Poor Cameron is going to get the constant "this is where I went to school, this is where we hung out, this is something else....". I just can't wait to show my Danish life to someone from NZ. Although I'm sure Cameron will smile and pretend he cares, it would be good to show people that actually knew me when I was away. Next time!!!!

From Denmark we're going across to see Ingrid in Norway. We hosted Ingrid in 1999 in Tauranga. She came to NZ at the start of 2005 for a visit, but I can't wait to meet her family and see her life over there.

Then it's back home to pay off that credit card!!!

At the moment, we are leaving on the 29th May and returning on the 20th July - may extend to have a couple of nights in Thailand. I mean, if you're going via Bangkok, then you may as well make the most of it!!

So the countdown begins........ 203 Days til we leave!

ElemenoP goes off!!

While having lunch on Saturday with a few of my friends from my old work of EW, I got a text from Rach. She said that they'd been sitting, talking, and decided that an impromptu trip to Auckland to see ElemenoP and End of Fashion was called for. SURE!! I'm up for that!

So we raced up to Chartwell shops to see if we could get tickets, then headed on up to Auckland. We went for a cruise to see where the place was (Studio on K Road) then went for a cruise through town (CTT).

We then headed out to Mission Bay to eat our dinner we brought with us. The beach was already getting packed out for the fireworks! It was only 6pm and the fireworks didn't start til 9pm! People were obviously very keen to see them!

We headed to Studio and managed to get a park on the side street right by the venue. Can't beat that in Auckland!

The opening band was Foamy Ed. Some local girl band that quite liked their rock music.
End of Fashion then played (from Aussie). We've only heard one of their songs - Oh Yeah. They were pretty good.

Then we got to see ElemenoP! They rock live!! They actually played quite a mixture of their old stuff with their new stuff (well, they were there to promote their new album). Totally recommend them if you get the chance to see them!



Sorry for the bad photos, but they kept shining lights into the audience, therefore making it impossible to get good photos

My first finished cake!

So I finally did it! I completed my first cake! OK, it's a bit of a shocker, but what do you expect for a first attempt!


All we got taught this week was how to make bows and plaques! So that's all that's on my cake. I had people around tonight to try out my cake. Sadly, the icing tastes like crap! Well, it's so sweet and sickly that you have the tinest bit and you're sick of it already. With a cake this size, it is meant to feed about 40 people or something, so when everyone has a normal slice, I fully understand why nearly everyone didn't finish their icing. The cake underneath was YUMMY. Chocolate Devils Cake......Thanks Betty Crocker. Yes I must confess, it was a box cake.

I will try to make a fruit cake for my final lesson. That way I'll have something decent to put on it. Might make it for Christmas?!

So many things to do....not enough time

Tonight was quick hectic! Finished work early so I could go to the Europe Expo run by the Flight Centre. They have heaps of specials of flights to Europe and contiki tours. There were many tables to visit and we only had just over an hour (before my night class started). Some very tempting offers were put in front of us (me and Cameron), so the plan we went in with, quickly flew out the window.

We are just going to have to sit down with the tones of brochures we got and work out exactly what we want to do and where we want to go.

From there, I went to my second night class. We had to bring a cake that we’d previously baked. I managed to bake one last night. Still can’t get it to stop peaking, but a knife made quick work of that! I made a chocolate one as I don’t like the fruit ones. That just means I will have to bake another cake in a few weeks and cover it for the last class – when we put our pre-made decorations on the cake. I’m sure the troops won’t mind trying another cake!

Tonight we learnt how to put the fondant icing on the cake. That’s the smooth, white icing that is used on many fruit cakes and themed cakes. Great surface to work off when trying to create decorations for the cake. There is quite a skill in getting the icing on the right way, etc. We have to put one layer on the cake, then wait overnight for it to set before putting the second layer on. I have chocolate fondant for my top layer, so have to be careful not to get icing sugar all over it, otherwise it will look patchy.

Will put the top layer on tomorrow night and decorate it with some basic ideas she showed us. Who knew fondant could do so much! I will try to remember to take a photo so you can see my first masterpiece! Don’t hold your breath though…