Jacki's News

Finally finished uploading!

2009-11-10T19:56:00.002+13:00

I have finished uploading all my holiday pics from Canada & USA. Check them out!

Click here for my pics!

Made it!

2009-09-05T23:43:00.000+12:00

I made it all the way to Vancouver! No photos to share yet but thought I'd put it out there that I'm now in Canada!

Arrived yesterday and was awake enough to go for a walk along the Waterfront and through Gastown with Cam.

Today the weather wasn't pleasant so we headed to Museum of Vancouver. Tomorrow is set to be another gloomy one so lucky with our Museum ticket we got a multi-pass so we're off to two more tomorrow! Space and Maritime! I'm sure it'll be more interesting than it sounds....

42 days to go!

2009-07-25T15:28:00.003+12:00

I'm starting to get everything together for my big 30th birthday trip!

Here is the hotel I'm looking at in Las Vegas - mainly because it looks so cool!!

Excalibur

My International Progressive Dinner

2009-06-27T21:08:00.005+12:00

International Progressive Dinner

to celebrate my 30th with friends and family

Spanish Tapas to start at Furnace

Jo (friend since 1988!), Mum and Bob

Nick and Me

Lisa, Me and Jo

Italian Pizza dinner at Barzurk

Sister Jo and Sarah from work

Roimata, Suzanne, Me and Debbie (the boss!)

Angela and husband Dave

"The Birthday Girl" cocktail!

Belgian Dessert at Le Dome

1 drunk boss

Curtis, Angela, Dave

Kim and Quentin

Nick, Mel and Tobi (all from Auckland!)

Peter and Lorraine (second family)

Mum and Bob in serious conversation

we're all growing old!

2009-06-21T21:21:00.000+12:00

Had a catch up with some of the "older" cousins in Christchurch while visiting Nana.... Great to see them, but glad there are cuzzies older than me!! hehe!!!

The boys doing the all you can eat thing - dessert now!

Jeremy with 2 bowls!

Nathan jammed it all into 1 bowl!

Nathan, Jeremy, Nana, Me, Jo, Anne

Picnicing winter - why not?!

2009-06-21T21:07:00.000+12:00

Picnic in 2 degree weather while visiting Nana in the South Island - crazy!! But stunning view of Mt Cook.

My desk on my birthday!!

2009-06-15T20:47:00.000+12:00

Thanks Paula!

My new place

2009-06-01T20:43:00.002+12:00

These photos are from the ad. Things aren't quite set out like this now, but not too far off.

Lounge

Kitchen

The backyard

Paula's 30th

2009-04-30T20:01:00.005+12:00

It was my workmate's 30th birthday yesterday. She was freaking out a bit, so when she left early the night before, we decided to attack her desk!

(yes I do like to point out she's about 7 weeks older than me - I'm still in my 20s at the mo!)

too long overdue

2009-03-27T20:14:00.006+13:00

OK I haven't updated in so long, that no one is probably caring any more.

Might throw some random photos on here to fill it in.

It's now the end of March and I haven't done much exciting lately. I am building up for a trip in September to Vancouver and down the West Coast of USA for a month. It was my birthday treat to myself, seeing as it's a big birthday, but due to a stupid leave freeze at work, I could actually go away for my birthday, hence leaving in Sept. More details to come....

Mum feeling the Christmas spirit on Christmas day

Rachel (Jem) and (Minnie) at Tobi's flatwarming

Minnie and Cam (Peter Griffin with a sailor hat)

Cam ready for his acrobatic flight
(missing the green after photo!)

Halloween

2008-10-31T21:23:00.001+13:00

Just wanted to post the photos that I've taken of the food I made for our work Halloween party. I'm quite proud of my efforts!
The items are all edible, but we put lovely labels on them - might not have been too enticing!

Secret Surprises!

2008-10-28T20:44:00.001+13:00

It can now all be revealed! Jo and I have been busy planning some surprises for our Mum's 60th birthday. We've been very sneaky sneaky!

The week began on Monday 20 October, her actual birthday. She had been staying at Bob's (her man!) house for the previous 2 weeks, as he's been quite sick so she's been nursing him. She arrived home after lunch, mucked around her place then thought she'd grab a quick nap before she had to head out that evening.

As she was starting to drift off, the phone rang. It was her brother from Melbourne. He was doing the usual chatting thing when he asked what she was up to at the moment. She said not much, just lying on her bed. He said, well get up cause I'm just pulling in your driveway! So that was the rest of her afternoon sorted! Uncle Wayne and his wife, Margaret, said they were calling in on their way up to Auckland, where he was heading for a conference.

Mum left later than normal for her evening at bridge. I know this as I passed her going along the road! Luckily she didn't see me!

I headed over to Tauranga after work on the Monday, to open the house up. 3 of her 4 brothers and Nana were coming to visit for her birthday, but she didn't know about any of it. The 4th brother couldn't get a passport and time off work. Turns out that was a lie! This 4th uncle would be Wayne that was already in the house when I arrived! Luckily I'd borrowed an extra airbed, so we had enough beds!!

So when Mum arrived home at 10.45pm, there was Uncle Mark, his wife Barbara, Uncle Wayne, Aunty Margaret, Uncle Tony, Uncle Brett, Brett's 12 year old son Uri, Nana and myself. She didn't know this when she first walked in, as we'd all moved our cars down the road. I gave away a little because I left my bag in her room, knowing that's where I would be sleeping there.

She eventually ended up coming into the lounge where we were all waiting. She was shocked! Firstly she saw Mark, Barbara and Brett. Nana and Uri came out of the dining room, then Tony and I came out of the kitchen. We like to stagger our shock!! She was speechless until we were almost asleep after midnight, when she said thanks for the surprise! How little she knew....

Barbara, Brett, Wayne, Mark, Tony, Me
Margaret, Mum, Uri, Nana

Tuesday morning Mum had a badminton tournament at Mt Maunganui. Of course we found out the location and took 2 car loads of us there to cheer her on. She wasn't overlly impressed that we all turned up, especially when they all sang Happy Birthday to her as she came off the court! Even as we walked in the door, someone said "oh that must be Sue's family!". Were we that obvious??!!

We left her to the rest of the tournament and headed to the supermarket for supplies. What a mission! Have about 8 of us wandering around, trying to make decisions. We ended up with a trolley full of stuff and ended up with only 1 dinner!!! Goodness! One thing we got was a birthday cake for Mum. OK, it was on special and was just a normal cake. Any cake can be a birthday cake if you put candles in it!

Cutting the cake after "blowing" out the candles

Unfortunately, we didn't have any candles, so straws did just the trick!

Our other ingredients we bought were for Mum's new Thai bbq she got from Uncle Brett. It was heaps of fun, just having this thing cooking all the time with heaps of yummy food.

Mark, Wayne and Nana cooking on the Thai BBQ

In true Lyons family style, we played dice every evening. If you check the score book, you'll see 3 names over the whole week - Uri, Mark and myself!! oh yeah!

Wayne, Mark, Nana, Barbara, Mum, Tony

We all hung out for the week together, even though Wayne and Margaret had to leave on Wednesday, as they didn't have the whole week off. Jo also managed to get Thursday and Friday off work, so she arrived Wednesday evening.

Having a reminiscing moment with old photos

Silver Service - Nana and Wayne (Bob in the background)

Bob had booked Mum for dinner on the Friday evening well before all these guests arrive, so we said it was fine for him to take her out. He did manage to pass the whole family test, so he probably deserved it! We decided to go out for dinner too, seeing as it was everyone's last night. ;-)

We left a couple of mins before Bob arrive to pick her up. When they arrived at the restaurant (Zeytin on The Strand), they came around the corner to 40 of us standing there, who then broke into a lovely, broken version of Happy Birthday to You! I thought her jaw would actually hit the ground, it dropped so low! She explained to me later that she just saw a huge group of people in a haze. The first person she recognised was Uncle Tony, who was standing at the back. Slowly she started to recognise everyone in the room.

I had managed to go through her address book in September to get all her friends' contact details. I did only get the ones I'd heard of, so I'm sure I did miss some people, but 40 people is a pretty good turn out! Zeytin didn't do too badly with handling everyone's meals, seeing as we didn't go for the set menu option!!

Group shot of most people at the party

After the family left the next morning, I asked Mum if she had actually heard or worked out any of the surprises, and she said she had no idea! She got a little suspisious on Friday evening, as she thought that Bob would insist she hang out with her family instead of going out with him for the evening, as he believes in families first. But Mum had a head cold all week, so she didn't think too much further about it - luckily for us!!

It was such a buzz organising all this for her. She's in disbelief that she deserves all the fuss and special treatment. She's great! Go Mum!

September

2008-09-29T18:34:00.007+13:00

Here's a brief summary of my month of September.

The first weekend was spent in Auckland on Camp Quality's mini camp. I helped organise the camp, so it was nice to see that everyone enjoyed themselves. Back to that later.
I had to spend the first part of the Friday at the hospital with a full bladder. Of course it would be the day the ultrasound machine would have a breakdown, so they ran over half an hour over time! Do they not realise how hard it is to hold on as it is, let alone with a delay!! It was worth the wait though! I had been on the waiting list since 6th May, so on the 5th September, I finally had an appointment. I have the all clear, so it was worth it in the end.

Anyway, back to more exciting things!! The buses started picking up people in Rotorua and Tauranga, then finally merged in Hamilton to pick the rest of us up. We stopped in Huntly where the local Lions club had organised a great meal for us!
They did feed the kids up with lots of fizzy drink, so we had a few pit stops along the way, but we finally got to Henderson (West Auckland) where our camp was.

On the Saturday we packed our lunches and headed off on the bus at 9am. We headed to Manakau to Butterfly Creek and Treasure Island mini golf. We spent the morning there, doing the 2 different activities.

After lunch we got back in the buses and headed to Avondale to the ice skating rink! Quite impressed the kids lasted about 1.5 hours on the ice!

We had a bit of time to kill afterwards before dinner, so we took them for a drive over the Harbour Bridge. Most of them hadn't been over it, although most had been to Auckland for treatment. Then we cruised up Queen Street in our buses!!

On Sunday we packed up the buses and headed south again to Rainbow's End. We were VERY lucky with the weather, as it was meant to be pouring with rain that day, but it was fine and clear all day!!

Thanks to all those who made the camp a great experience!!

This last weekend of September just been was the second Camp Quality training weekend. This time, Trudy and I were running the training! I felt quite nervous and under prepared. I know that there was a bit of pressure for us to run it, as they really wanted a trained trainer.

But if I do say so myself, we did a great job! Actually, we did hear that from a number of people, which was good. I know these training workshops can get quite boring, from past experience. So we made it a point to have energisers between each session, and also make the sessions more light-hearted. Yay us for doing a good job!

ladies!

2008-08-12T18:28:00.005+12:00

It's been a couple of months in the planning, but we finally made it! It's a girls weekend!

Jo and I took half a day off work and hit the road - destination: Taupo!

Mum and Lorraine were coming down from Tauranga, but they started their shopping early in the day by hitting Rotorua first! Trudy was meant to join us, but sadly had a funeral to go to.

We got there, armed with nibbles and drinks, ready for a great weekend. We checked in, cranked the heater up and filled the spa pool! What more could we need?!

Saturday morning, we had a lazy start, then hit the shops about 10.30am. We started at one end of town and weaved our way through the streets. With a quick stop for lunch, we covered nearly every shop in Taupo. Unfortunately, they are generally shut at 3pm! We totally could've kept going! We stopped at the supermarket on our way home, to top up our nibbles and drink stash. 6 hours of shopping! Who knew you could do that much in Taupo?! They were quite good as they have lots of individual shops, not the normal chain ones we're used to in the cities.

Here's a photo of our shopping efforts!

Lorraine is trying on my shoes (about 3 sizes too big) and Mum is eyeing up Jo's new top

Another spa with drinks and nibbles to finish the evening, while watching the Olympics, of course!

Sunday was a STUNNING day to wake up to. A beautiful view across the lake to the 3 central mountains. Jo and I got home just after midday. I decided I still wanted to check out Hannahs (they were closed at 4pm when we got there), plus I wanted to get my new pants hemmed! So off to Hamilton centre I went!

Who doesn't love a weekend of drinks, shopping and good company?! When's the next one??!!

July's update

2008-07-31T17:55:00.001+12:00

Well I've been feeling good now, so out there enjoying life!

I went to camp training on the first weekend of July. It was great to see everyone again. Any one interested in coming to a camp, there is another training in September!!!

On the 9th, Cam, Rach, Jo and I went to a pub quiz! We went to The Deck and participated in the quiz they have there. We didn't come last!!! They had some really tough questions, plus being the only new team there, they forgot to tell us a few of the rules! They would've helped!

21-25 July we had a Secret Appreciation week at work. We have Information Services, Human Resources and Business Process (business analysts) in our group, and we have a committee of representatives, called the Ministry of Fun (MOF). We organise different activities to get people to interact with each other.
We organised this appreciation week in the lull of winter, when everyone's feeling a bit down. Anyone who wanted to participate had to fill in a form, which asked the basics, like favourite food, drink, flower, etc. We got someone not involved to draw names out of a hat. Everyone got given a form of someone (not in their immediate team), who they secretly appreciated for the week. It was so much fun, sneaking around, trying to leave presents without being seen! I got very spoilt by my person! Then at the Friday drinks, we all took a guess of who we thought had been appreciating us. I didn't guess my person right!

lack of reports

2008-07-01T19:39:00.002+12:00

I haven't been updating much lately as I've been quite sick. After visiting the doctor a few times, they have decided......not much. I'm on the great public waiting list for some ultrasounds, which I've been told can be up to 4 months! The doctor said she isn't overly worried, so I'm trying not to be. She did tell me that I'm stressed (hence the headaches) so I need to calm down and relax.....hmmmm. I've come out of my little depression slump and am intending to be positive about things as much as possible. Onwards and upwards!

On 15 June, it was my 29th birthday. Sadly, this was a bad sick day for me. I tried to brave it, but after spending the day on the couch, a group of us went out for dinner to a new restaurant in town. I lasted about 1.5 hours and 5 bites before I headed home to bed. I left everyone as they headed to another place for dessert.
Many thanks to everyone who sent birthday wishes - I did appreciate them at the time, but had no energy or will to reply.

Camp Quality training this coming weekend - will be good to catch up with some old friends!

playing good granddaughter

2008-06-09T18:57:00.006+12:00

On Sunday 1st June, my mother, sister and I drove up to Auckland. Mum and I, plus a few others, went to see Priscilla, the Musical! It was a fantastic show! Lots of crazy costumes and plenty of songs (some of which weren't in the movie and were WAY to old for me to know). There was even an entire bus on the stage!!

That evening, Jo, Mum and I flew down to Christchurch, in the South Island. My uncle Mark picked us up (Mum's eldest brother) and we stayed with him the night - we arrived about 9.30pm. The next morning, we borrowed uncle Mark's car and headed down to Geraldine (close to 2 hours south of Christchurch) where Nana lives.

We sent Jo in first with some flowers. She said to Nana that she was just passing through and wanted to say thanks for her birthday card. She didn't seem to surprised, for some reason. They had moved to the kitchen when I headed to the door. She saw me through the window and was a bit more surprised. She ushered me inside without even seeing Mum right behind me! When she finally saw Mum, so had the biggest smile and was getting rather excited (or shocked!). She was stunned - it was great! Did I mention that we didn't let her know that we were coming??!!!!

For those that know Geraldine, you'll know there isn't much to do. There are only so many times you can walk into town (10 mins from Nana's). We played a lot of cards and also caught up with Nana's sister. I haven't seen Aunty Ellen and Uncle Bruce in 4 years! Also got to see Aunty Sue (one of Mum's brother's wives).

It was a flying visit, but it was all about Nana. We needed to assess her health and well being, as Mum had been told many different stories from people. She's pretty good - a bit more forgetful, but still doing good.

Here are a few photos from the week:

Mum in front of tree dedicated to Grandad

Cartiki anyone?

2008-05-25T15:29:00.011+12:00

As you all know, I went on a Contiki Tour around Europe with Cameron 2 years ago. We became quite close with a number of people on the bus. Last year I got a chance to go to Sydney, Australia to catch up with a few of them, including the couple from England, Steve & Emma. It was a great week.

This year, we had the great joy of hosting 3 of our Contiki friends in NZ! On the 19th May, Kaitie from Canada and Wilfred from South Africa arrived from Australia (we're in the middle of their tour). A quiet dinner and catch up chat was the call for the evening.

On the Tuesday (20th), us 3 drove over to the Bay of Plenty (Cameron only had Thur and Fri off work). Firstly we headed to Kiwi 360. They weren't too keen for the tour around the orchard, so we just went into the shop and did wine tasting! There were 2 types of Kiwifruit wine plus a number of different liqueurs. A great way to start the day!! We hugged a big kiwifruit before heading down to the beach.
Mt Maunganui is one of the best beaches in NZ, if I do say so myself! We had a wander around there for a while, as much as the lovely winter weather would allow!

The next morning we got up early to meet Cameron coming back with Megan, who flew straight from her graduation in the USA. The smarty pants now has a Masters in.....Psychology? Can't remember exactly, but she does social work. Cameron was in such a hurry to get her here, he managed to even get a speeding ticket....in my car!!

We weren't too sure how tired Megan would be so only had a casual day planned. As she missed out on the Bay of Plenty beach, we decided to take a drive to Raglan on the West Coast. It's quite different as it has black sand. Of course the photo doesn't show this too clearly, but we had fun.

After a quick supermarket shop (always interesting when you're in a foreign country), we headed back to our place to start preparing for dinner. 21 May is my darling sister's birthday. As a typical kiwi meal also happens to be her favourite, I put the two together to make a feast for us all to celebrate our visitors and Jo's birthday. Roast Lamb with lots of vege (including 2 types of kumara and NZ yams - very different to American ones), and a pavlova for dessert.

Thursday was the start of our Cartiki! Like a Contiki, but in a car! Well, we had 2 cars. Rachel and Cameron had 2 days off work, so we piled into 2 cars and headed south to the Otorohonga Kiwi House. They have a great system to make sure there are kiwis to see. Kiwis are only awake for 4 hours a day, so they have 2 sets - one in the morning and the other in the afternoon. We happen to be there in the middle when the did the feeding and switch. After seeing a number of Kiwi displays, this is definately the best, as you can actually see the kiwis being active. They also have a park area with birds and native bush. This is where we learnt of Kaitie's MAJOR bird phobia. Not the most ideal place to take her! But she put her brave face on and made it through!

Next we headed to Waitomo Caves. They chose a 2 cave option, which was about 1.5 hours. They seemed to really enjoy it. I'm not sure if they've seen anything like it before, but Waitomo is the best place for it!

From there, we drove across country to Rotorua, where we planned to stay 2 nights. Thought it would be easier to start the day already in the town! When we got there, we checked into our fabulous camp ground cabin then headed into town to find somewhere to eat. We found a little Mediterranean place amongst all the fancy restaurants! The food was pretty good, but the service was terrible! Instead of telling Rach they didn't stock the drink she wanted, they just smiled and didn't bring it over! Then when our meals came out, they only brought out 5. We waited ages without so much as a word. Megan unfortunately, was the lucky 6th meal. Eventually it came out, and we all enjoyed our meals.

Friday brought the start of our Rotorua day. We headed to the Agrodome first where we headed to the Sheep Show first. They showed a number of things, including what it's like at a stock auction. After I scratched my nose and apparently made a $50 bid, Wilf throws his hand in the air and the auctioneer sold him 4 live sheep. Of course he had to go up on stage. For those who don't know him, he started off as a very shy boy - and then he went on a European Contiki 2 years ago. Things haven't been the same since!! They don't actually sell you the sheep, of course, but he did score a little stuffed sheep to take home.

Next we headed to the Zorb, which is near the Agrodome. In Megan's words, "who wouldn't want to be a hamster for a day?!". Ahh too true! Unfortunately, the dry option was unavailable as there was too much wind and we weren't prepared for the wet one. We decided to head off and get some lunch. One key NZ thing we hadn't done was fish and chips on the beach. As we were in the middle of the North Island, the beach wasn't an option, so we did option 2 - the lakeside. I ordered the fish and chips with pineapple fritters for dessert. I also ordered kumara fries and a Paua fritter. It turns out that Rach and Cam had never tried Paua either! To me it tastes like general seafood taste, but the fact that it's black is very off-puting to eat, but entertaining to watch people try!

After lunch we drove around Rotorua, looking for gysers, as the one we wanted to take them to is 20 mins south of Rotorua, and we were going to miss the last gyser going off. We picked up bathing suits and towels from the cabin, then headed back to the Zorb for a wet ride. I decided against it, which on the cold winter's day that it was, turned out to be a pretty good idea. The water was straight out of the tap - so nice and cold! They all had fun, despite the cold.

We headed to the camp ground for some warm showers and a few drinks before we were picked up at 6.30pm. We had to say goodbye to Rachel, as she was working at 7am the next morning. At 6.30pm we were standing out the front of the camp ground, ready to be picked up. A bus full of people turned up (we were nearly the last stop!). We were then off on the Tamaki Tour! It's a cultural experience with a hangi meal. I've been to another one that was just a show and dinner. Both are good, but different. The Tamaki Tour needed to give us longer time in their village to experience it all, as we ran out of time.

Anyway, back to our tour. Each bus (there were 4) was a canoe, like the Maori tribes that came to NZ. Each tribe needs to have a chief. Of course us loud ones in the back seat nominated Wilfred. No one else said anything on the bus, so he got the job! Poor guy was so nervous! Each chief had to stand at the front, once we'd arrive, to receive the welcome and challenge from the Maori chiefs. Wilf nearly cut the circulation off in his hand, he was holding them so tightly with nerves! He did a fantastic job leading us into their village.

They have a mini village setup with actors everywhere to show the different aspects of the old culture. I think we only got around half of it before we were told to go into the hall. They did a demo of all their different types of dance, poi and stick movements. It wasn't a complete show, like the other I'd been to, but it showed everyone a little bit of everything. By this stage, it's about 9.30pm!! We were starving! They finally took us into the Wharekai - the dining hall!! They put on a huge feed! Lots of things to choose from, and it was all typical kiwi food.

On the bus ride home, we all had to sing something from our countries. Megan and Kaitie did a combined North America effort and sung our day song from our Contiki - Mr Brightside (by The Killers). Awesome sing-along! It was a fantastic night! Great to just hang out with my friends again!

Saturday we started off early as I had a Camp Quality meeting in Cambridge at 10.30am. I left Cam to look after our guests for the afternoon as I had a workmate's wedding to go to. He's Fijian Indian, so it was a typical Indian wedding. I'd never been to any other cultural wedding before! It was so full of colour and traditions - it was amazing. It started at 1.15pm with the official introduction of the two sets of parents and ended with the presentation of gifts and sprinkling of rice over their heads. This was all done in the temple, and then we headed downstairs for a traditional meal. We finished eating at 4pm, and the wedding was over! That's all there is to it. Not like European weddings where they party late into the night! Anyway, here is a photo of the stunning couple and where the ceremony was held.

The plan for Saturday night was to have a typical kiwi BBQ. We got out the brazier that Cam had for his birthday and got a fire going. Even though it's quite cold, it works a treat to keep us outdoors! After eating far too much BBQ food, as you always do, we toasted marshmallows over the fire and made s'mores with Chocolate Wheaten biscuits. Very tasty! Cam and I had also made up a little Kiwi bag of goodies for our 3 guests to take home. It was a NZ bag with a mixed bag of kiwi lollies, a kiwifruit spoon and a CD of NZ music. They loved it, even though they'd never heard of the bands before. It was a great way to spend our last night together.

On Sunday we all piled into the car and drove them up to Auckland Airport to catch their plane to Christchurch. They are doing a mini Contiki of the South Island, as I said they couldn't see NZ without seeing the South Island. Then it was a quiet ride back home as we relived the week that was....

Westies!

2008-05-11T18:59:00.008+12:00

Cameron celebrated his birthday last night with a Westie themed party. For those outside of NZ, a Westie is generally short for a West Aucklander. Their "culture" is bogan style. To set the mood, Cam put his car up on blocks (took off the wheels), filled the tyres with ice & beer and had a couple of braziers burning away. Of course we were all in costume. Hats off to Tobi who actually cut his hair into a mullet!

I have to say that I had a pretty good night! There were about 15 or so people there, BBQ grilling away, everyone dressed in black......ahh what a night! We managed to stay outside until about 11.30pm, all thanks to the great warmth from the braziers.

Anyway, Happy Birthday to Cam, and here are some photos from the night.

posers, if ever I saw them!

why not toast marshmallows?!

Drinking games, of course!

The boys all sitting on one beanbag - close enough?!

hate being sick

2008-05-08T16:21:00.001+12:00

I've had the worst week. On Friday I came home from work, feeling not so great. We had lamb chops for dinner, but all I could stomach was a baked potato.
On Saturday I headed over to Tauranga to hang out with my mother. I said I'd cook dinner as an early Mothers Day treat. Throughout the day, I couldn't stomach anything. I bought a pie for lunch, and as soon as it got near my mouth, I couldn't handle it. I managed to cook dinner and eat some, but felt quite sick after.
On Sunday I did have a Camp Quality committee meeting and then went to Di's house for a preview of our Camp video. It was exciting! A few of us were lucky enough. Headed home and promptly went to bed.
As the week progressed, I started to get aches as well. Went to the doctor and she didn't really know, but was going to guess that it was a virual infection and/or an ulcer! The pills she gave me for the ulcer made me feel sick, but there is nothing but rest and fluids for a virual flu. Bugger!
Am feeling better today so will try to get to work tomorrow, as I had some important work for the Dog Registrations End of Year process. Also have to work all Saturday morning too. But I'm alive!! And nearly mended too! Yay!

Go Magic!

2008-04-29T21:04:00.002+12:00

I took Mum to our very first official netball game on Saturday! Waikato/BOP Magic vs West Coast Fever. It was at Mystery Creek so Mum came over and we went out for lunch before the game. The game was awesome to watch. I got row A seats (not the best, for future reference!). We were sitting right behind the Fever subs, so we had to peer over their heads. OK for me, but Mum is only 5'2", so she struggled a bit.

We won though! 61-47. We right in line with one of the goal posts, so got to see a lot of action. Irene was her great self, as always. The one that I was impressed with is Maria Tutaia, who played GA. She was taking a lot of great shots from near the edge of the circle. Impressive action!

up, up and away

2008-04-15T19:59:00.003+12:00

Recently, we had the Balloons over Waikato Festival.

It started on Wednesday 9 April, and a bunch of us at got together at work, pot luck breakfast and watched the balloons rise for their first flight. We have one of the best views in the city from our floor (just 1 floor below the Mayor!)

I pulled my sorry but out of bed on Thursday morning at 4.30am to be at the Lake for 5am. They had a free breakfast for the first 2000 people there, and as Camp Quality is the chosen charity of the event, we had to supply the ground staff. They did a Dawn Patrol. This is where they take off in the dark, and put on a show by being all lit up in the sky. It was an amazing sight.

The Saturday night was our biggest night. We had 150 ground staff. Of all the jobs, I probably got the most boring - watching the empty car park where the fireworks were to be let off. We had to watch it so people didn't walk through it (as cutting through the trees took them to where the balloons were being inflated). I did have a front row view of the fireworks though - even if I ended up deaf and with shrapnel being thrown at me. We managed to raise $8000 for Camp, which is fantastic!
Many thanks to my lovely friends who got roped in to help!!

I'm a "host aunty"!

2008-04-10T19:42:00.004+12:00

My host sister (from Denmark), Lise, had a baby girl, Ida, on 20th January at 1.45am. She was 3 weeks early, but all is well with both mother and daughter.

I've been sent a few photos, so found a couple I can put up - cause I'm a proud "host aunty"!!

guilty....or not guilty?

2008-03-25T21:56:00.003+13:00

On 10 March, I was called to the lovely Hamilton District Court for Jury Duty. They had 2 cases for the week. Of course, much to my boss' disgust, I got on the 5 day trial. AND of course, it wasn't to be. It got extended to Monday 17th, as they were delayed on the Thursday. Everyone always asked if we found him guilty. Not so easy to say. There were 3 of them, 15 charges, which required about 25 verdicts. The Police did reasonably good work with the evidence, so there were only 3 Not Guilties.

On to more positive things, my Easter break was lovely! I went to Tauranga to catch up with my Uncle Mark and his wife, who were visiting Mum from Christchurch. We went to the annual NZ Jazz Festival. On Saturday, we headed down to The Strand, where it was just road traffic and 4 stages spread along the grass, plus a couple of stages near bars. They had different styles of bands on each stage, so you could wander along until you found something you liked. We spent 6 hours there, before heading over to the Mount for a nice dinner out.

On Sunday, Mum had bought us tickets to see a drummer. Didn't know anything about it, but went along for the ride. Now, I can't stop raving about him!! Dylan Elise is a 17 year old boy, who has been reading music since the age of 4, had his first tv spot at age 7 and was the drummer of the orchestra at the Michael Fowler Centre at age 9! Must say, he'll be quite good when he grows up!!
Found this video on YouTube from his performance in last year's jazz festival (allow 10 mins to watch the entire video, to get the full effect). He's even more refined this year. Enjoy!

yes I AM still alive

2008-03-02T21:33:00.002+13:00

Sorry, it's been 3 months since I did an update. And now it's been so long, that no one really cares what I've been up to!

December was like any December - busy. Had Christmas at my place, as I was on call. Then I had my 2 weeks off. Went to Camp Quality in the second week of January. I was photographer again on camp, but I'm now the camper registrar, which means I was super busy leading up to camp, organising kids.

Once back at work, we had 2 new people starting. One is to cover Paula which she's on maturnity leave for a year. I'm going to really miss her. Paula finished work at the end of January, and was due 3 weeks later. Unfortunately it was another 10 days before she actually gave birth! Kyla George was born on the 26th February! Yay!

The Mon and Tue before Waitangi Day (6th), I decided to take some well earnt annual leave. Mum and I headed down to Hawkes Bay for some camping. It was heaps of fun (until the last night when it rained and we found leaks in our tent). We did the food trail (there's a pamphlet, if anyone's down that way) and also did lots of shopping. It was a great weekend of just hanging out. We did stuff in the morning, then lazed about in the afternoon (like sleeping in the sun and doing sudoku puzzles)

This weekend just been was all about Camp again (after having a month off). I'm assistant manager for the winter mini camp in September. We're going to Auckland. I can't give anything away, as the programme is always a secret, and I think some Camp people read my blog! Wait and see guys!!!! It's going to be awesome!

March is fully booked for me already!

Next weekend, 8-9 March, is the Relay for Life in Hamilton. Come support the Camp Quality team!!!! (oh yes, another Camp related weekend!)

The weekend after, I'm on call, so that means I can't leave Hamilton. I have no plans really, so if anyone is bored, give me a call!!

Then comes Easter - I need a break! Work has been super busy lately, so am totally wanting a break. No plans for it yet, but I'm only on call til the Friday, so then I'm going to go....somewhere!

The last weekend is the Relay for Life in Tauranga (another Camp Quality team to support!)

So that's me - past, present, and even a bit into the future.

awwwww!!!!!

2007-12-03T19:09:00.000+13:00

I just have to post these photos!!

This is my very first camper Amber (from Camp Quality). Amber just had a baby girl 2 weeks ago - Tayla Maree Daly at 8lb 12oz, born 16 November.

I got to visit yesterday and have a cuddle!!! awww isn't she cute??!!

Also, don't you love the t-shirt we got made for her!

rocking you!

2007-11-11T21:25:00.000+13:00

I've just had the greatest weekend!!

Saturday 10th started with a lovely brunch at Iguanas to celebrate Debbie (from work) leaving to have a baby - she didn't want a "baby shower" so we did brunch instead. Of course, we all brought pressies along......lots of ohhhh'ing and ahhhhhh'ing over cute baby things!

That evening Cam, Rach, Jo and myself headed to Kim and Quentin's for a dinner party. We have been trying to find a date that all 6 of us were free - and 3 months later, we found one!! We turned up at 4pm (as the invite said) for drinks and nibbles first, to find our hosts were not ready! They thought we were coming at 5pm! haha! Yet in a flash, they had us all with a drink in our hand and nibbles on the table. Now that is good hostessing!!

Dinner was served later in the evening, and was very fancy indeed! Quentin went all out! We had duck on a bed of potato and kumara sour cream mash with a red wine jus (I think) and creamed spinich. Very well presented that we thought we were at a restaurant! Very fancy!

It was a fabulous evening that must be repeated!! Many thanks for your hospitality guys!

On Sunday, Jo and I headed up to Auckland to meet up with Mum and the Morten parents to go see We Will Rock You musical. For those who haven't seen it - DEFINATELY recommended! Rachel saw it in Australia (most of the same cast in NZ) and raved about it so Cameron and I saw it in London last year and loved it!! When I heard it was coming to Auckland, I just had to see it again!! I convinced the others that it was awesome, so we got tickets for the last day (but the show was then extended another 2-3 weeks!).

Besides our eardrums pounding at the end of a solid 2.5 hour show, the parents were buzzing!

Annie Crummer (a kiwi) who played Killer Queen was outstanding! Go Kiwi talent!!!

Annie Crummer

Rach and Cam are going this coming weekend with Tobi, when he's back in the country. I was ever so tempted to buy a ticket for that day too. I could definately see it over and over! Unfortunately I'm on call, so can't leave town. It is tempting though....

It's playing all around the world, so if you get a chance, definately go see it!!!!!

and another....

2007-10-29T21:06:00.000+13:00

Oh yes, I've been to another concert! Pluto, Supergroove and Crowded House!
This was also at the Vector Arena. I must say, this is quite a good venue. I was on the ground, but they had seats, which makes it easier. I wouldn't want to be there when it's GA. From everywhere inside the arena, you can see the stage. Sure, I couldn't make out faces, but I I could see the performance quite clearly!

Supergroove were excellent! Sadly they did not play Scorpio Girls, but it was a great show, none the less!

Crowded House did a great show too. They were playing a lot of their new stuff to start with, and most of us didn't know it. It was quite a quiet crowd for a concert. After they had a break (with greyhound dogs running across the stage?!) they came on and played lots of their old stuff. They ended on a high with their well known songs, which of course, left a great memory of the whole concert.

Bring back Supergroove!!!!!!

girls weekend

2007-10-29T20:40:00.000+13:00

It's all about Camp Quality.....of course!
The AGM for Camp was in Rotorua on Friday night. Lorriane, Trudy, Jo and myself decided we'd make a girls weekend of it.
We arrived in Rotorua, checked into our motel and sat down with a few drinks. We managed to drag ourselves to the AGM at Rydges hotel down the road. We managed not to fall asleep then headed back to our motel for more drinks and a spa!

Lorraine & Trudy's "cooking"
- gotta love roast chicken and bread rolls!

The next morning we headed out.......shopping!! What else do a bunch of girls do when they're together. OK, granted, Rotorua is not the shopping capital of the world, but it was fun. We took Trudy's camper out for lunch, which was fun! By mid afternoon, we were done shopping, so we headed back to the motel for drinks and nibbles.

Lunch with Trudy's camper, Holly

Our shopping efforts!

At 7pm we headed back to Rydges to have dinner with the National CQ committee. It was a lovely dinner with some great company. Of course the Waikato/BOP region really represented - it does help that it was in our region! We entertained ourselves quite well. Adam came along as Trudy's "date". Jo was mine as it was committee members only. It was a fun night.

It was a FANTASTIC weekend - Thanks girls!!!! Can't wait to do it again!!

rock on!

2007-10-13T20:24:00.000+13:00

Just have to say that

Linkin Park ROCK!!!!!!!!!!

Cameron and I went up to Auckland on Friday for the second Linkin Park concert at the Vector Arena. It was the coolest concert ever!!!!

Chris Cornell (??) was the opening act. He was lead singer of Sound Garden and Audioslave. He wasn't really my cup of tea, but he sang some songs I knew!

So the main show was awesome. I'd heard that they only play for about an hour, but they were on for about 1.5 hours! Unfortunately, I wasn't feeing the greatest so wasn't at my full potential, but I fully enjoyed the show! Totally recommend their live show.

Also, did you realise that some of their songs start exactly the same??!! Cam and I both started singing different songs after an musical intro, then realised that they both started the same way! Weird....

solving all of life's problems...

2007-10-11T20:27:00.000+13:00

Well maybe not all problems........and maybe not life's problems........but some problems!!
.......maybe..........

I have just returned from a 3 day course in Auckland at Rydges Hotel. It was Kepner-Tregoe Problem Solving and Decision Making - http://www.kepner-tregoe.com/
My whole team at work has already done this course, so being the newbie, I had to go by myself. The course is really good actually. I've learnt heaps and now my boss can't wait for me to do some problem solving. See how long it is until I forget how!

Also have to brag that I got to stay at the hotel for 3 nights - KING sized bed, charging food back to my room. I was living the lifestyle! Well.....dreaming it anyway.

Anyway, it was a great 3 days off work, learning interesting stuff and eating great food!! haha!

counting down

2007-09-26T20:21:00.000+12:00

In the weekend I went to the second Camp Quality training. We were expecting about 50 people, but not that many people turned up! Shocking!
Anyway, this was a fantastic group of people and the training was actually quite interesting. I've been going to these trainings since 1996, and they always have the same theme. This one was more relaxed and different. I didn't what would be happening next!

Anyway, now training is over - the big countdown is on!!!!
100 days TODAY!!!
Keep up with my countdown on my bebo page!

So just had to share my excitment!!!!!!!!!!

Me and my mate Greg

2007-09-06T20:33:00.000+12:00

Just needed to brag about my new best friend.......

Was just hanging out at work when Greg came up to me and wanted to chat. He offered me a signed poster and wanted to pose for a photo with me. It was really sweet of him.

For those don't know, Greg Murphy races Holden cars in the V8s. Hamilton City Council brought the V8s to Hamilton next year - very exciting stuff!

He was actually at the Council to help with our promotion of fuel saving - the prize for the person who saves the most fuel in a Council car (not sure how they'll measure it) and the winner gets to go around the V8 track with Greg! Sadly, the IT department do not get to drive vehicles often, so don't really get a chance to enter. :-(

Yay for another camp!

2007-09-04T20:26:00.000+12:00

I love camp.....camp, camp, camp.......I love camp......

So this weekend we had our winter camp for Camp Quality. This year it was Taupo and the snow for the weekend!

Firstly, it all started on Friday. I had arranged to have the day off, but our big boss decided to have a team building day that day. So I organised myself on Thursday night and headed to work as normal on Friday. We went to the Hamilton Gardens, where we did Myers Briggs stuff. For those who don't know, it's all about your personality type. We worked on the different types in the group and how to best work and communicate with them.

Of course the fun stuff started in the afternoon, when I had to leave for camp! We had clues that took us around the Gardens, looking for more clues.

Luckily the bus for camp was picking the Hamilton group up at the Gardens (I organised that before I even knew about the team building day!). The bus was due to leave at 3.00pm sharp. Sadly the bus company had other ideas. Once we finally arrived in Taupo (after another 5 pick ups), we were an hour behind schedule. Burger King and McDonalds were waiting for us, although I have to say Taupo BK is not the best place to go for a group. They wouldn't pour drinks for us, so a group of us stood in front of the drinks machine and poured about 30 drinks - much to the disgust of their other customers. McDonalds on the other hand, felt bad that we were running late and would have cold chips, so they packed another 4 VERY large bags of fresh, hot chips. Go Taupo McDonalds!!!!!!!!! We ate on the bus, on the way to our camp in Mission Bay.

We all settled into camp on arrival, had the safety video and headed to bed. The next morning I was up at 6.30am. No different to a work day....sigh. Lorraine and I were on kitchen duty. We got to the dining room and were given the job of setting the tables. Once that was done, so were we. They had it all under control. We asked about setting up stuff to make packed lunches and they wondered what we were talking about. They had made filled rolls for everyone! After breakfast, we did a few of the big dishes that don't go in the steriliser and tidied a few kumaras that didn't go through the potato peeler, and we were done. The easiest kitchen duties I've ever done!

We then headed up to Whakapapa ski field for a day at the snow. I don't really like snow and cold! I know! A sook, but I don't care. The kids got to go for a ride on the big chairlift to see what the top fields looked like. Then they headed to the area where you can use toboggans. With a quick break for lunch (sheltering on the bus) most of the kids headed back out. I stayed on the bus with the few little kids that had had enough of the cold.
On the way back down, we stopped at some random hot pools, just out of Turangi. Never heard of it and would have no idea how to find it again! It was just a quick visit to warm everyone up.

Saturday night was the greatest feast! Lorraine and I went to help with dinner and we were told we'd only be needed to help dish the second course. That's right - SECOND course! We had a 3 course dinner! Amazing! Soup, roast beef and vegies then raspberry & apple shortcake! YUM! Again, only a handful of dishes to do before we were dismissed.

Sunday we headed to DeBrett's Hot Pools for the day. They've done it up well since I was last there (ok that was last century). We managed to leave earlier so by the time the bus got back to Hamilton, we were only 15 minutes ahead of schedule. Thanks to my darling flatmate, Cam, we scored a ride home! Thanks Cammy! ;-)

It was a fabulous weekend and the kids had a great time! OK, us adults also had a great time! Also amongst the talk, I seem to have volunteered to organise next year's mini camp! I did manage to drag in my friend Trudy to help! Bring it on!!!!!!!!!

ohhhh so in luuuuv!

2007-08-27T20:35:00.000+12:00

2 words for you - Danny Bhoy.
Need an image? Fair enough! Luckily his website is full of them.

http://dannybhoy.com/

Isn't he a hottie??!!! Another 2 great reasons (as if the cute face isn't enough?!) he's Scottish (yes VERY hot accent) AND he's a comedian!!

OK to get back to the point, Cam, Rach, Kim, Quentin, Jo and Jo's flatmate Leeanne and I went to Danny Bhoy's comedy show on Thursday 23 August. Absolutely hilarious show. My cheeks were sore at the end of 2 hours (he did have an opening act so wasn't all him). It was his first tour of NZ without being attached to the Comedy Festival. I will admit that I did prefer last year's show better, this one was still worth a giggle or two.

On Friday night we had a team building with our Service Desk team from Axon (yes the kind people who provided the free tickets to the rugby the other weekend!). We went and played 2 games of Laser Strike before some drinks and nibbles. After many drinks and laughs, most of us headed to the Caz Bar for a bite to eat. Hours later (we started at 4pm and I got home at 10pm) we all went our seperate ways. Axon again came to the party. We never paid a cent for anything all night!! BLESS!

Over the weekend just been, Jo and I went to Tauranga to see Nana, who is staying with Mum for a week. Was nice to see her, but I'm worried about her. Well I'm also worried about Mum, having to watch her mother slowly go downhill. Just have to be there for her. Luv ya Mum.

yay for free!

2007-08-19T20:48:00.000+12:00

I just have to brag that I received free tickets to the rugby!!
Axon - who provide our Helpdesk support at work - have corporate seats. HCC were lucky enough to get them. Paula and I decided that the boys get them often enough. So it was OUR turn this time! A girls night out at the rugby.
Sadly, the rugby was nothing to brag about - but Waikato did win in the end!!!!! YAY us!

I'm feeling appreciated!

2007-08-05T21:00:00.000+12:00

For the last Friday of each month, our floor has a "networking" meeting. This is when we all gather around and "network". OK, sure there is a beer or glass of wine in hand, but we're "getting to know each other"! Anyway, we have an activity that goes along with it that our Ministry of Fun (small committee with reps from each team) come up with. I couldn't help myself but sign up for this committee!

For July's end of month activity, we had a whole week! We did secret appreciation week. For those that have been reading my blog for a while now, will know that this idea has popped up before. I brought this idea with me, and if I do say so myself, it worked really well. It was a fun week, and most of those involved had a great time too. Some of those who opted not to participate, were pretty envious by the end of the week!

For those who don't know what this is, we all filled in a form with some of our favourites, eg food, drink, animal, etc. Those forms were then randomly handed out to participants, and you had to secretly appreciate that person for the week. At the Friday networking, all was revealed. We had 1 guess to see who had been appreciating us, then were corrected if we got it wrong. I guessed mine right, but the last day gave it away completely. I had an A2 poster on the wall by my desk saying that I was appreciated. To print that size, you have to use the plotter printer, which normally prints our maps - so I guessed with was our GIS analyst. Still was a nice thought. I got a few other gifts along the week, which were thoughtful.

So it sounds like it could now be an annual thing from now on!

Go the ABs!

2007-07-22T21:22:00.000+12:00

So many things on at the moment, but to add to it, we got tickets to see the All Blacks play the poor Aussies. I can say this now......as we WON!!!!!!!

Rach, Cam and I headed up to Auckland on Saturday 21 July to see the game. The weather forecast wasn't the best, so we went prepared. We met Rach's parents and Trudie (Cam's sister) at a brewery/pub for dinner, then thought we'd walk to the game from there.
As we were walking down the road, this bus pulls into the bus stop just ahead of us - free shuttle to Eden Park! HELLO! So we jumped on!

We got to the park along with hunderds of others and managed to find our seats. Just before I got seated, the heavens opened! It was the heaviest rain I've ever stood in! I grabbed out my tarp and wrapped it around me. That's how we sat for the entire first half of the game! By half time, the rain had stopped, but then the wind started. This is really pushing me to invest in a proper rain jacket!!

At the end of the game - which I will say again, WE WON!!!!!!! - we headed out to look for that free shuttle again. It wasn't meant to be. There were the normal bus routes, but we couldn't find the free shuttle. The others said we could walk back to the car. ONE HOUR later, we arrived at where we parked. It was a bit of a hike, but also I was carrying a lot of extra weight as everything was wet and weighed double, plus the walk was nearly entirely uphill!

Anyway, as much fun as I had - I don't think I'm that huge a fan of rugby as I first thought. I'm not too keen to sit through weather like that again!! Maybe I'll need to splash out for covered seats next time! ;-) Ahh who am I kidding! Of course I'll end up doing it again!!!!

I finally made it to Australia!

2007-07-15T20:31:00.000+12:00

Well I've been to Europe twice and America but I've never made it to Australia before now!

On 2 July I woke up at 3.45am. Yes THAT early! Jo, my darling sister, was kind enough to pick me up at 4.15am to take me to the airport for a 4.30am check-in. There was already quite a line of people, but I eventually got through it! So to cut the boring part short, I arrived in Sydney in one piece. Pam had sent me a SIM card and the phone number of the shuttle service. Now for anyone who has used this shuttle service to get to Pam's will know what a mission it is. They told me to wait by these seats and they'd come and get me in 10 mins when the ride arrived. 20 mins later I found the guy to ask him what the deal was and they had forgotten me! They took the other lady to Coogee but left me. Idiots. I flew in at 8am and got to Pam's at about 11am!!! So dumped my bags and grabbed a bus to Bondi Junction and found the bagel shop! LUNCH!! Then headed back and crashed - what?! I'd been awake since 3.45am, may I remind you?!

Tuesday was the best day as far as weather goes. I had an unlimited bus, train and ferry pass, so thought I'd head into town and see the sights. The first stop was the AMP Tower. It's in the middle of the CBD, and without a map to follow, I never would've found it! It's amongst all these tall buildings, though once you're up it, you can see over them all, right out to the harbour. Stunning views, and gave me the lay of the land. Seeing as I don't really do heights well, I saw the sights and headed straight back down!

From there I headed down to Circular Quay for lunch. My first real view of the harbour bridge. How's this for a view while eating lunch??

To keep enjoying the great weather I thought I'd go on a harbour cruise. Pam told me that you see the same things from the Sydney Ferries, but just no commentary, which my travel ticket covers. So I jumped on the ferry to Manley and enjoyed the sights. The ferry was packed so I stood at the back of the ferry and watched the harbour bridge and opera house. Can't complain! On the way back I sat beside this lady who is from Sydney and she told me about all the sights along the way - free commentary! Now that's my kinda budget!

Wednesday was nearly as stunning a day. I headed down to Darling Harbour for a look around. I headed towards the Outback Centre thing for a free show, but I got stopped along the way for a shoulder massage (heavenly, by the way!) so I missed it by 10 mins. Never mind. It's a pretty walk, so I followed it back around to Circular Quay. Thought I'd head over to the zoo while the weather stayed nice (was to get worse later in the week) but by the time I got on the ferry, it was already 3.30pm and the zoo closed at 5pm, so I hopped off the other end and straight back on the return ferry. I decided to shop instead!! And why not??!!

Thursday was all about me! OK and Pam too! hehe! Pam was "sick" from work so we could hang out for the day. Sadly I have no photos of anything we did together, but I have great memories! Firstly we headed to her salon where Pam treated me to a birthday spa! We had our nails painted, hair treated and blow waved then a light make-up done! We were ready to hit the town! We found a cosy cafe on Oxford St for lunch then we went on a shopping mission. Yes, I do seem to be doing a bit of that! But what the hell, I'm on a holiday! I needed a new handback and that was Pam's mission for the afternoon. Luckily for me, she knew all the right places to go an I ended up with TWO new handbags!
It was a fantastic day, thanks Pam!!!!!!

Friday I headed by bus, train and another bus to Featherdale Wildlife Park, just out of Blacktown. This wildlife park has an open animal area so you can interact with the animals. I got to get close to a Koala, though they sleep 18 hours a day, so they weren't overly exciting. The next area was wallabys and kangaroos. They were lounging around in the sun but there were a few lively ones that were happy to eat your food and let you pet them. Of course they were only small ones, as adult kangaroos would be taller than me and could potentially kill me with one swipe. The tallest came up to my waist. I spent about 1.5 hours playing with these animals!! It was fun. There was one kangaroo was really smootchy, like a cat wanting milk!

On the train back I texted Ali (from my Contiki last year) to see where they were at. They'd recently arrived in Sydney so I met up with them in Chinatown. Ali is from Tasmania (1 of the 40 Aussies on the bus last year). She had Steve and Emma with here, who are from England. They were on our bus too and decided to do a trip around Australia. This was the reason I timed my trip for this date. After we walked around, and also waited 45 MINUTES for some creme puffs (!!) we headed to Luna Park. Friday nights are the best night (which I found out is because it's half price!). It's a cool carnival atmosphere! We went on the Ferris Wheel and Carousel plus a couple of other rides (most of which made Steve want to hurl!). I liked the one at the back of the park - no idea what it was called, but it did give me a head rush for a few minutes afterwards! I definately wasn't prepared for going out at night so was freezing my ass off! I hopped on the ferry which took me to Circular Quay and I caught a direct bus home.

Saturday I met up with them at Central Station where we met Chris, Matt and Jo (also ex-Contiki people). Jason met us at the backpackers half an hour later (he was busy with the Live Earth stage - his job was to design and set it up!!!). We all walked to Circular Quay and found a pub at The Rocks where we could enjoy a meal and a couple of drinks while we all caught up. It was just like it was a year ago! Can't believe it's been that long since we saw each other last!

Jason, Jo, Ali, Me, Steve, Matt, Chris, Emma

After lunch we walked over the Harbour Bridge (not one of Steve's favourite moments - worse than me with heights!). Once on the other side, we took the typical Contiki photos!

Jo and her boyfriend had to go after that, so the rest of us headed back to Chinatown for dinner before most of them headed to the rugby game (no I wasn't invited). I headed home, where I met Pam and Kev coming back in from the Live Earth concert!

Sunday was a lazy day, but great none-the-less. Pam and I went to Newtown for brunch (ok it was lunch but we had a late start so it was brunch for us!). Of course there was more shopping involved! This time I was quite reserved and Pam was the one buying things! We then headed to Paddy's Market which is MASSIVE! It is quite repetitive as I'm sure every isle was the same stalls, just a different order! Got a few little things there before we headed home for a quiet night in.

Monday morning was the quickest goodbye as Pam was running late for work, and I'd be gone when they got back. I did a quick mission into Coogee to get my thank you gift as I couldn't really buy it beforehand and hide it (I was living in the lounge basically). I locked the key and SIM card in the apartment and waited patiently for the shuttle to come and get me. Not too well thought out because if they didn't come, I had no way to get back inside to call a cab. Luckily for me, they were on time and it was a quick ride to the airport.

And here I am, home in one piece. Sadly I also brought the flu home with me so haven't really been at work this week as I've been in bed, recovering. Back to it tomorrow though.

Thanks heaps Pam and Kev for having me!!! I had a blast!

Let's celebrate me!!

2007-06-18T18:10:00.000+12:00

Of course EVERYONE knew it was my birthday on Friday.......right???!!!

Following the tradition, the whole weekend was about me. Well.....it was for me anyway!

On Friday I managed to do about 2 hours of work all day. We had an international morning tea where everyone brought a dish to share from their country of origin (I did pancakes with REAL maple syrup). After that and a meeting, my team went out to lunch. 2 hours later we headed back to work. Who am I kidding?!! I filled in an hour by answering ONE job then left at 3pm as I had some lieu time owing. I got home and went straight to bed! A nana nap was definately needed as I'd been awake since 5am (not up, just awake - the brain just switched on - very random!)

Friday evening a bunch of friends and I went out for dinner. The service wasn't the greatest, but the food was fantastic. The garlic bread is the best EVER! I had a seafood risotto for my main which was HUGE. I only got through half of it! It was a great evening with a couple of groups of friends getting on well together. Special thanks to Ali who came all the way from Tauranga for dinner!

On Saturday, Rach, Cam and I headed out to the Pitch n Putt! That isn't a full game of golf, but it's a bit more than minigolf. We were given a driver and a putter. The holes were about 45-70m, but that was still quite a challenge. The green is on raised ground, so we got the nasty southerly wind while playing. That was what caused our bad game play.......hmmmm.

Saturday evening, Jo, Cam, Rach, Rach's parents and I headed off to Waikato Stadium to see the All Blacks vs Canada! It was a tough call whether I wore black or red. I opted for black - mainly for the fact that I did not have a thick jersey in red. I surprisingly remembered most of the Canadian national anthem. Luckily it was like karaoke with the words up on the screen. My boss' cousin was actually singing it!

Sadly the All Blacks kicked the Canuk's ass - but what do you expect? Final score: 64 - 13

On Sunday Jo and I went shopping before heading out to look at the campsite where we're having Camp Quality next summer. They are redoing the entire kitchen, so Mum will be loving that (she's head chef on camp). I've already eyed up the room I want to sleep in!! The joys of being staff and now have the job of organising the sleeping arrangements (actually am in charge of the kids and matching them up with companions with the companion registrar - but they all have to sleep somewhere).

Sunday evening I managed to get roped into being photographer for Jo's work awards dinner. It was in a lovely cold hall but they did a good job doing it up with a non-existing budget. It was also nice to meet some of the faces to the names and the stories Jo often tells me!

Well that was the weekend. Now I'm counting down til I leave to Sydney! 2 weeks today!!!

(also Daniel has given us his notice - he's moving back home to Austria. Anyone know of someone looking for a flat in Hamilton to live with 3 FANTASTIC people??!!)

The last month....

2007-06-06T20:02:00.000+12:00

I just realised it's been a month since my last update.
Unlike half of my friends, I have no overseas adventures to share.

Firstly, here are some of my better photos from the wedding I did on 11th May.

Rings & Bride's Bouquets

Bride and her sisters

Bride & Groom

Since my last update, my darling sister has turned 25!! Yes I am feeling quite old! Her birthday was Monday 21st May, but seeing as she was working afternoons that week, she came over for dinner on the Sunday. In the end, she worked a morning later in the week, so the usual crowd (Rach, Cam, Kim, Quentin, Jo and I) went out for dinner at Cobb n Co. We couldn't convince the girl to sing the birthday chant (or rather, Jo's begging NOT to won). Isn't that the whole part of going to Cobb n Co for your birthday????

The following Friday, my friend had a farewell dinner in Tauranga at Zeytins. This is a FANTASTIC Turkish restaurant. Would recommend it to anyone. The atmosphere was great, with comfy seats with pillows around the walls of the entire restaurant. My lovely friend, Adam from Camp Quality, is heading over to the USA to go to Camp USA. He's a trained teacher, has been doing Camp Quality for a number of years now - you could say he likes kids! And still a spring chicken at 21!

I stayed at Mum's that night and we spent the day together on Saturday - shopping! For some reason, my Mum likes to go shopping and spend my money! Bought a few new clothes, which apparently I needed new accessories for!!! Gotta love that logic! My credit card may not have liked it as much. Ahhh well....

Queen's Birthday weekend has just past. I sadly could not leave town as I was on call for work.
Good point - a public holiday means a day in lieu
Bad point - getting calls at 1.45am 2 out of 3 nights, making sleeping not an option

The only news is that next Friday is my birthday!!!! Everyone note that down!

For those in the neighbourhood or wanting to visit, we're heading out for dinner!
7pm at The Crazy Farmer Restaurant in Hamilton. Let me know if you want a space at the table and I'll book you in!

My first real photography job!

2007-05-11T20:00:00.000+12:00

OK when I say "real", I mean I actually got paid!!! My first real job was to photograph Camp Quality for a week.

Anyway, today I had my first WEDDING photography job! We got this through the night class we did at the high school. The bride saw the course, and as it was her second wedding, she didn't want to pay the mega dollars for a professional photographer. She contacted the school to see if any students would want the job for a small fee. There were 3 of us on the course that had never photographed a wedding, so the class voted for us to do it. After the tutor told the bride how many photographers she could have, she said she didn't mind if all 3 of us wanted to have a go. We would've done it for free, but she paid us a small fee for our time. Sadly, as I'm the only one who uses film, I will use mine on film and developing. All part of the experience though. And we can use our photos for our portfolios (no I don't even have one yet!)

It was great fun to do wedding but the weather was pretty bad, so the bride called off the photos after we'd only done a few wedding party shots. She was happy with what we'd already done so fingers crossed that they turn out!

I will post some photos later when I get them developed.

So if you want to book me as a photographer...
I can do all occassions, not just weddings!

Prefer weekends though as I think I'll be pushing my luck in the future to get more time off my Mon-Fri job to take photos!!!

another birthday!

2007-05-08T20:08:00.000+12:00

On Friday saw the start of Cameron's long birthday weekend!
We met at Le Dome, a Belgium cafe and bar, after work. By the time I got there just after 5pm, Cam had already polished off his first of MANY beers! Gotta love Stella on tap! So Rach, Cam, Tobi, Jo, Kim, Quentin, myself and 3 of Cam's Stud Ville mates had a lovely dinner. It was a great social evening with lots of chatting and lots of beer consumption (ok that was just Cam and Tobi).
Sadly, the night was not all great. By the time I got home, I wasn't feeling too good. Spent the rest of the night with major stomach pains and feeling sick. Thought it was something I ate, but several days later, I'm still not 100% (could have what Hayley had - totally feel ya!).

Saturday, after finally dragging my sorry butt out of bed, Jo and I headed to Auckland. We did a bit of shopping before heading in to see Jeremy Corbett's comedy show, which I might add, we got to see for free! The main reason we were in Auckland was to see another comedy show. We just happened to find out about Jeremy's free one online. Show a ticket to another comedy show and we were in!
The show we paid to see was Ardal O'Hanolon. You will know him as Father Dougal from the TV show, Father Ted! So it was 3 hours of comedy! A fantastic night! You know what's not good though - laughing while you have a stomach bug! Kinda hurt, but it was worth it!! Plus who doesn't love a good Irish accent??!!!

Sunday morning saw me waking up at 6.30am. It's my normal wakeup time, but it really sucks on a Sunday morning!! But it was still exciting cause I was going to see all my friends from Camp Quality! Can't believe it's May already! But the first weekend of May is generally Camp Quality reunion! We had organised a number of things to make this reunion something exciting, as previous ones have been lots of adults talking and the kids get a bit bored. Sadly, most of the things fell through (sadly this is sometimes happens when you rely on others). Next year will be bigger and better! Jo will be camp manager for next year's camp, so it'll rock! It was still a great day and I enjoyed catching up with friends I hadn't seen since camp.

It was a full on weekend but it was great fun!

work? who goes to their job to work?!

2007-04-27T21:43:00.000+12:00

Today was a busy day and I felt like I did no work!
It's Paula's birthday on Sunday so we decided to go to out for lunch to celebrate. We headed to Le Dome. I had the cesar salad - nothing to brag about. The egg was poached but freezing cold! The entire dish was straight out of the fridge! Including the already cooked bacon. Not good on the teeth. It was really nice to sit and just hang out with my workmates. Our whole team went. Of course an hour lunch break was a bit closer to 1.5-2 hours! A few wines later (ahh no not me) we were just chatting and kinda forgot about work!
Had to be back by 2pm anyway cause us newbies to the unit had induction. That was the LONGEST two hours of my life! Our unit manager has got to be one of the worst presenters EVER! EVER!!!!!!! Monotone voice and a warm room = sleepy.
Anyway, after that we had our monthly "networking". It's where our unit (5 teams of about 6-8 people) stop work and socialise. It's classed as a meeting and is compulsory to attend, but the boss shouts beers and nibbles. If you don't drink beer, you have to bring your own drinks. Each time our Ministry of Fun organise an activity (yes I've already signed up for that!). I organised tonight's activity - quiz night!!! Actually one of the other guys on the committee was meant to do it, and had a month to do it. He emailed the rest of the committee on THURSDAY afternoon to say he hadn't done it, so of course I said I'd do it. I didn't mind, but it meant I couldn't participate :-( It was a great night and everyone really got into it! The boss even came up with some movie vouchers for the winning team!
So that was my social "work" day!

I'm slack.....I KNOW!

2007-04-12T20:01:00.000+12:00

OK I've been slack in updating my website of late

To make up for it, I'll give a brief summary of what I've been up to since my last post

27/2 Kim's Birthday dinner at Masala Club
3/3 Crusty Demons at Waikato Stadium
4/3 Paula's Tupperware party
8/3 Pitch & Putt with people from Information Management unit
10/3 AK07 Celebrations at Auckland Domain
11/3 Women's Lifestyle Expo
13/3 Hamilton City Council Induction Day for new staff
16/3 First PPR in my new job - I'm doing quite well so far!
17/3 Photography Class Fieldtrip to Hamilton Gardens, looking for photo opportunities
17/3 Paula's Hens Night at Lonestar
24/3 Paula's Wedding at Te Rapa Convention Centre
25/3 Old school friends catch up lunch for Rachael's birthday
28/3 Last day of Wedding Photography night course - with the possibility of doing an actual wedding
31/3 Tobi's farewell party in Auckland - Stereotypes theme
1/4 My first Camp Quality committee meeting - yes I've finally signed on for the politics
>>added>> 3/4 Saw Wild Hogs with Kim, Quentin and Jo
>>added>>4/4 Celebrated Quentin's birthday at En Q restaurant - fantastic meal!
6/4-9/4 Easter break in Ohope - beautiful beach, stunning weather and a great bunch of friends

So that's my quick summary. If you want to know more about something in particular, just let me know. This is just a QUICK summary so I don't get hassled for not updating!!

OK now for a couple of photos to make things a little interesting

AK07 Fireworks display

Paula's wedding - me, Darryl, Paula, Debbie (my boss) and Angela

Jo and I at Tobi's party
stereotypical housewife and stereotypical lesbian or rockstar

Tobi's party - dirty old man Cam, hobo Vanessa and Quentin

Dominatrix Librarian Rachel

where has February gone?

2007-02-25T10:27:00.000+13:00

Well it's nearing the end of the month. Can't believe it's nearly been 2 months already! And I've been in my new job for 6 weeks now! In fact, this weekend, I'm on call for the first time. So far, so good - no calls. But I'm also on call until Friday, so it's early days.

Thought I might do another summary of what I've been up to this month, seeing as I last updated when we had Auckland Anniversary weekend.

Waitangi weekend was the following weekend, but as it was a Tuesday, and I don't have any leave yet, Paula and I drew the short straws to work the Monday in between. I didn't mind really. There weren't many calls coming in as over half the building had the day off. Think our floor had about 5 people out of about 40. I didn't do much during the weekend, just relaxed.

Thursday 15th was Rebecca's baby shower. Becks used to be my senior (almost my boss really) at my old job in Tokoroa. She's due about mid March I think, and Fri 16th was her last day at work. I headed down to Tokoroa and snuck into the IT office to say hello. She didn't know I'd be coming down for it. We were emailing that day, and she did say she wondered why I didn't answer her last message - cause I was halfway to Tok by then! It was great to catch up with people from my old work. I do miss some of the people from down there but I'm slowly making friends with people at my new job.

On 21st Feb I started a new night course - Wedding Photography! I really loved doing the photography course last term so when I saw this one, I thought why not?! It's one of the tutors we had last term. There were a couple of people from the other course attending too. I'm not changing profession, but this course is mainly going to help with taking photos of people (in white dresses or not). It more about lighting and composition. We even have a field trip next week, I think! Not sure if we're going to a wedding or just practicing taking photos of people outdoors.

On the 22nd, Rach, Cam, Jo and I went to one of the shows from the Hamilton Gardens Summer Festival. It was called Game Show with a few out-of-work, exShortland Street actors. It was like a lecture on how to make the most of a game show, how to be a good contestent, etc. It had us in fits of laughter for a solid 1.5 hours. It was very well done. Pam and I went to a show they produced a couple of years ago at the festival. They do something every year.

Oh, last weekend some of us went to Tauranga to Di's place to have a sneaky peak at the new Camp Quality video. She's done a fantastic job of it! I also got all my films developed that I took at camp. If I do say so myself, most of them weren't too bad!! I do prefer taking photos of people than scenery. And seeing all the photos and the video, just makes me excited and I want to go back to camp! I'll just have to wait til 6 May for reunion. Sooooo far away!!

holidays!

2007-02-07T20:53:00.000+13:00

well seeing as I've started a new job, I don't have any leave to take days off. So because of this, I'm taking full advantage of long weekends. 26-29 January saw Auckland Anniversary on Monday 29th, therefore making a 3 day weekend.

Cameron, Rachel, Debra and myself headed to Taupo on Friday evening for some relaxation out of the cities (Debra's from Auckland). We stayed in a tiny cabin at the Great Lakes Holiday Park, which is just out of Taupo, on the way to Acacia Bay. It was about 5km from town, so far away enough to be peaceful, but close enough to still get into town.
We got to Taupo at about 7.30pm, and after checking in then finding something for dinner, Friday was written off.

On Saturday we had a nice sleep-in and then headed into town. We decided to cruise and just relax. We went and played mini-putt. Beautiful scenery as it's right on the lake front - good thing really, as we were behind 3 groups of the SLOWEST players EVER! The sun was hot but we were happy to just be enjoying the fine weather. We then got some makings of a picnic lunch and sat by the lakeside. It was beautiful! Now that was holiday mode! In the afternoon we pushed Debra off the cliff. OK OK, she jumped. We managed to convince her to do a bungy jump!! So much easier to talk about than do! There is no way you'll catch me doing that! For the rest of the weekend, Debra was buzzing!!! See her blog site for photos! Saturday night we had a bbq at the camp with a few drinks. It was a nice relaxing evening!

On Sunday we decided to go out to Taupo Adventure Park to see what's out there. Besides a VERY high ropes course, they had an animal farm, buggy kart things and a maze. They all cost the earth except the maze, so we opted for that. Of course I was the last one through it! We all went seperate directions on entering the maze. I wanted to follow my instincts but I thought I should try a different way than everyone else, to be fair. Of course, I would've got out a lot sooner, had I listened to myself!! We had a cruisy afternoon and got dressed up to go out for dinner. We went to a steakhouse. I thought I'd splash out and get a scotch fillet! Dumb idea. Half of it was gristle and fat. Not overlly impressed. Dessert was fantastic though! We wandered the streets for a bit then took a bit of a drive to see the lights and sights of Taupo!

Monday we just headed home and had another sleep!!!! WHAT?! We couldn't sleep-in as we had to check out by 10am!

I really enjoyed the weekend and was just great to hang out with some mates and relax.

Photos from Camp Quality Ball

2007-02-01T18:22:00.000+13:00

Here are a couple of photos from our Ties & Tiaras Ball at Camp Quality

Me, Jo and Mum

Me, Jo, Lorraine, Mum, Brigitte
The Mortens are close family friends, who got us involved with Camp Quality!

my latest

2007-01-16T21:18:00.000+13:00

Ok so it's been over a month since I last updated. I'm going to give a quick summary from the middle of December, since I last posted. If you want more detail, you know my email address!

Well the month of December, at work, was flat out. I had a huge task list to complete before I finished at my job at South Waikato District Council. I was surprised how much work I did those last 3 weeks, let alone what my boss thought! All I got from them was snootiness - obviously they weren't overly keen that I was leaving, but I thought they would've got over the fact and be happy that I was furthering myself!

On a personal note, I don't really remember what I did in December, but I know I was busy all the weekends. I headed to Tauranga for Christmas. We had it with the Morten family in Anthenree. We've been having Christmas together for a few years now as both our families are all in the South Island. These kids I used to babysit, and a little while ago, I was partying with both of them!!!!

New Years Eve was spent in Tauranga with some old school friends. Some I hadn't seen in years! I didn't have any plans, but Jo Bacchus came to my rescue! We went into town to The Cornerstone Pub to listen to Magic Eye. They're an awesome band! They're from Huntly, or somewhere nearby. They picked great songs to cover, and really got the party going.

The week immediately after New Years was spent helping Mum doing food shopping for camp. What a mission! Feeding 120 people for a week. We had to do several trips as it didn't all fit in the car at once. The Saturday morning of camp (6th Jan) we were at Woolworths at 7am as the doors opened to do all the chilled and frozen food shopping - it filled both our cars entirely!!!!!!!

At Camp Quality this year I was on staff, for something different. They were very short on staff this year, so I was one of 2 photographers. The perks to being staff means MUCH better rooms. The 2 photographers and videographer had our own tourist flat with 2 bedrooms, a kitchenette and small lounge. We had a fridge, which found itself filled with lovely drinks so we always had a supply of COLD drinks. I really enjoyed being photographer this year. As I took the photography course at the end of the last year, it was good to put the learnings into practice. The only thing I didn't like was that it felt like I was watching the whole camp through a viewfinder, rather than actually being involved. This feeling didn't really bother me until we had the ball on the Thursday night.

WOW, the ball. That was a fantastic event! The programme committee did a great job on this. We hired a room at Rydges hotel in Rotorua and they did an amazing job decorating the room as a ballroom! They had balloons (yes Jo did manage to get through the night) and glitter over the tables and a stage for the concert. We had an MC (Mike -ex radio DJ - from Rotorua who was on Escarpade with us in November) and then a DJ to provide the music for the ball. They put on a lovely banquet dinner (which was aimed at kids though - no vegies!). It was a great night. We even got to set up a proper photo booth to do "proper ball photos", thanks to Ron who provided us with studio lights!

Now it brings me to the current week. Yesterday I started my new job at Hamilton City Council. The day was as unproductive as you can imagine a first day would be! I started at 9am, did the floor walk around to meet the team, had morning tea, did some reading in the knowledge base, then our immediate team went out for lunch together! How great is that! The afternoon was spent filling in HR forms and doing more reading. Really struggled to stay awake actually! I'm definately a hands-on learner, NOT reading about it.

Today was good though. I fixed a couple of jobs and did some first responses to some other calls. The thing I've found out about this job is that it really doesn't have much to do with the customer, like they made it sound in the interview. I thought it was customer support, but what happens is that the users log a call with the helpdesk if there is a problem with some software, and if it's a software fault, then we take it on, but if it's a user error, we really have nothing to do with it. Not sure what all the talk of my customer service skills had to do with anything, then!

Anyway, this is a great team to work with. A very social group, unlike previous IT teams I've worked with. They have social drinks on the last Friday of each month, where they stop work at 4pm for nibbles and drinks. Bring it on!!!

So now that you're sick of reading about ME, I'll sign off. I'm on my new laptop without any photos, etc, so you'll just have to wait for them. Hopefully coming soon!

just a couple more photos

2006-12-19T10:52:00.000+13:00

Got some photos from the Camp Quality Escarpade of our team, so thought I'd post them here. Not liking my photo gallery website very much.

Team Pink - Me, Geoff, Ali and Mum
with Daisy the Fire Engine and Doris the Ambulance

Me, Ali, Geoff, Mum
collecting at Palmerston North Speedway

a bit slack

2006-12-18T09:28:00.000+13:00

well I have been a bit slack with the updates. And I don't have many photos to show for it. So here is a summary version of what I've been up to!

We had our work Christmas party on the 2nd December at Glamz, which is a drag show in Hamilton. Most people caught the bus from Tokoroa, but of course I didn't need to as I already live in Hamilton! There was a spare ticket going so I got to take my darling sister along. We had 2 long tables to fit 48 of us. There were a couple of other groups there too. They started with some terrible singers on keyboard before they brought out soup and an entree. Then they started the show. We had a bit of singing, etc before they brought out the main course. Plenty of food to go around! Then a bit more of a show then dessert then some more show. It was quite good like that as it broke up the meal a bit. Overall, it was a great night out. Our poor CEO didn't even realise that he was posing with a dragqueen - he thought it was a flat-chested girl! OH DEAR!!!

Our MC - and also the best drag queen there!

Our CEO with the "flat-chested lady"

Another life changing event - I've changed my hair colour!!! I've gone a very dark brown with the odd caramel highlight. No photos though, cause I just haven't got around to taking photos of myself!!!! And no photos of my car yet - quick slack, I know!

On the 6th we had our final photography class. We had to print off 5 photos each and bring them to class. We layed them out and everyone had to vote. Out of about 12 of us, I got 4th equal. Not first place, but I'm pretty happy with that!!!!

Wed 13th we had a Corporate Day Out, which is when the Corporate group had a day away from the office for team building. We were at some random lake but it was beautiful. The weather even cleared up for us. The general invite said Teddy Bear's Picnic. After much disgust in the theme, we all trudged along. It ended up being quite a good day. We all normally work just within our little teams and don't get to deal with each other much, so this day was quite good to get to know others. Shame I'm not going to be around long enough to enjoy the new knowledge of the others!

I can't remember if I've posted this, but I'm going to start a new job in the new year! I got a job at Hamilton City Council. I was going to be working those 3 days after new years at my current job, but I managed to wangle some holiday leave, so I finish Thursday 21st December! Bring on the long summer!! I start at HCC on 15th Jan, so it's a good 3 week break.

The Saturday just been, 16th, Jo and I went to see the Naked Samoans Go Home (Again). It's a live stage act by the Naked Samoans (they did Sione's Wedding and bro'Town). It was a BRILLIANT show! Great stand up comedy show, that actually told a story. Great comic timing by all of them. Would totally recommend others to see it, but we went to the last show!

On Sunday, Rach, Cam and I headed over the hill for a BBQ lunch at Kulim Park to celebrate Debra and Pam's birthdays. Apparently this was an old school thing they all used to do. The day started out looking grey and yuck, but by the time we got over there, the sun was out and burning our skin. I am now brown the next morning, but not sure how the other 2 are. Rach was looking pretty red yesterday!

So that brings me to today. Not much to report so far from today's activities, as it's only 10.20am. So I may get back to doing some work. Yay only 4 days left of work to gooooooooo!!!

more pictures

2006-11-29T09:32:00.000+13:00

Had some more photos developed from my photography class.

I showed these ones to my tutor and he was quite impressed. Personally, I don't get the excitement with normal buildings, but he liked them!

Got 10/10 for this one - different angle to the normal

This isn't too bad - different angle again

Trying the whole reflection thing - tutor loved this one

My first traffic night photo - see the traffic lights are all 3 colours!

lots of changes for me

2006-11-24T13:59:00.000+13:00

Well had a couple big of things happen to me recently.

Firstly, I bought a new car!!! 2003 Mitsubishi Lancer in a very pretty green! No photo taken yet, but if the weather is good, I may get on to it this weekend. Have only been driving it a couple of weeks!

Secondly, I got offered a new job! My darling sister found a job through her work (Hamilton City Council) and showed it to me. I thought about it then applied at the last minute. Last week I had an interview and they said they'd get back to me this week. On the Friday, they rang and asked me back for a second interview. I've never had a second interview before. It's always been one interview then you've got the job or you haven't. So this Wednesday been I went in for my second "interview". It was more just a meet and greet with the higher up boss. They rang me Wednesday night and offered me the job!!!!! My new job title is Application Support Analyst. I'm doing mainly software support, but the analyst side of things will be new to me! And I'm very much liking the new salary! Gotta love the salary rates in the city!!!

So I finish at South Waikato District Council on the 5th January. The rest of the IT team are on leave those 3 days after New Years and I normally cover them. Negotiated with my new boss to allow me to start the Monday after Camp Quality, which is the 15th January. How nice! Although I could have a holiday before I start my new job, I'm being nice and covering leave. Also a sly move on my part - that means I get paid for Christmas and New Years!!! Ah ha!! Doesn't really bother me as I will still be around home.

A note for those who don't know New Zealand well - I will now working in the same town I live in! I am currently working in Tokoroa, which is an hour from Hamilton, where I live.

Oh and last night, Rach made me a pavlova to celebrate me getting a new job! How lovely! And boy, did it taste gooooooooooooood!

EsCARpading...

2006-11-16T09:56:00.000+13:00

What a week I've had! Early Saturday 4th November - as in 4.30am! - Mum was up and about the house preparing to leave. I, however, did not drag myself out of bed until 5am. We were due to be picked up just after 6am. Needless to say, the convoy did not arrive until about 7am!!

And we were off!!!! The Camp Quality Escarpade - the Waikato/Bay of Plenty contingent anyway! Our group consisted of two fire engines, one ambulance, one 1962 Buick and one Mercedes. The vehicles entered have to be either pre-1975 or a novelty vehicle. My mate Ali was driving the ambulance as we were short a driver, so I got dragged into that one. Originally we were all going to be in the big fire engine.

We headed down to Palmerston North, where the Escarpade was due to leave on Sunday morning. We finally arrived a mere 8 hours later, with the organiser wondering what on earth had happened to us! The first collection happened that Saturday night at the Guy Fawkes Speedway - and a very good collection, I might add!

We headed off bright and early, on Sunday morning, chugging towards Hawkes Bay, via the Tui Brewery! We spent 3 nights there collecting from the Napier, Hastings and surrounding areas, which also included a day trek up to Wairoa. We also visited some of the little country schools along the way to do sunsmart promotions. That was heaps of fun. One school did a little "haka" for us. It was more along the lines of Old McDonald Had A Farm! It was brilliant! We were in Napier city for Melbourne Cup evening, so hit all the local punters for their winnings (or not!).

From Hawkes Bay, we headed back to Palmerston North for the night. The next morning, we were on the More FM breakfast show. Well we were talked about. We were all physically standing on 4 main intersections coming into the city area. Even though it was pouring with rain and the wind driving the rain in horizontally, people were very generous and opened their windows - and their wallets!

From there we headed down through Levin (5 degrees and snow on the hills!) and right down the Kapiti Coast. Then we headed up to Wanganui for the day. Our "dash for cash" through town even had a police escort!! They were a bit prudish because we could only make limited noise and only do one block of town before we had to park our vehicles somewhere.

We finished the Escarpade in Palmerston North on Saturday 11th November. We hit the town hard in several places, and once again, I found myself standing on a traffic island on the main road coming into Palmerston North from the north!

Big hello to my driver, Ali, and a huge hello to Dodgey Doris - our Dodge Ambulance that got us safely around the lower North Island. Thanks for a FANTASTIC week away. It was with a great bunch of people, who raised a lot of money for a great cause. It was confirmed that we raised $66,000!! Go Camp Quality!

Team Pink at the Tui Brewery

Ali driving Dodgey Doris, the ambulance

- sorry, more photos to come as I’m waiting to get them from someone else

Say Cheese!

2006-10-31T16:19:00.000+13:00

As some of you may know, I've been doing a photography night course at one of the local high schools. I've borrowed Mum's Pentax SLR camera. Dad bought it when they went to Canada, which was 1973 I think!

Anyway, I went to the Hamilton Gardens in the weekend to try to test some of my skills. Please note, these are first time shots, so there is plenty of improvement to be made!

Celebrating

2006-10-24T13:31:00.000+13:00

It was my Mum's birthday on the 20th Oct, so I took the day off (lieu time rocks!).

Mum came over to Hamilton and we had a girly day! I've never really had one of these, come to think of it! We went shopping in the morning, then got our nails done together. From there we went out for lunch. After lunch, we did more shopping!

Late afternoon was spent ohhh-ing and ahhh-ing over Louise's new baby boy - Boyd. He is due this week but is already 5 weeks old! How is that for premature!

In the evening we met up with Jo and Cameron and all went out for dinner at Gengy's. Love that place. My new favourite stirfry is chicken and shirmp with honey soy sauce! YUM!

The next morning Mum and I got up, had a special breakfast treat of cream cheese and salmon on bagels!!! Then we went shopping again! Man that was fun!

Our shopping trip was basically to find costumes for our upcoming Camp Quality Escarpade. We are going to look "HOT"!! Don't worry, I will get plenty of photos.

On Sat 21st, Cam, Jo and I headed up to Tobi's in Auckland to help him celebrate his birthday! We all gathered for a BBQ and seeing as no one was allocated to bring salad, all we had was meat, bread and more meat. Do POTATO chips count as vegetables?! And we had ONION dip! It was a fun evening, and it was interesting to meet some of Tobi's mates and eat his food for a change, instead of the other way around! HAHA kidding!

The rest of Labour weekend was spent relaxing at home, not doing too much at all.

I'm appreciated!

2006-10-08T18:39:00.000+13:00

Last week, we had Appreciate your Workmate week at work. This is like the secret admirer thing, but didn't want to call it something like that for a workplace. We put our names in a draw and then we got someone's form back. Our forms just had helpful things like favourite colour, food, flower, etc.

I got quite spoilt, and I was really impressed by how thoughtful my person was who was secretly appreciating me. I was slightly difficult and put my favourite colour as metallic blue. I do love that colour, but it always makes for a challenge. On the Monday morning, I got a lovely METALLIC BLUE piece of cloth! Think it's a serviette, but I've used it as a small table cover. Looks lovely! And my person followed on all week with my favourites!!

The person I secretly appreciated was someone I don't actually see too often, so I didn't know how she was reacting to her gifts. So I'd get one of my friends to deliver it and get her to come back with the reaction! My person had a fantastic week, and for me, that was what it was all about.

We all gathered at the social club bar on the Friday after work, and we all revealed who we've been appreciating. Was very interesting to see who was doing who! It was a FANTASTIC week!!

Can't wait for Camp Quality!

2006-09-26T16:29:00.000+12:00

When I last signed off, we had loud shirt day at work. Well the shirts that came out! I sadly didn't get any photos, but I can show you what I wore. It was the same t-shirt and singlet I wore to the 80s party we had last year - click here

Over the weekend I went to Camp Quality training. I am now totally amped for camp next January! It was great to catch up with all my mates and to meet some new ones who are keen to join the team! Though I must say, it was about two thirds returnees and one third newbies! Still, it was a great weekend!!!

They asked for volunteers to help with the annual Camp Quality Escarpade. It's the first full week of November and is in the Manawatu area. I've asked my boss and she said I can have the time off! I have enough leave for that week and a week of camp next Jan!! I'm so excited. For those who don't know, the Escarpade is similar to the Variety Bash that those celebrities do. So I have 6 weeks before that, and I can't wait!!!!!!!

Anyone want to sponsor us?! You can put your company name on our car!!!!!

the latest

2006-09-21T11:10:00.000+12:00

Well, actually, there isn't too much to report since I last wrote, but you know I'm just going to blah on anyway!

Since I last wrote, I've had a couple of job opportunities come up. One was a helpdesk job where I'd just sit on my butt for 8 hours a day answering questions about Microsoft Office - BORING. They pay was going to be AWESOME (yay for the private sector!) but not worth it to turn my brain to mush. The other I went for an interview for has been "frozen" as the company has been bought out by another. Oh well, probably wouldn't have taken that job as it was a sole position with you being the only IT person in Hamilton, and therefore in an office by yourself. I'd go crazy! I did apply for another job in Cambridge at the district council there, but haven't heard anything yet, and it's been a couple of weeks. Think I'll write that job off.

Have been out for Indian food a couple of times the past 2 weeks and I have a new favourite dish! Lamb Korma! Not something I would've tried if I knew what was in it, but I didn't - so I tried it and it was YUM! Went out last night with Rach, Cam and Jo to Masala Club and ordered it for a second time, just to check. YEP! Still love it! Though I have to say that Masala Club is definately over-rated. The amount we got was quite small that after I'd finished, I didn't feel full. Most other Indian restaurants I've been to, you come out full and usually have some left on your plate!

On the 18th it was my workmate Andrew's birthday. I made him a cake shaped as Pacman! He's a retro kinda guy. He loved the cake although he did seem quite embarassed about getting it. Tasted yum too, despite the bright icing! The photo is from my phone, so isn't too bright. That yellow icing was as bright as you can imagine!

Tomorrow is Loud Shirt Day, so will let you know how that goes. Not sure I can find anything, although my cheeky sister said she didn't have anything and could she borrow one of mine! Like I have ANY, let alone more than one??!!!!! Cheeky Cow!

Hooray for Spring!

2006-09-05T10:16:00.000+12:00

I'm feeling the warmth and the longer days already. It's great not having to drive to and from work in the dark! Bring on summer, I say!!!! I know I've just had one and missed the main part of winter here, but I don't care! I want summer again! Would skip winter every year if I could afford to. I'm just not a cold weather person.

A brief update on life to date:
Had a mystery bottle auction at work for a social club fundraiser. Lots of bottles wrapped in newspaper and people bidding on them. It was heaps of fun. Last week the social club went to the movies to see The Lake House. If you get over the fact of time travel, then it's quite a sweet movie!

2 friends that have been living in England the past 2 years came to NZ for a visit. Got to catch up with them twice for dinner while they were here!! It was great to see Al & Penny after 2 years and it kinda sucks it will probably be another 2 years before we see each other again. Miss you guys!!

Went home this past weekend as Nana was staying with Mum for the weekend before heading back to the South Island after their 3 weeks in Australia. Good to see The Nana as I haven't seen her since about January. I also got to catch up with some long lost friends from school! We went tenpin bowling at 13th Ave bowling alley in Tauranga. It looks exactly the same as it did 15 years ago!!!!!! Then we headed to The Cornerstone Pub on The Strand for drinks and watch the Bay beat Tasman!! GO THE BAY!!!!

Oh that's a summary of my life since my last blog entry, and it's not too exciting for reading, but I've had a great time! My next challenge - looking for a new car! Both Rach and I are keen to replace our cars, so we are both on the hunt. I would like to get mine before my next warrent of fitness is due, which is the end of October, but I may be hoping for too much!!

PS: to my cousin Diane - I don't have a valid email address for you so I couldn't email you for your birthday!! Hope you had a good weekend!!! Email me with your current email address so we can keep in contact!

I hate being sick :-(

2006-08-23T13:26:00.000+12:00

Yes, I have been off sick lately. For those that laughed at me for being "hungover" on Sunday, SO THERE! I wasn't! I've been in bed Sunday - Tuesday with a stomach bug. Not nice at all. I'm back at work today (Wednesday) but am struggling quite a bit. See if I last ALL day!

The reason everyone thought I was hungover was because we had a few people around on Saturday night for drinks and pizza! Most watched the All Blacks rugby game while some of us watched Dirty Dancing (fast forwarding to all the good dance scenes)! We tried Goodfellas pizzas. Not too bad, but sure didn't look like the yummy pizza on their website.

Not much else to update on actually. Nothing exciting happened last week.

New flattie

2006-08-14T16:22:00.000+12:00

This is my first proper update since I landed back in NZ. We've been back for nearly 3 weeks, and sometimes it feels like 3 months ago. Not much has actually happened, but getting back to reality took a good week, and now I'm back into my usual routines.

The only major thing that has happened since we've been back is our flatmate Craig moved out. We knew it was coming from a few weeks before we left, but coming back to NZ and him only having a week left with us, made it all seem like it happened so fast. Craig moved out about a week and we've been advertising for a flatmate since the week before we got back (thanks to Rach!). Today, Darren moves in. He's a 22 year old Communications Student at Waikato Uni. Seems like a nice guy from the couple of meetings we've had with him. He loves movies (so has something in common with Rach) and also spends LOTS of time on his computer (like Cameron!). Think hé'll fit in well!

Last Thursday a bunch of us went out for dinner at Gengy's to celebrate my birthday - ok I know it was nearly 2 months ago, but I didn't get to celebrate it with my kiwi friends!!!! Anyway, for those that don't know, Gengy's is a buffet-style stirfry. You go along the smorgsboard with a bowl and pick your choice of meats, vegetables, sauces and spices. You then give it to a chef who cooks it on this MASSIVE flatplate, which sits at about 600 degrees Celcius!! That's some fast cooking! I had a lamb stirfry to start with. Cause it's cooked so hot, it's seared on the outside, but still tender and moist on the inside. YUMMY! The second one I tried was chicken and shrimp. The key is to make a SMALL one! So I could barely fit in 2 servings, as I made the first one a full bowlful. But wait, there's more! Included in the price is an endless supply of pancakes, fresh off the grill! You get a fresh pancake, then go to the freezer to get a choice of 4 different ice creams and about 6 different toppings!!! And it's only $24.95 for the whole thing! So it was a great night with Cam & Rach, Kim & Quentin, Craig & Laurine, Jo and myself. Lots of catching up and MANY laughs!

Photo update!

2006-08-10T13:23:00.000+12:00

Oh yes, I've finally put A into G and published photos.
Made 2 albums - one for Contiki photos and the other for the rest of our trip.

Contiki Photos
http://dknzca-contikiphotos2006.buzznet.com/user/photos/

Other Photos
http://dknzca-europethailand.buzznet.com/user/photos/

This is only a summary of photos, as I did take over 600 photos while I was away!

Home Again...

2006-07-31T15:32:00.000+12:00

I am now back in New Zealand. Sorry for the lack of updates, but you know how it goes with traveling……sometimes you just don’t have computer access.

From where I last left off…….

We enjoyed our last few days in Denmark by not doing too much. We went to the wax museum (like Madam Tussauds in London, just a bit smaller!) On our last night, Cameron and I took my host sisters, Anja and Helle, out for dinner to say thanks for playing tour guides while in DK. It was a nice Mexican restaurant with lovely food! It was a great night and a great way to finish our Denmark visit.

We left Copenhagen by train and headed up to Ålborg, where we stayed the night in a dodgy backpackers. They crammed 7 of us in a room that should really only house 4 people at most! We then took another train to Hirtshals where we caught a ferry across to Kristansand, Norway. That’s where we were met by Ingrid and her mother, Ågot. For those who don’t know, my family in New Zealand hosted Ingrid in 1999 for a year!!

We drove to their home town, Fyresdal. It’s in the middle of nowhere with some of the best scenery I’ve ever seen!!!!!!!! We met the rest of Ingrid’s family, including her Grandmother, who was visiting from Bergen. We spent 3 days there, doing nothing. And I mean NOTHING! We relaxed on the deck, in the sun – reading, writing, talking, sleeping….. what more could you ask for?! And they really looked after us! Always checking we had enough to eat or drink, we were happy and that we were generally ok! Will attach pictures soon, but the photos do it no justice. The scenery was AMAZING! I’d say equal to New Zealand’s beauty, actually!!! Absolutely stunning!

After a few days of relaxing, Ingrid drove Cameron and I to Bergen, where Ingrid has been studying last year. We stayed at Ingrid’s Grandmother’s house, which wasn’t far from the city centre. We had 2 full days in the city. The first day it rained quite hard, so we went to their Aquarium, then headed home to have drinks and watch a movie! The next day was beautiful again, so we crammed in all the sights of Bergen in one day! One amazing thing we did was go up this mountain in a cable car. From there you could see all of Bergen, which was a beautiful view. This city kind of reminds me of Wellington actually!

On the 19th July, we said goodbye to Ingrid at Bergen Airport (at 7.30am!). From there we flew to Stansted Airport in London. We took a bus to the city centre. Thought I was going to pass out with the heat as we were wearing pants and socks & shoes! The air conditioning was broken on the bus, but the heaters worked! 1.5 hours later, we were covered with sweat, outside Victoria Train Station! We found the nearest pub where we quickly changed into shorts and ordered a large, COLD drink! We then found out that London was being hit by a heat wave! The 19th was the hottest day they’ve had in YEARS. They recorded 36 degrees at some stage during the day!!!!! As we had 6 hours before we had to be at Heathrow, we found a park next to Buckingham Palace where we lay in the shade and dozed. We did manage to meet up with Bree (from our Contiki tour), who is now working in London, for a coffee. A rush to Heathrow (the Underground had delays as the heat was buckling the tracks!), wrapped our bags in plastic (we were heading to Thailand, after all!) and rushed to the gate.

No need to rush, as it happened. We waited on board the plane, at the gate, for 1.5 hours! Due to traffic congestion and storage issues, we were told. Finally in the air, we got served “dinner”. Not sure what meal they call it at 11.30pm! I managed to sleep most of the way as we got some seats with extra leg room!!

It was not all peace and quiet though. We had a MORON in our section of the plane. This guy was seated in the middle seat at the front, which is in front of the communal screen (old plane). He kept standing up in front of the screen, even when people kept asking him to move or sit down (crap movie, but that’s not the point!). He was also swearing a lot, which one particular guy didn’t like as he had young children. He asked the idiot to stop swearing, which made him swear more, so he told him to move away from his children with a mouth like that. Set him off even more, as you can imagine. Took 3 flight attendants to get him to sit down. He didn’t listen to any female flight attendants, so they had to call one of the males down from the front of the plane each time they had to deal with him. They even brought down the pilot at one stage! Think he managed to annoy everyone in our section of the plane. He was threatened with the Thai police, but that didn’t scare him. When we arrived in Bangkok, we were told to stay seated, even though we’d come to a stop at the gate. All of a sudden, 6 Thai police came to the back of the plane and escorted Mr Pain-in-the-Ass off!!!! As they turned to leave with him, our section burst into applause!!

We finally arrived at our hotel in Bangkok, where we checked in (with much hassle as they only had us in for 1 night instead of 2), grabbed a quick bite to eat, then went to bed.

Our only full day in Bangkok started with a nice breakfast on the Garden Terrace! We then hit the shops! We had a mall next to our hotel (like the lobby had a direct door into it!) After that, we wandered around the streets by the hotel. We didn’t know where anything was, so just stuck to things within walking distance. As this was our relaxing stop, Cam went back to the hotel for a swim and I went for a foot massage. NZ$5 for an hour massage! They did my feet for 45 minutes and then did my arms, neck and back for 15 mins! It was pure bliss!

That night we went to a dinner and show at the hotel. We had a typical Thai meal (lots of samples of food). Then we had some Thai dancers come out for a while. Showed us a lot of their typical dance moves as someone explained what they meant. The girls are so graceful! It’s amazing how they bend their fingers back so far!

The next day we flew up to Chiang Mai. We arrived mid afternoon, so didn’t do too much in the evening. Grabbed a quick bite in the mall next to the hotel – yes another hotel with a mall attached! It was the biggest in the area – 5 floors!

Our first full day in Chiang Mai, we were picked up by our tour guide at 9am and headed off to Maesa Elephant Camp. This is a training camp for elephants where they learn to work with logs of wood as they use elephants in the jungle for transporting the fallen trees. When we first arrived, it was bathing time! The area of the river we were next to had the younger elephants coming for a bath! It was cute to watch! They are still pretty big animals at that young age!

We then went to the arena where they put on a show to show-off their skills. Some played harmonicas, some played soccor and some painted pictures (decent ones too!). They are so cute to watch! At the end they did a demonstration of what they actually do when “logging” in the jungle. Shows how strong they really are, as it looked like such little effort for them! After the show, we got to go for an elephant ride!!!!!!! It was amazing! The whole time, I just couldn’t believe I was sitting on an elephant! They had seats, so you weren’t directly on the elephant, but it was just as good!!!!

From the elephant camp, we headed to an orchid and butterfly farm. The orchids were beautiful, and they grew without any dirt!! Took us all of 10 minutes to look around, but we also had a big Thai buffet lunch for us there. Another chance to try a bit of all the different Thai dishes. Not really a huge fan of Thai food, but some of it wasn’t too bad. I just don’t like really spicy food.

From there were headed to Chiang Mai Zoo. It’s a zoo you can drive through! Good thing really, as it’s huge and up some massive hills! We drove straight to the Panda enclosure. Once we disinfected our shoes, we went inside. Both pandas were sleeping! Silly time to come! We waited for a good half hour before they started to wake up. Then it was feeding time! The keeper kept throwing big chunks of bamboo into the enclosure for them to eat. He was good and threw them to the front, so they were really close. If I reached in and they reached out, we could probably touch each other – that’s how close we were!! It was a good 1.5-2 hours spent there! Didn’t wander around the rest of the zoo as we have seen zoos before.

Back to the hotel to cool down in our room (only room with air conditioning!). We then got in a taxi and headed to the night markets in town. We were told it was one street, but it was more like five! We grabbed some food from some stalls along the way plus bought a few cheap souvenirs. Thai prices are great!

Went for a swim in the pool when we got back as we were SO hot (25 degrees at 8pm!). It’s great swimming at night as you weren’t instantly sweating when you got out of the pool! Only thing about swimming at night is the bats! The bats were swooping down, skimming the water then darting back up again. And their screeches too! Gives you the shivers! Then we went to the lounge bar downstairs for a quiet drink and listened to the Thai band singing English songs. What a great day!

Our second day in Chiang Mai started with a River Cruise! We went up the river and stopped at a farm that grows Thai herbs. They explained what they use each herb for in Thailand – cooking or medicinal. They prepared fresh fruit and juice for us (great relief from the heat). There isn’t a day where I didn’t have fresh pineapple or watermelon!!! Love it! We then headed back down the river. Took a couple of hours, including hotel transfers! The afternoon was spent relaxing in our air conditioned room or at the pool. I went for another foot massage! Can’t beat those cheap prices!!!!!

The next day was home time. Flew Chiang Mai – Bangkok – Auckland. Rachel and Jo met us in Auckland and took us home (via Wendy’s, of course, for lunch).

GREAT TO BE HOME!
(Photos to come – have well over a thousand to sort through yet, between me and Cam!)

2nd Week in Denmark

2006-07-10T08:19:00.000+12:00

Now we're in Copenhagen (capital of Denmark, for those who don't know!)

The first 4 days we stayed with my eldest sister, Dorthe, and her husband Jesper in Ishøj. It was a little way out of town, but of course, Europe has great public transport here! Just 15 minutes by train!

The first full day we just wandered around the city centre. We also did a canel cruise, which shows you many of the sights of Copenhagen from the water. One of the better ways to see The Little Mermaid statue (for those that don't know, that story is written by Hans Christian Anderson - a Dane). It was a beautiful day and I must say I did get a little sunburnt on the face!!! HAHA to those in the cold!! That night Dorthe and Jesper took us for a drive to the near by town of Roskilde. This is where they have a lot of the viking history. They now have a school down there where they are teaching the old arts of making viking ships and using other tools of the trade from that era. We sat at the harbour with a cup of coffee and watched one of the best sunsets I can remember seeing!!

The next day we decided that we hadn't say still since we were back in New Zealand, so we had a rest day. And boy, did we need it! We slept til about 11am, which by then, Dorthe & Jesper had left the house! We enjoyed the sun for a while and slept a bit more. We really needed the rest as we are still trying to recover from the "Contiki Cough". Nearly the whole bus was sick by the time we'd finished our 25 days on the bus. And as we hadn't had time to rest, it's been sitting with us for a couple of weeks.

So 3 nights with Dorthe & Jesper brought us up to the city centre to stay with Anja for the weekend. We moved into her university dorm with lots of flashbacks to our experiences in Student Village (university halls both Cameron and I stayed in, in Hamilton, many years ago!!) We wandered around the area near by and had some great ice cream! The best around apparently. Never really had to queue that long for ice cream before!! That evening Anja, Helle, Cam and I took a picnic dinner to the park across the road, and watched people heading to the Robbie Williams concert. 2 days of concerts and both sold out.

This brings us to Saturday. In the morning we went to my other sister's, Lise, house for brunch. What a feed!! She put on a great spread that I didn't think I'd have to eat for the rest of the day! She headed off on a trip to somewhere in Eastern Europe on Sunday morning. It was great to catch up with her, as I was beginning to wonder if we'd get time to catch up!!!

In the afternoon, Cam and I headed to an old school mate of mine from my exchange time on Bornholm (8 years ago!). Karin had searched the yellow pages looking for all our old classmates from the year I was there. She also left at the end of that year, so we both didn't really know where anyone was. And what a fantastic job she did!!! THANKS KARIN!!!! (actually, I think Mette helped too??!!) I had the best night!!!!! There were 10 of us there, which really was a perfect number, as that's how many fitted around the table, making it easy to have a conversation. We had Karin, Mette, Anne-Gro, Anne, Mathilde, Katrine, Ditte, Mathias and us. Both Katrine and Ditte are pregnant, with Ditte due next week!! Now that was great she could come! Luckily the hospital is not far away!! We chatted in the afternoon, finding out what each other had been up to for the past 8 years since we'd last seen each other. It wasn't just me catching up either - most of them had lost contact over the years (as you do). Then we had a BBQ dinner in the evening. It was a fabulous night and I'm really glad Karin made the effort to organise it all!!! MANGE TAK FOR DET!

As I update this, it's Sunday night. Today we went to the Carlsberg factory and museum. Did the tour around, which of course finished in the bar, where we got 2 free drinks. Helle met us when we got to the pub. She bought her ticket for 25kr and just came straight to the bar. For a student, that's a couple of cheap beers!!! Great stuff!! Had lunch in the park opposite before going to the Zoo for the afternoon. We managed to get through most of it before we got rain. But never fear, it was for a total of 10 minutes, then the blue sky started to come back!!! And guess what??!! They had Keas (NZ native birds for non-kiwis)!!!! I was quite shocked to see them! Didn't realise we exported them!!

Anyway, we have 2 more days in Copenhagen before we head up the country on our way to the ferry to Norway. Keep up those emails and don't forget to sign my guestbook!!!!!! I'll be back before you know it!!!

Vi er på Bornholm!

2006-07-04T02:14:00.000+12:00

Now we are on Bornholm, in Denmark!

So I last left off with us on our final night in Amsterdam. We went on a lovely canel cruise through Amsterdam canels. Everyone from the bus was there, so it was great fun. We took lots of photos of each other (as you do). The tour guide on the boat was quite concerned we were taking lots of photos, but none of Amsterdam! It was quite funny. From there we headed to our final dinner together. It was at a Chinese restaurant, which are very common in Amsterdam (who would've thought?). Luckily they knew what Contiki people were like, as we would've been kicked out of any other restaurant. It was a lovely meal, and I even managed to talk to a few people I didn't get to know so well on the trip. We partied into the night but eventually dragged ourselves to bed, as we had to get up at 5.30am!

The next morning we headed back to London to finish our Contiki trip. It was a sad bus ride home as we had to say goodbye to 3 people in Amsterdam. We drove through Belgium and stopped for an early lunch before we got to the ferry at Calais. Now I can say I've been to Belgium, even if it was at a truckstop! We arrived in London and stopped at the bar with a good half of the bus. We bought a ticket for the last bus going to Stansted airport, at 11.59pm. We said all our goodbyes in the pub. A bit like the end of Ocean's 11 movie - one by one, people start to disappear.

We got to Stansted airport at about 1.30am, found a spot on the floor with the hundreds of others, and tried to sleep a little. Didn't realise this was the thing to be done if you had one of the first flights. We finally got on the plane and arrived in Malmö, Sweden at about 10am. We caught the bus to Copenhagen (just over the bridge now!), had lunch, then caught the bus to Bornholm. To cut a long story a bit shorter, we had been awake since 5.30am the day before (in Amsterdam) and finally got to Bornholm at 4.45pm. OH NO, the day was not over. Once we had a cold drink and a shower, we weren't feeling that bad. My host parents and one sister (Helle) went out for dinner at a nice steak house. Managed to stay awake until 9pm then crashed! Woke up at 9am the next day!!!

To summarise, we have been doing the sights of Bornholm, where I did my exchange 8 years ago. Cameron has never been, so it was all new to him. We have managed to fill 5 days here, though we have been snoozing in the afternoon. Contiki is a big thing to get over!!!!

Off to Copenhagen tomorrow, to stay with some more of my host sisters, and see the big city!! Looking forward to it! I do love that city.

Keep in touch people!!!!!!!

Hello There!

2006-06-27T23:11:00.000+12:00

In Amsterdam at the moment!!!!! Last night was a VERY interesting night actually!! We went into town after dinner and our tour manager walked us through the red light district. Something you just have to do when you're in Amsterdam! Lots of ladies in the windows, ready for action!

We then went to a "coffee" house. I can say I've been now, but didn't last that long there. Some of us went to the bar upstairs. One of the guys has to have a full medical exam when he gets home next week to get a job, so can't have any traces of that stuff in his system. Most people were out of it last night....

From the coffee shop we went to a..........sex show. It was FULL ON. It's continuous, so when it was our turn, we walked in and 2 people on stage were just going at it. (oh, Contiki organises it but doesn't put it in the brochure). The weirdest thing to see really. Think the guys liked it more, as most of us girls went out of interest, rather than for the "entertainment". The weird thing was that none of them looked like they were really into it. Sure, having sex for a job may take some pleasure out of it, but aren't they meant to act??!! And some of the other acts......well, let's just say, I bet Monica didn't light her cigar when she used it??!!!!!!!!

Today some of the group went on canel bikes and the rest of us are wandering around town. I'm by myself, but we're meeting at the hotel at 5.30pm to go on a canel cruise then our final dinner!!!!! We're back in London tomorrow night! Still not sure where we're sleeping tomorrow night, but we'll wing it when we get there!!

only 3 days of Contiki left!!

2006-06-26T00:05:00.000+12:00

Here is another brief summary of what we've been up to since my last entry.

Explored Vienna city for a few hours. Dave took some of us to have schnitzel for lunch. Best schnitzel in Vienna - and he wasn't kidding!! We got (what I would class as) a luncheon plate. The schnitzel was hanging over EVERY edge! It was MASSIVE!! But it definately was the best schnitzel I've ever had!! That was all we ate for lunch, but that was a big struggle. Didn't do too much in the afternoon!! Mid afternoon, we headed to a schnapps museum where we got to see how they make the different schnapps and some secret ingredients! The tasting room is always fun. A few tastes of schnapps and a hot afternoon in the sun made for a fun afternoon!!! From there we went wandering around one of the palaces that used to belong to the Austrian/Hungarian Emporess back in the day. Huge gardens, which included a maze and a zoo!! From there we went into the Viennese woods to a restaurant to have a proper Viennese dinner. It was schnitzel (AGAIN) but it was heaps of fun!!

From Vienna we headed to Munich. The only plan there was to go to a beer hall for dinner. As part of the cost of dinner, we each got a stein of beer!! That's 1 litre! As some of us didn't drink beer, we were given soft drink. 1 litre of coke!! YIKES! But it was so hot in there you actually ended up drinking it!!! One of the guys managed to drink 7 steins! CRAZY!

The next day we headed back to Austria, into the Alps. For me it was a peaceful stop as some people went white water rafting and mountain bike riding. I've managed to catch a cold (who hasn't really, with the bus air conditioning circulating everything!) so I caught up on some well needed sleep. Was great!

Next stop was Switzerland. This is an amazingly beautiful country. New Zealand is beautiful in a similiar kind of way, actually. Most people hadn't seen mountains like this before, so were amazed. We stayed in a Swiss Chalet for a couple of nights, near the bottom of Jungfrau Mountain. Yesterday we headed up Jungfrau by train. Took a couple of hours as, of course, a train can't go straight up a mountain. Halfway up we had to switch to a Cog Train, which uses a cog to pull itself up the mountain, as normal wheels can't get traction on that steep an incline. The views were AMAZING. All you could see were other mountains in the alps, but the mountains were in Italy, Germany and Austria. There were many things to see and do up there as well. There is an ice palace where you walk into the mountain where the hallway is made entirely of ice. Once in the ice palace, they have all sorts of ice carvings which are lit up. Very beautiful and VERY cold! There were a couple of areas where you could actually go out into the snow. As me and Cameron are currently sick, we went to the plateau briefly, threw a snowball and took a photo, then went back inside. Also, being high in altitude, the oxygen is scarce. With already light heads from having a head cold, this just made my head spin for the few hours we were up there. We were allowed to stay up there all day, but my head was doing me in, so decided to come down early. Still a 2 hour journey anyway!!

That night I had a friend come and visit me! My Swiss friend, Helena, who lives in Bern (about 1.5 hour train ride away). Her and I were exchange students together in Denmark. It was so great to see her and catch up!!!

Am now currently in some random town in Germany, heading to the Reine Valley for some wine tasting. Only 3 more nights of Contiki to go! The last 2 nights are in Amsterdam, so will probably update again when I'm in Denmark!

Love getting emails/guestbook entires from everyone!!! Keep it up!!!

I'm old!!

2006-06-19T20:24:00.000+12:00

It's been ages since I last updated, as I've had trouble with this website. Never seems to want to work when I find an internet cafe!

Anyway, from Barcelona, we went to the French Riviera. I went to Nice for a bit but it was Sunday and the French are still old fashioned in the sense that they only work 5.5 days a week - Sunday not included!!!! That night we went to Monte Carlo for a tour around and a go in the casino. I thought I'd put a couple of euro in the slot machine, just to say I've been there, done that! I came away with an extra 6.70 euro!! Not bad really as we were on the 10 cent machines!!

From there we headed to Florence, Italy. Beautiful city and rich in history (which European town isn't??!!). Learnt a lot about Michangelo and his work. Saw the fake David statue but couldn't be bothered waiting in the 2 hour line to see the real one!

Next stop was Rome!! The day we arrived, we went to the Vatican City as it would be closed for a religious holiday the next day. The line was 3 blocks long!! We nearly cried, as the heat was about 28 degrees!!! Luckily, the line moved really fast and only took us half an hour to get inside. It was beautiful. The Sistine Chapel was amazing! If we weren't on a time deadline, we could've stayed in there for a lot longer. The others tried to get into St Peter's church, but I'd been there 8 years ago, so didn't bother waiting in the lines. Cameron has done Rome as well, so we just hung out - and tried to work out where things were from Angels & Demons book (by Dan Brown).
The next day we had a tour guide to take us around the Colusseum and the Roman Forum. She gave us the extended version and at 9am and 25 degrees, we weren't caring too much! From there, a bunch of us went out for lunch to celebrate my birthday!! I can't believe I'm 21 again!!! After that, Cam and I headed back to the campsite for a snooze and long shower before everyone else got home! The joy of already seeing the city. At dinner a couple of girls from our tour gave me a cup that when filled with hot liquid, a guys pants disappear, and a box that looked like tic tacs, but are actually shaped as.......well, what's under those guys pants! NICE! After dinner our tour manager, Dave, got everyone in our group together and got them to sing Happy Birthday as loud as possible, so every single person at the campsite could hear them!!! Then as a present from the bus, I was given 50 euro! That's about $100NZ! Still have to decide what I want to buy with it. That night we partied it up at the onsite nightclub, which I am proud to say that I was one of the last to leave at 3am!!!

The next stop was Venice - the city built in the water! The temperature was HORRIBLE! Worst than Rome (which is the furtherest south we went). 8am in the morning and the sweat is dripping off us! First we went to a lace and glass blowing demonstrations - both famous from Venice. We wandered around ourselves for a few hours, but with the heat, most of ended up sitting in St Mark's square in the shade with some gelato! Then we all headed off for a gondola ride!! It's was so lovely - bottle of wine, some friends and a peaceful cruise through the canels.

Now we are in Vienna. Last night we went to a Mozart and Strauss concert. It was awesome actually. Even Cameron enjoyed it!!!!! Off to explore the city now. We're having PROPER Wiener Schnitzel (don't hassle the spelling!).

Thanks to those who sent birthday wishes. It was great to hear from you!!!!!
BYE FOR NOW!!!

¡Hola!

2006-06-09T01:18:00.000+12:00

Time for another quick update.
I am currently sitting in Barcelona. We arrived this evening and have a bit of free time so thought I´d put an entry here.

Since I last wrote, we´ve been very busy!!!

We started our Contiki tour on Sunday 4 June from London. Our first stop was Paris!!!! One of my life goals was to get to Paris!! Now it´s actually happened. Of course there wasn´t enough time spent there, but that´s what Contiki tours are about!! The night we arrived our bus driver and tour manager took us on a little drive around the city. This helped us work out what we wanted to see on our day in the city the next day and to see it at night!!! It is a beautiful city!!!

The next day we got dropped off at the Eiffel Tower. We waited in line for AGES but eventually got to go up the tower. The very top was closed once we got to the front of the line, but going up to the second level was still awesome.
From there, I managed to loose everyone (as did a few others I found out later!). I wasn´t going to let that stop me from seeing the city. Did all the usual stuff - Champs Elysees, Place de la Concorde, Lourve, Notre Dame plus just walking along the Seine River. Beautiful!
That night we went to a lovely french restaurant. I had snails as my entree. Had to be brave and try new things. Big surprise - I LOVED THEM!!!! They had a garlic/pesto sauce and weren´t as chewy as I thought they´d be. After dinner we headed to a cabaret show. Lots of lovely girls dancing, but the filler acts were actually more interesting (they guys on tour would say otherwise!!)

The next day we drove to a place just out of Lyon (halfway down France). The next day we headed out to the Contiki Château for some wine tasting and a french picnic. A nice, quiet, relaxing day.

Today we drove from Lyon to Barcelona. It was nearly 9 hours to drive, so this evening nothing much has happened. Had a typical Spanish dinner and early bed I think! Tomorrow is an exploring day!

Hello London!!!!!

2006-06-04T04:32:00.000+12:00

Hey guys. Have a few quick minutes before our "night before we leave" meeting, so thought I'd add a quick update.

We arrived in London after 2 VERY long flights with next to no sleep. Slept most of first day we were here, except for a brief outing to the supermarket for a couple of supplies and to find some dinner.

A quick summary of what we've done in our 3 packed days of sightseeing:
Big Ben and the Houses of Parliment
Westminister Abby
London Eye - AWESOME views, even on a typical cloudy London day
Picadilly Circus
Covent Garden
dinner in Soho
Tower of London
Tower Bridge (the famous one you see on all the postcards)
Buckingham Palace (Lizzy was too busy to see us so we watched her guards changing!
A West End show - We Will Rock You - was absolutely AWESOME!!!!!
lunch in Chinatown
Harrods - far too expensive for me but worth having a look to see how the OTHER half live
British Museum (just like any other museum - but it was free so why not!)
Notting Hill - found a "key garden" but not the famous one from the movie

So as you can see, we've done quite a bit.
My internet time has nearly run out, so hope all is well with everyone!
Don't know when I'll next get on here as our Contiki starts tomorrow and it will be ALL SYSTEMS GO! Maybe in 26 days time when the Contiki has finished!

Photos will have to wait quite a while as there is no where to download them to the computer to be uploaded to the website. Will let you know when I have uploaded photos, otherwise you may have to wait til we get home.

Bye for now!!!

4 more sleeps!

2006-05-25T11:08:00.000+12:00

Just adding another countdown update.....
Only 1 day and 4 hours of work to go!!! And who am I kidding.....I'm not going to get much done tomorrow!!
All I can say is that it's lucky we leave on Monday as I have some serious packing to do this weekend! No doubt I'll pack my bag and my darling sister will come along and through out half of it! Travel light is the key!!!

OMG.....ONE week to go!!!

2006-05-22T13:43:00.000+12:00

Exactly 1 week from today, I will be sitting in Auckland International Airport, waiting to catch my flight that leaves in 1.5 hours. WOW.

You know, I had a realisation on the way to work today (I do a lot of thinking on my hour drive to and from work). Today in exactly TWO weeks, I would've reached one of my life goals - to visit Paris. That just made me even more excited!!!! I know I've always wanted to go and was determined to go in this lifetime, but then I suddenly realised that it's actually going to happen!!!! I can't believe it!!!

13 Days To Go!!

2006-05-16T13:16:00.000+12:00

I can't believe in 2 weeks time I will be in London!!!!!!!!! Still have a couple of things to organise, but not major things. Other than that, I'm in denial this is actually happening. Cameron and I have been talking about it since Easter last year and now it's ACTUALLY happening!!!!

Not too much has happened since I last wrote on here - besides the countdown!

Yesterday we had a cake competition at work. I was quite excited cause I thought I'd be able to show off my new found skills. Turns out that didn't happen. Had an idea of what I wanted to do but also found this cool cake I wanted to do for my sister's birthday. Everyone at work wanted me to make this other cake and not the fancy one - so that's what I did. The icing actually started to set on me (which isn't suppose to happen with buttercream frosting so something didn't go right). The top looks a little mank, but oh well.....it was all in the name of fun!

It's a Watermelon Cake (for those who can't tell!!)

I have also added a photo in my photo gallery of the earrings I made at Easter - Click Here

Am I a freak or a geek?

2006-05-08T13:49:00.000+12:00

Cameron had his birthday party on Saturday night - a Freaks and Geeks party! I raced around in the morning getting my Mother's Day present and the rest of my costume then unloaded Jo's stuff (she's moved into our house for nearly 3 months - mainly to look after Rach and the house while the rest of us are in Europe!).
While Cameron was off driving the truck to move Jo, I quickly decorated his cake - keeping with the geek theme!

We all scattered off to our own rooms to get into our costumes at about 5.30pm. After we managed to calm down from laughing at each other, we had the standard photo shoot! Click on my photo gallery on the menu on the right to view more "Freak and Geek" photos!

A few guests arrived and we fired up the BBQ for dinner! No potato bake this time but it was still just as good! (Nah, who am I kidding - but Rach deserved a break from it). A number of drinks we consumed and many jokes were told. There sadly was even a debate on the Laws of Physics and which order they are supposed to be in! Now THAT is geek-ish!!

Most headed off to town while Jo and I stayed back - we both had to get up early the next day.

Sunday was Cameron's actual birthday. I did think about going to jump on him to wake him up and wish him happy birthday, but now he's sharing a bed with Rach, I did't think that was such a good idea. Jo and I went to Camp Quailty reunion in Rotorua. It was great to catch up with everyone from summer camp (January 2006). I'm so looking forward to the next camp. Winter camp in September has us flying down to Christchurch for a long weekend! How awesome is that??!!!!

Sunday evening we went out with Cameron's family to Valentines Restaurant for dinner. Why is it that they always sit the big groups at the back of the restaurant, furtherest away from the buffet tables!! Didn't stop the boys though! Nothing like seafood, pavalova, steak and cheesecake, aye Cam?! (pretty much in that order too!!) I must admit I used to like Valentines but they have seriously gone downhill. Their meat selection was shocking! Never mind, it looks like Cam had a great day, which is the main thing!!

well overdue...

2006-05-05T14:30:00.000+12:00

OK OK, I know it’s been far too long since I wrote. Originally I was waiting for photos to be downloaded from Easter, but I still haven’t gotten around to it. So below will be a summary of what’s happened between now and then. Will add more photos when I can be bothered.

First weekend after I last wrote was Easter. Was a nice, relaxed weekend of not doing much.

Friday was the day that Jo and Rach were off work (Cam and I work for government owned organisations, therefore always have bank holidays off!). We decided to head to Auckland to go to the Maize Maze in South Auckland. After some dodgy instructions, we finally found the old mental hospital where it was situated. The Auckland one is well known for it’s Spooky house, which in an old mental hospital, you can picture to be quite scary! As it was Easter weekend, they had an Easter egg hunt. We were given a piece of paper with about 14 different eggs on it that we had to find situated around the maze. After walking in the heat for 1.5 hours, we were ready to head out (and still missing 3 eggs). We came across another family with the same problem. We swapped some answers and headed out. We didn’t go prepared with a water bottle, so thirst got the better of us. When we got out, we got an Easter egg for completing the challenge. Chocolate was not going to help the thirst!! From there we headed to Wendy’s for the standard Auckland lunch. I hadn’t had Wendy’s in ages but Rach and Jo are addicted. I actually had a beef burger and it was the BEST! I totally get the Wendy’s craze now!!

With not much else open on Easter Friday, we headed towards home. Took us about an hour to get to Auckland and nearly 2 hours to get home again!! Traffic was bad from about 10km south of Papakura (for those that know Auckland) all the way down to Meremere. Once we got past the racetrack at Meremere, things sped up a bit. We decided to go to mini-putt, but the one just south of Bombay was closed so we carried on to Hamilton to go to the cool one in Horsham Downs.

Saturday, Rach and Jo had to work and Cam went to do the family thing. I totally need some more friends…… Anyway, the weather was great again (so NOT normal for Easter in NZ!) so I sat in the sun, enjoying the weather. I made some earrings from some beads I bought in a cool bead shop I found in Botany Downs (Auckland). The blue ones are beads to match a necklace Pam made for me when we went to the South Island a couple of years ago and the pink ones are the same colours as some of the beads on my new, cool, long necklace. Couldn’t find beads to match it, so just matched the colours. I decided I quite like making jewellery. Might have to go to that bead shop again and get some more things!

Sunday was crap weather so decided to head to Tauranga for the night, as I didn’t think I’d make it back to Tauranga to see Mum before I went on my holiday. Went to see our friends, The Morten Family, in their new house out near Katikati (about half hour north of Tauranga but an hour from Mum’s in Papamoa). For those who know the area, I soon found out it wasn’t actually there, but even further out in Athenree!! Was good to catch up with them, especially Brigitte, as she has recently returned from a trip to Vietnam where she did volunteer work for a couple of months.

So that was Easter. The Tuesday back at work was my anniversary of starting work. I've been working there for a year now! Heaven help me!!! I can't believe it's been that long! So I did a little baking to commiserate....uhh I mean celebrate.

Afghans & Brigitte's Slice (don't know real name)

The weekend after that was a normal weekend with the Tuesday after it being ANZAC day. I took the Monday as annual leave, so I ended up with another 4 day weekend. Gotta love how that works!! Actually didn’t do much that weekend (that I can remember). Just did a bit of shopping and organising for my holiday. As Monday was a normal work day, did heaps of stuff for the trip – mainly bank stuff – BLAH. But yay to the 3 day work week that followed!!

Friday 28th April was our annual work quiz night. The IT team put forward a team with one extra from outside. We were called Pretty in Pink – and indeed we were!

I must say that Andrew did look the best! Think he helped us win the Best Dressed prize!!! Jude (next to Andy in the photo) won biggest mouth! Ahh didn’t we just rake in the prizes! Sadly, we didn’t pull in 1st prize though.

Now I’m up to the week that was.....nothing exciting this week so far. Have Cam’s birthday party this Saturday – should be interesting!! Freaks and Geeks party. Photos definitely to come!!

I've had the best weekend!

2006-04-09T19:43:00.000+12:00

This weekend has been fantastic!!!! Heaps of things to do, people to see, etc and it's all be great!

On Saturday I went to my friend Marie Boyer's wedding. Her and I have probably been friends since we were about 8 years old. Glad to see our friendship has lasted this long! So Marie married Chris Barrett from Tokoroa, so yes, it was another day in Tokoroa (cause 5 days a week isn't enough, I had to make it 6!!)

The ceremony was held in a reserve just south of Tokoroa. It was absolutely pouring down all Friday night and even up til about 10am on Saturday. But the Gods were smiling on her as the weather cleared up and the grass wasn't even that soggy!! They brought in a lovely archway with flowers all over it for them to marry under. Marie and the bridal party arrived in 2 Holdens......much to the new father-in-law's disgust! (obviously a Ford fan). As she walked in, the sun shone bright and she looked BEAUTIFUL! Absolutely stunning!

Mark (father) and Marie

Chris and Marie
(the happy couple)

After the ceremony we went back into town to the Bowling Club for the reception. I felt like quite a dick standing there as there weren't placed settings and I didn't know ANYONE except Marie and her parents (obviously busy!). Luckily Marie's Aunt came to my rescue and invited me to sit with them. Dinner was lovely then we moved on to the speeches. They are both rather joking families so was pretty light hearted until it got to Marie's dad. He nearly had us all in tears as he got really choked up (twice!) while doing his speech.

Sunday I dragged myself out of bed early and headed up to Auckland. I couldn't find any friends to go along with me, so I tagged along with my Mum and her friends. We went to see Dirty Dancing! For those who have seen the movie (and know it off by heart like myself and Rachel!) then you will absolutely LOVE the stage show! It was over 2 hours long and a fantastic show. The guy who was playing Jonny Castle LOOKED like Patrick did back in the movie! It was well cast! I had a funny lady sitting beside me who kept mumbling certain lines that were coming up! Think we were all doing that in our head anyway! The KEY line was said in the final scene
"Nobody puts baby in a corner" was followed by lots of cheers and applause from the audience. It was fantastic!! I wish I had more money so I could go see it again!!! It was AWESOME!!!

I'm just sitting in the dark...

2006-04-07T08:57:00.000+12:00

and quite literally! Wednesday night (after I'd gone to bed) Cameron found out that our lights had decided to stop working in all the communal areas (except the bathroom, thank goodness!)

Yesterday morning I got up and saw Rach cooking toast by the 2 tiny lights on our oven. I asked what she was doing as she normally has all the kitchen lights blazing and she told me what Cam found out the night before. So a nice mood-lit breakfast and I rushed off to work, forgetting all about it.

Got home last night and found Rach was cooking dinner by a spare lamp and the oven lights - oh yeah.....forgot about that situation. Luckily we have some night lights in our lounge so we weren't in complete darkness.

Rach, Cam, Jo and I headed off to The Cook in Hamilton East for their first comedy night (once hosted by Revert/Fuel/Bahama Hut......Fat Ladies Arms?!). If you go in before 8pm, it's free! We were in there about 7.45pm and it was packed! We decided against staying as there wasn't much room to stand. We went into town to The Bank for dessert/coffee. Was a nice evening out, just hanging out in different scenery.

But we still have no lights.......

another weekend down...

2006-04-02T13:08:00.000+12:00

Well, I know it's only just Sunday afternoon, but I'm sure there will be nothing exciting happening tonight that needs to go in my entry about this weekend......but you never know!

On Friday night a bunch of us from Camp Quality met for dinner at Grillers Restaurant. Oh yes, the very same on that I was at LAST Friday for Rach's graduation. Good thing they've got a good menu with plenty to choose from!!! Anyway, it was a lovely dinner and great to catch up with everyone. For half of them, it was the first time we'd caught up since camp finished in Jaunary. Looking forward to the official reunion in May where the kids and families get to come along as well. It's in Rotorua this year, which could make for an interesting trek seeing as we're probably doing something for Cameron's birthday the night before!!

Saturday morning I was up bright and breezy. No idea why as I didn't get to bed til after 1am but then I was up at 7am. NO IDEA why and it DOES drive me crazy. Just the habit of waking up for work every morning at 5.45am. When can I get a new job that's closer to home??????
Anyway, went for a bit of a mission into town. I have a wedding next weekend and trying to find a nice top to wear. I have a skirt I could wear, but hey, if I find something better, then that's fantastic! Didn't find any clothes I liked (though I didn't actually make it very far!). The radio had an ad on for Dick Smith PowerHouse. Buy any digital camera over $300 and you can get interest free finance for a year. I do have to get a new camera before I go away but really hadn't seriously thought about it yet. So I thought, why not stop in for a look?! To cut a LONG story short, I was hassled by the sales lady about buying the $900 camera but I was looking at a different one. I then worked out she didn't work for Dick Smith, but for Kodak - hence why no other cameras featured in her sales pitch! Left her standing there (after my darling sister came to rescue me!) and looked at this other Fuji camera I want. For those who know Cameron's little flash camera, it's similar to that, but Fuji brand. It's at a discounted rate cause they are end of line. Still thinking about it at this stage. I actually think if it wasn't pouring with rain today, I'd be back at the shop having another good look at it!!!!

OK, so you probably don't care that much, but this is my blog and I'll write crap if I want to!

Saturday night we had a work function. We caught a bus from Tokoroa and Putaruru and went through to Rotorua. We had a LOVELY dinner at the Rainbow Springs Cafe. They were a 2 woman team looking after all of us. Dinner was amazing with roast lamb & vegies, chicken breasts stuffed with spinach (& other things), fresh fish and salads, then we moved on to dessert of pavalova, cheesecake, apple & berry crumble, custard and lots of cream (I was very good and had none of it!). They had cheap bar prices and even put out complimentary juice, tea and coffee (normally paid for individually). When we decided we couldn't possibly fit in any more, we wandered across the carpark to Rainbow Springs where we did their Beauty by Night walk. It was a lovely walk and the weather held off on the rain. One lady and I managed to stalk a kiwi and get a picture

We kept walking around, and then found ourselves being stalked by "mute swans". According to the sign, that's what they were, but it sure sounded like they were hoiking (??) at us!!!

It was a great night and for those people from our work that turned their nose up at it, TOUGH!

entertain me people!

2006-03-31T15:17:00.000+12:00

I'm really bored here at work at the moment. It is one hour and thirteen minutes until the end of the work day and the start of the weekend! Yay to that!!

I want some messages in my guest book. It's been neglected since January and wants some attention! And so do I!!!!!!!

Well I really do have work I should be doing but I just can't wait for the weekend and want to get it started!!

60 days to go!

2006-03-30T11:59:00.000+12:00

Insurance companies suck!!! Only 60 days till we leave and I'm starting to stress!

Called the credit card company yesterday - because I get free travel insurance if I pay at least 50% of my "prepaid" expenses on the credit card. They have a new policy that if you pay AFTER 28th February, then you come under their new policy - which has dropped from 90 days cover to 35 days!!!! And did I pay my full costs before then.......noooooo!

So rang them up again today (after I'd calmed down - no point getting argo to the CSOs) and explained that I paid for my flight in November (which automatically activated my insurance) and then this year decided to go on a Contiki (slight extension of the truth). Because I was now paying more than the $2000 I paid in Nov, this now made my insurance invalid under the new policy. After some discussion with her colleague, they decided to allow me the travel insurance under the new policy as I always intended to pay more than 50% on the credit card.

AM I EXCITED OR WHAT??!!! That drama just saved me $300 for travel insurance! Woo hoo!

62 days to go!

2006-03-28T20:59:00.000+12:00

Oh yeah, not long to go now! It's all very exciting!!

Last night we went to see the travel agent to book our Thailand stay. As it happens, she just returned from Thailand last week! She had all sorts of handy tips, etc for us!

So we fly into Bangkok on Thursday 20 July, where we are going to stay for 2 nights at Indra Regent Hotel. There are a few things to see in Bangkok, but Cameron has already done Bangkok, so we'll spend more time in another town. The main thing we've been told to see is the Royal Palace.

On Saturday 22 July we are flying north to Chiang Mai where we will stay for 3 nights at Imperial Mae Ping. On Sunday we are going to go on a tour that takes us to an elephant camp where we get to watch elephants at work, then go for lunch in an orchid farm, and ending with a trip to the zoo to see some Pandas!!!!!! Oh exciting!!!!!

Ahhh more money to spend..........

The secret is finally out

2006-03-27T13:47:00.000+12:00

Lies and deception can be so much fun if you’re working towards a nice surprise!

Firstly, YAY to Rachel for graduating from Wintec with a Bachelor of Nursing!

Now to continue my deception story…..

Cameron and I organised all the events that were to take place on Friday 24th March (graduation day). We’d been talking with her parents about secret plans since 3rd March!!! How little Rach knew!!

So this is how the day went down:

Actually it started when I went out to “dinner with old workmates” on Thursday night. Really I was at Kim and Quentin’s house baking a cake!! I may have taken a class in decorating cakes, but baking them is still a big challenge!!

Friday morning we got up and organised for the graduation ceremony at 10am. Rach’s parents and sister Vanessa came over from Tauranga and the 5 of us were Rach’s guests. Why do they always have boring people speaking at those kinds of things?! Luckily I was beside Vanessa, so between the both of us, we had a bit of fun making smart comments through the speeches. When it was Rach’s turn to walk across the stage, Vanessa and I went down to the bottom to take photos. We had to be super quick cause it seemed like Rach ran across the stage!! She did say she did some serious power walking across the stage! And in new heals!! Well done!!!

After the ceremony we did the normal photo thing outside by the bushes. Think most people have photos in front of those trees. I know my graduation photos are probably in front of the exact same ones!!!

From there we all went to Grillers for lunch. It was a nice lunch, just chatting about how the morning went, etc. Poor Cameron had to be back at work at 2pm, so he got up to pay for his lunch just before then as he had to walk a few blocks to work. Alan (Rach’s dad) said he’d take care of the bill, so him and Cam argued for a couple of minutes about it. It ended when Cam said “FINE! We’ll discuss this tonight!”. Alan was quick off the mark and covered the botch up by saying he doubted it as he was going out for tea in Tauranga and unless Cam was heading over there, then they wouldn’t discuss anything! So off Cam went to work, red faced. He text “me” along the way to say that he couldn’t believe he just said that!! BUT……of course there is a but…….he text it to Rach’s phone instead of mine!! We quickly fixed that by me asking Rach if I could check her phone – which she willingly gave me!!!! (We later found out Rach never heard anything Cam said after lunch!!!)

Rach & family and I headed back to our place to relax (and me to change out of my nice shoes and skirt). Yes I know, I WORE A SKIRT!! I was definitely playing grown up!!

At 4pm I’d arranged to meet Quentin at his house to get the cake and decorate it (as it had to cool overnight). Getting out of the house was the next challenge. Rach knows that if I took a day off for her graduation, I wouldn’t just go out and meet other friends (one of the excuse suggestions I was given) so as 4pm drew near, I was really struggling to think of a decent excuse. In the end, I got my bag and shoes and said I was going out for a little bit to leave them to have some family time. Apparently Rach was a bit gutted I just left (SORRY RACH, but it was all for you honey!!).

I decorated the cake at another friend’s house after getting it from Quentin (as he had to go out again). Many dramas later, we had an iced cake and I had 20 mins to get across town to pick up Jo, get changed and get to the restaurant.

Not my best work! First time doing cursive writing with icing!

Here is where the major deceit came in to play. Cam had asked Rach earlier in the week if he could have her alone for a couple of hours on the Friday night to take her out for a romantic celebratory dinner. He said he’d arranged for them to meet with some friends at 9pm for a few drinks to celebrate. That was all she knew.

What she didn’t know was that her family left our house at about 6pm, saying they had to be back at the camp (where they work) by 8pm (which is a normal Friday for them). Instead, they headed to Barzurk restaurant in town. This is where Jo and I met, along with Kim & Quentin, Craig & Laurine and Tobi (who came straight from work in Auckland and made it JUST in time!). We met at 6.30pm and Cam was meant to come with Rach at 6.50pm for their “7pm” booking. Unfortunately there was a slight delay. Rach was quite tired from the day’s events and didn’t really feel like going out for dinner! After some gentle persuasion, Cam convinced her to go out. When they made it to the restaurant, they had to push through a crowd of people to get to our table. As they came through the crowd, we all stood up and started clapping and cheering! The look on her face was confusion at first then total shock! Gotta love it when the surprise is actually a surprise!!

We all enjoyed a nice meal together, but because they were slow in getting the food out to us, Rach’s family had to leave early. They actually did have to be back at the camp to work, but not till 10.30pm – but this does mean leaving about 9.30pm. Everyone ordered coffees and decided they couldn’t fit in dessert. Luckily no one ordered dessert, as the waitress then brought out the cake I’d made!! Even though it wasn’t a birthday cake, I put candles on it. Candles look more effective when you are bringing a cake across a restaurant!!

So a fantastic day/evening had by all – especially Rachel I think!!

STILL sick!

2006-03-20T23:54:00.000+12:00

Well back to work today but still feeling a bit worse for wear. Would love to have stayed in bed another day as was still feeling crap.

Well after my episode on Friday, it was a good thing I stayed at home. Although I felt fine, I soon found out I really wasn't! We went to TenPin on Friday night and had a couple of games. Just Cam, Rach, Jo and me. After that, I was ready to go to bed! Felt a bit light headed halfway through the second game, but I kept going (hence why I didn't beat Rach - yeah right!!). Bloody Rach went and scored over 150 points in the last game!! Well I didn't come last either time (sorry Jo!).

Those three then came back to my place to have some drinks and play cards. I did manage to play cards with them until about 11.30pm when they called a taxi and headed into town. I DEFINATELY wasn't up for that, which sucks cause I'm so back in the mood for going to town dancing! Another time....

Saturday and Sunday were spent moping around really. Still couldn't muster up the energy to do much. Watched a couple of movies, but that was about it. Thrilling!

who has time to be sick?

2006-03-17T10:08:00.000+13:00

Yes, I am at home at the moment on sick leave. I would firstly like to thank my workmate Rebecca and flatmate Craig for passing on their lovely germs.
It started on Sunday night with almost constant sneezing. Monday was a sniffle and by Tuesday, I really shouldn't have been at work. I managed to last until after lunch on Wednesday when I gave up and went home. Have been at home since. Feeling quite a bit better today but thought another day off work to make it 100% better.

Rach and Jo have left me as they had today off for the U2 concert (that's been postponed) so they went to Auckland shopping. Of course I'd been talking about going shopping at DressMart in Auckland (cause the new Hamilton one sucks), but they went without me. I can understand they probably didn't want to sit in a car for an hour with me sniffling in the backseat. Sadly there aren't many great shops here in Hamilton. I've done them over and over and still don't have any new clothes or shoes. This sucks......... especially as I have a wedding to go to in a few weeks and nothing to wear!!!!!!!! Plus when am I going to be able to fit in a shopping trip to Auckland?! Like never! Maybe next Saturday (which will be better as it's pay week next week) but no one will want to come with me........they'll be all shopped out from today.....

OK, I'll shut up now. Just feeling lonely, sick and grumpy. I hate being sick. Who has time for that?!

another weekend gone

2006-03-13T12:59:00.000+13:00

This past weekend was a bit more interesting than some others I've had lately.

On Friday evening Cam, Rach and I met Kim and Quentin for a nice meal out at Little India restaurant. I'd been craving one of their dishes for a while so was glad to finally go! Don't ask me to remember the name of it but I usually get it in chicken, but this time I decided to try lamb. Always stick to what you know!! The lamb wasn't that nice, plus I also asked for mild and it had quite a kick to it!! Was kinda sad that after all this time of looking forward to having this dish, it was disappointing. Kim had the chicken version and said it was really yummy. Damn! From there we went to The Bank for dessert as we weren't really into the Indian desserts. There we also managed to catch the second half of the Chiefs vs Crusaders game......good game but sadly we lost (but with this, I scored 8 points in Virtual Rugby!!!)

On Saturday morning, Jo and I went to the Woman's expo at Claudlands Showgrounds. We've been for the past 2 years, and this year was just as interesting. Jo scored a half price voucher so that made it more interesting for us! Heaps of free trials and competitions to enter. We wandered around for nearly 2 hours!! To finish with, we went and saw the Backrub Company and had a 10 minute backrub! Oh how I miss them from the old EW days.....

Was meant to head to Tauranga for the night to watch the Teams stockcar racing, but it was raining off and on, and I'm not THAT big a fan to sit in the rain and watch. Decided to stay home that night instead, and Cam, Rach and I watched Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo then Crash. Crash was a great movie and I can see why it won the Oscar for best picture. Had a lot of moral stories in it, basically about racial issues. It has one of my current favourite actors in it, Don Cheadle.

On Sunday Jo and I drove to Matamata to meet up with my friend Sarah Murray who has recently moved back to NZ after being away for just over 2 years. It's probably nearly 3 years since we last saw each other. It was a great catch up! It is definately one of those friendships that you can be out of contact for a while, but just pick up where you left off. Great to see her again. Won't get to see too much of her as she's moving to Invercargill at the end of the week to start her new job! Of all the places.....

So that was my eventful weekend! This coming weekend will be interesting. I was going to be home alone as everyone else was going up to the U2 concert - but they've postponed! Who knows what will happen now!!

YAY for me!

2006-03-10T13:23:00.000+13:00

Just have to put a little note on here to say YAY to me. Told a couple of people but no one seems as excited as me :-(

I checked last night and found out I've lost 5kg!! I also measured and have lost 2cm around my hips (hallelujah!!) but also 2cm around my chest. It all counts, but not the bust!!

So YAY to the WW club and to meeeeeeeeee!!!!

another installment...

2006-03-09T13:27:00.000+13:00

Since I last wrote, I’ve had my coaching session at work. It wasn’t as bad as I stressed about! We just went over what I’d done that I planned to do from last year’s performance review, then I showed her all my unplanned projects (basically reasons why I haven’t done my set tasks) and my boss just wrote a report. Nothing to worry about! Becks (senior administrator) was sitting in with me and she said it went fine! YAY!

Last Friday was pretty interesting too. Cameron and I were just sitting around after work, watching the news when Rachel’s dad turned up at our house. He had a spare ticket to the rugby game in Hamilton (Chiefs vs Reds). He asked Cam if he wanted to fill the seat. Then he said we could both come cause we could get another ticket at the gate. It was in the Greenzone, so no set seating. So talk about spur of the moment! So off we go! Because it was the Chiefs’ first home game of the season, they had free packs for the first 1500 through the gate. Of course we were there with bells on (not literally but I do want to get a cow bell!). It had some pamphlets, a bag of pretzels and a blow up mere (spelling?!). They always through those out in the games but I’ve never caught one. Of course my one was a dud. The handle section had a munted valve so the plug wouldn’t stay in properly! Oh well, the game was heaps of fun and we won!!!!!!!

After the game, we headed home to change into some town clothes and headed in to town. Pam had sent a random text to say she was in town and we had Friday night only to see her. So we found her in the OUTBACK of all places, watching some Miss O-week competition. Of course, from then on, we lost Cameron’s attention. Great to see ya again Pam!! Or was it Pem?! I tell ya, that girl is sounding more like an aussie every time I see her!

On Saturday we all ventured off to Tauranga (Jo, Rach, Cam and I) in Jo’s car. That evening I’d arranged to catch up with quite a few people from Camp Quality at Shiraz Café. It was great to see everyone there and have a long catch up. The meal was FANTASTIC. I have never been able to find anywhere that does kebabs like they do. They are beautiful! For dessert I had homemade vanilla ice cream!! (sounds naughty, but I’d saved enough points!) It was YUM!!

Sunday, after lunch, we all met at Cameron’s parents’ house for Jo to pick us up and take us home. It was a quiet trip home as we were all reasonably tired. Arriving at East St, our lovely weekend came to an abrupt end. We noticed Rachel’s car wasn’t on the front lawn and Cameron’s curtains were pulled in his room. Cam and I went up the drive, went around the back of the house to see the sliding door wide open with the lock lying on the ground. NOT a good sign. We stepped inside and the first thing we saw was Rachel’s room, with pretty much everything in her drawers, all over the floor. We grabbed the phone and called the police. After being on hold for about 20 minutes, they finally told us it could take them up to 48 hours to get to us. So obviously, we felt important….

After assessing the damage, it wasn’t as bad as we first thought. They didn’t clean the place out, and from what they took, we suspect it was kids. From Cam’s room they took 2 cellphones, one of which wasn’t actually that old, they stripped his bed and took ONE pillow case and his duvet. In Craig’s room, they just messed it up a little, and found some playstation games in his wardrobe, but they only got as far as the bed, so they may have forgotten them. From Rachel’s room the took 2 CD wallets with about 60 CDs in them, her old cellphone that had a battery life of a day and her spare car key which was hidden in her wardrobe. In the lounge they took Pam’s OLD stereo that doesn’t even work and Craig’s playstation. AND the buggers took our Sky and TV remotes. Do you know how much those little suckers cost to replace!! In the kitchen they took Cam’s 4 bottle alcohol shot dispenser – with 4 bottles of alcohol that were sitting in them. Jo and Rach had vodka in it, but there were only a couple of drinks left in them. Poor Cam had a near full bottle of Bacardi and over half bottle of whiskey! From what it looks like, they didn’t even go upstairs to my room. I was the only one lucky enough to not get anything taken. Even my sister had something taken and she doesn’t even live with us!

The police called a few hours later and said Rach’s car had been found. Rach went to meet the Police as it was only a couple of blocks from out house. Nothing exciting had happened to the car, just a couple of bottle caps in the boot. But it was basically unharmed!! That’s quite lucky. No sign of missing items though.

As you can imagine, Rach was quite shaken up about it all, and the fact that the rest of us had to go to work the next day, made her even shakier. The sliding door was unable to be locked and could barely close! Luckily, I have very understanding workmates who said I could stay home and work from there. Though Rach protested the night before, I think she was secretly glad I stayed. I know I definitely would’ve been if the roles were reversed. Now we have supersize me locks on that door, so that should deter them for a while now! We have a great landlord who got on to the locksmith straight away.

Tuesday and Wednesday was full of talking. I ran 8 Microsoft Publisher trainings, so by the end of Wednesday I’d had enough of talking, especially about the same thing, over and over again!

Bring on the weekend, I say!

overdue update

2006-02-28T13:25:00.000+13:00

Firstly, you can see that my website is back to the way it should be (menu at the top of the page, not at the bottom!!). After some serious investigating of the HTML code, I worked out that one of my titles were too long, so it was putting it out of align.

A quick update on the past couple of weeks......

Saturday 18th Feb we had SingStar & Cocktails party! Kim, Quentin, Jo, Tobi, Hayley, Stephanie (from my work) plus the flatties were all there, singing their hearts out. A very casual evening of friends hanging out. Not sure if Steph ever wants to come back to my place!!
On the Sunday, I went to the Farmers Market at the Wintec carpark. It's a new thing the Council are doing to try to promote local growers. I have to say I was very disappointed with the turnout. Most Farmers Markets I've been to usually have cheaper prices than stores. Most of them were charging full retail price for their products. Jo walked away with a watermelon (which she told me the other day wasn't even that nice!) and I was empty-handed.

Thursday 23rd Feb I met with some of my old friends from Environment Waikato for dinner at Lone Star. It was great to catch up with them and all the gossip they provided from the old workplace! Ellen finished work there on the Wednesday, so was definately up for a good night. Her boss was my old boss that didn't give me MY position to me when they decided to make it permanent. Silly cow. She got rid of most of her existing team and worked the rest to the point of quitting and others on stress leave. For each person, she has a story that helps her prove it's not her. For me, I had another job to go to.......ASS I DID! I was offered my job in Tokoroa but they understood that I preferred the EW job. Man, I just want to slap that b*&%$!!!

Last weekend was very uneventful. Was feeling quite down about.....well, everything, so had a blob day (cause everyone else was out and had lives). Saturday night Rach, Cam and I went into town for a quick bite to eat. We went to the Caz bar which had a really cool build your own pizza. VERY yum (and so not good for the diet). Then we went to this random pub to play pool (where Jo joined us for a few games). $1 per game, so you can't beat that (well Spirited could with free tables, but they are never free!). Ex-Hamilton people - CueBar is now closed!!!! It doesn't exist any more. Our flatmate Craig's girlfriend said her friend is opening another bar in there soon (was meant to be last weekend but consents fell through or something)

And that brings me to this week. Nothing much has happened yet, as it is only Tuesday. I have my first ever official coaching session with my boss. It's basically meant to be a formal meeting to go over my goals I set last June to see if I've done them or not! Not as the case is.......but I've done heaps of unscheduled projects, which are extra brownie points. Fingers crossed for 2.30pm Thursday!!!!!

Cowboys.....in love.....NO?!

2006-02-12T15:54:00.000+13:00

On Saturday, Stephanie from work came up to Hamilton for an appointment, so we decided to meet for lunch afterwards. Went to Breakers for a quick bite (not that great). When you ask for a sandwich without something, you'd expect it not to be there right?! Silly me, what was I thinking?? hmmmmm......

Anyway, we went to see Brokeback Mountain at Rialto. I'm really surprised that it wasn't at Village Cinemas, but doesn't bother me cause the seats are better at Rialto!

Review: Was a typical forbidden love story.....if you forget the fact they are gay cowboys. It was a standard story, they love each other but can't have each other.
The "famous tent scene" was totally over talked. You rarely saw the two of them in the same shot, so it's not as bad as they made it out (excuse the pun). There were a few intense kisses through the movie, but personally, it didn't gross me out.
Still a good movie to go see, but it can wait til it's out on DVD.

Virtual Rugby

2006-02-10T16:05:00.000+13:00

hey hey! Who's up for a game of virtual rugby for the new Super 14 season?!

http://www.telecomvirtualrugby.co.nz/

Join up and have a go! OK, I may be promoting this too late as the first games are tonight, but so what?!

If you've joined, then look me up! Player Name: dknzca

Look forward to taking you on!

Condolences to my Danish Family

2006-02-09T11:17:00.000+13:00

Just received an email from my host Mum (Inger) in Denmark to say Ingo (Inger's brother-in-law) had passed away on 27th January. It was very sudden and unexpected.

Condolences to Bente (wife) and Susanne (daughter).

My thoughts are with you.......

something weird with my blog site

2006-02-08T10:50:00.000+13:00

For those who have noticed, I seem to be having problems with my blog page.

If you are wondering where the menu went from the right-hand side, check the bottom of the page.

NO idea why it's doing that, and have been trying to fix it for days, but it seems to happen with any kind of template I use. :-(

Have emailed the Blogger help, but if they are anything like Microsoft, I'll never get an answer....

the saying is true..

2006-02-03T13:33:00.000+13:00

....if you look like your passport photo, you're too sick to travel!!!!!

Ewwwwww I just got my passport photo taken and I look terrible! You're not allowed to show any emotion on your face, which makes anyone look scary. But I'm also having a very "flat hair" day, so not so nice.

I didn't sleep much last night either, so that means dark circles under my eyes. Always attractive!

Oh ewww I just looked again and it looks like I've got a bung eye! Maybe it looks like I'm on drugs?! I'm doooooooooomed! I'm going to be stopped at every checkpoint to be searched and dogs sniffing around me (oh I don't like dogs!!)

OK, who wants a laugh.........see below

I don't knooooooooow......

2006-01-27T10:51:00.000+13:00

.......what is love.......do this to me!!!

Oh yeah!!! Went to see The Exponents last night!! They ROCK live!!!

I saw them in 1999 at Waikato Uni's O Week (my one and only year I studied there). They still rock!

Jo, Cam, Rach and I went along to Altitude last night. Said it started at 8pm so we rocked along at 9.30pm and STILL nothing had started!

D4 opened for them. I didn't like their music on the radio, but now I've heard them live.......I REALLY don't like their music!! There wasn't much of a gap between their act and The Exponents coming on, which was good.

Last night was soooooo hot that it was really gross in there. It was sold out and they'd moved all the tables away, so that many more people could squish in. But that also meant that there was no where to put empty bottles and glasses.....so where do people put them......on the floor. I was a little weary cause I only had sandals on, but I should've been looking up. Poor Jo got smashed in the head by a flying bottle, causing a little vision loss for a short while. Never fear, she's a tough nut and she survived!!

Photos to come on this event as I'm waiting for Rach to download them to the computer (she was the only one who remembered to take a camera)

Nana visiting from the South Island

2006-01-22T14:06:00.000+13:00

It was lovely to see Nana again yesterday. I haven't seen her since we were at her 80th birthday (Dec 2004 - so just over a year). Don't get to see her too often cause she lives in Geraldine, which is a couple of hours south of Christchurch.

Mum drove her and Nana over to Hamilton to visit me and Jo, so she could see where we live, etc, plus Jo was working again, so was generally just easier.

Nothing too exciting happened really......they came over for lunch, so we sat around and chatted for a couple of hours. Then Jo had to dash off to work at 1pm. Mum, Nana and I decided to go for a walk around the Hamilton Gardens. The weather was great, which was lucky as we saw 3 wedding parties getting photos taken. Here are my own portrait attempts....

Chinese Garden

Japanese Garden

Indian Garden

From the gardens we took a little drive to see where Jo lives and works (don't worry Jo, we didn't go around your house, just saw from the outside!)

That night I went to Kim and Q's house to watch some movies (I was home alone and feeling lonely!!). We watched War of the Worlds - quite good but not completely what I expected. The Q put on Sin City. SOOO not my thing. Once I realised I'd slept through half of it, I excused myself and headed home. I just felt like company as I'd had quite a depressing week.

a sad day :-(

2006-01-16T20:36:00.000+13:00

Today wasn’t that great a day. I went to a funeral this afternoon for Ashton. He was Nicola’s (maiden name Torr) baby of 1 month exactly. Born 11th Dec and died 11th Jan. It’s not that great going to a funeral, let alone a child of such a young age. Lots of love and blessings to Nic and her family.

Happy Birthday Rach!

2006-01-16T18:18:00.000+13:00

Last night we helped Rach celebrate her 23rd birthday. Her actual birthday was the 12th, but Jo and I were on camp and Cam was away on a course. Rach ended up going to Tauranga to see her family anyway, so luckily she wasn’t alone.

We all met at Breakers for dinner at 7pm. There was Kim and Quentin, Cam and Rach, Craig and Laurine, Jo, Tobi and myself. After a yummy feed there, we moved on to Ten Pin at Sky City. Spent an hour playing a game of ten pin, with many laughs all round. Jo won with 113 points (I think it was that many) but she was in the other lane….. I was winning in our lane for ages until Laurine finally decided she did know how to play and started getting lots of spares and strikes in a row! NICE!!

After that we had some time to kill before we had our game of laserzone. Timeout (arcade type games) was right beside Ten Pin so we had a go on some of those. Kim and I had a car race, which I tragically lost! Jo and Rach were playing a racing horse game, which was a total crack up to watch. Both walked away with sore thighs!!!

From there we went and played Laserzone. We decided to play girls against boys (who’s dumb idea was that?!). We had 5 girls and 4 boys. They lady in charge decided to help us girls out by giving us some tactics and being our sniper! She stood up on the viewing platform and shot us some guys!!! They guys didn’t know about this except Tobi saw her late in the game and took her out! That was the longest 15 minutes ever! It was so much fun though. I was top of the girls with Rach coming in second. Both of us got the base which gave us 2000 points each, where the other girls didn’t, and you can only get a max of 200 points per hit on a person. I demand a rematch now we are more aware of what to do in there!!

It was about 11pm by the time we got out of there so we decided to head down to the cafes and get a coffee. A near impossible task at that time of night, as lots of the cafes turn into bars at about that time, so stop serving coffee, etc.

Today we all stumbled out of bed late in the morning. After mucking around for a few hours we decided to go play mini-putt, so Cam, Rach, Tobi and I headed off to Mini Golf World in Flagstaff, where we met Jo and her friend Louise. There are 36 holes of mini golf and we decided we’d tackle all of them! The first 18 were novelty holes with stuffed toys and other objects lying along the course. I even got a hole in 1!! Woo hoo! Louise was the only other person to get one! Yay us! Didn’t make up for my 5’s and 6’s along most of the other holes though…. The second 18 holes were a lot more difficult as they didn’t have solid sides along the holes, just slopes which the ball happily continued rolling over and into the garden. Yet somehow, I managed to win that round!

Another Camp Quality has been…

2006-01-14T12:53:00.000+13:00

Well I’m exhausted after another long week of camp. Don’t get me wrong, I loved every minute of it! Well, maybe not the part where we had to put up 20 tents, but the rest was great!!

I had an 8 year old girl, Courtney, who’s brother had cancer a couple of years ago. She was going full force the whole camp. Could hardly keep up!! She had an attention span of a goldfish.

All staff and companions arrived at camp (in Awakeri, near Whakatane) on Saturday (7th) to have a last minute training and briefing before we got the kids on Sunday. That night, we went to a restaurant in Whakatane for dinner where we got to socialise and just be normal adults for one more night.

We picked the kids up on Sunday afternoon after unloading stuff of buses and putting up about 20 tents! That night, we had a barn dance!! We had country singers in and some line dancers. Always a good way to start camp! Normally we have a disco, but the theme of camp was Wild West, so a barn dance was appropriate!

Monday morning was spent at the lake. I don’t know which lake…..Roto-something. We had the jet boat come with a few boats to give the kids rides (ok, and adults too!), kayaks and general swimming. It was a nice, relaxing morning. Electives were in the afternoon, which are a huge bunch of activities the kids can choose from, and they can do 2 a day. Monday we did Wax Art and Bead Making. The handy thing about having a camper that can do their own thing without help, means you can make your own stuff! I made 3 cool wax pictures (one I gave to Mum who was stuck in the kitchen all week) and made some cool bead earrings. Monday night the older kids (9+) went offsite so us younger ones played games and did some chocolate making.

This is how you make the wax pictures - with an iron!

These are a couple of pictures I made
(also gave one to Mum but similar to the purple one)

Tuesday we did more electives and went to the aquatic centre in Whakatane. Those electives we did pokerwork and pistol shooting. Tuesday night we a cool guy come in and tell stories and legends. He finished early so the kids thought it would be great to sing…..

Wednesday we had more electives, but by this stage, Courtney didn’t want to do much so we flitted between everything and eventually sat at the crafts table for a while. Our morning activity was what the older kids got to do a couple of nights ago……paintball shooting! No, not to each other. We just had targets to shoot at. They company had huge versions of lots of games that we could play with while waiting for our turn, like Jinga that was nearly as tall as Courtney, Connect 4 that was about as tall!! Heaps of fun for the kids……and us! Wednesday night we had a quiet movie night. The younger kids watched Madagascar while the older ones watched Mr Deeds (after the young ones went to bed. I love having the younger ones!!!)

Thursday morning was our Wild West day! We had Action NZ come in and set up some activities - mechanical bull, knife throwing, pistol shooting, laser clay bird shooting and whip cracking! We also had some of the local Lions group come down with their 4-wheel drive bikes and give rides and magic carpet rides. I had a go a knife throwing, and got about 4 in out of 15 throws! Clay bird shooting was a whole other story! I couldn’t get my gun working – sadly it was a user error! In the afternoon we had our concert and dressed up in our Wild West costumes. Normally the concert is in the evening, after dinner, but they decided to try it in the afternoon as we often run out of time for everyone to do their skits. We did a skit as a tent (3 girls and 3 companions) which one of the girls came up with. After dinner we all hopped on the bus and went out to a farm where they had a huge bonfire! We sang some silly songs (most of which came out of an old girl guide song book!). The fire was too big to cook marshmallows so we headed back to camp for supper (plus it started to drizzle – the first all week!)

Friday we all packed up, dropped the kids off to waiting parents, had a quick debrief and headed home. Ahhh Home Sweet Home! To keep with the standards of every year, us companions and staff met up in town on Friday evening for a drink and to socialise again. We were in Hamilton and there was a group in Tauranga. Got home about 1am and just CRASHED!!! Didn’t get up till 11am this morning!!

143 Days til we leave!!!

2006-01-06T14:11:00.000+13:00

OK, this has officially been the longest week of my year! haha!! OK LIFE!! Painfully slow actually.

As I've only been at my job for less than a year, I had to return to work on the 4th. There are about 100 people in this building normally. This week........30! In 3 days, I've had 5 calls. I've updated my blog, done heaps of stuff for Camp Quality (which starts tomorrow, yay!!) and taking 1.5 hour lunches (shhhh don't tell the boss!). I figure it's ok really cause I don't take my 15 min morning and afternoon tea breaks. It's just me for the IT team this week.

Cam and I decided on Wednesday what we want to do in Thailand on our way home from Europe in July. Cause we are flying with Thai airways, we can have a stopover in Bangkok. We've decided to fly up to Chiang Mai (North Thailand) for a couple of nights. There is this cool tour that goes to an elephant camp for half a day and we get to ride one!!!!!!!! Then have lunch in an orchid farm. The afternoon is spent at the zoo - visiting the Pandas!!!! I'm so excited!!

I also plan to do some pampering. Thailand is known for their massages and beauty treatments, so I plan to indulge!

Well I've killed some time adding this entry, while also chatting to Rach, Cam and Shaun online! Having MSN at work rocks!