Windy Wellington!!!

Today my story is about the wind.

The average wind speed in London is between 9 and 10 knots. 

Today in Wellington the minimum is 29 knots and it reached 35 knots at it's windiest.

I have to put up with this day after day after day. Sometimes, and I'm not even exagerating here, you nearly get blown over in the street and you have to stop walking for a minute or hang onto any nearby lamp-posts.

Today is a day like that. Even inside you can hear the wind roaring and howling around the city..

Here is a video off youtube illustrating my point :o)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4pelNzylZ4&feature=related

Epic Rugby and babies :o)

Hello!!! It's me again :o)

Um... right. Have to think about what I've been up to. Hmm.....

Well, perhaps the most important thing to say is that I'm all moved into Adam's lovely flat and that's definitely it now. His flatmate moves out in 2 days and then it'll be just us! Or just me actually at the moment, Adam is in the States for 12 days and left on Saturday. I only cried a tiny bit at the airport, and after he'd gone :o) It's been feeling rather strange to be honest.... kind of like I've forgetten how to entertain myself!! But actually it's sort of nice just being on my own and being able to do whatever I want. I had that for so long and Adam and I are together absolutely all the time, so it's kind of been a surprise to realise just how much I've missed it and how nice it is to have my own space again. Apart from my little freak out about what happens if I'm in an accident or the house burns down or something - and I have no family or friends really to turn to. But still, mustn't focus on the unlikely catastrophes!

I'll miss him soon enough though! Everything with us is very, very good indeed, we're still quite shockingly happy together, we still never fight and are nice to each other all the time :o) Feeling queasy yet?! Yes? Oh well, indulge me a little longer... as he really isn't reading this, I can write this with no fear of discovery or resprisals - I keep dreaming about having a baby!!!!! I think finally my body clock is kicking in, perhaps it just does at the right time when you're happy and secure. We're not there yet and haven't really discussed it much at all, but I creatinly hope we get married and have babies soon. I think we would be very good at it :o)

Enough yuckiness.

The rugby was amazing!! I'm so happy NZ won, it really was a once in a lifetime experience to be in the middle of it, we all felt so connected to each other. Even though I'm not a Kiwi! We were watching big screens in the street with half the rest of the town (we'd gone to Nelson for the weekend). The roar and rush of relief  when the final whistle went was surpassed only by the nail biting suspense (or open terror for many!) in the preceding ten minutes. It was Epic.

Work is going well, still pretty busy, still liking the people and the office. Get to do some interesting things every so often with fairly complex excel stuff or innovative presentations. Can't complain really :o)

Also, I went to see Eddie Izzard last week with Adam and loved it! He's very funny. And English you know, one of mine :o)

Er... I have made a nice friend at work, a Scottish lady called Helen. She's my best friend so far. I still have about 4. Need to work on it a bit....

Apart from that there just boring stuff you know, normal life - got to buy a sofa. Trying to stop smoking. That kind of thing. Settling in, settling down stuff. Good I guess. Better than permanent home sickness. Adam and I are having a quiet Christmas, just the two of us, as he'll be working over some of it. That will be very strange. Christmas cards welcome!!!

Apt 24

35 Jessie Street

Wellington  6011

NZ

I miss you guys though.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Oriental Bay and back again...

Well, it has been an eventful few weeks!


I moved into my new place and realised it was rather horrible! I only spent 5 ins looking and just grabbed it when it was offered as I really felt I needed to move out of Adam's - he has a flatmate who has been very good about having me stay for so long but it was never meant to be that long. Anyway, I realised when I moved in that they had no internet, it was freezing cold and damp and mouldy and the toilet smells really bad! And the stove doesn't work. So I only stayed there 2 nights and yesterday I moved out, or at least let them know I'm moving out. The boys there are going too, so no big deal. I am moving into Adam's in preparation of us moving in together! His flatmate moves out early December and then the two of us will take over the lease. It's a really lovely flat and I am very happy about it.


Work is good, busy but am getting the hang of it. Very nice people. And also I have made a couple of friends which is lovely and such a relief. I have been out every night this week so far, which has never happened before and has made me very happy!


So, it's all about the rugby over here. The big final is this Sunday...


... and Adam and I are going away this weekend! It's a long weekend, Monday is labour day here and we are taking his scooter over to the south island on the ferry and we'll then go as far as we want! We are going to Picton for sure (the other terminal) and from there maybe Nelson and maybe Golden Bay. Which will mean only slightly less to you than it does to me! But apparently Golden Bay is beautiful and will mean 4 hours on the back of a scooter... hmm.... But anyway, will be lovely to get away.


I'm feeling much better now though. I had such a bad week a couple of days ago, was terribly homesick. But got better after 4 days after a chat with a couple of friends from home on facebook, which helped immensely.


So... that's me! More news to come, will try to be more regular :o)


xxx

England v. Scotland (I want them both to win!)

The first thing I need to do is tell you how great my boyfriend is! :o)

On Thursday he got tickets though work for the musical 42nd Street, which I took my new friend to (she's called Chelsea, and quite young, maybe 23, but very nice!) Then on Friday he bought me my favourite magazine from the UK, which he found a new addition of in a shop, plus he took me for dinner, plus he bought us tickets to see the Red Hot Chilli Pipers. Yes, you did read that right, they're a scottish piper band we found out about in Scotland and they're awesome :o)

Secondly, we've just been out to watch the Rugby, England vs. Scotland. I've never got that excited about sports games, but I've quite got into the Rugby here, it's actually more interesting then football as more happens. I was very conflicted with this game - I couldn't decide who to support - I was all like "well, I am English.... but I'm a MacDonald of Clan Ranald. But I've always lived in England. But always watched sport with my dad and so supported Scotland..." It was very confusing! So I supported England for the first 20 mins, then decided I was for Scotland, and bellowed for them for the rest of the match; until England won then I switched again :o)

Other news is that I found somewhere to live and I move tomorrow. It's a place called Oriental Bay and it's gorgeous, up a very steep hill but with such a pretty view out of the window. I'll post up a pic once I'm there. I'll be living with 2 boys who seem very nice. But I feel a bit sad and apprehensive to be moving out of Adam's place to be honest.... which is silly, I did it before.... but it feels different this time, not a short term fun thing, but something I really need to make work, to make a life for myself.

It's a bit difficult,, I'm struggling to make friends still, but at least Adam is nearly always around, and we hang out together all the time, so that makes it OK. I'm dreading a bit if he goes away anywhere though, I'll feel rather lost. I just need to make some more friends I think, but it's hard.

So that's me. Work is going OK. I'm at the Inland Revenue for 3 months, forget if I told you. It's OK... not ideal, only as it's a PA job and I hate being a PA, but I'm giving it a good go, and the poeple are nice as is the office, so it's not all bad. Here are some pics of the view from my desk though - that's a good thing about it!

xxx

Back in the (rugby) game

Hi everyone!

Well, that's a bit optimistic. Hi to the couple of people who might read this at some point :o)

I had a request to restart this for people apart from immediate family who I'm now skyping with regularly anyway.

I can't remember when my last blog was and can't be bothered to check it right now, but I know it was a while ago. So here's a catch up, some of which you will know:

I went travelling to South America in April and had an amazing time seeing Santiago, the Amazon and Macchu Piccu (which might not be spelled right). Then back to the UK to see family and friends and to meet the gorgeous India Ropse Phillips, born 2nd June this year, my gorgeous niece.

Then Adam arrived 7th July and we saw London and Kent, met my friends and family and then got a car and drove over 9 days through Oxford, up to Mallaig in the highlands, then right up to the very North of Scotland (Tongue) and then down to Edinburgh. We had a great time, although the weather was as expected :o)

We followed that by 3 days in Barcelona. The rain followed us, but we still had a wonderful time taking in the sights, practising my Spanish, eating Spanish food and generally realxing. Then 3 days in Copenhagen staying with some wonderful friends of Adam's, wonderful people who showed us the best bits of the City. We ate pork and sugar coated potatoes! and went to a slum type thing filled with drugs - not as bad as it sounds, it's in the middle of the city!! Then back to London for a farewell to the family and then off to Vegas for 4 days. Adam (who is amazing, if you hadn't gathered that already!) upgraded us on that flight and we flew out business class which was a first for us both and bloody amazing. Vegas... well, as you might guess, we had a great time, stayed up all night, slept all day, ate, drank and gambled, saw the hotels and a show too (Penn and Teller).

Been back in NZ since 4th August and been staying with Adam and his lovely flatmate Amy, who has now been kind enough to put up with me for 6 weeks. I've been job and flat hunting at the same time and it has been harder than first thought. The central cheap flats are mostly filled with children (students) who don't want an old lady like me living with them.

I had a 3 week temp job on a construction site, working on the site office onsite at a University where they're building a new building. I had to wear a hard hat and high vis jacket whenever walking outside! That was actually a really nice job, very busy but nice people and fun.

This Wednesday (21st Sept) I started at the Inland Revenue on a 3 month contract. I am a team administrator/PA to 7 managers. It is a very PA type role and I hate those. But I like.need to earn again, so shall not complain.

The only other interesting thing was a trip to Sydeny the other weekend with Adam for a long weekend as one of his short films got into a film festival and we got free passes for it. It was very exciting.

Apart from that, it is the Rugby world cup over here and all the Kiwis are going mad about it!

So that is a quick catch up and I will endeavour to write more and more interesting stuff soon :o)

xxx

Home again, home again, jiggity jog

I am home!!!!


I know that was a bit sudden, but although I have been planning a 14th May arrival date for some time, I was keeping that a surprise from Fleur who thought I wouldn't be home in time for her baby to be born.


So I landed very early on Saturday and was met at the airport by my lovely brother. I slept at his place for 4 hours, had a bite to eat and then went over to Fleur's. She got such a surprise with me at the door!!!


I was there for a night and then with Holly and Peter for a night and now am back with mum and dad for a couple of days. I'll be back in London for Friday which is my birthday!!!


So, this is the end of my saga :o)


I shall not be typing anymore as this is the end of the journey. Even though, of course, it's not. The future holds exciting things for me, including of course imminently becoming an auntie; a holiday with Adam in July (seeing England, Scotland, Copenhagen, Barcelona and Las Vegas!) and setting up a jewellery business once I get back to Wellington in August (I'm applying for another 12 month visa for New Zealand).


Thank you all so much for reading my blog and following me on my journey! It's been wonderful to share it with you all.


Bye!! :o)


xxxxx

Maccu Picchu!!!

Hello again everyone.


Right, I have just been back adding in photos to the last 6 or so posts (since arriving in Chile - go and have a look if you missed them on facebook) and suddenly realised looking back that I had forgotten to write about Maccu Picchu!! Can't think how I managed that one...


The town outside it is called Aguas Calientes and it is very beautiful although full of tourist rubbish and very expensive. Mollie my roommate and I went out for cocktails as there was not mych else to do once we arrived and she picked up a young Peruvian man who invited us, along with his colleague, to join us for drinks once they finished work at the bar we were at. We agreed and proceeded to go back and get ready. We also tried to buy dresses and giggled non-stop for 4 hours :o) We met the boys at 10.30pm and went for a few drinks. Mine did hit on me a bit but I made it clear I had a boyfreind... to be honest, that didn't seem to work and after a bit he sat closer to me and gave me a speech in Spanish about how all the world should be free to love whoever they wanted, and life was all about pleasure and living in the moment and all that stuff... and then reminded me that New Zealand is very far away... and then leaned forward, saying 'que piensas?' (what do you think?). I replied 'creo que me voy a casar con mi novio' (I think I'm going to marry my boyfriend) which may or may not be true but more importantly, had the desired effect and he backed off. He wanted to leave pretty soon after that and started to look bored so he walked me back to my hotel about 12.30am and I left Mollie to snog the face off her toy boy. She fell into bed about 3am.


Anyway, we didn't have to be up until about 7am in the end and got on the bus to Maccu Picchu about 8am. It's a gorgeous but scary ride up the side of a very steep hill/mountain.


Miccu Picchu itself was utterly breathtaking, so much more than I had imagined. It's massive and surrounded by incredible scenery. In fact, I'm just going to let the pictures speak for me:

Fear and loathing in Lima

I hate Lima.

Oh go on Fiona, don't hold back, tell us what you really think :o)

It is dirty, but then so are many places. It smells. Worse than a lot of places. But more than anything, it's just... the feeling the City has. It feels dangerous and unsavoury. I'm sure this is in part due to what I have read and been told by my travel company. We were given a pack on arrival with info and advice about everywhere we visited and one thing written in the lima section is "NEVER walk around on your own, you make a much easier target that way". Great. What are single travellers supposed to do then?? The advice is full of examples of the kind of tricks and scams that are common, often involving 'plain clothes police' who are not police and try to get money from you. There is severe advice about never getting into a car with people who claim to be the police and how you must just remain calm if they do force you into a car. Apparently it's common to get your bag slashed with a knife and things pulled out of it. You should not wear any jewellery as it will be snatched off you which they advise is painful. No kidding.

I have become hyper vigilant and walk around in a slight cold sweat whenever I force myself to get out of the hotel room. I really stand out with the blond hair and fair skin and the middle aged men keep saying 'hola' (hi)as they walk past or other things I can't quite make out. The slang is different here to Spain. I feel stared at a lot. There are policemen and security guards everywhere, to get cash out of a machine you have to go into a protected booth and shut the door, there's a security guard outside.

I'm generally quite freaked out. I made it to one sight today, a massive San Franciscan church which was quite beautiful and had catacombs underneath filled with bones. 25,000 were buried there. It was a bit spooky. I tired the museum of the inquisition but it is closed for refurbishment. I nearly got lost trying to find it and was down a street with no other foreigners and just got stared and stared at... it's so unnerving!! I wish I had a headscarf or something!

So, that's me. I'm trying to get out to a park of fountains tonight which has a light show on, it's supposed to be really good. But you're advised to only take taxis at night and I'm worried about catching one back. mostly they are just minicab things and all the drivers are certifiable and desperatly trying to crash and run people over all the time.

Tomorrow at least I have a bus tour for the morning so that will be OK I suppose.

Moan over.

xxxx

Vomiting

What a nice title, eh?


I am not feeling creative as I have spent the whole day throwing up. I got up and felt a bit weird but put it down to the altitude sickness still. However, after a yoghurt, muslei and fruit breakfast I was feeling wven worse so went to lie down again. From there things got steadily worse, I started to shake and shiver and all my muscles really ached. I got into bed fully clothed in jeans and a jacket, had a sheet, 2 blankets and 2 bed covers on me and I still couldn't stop violently shivering. My skin went super sensitive and sore and then I started throwing up.


It is now about 8pm and I am glad to say I feel better, they have great drugs over here. I've never heard of these in England but if we don't have them I reckon we should get them. Our tour guide Carla just went to the pharmacy and explained that I had a stomach bug and I got one pill to fight the virus causing it and another with anti nausea and pain relief. I took them about 3 hours ago and by 7pm I was suddenly really hot insterad of cold and felt much better.


This is a relief as it is a 6.50am pick up tomorrow to get to Agua Calientes (warm springs) where we spend the day and then the day after it's a 6am exit up to Maccu Picchu. We have a full day there then back to Cusco in the evening and Lima the day after.


Carla (our tour leader) ordered some soup for me so I am going to attempt dinner now.

What else can I tell you? Our arrival day was a complete write off, I had no idea that altitude sickness could make you feel so bad! Like I was about to pass out all day. I still managed a bit of guinea pig for dinner (we all got to try a bite) - it's not that nice really, and llama steak as well, which was nice.

Wednesday we had a full day seeing Inca ruins in Ollantaytambo, Pisca, the sacred valley and Saqsayhuaman. It really was breathaking... when I can get the uplink to work I'll be adding photos... hopefully not more than a week or two - sorry for the delay! I don't know quite what's wrong..... but do check back for them anyway, it's worth seeing! The terraces were incredible.

Thursday (yesterday) was a relaxing day in Cusco luckily, Molly (my yankee roommate) and I got a massage (which was pretty good!) wandered around town and hit the markets. It was present buying day so all the Macs and ex-Macs can get little smiles on their faces :o)

Today, as outlined above, was a write off! Shame as it was another free day and Molly and I were going to do the cultural thing and visit the museums and art gallieries and churches. Never mind, you can't do everything.

By the way, I've been really impressed with the food here, it's very good. At least the stuff for the tourists is anyway.

OK, so I am not going to die as I feared this afternoon! These pills are amazing.

xxxxx

Woozy

Today I am very woozy! I have altitude sickness.

I'm in Cusco which is at 3,300m above sea level. It's just the oddest thing. I felt it within 20 seconds of getting off the plane... as if suddenly I was on a boat, it felt like the ground was moving really strongly under my feet. I felt dizzy and short of breath and got slight pins and needles in my arms, legs and face.

It's hard to do anything today, even walk. We got to the hotel and had coca tea, which is supposed to help. And that is coca as in cocaine, yes, not as in chocolate! It's in everything here. Not big quantities though I guess.

It's guinea pig for dinner tonight!!

That is all for now as I feel quite ill.

xxx

Eaten by a giant spider

OK, I wasn't eaten by a giant spider, much as a feared it!

Here is where we stayed: http://www.ecoamazonia.com.pe/. There are 8 in my group, all Canadian apart from one American. All very nice and our tour guide is awesome.

I'm uploading pics as I type and hope I can post a few on here at the end as pictures are better than words, but here I go anyway:

The first thing to say is that we arrived during a cold spell!! Can you believe it?! The day before it had been 30 degrees and 100% humidity but it must have dropped to about 16 degrees on our day and no humidity. Very overcast. In a way maybe it was good. It's incredibly rare apparently, but all the staff were saying how wonderful it was to be able to move around without sweating and to sleep well at night. So our treks were fine, not that difficult, and we were even a little cold at times! I am sad I missed out on the steamy jungle excperience though...

So far we have been up at 5 or 6 am every day, it's a bit difficult for me!

Anyway, the first day we went out to Monkey island, they have a reserve for rescued monkreys that are too used to humans to be released back into the wild. Got some amazing film from that, they come pretty close. There were spider monkeys, capuchins and howlers I think.

Next day we had a 4 hour trek in the morning when we went right into the jungle. We saw lots of instects, including a tarantula!! Lots of amazing trees and plants as well, our guide was great. In the afternoon we went to a lagoon and saw a caiman that was 1.5m long.

The lodge was great and the food as well. I'm sharing with the American girl and she is nice as well.

I'm also trying to upload some videos I took, I hope they work...

Breathtaking

Today I went to the ANDES!!!

I am just so excited about it still, I can hardly tell you. It was amazing, awe inspiring, stunning, breathtaking.

It s only about an hour and a half driving to get from the city right up into the mountains. We climbed and climbed in a minibus, hairpin bends all the way. It´s very dry there, sort of a desert and lots of spiny trees and cactuses. The vegetation drops off as you get higher. We climbed to 3,500m - 12,000ft (I jumped out of an aeroplane at 12,000ft!!) where there are fewplants and the rocks ared just incredible. It´s so high that even just walking fast made me feel a bit dizzy and my legs went a bit wobbly (literally breathtaking!)

It´s definitely one of th most amazing things I´ve ever done and I had to keep pinching myself to believe I was really there. It was a stunning day, not a cloud in the sky... didn´t see any condors though although I looked really hard!

Photos, of course to follow. Not all of them though as I took about 200! But a few...

xxx

P.S, about all I get from people over here is this: "¿de donde eres?" "Inglaterra". "Ohhhh... la boda royal, eh? Principe William, eh??" "Si, si... (smile in a taught and stretched fashion and nod half-heartedly)"

Brass Monkeys in Santiago (aka Chilly in Chile)

Yesterday I went for a guided walking tour around Santiago and apart from being a little too cold for my liking, it was really good and I do quite like the place now.

Things of note are: you can´t put toilet paper down the toilet here! Well... technically you can as I was for the first couple of dsays until I realised that´s what the bins are for. Yuck!!! There are lots of stray dogs everywhere, but they are very friendly. But they are seriously everywhere!! running up and down the streets, curled up on the pavement and in every park.... Um.... oh yes, we were shown these cafes in the business district - their nickname is ´cafes con piernas´ which is cafes with legs - this is becuase it is girls only working there, with VERY short skirts on who flirt with all the business men who come in. Not sexist at all, right? I have tried a pisco sour and it was good. It has raw egg white in it, but still tastes nice, honestly!

The architecture here is very nice, it has quite a Spanish feel to it, unsurprisingly. Pictures to follow (sorry for delay, am in internet cafe).

xxx

The strangest facial ever

Now, I have managed to find an internet cafe to update you on my strange day.


Firstly it was spent in a shopping mall. Yes, I know you all think that´s odd but I have a good reason - I need to buy clothes and boots for the Amazon jungle. I have some, proper "outdoorsy" type trousers and top, with long sleeves. And some welly boots, which t'internet suggests all the locals use in the jungle. Apparently the flies and mozzies will bug me something chronic, but I´ll just be there for 2 days, I´ll manage.


Anyway, after some hard shopping I was in need of a rest... not least of all because a) my Spanish is rusty and talking, or more specifically, being talked at constantly in a foreign language is stressful and tiring. and b) the content of said talking involved a lot of asking where I´m from and if I´m travelling alone and then sharp intakes of breath and a telling of how dangerous that is. One woman gave me a lecture about how many robbers there are on the tube and how I must hold my bag close into my chest at all times. Another just told me how dangerous it was, especially as a girl, and I mustn´t get into any taxis and I am bound to be taken advantage of. None of this inspired much confidence. I kept smiling and tried to say that I´m from a big city too, and I bet none of them (it was all warnings from women) refuse to go anywhere alone and just becuase I´m a foreigner doesn´t make me an automatic target.... but then, maybe it does. So I just smiled and nodded, but my heart rate was going up by the minute.


So, I passed a hairdresser that also had beauty stuff and I asked for a massage and facial, got told yes and taken through to a back room. The first problem was that the girl then explained the massage was not by hand. She held up big plastic sheet things and said it was electronic. So I said "no thank you, could I just have the facial?".


She got me to lie on a couch and daubbed some sticky stuff on my forehard, nose and chin andthen covered my face in clingfilm (!) with a small hole to breath through adn then left for 15 minutes. She kept babbling in Spanish and I didn´t understand more than a quarter of what she said. Anyway, when she came back in, she loomed over me with a surgical mask and gloves on!! And reached for something... and honestly, I was half expecting to seea scalpel or somehting, I was ready to jump out of the room! But she just came back with tissues and I thought "how bad can it be?" so a laid still. And then..... she started viciously squeezing and stabbing and prodding at my blackheads and spots!! It was very sore and not something I would ever need to pay someone else to do. They do do that sometimes in proper facials, it´s called an extraction and is just the blackheads in the nose, but it´s supposed to after steaming and things so it´s a bit easier. I asked for it once, years ago (or at least said yes to it being offered) having no idea what it was... I didn´t make that mistake again. Until today. Anyway, she was squeezing her nails everywhere!


Sorry, that was a bit gross. Anyway, then more sticky stuff painted on my face and then left for 20 minutes. With no music and bright lights. Not very relaxing. And then she comes back in and this time she really does hove into view with two metal instruments. I nearly baulked again, but held firm having deduced what it probably was, as I´ve read about this. It was a metal roller in one hand and a metal disc on a stick in the other. The disc she moved over my face whilst simultaneously rolling the roller over other parts. The disc gave quite fierce electric shocks and it made my eyelids jump and my teeth hurt.


After five minutes of that, she stopped and rubbed more stuff on my face. Which smelled funny. As had all the other stuff. She asked how my skin was feeling as it had gone quite red and she thought I probably had sensitive skin. "Yes, I do have sensitive skin" I replied through gritted teeth. She advised me to always wear sunscreen.


Next, she came at me with a long plastic tube. I was baced for anything but actually this one was quite strange, I think it was giving off very gentle static electricity as it just fizzed very slightly on the skin and was not unpleasant. Can´t imagine what it actually did though.


More cream, some rubbish facial massage and then she led me out, all red and blotchy, and horribly overcharged me, saying she had given me the deluxe version instead of the normal express facial.


The lesson to be learnt here is possibly not to ever go for beauty treatments from a hairdressers. I know, it was a risk, but sometimes you just have to take them. I am still as tense as ever, probably more so, and need a good back massage but I shall await my return to good old blighty!


Tomorrow I shall go on a walking tour of the city and I hope to get out to see the andes the day after.


xxx

Santiago de Chile!!

Right people, here I am!!


What a funny couple of days I´ve had. I got up at 8am on Monday 25th April. got to Wellington airport for 10am, flight left at 11am (yes, I bubbled a bit) and got to Auckland for 12pm, flight to Santiago leaving at 4.40pm. Only it was delayed .... to 10.15pm!!! 


God, how boring to spend 10 hours at the airport with nothing to do.


Then an 11.5 hour flight... and I get here and it´s still Monday! 7.40pm. I got to the hostel (which is very nice) and then popped out for dinner, then crashed by 11pm. That was the longest day ever!! I am 15 hours behind NZ here. So I was up for about 30 hours I think.


Then something weird happened.... I went to sleep and then woke at 3.30am and couldn´t get back to sleep. So I read until about 9am and then dozed off... and slept until 8pm!! When I woke up a bit hungry. I realised the time and was a bit cross with myself, because that´s really not how to get over jet lag! Anyway, I read until 2am (it´s a good book luckily) and then slept again (lucky I´m so good at that too!) until 5.15am. And then read again. And finally got up at 7.30am and had breakfast here at 8.30am.


That was a whole 30 or so hours in bed people. That must be a record - longest day followed by longest night!!


Anyway, my laptop will not connect to the wifi hree so internet updates may be patchy. I am off out to explore the city today.


Lots of love people!!


xxx


P.S - it seems I can read emails from this hostel computer but not reply... sorry about that. No emails for the moment....

The final chapter

Well dear readers, it's the end of an era.


I'd better catch you up with my wee 4 day trip first I guess. I really enjoyed it. The Maori cultural performance was amazing; really really good. Lots of history as well as singing and dancing. If you're ever in the area, I highly recommend it!

I did the dolphin and isalnd boat tour the next day as the weather was good. However, we crashed into a sandbank just over an hour in and had to go straight back to port. I did get to see some dolphins though, although they were running away from all the people swimming after them! I think I would too...

I skipped the trip up to the northernmost tip as it was actually 11 hours on a coach there and back and it seemed a bit much. Instead I went over the harbour in a boat to Russell, which is the original capital of NZ, where all the sailors landed initially in the early 1800s. Apparently it was refered to as the 'hell hole' of the Pacific. I guess there were some unsavoury characters there! There is a famous flagpole there where the British flag was raised and then cut down again 4 times by a Maori leader (or someone did it for him anyway), Hone Heke. It has New Zealand's oldest church (built in 1836) and also some of NZ's oldest graves. It had a real sense of history which is lacking in a lot of NZ. It's also a really pretty little seaside village and a I really loved it there, I'd like to go back and take Adam.

On the way back to Auckland we saw some enormous golden sand dunes. I had been told about them, but I never expected they would be as big as they are! Photos of everything will be a while - I forgot my camera unfortunately, but did buy an instant one, which is yet to be developed. Also I saw an ancient Kaori tree (pronounced Cowrie), it was enormous and the Maori believe it to be an important spiritual tree (the species, not one tree in particular - especially the really old, big ones). This was called Tane Mahuta and was about 2 and a half thousand years old.

The next few days were spent chilling out with Adam. We did quite a long bike ride on Saturday, and played board games yesterday, plus I cooked a Sunday Roast (pork with crackling - my favourite!). I packed everything up (leaving about 10 bags with a very patient Adam).

This morning Adam came to the airport with me and we had breakfast together before he walked me to my gate. I was biting my lip by then and trying really hard not to cry. It didn't work, and the tears came as he hugged me goodbye.

It's a very strange feeling. Firstly it's very hard to leave Adam, I shall miss him more than I realise even, I think. One good thing is I don't feel worried about the time apart... I mean, I'm not feeling worried that we will drift apart or meet other people. Perhaps that's wrong of me... but anyway, there it is. I feel very secure about him and it's just that I'll miss him.

But more than that, I shall miss Wellington, I shall miss New Zealand, I shall miss feeling settled and content and rooted somewhere. I feel anxious about South America having read a lot of cautionary literature yesterday from my tour group... they advise bringing things like a medical kit and a swiss army knife, they insist on you handing over two copies of your insurance and passport and new passport photos. They talked a lot about security and muggings and things. It's got me feeling quite nervous. And also, there's snakes and massive spiders in the Amazon Jungle... But then there is the excitment of getting back to the UK. But even that is mixed with the unsettled feeling of knowing I will be there without a home of my own, for the first time in many years. That everything will change very soon after my arrival with the arrival of a new family member. That I need to make the most of the few short weeks there and cannot get too settled or comfortable or attached, as I'll be leaving again.

So, I am at the airport in Auckland mulling all of this over. I have plenty of time for that as I arrived at 12pm for a 16.40 flight (a bit early in case of any delays flying up from Wellington) only to find that it has been delayed to 22.15. That, my dear friends and family is a very long wait indeed. I am almost wishing for the flight now (11.5 hours in itself) so I can have my own seat, and sleep if I want, or watch films.

Santiago is 16 hours behind. I arrive 4.5 hours before I left, which is rather strange!

Anyway. I guess that's all for now. It just all feels a bit strange, you know?

xxx

Some more travel to read about at last!

OK, I have something interesting to write about!!

I left the comforts of home and boyfriend yesterday and caught a plane up to Auckland. I stayed overnight in a grotty hostel and was up at 6am this morning to catch a Magic tour bus up to Northland, which is the northern-most part of New Zealand. I am in Paihia for the next three days, which is quite pretty. Tonight I'm going on a maori cultural evening where we get taken to where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed (the treaty between the Maori and British signed in 1840 cementing the rights and responsibilities of each) and get some songs, history and a Haka.

Tomorrow is a trip right up to the northernmost tip where there is alighthouse on the point which separates the Pacific from the Tasman Sea. We drive back along 90 mile beach!

Wednesday is a dolphin watching boat trip which also takes us round the bay of islands and gives us some history too.

Thursday is a trip back to Auckland via some huge Kaori trees. More info and photos to follow.

I made a friend today as well, although she leaves tomorrow sadly.

"All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well". That's how I'm feeling (and also a quote from somewhere, I forget where...)

xxx

Better

I am feeling better. The moods come and go but a lot of the time I am perfectly happy here!


Last night Adam took me to a play called Brain Damage which was really good and qiute strange... There are 4 or 5 little plays going on at the same time and you walk around the room to watch them all. Then we had some drinks and then some amazing steak.


Tonight we were invited to another fancy dress party which we may well not go to, but we are having some people over for drinks beforehand. I am making canapes!! Which I love to do. Adam is working this weekend so I am being a little housewife and I am going to tidy his sitting room and kitchen and even hoover and then get cooking :-)


xxx

And, just to be clear...

I just want to reiterate through all my bloody moaning:

1. Adam is lovely, gorgeous, wonderful, incredible - he makes me so, so very happy. He's by a million miles the very loveliest boyfriend I've ever had and I appreciate him immensely.

2. New Zealand is a very lovely and beautiful place and Wellington especially. I like it very much.

I just thought, maybe that gets lost a bit sometimes :o)

xxxx

Cinderella and her prince charming

Er....

I'm fast running out of things to say! Well, constructive things anyway.

Unconstructively I can tell you that I had a 'sober chat' with Adam about the issues raised in the previous post (well, last but one) and... wait for it... he barely even remembered saying what he did!! It was only the memory of me crying that prompted recognition.

That made it a bit of an awkward chat. He wasn't sure what I wanted to say, or hear... and I asked what he was thinking and he just said that we should take it as it comes really... see if I can make it back here after being in the UK again, see if it works once I'm back here again, and then re-evaluate.

Makes sense... and made me feel a bit silly for asking for a chat... but it was him that suddenly came out with that statement! And then said we should have a sober chat about it. And you know, it got me thinking.... and crying pretty much every day since then. In the shower. Watching TV. Eating breakfast. I've managed to avoid crying out of the house and during chats on skype, but have caved on phone calls and am seriously crying all over the place at home.

I don't know what's come over me. It just all seems so close and real now I think is all. It's that there is no good option. I have two:

1. break up with Adam and go/stay in UK = makes me very sad (and also happy)
2. stay in NZ with Adam and miss family, friends, cat and life in general = makes me very sad (and also happy)

Am I allowed to swear? I feel it's warranted, honestly I do.

Fuck it.

Right, I shall be constructive again now! I have less than 3 weeks until I go to south america, so watch this space for it to get briefly intersting again, hopefully. I am nice and busy until then. Adam is taking me to parties and drinks and dinners and plays all over the place. I have my final jewellery and Maori courses next week, and have really enjoyed them. I've also made a friend - well two. My trainer, Evan, but he leaves for home (USA) in a couple of months. But also a girl called Fiona on the Maori course, and I really like her. She's the first friend I've met organically and I really like as well! So that's good news. The jewellery is going very well and photos should follow next week when it's all done.

Here are some more nice photos of Adam and me - I should preface by saying some of them were for a fancy dress party and I was cinderella, with him being prince charming!

(and also, a special thank you to Fernando today as I've been tearful and homesick all day and he managed to make me really smile and feel better! Thank you Mr Loizides! And dearest daddy, please get better at reading the signals that your daughter is on the verge of tears!!)



Me as Cinderella

  

Photo booth picture from December 2010 , at a Weta Christmas party





Photo booth picture from December 2010 , at a Weta Christmas party




My prince charming, with my shoe...



Photos

On a cheerier note, here are some photos:



This is where I have my jewellery course




This is just to make you jealous of the weather! 31st March, 2011. I had sandals on :o)




Adam and me (rather tipsy)



Adam in a lovely top

This sucks

I gave my mum a fright today. I called her and she could tell that something was wrong from my voice (it's great how mums can do that, isn't it?!) and she was worried that Adam had split up with me.

Actually, it's kind of the opposite. We had a lovely night out for dinner and drinks (lots of drinks!) and he was lovely, as usual. He told me he loves me very much :o) But he also said at the end of the night that he won't be able to think about moving to the UK for at least 5 years until he gets his business established.

We haven't discussed the future before; well not where we'll live anyway. It's only been 3.5 months!! But actually, it was something that needed to be said.

I had just assumed that if I could get through one more year here (a year feels manageable) we'd be able to move to London together. I don't really know why I thought that apart from that it's what I want to do. Maybe I was trying to fool myself. I don't know.

I burst into tears when he said it and actually I've been crying most of today as well. I guess the good thing is that he knew without me saying that I wanted us to move to the UK. And he's thinking about it as a possibility for the future. He likes the UK.

But.... it really makes a difference for me. 5 years? It's such a long time and it might be never. I might have to live here without my friends and family and cat forever. I mean there's practical things as well. I could feasably ask Holly to look after Alfie for another year but for 5 years?? That's a long time. They might feel that's too long and then he'll need to be rehomed. I really miss him. It would be too traumatic for him to be flown out here. I have furniture in storage too. I could hang onto it for another year, but again, 5 is just too long. It costs about 150GBP a month so in 5 years I could have saved enough to buy new furniture anyway.

I know none of this should be a shock to me really. But it is. It feels really traumatic. I feel like I have to give up so much. the excel modelling course I planned to do. I thought I'd be delaying it for a year only. I want to buy another property too and I don't think I can do that here.

This is just so hard and so painful. I can't quite believe it really. I feel in shock. I'm ready to go home, you know? I've had my adventure and I want to go home. I never wanted to live here permanently. And now I'm stuck on the other side of the bloody world bawling my eyes out and I know I have to be here for years and years, or go home and be miserable and heart broken without Adam. This sucks.

Mind you, I wouldn't even consider it if Adam wasn't worth it. He is.

I know, I'm probably being a drama queen. I'm just having to get my head round it is all. I'll probably feel better in a few days.

Do you want to help make me feel better? I bet you do. Here's what you can do - sell up and move to Wellington. If you were all here then it would be fine :o)

Miss you guys.

xxxx

He loves me, he loves me not.... he loves me, he loves me not....

Well I have had a few messages confirming that it is actually more than just my mum reading this - thanks people :o) That was the motivation I needed...

I am going to embarrass Adam again... well, if and when he ever gets around to reading this :o)

He said it!!!!!

We were falling asleep late on Friday night and we'd been out and had a few drinks..... he was talking and I'll confess that I'm not sure exactly what he was saying right before.... something about not wanting to hurt or upset people... and then he said 'especially not the person I love' and there was a pause during which I was suddenly much more awake and holding my breath, thinking 'does he mean me, or is he about to talk about his mum or something?' and then he kissed my shoulder and whispered 'because I do, you know'.

This has made me feel rather happy :o)

We also had our first sort of fight, which was really only a discussion, in a very gorwn up kind of way and actually seemed like a healthy thing to be doing, so I'm not worried about that. I just got a slight telling off which, thinking about it afterwards, I agree I probably deserved. I guess I'm not perfect after all!! It's still all a bit new to me, this couple stuff - doing it properly anyway.

It is 4 weeks today until I leave for south america. My room is being advertised and it all feels a bit real now. I kind of don't want to go gallivanting off to another continent, with a massive heavy backpack and not knowing anyone again. I feel like I want to say 'ok, that's enough, I made my point, I went off and had my adventure and even found my 'Kiwi prince' along the way. Can I go home yet?'

But I know, it'll be amazing. The tour I'm doing includes a stay in the Amazon Jungle and visiting Machu Picchu. Not something you get to do every day!

And I can officially confirm that Adam is coming to the UK for a holiday -  we're doing Kent, London, Scotland, Barcelona and Vegas on the way home. And I will be accompanying him home for another 12 months here.

Well... you've got to just really go for things sometimes, haven't you? :o)

xxx

Sorry!

I know it's been a while since the last post and I apologise to anyone waiting for one (unlikely though that seems to me!). my family have finally got in on the skype act and so I've been chatting to them with a video camera about 3 times a week and hence the need to post has been less as honestly, I get the feeling that it's mostly just my mum who looks on here :o) Hi mum!!


Also there seems less to say as well. Everything is generally going very well. I had a bit of a freak out and about me and Adam the other day... nothing he did and all about  me reading into things too far, but i had a little chat with my brother and he completely understood what I meant - and also had a good e-mail heart to heart with my friend Lou and that all helped a lot. To be honest I've almost forgotten what it was that set me off!!


It's all very good now, Adam and I are getting on amazingly well and spending almost all the time together at the moment. We've just come back from 5 days in Dunedin for his sister's 40th birthday. It was a lovely party, nice to see his family and very fun to catch up with his friends. Poor Adam had allergies though and felt quite poorly.


Um... the jewellery course is going well. I'm doing lots of enforced cleaning too. The rota here is quite incredible and it's just got more complicated. Here's a photo:

Here are some more photos of Dunedin - the cake, Adam's friends and me plus my lovely boyfriend!

the cake

Adam and his friends Mike and Bob

Adam and me at his sister's 40th

What's pancake day?

It's Pancake Day!

They don't really have it over here. Nor in lots of other countries as it turns out. I never really thought of that, assumed it was a common thing.

I had one savoury pancake with a chicken, pepper and onion cream mixture, and two sweet ones, one with syrup and one with banana and chocolate cream. Yummy!!!

Er.... my stories seem to be drying up :o( Maori lesson number 3 today and I did a good mihi I think (greeting, where I talk about my mountain and my river and things and name all my family and my tribe). Personal training session 11 of 18 tomorrow morning. Day 16 of no smoking today. Hopfully can start the silver jewellery course on Thursday, if the woman running it is better.

Um.... spent the weekend with Adam and his parents, who were visiting. That was nice. Adam is ridiculously busy, poor thing, but anyway, he's doing really well for himself and that's a very exciting thing. Played some pool on Sunday with a new-ish friend. Got beaten 3 times but never mind, he is quite good and I am out of practice!

I've realised I have about 7 weeks left in NZ. It's suddenly starting to go quickly which is strange, but does help with the homesickness, as do the new skype sessions with family who have gotten webcams and microphones installed.

I shall try and think of something interesting to say next time :o)

xxx

Homesick

All I have to say today is this, I think it's a sort of poem:

Homesick, homesick, homesick.

Happy Birthday Lovely Holly. If you're 28 I must be old! :o)

Homesick, homesick, homesick.

Cry. Miss Alfie. Feel awful for abandoning my amazing, gorgeous pussycat.

Chocolate.

Homesick, homesick, homesick.

Lovely boyfriend, thank goodness.

More chocolate.

Homesick.

Sleep. Better in the morning.


xxx

Earthquake...

Hey guys,


Just in case you're worrying having heard the news (if you have!) there was an eqarthquake in Wellington tonight, 4.5, 20 km north of the city, 40km down. I'm fine and actually, although it was the strongest I've felt yet, it wasn't that bad, I don't think the city has any damage. Scary though, we're all a bit jumpy. Glad it wasn't Christchurch again though.

Here are a few photos...

Coromandel - Cathedral Cove

Cathedral Cove - Coromandel

Cathedral Cove - Coromandel

Coromandel

Martinborough vineyard

Rivendell! LOTR

Marinborough national park

Ko Fiona au, No Ranana au.

I am Fiona. I am from London.

There is a bit of Maori for you :o)

I had my second class today and it's getting really hard already. Plus I had my personal training today and I worked harder than ever, I still feel really worn out and it's 8 hours later! But I'm getting better. I incorporated kicking into the boxing moves today, so now I think I can do all the moves as I'm already doing elbows and knees as well as the punching :o)

The jewellery course starts on Thursday and I have an interview for a part-time job tomorrow as well. It's home care for a man who's in a wheel chair, I think he probably has cerebral palsy reading between the lines. It'll just be personal care as well as housework and cooking and whatever else he needs. It should be about 20 hours a week and we can work out a schedule to fit around me, which is good. The money will be about twice my weekly rent, so it'll be good to have that covered plus food and things. Then I can stop spending so much of my savings!

It's also day 9 of no smoking. So I'm feeling kind of happy as well as worn out, I'm keeping busy and getting healthier!

That's all for today, no interesting stories, I'm too tired :o)

xxx

My first mangrove swamp

So, I had a lovely weekend.

I flew to hamilton on Thursday afternoon and we flew past Mount Taranaki, a dormant volcano sticking up through the clouds! I met George for dinner and then drinks afterwards and it was lovely to catch up.

Friday we went to Raglan, which is a pretty little coastal town with a very nice beach. We wandered around the shops and then went back to hamilton for dinner, drinks and some very interesting conversation! George is very intelligent and knows about everything so my knowledge of the Crusades and Inquisition were improved that night :o) Also, we had dinner at an amazing chinese resataurant and had the world's best pork dumplings!

Saturday was Auckland with one of his colleagues at the Uni of Waikato and her husband. We went to a couple of marketsd which were fun, had an amazing lunch at a tiny Mexican place. Then we met up briefly with Adam, who was in Auckland for the Edge film festival, at a forum for people to pitch their documentaries. It has lots of big an important TV people from NZ and Australia. He won best pitch award! This is for his documentary about Kiwi wrestling. He's obviously delighted, he got lots of interest and business cards. I'm really, really happy for him. The evening was a fascinating conversation over wine about science, maths and religion :o)

Sunday was the Coromandel peninsula. We drove nearly all day and got back at 11.30pm. We stopped at a few little towns and the drive there was amazing, it's an utterly beautiful place. We also saw the Cathedral Cove, which is quite an iconic Kiwi place. Photos to follow! Also, can you believe that the Coromandel is sub-tropical and has mangrove swamps?! Amazing...

It was really lovely to see someone from home and catch up on the London gossip. Apart from that, George is great company and I'm very grateful that he took a whole weekend out of his very busy schedule to show me around.

Thanks George!

Tonight I'm going over to Adam's to cook him a celebration dinner.

On a slightly sadder note I suffered a bit of homesickness again today. I think it was a combination of seeing someone from home and then having to say goodbye plus a chat with my mum and Holly this morning, it just set me off a bit. Especailly talking about Alfie and how he'll likely be upset by Holly and Peter moving home. He'll be alright though I expect... I just miss him.

Sorry to have a slight moan! I know, I'm incredibly lucky to be over here living the life I am and I do appreciate it really :o)

xxx

Earthquake

We had another earthquake in Christchurch today at 12.51pm. Here's a link to a story:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/22/earthquake-christchurch-new-zealand

It's all over the news and there seem to be multiple fatalities. It's quite shocking and scary. I felt it actually here, at home, a very slight shaking but unmistakably an earthquake, I could feel the building shaking slightly from side to side. I'm up on the 6th floor.

A bit of punching, a bit of love, some friendship and some wine

Well, I have been lucky enough to have two lovely e-mails from two friends today. I feel quite spoiled!! Thank you very much Helena and Kathy!! It's really wonderful for me to get e-mails and feel unforgotten :o) And a lovely long one from Lou a couple of days ago. What lovely friends I have! Sending me e-mails full of lovely words and compliments and kindnesses :o)

Also, i am seeing George (who I worked with at City) and hopefully Daran too (who I worked with at GenRe and stayed with my first weekend here) this weekend, up in Hamilton. It will be glorious to see some familiar faces!

My weekend was very nice, I went with my flatmates and 2 colleagues of one of them to Martinborough, a wine region north of here. We visited a couple of vineyards, had a picnic and visited a couple of towns. Saturday night was a comedy show with Adam and dinner then some drinks, and Sunday was down to a bar on the waterfront with my flatmates and more drinks in the sun. Hard life, eh? :o)

Other than that I am back to the personal training (he had a week's holiday) and back to the giving up smoking. I am getting very good at doing this now:

jab hook, jab hook, jab hook (duck!), duck, uppercut, uppercut. jab hook, jab hook (block!) block, jab hook jab hook. jab hook, jab hook (elbows and knees!) jab hook elbow elbow knee knee.

You get the idea :o) Turns out I love punching and am quite good at it! Best to keep out of my way in a street fight now I think you'll find :o)

I have my first maori lesson tomorrow night so that will be nice. Hope I meet some nice new people as well.

Oh.... and a little catch up on the romance side of things. Mum is right, this is getting to be a bit of a 'blog of the heart' rather than a travel blog and I apologise in advance for more soppy stuff. You can just stop reading here if you like!

I did the whole I love you thing! I actually said "I think I might be falling in love with you" so as not to scare him too much. I'm not sure it worked to be honest, I think he was a bit scared actually! He said "Oh, Ahhhhhh......(pause....) Yeah me too, a little bit"

He is going to be embarassed if he ever reads this! Bet he'd never think I'm writing about stuff like this (Sorry Adam if you do read this!) but I like sharing :o) Luckily he maintains he's not looked at this blog even once and that's probably a good thing actually!!

I don't mind his response, I think it's kind of funny actually. I'm glad I told him how I feel and I feel really secure and happy in how he feels about me, I know that at the very least he really likes me back. I think he was a bit surprised by it is all. Anyway, it's all fine, I've seen him twice already today for coffee and then dinner (both of which he called me up and invited me out for) and he's invited me over again tonight. So it can't have scared him too much!

Well that's me for today. Goodnight my gorgeous readers. Miss you all heaps :o)

xxx

NEWS no.3

So let me set the scene for you.

I spent yesterday feeling sad and homesick and didn't see or talk to Adam. He offered dinner and for me to come over, as I told him how I was feeling, but I wasn't feeling like good company. So he suggested lunch today.

He picked me up around 12.30pm on his scooter and took me to a pub called the Backbencher, next to parliament. We had a lovely lunch, the food was really good. He asked how I was feeling and we talked about the work he has to do (which is a lot!). I told him about my homesickness, about my thoughts for going home (yesterday I was looking at flights home with the idea of a week back in the UK - the flights started at 1,350 GBP though, which is a lot) and my plans for when my visa runs out (which is still south america in the end and then home). He listened to this last and then said "but then you're coming back here?" I confirmed that I am, as that is my plan at the moment.

And then he said "I've been thinking about something..." and I looked off over to the other side of the pub, trying to look nonchalant becuase my brain was suddenly getting excited, and what I'm thinking or feeling is always written all over my face, and I didn't want him to see me get all excited and then he might have said something like "I really want to get some bedside lamps, what do you think?" and then I've been disappointed and he'd have seen and that would have been awkward.

I didn't know exactly what he was going to say, but I felt sure it was something I would like, something big.

And indeed, he said "I've been thinking about a holiday to the UK, when you're back there. What do you think?"

I cannot think of anything I would rather have happen. I will be missing him like crazy to be honest when I'm back, which may be for a couple of months or more. But even more than that, to be able to introduce him to all my family, and my friends, and my favourite London places (and he also wants to visit Scotland with me as he's never been!) is just the most amazing, happy thing I can think of right now :o)

So, watch this space people. You may yet get to meet the great Adam sooner than you think :o) I mean, it's not for sure... but fingers crossed it'll all work out!

By the way, if you are interested, here are some of his short films (they're good!!) - http://www.youtube.com/user/BoomerNZ