How to jump out of a plane...

1. Just put your name down. If you don't then you'll never do it.

2. Breathe!

3. Get a nice man who knows what he is doing, then attached yourself to him.

4. Constantly remember point 2.

5. Try not to think about it and enjoy.

I had a brilliant time. The paragliding bit of it was my favourite. Still can believe I did it! It went so quickly! On the video, I just look like an alien. Totally unhuman!

Hanging out in Wanaka for a couple of days, gonna visit the Paradiso cinema and then onto Queenstown to find a job and party for my birthday!

FRANZ JOSEF

Franz Josef. A world heritage site, people have been hiking up the glacier for the past 100 years and today I joined that clan. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to hack it physically but if two old biddies from Melbourne can do it, SO CAN I! And I did!

I did the 4 hour hike and the worst part was walking up some steep stone steps to get to the glacier. Totally know how Sam, Frodo and Gollom felt. Up the stairs, precious!

It was beautiful up there. Nature is truly something to awe and really be terrified at!

TO BED NOW!

I truly believe that it is impossible to look attractive while doing activity sports!

Yesterday I went kayaking on Lake Mapourika with Franz Josef in the background. I paddled for 3 k across the Lake (into wind!) and then down a river which has rain forest all around it. Apparently Franz Josef is the one of the only places in the world that has a rain forest climate at the bottom of its glacier! I used to go kayaking alot when I was younger and it was great to get back onto the water. Generally the only time I am on the water is in a boat with my Dad.

To point out the obvious, I was knackered when I got back.

Quick Post!

In the South Island. It is stunning! Went to the pancake rocks today. Amazing!

Glacier walk on Friday to come. May do a skydive on the 3rd....

Pub party tonight. Possible hangover tomorrow....

LOTR in NZ

Went on the LOTR Movie tour today. 8 hour day with some hiking involved. I am shattered.

It was a really interesting trip and I was pleased that the triva I knew already was confirmed by Ted the guide (who has a brother that works at Weta)

Too knacked to go into at the moment so here is a photo of me and two other people on the tour.

Cant you guess which scene we are doing?

Bellydancing weird dream...

Right! I'm off to the South Island on Monday. The land of the mountains! I have had a look at the facebook pictures of the people I have met who have moved onto the South Island already and it looks LUSH! I just know I'm going to be snappy happy! I have contacted around 8 farms and 3 have got back to me. I feel happy that I have seen everything that Wellington has to offer. Been here a month. Time to move on.

But! Before I go I will be going on the Wellington Movie/ Lord of the Ring Tour. CAN NOT WAIT!!!!!!! Plus Ian is moving into the hotel this week so I'll have a drinking buddy for my last couple of days in the land of the wind and the rain.

Had a bit of a weird morning dream (not daydream!) this morning. Details are sketchy at best, but I was on a film set and I was playing the role of a woman who had to get dressed up in bellydancing gear and dance away to save a roman soldier who I think was Vinnie Jones. Afterwards it was like the euphoria after finishing a play and I got this massive hug and it was from Russell Crowe as Maximus.

Bizzare, yes I know!

Wonder what it means...

Not on!

Well this week has been interesting. I work with a girl who is having problems with her partner. What sort of problems? Domestic violence. And last night it came to a head.

They were living together in a private room but the girl had enough and they both moved into the backpacker dorms of the hotel. Last night they both (including myself) were getting tiddly (tried to find some cheap whiskey but had to make do with vodka and coke). Basically while a group of us (including the bloke) were playing cards the girl came to get a cigerette, he wouldn't give them to her so she took them. The force that he pulled her back and grabbed her arm was shocking! Later on in the evening aparently he went on to punch her in the head. WTF!?!? Bouncers got involved but for some reason he is still allowed in the hotel- I would of kicked him out ages ago!

This morning, to show that he 'felt bad' he presented to her a bottle of lemonade.

The mind boggles!

The really distrubing thing about this guy is that he came to apologies to everyone who witnessed the aggression very politly. Scary that he could turn the nice button on and off so easily.


Ladies it is simple, like my Mother told me years ago, if someone is violent to you GET OUT! No second chances. If they can do it once they can do it again!

Let me eat cake...then regret it!

You know when you have the munchies and a McDonalds seems to be a good idea at the time and then afterwards you have the tummy pains to say "Stupid cow". Well I have those, but instead of a McDonalds its a latte and a piece of cake. Really nice cake. Mouth-watering piece of cake. MMMmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Today I decided to move into the Dorm rooms of the Cambridge Hotel because a) I wasn't meeting anyone stuck in my single bedroom on the 1st floor, and b) its gonna be way cheaper!

After talking to my parents recently (and considering some other things that have happened this trip), I have realised something about myself.
I feel safe in my solitude but it also bores me at the same time.
That's probably reason c) for my move into the Backpackers area of the hotel. I need to put myself outside of my comfort zone. My family have been saying that for years, but it is so easy to stay in that bubble.
Hoping to meet people that I can actually do stuff with, instead of seeing things with my ipod in my ears.

Looking forward to next week when Ian (who I work with) moves into the hotel for a couple of days. Going to go out on a pub crawl!!! Hell yeah. Probably a British thing to say but, I feel as though I need to let my hair down and get drunk (sorry Mum and Dad...er...DISCLAIMER: DRINK RESPONSIBLY!)!

Huzzzaaahhh!!!

SUN! But it is still oh so windy! Went for a walk today after work, down to the harbour and there was some brave souls on boats (Dad I think you would be able to hack it!). So many white horses!

Weather surley has been a tricky bugger recently: What with the rain and wind in Wellington, Snow in midland North Island (its suppose to be spring here!). Also in neighbouring countries there has been nothing but natural disasters! And yesterday I felt an Earthquake! Now I felt it in the afternoon and it only lasted like a second. I did have a hard time to determin whether or not it was an Earthquake and not the fridge I was standing by doing that shudder thing fridges do. Apparently at 6ish last night there was a bigger earth grumble but I didn't feel it. Doreen (who is my boss at the hotel) said that she felt and heard it and her dogs went mental.
On the way into Wellington, on the bus, we were told that the last earthquake biggy was in 1840 when the harbour got some reclaimed land from the sea. Wellington is over due it's next biggy...

Also went up to the National War Memorial. Very impressive. There was some information about the Battle of Britain and I didn't realise there were so many Kiwi's that were in the RAF as pilots. Some stayed after the First World War and others joined pilot schemes during the 20's and 30's.

"Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few." Winston Churchill

Just looked on the internet for Winston quotes and he was rather funny!
"You can always count on Americans to do the right thing - after they've tried everything else."

April Showers

I think if I was in England, this weather would be classed as April showers.

Went to the Wellington Museum. It was really good. Running out of internet credit...

Looking at the South Island and I cant help be get excited. Lake Wanaka looks stunning!

Rain

JEEZE! And I thought Manchester was rainy! No wonder it's called Wellington!

Dracula

FINALLY! I finished it!

Don't bother reading it! The films are way better!
Starting on The Portrait of Dorian Gray now...

Changing beds

Apologies, been a strange week, settling into Welly.

Wednesday: Day off work. Ha! I start one day, off the next! Didn’t really have anything to do. I am reluctant to do all the sight seeing stuff in a oner, so I just had a lovely windy walk round the harbour.
That I had a free ticket to see “Where are you my only one” by the Circa theatre. Basically it was about a Russian mail order brides. It was funny and it was a little bit more funnier for the audience because it had a lot of Kiwi humor (helped that it was written by a Kiwi). Had a hard time not to sneeze (Footnote to those who don’t know me: I sneeze, A LOT! I don’t have hay fever I just sneeze. Best thing about it is I always have tissues on me so I’m never caught short!), this was due to the sad fact that with may theatre productions the age of the audience members are generally of the over 50 mark therefore LOTS of really strong perfumes, especially from the woman sat next to me.

Thursday: Work in the morning. In the afternoon my continued effort to finish Bram Stoker’s Dracula…failed! It is really starting to get on my nerves. The way Stoker writes the Van Helsing character is just plain annoying. He just harps on at a point and I find myself yelling at the page “OK!!!! MOVE ON!!!” The best bit of the book so far was the start and Jonathan Harker’s accounts, very graphic and scary.
That night I went to the Embassy cinema- it is where they premiered Lord of the Rings. If anyone could be in love with a building, I am in love with this cinema. It was beautiful. Old fashioned. Tiled in lovely deep navy and emerald green. The film was 500 days of Summer (Katrina: everything that was said in that film, I heard from another source. Must be true for everyone and that totally sucks!). It was a good film, funny, sad but hopeful at the same time. Should really write a more detailed report on my film blog…
After the cinema I went to the bar in the backpackers, drank, and then went to bed. Very rock and roll!

Friday! Work in the morning. The girls at work invited me out for a pub crawl round Wellington. It didn’t pan out as expected. I got ready, got some nice complements from my crazy room mates at the moment (Jen- German and Joséline- Canadian) and then the plan was to meet in the bar at the hotel at 7. I got there about 5 minutes before 7 so I got myself a drink and sat down. Not long after sitting down a nice young chap came over to ask if the chair next to me was free I said “Nope! Go for it!” He smiled and took it and then turned back and said “What you doing tonight” I told him of the plan to go on the pub crawl and he invited me to chat to him and his mate while I waited. I said “Why not!”. I ended up chatting with Rollie (the guy who get the chair and had lovely smile/ laugh), John (loud and didn’t stay long) and Luke (Rollie’s flat mate, half English ex British soldier). They all smoked, sadly but I had really good conversations. With Luke I we talked about history and the armed forces –he brought up the subject. With Rollie he told me about his goals for the future and getting his private pilots license (he flew solo at 16) (Dad, he knows how to fly planes, he doesn’t know the different types)
Anyhow, I ended up staying with them for the night in the pub because the guy who was suppose to show me and the people from the work the pub crawl never showed up they asked me if I fancied going to a different pub. I was having fun with the guys so I said I would stay because “I had work in the morning”. Ended up that me and Rollie exchanged numbers and hopefully I now have some Kiwi drinking buddies. We shall see…

TODAY: GOING TO FINISH DRACULA IF IT’S THE LAST THING I DO!!!!

Tomorrow I move into a private room at the hotel. Whoop! Also I have my first shift as an usher at the Downstage theatre.