Hi!
Well. Sunday evening. A very, very windy Sunday evening. As the locals would say, "it's windy enough to blow the dog off it's chain!". Heh heh, they have the silliest sayings sometimes. But there are a few strong birds out there chattering away as they cling to their branches for dear life. I hear lots more Lorikeets than usual, hopefully that means Spring really is here?! What was the saying, 'in like a lion, out like a lamb'? Hmmm. Well it's certainly been windy over these last couple of days, which doesn't bother me too much, some people it makes them crazy, and I never understood that..... Hmmm. Anyways, missed last Sunday, but there was good reason for that (Adventure!), but we're here now with a sunny yet breezy evening, got the strange show-tunes radio show, tho thankfully for only 3 more minutes until the way cool groovy jazz tunes radio show takes over, got the cool glass of stand-by white wine, life is good!
So, work. Yep, is pretty good. It's soooo nice to have so much work to do and be able to help a whole group of people. They like me and my work so much that they want to keep me permanently (I feel like a puppy)! I'd love to stay with them but they'll have to get past my Boss first and I don't like their chances. Why let me go to another team that actually needs me when I can stay and die of boredom in his department? Hmmm. We'll see what happens. Am not holding my breath. Ok, maybe one or two breaths, but not all of them.
And speaking of breath, I went and did all my Immigration health checks for my permanent residency application requirements (that work wants me to get so badly). That was interesting in a "this is what it kinda must've been like on Ellis Island in a way" kinda way. They sure get you through there in one shot - first chest x-rays (looking for TB), then blood tests, then eyes, height, weight, pee, etc., with the last stop being the doctor to check your heart, ears, throat, blood pressure, reflexes, etc. All that took an hour and a half and boy you were shuttled through pretty quickly that whole time. So hopefully that's all for me, now I just have to hope work follows through on their end of the bargain.... Fingers crossed. Will keep you posted.
And then there were the weekends. Well. Last weekend Adventure was had and it was loads of fun! Went with my friend Dave to Wellington, New Zealand from first thing Friday until last thing Sunday. We primarily went over because he had tickets to the US vs. Australia Rugby World Cup match and even tho we lost 66 to 5 (we knew that was gonna happen), it was lots and lots of fun. Such a neat, buzzy atmosphere. No fights, no nothing like that. It was just a friendly, fun spot to be for a few hours. After the match (which we left early when the score was still 55 to 5) we wandered into town, which isn't far from the stadium at all, perhaps a 15 minute walk, where we met the friends of his, Nick and Sally who live there and who we stayed with, at a really nice, cozy and warm pub. It was so nice and warm in there I struggled to stay awake. Wellington is notorious for being windy, rainy and really cold, but that Friday and Saturday we had fantastic, sunny and bright, yet slightly chilly, weather. But still, after hours in it we were tired and dying to be warm. Heh heh, I even had a glass of mulled wine, which kind of made me laugh because in Brisbane just the weekend before it was 85 degrees and I was in shorts and a tank top, and yet a week later I was in layers drinking mulled wine! And It's only a 2&1/2 hour flight away! Funny weather.
Anyways. Saturday we were up too early so we could catch the first ferry (the Interislander ferry called 'Kaitaki', to be exact) from Wellington to Picton on the top of the South Island. Seeing as you can see and swim from one island to the other (tho you'd be brave with those currents) the ferry ride takes around 3 hours (it even has a cinema! A cinema on a ferry! Amazing!), mainly because of the speed restrictions in the Queen Charlotte Sound, which you have to snake your way through before getting to Picton. But it was a lovely ferry ride with no problems. Apparently, like the notoriously bad weather in Wellington, the bad weather can extend to the ferry ride with high, high seas, rolling and pitching with barf bags in frantic demand. Thankfully we had no need of barf bags for either the trip over or retuning. Whew! So once in Picton we had a quick wander around town (easy to do as it's so small), tho we did stop in and scope out their Eco World Aquarium/Cinema... we bypassed the cinema to go have a look in the aquarium (it's all in the one little building - you could go left to the aquarium or right to the cinema), with the promise of seeing their local pet penguin. Apparently they trot out the little penguin only once a day for it's feeding at a time we couldn't make it to. Bummer. And as for the aquarium, well, I'll just be kind and say they really need some volunteers who know what they're doing to give it the facelift and kick in the pants it's desperate for.
That mini-Adventure had, we wandered across the little park and street to check in to our winery tour operators, Sounds Connections, for our half-day tour of a range of 4 vineyards around the Marlborough wine country. It was awesome! We took in 4 wineries ranging in size from big to boutique: Hunters, Forrest Wines, Drylands and Nautilus Estate, ending with a stop at the boutique chocolate factory Makana Confections. But boy, all the big NZ wine guns are all situated in that same area, which is interesting because you'd think they'd be miiiiiiiiiiles apart from one another. Nope, right next door to each other. It must just be the soil in that one square area must be perfect. It was a fantastic day and the kind of thing you could do over and over again, see so many different wineries and have lots of different experiences. I can highly recommend it! If you come over and we have the time, we're totally going!
Afterwards we had another 3 hour ferry ride back to Wellington (on the smaller Arahura ferry this time), but this time there was the All Blacks vs. France rugby world cup match to watch, so we packed into the little bar on the ferry and had a good yell at the screen along with everyone else. Even tho, secretly, I really wanted France to win for some reason... don't tell the locals (NZ beat the snot out of them anyways, like they usually do).
The next day, Sunday, we had a much needed sleep-in. Well, I know I needed it. Once we were all finally organized, and realized the weather had taken a turn for its rainiest and chilliest worst, Nick made us the most amazing pancake breakfast I've ever had outside of Ihop, which just made me even more reluctant to leave their lovely hospitality! But leave we had to, with Nick and Sally driving us into town where we had a quick look through the Te Papa museum (NZ should be proud of that museum - it's amazingly good. Again, highly recommend it), before wandering through a really pretty good indoor artisans market (can't remember the name) and then we were off to the airport for our trip home. While at the airport we happened to arrive at the same time the All Blacks were arriving home from the game the night before in Auckland (where they cleaned the floor with France). Of course, being the All Blacks, one of the best rugby teams on the planet, not only do they have their own liveried Boeing 737, they were presented with a huuuuge welcome home Haka, followed by a lovely Maori song, another quick Haka and then finally parading through to excited and proud cheers. It was actually kinda neat. The kind of welcome home I'd like to get now and then......... And then, after a 3 hour layover in Sydney, we were back in Brisbane! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh, it was an absolutely fantastic weekend and Nick and Sally couldn't have been nicer. They even had a pup and a few cats just to add to the homeliness. What a good time it was. And so quick and easy from Brisbane! Will totally plan another weekend and wine tours!
And then it was back to reality and a fairly quiet yet productive weekend. I have another "Home Invasion" ('inspection', by not only the real estate agent, but the owner too, again. Sheesh.) this coming Tuesday (which I have to waste a day off to be able to supervise), so this weekend was spent tidying and even spot-painting, something I haven't done in ages. Not that it needed it, all I can say is it must be spring fever and a burning need to clean everything. And speaking of cleaning like a demon, I've also managed to become a newly dab hand at this whole eBay thing! So far I've managed to sell a whopping 3 things! Yahooooo! So far I've sold that beast of an air-conditioning unit (which wasn't mine so I had to give the money to the gal who gave it to me in the first place. Shame, but there it is), an end-table that was nice but not me, and my stupid $45 Tupperware ice-cube trays! Hooray! So yesterday, after the first round of chores, I got on and listed 4 more things - my chaise longue (the add-on bit to the couch) that I never sit on and takes up much needed living-room real estate, my 2 big bookshelves, 3 mirrors that I've grown sick of looking at, and my TV stand. This is all about getting rid of stuff and consolidating. I have a cunning plan to sell all this and buy a nice, one unit bookshelfy entertainment centery thing from Ikea. And yes, it's made out of wood (remember, with Ikea, you get what you pay for, so spend a bit more and get it made out of real wood - imagine that!). But first I have to get rid of the stuff that's here to make way for the new stuff. And those auctions end next weekend, so this should be interesting........! Hooray for a change in home furnishings and turning a buck while I do it! Will keep you posted!
And that is about it. Whew! Been busy that's for sure - hooray! So there you have it. I hope you're all well up there and are finally convinced that you should come down here for a visit. See, there're allllll kinds of things to do thisaway!!!!! So c'mon down!
BYE!
J!
J!
P.S. Total problems again with the layout of the photos. I got too mad to finish. Will give it another go tomorrow night. It's not me, it's the new blog template stuff. It's really pissing me off. Apologies for how dumb it looks.
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