An Update (finally)
Well this post has been long overdue. Every time I have something that
I need to put in this journal, something seems to pop up and drag me
away from the net. *grumbles*
The last time I posted was just before my birthday, and I was not feeling terribly well. My ear problem cleared up pretty quickly, and the day before my birthday, me and a friend jumped in the car and drove north to New Plymouth. There, we met up with another friend. Strange enough, all three of us share the same birthday (December 15th). Up there, it was a pretty cool break from the rest of the world. We were out in the in the countryside, sleeping in a housebus. We managed to find a great mineral bathhouse, and all three of us had a good long soak in a mineral spa. The weather was pretty crazy, starting out as sunny, then there were a few showers of rain. Following that the cloud layer dropped to the ground, creating an eerie mist over everything. It was hard to drive in, but it was pretty cool. Dragons followed me around, not that I mind. They were popping up before, during and after my trip. My friend's mother has a massive collection of dragons (and even a few dragon eggs hiding in the forest). One of the dragons seems to have followed me home too. ;)
Not much happened between my birthday and Christmas. I flew up to Auckland and spent some time with my family. Christmas Day was lovely (although it was a little cloudy), and we ended up having a huge barbecue dinner before opening presents. My nephews loved the little radio controlled cars I got them, and were racing them up and down the hallway.
(my parents' new puppy, AJ, enjoyed Christmas too)
Boxing Day was even nicer. Me, my dad, my sister and her family all jumped in the boat and went out fishing. It was the first time I have been out in that boat in a few years. I didn't catch anything, but it was fun just to be out there. I was tempted to jump in and have a swim, but some engine problems forced us to head back a little earlier than we planned. I spent a couple of days in Auckland after Christmas, before heading back to Wellington. I spent New Year's Eve with a bunch of good friends. We drank homemade vodka and let off fireworks. I decided to pitch my tent, and sleep in the back yard. I'm not quite sure why... perhaps I had a little too much to drink. It was fun, and it was nice to wake up in the morning to the sound of rain on the tent (I love that sound, especially when I am warm and dry in a sleeping bag). :)
I had to work the following day, but after that me and three friends (Jane, Frank and Stelle) jumped in a car and left on a road trip of the North Island. I did all of the driving, since I was the only one with a full license, but I didn't mind terribly. It was good to go around and see parts of my country that I had never seen before.
(Our route)
From Wellington we headed up to a little town called Paihiatua in the Manawatu district. There we spent a night at Jane's grandmother's house. Frank and I slept out in my tent. It was pretty cool, and it didn't rain either. The following day we drove to New Plymouth, and stayed at Stelle's mother's place. We had a barbecue with some of Stelle's friends and then went off to the Festival of Lights. After that we settled back and had some homemade strawberry pie (did I mention that Frank is a chef?). It was good sleeping in the housebus again. And I finally got photos of the goat. It is the biggest goat I have ever seen. It seems to like me too. :)
(One big goat... or is that a llama)
The next day we drove to Auckland, stopping past Hamilton on the way. In Auckland we stayed at my parent's place. My parents were still up at the beach house, so we had the place to ourselves. We arrived fairly late so the first night was pretty quiet. We stayed another night and left early the next day after a big breakfast.From Auckland, we drove down to Rotorua and spent a night in a lovely campground next to the lake. Rotorua is a geothermally active area, so we took some time to check out geysers, mudpools and such. That night we did a trip out to a little stream in the middle of nowhere. It is fed by a thermal spring. It was lovely to sit in the warm stream and watch the stars. :)The next day we began the trip home, driving down through Taupo, Napier (where we stopped for lunch) and Hastings. We drove back down through Paihiatua (to visit Jane's grandmother again) and then back down to Wellington.The good weather followed us around everywhere, with only a little cloud and a slight shower when we were in Rotorua. It turns out the rest of the country had pretty horrible weather. There were some rather large floods around the Wellington region. I think someone was smiling down on us during that trip.
Work has been pretty constant since I returned, with all the planning and preparation for the next two shows I am designing. They should be fun, although one is proving to be a whole lot more work than I was expecting. On top of that I have been working on the Summer City Festival at the Botanical Gardens, which has been a lot of fun. I have operated some lovely shows with good turnout to all of them (around 2,000 people for each show).Last weekend I drove to Auckland. I drove all night to get there and arrived at 7:30am, after getting a only couple of hours sleep I was woken by my mother saying I had to go to my sister's place to help her move out becase my brother-in-law had to fly out of the country on an emergency. Why she couldn't have called in movers, I'll never know. It was pretty hard, and I wasn't terribly happy about it. The following night me and my friend Sally went to see Cirque du Soleil. Quidam is only in Auckland for a month and I could hardly miss going. It was the real reason I went up to Auckland. I booked my tickets the night before, and thought that I would get pretty lousy seats. That ok. But when I turned up at the venue, I found that we had front row seats. The show was incredible, especially feeling like we were in the middle of everything. The next day wasn't so good. I ended up having to go to the rescue of a good friend of mine. She was in a lot of trouble. Her ex-husband threatened to kill her, in front of her kids, for some stupid misunderstanding over money. He really flipped out and she had to go into hiding from him. It was really an unpleasant situation which hasn't completely blown over now.Then, just before I left, I found out that my sister hasn't found a home for her cat. My sister and her family are leaving the country in a week, and they were not planning on taking their cat, Pepper, with them. Pepper is a lovely cat, so I said I would take her. The drive back to Wellington was pretty good.
(Sheep on the main National Highway - only in New Zealand) ;)
After the first hour, Pepper settled down and sat quietly until we arrived. She is now hiding under my bed. She has been out over the last few nights, exploring my apartment. I'm a little worried, since Pepper was an outside cat, but I think she will settle in nicely after a couple of weeks. I finally have a cat. Yay! :)
Well, that is all I have for now. A lot has happened since I last posted. If you are still reading at the end of all of that, thank you. I'll try to keep posts a little more regular in the future. :)
The last time I posted was just before my birthday, and I was not feeling terribly well. My ear problem cleared up pretty quickly, and the day before my birthday, me and a friend jumped in the car and drove north to New Plymouth. There, we met up with another friend. Strange enough, all three of us share the same birthday (December 15th). Up there, it was a pretty cool break from the rest of the world. We were out in the in the countryside, sleeping in a housebus. We managed to find a great mineral bathhouse, and all three of us had a good long soak in a mineral spa. The weather was pretty crazy, starting out as sunny, then there were a few showers of rain. Following that the cloud layer dropped to the ground, creating an eerie mist over everything. It was hard to drive in, but it was pretty cool. Dragons followed me around, not that I mind. They were popping up before, during and after my trip. My friend's mother has a massive collection of dragons (and even a few dragon eggs hiding in the forest). One of the dragons seems to have followed me home too. ;)
Not much happened between my birthday and Christmas. I flew up to Auckland and spent some time with my family. Christmas Day was lovely (although it was a little cloudy), and we ended up having a huge barbecue dinner before opening presents. My nephews loved the little radio controlled cars I got them, and were racing them up and down the hallway.
(my parents' new puppy, AJ, enjoyed Christmas too)
Boxing Day was even nicer. Me, my dad, my sister and her family all jumped in the boat and went out fishing. It was the first time I have been out in that boat in a few years. I didn't catch anything, but it was fun just to be out there. I was tempted to jump in and have a swim, but some engine problems forced us to head back a little earlier than we planned. I spent a couple of days in Auckland after Christmas, before heading back to Wellington. I spent New Year's Eve with a bunch of good friends. We drank homemade vodka and let off fireworks. I decided to pitch my tent, and sleep in the back yard. I'm not quite sure why... perhaps I had a little too much to drink. It was fun, and it was nice to wake up in the morning to the sound of rain on the tent (I love that sound, especially when I am warm and dry in a sleeping bag). :)
I had to work the following day, but after that me and three friends (Jane, Frank and Stelle) jumped in a car and left on a road trip of the North Island. I did all of the driving, since I was the only one with a full license, but I didn't mind terribly. It was good to go around and see parts of my country that I had never seen before.
(Our route)
From Wellington we headed up to a little town called Paihiatua in the Manawatu district. There we spent a night at Jane's grandmother's house. Frank and I slept out in my tent. It was pretty cool, and it didn't rain either. The following day we drove to New Plymouth, and stayed at Stelle's mother's place. We had a barbecue with some of Stelle's friends and then went off to the Festival of Lights. After that we settled back and had some homemade strawberry pie (did I mention that Frank is a chef?). It was good sleeping in the housebus again. And I finally got photos of the goat. It is the biggest goat I have ever seen. It seems to like me too. :)
(One big goat... or is that a llama)
The next day we drove to Auckland, stopping past Hamilton on the way. In Auckland we stayed at my parent's place. My parents were still up at the beach house, so we had the place to ourselves. We arrived fairly late so the first night was pretty quiet. We stayed another night and left early the next day after a big breakfast.From Auckland, we drove down to Rotorua and spent a night in a lovely campground next to the lake. Rotorua is a geothermally active area, so we took some time to check out geysers, mudpools and such. That night we did a trip out to a little stream in the middle of nowhere. It is fed by a thermal spring. It was lovely to sit in the warm stream and watch the stars. :)The next day we began the trip home, driving down through Taupo, Napier (where we stopped for lunch) and Hastings. We drove back down through Paihiatua (to visit Jane's grandmother again) and then back down to Wellington.The good weather followed us around everywhere, with only a little cloud and a slight shower when we were in Rotorua. It turns out the rest of the country had pretty horrible weather. There were some rather large floods around the Wellington region. I think someone was smiling down on us during that trip.
Work has been pretty constant since I returned, with all the planning and preparation for the next two shows I am designing. They should be fun, although one is proving to be a whole lot more work than I was expecting. On top of that I have been working on the Summer City Festival at the Botanical Gardens, which has been a lot of fun. I have operated some lovely shows with good turnout to all of them (around 2,000 people for each show).Last weekend I drove to Auckland. I drove all night to get there and arrived at 7:30am, after getting a only couple of hours sleep I was woken by my mother saying I had to go to my sister's place to help her move out becase my brother-in-law had to fly out of the country on an emergency. Why she couldn't have called in movers, I'll never know. It was pretty hard, and I wasn't terribly happy about it. The following night me and my friend Sally went to see Cirque du Soleil. Quidam is only in Auckland for a month and I could hardly miss going. It was the real reason I went up to Auckland. I booked my tickets the night before, and thought that I would get pretty lousy seats. That ok. But when I turned up at the venue, I found that we had front row seats. The show was incredible, especially feeling like we were in the middle of everything. The next day wasn't so good. I ended up having to go to the rescue of a good friend of mine. She was in a lot of trouble. Her ex-husband threatened to kill her, in front of her kids, for some stupid misunderstanding over money. He really flipped out and she had to go into hiding from him. It was really an unpleasant situation which hasn't completely blown over now.Then, just before I left, I found out that my sister hasn't found a home for her cat. My sister and her family are leaving the country in a week, and they were not planning on taking their cat, Pepper, with them. Pepper is a lovely cat, so I said I would take her. The drive back to Wellington was pretty good.
(Sheep on the main National Highway - only in New Zealand) ;)
After the first hour, Pepper settled down and sat quietly until we arrived. She is now hiding under my bed. She has been out over the last few nights, exploring my apartment. I'm a little worried, since Pepper was an outside cat, but I think she will settle in nicely after a couple of weeks. I finally have a cat. Yay! :)
Well, that is all I have for now. A lot has happened since I last posted. If you are still reading at the end of all of that, thank you. I'll try to keep posts a little more regular in the future. :)