Returning Home
This is the end of things in New Zealand and I'm not even typing it while in New Zealand... I'm home.
I can't decide if I'm tired or sad or just... surviving at the moment.
Despite the weather providing me with only one day of sunshine, I did have a very good time in Wellington and New Zealand in general.
I went and saw the zoo on a fabulous warm and sunny day. We wandered from place to place. The birds were fabulous - so many of them and so many unusual varieties. It was a good day for walking around the zoo. The air was cold and crisp, but with the sun out you hardly even noticed. I even managed to get quite a few pictures and really had a lot of fun with the camera. We got some really neat views of Wellington from the top of the zoo. Amazing to realise the whole city has been built into the hills above the bay. It also makes you realise what kinds of tragedy must have occurred in terms of the removal of the forest that would have covered the land.
Then we had a really fun girls night with lots of Orla's friends over and really just a of laughter and chocolate. Very fun night. *g*
On Monday I did a whole lot of shopping. My son is FAR too easy to buy for and part of the problem was just that I really missed him. It was a day of wandering up and down streets, into all kinds of stores and places. Had a delicious lunch with Orla at a really neat little noodle shop. I had thought of going up to the Botanical Gardens but it was beginning to bucket down with rain so I figured I'd give it a miss.
Tuesday I got up and went down into Wellington. I went to the cable car area and took that up to the heights of Wellington and toured the Botanical Gardens from top to bottom. It was definitely amazing. You really had a chance to just enjoy the quiet as well as some amazing views of the city from where you were. Plus it was an excellent way to really have a view of what the area would have been like completely forested. It really is just a terrible shame to think of the amount of destruction done by the English in the name of 'settling'. They burned down or cut down nearly 90% of the natural forest on the two islands. It's no wonder that now NZers are fiercely protective of their islands and what they refuse to allow in or out. Really the gardens were amazing and so peaceful. It wasn't too rainy either so I was able to wander up and down for a good long time before feeling like I needed something warm or I was going to go completely popsicle.
We went and had dinner at a great Japanese resturant that night and then went and saw Transformers which was excellent. That made for three movies seen in that trip - Nancy Drew, Fantastic Four: Silver Surfer and Transformers. Transformers was the best of the three though F4 had the prettiest people to look at. *g*
The flight was uneventful to Auckland - not even horridly turbulant as most of the internal flights were. For my money as well, Air New Zealand has some of the nicest attendants and really they care for the passengers so nicely and offer a lot in comparison to the idiots in America. And the security in Wellington allowed me to carry through my bottle of Diet Coke - BONUS! I dorked around in the airport at Auckland for a long time and managed to find a t-shirt that I did like for a change. I purchased that and that was about it.
The worst thing that happened was I had somehow managed to drop my passport after coming through the security checkpoint. Talk about five minutes of complete and total panic! Luckily the security people had it and I noticed it only a couple of minutes after I had dropped it, but still it was a scary time when I didn't realise where it was. Thankfully it was quickly sorted and the security people were very nice about the whole thing.
Like most of my other flights, this one managed to board late and take off late. Best part though? A flight that wasn't full and an empty seat between myself and the person at the window. Made for a nice chance to sleep and relax without having someone next to me. I had a nice dinner on the plane and watched an Ioan Grufford movie - Amazing Grace. It was really good. Very well acted and an interesting story. The man does period dress like no one else. Then I took two tylonel pm and was knocked out until the breakfast call. It must have been a good seven solid hours of sleep where I was just out. It's rare enough for me to be able to sleep on the plane and sleep solidly? That's even more rare.
I got to San fran and then had something to eat after all the mess of rechecking my bag and getting a new boarding pass. I tried to get on an earlier flight to MSP but couldn't manage it. So I waited around the airport since after that hassle I only had two or three hours left and I was worried about getting out and about and not getting back in time. It was a good thing I didn't though because I was still rather tired and passed out in the waiting area of the airport! I've never been that tired to sleep in the airport lounge, but I literally couldn't help it. I just passed out - seriously weird.
So after sleeping for what seemed like ages and ages, I got on the plane to MSP. Everything there went fine except for people thinking there was something wrong with me because I was so antsy that I couldn't sit still in the slightest - anywhere! So I finally got in and they unloaded all the bags from the plane and mine wasn't there. Needless to say I was ANNOYED about it. I ended up having to find an agent (scare at 11 in the evening) and then found out my bag had come in from San Fran on the EARLIER flight. So room for the bag but not for me?! Bah. Another piece of annoyance. I managed to get out and get home.
Home it is.
The cat clearly missed me like crazy. He was nuts when I got home. He immediately followed me around, meowing like crazy. He just wanted to be loved over and over and petted and cuddled and certainly know that I wasn't going anywhere ever again. *g* He even slept right on top of me which is unusual for Ramses because he tends to like his space. He's hardly left my lap all day as well.
I did the grocery shopping which was a hideous total since I had cleaned out everything. I got K from D and K was ever so happy to be home and we played games all the way back, counting cars and colors and the like. Very much fun. He's settled into bed after a nice bath and reading his new books.
I'm going to have a shower and head to bed. I'm beat now. I'm still working on setting up my computer, but I think its going to have wait until tomorrow.
And if there's something you posted from the 26th June to July 12th and want me to read it, hey, let me know.
I can't decide if I'm tired or sad or just... surviving at the moment.
Despite the weather providing me with only one day of sunshine, I did have a very good time in Wellington and New Zealand in general.
I went and saw the zoo on a fabulous warm and sunny day. We wandered from place to place. The birds were fabulous - so many of them and so many unusual varieties. It was a good day for walking around the zoo. The air was cold and crisp, but with the sun out you hardly even noticed. I even managed to get quite a few pictures and really had a lot of fun with the camera. We got some really neat views of Wellington from the top of the zoo. Amazing to realise the whole city has been built into the hills above the bay. It also makes you realise what kinds of tragedy must have occurred in terms of the removal of the forest that would have covered the land.
Then we had a really fun girls night with lots of Orla's friends over and really just a of laughter and chocolate. Very fun night. *g*
On Monday I did a whole lot of shopping. My son is FAR too easy to buy for and part of the problem was just that I really missed him. It was a day of wandering up and down streets, into all kinds of stores and places. Had a delicious lunch with Orla at a really neat little noodle shop. I had thought of going up to the Botanical Gardens but it was beginning to bucket down with rain so I figured I'd give it a miss.
Tuesday I got up and went down into Wellington. I went to the cable car area and took that up to the heights of Wellington and toured the Botanical Gardens from top to bottom. It was definitely amazing. You really had a chance to just enjoy the quiet as well as some amazing views of the city from where you were. Plus it was an excellent way to really have a view of what the area would have been like completely forested. It really is just a terrible shame to think of the amount of destruction done by the English in the name of 'settling'. They burned down or cut down nearly 90% of the natural forest on the two islands. It's no wonder that now NZers are fiercely protective of their islands and what they refuse to allow in or out. Really the gardens were amazing and so peaceful. It wasn't too rainy either so I was able to wander up and down for a good long time before feeling like I needed something warm or I was going to go completely popsicle.
We went and had dinner at a great Japanese resturant that night and then went and saw Transformers which was excellent. That made for three movies seen in that trip - Nancy Drew, Fantastic Four: Silver Surfer and Transformers. Transformers was the best of the three though F4 had the prettiest people to look at. *g*
The flight was uneventful to Auckland - not even horridly turbulant as most of the internal flights were. For my money as well, Air New Zealand has some of the nicest attendants and really they care for the passengers so nicely and offer a lot in comparison to the idiots in America. And the security in Wellington allowed me to carry through my bottle of Diet Coke - BONUS! I dorked around in the airport at Auckland for a long time and managed to find a t-shirt that I did like for a change. I purchased that and that was about it.
The worst thing that happened was I had somehow managed to drop my passport after coming through the security checkpoint. Talk about five minutes of complete and total panic! Luckily the security people had it and I noticed it only a couple of minutes after I had dropped it, but still it was a scary time when I didn't realise where it was. Thankfully it was quickly sorted and the security people were very nice about the whole thing.
Like most of my other flights, this one managed to board late and take off late. Best part though? A flight that wasn't full and an empty seat between myself and the person at the window. Made for a nice chance to sleep and relax without having someone next to me. I had a nice dinner on the plane and watched an Ioan Grufford movie - Amazing Grace. It was really good. Very well acted and an interesting story. The man does period dress like no one else. Then I took two tylonel pm and was knocked out until the breakfast call. It must have been a good seven solid hours of sleep where I was just out. It's rare enough for me to be able to sleep on the plane and sleep solidly? That's even more rare.
I got to San fran and then had something to eat after all the mess of rechecking my bag and getting a new boarding pass. I tried to get on an earlier flight to MSP but couldn't manage it. So I waited around the airport since after that hassle I only had two or three hours left and I was worried about getting out and about and not getting back in time. It was a good thing I didn't though because I was still rather tired and passed out in the waiting area of the airport! I've never been that tired to sleep in the airport lounge, but I literally couldn't help it. I just passed out - seriously weird.
So after sleeping for what seemed like ages and ages, I got on the plane to MSP. Everything there went fine except for people thinking there was something wrong with me because I was so antsy that I couldn't sit still in the slightest - anywhere! So I finally got in and they unloaded all the bags from the plane and mine wasn't there. Needless to say I was ANNOYED about it. I ended up having to find an agent (scare at 11 in the evening) and then found out my bag had come in from San Fran on the EARLIER flight. So room for the bag but not for me?! Bah. Another piece of annoyance. I managed to get out and get home.
Home it is.
The cat clearly missed me like crazy. He was nuts when I got home. He immediately followed me around, meowing like crazy. He just wanted to be loved over and over and petted and cuddled and certainly know that I wasn't going anywhere ever again. *g* He even slept right on top of me which is unusual for Ramses because he tends to like his space. He's hardly left my lap all day as well.
I did the grocery shopping which was a hideous total since I had cleaned out everything. I got K from D and K was ever so happy to be home and we played games all the way back, counting cars and colors and the like. Very much fun. He's settled into bed after a nice bath and reading his new books.
I'm going to have a shower and head to bed. I'm beat now. I'm still working on setting up my computer, but I think its going to have wait until tomorrow.
And if there's something you posted from the 26th June to July 12th and want me to read it, hey, let me know.