Simply Friends: The Catch Up

Ok so where to start?, where to start? hummmm ok so the last time I posted was in July that was just before I finished up work in Sydney. I finished up on the 17th July & then hence had no internet except going to internet cafe so I tended to just check emails & that when I was there so no blogging for a bit.

So the week after we finished work, we filled out all the forms & did medicals & x-rays & all that malarky & went & had them in to the NZ immigration office in Sydney & yipee we got them. SOoooooooo the next thing we had to start organising to move & look up shipping companies & hand in our notice for our apt & all that. More madness & here I was thinking Iwas getting a break from it hahaha. But it was good progressive madness so much better.

Back in April we had booked a ski trip with friends of ours to Queenstown, NZ for 14th Aug so when all the visa happened we decided rather than spending extra on flights we'd try to combine it all & be there by 14th & go to Auckland from Queenstown at the end of our skiing week. Yeah so literally the week after finishing work sorted visa, the week after started cleaning & packing, that took bout 2 weeks, as well as organising all the customs & shipping stuff so our stuff would arrive when we got there. Then spent few days meeting up with people to say goodbyes & that then the final week we decided to get our stuff shipped on the wed of that week so it won't be all panic the last few days. We were leaving the Friday so we booked to stay in a hotel the last two days in Sydney & our friends who we were going skiing with came up the Thurs so it was nice & relaxed then. But to get to there was fun. Not only did we have to pack but we had to pack for a holiday plus & few bits to do us when we first got to Auckland in case our stuff got delayed & also try not go over our baggage weight allowance. Fun Fun Fun. But we got there & apart from a small delay we got out of our apt & had final inspection & got our bond(deposit) back which was good. I was a bit worried as its harder to chase up when you're not in the country.

So we flew to Christchurch, NZ on 14th Aug (still can't believe it was less than a month since finishing up work & making the decision to move) & we stayed the night there with friends of the people we went with. Then we hired a car & drove to Queenstown & got settled into our 'home' for the next week anyway. http://www.camp.co.nz/, really nice place, we enjoyed it. We got one of the self contained units so we could cook ourselves & that.

We ended up going to get fitted for our boots & boards that night as well to save time the next day & we got our life passes & that. We all had decided to go snow boarding instead of skiing. I'd never done either so it didn't bother me, S had gone snow boarding before & defo wanted to do it again & the other couple we were with had skied loads so wanted to try something new.

So started a week of lots & lots of snow, I have to say I don't think I've ever seem so much but it was really beautiful up there. This was the view from the mountain, Coronet Peak was the one we went to, there were a few you could go to. Oh yeah and not to forget a week full of pain..... being a beginner the first few days I spent more time on my ass the upright yes feel free to laugh cos its very very true. I'd do the whole getting up really slowly & I'd just be vertical & boom down again ahhhhhhh even thinking about it now, it was so frustrating but apparently thats the hardest bit to master but man was I frustrated until I got it sorted that I could get up all by myself. & if the snow was hard it was SO NOT FUN. Every evening we'd all be sore from using muscles we rarely used but it was nice to fall into bed & sleep really deeply from the exertion. So the week went on, we got lessons as well so we were all improving the others having done snow sports before were miles ahead of me but I'd didn't mind as as soon as I was able to stay upright I was happy doing the easier runs. Although that being said I fell every time I got off the ski life at the

top of the run, bar once I fell EVERY time. haha. This is a picture of the ski lift. Actually going up that thing was pretty scary, I forgotten that. Anyway the evenings were nice, we took turns with eating out & cooking & eating in, it was nice & laid back. We all got a massage closer to the end of the week cos man we needed it. We went for walks around the town, I have to say I really like Queenstown a lot.

Oh yeah I nearly forgot one of days we took off from snowboarding cos really I was just in too much pain from falling in the same place the whole time so we went up the gondola that they have there that was pretty cool straight up the side of the mountain

& had a really nice lunch up at the restaurant at the top & then on the spur of the moment decided to go paragliding down. Was pretty to cool, basically flew out over the town. Fun.

This was the view looking out the gondola on the way up...