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...









& this was the view behind us going up the mountain. Cool huh?



This was the view from above &


me coming into land.



A good time was had by all.


Ok I really need some lunch so I'll go do that then be back for part 2 of the catch up :oD

WOW 2009

Ok I've said it before & i"ll say it again(probably another 10 million times but hey!!) where the hell is the time going???????? Anyone, anyone??

I just checked & my last blog was 28th Nov, it SOOOO does not feel that long ago.

But anyhoooooooo as they say in the films.........I"M baaaacccccckkkkkk :oD

ok bit of a catch up. December sort of went by in a bit of a blur which I'm saying way to often for my liking. But as the other girl in work was let go at beginning of Nov, Dec was the first month of doing all 3 jobs myself!! Crazy had a bit of a meltdown at one stage but that was to be expected I suppose, a body can only take so much. I then did the two exams I'd been cramming for. I was supposed to have been off the Fri before on study leave but ended up having to go into work to finish all the reports etc which was a bit of a bummer. So the exams were on the mon & tue(8th&9th), i think they wenk ok but I wish I'd had about a week off before to study more & just be bit more focused. I wasn't in exam mode. I didn't get one finished completely as I just ran out of time so if anything that may trip me up but the results aren't until Feb so I'll just forget them until then.

The rest of Dec was bit better was so relieved to have exams over & just had to worry about work. We had a really nice Christmas party in work & that helped to relax everyone a bit. We finished up work on 24th with a half day which was nice. S finished on 17th I was so jealous :o)

Then we headed down to Canberra where we were spending Christmas with out friends down there. Traffic was pretty crap but got there about 9pm so it was grand to chill out & catch up. I actually had a really nice Christmas this year. We got up earlyish, opened one present each then we went for a walk up the mountain that's near their apt. It was a lovely day & already really hot. K brought her bagpipes with her to practice up the mountain as you can imagine they're pretty loud so she doesn't often get to practice at home. She's really good she'd just bought a new set & was getting the feel of them. They're really nice ones. She's played for years but hasn't in awhile so wanted to get back up to speed. She's joined the local pipe band. Anyway so we came back & got all our stuff together & headed out to the lake. We had a BBQ beside the lake there for our Christmas dinner, it was yummy. I had even brought down with me a few of the tomatoes i grew, they were SO tasty I can't believe the difference in flavour between mine & store bought ones.!!

We headed back to their place & opened all the prezzies so that was good fun. My main prezzie was a photo printer so played with that for awhile. Everyone was busy with different family calls home etc. then we settled down with the game cranium, it was absolutely hilarious i haven't laughed so much in AGES. Its sort of a mix between pictionary, scrabble & trivial pursuit.....so much fun & of course add drink & it gets even funnier :o) Really nice relaxing Christmas.

St Stephens day we chilled out & went for walk the other side of Canberre & went to the cinema to see the new Keanu Reeves film..was ok.

Saturday we headed to the DZ in picton for the weekend. It was so hot there, I decided not to jump. But i wanted to practice my sports photography so my friends there who were swooping, i took action shots of them, was really good fun & good practice. Lots of food & drink later & pretty much the same sunday.

Monday back home to a bit of quiet for one day that is, it was nice to just chill together.

Tue our friends from Canberra came up to Sydney, we did shopping, walks around Sydney, ate lots again, went to the zoo & then New Year eve we went to the park near us to watch the firework off Sydney Harbour Bridge they were pretty amazing. They left on New years day as K had to work. I ended up having to work on the Fri too :o( even though i wasn't supposed to be back until 5th. oh well. I got a call leter on on Fri from friends from home they were in Sydney & wanted to meet up, so met up with them at the rocks, near circular key & S came after & caught up & had food & drinks. We caught up with them on Sunday too they came to our apt for a bbq, was really nice catching up with them. I hadn't seen either of them for about 3 years. So that was really cool. S & I went exploring around botany bay, south of Sydney on the weekend too, was so nice.

Then back to work 5th, that was SO hard, believe me I was praying to win the lotto although I'd have to do the lotto first in order to win but you understand the sentiment :oD

It was such a busy weekend last week as even if I'm off the work still needs to be caught up with so pure madness again. It was my birthday last wed so S treated me to a weekend away, we both managed to get half days on Fri & we headed down to Jervis Bay about 3 hours south of Sydney. It was so nice there, real seaside, summer holiday feel to it. I really liked it. It supposed to have some of the whitest beaches in the world. They were fab. Again ate & drank too much, we went walking in the National park there, Booderee National Park & we went snorkeling off the rocks at Murrays beach. Got bit sunburnt too, d'oh even with suncream on. Although it was cooler than Sydney it was still about 24oC. But it was breezy so you don't feel yourself burning, normally I do. I collected a whole load of really cool shells too when we went exploring. All in all I had a really good weekend.

So back to work today, boo & I actually did go out & do the lotto this afternoon hahhaa. Who knows i may be able to have a weekend like that everyday :oD one can only hope.

Anyway hope haven't bored to all to tears but I had a lot to catch up on & I'm hoping, well its one of my new year resolutions to get better at keeping up my blogging. Its so nice to have a record of things I've done or places I've been etc.

Anyway very belated HAPPY NEW YEAR & hope you all had loads of fun.

Be seeing you soon.

Brisbane

Ok so there won't be a post for a few days cos we're going away for our anniversary. We're heading to Brisbane this evening until Monday night. I'm so excited. I love travelling & seeing new places. S & I said we wanted to see more of Australia once we got back from Ireland so that's what we're trying to do. :o)

We got cheap flight up cos they were on sale so that's always a plus & we've booked the cheapest (decent) hotel we could find that was central'ish. So that leaves more funds for the fun part of doing stuff. I've just checked out the weather for Brisbane & its looking nice for the weekend, yipee. Can you tell I'm excited yet??

Anyway we're planning on going to the zoo while we're there, its the Steve Irwin zoo. I really liked his tv programmes at home so always wanted to go & feed the crocs, sad but true. ha ha.

Other than that we're going to check out a few of the theme parks & do the tourist thing around town. But I'm looking forward to it, I think its good to do different things & challenge the rut. I think I was getting into a bit of a rut there for awhile so trying to do more.

Other news????? Huuummmm, well I'm still mad busy in work so what's new you say? But I've made a conscious decision not to let it get to me or get the better of me. I've made more time for the things I really enjoy like blogging for example, a bit more balance & I feel better for it I have to say. & I think its made me more efficient in work too & definitely less stressed.

So although its a bit early hope you all have a great weekend! Keep smiling.

Oh & I'll try take loads of photos, so stay tuned. ;o)