Tuesday 25th November 2008

Me and Vicky caught a flight from Dunedin today to Auckland. It was sad saying goodbye to Shelley and Will, but we will meet up with them again in Sydney so thats cool. We flew to Auckland then got the bus up to Whangerei where Vicky's mate James picked us up, and we went to Iman's house for the dinner and a few drinks. Its going to be really weird not being on the Stray bus anymore, its such a routine and seeing the same people every day. they were such a great bunch of people and the drivers were hilarious. Its really quite sad :-(

Spent the week hanging out with Vicky, James and Jake. Have had little sight-seeing tours around Poor Knights Bay, Whale bay and some gorgeous beaches thanks to the guys, then been treated to Whangerei night life, checking out the bars in town. Then on Saturday we went to the airshow as James is a pilot, and they had competitions and aerobatics going on, and me and Vicky lay chilling out and sunbathing on the field as James was judging some of the competitions. There were quite a few locals there and it was a chilled atmosphere, then Vicky got a flight to Christchurch as she's leaving me!!! Can't believe she's gone now, but only for 3 weeks as I am catching up with her again in Sydney for xmas and new year - yay!!

Spent some days on the beach and swam in the sea for the first time in 3 years and it was gorgeous. Also went to a local B-B-Q with James' neighbours.

Tuesday 2nd December - came back up to Paihia in the Bay of Islands. Staying at Saltwater Lodge hostel where I have managed to wangle doing some cleaning work for 2-3 hours every day to pay for accommodation, and will be here until I leave for Sydney. I am staying in the cleaners room where there are 2 young guys Bob and Tim who seem nice, and a German girl I haven't met yet, so should be all sweet. Plus I get to do my laundry for free which is real bonus!! Its right by the beach and the weather is beautiful, so it will be a very chilled out next couple of weeks for me until OZ, so watch this space .......

Okay, so I have been doing 2 1/2 hours cleaning in the mornings at the hostel and then going to the beach to sunbathe and catch the rays, and just generally relax and chill out - as that was the plan for my time here (and to rest the purse strings). Apart from playing drinking games all night on my first night with my fellow cleaners, I have been taking it easy - Shock horror! Amazing how being away turns you into an alcoholic. Anyway, yesterday I was actually really civilised and played tennis with Tim, my Canadian roomie. He asked if I played, and I said not since I was 13, so we went to the courts and had an hours game where I kicked his butt. You would have been proud. After that we went to the bar next door which is called Salty bar. They were advertising for barstaff, so I applied and the manager Steve who is Scottish said I would be perfect for the job, but I'm not here long enough - only 2 weeks, so he then asked if I had ever done any entertaining before (and NO, not the dodgy kind). I said no, so he asked if I wanted to help out, so I went down to have a look, and they had a karaoke competition on, and he showed me the ropes of the machines, how to get the crowds going with games and competitions, then he handed me the microphone and told me to crack on, so I did, encouraging the amourous group of English squaddies we had in to take part in the pole dancing competition - which they took great delight in doing. God love drunken English men!! Then Steve told me to put a playlist on for 1/2 hour, keep the crowds on the dancefloor, go with what they wanted, if they started to wander off then I would have to quickly change the tune, so I kept them on there with my choice of tunes, and it was nerve racking but cool. Steve said most people either sink or run away, but he said I swam and he's going to give me a spot entertaining. Now I would never have dreamed about doing anything like this back home, but I'm away so what the hell, and its all about finding out new stuff about yourself, and besides noone knows me so it doesn't matter. I went down today (Friday) to see Steve and hes given me 5 days of handing out flyers on the beach and main strip for 2 hours each day and blagging the people and talking crap to get them in the bar, and then next Wednesday I am to be the entertainer, doing all the dj'ing, and speaking on the microphone to get everyone going, and hosting all the games and competitions - so WISH ME LUCK!!!!!! Its for a couple of extra bucks anyway (and free drinks - as I found out last night when he kept returning from the bar with another vodka for me). Bring it on!!

Thursday 19th December - hey guys I'm not dead, I've just done pretty much b***** all for 2 weeks so no need to report anything. I've been in the same place doing my cleaning every morning to pay for my bed, but its an absolute doss as Pip who works there is awesome and gives the finger up to Gareth who owns it (and is very anal), so she lets us get away with bare minimum and drinks with us later. Its been pretty much lazing on the beach and saving the pennies. Did see the funniest ever christmas parade though, us guys went into town to see it, and its the highlight of the town, the place was rammed and they were all out in force on their floats (all advertising recycling - NZ is really really into recycling, they would recycle your Grannie if they could), and Father Christmas came flying over the bay in the helicopter (random), then in town they had a country and western band playing xmas songs. Awesome stuff.I did my entertainment night at the bar which actually went really well, I was quite imprssed at how good I was at talking crap, but then as you all know I always talk total drivvle as soon as Ive had a few drinks anyway, and the vodka was on the house, so verbal diarrhoea it was!! Steve was impressed though, but because i never did any other work in NZ I never sorted out a tax number, so ran into problems getting paid. Steve tried to talk to the 'big' boss to get me cash in hand, but she said No, so I had to have it as a bar voucher, which luckily my room mate Tim bought of me, so still had the cash. But seriously guys, I got $80 for 9 hours work (well you can't actually call it work), and that works out at about £3 per hour. OUTSTANDING!!!!!!!!! The wages here take the piss, so needless to say I refused to do anymore. I am not a slave in the 1600's working for peanuts. Anyway, off to Sydney in 2 days and can't wait as beginning to tear my hair out through boredom here. We are having a big BBQ at the hostel later, and have met some great Irish girls and we sit up drinking and playing games with the lads, but its time to move on. Am going to Auckland tomorrow to stay with a mate that has really randomly popped out of the blue. I have known him since I was 17, and he's left the army now and moved over to here, so we're going out for the night as haven't seen him for about 6/7 years, then off to OZ, so hopefully should be slightly more interesting then. I have loved NZ, its a fantastic place, but itchy feet to get going again now, so will catch up with you all later.

Met Mike in Aukland who took me out to dinner at the bay and showed me the famous street where EVERY house is all lit up with xmas lights. Its lovely, such a pretty street and loads of people were there to look. He showed me some more sights of Auckland before taking me to the airport.