New Zealand, a country with approximately 10 sheep to each person... hmmm! Well... thats were I am!!

Im in Christchurch, arrived a couple of hours ago and had a nice little nap (after having only 2 hrs sleep last night!) and am just about to go out exploring!
What a crazy couple of weeks Its been! Have felt ready to leave Oz for some time now, excited to see something new, but when it actually came to leaving I really didnt want to go!! Leaving Brisbane was especially hard as really felt at home there, and although the majority of my friends had left I still enjoyed being there! I worked for 13 days back at the council, and it was nice to go back and see everyone, they're a really good group and ill miss them!
Didnt do too much the first week I was back in Brisbane... tried to save some cash by staying in, and Corinna was down the coast at her boyfriends so it was fairly easy to do.
Made a school boy error and texted James on his birthday...turns out he was in Brisbane so ended up meeting up with him and his mates and going out. Went out till 4:30 in the morning dancing. Stupidly though (am sure you can guess were this is going!) I ended up kissing him and falling for the whole ' i really like you, im sorry if i upset you before' lines.... needless to say it was all said under the influence and retracted swifly the next day! Ah well...one day ill learn hey!! Had a fab weekend though, spent it with my mates Donal and Rob who i met in Melbourne earlier in the year and who were just in Brisbane for that weekend. Had a good catch up with them and then a good ol' girlie night of dancing with Corinna on the Saturday.
On the wednesday i worked until 12 and then work very kindly gave me a lift to the airport so i didnt have to hack the backpack all the way on the train.... thank the lord!!! Tis amazing what pleasure you get out of these little things!

Meeting up with Nats in sydney was great, when i met her in Bondi...was like id only seen her yesterday and not in May!! That night we had a good catch up and went for pizza and cocktails (yum!) at a bar in bondi... they were showing Ferris Buellers day off so we ended up watching that.
On thursday nats had to work so i had the arduous task of sitting on the beach... was a toughy i tell you!! Also booked some flights for South America and then sorted out my bus ticket for New Zealand. That night i met Nats from work and we went to a bar called Orbit which is at the top of one of Sydneys office blocks and it overlooks the entire city. The floor revolves slowly so you get a view of the entire city...its fantastic!! Needless to say twas rather expensive so we really savoured the $12 glass of wine!! Then we went to a couple more bars ...well why not!!
Friday... bowling! I spent ages regailing everyone with how s*** I am at bowling and how i get cranky because i loose... well... was only getting strikes! My theory of the more you drink the better you bowl seemed to be paying off! Was great to meet up with Nick, Leon and Donal again too! Leon however did have a shocker of a moment when he decided that the clown like bowling booties were of a better quality than the shoes he had given in...so kept them! Hmmm...wonder if he's regretting that now!? Was a rather drunken night which we finished off down in Darling Harbour with muchos bourbon and cokes! Ended up rolling home about 5am... i kept falling asleep whilst waiting for the bus! And then Nick fell asleep and cracked his head into mine.... ouch!!!

Was absolutely shattered the next day because by the time we'd got home and finished talking etc, was gone 5!... so Nats and i had a bit of a lie in on Sat. We decided to have a barbie in the afternoon so went shopping for food and alcohol, and on the way home we stopped off at Nats mates who were having a barbie too. Well... that was a party! They had a band! Electric guitars, drum kit, all in the backgarden and they were playing & singing all night. We abandoned our barbie and bought the boys round to this one. Was a highly funny night! I got a little too floored on the cheap rose wine we'd purchased...dont think it helped that i switched to white wine half way through! Was also quite taken with the hubbly bubbly smoking thing which the israeli guys had brought. It was filled with apple tobacco and was really nice! Didnt taste of tobacco at all! ... Dont worry folks havent develped an addiction and wont be whipping out a hubbly bubbly on a night out!! Once was enough! Anyway party all got a bit much for me apparently and i fell asleep on sofa in lounge by about 9...oops! Nats and the boys said they almost disowned me when they walked through the lounge as i was snoring quite loudly... god im sooo classy!!! Managed to hang on in there for a few more hours though! We went dancing to a bar in bondi, and then i came home earlier than the others ...but was a great night.

On Sunday, Nat and I had thought about doing the Sydney harbour bridge climb... but i wasnt 100% on doing it, and it was $200 so i decided id rather spend that money on other things...am more excited about the sky dive and glacier walking than the bridge climb... so instead we went for that other strenuous activity... laying on the beach! Then later that night we had everyone over to Nats again for our barbie this time! ... so we wanged the 'snags on the barbie' as you do in Oz... only to discover 2 mins later that the gas (was a gas barbie!)... had run out!.... Ooops! So it turned into an oven and frying pan jobby... but was still yum! Was a really nice night as got to meet up with Elaine too, another friend from Melbourne who we hadnt seen at the weekend up until then as she'd been busy. Was quite a quiet night as everyone was a bit partied out... but was nice just to chill and chat. Still polished off a fair few beers and bottles of wine mind!

Was really sad saying goodbye to everyone, in that old cliche... it really is the end of an era. What was most upsetting though was saying bye to Nat as she's planning on staying in Oz at least another year, and is hoping to apply for permanent residency so I dont know when or if ill see her again! We stayed up chatting a bit, and then watched Nats flatmates New Zealand sky dive DVD to try and prepare me for whats in store!! ... Finally got to bed at 2am... had to get up at 4 to leave for the airport... not fun!!

Anyway - Im here in Christchurch until Wednesday morning when the Stray Bus comes to collect me and take me north towards Picton. Cant wait to start exploring New Zealand. From all the stories and pics ive seen from other people it looks fabulous!! So stay tuned people... and ill try and update you all with the next installment of my adventures ASAP.

H x