Sorry I have not written this sooner but it’s been a busy week being in Melbourne and Hong Kong and finally arriving in Southampton, England. Since I have been in Southampton Jetlag has finally caught up with me. I had some homepathetic jetlag tablets but they made me feel sickish so I didn’t take them from Hong Kong to London on the plane, but it is taking a long time to get over being tired.

I got to catch up with most of my family while I was in Feilding and Palmerston North even though I was still trying to pack and sort out things. I didn’t get to spend as much time with them as I would have liked as I still had things to organise.
My Dad and Dad’s partner Jenny drove me down to Wellington to the airport. I started feeling sickish on the way, I think it was part to do with car sickness and also that this new adventure was finally about to start. When I checked in I did not see how heavy my bags were but the lady at the counter let it go through without a hitch so that was good. I found out when I got to Melbourne that my suitcase was 22kgs! When it was time for me to board the plane there was a large group of young boys about to go through the boarding gates, they were part of a sports group going to Australia. One of their teachers got the boys to do the haka before they left. I decided to stay and watch it and then tears began running down my face. The haka is always a moving thing to watch and makes me feel a great pride for my country. I gave my Dad a hug goodbye and made my way through the gates. I went on the Qantas airline which I found to be really great, I had a nice vegetarian meal, but the plane was older which meant there was not a screen in front of me.
When I got to Melbourne as my older sister lives there, I caught a taxi to her place as she was studying in town when the plane landed. It was nice to catch up with her again as I have not seen her since March. She showed me around where she lived and we caught the tram into the city and looked around. We went to the museum where there was a Titanic exhibition. There were lots of people that went to it. It was a great exhibition and I learnt and saw a lot that they have recovered from the Titanic. Southampton is where I am living, this is where the Titanic left for its journey. Outside the museum there was a chalk drawing of a lifeboat from the Titanic. I also saw lots of dinosaur skeletons in the museum and an indoor bush garden which had frogs, fish and eels.

I went to the art gallery and the Eureka which is the tallest building in Melbourne which is 300m tall. It has 360 degree views of Melbourne. It has wonderful views and I took many photos. It is pretty by the river and looking at the different types of shops and buildings.

On Monday night Samantha and Steve took me to the airport as my plane was leaving at 11:45pm. I was travelling with Cathay Pacific. When I got on the plane they gave me dinner! It was time to go to sleep. The chairs were not comfortable and I ended up getting a sore tummy so I moved seats so I didn’t have to bother the person next to me going to the toilet all the time. The plane was extremely loud it was an airbus 330 which made it even harder to go to sleep. At 5am it was breakfast and they gave me pastries for breakfast which was too rich and fatty for me at that time of the morning.

I arrived at Hong Kong at 6am but by the time I got my luggage and my bus was ready to take me to my hotel it was 9am. I arrived at my hotel around 10am and thank goodness I was able to go to my room to have a shower. I have three days and three nights in Hong Kong.

I figured out where to catch the MTR trains which was across the road from the hotel. My uncle Myles had kindly given me maps and had talked to me twice about Hong Kong before I went. I bought an octopus card which allowed me to travel on the trains and buses with ease as this card had money loaded onto it. I went to a place called causeway by train. I walked around looking at shops. I got close to the water and walked along looking at some of the house boats people live in. I wanted to explore Hong Kong slowly and I thought I would do it leisurely. I ended up getting myself lost in the end and felt like I was going around and around in circles. I asked someone who helped me get back to the train station. I then made my way to Repulse bay by bus. This beach was beautiful and even had small trees on the beach. There were not many people on the beach even though this is meant to be one of the most beautiful beaches in Hong Kong. The water must get very warm as every beach had a shark net. I paddled my feet in the water as I didn’t bring my togs. On the beach there was a sign that showed the temperature it was 35c. I thought it was hot but did not realise it was that hot. As soon as I stepped out of my hotel room the heat just hits me and I began sweating. A lot of people carry around rain umbrellas to protect themselves from the heat.

At the end of the beach there is a Chinese pavilion with two 10 metre tall statues of traditional Chinese deities Kwun Yum and Tin Hau. There were also many colourful statues. Quite a few people were praying around a Buddha statue.

I then went onto a bus to a place called Stanley. At Stanley I visited the Stanley market which had many different things to buy. There were three shops that were selling children clothes. These shops were a size of a bedroom and they were filled beyond capacity. There were so many clothes on top of each other people could only see the first 3 items. I went to a maritime museum which was in an historic house called Murray house. Once I got back near to my hotel I went looking for some Chinese food for my dinner. This turned out to be very difficult as every Chinese meal had meat in it and when I tried to tell them that I didn’t want meat in it they did not understand me, there were about four I tried. I ended up getting pizza hut as I was exhausted from walking and being very hot.

Even though I was pretty much the only paheka person I saw most of the day I did not feel out of place very often. Hong Kong is quite a green country even though you wouldn’t think so. There are many hills around the city and wherever they can they plant trees and bushes around the city, to make it greener. There are many people cleaning Hong Kong daily, I found it to be very clean, but I did not see any recycling bins only rubbish bins.

Day 2 – Hong Kong
It’s surprising that no matter what country I am in the world I seem to wake up around 6am. I did not have a watch with me so I didn’t have a clue what time it was. I thought it was late. When I got on the train it said it was 8am. I decided today I was going to go to the giant Buddha and go on a cable car, see a monastery, Disney land and see a replica of Noah’s ark. Some of the places did not open until 10am which I thought was quite late. I decided to go to the monastery first as that open at 9am. By the time I got there the cable car did not open until 10am so I waited for a bus to take me up high to the monastery and Buddha.

While I was waiting in line there was a paheka lady, I thought I would see more paheka people in Hong Kong as it is a main destination for holidaying, I saw a few a day and they didn’t all speak English. This lady was from Melbourne Australia. We got talking and spent the morning together looking at the Buddha and monastery.
By the time we got to the top it was 10 am so we were allowed to go to the Buddha. We were the first people to go in. The lady Mel was very excited about seeing the Buddha. The Buddha is huge and I think it is made out of copper. It was a wonderful site. The Po Lin Monastery was not as great as I thought it would be. We got to see some monks there. They are building a new Monastery. At the end we went on the cable car which got me quite scared as we were extremely high above the ground. It was a great view just made me a bit scared hanging above.

After that I got onto a train to Disneyland. I was quite excited about going to Disneyland as I have only been there when I was a baby to America’s Disneyland. Hong Kong was a compact Disneyland and didn’t have as much rides as I thought it would. I felt it was more for young children. I watched a great stage show of the Lion King where there was lots of music and dance; they acted out the movie in 30 minutes. I went on a roller coaster that was inside and was in darkness apart from a few small lights that represented the universe.

After Disney land I got onto another train and then on a bus to find the Noah’s ark replica. Unfortunately I got there too late and they would not let me in. Later on I went to find the temple markets. These markets are well known and sell many different things from watches, clothes, paintings, jewellery and sunglasses.

On day three I went to The peak which is a building which has great views over the city and beyond, you get up there by taking an historic tram. It began raining just after I took many photos of the view. In the same building there is a Madame Tussauds. The wax models were so real looking, I wouldn’t want to be there at night time. I met a lovely Chinese lady called Jennifer who took photos of me with a few models. We exchanged our details and have been keeping in touch. After seeing Madame tussauds it was pouring with rain. This is what their wet season is like. People have told me they might have a typhoon.

In the afternoon I went to a road called Hollywood road which is a street with lots of antiques shops in. I decided I wanted an antique item, after a few hours of walking a long way and looking in many shops I figured out I did not have enough money for anything in the shops. I visited two temples and decided to have my palm read after not being able to buy an antique. Later at night I went on a fairy boat over to the main island called Kowloon to watch a light show called symphony of lights, afterwards I decided to go back to the temple markets and buy some stuff to take with me.

I was in Hong Kong for three days and three nights. I made it that long so I would try and see everything. I did luckily and more. It was very tiring being out all day for all three days but I am glad I got to see everything I wanted to see. I did find Hong Kong to be on the go all the time. People are night people even at 11:30 at night the train was full! Most of the people are rude and don’t use their manners. There have been some nice people who were willing to help me find where I wanted to go. Hong Kong is more beautiful than what I imagined it was, it’s a shame there are so many high rise buildings that people have to live in. People there are always in a rush, an example is the trains come everything 2 minutes but still everyone is rushing to get on them. My plane left at 4pm in the afternoon and I flew with Cathay Pacific. At 5pm I was given my dinner and as the plane changed time zones I was given another dinner the same as the first later on in the flight. The planes lights never went out so I could not sleep so instead I watched five movies in a row.

Mum and my step Dad Mark met me at Heathrow airport, which was nice to see them again. They seemed very happy I was there. They drove me home to Southampton. They couldn’t believe how much stuff I ended up bringing and got away with.
In the morning Mum walked me around the streets near where we are living. The house is close to the river and there are river views out each window. The building that we live in is built on the old spitfire factory that got bombed in WW2. My great grandfather and granddad both worked in the factory. It seems a nice quiet community area where we live which is nice not to be in an area which is busy and stressful.

On Saturday afternoon I went around to my Nana’s first cousin house where one of their daughters was having a 30th surprise birthday. Lots of people turned up which I didn’t know. After the party Mum and Mark took me around different streets to see things. I got to see my Nana and Grandad’s house where my Mum and Aunty and Uncles grew up in.
On Sunday Mum wasn’t feeling too well so Mark and I went to a town called Winchester which is one of the oldest cities in England. It is about 16km from Southampton. It has a nice feel to it. We visited Alfred great hall which is reported to have King Arthur table. There is one of the oldest cathedrals in England. We went to a museum that has items from the Romans, Anglo-Saxons, and Medieval age which was very interesting.

I didn’t realise how close Southampton is to cities and towns. It’s an hour and a half drive to London. We are just down the road from Winchester and Salisbury, which is close to Stonehenge which I can’t wait to see. The weather has not been as hot as I thought it would be, it’s kind of like Tauranga weather which I am not too happy about as I hope I have not missed the summer weather. I guess a few days have been about 25 degrees. The water is not very nice to drink as it has a chalk taste to it as the water comes from springs deep under the chalk soils. The food is very cheap here and quite often if you buy something you might get another free or if you buy two it is very cheap. They don’t have many biscuits but instead have a lot of cakes etc in the supermarkets. There are lots of fair-trade items which are very cheap and free range eggs; I wish this stuff was cheap in New Zealand.

It has been interesting to see the historic areas of Southampton, the walls and bar gate. Holy rood church built in 1320, and St Michael’s church the oldest building in Southampton built in 1070.

It is odd getting used to having a washing machine in your kitchen, really unhygienic I think. We have digital TV which has many channels to choose from but it has the same programme run a few times, like top gear will run on two channels or have one programme after another. I have seen the lion man from N.Z. and they even have home and away. They have their own version of deal or no deal and how clean is your house? N.Z. has obviously copied England’s version of programmes but I like N.Z. and Australians version of deal or no deal. I am still feeling sickish at times as I feel like I am still on the airplane at times.
It is weird thinking that when I have woken from my sleep everyone in New Zealand has finished work and is having dinner.
Hope everyone is well and look forward to hearing from you soon. Sorry it’s so long this is going to be emailed to a lot of people and some people would like to know more things in depth.