Kia Ora!

Welcome to my first blog from New Zealand! Well its been 5 weeks since i landed in Auckland and have oodles and oodles to tell you all. You may not have known but i actually arrived at the airport at 7:30am on my birthday, which wasnt ideal i must admit but i didnt want to spend any more time in Los Angeles that i didnt have to so i hopped onto the next available flight and got here rather jet lagged for my birthday. I basically got very drunk in the bar of the backpackers that i was staying at, so wasnt really that exciting :o) I had pre arranged an interview at Hays Recruitment before i left so that they could set me up with some work whilst i was in NZ - and within a day they called me to say could i start within a week!?!? I was shocked. So thats the main reason im here in Auckland for a few months - to earn some pennies, i mean cents so that i dont end up too poor.

I had a week or so to kill before my job started at Vero (an insurance company) so i did a few of the touristy things and walked up Mt Eden, One Tree Hill, went to the Viaduct, the Harbour and to the markets to get some really good pictures. Im trying not to spend too much on frivolous things but i couldnt help it, I needed work clothes, and jeans and flip flops and......but in between all that i was scouring Auckland for a room to rent for a couple of months, somewhere not too far from the city and a cheap price. And i found it! im basically a 5 min work to work, it could be quicker but i dont fancy the uphill walk so i take the long way round :o) Its only $124 p/w inc bills (about 55 quid) and its furnished. Bonus! so im settled for the next few months being boring and staying in watching TV :o) no honest! we get the same tv as at home, so its CSI, Heroes, Bones, Hollyoaks, Corrie, Simpsons, Californication etc...its great! and im like 8 episodes into season 2 of Heroes so im waaaaaaaaaay ahead of everybody :o) I even sat on Sunday and watched the Christmas special of the Vicar of Dibley :o)

Anyway, enough of TV....i spent a bit of time with Tim and Chris a couple of blokes i met at the hostel whilst i wasnt working and we went to Mission Bay which has a really nice beach - the weather was soooooo hot that weekend i got burnt - i had cream on though honest! Tim didnt, but his philosophy is its quicker to get a tan if u burn. He didnt get out of bed for 3 days after that. The weekend before i was due to work i went up to Northland for a few days as it was a free trip the hostel gave me (i will blog on that seperatly) and then i started work!

Works basically work, i surf the net, i check my emails, i drink coffee and eat biscuits. thats it! No, i do have some work inbetween all that. Vero is a HUGE firm over here and im in a building with a gorgeous view over the harbour, lucky me huh? Fridays are extra special as we get donuts 10am, crisps 3pm and beer 4pm, lol. now u see why no work gets done.....What else? well i went to the Santa Parade that they had one weekend with Shelly who i met in Oz 3 years ago on my last trip. It was fun, hot, but fun. We bought xmas hats and were singing along to all the songs - xmas is going to be strange this year without u all around!

Some of the other pix are of the Kelly Tarltons underwater aquarium thing i went to - i ws bored one sunday and the weather wasnt particularly great so i decided to have a wonder around. And as for weather? dont get me started. It was so hot when i first got here, but now its warm, but wet, grey and miserable. which sucks. So not done too much sightseeing recently and having a job only leaves me with the weekends which has been spent scouring Auckland for an 80's costume for our work xmas do! i will put some more pix and stuff up when i have something interesting to show u all (im off to Waiheke island this weekend and i have the xmas do tomorrow - so i will put all that up soon along with my 2 day Northland Trip some time next week) so for now i reckon i will say bye - take care and if i dont speak to u before HO HO HO MERRY XMAS! xxxxxxx