Tales in a Sunburnt Country

Ok so I kinda stole the title of this post from a Bill Bryson book, but it is totally true! My week in Australia was absolutely amazing!! I went by myself, but when I was in Melbourne I stayed with a friend of my dad's. I decided I wanted to grab an early flight so as to have as much time as possible in Melbourne; however what I forgot to think about was that going to Australia is an International flight EVEN from New Zealand. I have no idea why I didn't realize it was an international flight, I guess I just figured it was one of the only places close so it wasn't that bad of a flight. So when I booked the 6:00am flight I did not figure in that I needed to arrive at the airport 2 hours early, which meant that I needed to be at the airport at 4:00am (ewwwww). So when my alarm went off at 2:45am I was NOT happy....but I got to the airport a few minutes before 4. However, the desks opened up 90 minutes before their first flight, so I still had to stand around to wait. I took out a book and stood in front of one of the counters to wait. But two pages later when I looked up, ANOTHER line had formed a few places down, so I had to move to the end of THAT line....only a little annoying!!! But then the desks opened and it was off to the races...or that is what I thought. When I got up to the desk, the girl took my passport and scanned it, and then scanned it again, and then again, typed something into her computer looked up at me, looked at the computer again, and then I asked what was wrong. She said that it didn't seem like I had a visa to travel. I just said I was going on holiday for a week and was coming back to NZ to finish my studies. She explained that I still needed a visa, and right then I thought my trip was over before it even began! But then she explained, all I needed to do was go over to customer service and buy one. It was easy enough, just some dosh and then I could be issued my boarding pass. But that was not the only thing the airport needed my dosh for...there is also a travel tax in New Zealand if you plan to return. so $80 bucks later and the NZ government decided that it was OK for me to leave the country!

The flight was fine, a quick 4 hour flight. Nothing too eventful and I landed ahead of time at 7:45am local time. It took me what seemed like forever to get through customs, but once the Australian government decided that it was fine to let me into their country, it was out the door and looking for Nora. It was easy enough to find her with her awesome sign welcoming me to Melbourne with my name in BIG letters....embarrassing but effective! lol We grabbed a cup of coffee and a muffin for me since the breakfast on the plane was not great. Then we were on our way to Daylesford which was a little less then a two hour drive away from the airport. Daylesford is a quaint little town, farther inland in Victoria than Melbourne which is known for its bath houses and curing water. We explored the town center and walked around the small lake before going back to the straw batch (yes I stayed in a straw house, but it didn't blow down!) for lunch. After lunch, Nora surprised me with a appointment at a local bath house for a massage!! It was AMAZING!! THe bath house was really cool, in that area of Victoria there is natural mineral water spring, which is why there are so many bath houses in the area. In the eary 20th c. many people traveled to the area to "take the water" because people thought it had medicinal qualities. After that it was a lazy evening around the house and by 10pm jet lag hit me and I was off to bed.

The next morning we had another lazy morning before we got in the car and drove up to Melbourne. Nora took me around the city for the day and it felt like there was no more city to be seen by the time we were done at 4pm. Nora first took me by the river Yarra (which I couldn't decided why it was called a Riverara since we were no where close to a spanish speaking country...I then realized that I misheard the name), which reminded me SOOO much of the Charles. After a nice walk by the water we went up to the arts center of Melbourne, Federation Square. We wandered around the museum and saw some famous painting by local artists as well as some really interesting furniture. We had lunch in the very trendy lane ways. They were really cool, and I recommend to go and walk around them if you ever find yourself in Melbourne. They are all smaller lanes found behind the larger major city. What they were originally built for was sewage reasons--when bathrooms still needed to be emptied, the lane ways were there for the trucks to come down behind the stores and to empty the toilets. Now, with the wonderful invention of sewer systems, they are returaunts trendy smaller streets with millions of resturaunts and small shops. The city also made graffiti legal in these lane ways, now dubbed street art, so the walls are very interesting and you can always find something new because people are always painting over something else. 

After lunch, I squeezed some shopping in....but it was only window shopping...I somehow managed to buy NOTHING!!! I was so proud of myself :-D Then we saw a few more sites...parliament and the greens, where all of the trees have possum guards. Then we went back down by the river and grabbed a little snack and sat by the river before getting back into the car up to Nora's house in the patch, a suburb of Melbourne about an hour outside the city up in the hills. It was a gorgeous spot. It's called the patch because that area of the hills had a large population of mountain ash trees. These trees are known to grow very tall with very few branches, so they were great for boat masts. So the area of the patch is the patch of mountain where most of the mountain ash trees were felled. When we got back to her house, I met Tony Nora's husband, who was making dinner. Another lazy night before I hit the sack around 11. 

The next day was fun, Nora took me out to breakfast a little further up in the hills before taking me into the city to meet up with one of her son's friends. Talk about Australian hospitality! Nora had originally thought that Tony would be able to take me around Melbourne on Wednesday before I needed to grab my flight at 8:30pm. Well Tony had to go on a last minute business trip to Canberra and Sydney. So they called up on of her son's friends and asked if he could take me around the city on Wednesday.  He was a very gracious host, and I got to see another part of the city I didn't get to see the day before. We walked around the Uni and saw the student area of Melbourne. Then we went to one of his favorite bars for some late lunch and some down time for a couple of hours before I needed to grab my flight to Sydney. 

Melbourne was an awesome time and I can't thank my hosts enough for their wonderful hospitality. That is one of the things I will miss when I go back to the states. Everyone here is so laid back and SUPER nice and always willing to help...all very rare back in the states. 

My plane to Sydney was delayed 45 minutes, and I landed in Sydney closer to 10:30. When I arrived at my hotel, I had to ring the doorbell to get let in. Then as I was walking in the girl behind the desk said, "good evening Marjorie" which kinda creaped me out, but she quickly explained that I was the last guest to check in for the evening, so that is how she knew it was me. I did splurge a little on my hotel and I was soooo glad I did. The hotel was pretty central in the city, and the room was really nice, though I didn't spend much time in it! However, when I finally got to sleep at 12:30 (there was a little bit of stress with my UVM course registration....my parents forgot to do it, but it all worked out in the end so no worries!) it seemed like no time at all when my alarm was going off again...or what I thought was my alarm. However, when I finally realized what was happening I realized that it was not my alarm but the hotel's fire alarm. It was 4:45am!! Well I got up and put on some cloths and evacuated the building like the nice man over the intercom asked me to do. By 5:15am we were let back into our rooms where I proceeded to turn off my alarm and go back to sleep. I woke up at 10am, grabbed some breakfast from the hotel and it was off to exploring Sydney. I spent most of my day in Days bay at the Wildlife conservation park and the aquarium. I got my picture taken with a koala and got to pet and feed a kangaroo at the wildlife park, and saw lots of other indigenous animals to Aussie (pronounced Osiee as I was taught).....but not platypus :-( Then I went over to the Aquaium...which was SOO crowded since it was Easter holiday and all the primary and secondary schools were out. After I had enough exploration of Days bay, I jumped on the monorail, since I was getting tired of walking, over to China town. Walked around the shops over there (again I didn't buy a thing!) I did end up finding a jewelry shop later in the day, which gave me an AMAZING deal on an opal, I got it down from $200 to AUS$120 which was only US$90....my first try at bartering...so I was proud of myself lol. But one of the places Nora told me I MUST see was the Chinese Gardens. I did and they were so nice. It was really interesting for me since I just took an Asian art history course last year and learned all about the symbolism behind different aspects of a Chinese garden, so I ended up wandering around and taking pictures there for about two hours. After that Tony gave me a call since he was in Sydney for business and we met up back at Days Bay. Initially, I thought we were just going to grab a drink since he had said that he had a client he was going to take out for dinner, but an hour or so after meeting him he told me that his dinner thing had fallen through and that he wanted to take me out to dinner. We went to this great thaicloser to our hotel (he was staying in the same place I was) where we ended up eating 1000 year old eggs!! They were very spicy and kind of blue, but I thought they were restaurant  good. Tony thought they were a little spicy....which they were my lips were burning by the end of it. But hey! how many people can say they have had 1000 year old eggs. Dinner was awesome and it was so nice of Tony to meet up with me! 

Friday was my last day in Sydney, and in the morning was the high light of my trip. I had a backstage tour of the Sydney opera house, which was absolutely amazing. We had to be there by 6:45am, so it was another early morning for me, but TOTALLY worth it. There were only 5 people on my tour (of which I was the youngest by at least 40 years) and our guide was super nice. I ended up asking enough technical questions, he ended up guessing that I must work in the theatre, to which I said that I was minoring in theatre back at school and that I did lights and stage management and so he ended up tailoring the tour for me so that I could see other parts of the theaters that people would not normally see! We got to see all of the booths and he explained all about the stage manager's booth (which was back stage in the wings...how nice!). We also got to stand on EVERY stage in the opera house, but I couldn't take many pictures inside because they had a ton of show up at the moment and the sets were copy written, so no pictures allowed. The tour lasted about an hour and a half and afterwards they gave us breakfast in the green room. All in all a great time, I was so happy that I did it...it was SOOO COOL! lol

I was done by about 10:00 and so hoped a ferry over to Manly beach...another must see on Nora's list of sights in Sydney. I spent most of the day over there, just walking around the town and exploring the beaches. I walked all the way down to shelly beach and out to the point where I took a few pictures of some surfers...I was so sad I didn't bring a bathing suit because it was wonderful weather the whole time I was in Australia, but sadly I could only dip my feet in. At 3:30 I hopped the ferry back to Sydney and took the long way back to my hotel. I walked down from the opera house through the Botanical gardens at dusk which was BEAUTIFUL until I got lost in the palm grove. You see it was about 5:00 and I needed to find the toilets....which happened to be in the palm grove. I thought nothing of the walk through the nice gardens until, for what ever reason, I decided to look up, when I realized that I was walking under about a bazillion fruit bats!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! After that discovery I proceeded to SPRINT to the lou and then SPRINT back out again. However the sprinting back out did not go as well as I had hoped and I got lost since I was so freaked out about the bats. I, thank god, was not the only one afraid of bats, and bonded with another lady trying to find her way out as well. Thankfully the bats only reside in that area of the gardens, something about the trees I guess. So once I was out the rest of my walk was very relaxing. I did take a few pictures of these bats in the trees, once I was a safe distance away...but it is hard to see the sheer number of bats that there actually were. So you are just going to have to trust me....there were A LOT!!! The other fun fact....is that since it was dusk....THEY WERE WAKING UP!!!! Non were flying yet, thank god!!!, but they were stretching and starting to squeak, and OHMYGOD are they HUGE!! But once I was out I walked down past St. Mary's cathedral (the patron saint of Sydney) and then back through Hyde park. Once I got back down to the city center I wandered around the Queen Victoria building for a little while and then decided that I was hungry and tired for a long day's walk, so I went back to the hotel and had some dinner there. 

The next day was a travel day, flew out of Sydney at 10am (so I was at the airport by 8am...not as bad as the flight there lol) where I flew to Auckland where I had a 4 hour layover before getti deja ng into Welly again at 8:30. It was weird going through customs again in Auckland, I had major vou from when I first arrived in NZ back in Feb. However it was nice that this time I was only getting off a 5 hr flight, not a 13 hr flight! lol The layover was fine, but I did have to transfer my bags from the international terminal to the domestic terminal, which I didn't realize was a hike to get to. 2o minutes later I got to the domestic terminal where all I wanted to do was get rid of this heavy bag that I had just lugged the whole way over, but again the desks were closed until 6:15. So I grabbed some food and read my book. 

I got back into Wellington without any problems and grabbed a cab back to my flat! Then I had a night layover here where I unpacked and repacked and ate some dinner before going to bed to grab my 8:30 ferry down to the south island!

'phew that took a while.....when you don't keep up with your travel blog daily I guess the posts get kinda long.....LIKE USUAL! If you have gotten to this point....thank you! I would have understood if you just blew it off half way through. But I am so glad I went and experienced more of life down under the whole trip was heaps and heaps of fun!! Photos and tales of the South Island trip to come later!

Cheers,

~Marjorie 

Kia Ora after 2 weeks!

Yay! I am still alive...though I might need a vacation from my vacation lol. My break was amazing...I went to Australia for the 1st week and the south island again for the 2nd and it was all heaps and heaps of fun!! More to come on the last 2 week some time this week...but first things first...I need to catch up on some school work. Just thought I would check in and say Hi after a 2 week absence......and also say that I was woken up last night after a long day of driving and traveling by the mouse IN MY ROOM!!!! so I guess not a lot has changed around the flat since I have been gone.....guess I will have to sneak a normal non-humane trap past my vegetarian roommate.....her trap has been FAILING for the last 3 weeks!!!! so yeah fun stuff to come back to!! pictures and more to come soon!! 

Cheers,

~Marjorie

Easter Sunday in Aotearoa

What kind of christian would I be if didn't go to church on Easter? For my first Easter away from home, I found it a little strange going to church on my own, but I was very happy I went and now I can say I have used the New Zealand prayer book lol. I found a very small church that is about 15 minute walk up the hill from my house, St. Michael's. The congregation is very small, but they are the only church in Wellington that caters to University students, with an extra 7pm service on normal Sundays. 

But it was a very nice Easter morning and for the autumn weather we have been having, it actually felt quite spring like...it was probably warmer than it normally is back home! I still found it weird celebrating Easter in autumn, but thats what you get for living on the other side of the world.

The service was a very nice mix of high and low church. There were bells and smells (smells just for Easter), but everything followed the kiwi way and was very informal and relaxed. Throughout the service the Rev. was speaking into the mic, asking the ushers to bring up things throughout the service (I found this very strange lol). He said things like "Can we get some more flowers up here at the front" (we flowered the cross during the peace...it was very nice, everyone was given a flower when they first arrived, and during the peace you went up to the alter and put the flower in some where on a cross covered in chicken wire), he also asked for more wine during communion, no crazy hand gestures or skirts necessary!

The service itself was very familiar to me; it seemed like a normal Episcopalian service, just with the order scrambled. Glory and the creeds followed by the peace, and then the readings with the sermon, followed by the offertory and communion, then the announcements were given from behind the alter, the closing prayer and dismissal. Most of what was said throughout the service was also the same, but with a few words changed here and there. The only other thing that I found very strange was that the hymnal had NO music...so it was very hard to follow along, you had to pay closer attention to the choir. The hymnal really just looked like a book of poems with each verse as its own stanza. But once you got the tune from the first verse not having the music wasn't too bad...I just missed it. 

I really enjoyed the sermon. It was given by a member of the congregation, who seemed to give sermons on a regular basis from his introduction. He made some very interesting connections between the reasons for the gospels' detailed account of Easter morn, and why the authors might not have gone into much discussion about what it all meant. The details support the actual occurrence of the resurrection...showing it actually did happen, allowing us to figure out the importance of it all for ourselves. He also talked about why Mary believes Jesus is the gardener at first. That the tomb and surrounding area has become the new garden of eden and Jesus is it's gardener. All very interesting. 

I stayed at coffee hour for a little while. The people were all very welcoming and nice. Compared to what I have become accustomed to, it was a VERY small congregation, with record attendance of 90 people. But I did meet a few interesting kids my age and they told me about the 7pm service. So depending what I am doing after break I might just have to go and see what it is all about when I get back from Autumn Break. 

At coffee hour, a little girl asked me a very interesting question. She must have been all of six, and I had noticed she had been watching me while we were all in the narthex having tea (but they still call it coffee hour...I don't understand, ANYWAY). So finally the little girl came up to me and said, "are you a movie star?" Of course I, along with the few people  I was talking to laughed a little and I asked why she thought this. And she told me that I looked so nice and sounded exactly like all the other movie stars so I must be in movies! (In her ADORABLE New Zealand accent of course) Well I understood her logic: since Hollywood movies are very popular and most actors in these movies have American accents, all Americans are thereby movie stars....it makes perfect sense! I of course enjoyed the complement and told her I was not a movie star, but was very flattered that she thought I could be.

Ok well enough about church, I need to go and pack for my trip for Austrlia. I have to be ready to catch a cab tomorrow at 3:45 AM.......YUCK! I will be going to bed early tonight!

More to come on the trip later,

Cheers!

~Marjorie

Travel Plans

SO.... I thought I would fill all of you in on my globe trotting plans for my whirlwind two week tour of the Antipodes. But before I get into all of that....I have realized I have not taken the time to tell all yous guys about last weekend:

It was a fun adventure weekend....but a little more stressful than I expected. Why was it so stressful you ask? Well after we caught the 6pm ferry over to Picton, Rebecca briefed the group about the plan for the next 2 days. She explained to us that since there was only 1 of her and 2 groups, my group needed a team leader to make sure everyone is where they need to be on time....well since my nickname is Mom (really I dont know how I got that one...) everyone looked directly at me, so I was dubbed Team leader. The first day it wasn't too bad....we were the first group to go "swimming" with the dolphins. It was really nice actually, we got up early and were to the peer by 9 and on the boat by 9:30. We got a really nice tour of Marlborough Sound....but sadly in the 4 hours we were on the boat found no dolphins that we could get in the water with. We did find a good size pods of Hector Dolphins though! That was really cool because they are the smallest species of dolphin and are only found in NZ. But they are VERY endangered, there are only about 7,000 still found in the wild....so it is really rare to find a pod....so it was sweet as to see 'em But we couldn't go in the water to swim with them because they are so endangered. We did get in the water tho....we went swimming with seals-- really cool! but not as cool as dolphins :-( 

Then we got dropped off at the Resort via boat at Portage. We got HEAPS of free time with "adventure" stuff to do....I went hiking with a few friends for 3 hours....really nice views, but sadly no pictures because my battery died :-( stupid for not packing the charger...i totally thought i had too.....whatever. The next day was when it got stressful. So we didn't have to go anywhere until 10:20, and bfast was at 8...so we got a little extra "adventure time" at the resort. PS we were staying in the backbackers lodge attached to the resort...so don't get too jealous lol So I had to make sure that everyone got their stuff  at the right place at the right time...which was very hard...kinda like herding cats. I also was responsible for cleaning up the kitchen, and by the time I knew that I was responsible, there was no one around to help....but I got it done. It actually wasn't too bad, but once we got back to Picton I had to pick up the food and pay for it and such and make sure ppl didnt' eat too much, and we didn't have enough, so I had to go back and get more......it was just a little bit more responsibility then I was expecting to have and hadn't really prepared for it, but it wasn't anything different from camp......the kids were just older and I had a little less authority...but all in all it wasn't a bad trip. Got to know a few of the kids from Massey....they are all really cool and one girl goes to UVM and we know bunches of the same ppl, so that was cool. I got ZERO work done on the ferry ride back, but I did get a tour of the bridge which was sweet as (NZ slang for all you people who are getting confused lol) But i got all the work done so don't worry lol

AS OF TODAY!! I am officially going on autumn break. Bought all of the plane tickets today for Australia and everything for week two has already been purchased as well!! yay, since on Friday I wasn't so sure I was going on break at all lol I had no one to go with and no plans figured out since I was soooooo busy the week before. So heres a little Iternerary for the next 2 weeks!

Monday April 13th: Depart for Melbourne at 6am (yes feel my pain lol) but I land by 8am, so its nice I get the whole day.... I am staying in Melbourne with one of Dad's work friends who has been very gracious and offered to put me up and tour me around the city and the surrounding area....SUPER NICE and I am REALLY excited to meet everybody and see the city from a local's perspective lol I'm sure we will still hit up all the touristy places too!

Tuesday: paint the town red and have heaps and heaps of fun in Melbourne

Wednesday 15th: Depart for Sydney at 8pm...also nice that I get most of the day on Wednesday to see a little bit more of melbourne before I have to jet over to Sydney

Thursday: Paint Sydney red and have heaps of fun, adventures TBA

Friday: 7am backstage tour of the Sydney Opera House!!!!!!!!! I am SUPER excited about this....Dad found it and I bought the tickets immediately. They will feed me breakfast in the green room and then we get a behind the scenes tour of all the workings of the opera house...CANNOT WAIT!!!!!!

Saturday 18th: 10am flight back to Wellington, with a short stop over in Auckland, arrive in Wellington by 10pm...what can I say....it was cheep lol sleep in Wellington for the night and repack lol

Sunday 19th: ferry over to the South Island. Dive down to Hans Josef Glacier via West Coast. I get first shift since I am the only experienced left side driver....

Sunday: Hans Joseph Glacier

Monday: Fox Glacier and Mt. Cook

Tuesday: Tramping around

Wednesday: drive up to Christchurch and explore more!! 

Thursday: more exploration of Christchurch

Friday: Christchurch con't.

Saturday 25th: Drive back up to Picton via East coast...stopping in Kaikoura for lunch and see beach a little before getting to Picton by 6 to board the ferry and come back to Wellington!!  

So I am SUPER excited....it should be heaps and heaps of fun!!! Lots of pictures to come!

Because Blogging is so much more fun...

It's 12:22am and I can't go to sleep. I have been working on a paper for 301 since I got back to my flat at 4pm....I have just finished. I should be working on the paper for 316 that is due Friday....but blogging is just so much more fun!

Life....well school work caught up with me in a major way this week. I have been having a lovely time in NZ so far: seeing the sights, experiencing the culture, and procrastinating all of my work like a professional. I tricked myself into thinking that I was keeping up with my work by reading some of the assigned chapters, and doing "research" for my two papers....but really, I was procrastinating like a fiend. Well, the realization hit on Sunday, when it was obvious that I was going to have to get my act together to finish a two papers by the end of the week. Another exciting twist is thrown into my life: I also have two papers due on Monday...an english take home exam (shouldn't be too difficult *she says confidently* it's only a close reading of a poem with a max of 1500 words) and a proposal for my second assignment in 301 (which I just realized I had to do today *YAY!!* and haven't really done much thinking on). But the fun twist...I am going on a Bulter event this weekend, and I can't miss it. I have been looking forward to the adventure weekend since I found out about the Butler program last fall, so I can't really back out now that would be awful!!! I will be taking my laptop with me (we are staying at a resort...so it will be fine), and I will make sure I work on my assignments for at least the three and a half hour ferry ride to and from the South Island....I also am convincing myself now that I will do some work at night.....but lets see if that really happens! lol

some other fun news.....we have mice. Yes, I will say/type it again...... we. have. mice.....IN OUR FLAT!!!! *insert lots of girly screaming and ewww-ing here* They were discovered in a pizza box, which was waiting to be recycled last night/this morning (1:30am). Since it was slightly past midnight, and the date was now 4/1, and my flattie who told me seems like he would be one for practicle jokes, I was a little hesitant to believe him at first. But dropping have been discovered, so in my horror, it was not an April Fools joke....(btw Happy Birthday Phil!) I have never really found a liking for mice...unlike one of my other flatties who wants to find a humane mouse trap. Better than the other trap option that was posed: fly paper that the mouse gets stuck on and then death by drowning...boys....

I don't care how we trap them....I just want them either dead so they can't torment me anymore......or so far away that they will never find this flat ever again (Australia would be preferable). I think it is all the years at the cottage, which created this fear of mice. Every year when we would open the cottage for the summer, I was petrified that one of the dead mice found would come back to life as soon as I got close to it, or that as I was moving things around in the attic (aka the 2nd floor and our bedrooms) that a whole fleet of mice (pack?.....whatever A LOT of mice) would come running out from behind something. Really, I just blame my over-active imagination for my hatred of mice. Just as another note, I have come to hate bats even more than mice, since I have realized that they are really just flying rodents....and what could be worse?!?!?! Thank God I haven't discovered any bats flying around the hills of Kelburn, Wellington.....do bats live in cities?

Don't worry too much about me being stressed, I have found plenty of time to give myself a little down time away from work (aka procrastinate like a champ). Yesterday, one of my roommates, one of her friends, and I went to a Salsa class. It was the 2nd class in the 3 class crash course for beginners series, but I wasnt too far behind since I have take a class or two before. It was HEAPS and heaps of fun and I am soooooooooo glad I went. I am totally going back next week, and then I want to ' see if I can take more classes when I get back from break. The teacher was really good, which is always important. She had asked a few guys who are intermediate students at the school to come to the class and help out, since I guess the guy to girl ratio the first week wasn't very good. Like most partner dance classes, we rotated partners every couple of sequences, and at the end I ended up with a really good intermediate guy. He was really nice, and actually was heaps of help in explaining how to follow....funny I know. But, in any dance class I have taken, I knew the most about dance and could pick it up faster, and so I ended up leading at times, but my biggest problem is actually anticipation of the steps. In a class, the teacher creates a short piece of choreography to follow so that you can understand the steps and motions....so, I anticipated.....BAD!!! with "real" dancing (as I have found out once or twice) I can't anticipate any steps, so I normally muck up my footwork and end up looking like a fool lol but now I know!! (I'm sure you all really care about this.....) Next week, the salsa program is renting out a local club for two nights and inviting the whole program to come and dance....so I am going to try and go, if only to just see some awesome dancing!

Even with all my work, I am really excited for this weekend. We are going down to the South Island for the weekend, where we will swim with dolphins, and explore the surrounding towns and bush. We leave Friday, at 5:15pm, arriving at our lodging by 9:25pm, at 10 we have a breifing (I KNOW!!! I have zero idea about what it will be on....hopefully it won't be too long, the schedule says that it is only a half hour long....so I hope its not too boring lol). The next day we have a full day of exploring the town of Portage and dolphin swimming. Sunday morning we are giving a little more time to explore Portage before its back on the ferry by 2:00, arriving back in Wellington by 5pm. See plenty of time to do my work! lol

ok it's now 1am and I am finally tired!! g'nite!