I'm in Auckland. I was up at 9 this morning, and took a nice walk around the neighbourhood with Ruby and Ella-Rose, my "cousins". At 11.30 my dad picked me up and we went to lunch, to a pub called Shakespeare, which was actually quite nice. We had a good chat and then some of his work mates stopped by and they started talking about insurance fraud and how New Zealand might become a republic (and how pointless that would be) and I kind of zoned out.
We're going to St Lukes at about 2.30 so I don't have a lot of time...
The bus trip was alright. We arrived at 7.20pm instead of 6.35pm, and the bus station was uber grotty, and I did end up sitting next to this slightly annoying old English woman, but other than that it was pretty sweet. I read an entire book (The Long Walk by Stephen King- about 340 pages), and other than that I didn't have a whole lot to do. I hate not having an iPod or MP3 player :(
My Aunty Sam, who I'm staying with, moved house in July and this is the first time I've been here. It must have cost them an absolute fortune. It's in Parnell (very nice neighbourhood) and the house is all white walls and big windows and carpeted stairs, and there's a good sized swimming pool out back. I'm glad I'm staying here and not at my dad's, which is kinda small and boring.
Um yeah we're leaving now so I'm gonna go.
:) xx
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Monday, December 6, 2010
this is a blog post
My dad called before to figure out when we can meet in Auckland. When we'd finished talking, he ended the conversation with "cheers" and abruptly hung up.
I'm his daughter, not a work mate. I'm not my mum, either, with whom he has a strained relationship. I barely even had time to say goodbye.
It's put me in a bad mood all day, even though I feel like I should be acting happy and excited.
In other (better) news, my packing is all done. After all the fuss, it really didn't take that long. I have two carry on bags and two big bags, one of which will be full of presents for family.
I'm his daughter, not a work mate. I'm not my mum, either, with whom he has a strained relationship. I barely even had time to say goodbye.
It's put me in a bad mood all day, even though I feel like I should be acting happy and excited.
In other (better) news, my packing is all done. After all the fuss, it really didn't take that long. I have two carry on bags and two big bags, one of which will be full of presents for family.
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Dec 5th '10
Today was pretty good
- Was up at 8am to go to my drama thing in Palmerston North.
- Performance was rad. I'm v. proud of my class and uber sad that I'll never be in a performance again. Also received my Helen O'Grady's t-shirt and said goodbye to my teacher, who is honestly a lovely person.
- Went to lunch at Moxies
- Drove to the Plaza.
- GOT A NEW PHONE. FINALLY. It's a pink Telecom XT. I don't have to buy top up cards for this one because it gets billed automatically to my mum's phone account. I get 300 txts a month for $6.00. Sweet as.
- Am now the proud owner of an owl necklace. Gold and silver and only $10.
- Went to various shops as Tori bought presents for people. Stood around in Bed Bath & Beyond as Mum admired the towels.
- Am home now. Will be off to charge my new phone soon :)
Thursday, December 2, 2010
2nd-3rd December, 2010
WARNING: LONG POST.
Cleaning my room out takes some epic effort, guysers. I got home today at 4pmish and I was like okay I'd better do this thing because I don't want to leave it for too long. So I shoved a whole bunch of clothes into a bag (upsetting clouds of dust as I did so, because some of it was buried at the back of my closet) and dumped them in my mum's room for sorting. And then I cleared the top of my desk, which meant another rubbish bin bag (one of those huge green eco ones). So my room is slightly emptier.
I still have to clear out my desk drawers and pack for England, though. I have to make a list of all the things I want to take. Granted that wont be much. I'm only allowed 20kg of stuff on the bus to Auckland & the plane to London.
So yesterday was pretty cool. And so was this morning.
Arrived at James' house at around 11.30AM. Played cards. Drank a lot of fizzy. Listened to music. Jess taught some people how to play 500. It's an epicly fun game. We played for hours yesterday.
The best part, though, has to be Thursday night. We took a little walk down a trail at the back of James' house, which involved some ditch jumping (Keryn got a gumboot stuck in a mushy part. Good times :D). And then when that trail ended we climbed a fence and walked through a field of what I'm guessing is someone's crop. By the end of it the legs of my jeans were covered in yellow plant matter, which thankfully came off later when we walked through some long grass.
So, some more fence jumping led to a huge field, scattered with big old trees. James- of course- climbed right on up. We took some photos of us like that, gathered beneath this huge branch.
We soon realised the presence of a patch of stinging nettles. Luckily for me I had closed shoes and jeans, but Jess M wasn't so lucky :/
We moved on, down along some trees, through a gate and over a barbed wire fence, and finally into a little paddock, presided over by a very, very tall tree. Three horses- all quite tame- watched us as we explored, and ran when some tried to pull a large fallen branch from the tree.
We walked back a different way.
As soon as we arrived James' dad offered to take us to the glow worm cave, so I put my (now green and brown) shoes back on and hopped in the back of the ute.
I think that standing in the back of a ute with friends, with the air and the countryside streaming past, hanging on for dear life and shouting with joy is something that every Kiwi kid should do. It really was so great. Keryn, Ben, James, Cecile and I stood at the back of the cab and hung onto a bar as James' dad drove us down farm trails (and into the occasional pothole) to the glow worm caves. We swung from side to side as we drove through the night, finally arriving windswept and smiling.
We hopped out and climbed over yet another fence using two logs for support, and dove right into the trees. It was quite dark by then, so we had torches (bike lights, really), which we most certainly would have died without. The ground was covered in large rocks, therefore quite treacherous, and there were lots of branches that we had to climb over and under. I got a good scratch under the eye at one point, and more than once I slipped. Flaag slipped pretty bad at one point, too. She was walking behind me and I heard this cracking noise and a sliding and I turn and there's Jessica, sitting half on and half off of a fallen tree, feet through the undergrowth.
And then someone said "look at the lights!" and I realised that we were walking among the glowworms. Little dots of light- blue light- littered the walls, the rocks surrounding us. As we walked they became denser, as did the forest. More and more trees had fallen, and more rocks were there to be clambered over. By now my shoes- grey "sneakers"- were covered in green and brown, and there was an entire forest in my hair.
When we finally stopped walking (really we'd only be going for ten minutes) we'd reached a point where glowworms littered the walls like stars on a clear night. Keryn and James climbed upwards while the rest of us stayed on more solid ground, looking at the little things up close with our bike lights.
Eventually we walked back, and James' dad drove us to the house.
It really was amazing.
Monday-Friday of this week has been the best. I'm so glad I got to see at least most of my friends before I leave for Auckland on the 8th. I'm lucky to have such incredible people as friends. :)
This has been quite long. I hope it didn't put anyone off reading it :/ I don't think I'm back to writing as much I used to, back in February and stuff, when I wrote a blog post a day- or more!
Haha. I'd better go to bed. I have a drama production tomorrow... :)
<3 xx
Cleaning my room out takes some epic effort, guysers. I got home today at 4pmish and I was like okay I'd better do this thing because I don't want to leave it for too long. So I shoved a whole bunch of clothes into a bag (upsetting clouds of dust as I did so, because some of it was buried at the back of my closet) and dumped them in my mum's room for sorting. And then I cleared the top of my desk, which meant another rubbish bin bag (one of those huge green eco ones). So my room is slightly emptier.
I still have to clear out my desk drawers and pack for England, though. I have to make a list of all the things I want to take. Granted that wont be much. I'm only allowed 20kg of stuff on the bus to Auckland & the plane to London.
So yesterday was pretty cool. And so was this morning.
Arrived at James' house at around 11.30AM. Played cards. Drank a lot of fizzy. Listened to music. Jess taught some people how to play 500. It's an epicly fun game. We played for hours yesterday.
The best part, though, has to be Thursday night. We took a little walk down a trail at the back of James' house, which involved some ditch jumping (Keryn got a gumboot stuck in a mushy part. Good times :D). And then when that trail ended we climbed a fence and walked through a field of what I'm guessing is someone's crop. By the end of it the legs of my jeans were covered in yellow plant matter, which thankfully came off later when we walked through some long grass.
So, some more fence jumping led to a huge field, scattered with big old trees. James- of course- climbed right on up. We took some photos of us like that, gathered beneath this huge branch.
We soon realised the presence of a patch of stinging nettles. Luckily for me I had closed shoes and jeans, but Jess M wasn't so lucky :/
We moved on, down along some trees, through a gate and over a barbed wire fence, and finally into a little paddock, presided over by a very, very tall tree. Three horses- all quite tame- watched us as we explored, and ran when some tried to pull a large fallen branch from the tree.
We walked back a different way.
As soon as we arrived James' dad offered to take us to the glow worm cave, so I put my (now green and brown) shoes back on and hopped in the back of the ute.
I think that standing in the back of a ute with friends, with the air and the countryside streaming past, hanging on for dear life and shouting with joy is something that every Kiwi kid should do. It really was so great. Keryn, Ben, James, Cecile and I stood at the back of the cab and hung onto a bar as James' dad drove us down farm trails (and into the occasional pothole) to the glow worm caves. We swung from side to side as we drove through the night, finally arriving windswept and smiling.
We hopped out and climbed over yet another fence using two logs for support, and dove right into the trees. It was quite dark by then, so we had torches (bike lights, really), which we most certainly would have died without. The ground was covered in large rocks, therefore quite treacherous, and there were lots of branches that we had to climb over and under. I got a good scratch under the eye at one point, and more than once I slipped. Flaag slipped pretty bad at one point, too. She was walking behind me and I heard this cracking noise and a sliding and I turn and there's Jessica, sitting half on and half off of a fallen tree, feet through the undergrowth.
And then someone said "look at the lights!" and I realised that we were walking among the glowworms. Little dots of light- blue light- littered the walls, the rocks surrounding us. As we walked they became denser, as did the forest. More and more trees had fallen, and more rocks were there to be clambered over. By now my shoes- grey "sneakers"- were covered in green and brown, and there was an entire forest in my hair.
When we finally stopped walking (really we'd only be going for ten minutes) we'd reached a point where glowworms littered the walls like stars on a clear night. Keryn and James climbed upwards while the rest of us stayed on more solid ground, looking at the little things up close with our bike lights.
Eventually we walked back, and James' dad drove us to the house.
It really was amazing.
Monday-Friday of this week has been the best. I'm so glad I got to see at least most of my friends before I leave for Auckland on the 8th. I'm lucky to have such incredible people as friends. :)
This has been quite long. I hope it didn't put anyone off reading it :/ I don't think I'm back to writing as much I used to, back in February and stuff, when I wrote a blog post a day- or more!
Haha. I'd better go to bed. I have a drama production tomorrow... :)
<3 xx
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
I'm Trying To Say Whatever I Want Here
Yesterday was wonderful.
I wish I had a camera and camera skills, because I feel like I could have taken some amazing photos during our time out yesterday morning. We came back from Harry Potter and mooched around Keryn's house, and then someone mentioned going for a walk. Never mind how late it was. We wanted ice cream and we were going to get it.
So we walked down the middle of Keryn's road, carefree teens in a lamplit ghost town. The BP supplied the ice creams. We didn't turn around and go home. We carried on. If I had the words I would describe the stone patterns on the sidewalk, the eireeness of the public toilets, the strange feeling of eating a Fruju under the clock tower at midnight. We saw police cars, protecting us and watching us both.
We ended up at Manfield Park. We sat on the witch's hat, the metal and wood ride that spins and moves, up and down, around and around. I held on for dear life and watched the faces of my friends, the lights in the distance, the ground underneath me.
We walked across the feild. People of the night. All alone.
A children's playground. Grass and rubber. Shouts of laughter.
James climbing easily over a high, spiked fence. Jess and I on the tyre ride, waiting for it to slow down. Jordan sitting in the middle of the roundabout. Keryn lying on the ground.
Bohemian Rhapsody.
Que sera, sera,
Whatever will be, will be.
The skatepark.
I've never been there before.
The concrete and the bright lights and the metal bars. It was a while before I found my balance.
The Time Warp by the fence. Big buildings in the distance.
A Police car pulled up and even though I'd done nothing wrong I felt guilty. Are we allowed to be here at this time? We promised we'd be back home soon, and they left. How trusting. Imagine if we'd been out with bad intentions.
People watching television. Whole other lives.
Home again, we slept.
I wish I had a camera and camera skills, because I feel like I could have taken some amazing photos during our time out yesterday morning. We came back from Harry Potter and mooched around Keryn's house, and then someone mentioned going for a walk. Never mind how late it was. We wanted ice cream and we were going to get it.
So we walked down the middle of Keryn's road, carefree teens in a lamplit ghost town. The BP supplied the ice creams. We didn't turn around and go home. We carried on. If I had the words I would describe the stone patterns on the sidewalk, the eireeness of the public toilets, the strange feeling of eating a Fruju under the clock tower at midnight. We saw police cars, protecting us and watching us both.
We ended up at Manfield Park. We sat on the witch's hat, the metal and wood ride that spins and moves, up and down, around and around. I held on for dear life and watched the faces of my friends, the lights in the distance, the ground underneath me.
We walked across the feild. People of the night. All alone.
A children's playground. Grass and rubber. Shouts of laughter.
James climbing easily over a high, spiked fence. Jess and I on the tyre ride, waiting for it to slow down. Jordan sitting in the middle of the roundabout. Keryn lying on the ground.
Bohemian Rhapsody.
Que sera, sera,
Whatever will be, will be.
The skatepark.
I've never been there before.
The concrete and the bright lights and the metal bars. It was a while before I found my balance.
The Time Warp by the fence. Big buildings in the distance.
A Police car pulled up and even though I'd done nothing wrong I felt guilty. Are we allowed to be here at this time? We promised we'd be back home soon, and they left. How trusting. Imagine if we'd been out with bad intentions.
People watching television. Whole other lives.
Home again, we slept.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Alrigh'... lissen t' me
I don't know if it's fully sunk in that I'll be leaving the country entirely very, very soon. I have so much to do before I leave, I'm thinking more about that than the actual destination.
Just nine days left :o
I hope the plane doesn't crash and we all die in the ocean. And I hope they have good movies. And I hope I don't end up sitting next to someone weird.
Anyways. I'm going to miss all of you people when I go. Leaving home will be scary and exciting and I'll be pretty much alone )': and I'll probably wish I could be back home some of the time. I don't want to lose contact with anyone, because you guys are great friends, and I feel very lucky to have known you (god, it sounds like I'm writing a pre-death letter). When I get back from England on Feb 8th (I think it is) I'll want to say goodbye to whoever's still around (now it sounds like you're going to die) before I go.
Ahem. So, must dash. Gonna go check to see if James, Keryn, Jess and Jordan are still being boring sleepy people :)
x
Just nine days left :o
I hope the plane doesn't crash and we all die in the ocean. And I hope they have good movies. And I hope I don't end up sitting next to someone weird.
Anyways. I'm going to miss all of you people when I go. Leaving home will be scary and exciting and I'll be pretty much alone )': and I'll probably wish I could be back home some of the time. I don't want to lose contact with anyone, because you guys are great friends, and I feel very lucky to have known you (god, it sounds like I'm writing a pre-death letter). When I get back from England on Feb 8th (I think it is) I'll want to say goodbye to whoever's still around (now it sounds like you're going to die) before I go.
Ahem. So, must dash. Gonna go check to see if James, Keryn, Jess and Jordan are still being boring sleepy people :)
x
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