Party Season

SO recently things have been getting a bit quieter over here.  Especially at work the hours are dropping down so that means my money is dropping down.  So currently living off plain white rice, some thing that I'm more than familiar with, and also the free wine gums we give out at work.  A friend from Verbier, Chris is having his belated birthday celebrations at work so I managed to get the night off for the festivities and join in the fun on the other side of the bar.  It was a great gathering of people with a large number of crew from Verbier which was nice.  It escalated from a civilised evening with nibbles to a rumpus party with yards of ale and vomit very quickly.  Chris himself being the main contributor.  Repeatedly trying to down his birthday yard stopping more than occasionally to deposit vomit into the provided bucket next to him.  I was later told that the party also was entertained shortly by me and brad wrestling on the floor in front of everyone.  Neither I nor him can remember this even slightly however so I think I will choose not to be embarrassed by it.  As there has been little work my activities have been pretty limited to riding and frisbee golf.  This is far from disappointing and has been going great.  We have had pretty good weather and the more snowboarding the better!  

As planned for a while we had a staff party looming on the horizon.  The theme being come dressed as your favourite music artist.  Many ideas being thrown around but eventually it was only a fur coat and some gold jewellery needed to turn me quite remarkably into Macklemore.  So this was my outfit of choice.  This evening although it started late for me, as I had 40 stuck up twats to attend to until 12 at night meanwhile everyone else had finished, it was a fantastic one costumes always seem to make a night so much more fun!  Unfortunately it did not end well for my friend Dave.  He had come dressed as Miley Cyrus M.T.V awards style.  Not only did this stop him entering all but one establishments but once inside he caused absolute havoc and it wasn't long before he was dragged kicking and screaming from the bar in a truly slutty fashion.  Not before both our intoxication levels had resulted in me sipping from a beer that was neatly tucked between his bum cheeks!  Great! Dave I must point out is a man!  The rest of the evening I spent with Liz and her mate aiding them in losing at pool. 

A few days after that we had the privilege of hosting the Burton High Fives up at Cardrona mountain.  This is a globally renowned snowboard competition between the best in the world.  Me and Bridget and Kyle managed to make it up there for the half pipe final.  Such a spectacle to behold!  The weather was freezing but it was worth it to watch these pros throw them selves around in directions I can't even begin to comprehend.  I tried climbing up the side of the pipe to get better shot however it was so icy that after about 20 meters I came violently sliding down ripping cables with me as I fell and my snowboard went flying.  I got a stern telling off from some one in a high vis jacket and sheepishly took my seat to watch from a distance.  After a bit longer I decided to make another attempt at getting a better spot.  So I took a B line up to where I could see better and after hacking at the snow for a while made myself a tiny patch to stand on.  I couldn't move though because everywhere was a solid ice cube so one step and I would career down the slope again.  So there I stood for nearly 2 hours watching the final.  It was so worth it.  Amazing to watch live what I so often see online or on the T.V.  But to have it right in front of your face is an awesome spectacle.

Our house is called the "Stone House."  While this name was not chosen by us, it is what the sign says by chance and has aptly been renowned for being such a house due to a large percentage of the house residents living up to the name.  So the stone house decided to host a BBQ.  Me and Brad and Cam went on a little shopping mish once Facebook had made the event official.  We were very determined that it was to be a light, day time BBQ.  Not a party!  So we stocked up on meat and nibbles and tidied the house ready for the guests.  It was not till about 5 or 6 that people started to arrive.  The BBQ got going and it was looking great.  We had the tunes on, the sun was out it was a great vibe.  Unfortunately we very quickly regretted our decision to not get beer as we realised who the hell were we trying to kid.  It was almost immediately a party.  So a quick mish back to the super market to stock up and then back to what was quite firmly a party by now.  It was great having a full house.  Everyone was just chatting and laughing and really enjoying themselves.  A great evening had by all and rounded off nicely by about 30 people in the living room all sitting down to watch Space jam together!  What a movie.  The next day was a great one too.  A couple of girls had stayed over at ours from Auckland, Zoe and Zoe so we all went for a little play around on the hill that day and then that evening the girls bless them cooked us a stone house family meal with all the left overs from the BBQ and a few more steaks thrown in for good measure.  A wonderful evening. And by far the best I had eaten in weeks! 

The other day Bridget gave me a text seeing if I was up for hiking to the summit of Mount Roy with Ace.  Ace is one of the photographers that we met from the hell challenge crew.  Mount roy overlooks Wanaka and is about 1580 meters high so its no stroll in the park.  I told ruth at work we were going to do it and she put a little bit of fear in me when she asked if I had done it before or if anyone we were going with had previously done it.  Had we prepared properly etc.  She made it sound very serious.  however early next morning the three of us set off.  I didn't exactly look the part dressed in a t-shirt, vans and some skinny jeans.  But we marched on I had brought a sausage sandwich, some chocolate, crisps and beers for the summit.  These I thought were reasonable provisions for such an adventure.  It was a really great walk with jaw dropping views the whole way up.  We regularly stopped to take in the view and possibly a little to catch our breath.  After a while we thought perhaps it would be fun to take a bit of an A line up the mountain.  Off the beaten track and make our own way for a bit.  We did and although treacherous it was pretty fun.  So when the opportunity came to scramble up the ridge line instead of the path I jumped at it and was soon followed by Bridge and Ace.  A hell of a lot harder but it was well fun a bit dangerous and just better ya know.  We reached the top which was still covered in snow in 2 hrs 40.  I thought this quite impressive. There we chilled for many an astounding photo opportunity as the peak gives you a 360 degree view for miles.  Its beautiful.  Something perhaps not quite as breath taking was the massive poo that some one had left at the top.  Very kind of them.  I can see their thinking that it would be great to shit on the top of a mountain never the less not impressed. Slightly away from you human excretion we chilled for a couple beers and my provisions.  The beers went straight to my head as we were up so high and the scramble down was slightly more fun and a little more dangerous than before.  Walking down was much easier so we were able to chat, and with a few beers in us to lubricate our chatter we nattered on about religion, time travel, aliens and all the interesting things we could fathom.  Eventually reaching the car exhausted but satisfied.  I have always loved the phrase "The power of good".  Often used by slightly older people.  "that walk did me the power of good!"  I felt it appropriate to use this phrase now so I did.   

Here in New Zealand an important day approaches national Pirate day.  And of course in aid of this very special day a party is being thrown.  This party had been on everyones lips for a few weeks now so a greatly anticipated party must be a good one!  It has much to live up to.  Costume is of course of dyer import so a healthy 8 bucks in waste busters was more than enough to secure me what although not planned was the gayest pirate outfit you have ever seen!  Once I had finished at work I got dressed an proceeded to tattoo myself in a pirate fashion all over using what was clearly marked as a permanent pen. It didn't seem quite that worrying at the time.  So once my tattoos and eyeliner had been applied with this pen I set off to join the party.  Everyone had made a fantastic effort and the evening was a huge success.  Pirate games to fill the evening, anchors hanging from the balcony.  Cannons on the terrace next to the roaring fire and of course like every ye olde pirate party, a beer bong.  The night was a great laugh and although my throat payed the price, everyone talking in a pirate accent was immensely entertaining.  The party was in a flat just behind a popular drinking establishment called Water Bar.  It some how came about that the back door was often left open to this bar so we all decided that a pirate raid of this bar was of course some thing that should be done.  Brad mounted a table in the flat and proposed the plan then 40 or so pirates proceeded to creep to the back door of the bar and on the count of 3 we rushed in screaming and yelling brandishing swords and scaring the life out of people.  In through the back and in no less than 30 seconds we ran out the front all terribly pleased with ourselves at being an absolute public menace in a true pirate fashion.  the night went on from there progressing in violence and intoxication.  Fortunately unlike Cam and Brad I didn't stay long enough to get punched in the face as I was more interested in pie and bed.  The highlight of the evening for me aside from the bar raid was the fact that Jack had found an article in the paper describing how one of our previous house mates had been arresting for urinating in front of a police officer.  This was news to us and funny news at that!

Roady

lucky me I have been given the rare treat of 2 days off in a row so it is time to take advantage of it pronto!  Queenstown beckoned.  Living there is Laura a great friend of mine from uni and Ange and Caitlin some more awesome pals from last season.  Wednesday afternoon and up Cardrona mountain the snow is starting to come down pretty hard.  Certainly the most I have seen it come down since I have been here.  Very excited about the next day I head off to work.  I was hoping to finish the night early and hitch over wednesday evening so I could have more time in Queenstown.  No luck as 4 gentlemen came into the bar just as I had closed up and finished mopping.  4 of your most complex and time consuming cocktails they may as well have asked for!  So I got on making them and in my anger as violently shaking the cocktail shaker I bludgeoned myself on the forehead with it!  So hard I stumbled back and went all dizzy.  The inch lump took less then a second to appear and I struggled half with dizziness and half with laughter to finish the order.  Thankfully by the morning the lump had gone down which was great as I didn't fancy explaining it to everyone!  

I was up bright and early, bag packed and hitching by 7.30am.  I quickly got a ride to Cardrona which is about a 3rd of the way to Queenstown.  Then starting walking the mountain pass from Wanaka to Queenstown.  It wasn't long before I was picked up by a lovely bloke who was actually rather irritated he was going over to QT.  It seemed he had promised he would ski with a friend of his today.  The first powder day in at least 8 weeks!  And his friend was more of a one run then cafe and beer kinda guy.  Not the kinda guy you want to be skiing with on a day like today.  Not to mention he was very annoyed that he had to go over to QT as the mountains weren't as good.  This worried me a bit but not enough to kill the excitement of going over to ride with my mates and play on a new mountain.  

I was up Remarkables by 9 am pretty impressive I think.  This was because in QT a nice chick offered me her bus pass up the mountain.  Seeing the fresh snow I was immediately so pumped to ride.  Laura had work till 11.30 and Caitlin was too lazy to be up this early so I went to enjoy some of it by myself.  I hiked for about 30 mins to find some amazing fresh lines, a feeling sorely missed though I hadn't noticed until the rush came to me gliding down the mountain turn after turn.  As i got to the bottom of the run buzzing with excitement I boosted off a cat track blind to the landing, in the air I saw nothing beneath me but a huge rock smiling at me from far below.  My thoughts were of broken bones boards and the end of the season for me.  My board hit the rock first thankfully and I bounced backwards off it missing the rest of the rock and landing in the soft snow.  I paused and felt myself and amazed I had some how escaped unscathed I thought well my board must be snapped thats that for sure.  Not too upset about the prospect as I was still thrilled to be in one piece.  My board was of course an utter mess.  Chunks out of the bottom, scratches everywhere plastic ripping out at all angles but it was in one piece too and very fixable. I took it straight to repairs and within 20 minutes a lot of P-tex and some TLC it was ready to roll again.  Thank god.  By this time Caitlin had appeared.  Always great to see her.  She introduced me to her friend Alice and we set off to enjoy the day and the fresh snow.  After a few hikes and a few amazing runs we got to the bottom of the mountain where the snow started to become grassy.  In a fun mood we tried to ride it anyway as far s we could this resulted in me being head first 3 inches deep in muddy water.  Very funny although this humour wasn't shared by the bus driver taking us back up the hill.  He took a bit of persuading but eventually I was allowed on.

Not long till we were joined by Laura.  Me and Caitlin were very keen to try our backflips and rodeos and as we hadn't yet this season so we spent our lift rides searching for a good spot to throw ourselves off.  We saw a few here and there but none turned out to be the one.  Never the less we found some fun. A cheeky little cliff drop into powder and one spectacular view as well.  No backflips though.  But still an amazing perfect day.  Me and Laura then headed back to hers with some supplies to intoxicate ourselves and a bit of grub.  The plan was to meet Caitlin Ange and Alice later but they ended up being too lazy.  So just me and Laura headed out for a night in Qt  we went to this club which had just opened.  I think it was called "The Viynal."  It was underground and dark but had a great vibe and some really good live music was going on all night.  Fuelled with booze we got our boogie on and had an awesome night.  Some of you may have noticed already but I have a slight resemblance to an american rapper called Macklemore.  This resemblance gets repeated to me about twice a day minimum out here and has now just become a part of my life.  So when a drunk Argentinean guy came up to me in the club asking if he could buy Maclklemore a drink there wasn't much of a morale struggle in my already tipsy brain to refuse. This was a fun 15 mins of pretending until his presence became annoying and we decided to go back to dancing.  Laura was great she was constantly introducing me to people it seemed she knew the whole town and then some.  Eventually due to too much drink it was time to call it a night.  Not  before having a Ferg bakery pie of course!  The morning came far too quickly and with it a horrendous hangover dulled slightly by the fact that I was clearly still very drunk.  Reaching for my phone I see its 11.30 am and Caitlin is about to board the last bus up the hill while I lay in a self pitying and loathing pit of headaches and sickness.  I decided I was not to be beaten by this as Laura had work anyway and I needed to be productive.  I dragged myself out of bed and stumbled a lot out of the door clutching all my belongings and my snowboard.  I made it just in time to get the last bus and sat on there thinking why I had wrenched myself from bed so prematurely because nothing could be worth the way I was currently feeling.  I crawled up the stairs once at the base building to be greater by laughs from Caitlin, Alice and Ange at my intensely hungover appearance.  A quick change in the loo and a lot of water and I was ready to roll.  

We had a few fun runs to get warmed up and then spotted the perfect backflip spot.  Given my current state it would have been wise to pass up this opportunity but the part of me that was still a bit drunk thought it a marvellous idea.  We went to the base building and collected shovels and our bags.  There we bumped into Gaz an employee of Les Elfe last season with us who told of of a great spot up over the top of one of the lifts.  This seemed like a much better idea as it was far less in view and Caitlin would rather not be seen at the mountain she works at doing what we were.  We found the spot as Gaz had said and got to building ourselves a whippy little kicker.  About half an hours hard work and we had ourselves a pretty well made jump.  I walked up to the top of the run in and had a look at it.  It looked a bit too whippy.  Crazy infact so we decided to shave a bit off the lip and give it a go.  i just popped off it first to see how it was and it felt great.  Next comes the backflip.  This didn't go quite as smoothly as before and I didn't have the commitment.  I chickened out mid air and first point of contact was my head and neck.  Not a fun fall!  But shockingly I was alive and could move.  Caitlin then followed with an equally failed attempt!  hers was a direct face plant which I must say looked hilarious!  After these 2 very painful and bad falls we decided that the jump perhaps did require the whip we had previously deemed too much.  So after a bit of a reshape we hit it again with more promising results and again and again.  Eventually it started becoming more controlled and composed in the air and then bang got it!  Caitlin kept stomping them and then falling over just after.  So so close.  She then decided to try "one more" never a good idea.  She spun it round but it was too slow and she ate the shit big time.  Her yelp of pain was pretty prolonged so I was worried as i rushed down to her and after a quick check over releavingly she was ok.  A bit of a messed up wrist and probably some internal bleeding but nothing to worry about.  At that point we decided to call it a day.  Met up with Ange and headed home.  

Back to where Caitlin and Ange were living.  Which happens to have the best man cave ever.  Playstation, wide screen t.v, pool table, bar, dart board, all the ingredients u need for a chilled night in and smoke.  So after stocking up on a lot of munchies thats what we did.  

In the morning we woke up bright and early to road trip back over to Wanaka.  All four of us Ange, Alice Caitlin and me rode Cardrona all day.  Messing around in the pipe and the park having a laugh then after lunch we took a little bit of a hike up to a great view point and stopped for another little smoke and a chill surrounded by one of the most jaw dropping views I have ever seen.  We took a little gnarly line down from the view point and boosted back to mine. I had work so I left the girls to themselves and after a quick shift came back to some merry girls who were keen to chill out and watch a movie so we stuck dumb and dumber on and had a nice chilled eve in .  Great to hang out with them and catch up. A tremendously fun filled bunch of days off and I got my rodeos down!  Sweet. 

Old friends, New friends and Surf!

Soooo, hows it going.  Been a while since I have posted on here because I feel like now I'm just living my life here and I'm loving it but I can't imagine its going to be much of a great read.  Never the less I will post every now and then until the summer when I have a feeling it might get a bit more diverse! 

We currently have an event called the "World Heli Challenge" in Wanaka for 3 weeks.  This event consists of some of the best skiers and snowboarders from around the world coming to Wanaka to get flown up to the back country and compete on "Big Mountain."  They only go up a couple times so the rest of the 3 weeks is filled with partying and some pretty sweet day activities.  And awesomely they were using Lone Star as their eat and drink go to place.  This was so sweet because for the past 3 weeks Lone Star has been host to some awesome riders and a great crew of people.  Some really awesome people and a great laugh serving these guys.  Looking forward to getting to know them better hopefully.

A lovely surprise happened upon me the other day.  A friendly face from England happened to drop by.  Cara Bellingan happened to be in town with her mate travelling around. They have been in NZ for some time now and were coming over to Wanaka for the night.  They needed a place to crash so I was happy to have them.  We went out for a few drinky poos and happened to be in the same bar as all the Heli Challenge lot.  So had a great night catching up with Cara who I hadn't seen in years and mingling with the Heli crew.  Blast of a night! 

Few days later the Heli lot were up at Lone Star having themselves a Retro Party.  Was a great night everyone was dialled up to get smashed!  It was me and this safe girl called Bridget working on the party bar.  It was a cracking night filled with cocktails shots all round and people throwing backflips and frontflips fuled by booze.  However it ended badly for me as I had to drive the wasted crew into town to continue the party and got stopped and fined 120 bucks for speeding!  Gutted.  Never mind move on.  That night after work we went out to join the gang for a few more and got talking to Hazey, an Auzzie who is one of the organisers of the event.  Great guy and a great laugh always keen for a party!  He asked me and Bridge if we wanted to come along on a little surf trip that they were taking with the crew.  Of course we jumped on the offer possibly fuelled by a slight intoxication.  Got a day off work and joined the trip.  

It was an awesome road trip down to a place called Riverton, this tiny little village which must of had a population of at least 12 people.  We got there and wasted no time in suiting up and getting stuck into the waves.  

My surfing was far from impressive and compared to some of the others it wasn't long before I decided the beach was a less embarrassing position.  Hazzy on the other hand was shredding those waves.  Dropping in like a pro.  Great bit of entertainment.  

After a good few hours in the surf the fire got started on the beach the beers got cracked out.  Not to mention a bottle of whiskey me and Bridge thought a good idea to bring along and the night kicked off.  We filled this quaint small town bar and drank and ate it dry.  The poor small town folk didn't know what hit them!  They had 2 bar staff one which was at least 70 and I'm sure spent most of his time on the drinking side of the bar and the other was a lovely plumb man called Damo who was usually sheering sheep and had unfortunately lost a finger to the cause.  Didn't seem to slow down his beer pouring abilities though.  Anyway after a wild night getting to know all the crew and riders it was and early start to search for more surf.  As we came up on the beach it was looking rather dangerous and rocky so it was a quick decision to come back in the afternoon and give it a go at low tide.  While this was quite a small decision for the crew me and Bridge were a slightly more worried about it as the 3 hour road trip back would make us very late for work if we even managed to get back at all.  Anyway we actually left in pretty good time with some a few of the photographers Niels and Tomo and we ended up having a great road trip back full of banter and deep chats.  Still arriving to work 4 hours late but work were awesome about it!  But a great couple of days that won't be forgotten quickly.

So currently up at Cardrona we have the winter games going on.  This means its park rat season.  The park which was previously filled with Aussie holiday maker punters is now filled with professional riders throwing down some insane stuff.  So you can imagine the park is an intimidating place to be riding.  I have been going up lots however and making a fool of myself while the pros thrown doubles around like they are going out of fashion.  Its been a great few weeks though all round and it couldn't be going much better.  On the down side I went up the other day with Cam and he and his mate Luke decided a quick game of skate was on the cards.  So Luke took first trick and decided to thrown down a front flip in the mini park Cam boldy followed and threw it round real fast and over rotated and took the whole impact on his shoulder.  He calmly stood up and exclaimed "I have broken my collar bone."  His placid expression and attitude wasn't convincing however the large lump sticking out of his shoulder was a pretty sure bet. 

At least the doctor who saw him was smoking hot!  Put a great spin on the whole thing.  Thats pretty much me up to date for now.    

Into the Swing of Things

All settled in now.  Bumped into a few people from home like the lovely Laura Nicole from Southampton.  So nice to see a friendly face from home.  The guys I all live with are awesome.  Been for a couple games of Frisbee golf.  Its an awesome game they play out here which is exactly like golf but you play with frisbees, and much bigger holes.  I suck at it now but plenty of time to improve.  Been riding a few times and explored the hill.  All about the park, need to get back into the swing of it all.  Work is pretty sweet.  Some cool people working there.  Its an easy job.  Really layed back.  Gets mega busy but its good to be running around behind the bar serving all types of cool people.  It feels good to have a job and a place to live and now getting to ride when ever, but it all happened so quick I need to spend some time getting to know some of the people around here to make it feel like I belong here.

TJ, one of my house mates, had some mates pop down to visit him and as they were keen to learn to snowboard me and TJ took them up for a lesson.  Bit of a laugh and they did pretty well.  Then they wanted showing round Wanaka so as a thank you for teaching them they took me to puzzle world!  A triply little place with loads of visual illusions and things of that nature. Complete tourist activity but it was pretty interesting and I always love having my mind messed with.  

I have really got into the swing of it all now.  Riding more.  Going up the hill nice and early before work and getting some good riding in.  Yesterday, twat that I am called last run (Which is a Big no no! You Always get hurt.)  and took a bit of a fall.  Hard face plant.  Not fun!  As I got up my vision was pretty messed up and I realised that I couldn't remember where I worked.  When I voiced this, and my mates asked me a few more questions it became clear after failing to answer several that I was not ok.  Medic!!  After about a half hour it started coming back to me and they kept me for a while under observation. 

A mild concussion and all good.  Just no riding for a few days.  More frisbee golf!  Getting much better. Pulled off a cracking shot today. Hole in 2.  Yea boi! Me and Brad and Tom (2 more house mates) went for a bike ride round the Lake just as a reminder of the incredible scenery that surrounds this gorgeous town.  

The Lake looked so tempting for a quick dip after a strenuous cycle.  However I was assured i would instantly regret the decision.  Another time perhaps. 

Limbo

Feeling a little under the weather Coming out of the airport into the -4 temperature.  I put this down to the fact that for 8 hours I had just been sat next to a very obviously unwell woman from Bangladesh, who although didn't speak anything close to a word of English found it necessary to talk to me the whole way.  Un thwarted by my headphones she would poke me to ask me questions which might as well have been a dial up tone for how well I understood her.  Eventually I established that she required me to fill out her visa form because she kept thrusting all her worldly important documents in my face.  So I did.  Any way I diverse.  

I was feeling a bit ill and very excited. I was waiting for my friend Caitlin and Ange to pick me up.  They are friends I met last winter season working with them in Verbier.  Great gals. And they were both working in Queenstown as instructors.  So along pootled a little van and out they jumped.  It was awesome to see them both and with them of course came the prospect of a much needed bed.  They are both staying with a guy called Dean.  He is a single father of 2 great kids.  And the owner of a tattoo shop.  He lives at the top of a big hill with a stunning view and loves his bourbon.  The first night I very bluntly asked Caitlin and Ange's friend Sarah if I could pass out on a mattress she had in the corner while the others went out on the piss.  After a much needed sleep I got productive.  

I need to find a job and a place to live pronto!  Thankfully Dean was away for a week so for now it was cool to crash the sofa while I sort my life out.  So now I need to find a job, a place to live, get a bank account, a phone and all that crap.  The next few days was spent relentlessly filling out applications emailing and boring stuff like that.  It was seeming really rather unhopeful even with people putting in good words for me and mates putting me in contact with the right people.  (the who you know side of things)  Eventually some fruit from my labour, an email back from a lady who manages a bar in Wanaka. (an hour away)  Lone star bar.  http://www.lonestar.co.nz/location/24/wanaka .aspx  .I have been offered a trial there.  fingers crossed for me!

So i hopped on a bus to Wanaka straight away.  I got there and met my friend Jack.  He is a Kiwi born and bread in Wanaka who I also worked with last season.  Real chilled guy to have around.  He mentioned that a couple people were moving out of his house so there might be some space for me.  But first I got some directions from him up to Lone Star Cafe.  I borrowed his bike and wizzed up the hill which is a mission!  If I get the job I know I'm going to quickly hate this hill with a passion.  Got there and after a five minute chat with the woman I had got the email from she asked me to chuck on a uniform and start my trial.  Helena is her name.  She is a really cool gal.  It seems well layed back there.  Great place and really the sort of place I'd love to work.  best of all I would only ever start at 4.30 which gives me every day to ride!  The trial went well and there are some really chilled peeps working there.  Plus I get free food every shift which is to die for!  

I headed back to Jacks and everyone said it was all cool to move in when the other guys move out.  7 guys, a huge t.v, wifi, hot tub, sauna.  Yeah I can get used to that!  Felt good.  Everything sorted in a couple of hours of being in Wanaka. Now I just need to find 1300 bucks for a ski pass!  

  

Transit

So I will briefly catch you up to date on the hardship I actually had to go through to get here. Now I'm not one to believe in so called signs or superstitions but after 12 very clearly negative events or mishaps towards my departure I was starting to get convinced.  I shan't take you through all of them but just tell you it involved quite a lot of money spent on X-rays and C.T scans and a broken rib being mistaken for something much more serious (namely the big C).  So after a lot of emails and back and forths and trips to Beckeham and London eventually my visa was approved.  Not before my laptop had died.  So once the laptop was fixed and the visa was granted I was ready to go.  

A few minor set backs with booking flights and I arrived at Heathrow ready to depart at 22:00 "flight delayed 23:00" This had me slightly worried about my connection Kuala Lumpa that I only had 4 hours to get.  "flight delayed 0:00"  slightly more worried as my window was closing even smaller. "flight delayed 1:30"  Now pretty sure my connection would be missed I was on the phone to the mother panicking like mad demanding she ring up Malaysia Airlines right away and check they r going to get me to NZ eventually with no further cost. As my funds as per usual are very limited!  After several calls I was reassured that I would be delivered to Queenstown regardless of the obstacles the airline created.  The passengers then all received a notice over the intercom.  

"This is an announcement for all passengers for the 22:00 flight to Kuala Lumpa, Please take a seat as we have not yet got a departure time for your flight. There has been some technical issues discovered on the aircraft and we currently have engineers working to fix it." 

 This was a little unsettling that we were waiting indefinitely to board a broken plane!  But eventually we did.  They had decided that as there were no hotels to put us all up for the night the perviously unfixable plane was infact sky worthy?! By some magic the flight and connections were all successful and I arrived sleep deprived and very rushed on time at Queenstown airport.  Success.  

Welcome

Hi again folks.  As you may or may not know i have toddled off to the other side of the world for what plans to be a year.  South island New Zealand to be more specific.  As I'm hoping its going to be a very exciting emotional and eventful year I thought a blog might be a good idea.  

i did one once before called the Vantastic Adventures of a Vacant Toad.  Its about a little expedition down the west coast of America.  Feel free to have a read.            

http://vacantvan.blogspot.co.uk 

So Welcome to my blog.  I hope you find it entertaining or at least an effective way of determining that I'm still alive. Enjoy.