Kia Ora!

Peter and Margaret are back from their 2-week holiday in Australia. Margaret is still off this week, so she asked me if I wanted to go shopping with her. Sure, I love to shop! She took me to Sylvia Park, a huge mall with I don't know how many shops. She soon found out how much I love shopping: we shopped from 11.00 am until 6 pm... It was great! Margaret helped me buy some lovely items and they happened to be on sale as well. I was so sick and tired of having to wear the same clothes over and over again. I've been wearing the same outfits for nearly 6 months now and most of my tops and trousers didn't look so good anymore. Thanks to Margaret, I don't look sloppy anymore - and I feel a lot better too. I've managed to gain some weight, which was necessary, because my weight was dangerously low when I got back from my 23-day bus tour. No wonder I couldn't get up in the morning. Even opening my eyes was exhausting! The bus tour was heaps of fun, though. Please read on...

The next day (Jan. 4, 2010), the sun was shining and Abel Tasman National Park looked amazing. Martin tried to persuade me to go with the group, but I was determined to spend the day alone. Carl and Mark hadn't signed up for the group walk either. They didn't want to spend $46 for a walk that you could do alone as well. So, Carl, Mark and I went in one water taxi and the rest of the group went in another one. The group stayed in the water taxi for quite a while and they went seal spotting as well, but Carl, Mark and I were dropped off at a beach after 20 minutes and instructed to follow the tracks back to the campsite. Sweet as! I soon lost Carl and Mark and went my own way. I ended up walking for 8 hours (!), but I had a really good time. I was the last one to return at the campsite (I'm always the last one...). The others went to a burger place for dinner. Since they didn't have anything there that I could eat, I went back to the campsite and made myself a delicious tuna salad. We didn't do much after dinner. Marianne and I went to bed relatively early, but we ended up talking once we were in our not-so-comfy bunk beds, so by the time we fell asleep, it was late.

The next day, we left Abel Tasman and drove to Hanmer Springs. On the way, we stopped for a walk and a picnic on the lake edge. We arrived in Hanmer Springs in the late afternoon. Martin, Fabian, Marianne and I had a cottage all to ourselves. What a luxury! We went for a soak in the hot pools with the whole group and afterwards, we had dinner at a restaurant. After dinner, Martin, Fabian, Marianne and I watched television together in the living room. I hadn't watched tv for months. I'm not a big tv fan, but I must admit that I did enjoy watching television that night. After watching Derren Brown and Little Britain U.S.A., we went to bed. Marianne and I shared a bedroom, Martin had his own room and Fabian had to sleep in the living room. The next morning, we had breakfast together at the dinner table. It almost felt like normal family life! Around 9.00 am, Kerry came to pick us up. We drove to Kaikoura, a town on the coast. Kaikoura is famous for its marine life. Marianne, Martin and I had signed up for a whale watching boat tour and that was absolutely amazing. We saw three gigantic sperm whales (sorry, can't help it, that's what they're called) and heaps of dolphins. The dolphins swam under the boat, next to the boat and they did flips. Absolutely stunning. I couldn't stop taking pictures and excitedly shouting:'Look! Over there! Look, there are more!'. Definitely a highlight of the tour.

After our visit to Kaikoura, we got back in the bus and drove to Christchurch. Christchurch is flat (no hills) and very English. We stayed at a hostel and Marianne, Fabian, Martin and I shared a room with two bunk beds. The bunk bed were very colourful, as if they belonged to a children's room. They were very noisy as well. Even breathing made them squeak! According to Marianne's information brochure, a journey on the Tranz Alpine Express train was part of the Adventure Tours bus tour. According to the information I'd received, it wasn't. We asked Kerry for some clarification and he said that the Tranz Alpine Express wasn't part of the Adventure Tours program, but, if we wanted, he could drop us off at the train station and pick us up on the other side. Of course, we'd have to pay for it ourselves as well. The Tranz Alpine Express runs from the east coast of the South Island to the west. Marianne didn't have to think long about Kerry's offer. We booked a ticket for the next day and then we went out for dinner with Martin and Fabian. We went to a Thai restaurant and when Fabian saw that you could bring your own wine (B.Y.O.), he immediately walked back to the hostel to get a bottle. Bring your own wine to a restaurant... Interesting New Zealand custom! After dinner, Fabian and I went for a walk and Martin and Marianne went back to the hostel. We all didn't go to bed late, because we had to get up early the next day. Marianne and I went to the west coast by train and the others went by bus. Marianne had hoped to take pictures of the beautiful scenery from the train. The train even stops and allows people to get off to take pictures, but when we went, it was raining. The bad weather was a bit disappointing, but we still enjoyed it. We had a lot more space in the train than we had in the bus! When we arrived on the east coast, Kerry was already waiting for us. He'd picked up 8 other people along the way, so the bus was pretty full. Marianne and I'd also lost our seats in the front of the bus. Luckily, we didn't have to drive very far. On our way to Franz Josef, we stopped at the Bushman centre where we saw real possums, stuffed animals and wacky people... It was a really weird experience. When we arrived in Franz Josef, it was still raining. We were led to our crappy hostel rooms (Fabian, Martin, Marianne and I shared a room again) and once everyone had dumper their belongings, we had dinner at the hostel restaurant. Everybody complained about the food afterwards. Oops! We didn't sleep very well either. The bunk beds were like a dog basket...

The next day was for ‘exploring this World Heritage area'. Franz Josef is famous for its glacier, which means there's a lot of snow and ice. Initially, I'd signed up for the half-day glacier walk, but when I saw a promotional video about it and the shoes I'd have to wear, I sort of panicked. I absolutely hate snow, cold and ice (I'm so happy I'm not in Holland this winter!), so why was going to pay a lot of money for something I knew I wouldn't like? I cancelled my glacier walk and I spent the day reading, writing and using the internet. Because it was raining, some activities got cancelled, so I wasn't the only one there. That night, we went to an Indian restaurant with the whole group (18 people). Good food and heaps of fun!

Hopefully, I'll be able to tell you more tomorrow. I've got to go now - I have to do an Excel course. I've been struggling with it for weeks, but I have to do it, otherwise, the recruitment agency won't accept me. The course is free and I do it in my own time, so even if I don't find work through this particular agency, at least I can say that I master Excel...

Have a nice day!