Im coming home...

I don't know if you can see the changes that have come over me?
These last few days I've been afraid that I might drift away.
So I'm telling old stories, singing songs that make me think about where I came from.
So that's the reason why I seem so far away today.

Let me tell you that I love you and I think about you all the time,
Caledonia you're calling me and now I'm going home.
And if I shall become a stranger, you know that it would make me more than sad,
Caledonia you're the best friend I've ever had.

And I have moved and I've kept on moving and I've proved the points that I needed proving,
And I've lost friends that I needed losing and found others on the way.
And Ive kissed a boy and spent some time, completed dreams oh there's no denying.
And I've partied hard with my coat tails flying somewhere in the wind.

Let me tell you that I love you and I think about you all the time,
Caledonia you're calling me and now I'm going home.
And if I shall become a stranger, you know that it would make me more than sad,
Caledonia you're the best friend I've ever had.

Let me tell you that I love you and I think about you all the time,
Caledonia you're calling me and now I'm going home.

Caledonian- Paolo Nutini version

Operation and recovery...

On thursday the fourteenth of June I was picked up early by Ailsa who drove me to the hospital, we went in and I got a canula put in and a bed cause I started feeling feint. I actually slept all morning untill I was taken into surgery at twelve. The surgery went well, they reopened my arm and my right hip. Took a chunk of bone and put it into my arm. When I woke up, Luke and Ailsa were there. I dozed in and out of consciousness but it felt nice knowing they were there. I was on a drip for the next twenty four hours and was let out of hospital on Saturday lunch time. Graeme picked me up and we drove to Hastings, it was so nice being back at the McCrorys, that house to me feels like a second home. I get on so well with Duncan and Carys and Lysbeth and Graeme are so awesome.

I basically spent three weeks chilling out, watching tv, hanging out with family and eating lots of apples. It was really  nice having the space to recover because I was really sore. Some of my highlights were; Duncans apple pie, it was sooo amazing, getting the new kitten, Dougall, seeing Becky and Sara, spending the day with my friend Kerry and spending time with the McCrorys.

I was very sad leaving them, Im not quite sure when I'll see them again but hopefully it won't be too long. They were so good to me I'll never forget it. I got a bus back to Wellington and that brings me to Tuesday, today.

This morning I got up at three thirty am in order to be at the airport for four am. Luke and Ailsa drove me to the airport. I hate saying goodbye, Ill never forget all that the Pollocks have done for me and I'm so grateful. It won't be long till I see Luke again since he's following me over to Scotland in two days and I'm looking forward to spending time with him when I get home.

So right now I'm sitting in Sydney airport after waiting for 6 hours already and one more till I board. Thanks to the operation I get priority boarding which is pretty sweet. So yeah, I can't wait to get home. I will blog again when I get home.

Bye for now x

Sydney...

I arrived in Sydney late at night and was met off the plane by my parents friend Rita, when Mum and Dad backpacked round the world Rita took them in and they stayed for a month. She really looked after them and my parents remembered her very fondly so I was quite excited to meet her. She was really lovely and since it was late we went back to her house and had soup for tea.

The next morning we went out early and drove all around the city. I was so excited the whole time couldnt stop smiling, seeing everything that i'd learnt about when I was wee, seeing the bridge and the opera house. For lunch we went to Bondi beach, that was really exciting. It was soo sunny, we sat and watched the surfers. Lunch was in a nice restaurant I ordereed a prawn salad thinking Id have a nice light lunch but I got a massive plate full of salad and four prawns. Tasted delicious but there was sooo much of it I had to take it away for afternoon tea, later it was still delicious.

That evening Rita dropped me off in central station so I could go and stay with my friends the Bemrose's. Chris came and did a gap year in Hilton church when I was young, similar to what I just did in NZ and I was really looking forward to seeing him and Jo and meeting his kids.
They met me at the station and we walked down to the harbour. There was a big lights show on on all the famous buildings, it was so cool. There was a really great atmosphere and it was really fun wandering around with the Bemroses, taking photos, seeing the sights and getting to know the kids.

The next day we went to the blue mountains, we went on the cable car across a gorge. I was slightly scary because it was a glass bottom but it was really beautiful. You could see hundreds of miles of bush and there was a really pretty waterfall that seemed to fall for miles. The other thing was a train that went down a hill at a forty five degree angle, it was really scary but at the same time totally awesome. At the bottom there was a wooden walkway that described how the mountains were used for coal mining. That's a job I couldn't do, way too dangerous and claustrophobic. We went back up the emountain by a skyway car, it was really cool but it swung a bit in the wind.

On the way home we stopped off at a chocolate shop, it was sooo tasty. Chris and I shared this massive ice-cream sundae and I bought some refreshers cause I hadn't seen them anywhere over here.
That night we watched Finding Nemo, I love little children they have awesome movies that I havn't seen in year. The next day we watched Beauty and the Beast, loved it.

The next day was Sunday and it was so sunny. We went to church and then had a lazy Sunday afternoon. That evening it started pouring with rain however Jo and I braved it to go
to Hillsong church. I enjoyed it but tbh it was too showy for me, it was more like a concert than a church with dancers and choir and I didn't find the preaching that great however the experience was awesome and I'm glad I went.

I'm so glad I went to Australia. It was totally worth it and I got to see some old friends and make new ones. Also I fulfilled a childhood dream of seeing the bridge and the opera house.

The next day we went shopping and watched more movies. I flew home that evening, it was late and I had to get a taxi back to the house.

Trip to the South Island...

Due to the fact that I was having an operation it was decided that it was best for me to leave work in order for me to travel and enjoy my last few weeks of my time away. So on the 31rst of May I had my pre-perative appointment which went well then on the 1rst of June I flew down to Queenstown.I decided to spend the fortnight between my op and leaving work travelling. I was met off the plane by distant relatives from Otautau for a day touring around Queenstown. First we drove to Arrowtown which was very interesting. It was a mining town during the gold rush so the buildings are old fashioned and there is reference to gold everywhere. We had mussels for lunch in Queenstown and then wandered the city best known for its winters sports. I was very daring and went on the shot over jet down the river. It was sooo scary but yet very exhilarating! We went up in the gondola and enjoyed the view of the city. That evening we drove to Otautau. Peter and Audreys house was beautiful, it was like staying in a hotel. The next day I went we drove to Te Anau and went on a ferry to the glo worm caves. It was soo amazing, we walked through the caves in near darkness and saw a big waterfall. We got into a little rowing boat deep in the cave and it was complete darkness.... then there was little lights everywhere as it was lit up by glo worms. It was beautiful.
The rest of the weekend was quite laidback, went to church on Sunday in Invercargill then went for lunch in Bluff, the most southernly point of NZ. Then I took a bus to Christchurch which took all day, although it was very beautiful seeing all the countryside.

Spending time in Christchurch was lovely. Stayed with friends, Rose and Glenn. Got showed around the red zone which was very surreal, its so weird, like a ghost town. Its really sad to watch all the buildings being torn down. We wandered round the shipping container mall, that was pretty cool. As we wandered  back to the car we met a friend of the family I was staying with who was working in the red zone who showed us all the buildings that were still standing that were going to be demolished, she said it was so sad seeing the contents of an old office being thrown out.

I also got to hang out with my friend Caleb, it was really good catching up and chatting. He's  such a decent guy and he invited me to come to CU the next evening.  The next day it starting snowing, the whole city was a white wonderland made me feel as though  I was catching up on the winter I missed back home. In the afternoon I met up with my friends the Santich family and went round to their house. We chilled out in their lovely warm house and watched a movie. That evening was CU, it was nice seeing people I hadnt seen since November and getting a chance to say goodbye.

The next day I was dropped off at the airport and my flight was delayed by like 5 hours so I finished my book and listened to music and then flew to the next part of my travels.... Sydney :D

4 days, 4 leaving parties...

Since Im leaving soon I had a weekend of goodbyes with my friends here from church, homegroup and CU. On Friday night I had a night out in Wellington with my friends from Cu, went out for dinner, one restaurant for main course and one for dessert; lots of photos taken. On Saturday I went out with my friends from homegroup for an Indian then to a friends cinema and watch machine gun preacher. Its a really good film, scary in parts but very interesting considering the amount of worldwide interest in Kony. On Sunday night some people prayed for me in church and after went out for a burger with people from church. Was really lovely to say goodbye to people in church. I will definitely miss a lot of people from church. On Monday night homegroup had a party for me, we played games, chatted, had pavlova, they sang happy birthday to me and I blew out a candle and I got a big card, like a giant one. Was one of the best leaving parties ever :)

Im really gonna miss my friends here but I know I will keep in touch and hopefully one day see them all again...

Change of plans...

So it's funny how quickly life can change in such a short space of time. My time in New Zealand is almost over...

A fortnight ago I had my fortnightly check up with my orthopaedic surgeon who told me that my arm hadn't healed fully. The x-ray showed that its still broken and the only thing holding it together is the metal plates. Theres a gap between the two bones that in this time they had expected to heal together approx 2cm gap. So the the doctor has decided that I need to have another operation. So it has been booked for the 14th June in Hutt Hospital, New Zealand. In the operation they plan to do a bone graph and take some bone from my right hip, approx a thumbs length and place it into the gap in my left arm.

So this was news I wasn't expecting. I had to make some tough decisions as to how I wanted to end my year. I had many choices but along with my parents and others I came to a decision.

I finished work on Sunday at the church, I will spend the next fortnight travelling round the country returning home to hutt in time for my operation. Spend a few days in hospital and then three weeks in Napier with the McCrorys in Hastings. With the plan to head home to Inverness in the first week of July.

My year hasn't gone the way I expected but it still has been amazing and I've felt Gods guidance and protection through it all. I'm really going to miss alot of people here.

xx

Crazy party....

Ok so I gave another teach today, I ran a little over time I went to about twenty minutes but five minutes over I guess is alright.

Today I was continuing my series on Daniel and today was the story of the writing on the wall. I made a video yesterday with the kids that I live with, which was fun. Conor filmed it, Annalese was promptor and Lauchlan and I starred, him as a partygoer and me as the newsreporter. It gave the background to the story about a party that a king threw that got crazy.

This morning we watched the video and then I recapped the story. The bottom line was that 'You CAN stand up for whats right, even if its not popular.' I connected it to the bottom line from last week that if you do this, people can see God through you.

The kids really seemed to listen and I enjoyed doing it. This week I was braver and didnt cover my arm up. Im not doing that anymore unless I'm going somewhere I'm not comforble, in which case I wear an armband; like in the photo above.

Next week is the last week in the Daniel series and it is the much beloved childrens Bible story, Daniel and the lions den. x

Teaching...

Sorry for the rareness of my blogging, I think of things all the time and 'oo I can write that in my blog and then I never do.' So now I am...

I'm now teaching and leading worship on Sunday mornings. I did the teaching a couple of weeks ago and the did it again today. I felt this morning went a lot better than last time.
I'd written and designed it myself, I felt a lot more confident, I knew it off by heart, I felt that what I was saying was what God wanted me to and it included Veggytales.

The passage I was teaching on was Daniel 3, the story of Shadrach, Mescach and Abednigo in the fiery furnace. It's such a great story of these 3 guys who had such faith in God they were willing to die for Him.

I showed some pics of some statues and linked it to how King N in the story went really crazy and built a massive gold statue of himself.
I found a great 6 minute clip of the veggytales adaptation of the story, which I decided to base my talk around.
Just as an add on I used to watch veggytales as a wee one and every time I think about I always think about my Dad singing, 'Oh where is my hairbrush...'

I watched a clip of the video and then explained what happened in the Bible and asked the kids what they think might happen and what they would do in that situation. It was interesting to see what the kids thought. There was some really good answers.

At the end I talked about how regardless of the situation if you stand up for what you believe is right then people can see God through you.

It was a fun talk to do and I think that the kids enjoyed it :P

Work....

Despite the hospital appointments my life has gone relatively back to normal.
I work Sunday- Thursday and get an early weekend.

Monday- Fracture Clinic
Playgroup
Girls Brigade
Homegroup

Tuesday- Staff Meeting
Playgroup
Admin
Physio

Wednesday- Playgroup
Meetings
Small Group

Thursday- Mainly Music
meeting
Physio
Cu

Sunday- KidzAlive
Catalyst

That is my general weekly schedule...

Of course my week is branched out by coffees, lunches, meetings, writing and planning things for meetings and work, like talks and music.

Playgroup is great, its a good way to get to know the mums and kids, lead music and do work in the community.
Mainly Music is a music session for preschoolers and their parents, there is singing and dancing and everyone has good time. I lead sessions and spend time getting to know the parents.

I also do some work with TSCF and SU occasionally, then and when and I'm needed.

Kidzalive is like Holiday Club mixed with Sunday club every Sunday. I'm a group leader and I'm now starting to do the worship and the teaching at the front. Its very exciting and brilliant thing to be a part of.

I really enjoy my work, God's given me great people to work with and I enjoy what I do. It's what I'm good at :)

Art Deco...

After I'd been out of hospital for a week my Mum came over to visit. This was amazing just to get that extra bit of support and to see her because I haven't seen her since October...

As well as doing all the ordinary things in life like attending church and hospital appointments with me Mum and I decided to go to Hastings for the weekend. We went to stay with our friends the McRorys, the family whom I spent Christmas week. It was lovely to go and see them again and hang out. Coincidentally it happened to be the art deco weekend in Napier. Which is a weekend each year that everyone gets dressed up in 30's and 40's clothing and there is events running all throughout the town, from fashion shows and big bands. The whole town gets involved from the youngest to the oldest. We had such an amazing time. Mum and I both dressed up with feathers in our hair and the beads. I even braved taking off my cast to take some photos, look a bit more normal.

While Mum was here we also did things like go for drives along the coast and went out for meals, shopping and other fun stuff. I gave her tours of Lower Hutt and Wellington and introduced her to my homegroup. It was really nice to introduce her to all my friends here and to let her put faces to the names of people Id told her about.

It was really lovely to have her here just because sometimes you just need your mum...

Catching up on life...

Ok, so as my Dad puts it I'm not the most 'prolific' blogger but I try my hardest I may write things a little bit late but I get there eventually...

At least Ive got a good excuse for not blogging much in the last month!

I'll explain and I'll try not to give too many gory details...

After Scripture Union camp I spent a week at home just chilling out, shopping, seeing friends and catching up on things Id miss while traveling. Then on Friday the 20th of January I flew on a tiny 12 seater plane to Nelson for the TSCF staff and families weekend. It was a really fantastic weekend, I was helping to lead on the kids programme. We were teaching them about Titus and they were interested and learning. The cool thing was were focusing on teaching them about memorizing verses and the plan for the weekend was if they each learnt a verse as a group they would be able to recite the whole of Titus, it was awesome to see the kids working hard to learn it.

Along with the kids programme there was other activities like archery and swimming in the lake. The lake had a big trampoline in the middle, canoes and kayaks and a big slide :D We were going down the slide in 2's, 3's and even 4's... Such rebels!

The other activity that was on offer was go karting...

Luke and I watched some others go speeding round the dirt track and then the time came for our turn. Luke got into the driving seat and I was the passenger (to be fair it was more like a buggy thing with a metal frame roll cage) we put on our seat belts and off we went! When I say off we went I mean it literally, about three quarters round the track the kart skidded on gravel, hit the kerb and flipped over onto my side, I don't remember but as a reflex my left arm went out and smashed the humorus bone to pieces and I severed some nerves as well...

About half a hour later a fire engine arrived with a paramedic and morphine, then the ambulance arrived. However they realised that it would be too dangerous to move me by ambulance so the helicopter arrived.... I believe an hour from the time of the accident we flew off.

That night I had my first operation where they cleaned the wounds and put in fixators to keep it steady. On the Tuesday I had my second operation where again they cleaned the wounds and did some other things to my arm.

On the Wednesday we flew to Lower Hutt Hospital which is the centre for excellence in NZ for plastics and ortho and incidentally Lower Hutt is where I live. We were moved from the hospital in Nelson to the airport by ambulance then flown in a small plane to LH, I thought of it as my private jet :P It was only Ailsa and I, the 2 paramedics and the 2 pilots on the plane, then we were transferred to the hospital by ambulance.

The next few days were spent relaxing, I mainly slept and watched tv. I had amazing support from my friends here so it made my time in hospital easier. The big operation was scheduled for the Saturday at 8.30am so I wasn't allowed to eat from 10pm the night before however, I wasn't taken into surgery until 8pm at night so I couldn't eat all day or drink so I was starving! It didn't help that I tortured myself by watching Master Chef and Come Dine With Me marathons.

The operation started at 8pm and finished at 2am...

Things they did:

Took a bone graph from my hip to replace the bone that had broken off at the accident.

Put metal plates and screws into the arm to hold the bones together.

Found the Ulnar nerve and reattached it again.

Found another nerve that had been severed and reattached it again too.

Pulled the skin back together and stitched it back up.

It went really amazingly and everyone seemed really pleased with the results.

After the op I stayed in hospital for 6 more days and in that time I had to come to terms with a lot of things and had to relearn how to do a lot of things. The nurses, doctors and my friends were an amazing support and I am so grateful for everything they did to help me.

Since getting out of hospital Ive continued to get better. Some things are really hard to cope with and there's quite a lot of things that at the moment I can't do for myself, so I find it hard to be dependent on others. Each day though I'm getting stronger and I go on the motto of "Do one thing every day that scares you" so each day I try to do something new.

Mum has come over for a fortnight so that has been a great support as well.

My life has been changed and my arm will never look the same again but as my Dad said my scars will never define who I am. People keep asking me if Ive booked my flights home now and are constantly surprised when I tell them I'm staying on till July. God has brought me out to NZ and He has a plan for my life and He's not giving up on me; I just have to stay strong, kia kaha.

x

Scripture Union...

I am a big fan of Su camps, they're really good fun and I have met three of my closest friends at camp so getting the opportunity to work with SU NZ was something that I couldn't turn down...

So on the 6th of January I headed off to Wainuiamata to lead at a primary camp. It was such an amazing week working with the kids, getting to know them and hearing their stories. It was a moving and emotional week but amazing. The programme was the holiday club programme 'Going Bananas' so that was a blast from the past :P

The kids were brilliant, quite a lot of them were from hard backgrounds so it was special to spread the love of Jesus to them and seeing them realise that He really does love them.
Its a week Ill never forget.

Auckland....

The rest of my week in Auckland was fun :)

On one day Jono and I drove down to Pirongia to see my family, Dad's cousin, his wife and kids live here in NZ which is pretty cool and Ive never met them before. We had a really lovely drive down and then spent the afternoon with them. We had a lovely lunch and spent time just chatting about family and our lives. As a family they are very into horse and they own 2 so I got to go riding, I rode a beautiful white grey horse. We went on a trek up the hill, Jono walked the dog with Micheal. It was fun just riding again, trotting and cantering over the hills. Late afternoon we left and drove back up the road to Auckland.

On my last day in Auckland I did something that i never in my life thought Id do but before that we went to Kelly Tarltons which is like sea world... It was so cool; we saw starfish, sharks, seahorses, penguins, turtles, flatfish and many more beautiful sea animals. There was a really cool turtle that kinda just floated along letting us take pictures and posing for them :P

After being at Kelly Tarltons we drove over the Auckland Harbour bridge and parked at the bridge bungee centre... We registered then hung around for a while getting more and more nervous. They then spoke us through all the safety requirements and we signed for our lives. Next we put on harnesses and helmets and started dour ascent up the bridge...

Jono and I were terrified but we braved on thinking that it'll soon be over!

I don't think i have ever been so scared in my life but as i walked onto the platform and the guy held my hand and whispered "You'll be ok" I panicked and said "I dont want to do this anymore!!!" But by that point it was too late and I was pushed over the edge...

Best and worst most amazingly scary experience of my life. Id never ever do it again but Im glad I did it because now I can say I did a bungee jump!!!!!

My first day in Auckland...

I arrived in Auckland late Monday night, the city seemed beautiful at night with all the bright lights shimmering over the sky...

The next day was a crazy touristy day, it was the kinda day that you really try and pack as much in as possible and believe me we packed in as much as we possibly could!

We left Jonos house around midday, picked up Matthew and drove into the city. We started off at the Auckland museum, its such a stunning building, a very large grand stone building on top of a hill. Now I love museums and this one didn't disappoint.. 3 floors of New Zealand history. We spent a few hours wandering around; my favourite floor was the war floor with all the memorabilia from the first and second world wars. This museum had quite a lot of things from the German side like all the Propaganda medals and memories from the German side which was fascinating. They also had the walls with the names of the fallen soldiers from New Zealand, that really shocked me because id always heard that soldiers from Australasia had been called out but Id never realised how many there actually was and how many fell...

We spent a few hours wandering the museum and then left to head into the city centre. Auckland is massive. We parked and wandered through the park with a pretty fountain in it then went shopping... I was kind and didn't drag the boys round ALL the shoe shops and clothes shops... just a few of them :P

All the Christmas decorations were still up and on top of one of the buildings was this massive creepy Santa Clause and some reindeer, was weird. We grabbed a quick lunch and walked to the sky tower but we kind of got distracted by the reverse bungee. It was awesome :D

You get basically flung into the air while being spun at the same time, Jono and I did it together was sooo much fun. you get that feeling when your stomach jumps up and you get butterflies, but its such an awesome feeling. We watched the video afterwards an it was so funny seeing our reactions and my hair!

We continued up the hill to the sky tower, we took pics at the bottom and then went up! It kinda reminded me of the Eiffel tower because you take a big lift with a glass bottom to the top. We went to the viewing level and it was beautiful, you could see the whole city from all angles!

We took loads of photos and i even dared myself to stand on the glass panels eek it was scary!

Afterwards we walked back through the city towards the car and then drove to Mt Eden and One Tree Hill which are two old volcanoes which now have monuments on them, so that was cool.

We took Matthew home then drove back to Jonos, it was a lovely busy day...

Roadtrip part 3...

So straight on the second morning of the new year we packed up the tent took some goodbye pics and then split into the two cars, Jono, Matthew and I in the skyline and the others in Kerry's van.

We left around ten and drove back up then down the horrible gravel road we met up in the Corimandel and there was a Keltic fair, being Scottish since when did Celtic get spelt Keltic?

Anyway it was a beautiful sunny day and the town was packed. The others said goodbye but we stopped to have a look around.. It was really fun, I got candy floss and we had chips and wandered all the stalls. Listened to the pipe band and just had a laugh... Was really good.

After we drove on for a bit longer and stopped again at a hot pools beach... unfortunately the tide was in but it was so warm and sunny just paddling and walking along the sand was enough :]

We continued on driving down the east coast and then the boys told me when should go to Cathedral cove... Now they told me it would be like a ten minute walk, now I'm very much a city girl and unless there's shops at the end I see the walk slightly pointless... But the boys persueded me it was short and would be totally worth it. I reluctantly agreed and we got the bus to the path and then started walking... It took half an hour and it was uphill and really hot, there's a beach my mum and dad took me to when I was wee and I just remember walking for ages and ages to get there but when we got there it was totally worth it.

And just like when I was wee Cathedral Cove was amazing and totally worth it. We walked along the shore, went through the cave and then because it was so hot Jonno and I went swimming, I went in my dress :D The walk back seemed shorter but eughy because we were wet. Ok I hand it to the boys, it was totally worth it and I apologize for my gurning all the way there ;]

We heard this quote on the way there which was really weird...

'Is she still alive, ok right, just hit her over the head again then'

What????

It was late afternoon at this stage so we sped along to Whangamata to see my old boss and friend Wendy. We had dinner at an Indian and then went round to see her. It was really nice catching up on all the news from home and from work... We stayed for about an hour and I got to call my parents which is always nice :]

After being at Wendy's we drove on to Auckland for the beginning of my exciting week....

Hogmany...

The next morning was a bit slow... but busy at the same time.

We split into two groups, four of us went to the supermarket and got all the food in and stuff in and the others sorted out the tents.We had lunch at Friths house and now there was seven of us we split into two cars, Jono, Frith and I in one and the others in the other car.

On the way up we stopped at more random touristy things, like a town with loads of buildings made of corrugated iron, a massive l+P bottle, a big tomato and lots of pretty views...

We stopped off at Corimandel town and had a look around the shops. It was the last town before we left civilisation and entered the middle of no-where to camp for the next few days...

After leaving the town we drove round back roads and up crazy high, twisty, gravel roads, it was sometimes a bit scary but the chat and music made it seem more fun. The view was worth the horrible drive and so was Hogmany.

The campsite was beautiful but really muddy and we were in a very low skyline car and when we were going across the campsite we had to drive really fast down the hill then did an awesome slide at the bottom; such an adrenalin rush :]

We spent about an hour and a half setting up our tents in the rain, holding up tarps while the boys ran around underneath it being macho and setting up. My job was to look pretty, give them sweets and to bang in the pegs, which was actually quite enjoyable.

That night we ate and had some drinks and played questions in our tent. We toasted in the new years to the drumming of rain, we kissed and hugged then sang auld Lang sign. I appreciate my friends for doing the Scottish things with me, Ill always remember this new years. We went first footing to the tent next door and say hey :]

We chatted for another couple of hours and then fell asleep. The next morning we slept late until we woke then Jono and I cooked brunch, was the best new years brunch I have ever had...

scrambled eggs on toasted ciabatta bread with bacon and mushrooms; mmmmm.

That afternoon some went on walks and a few of us stayed, I read my book and wrote letters. Later we all went swimming, it was muggy and rainy but you cant beat a swim on the first of January 2012.

That night we had some more good chats and Jono and I cooked again, this time beef stir fry with egg noodles and we made two desserts, custard and cream rice. Frith made brandy snaps and cream which we had late at night.

It really was an amazing start to the year with some amazing people and I will never forget it, thanks guys <3

Roadtrip Part 2...

We woke up at Matthews Batch and had breakfast then carried on the roadtrip... :)

Things we did between Taupo and Thames:

Went to a really random bee hive place that sold honey and mead and was kinda cool.

Then we visited a really beautiful Maori church on the shore with very intricate carvings and a glass painting of the Maori Jesus walking on the water.

It rained the whole day we were travelling but it didn't stop us having fun. We played car games and chatted, it was really fun just spending times with friends. Taking lots of photos and just getting to know each other better.

We stopped off in Roterua for lunch, we all went to different places; some had roast, some had sandwiches, I had pizza. The whole time we were there it rained and the smell in Roterua is disgusting, its the sulphur from the ground or something but it smells like a mix of burning and rotten eggs. It's said after a while you get used to it... we didn't :[

While we were there we went to a hot pool and sat for a while dangling our feet in the hot water while the lake in front bubbled away with the heat. It was really fun because since it was pouring with rain and we had hot feet it was cool.

After that we just drove on till we arrived in Thames where we would be meeting Frith and staying at her house and also Jonathan would be meeting us there.

After we arrived in Thames it finally stopped raining. We hung out at Friths that night, we went for a walk as well, I discovered that somewhere along the way Id lost a jandel?? So we had to make an emergency stop at the Warehouse and get a new pair. I got a very pretty pink pair.

We bought stuff for dinner and then had a BBQ. It was fun when Jonathan arrived, nice to see him and catch up.

Friths family are so lovely, we camped in her living room that night and had fun chatting and hanging with her many brothers and sisters. We had a good old sing song with the guitars.

The next morning it was hogmany <3

Roadtrip part 1....

So way back at SLC a group of us decided to do a road trip at New Years up to Stony Bay in the Corimandel Peninsula and usually these plans don't actually come to happen however this one did :D

So on the 28th I left Napier and went on a bus to Danneverk and met my friend Kerry.
Kerry and I then drove down from Danneverk to Wellington.

Palmerston North: We stopped in Palmerston North for lunch, we went touristy shopping and had a look around the Uni area and a general wander. I really do love exploring new places, it's really fun just looking around cities seeing the hustle and bustle; especially when exploring with a friend because you get to see someones home city through their eyes which often tends to be more colourful...

We left Palmy and drove South towards Wellington and then onto Lower Hutt, my home.
I had one night in my house then I was off again. I did however sit for 3 hours and downsize my case... I did still take my big case it just had slightly less stuff in it and more camp stuff such as jackets and sleeping bag. There is an interesting story behind my sleeping bag; I don't have my sleeping bag with me in NZ because simply I didn't have enough space so for the road trip I asked the family that I live with if I could borrow theirs. The problem was however that they were going off on a family camping trip before I returned so they only sleeping bag they had was a kids one....
A Thomas the tank engine sleeping bag.

The next morning I was picked up at 9.30am well actually I wasn't that was the plan but Val took it as we had to get up at half 9 so I got picked up 10.30am. I didn't complain though, the longer I had to sleep the better.

So when I had negotiated my big case into the minivan the road trip began.....

Then came the great coke incident of 2011..

As Val passed me my can of coke and I went to receive it, it was that moment of in the relay race where somewhere in transaction it falls, well the coke fell and went wooooosh and flew all over the car in my automatic saving reactions I closed the laptop bag [genius] however everything got covered so we had to stop and dry everything. This was the reason for our first stop on the road :]

We stopped at an American style diner for lunch somewhere along the road and picked up Matthew...

After that we drove onto Wanganui and picked up Meredith, her house is so cool they had two lizards which we got to hold :D I love reptiles, they are my favourite animals...
We had cake and coffee there and then drove on stopping to admire views on the way.

We were staying that first night in Taupo so on the way up we stopped at the Lake. On the shore was a bench called "the seat of Knowledge" perfect photo opportunity :P

That night the 5 of us stayed in Matthews family batch. So on our first night of camping we stayed in warm beds and sat at a dining room table and were very civilised. In the evening we played card games until we went to bed...

Was a fun day... :)

Christmas Day...

Well Christmas Day was rather different...
It was hot...

So I woke up on Christmas Day to a stocking full of goodies :]
Then we had scrambled eggs on ciabatta bread, sooo tasty
Then we went to church, was the first time I hadn't been at home for Christmas.
Then we went to church which incidentally had the same colour scheme as Hilton church
[well done Dot, NZ's copying your ideas ;]

Then we went home and opened presents, btw still hot...

After we went to the beach, on Christmas day, I went body boarding and swimming in the sea on Christmas day...

It was amazing and the best way to spend Christmas day. After we got back we spent the afternoon getting ready for dinner, preparing it etc and laughing about the pigs and chatting.

For dinner we had prawns for starters, I had two portions it was sooo good, then we had steaks and dophinouis potatoes mmmm and for pudding chocolate eclairs and strawberries in an ice bowl. We sat outside in the surroundings of the beautiful gardens.

Was such an amazing Christmas day....

Boxing day was spent watching Top gear, we had a top gear marathon day, was fun.

Over the next few days we went to Napier, which is a lovely wee town and all the buildings are in fifties style, art deco, beautiful and also I went for a swim at the local spa.
It was a lovely few days in Napier.

x