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