I wrote this in May 2010.....
The end of my trip was always going to come, and after a very up and down year, I was finally on my way home.
Having travelled with my boyfriend for the past 8 and a half months, going home alone seemed quite a strange prospect. Slightly deviating from the main topic, I like to believe in fate and that everything happens for a reason, so when I changed my flight home it seemed to work out for the best. What with the Icelandic volcano causing disruption to millions of travellers across the world, I didn't want to become one of them. I had my flight originally planned for Monday 17th May, to arrive at Heathrow on the 18th. However Joh was flying on the Thursday, so I decided to change my flight to leave the same day - although we were both going home via different routes we would eventually end up in the same place. It turned out to be the right decision as the ash cloud once again closed Heathrow on the day I was due to fly.
So having packed, repacked and visited friends made along the way on the last few days of our trip after returning from Fiji, we made our way to Auckland International Airport for the last time.
Saturday, 19 June 2010
Wednesday, 17 March 2010
December and New Year
I guess it’s about time for another blog as I haven’t updated this thing in a few months! It’s been a whirlwind time since Christmas with so many things happening I hardly seem to have a minute to stop and think.
My last blog ended with whipped creams times in October and how things have changed since then! However life between October and December is pretty low on the exciting scales as it mostly involved working every day and night of the week for less than NZ minimum wage. Don’t get me wrong I really enjoyed working in a restaurant as I got free food every night but there comes a time when it doesn’t just cut it anymore and its time for a change. December brought a much brighter month with the arrival of the family down under. Not having seen the parents and sibling for 6 months, it was an emotional reunion (mother cried basically) and we had a good couple of days in the Bay of Islands with me showing them all the tourist stuff to do. After that we headed to the Bach in Mangawhai Heads to meet up with the rest of the family for Christmas day. Having a Christmas which was warm, sunny and with no rain or snow in sight was slightly strange but enjoyable at the same time. We spent Boxing day on the beach surfing and doing all things Kiwi that the Kiwi’s do on Boxing day.
It was then time for us to depart to the Coromandel, which none of us had been to before. The drive seemed to take forever, with the girls in one car (convertible to which we left with comments of Thelma and Louise style) and the boys in another (the more manly Ute towing the boat). I’m not sure why travelling with my family has to be such a bloody palaver but it always seems to be the case that we can never get anywhere without something going wrong! This time we had done the shopping as we had arrived back in Auckland sooner than the boys, bought shit loads of food (food alone for Robert could fill a car, let alone 8 people for a week!) and couldn’t fit it into the car. This wouldn’t have been so bad if the boys had been quite close behind us and were able to pick it up, this however wasn’t to be. Karl had broken down in his car which he was on his own going back to work and so the boys had had to drive back up to collect him. There were delays on the main road so they had to take the back roads which meant driving with the boat was a complete no no. The boat was left with a friend of Jason’s, they drove back to get Karl, took his car to a garage and then made their way back to Auckland. We left our food shopping at the supermarket as there was no way it was fitting into the car, for the boys to pick up.
We then made our way up to the Coromandel as from Mangawhai its about a 6-7 hour drive and we had enough delays as it was. We had to make several stops for drinks and pictures and the usual stuff which extended our journey considerably and the boys eventually caught us up in Tairua so we could head off together. When we eventually made it into Cooks Beach, the family (minus me) headed off to the Bach to collect the keys and move our stuff in. My job during this time was going for a walk on the beach with Gemma the dog. I had to do this as we weren’t supposed to have a dog on the premises at all as it was a rental home so we had to keep her out the way while we picked up the keys.
Having settled in on our first night, we had a ‘fun-filled’ week to look forward to. We had trips to Coromandel town and road tripped around the peninsula, Whitianga, The Lost World Springs Thermal Pools, Shakespeare Cliff, Cathedral Cove and Hot Water Beach.
New Year involved fireworks on Cooks Beach and Robert & Karl finding some nice girls to talk to and not returning home until later than the rest of us. After our week was over, it was time to return to Auckland to drop off the family for their return to England and severe snow!
My last blog ended with whipped creams times in October and how things have changed since then! However life between October and December is pretty low on the exciting scales as it mostly involved working every day and night of the week for less than NZ minimum wage. Don’t get me wrong I really enjoyed working in a restaurant as I got free food every night but there comes a time when it doesn’t just cut it anymore and its time for a change. December brought a much brighter month with the arrival of the family down under. Not having seen the parents and sibling for 6 months, it was an emotional reunion (mother cried basically) and we had a good couple of days in the Bay of Islands with me showing them all the tourist stuff to do. After that we headed to the Bach in Mangawhai Heads to meet up with the rest of the family for Christmas day. Having a Christmas which was warm, sunny and with no rain or snow in sight was slightly strange but enjoyable at the same time. We spent Boxing day on the beach surfing and doing all things Kiwi that the Kiwi’s do on Boxing day.
It was then time for us to depart to the Coromandel, which none of us had been to before. The drive seemed to take forever, with the girls in one car (convertible to which we left with comments of Thelma and Louise style) and the boys in another (the more manly Ute towing the boat). I’m not sure why travelling with my family has to be such a bloody palaver but it always seems to be the case that we can never get anywhere without something going wrong! This time we had done the shopping as we had arrived back in Auckland sooner than the boys, bought shit loads of food (food alone for Robert could fill a car, let alone 8 people for a week!) and couldn’t fit it into the car. This wouldn’t have been so bad if the boys had been quite close behind us and were able to pick it up, this however wasn’t to be. Karl had broken down in his car which he was on his own going back to work and so the boys had had to drive back up to collect him. There were delays on the main road so they had to take the back roads which meant driving with the boat was a complete no no. The boat was left with a friend of Jason’s, they drove back to get Karl, took his car to a garage and then made their way back to Auckland. We left our food shopping at the supermarket as there was no way it was fitting into the car, for the boys to pick up.
We then made our way up to the Coromandel as from Mangawhai its about a 6-7 hour drive and we had enough delays as it was. We had to make several stops for drinks and pictures and the usual stuff which extended our journey considerably and the boys eventually caught us up in Tairua so we could head off together. When we eventually made it into Cooks Beach, the family (minus me) headed off to the Bach to collect the keys and move our stuff in. My job during this time was going for a walk on the beach with Gemma the dog. I had to do this as we weren’t supposed to have a dog on the premises at all as it was a rental home so we had to keep her out the way while we picked up the keys.
Having settled in on our first night, we had a ‘fun-filled’ week to look forward to. We had trips to Coromandel town and road tripped around the peninsula, Whitianga, The Lost World Springs Thermal Pools, Shakespeare Cliff, Cathedral Cove and Hot Water Beach.
New Year involved fireworks on Cooks Beach and Robert & Karl finding some nice girls to talk to and not returning home until later than the rest of us. After our week was over, it was time to return to Auckland to drop off the family for their return to England and severe snow!
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