Welcome to paradise

Hello blog fans!

Where to start. Have you looked at my photos? Okay, lets start with the boring job stuff first. I have now 'downsized' from 3 jobs to 1. You may remember that I mentioned in the last blog that there were some interesting job developments on the horizon. Thankfully I was a flooky b*stard once again and I am now an employee of AUT University. Yes, I've travelled to the other side of the world and I'm still working for a bloody university! I'm working on a nice wee project creating online handbooks for the faculty of design and creative technology. The contract is full time through to the end of November....perfect timing for me to check out the job market for a while and use the last few weeks of the year to explore the North Island before my good chum Alan arrives and we embark on our South Island tour. Sweet as!

You will notice from my photos that I've been spending a lot of time at the beach. If you haven't had a look at the photos from Karekare yet, go and have a swatch now. Looks good eh? Trust me, those photos do it absolutely no justice whatsoever. It is the beach where the piano was filmed and is possibly the most stunning place I've ever seen. If you had told me a few months back that I'd get a bit emotional over the sight of a baby seal sunbathing on the rocks I'd have laughed in your face. I did though. That said, I had been drinking for 15 hours straight the night before and I was a bit 'tired and emotional'. Seriously though, this country can be quite overwhelming at times....in an entirely good way.

I've just returned from a weekend at the bach. A bach is an NZ family holiday home, generally near the beach. My very generous flat mate kindly invited me up to her family bach for the weekend. The trip was fantastic, although my watch met a sad demise when my flatmate unleashed a high impact 80s power ballad interpretive dance move. Photos from that adventure will be up shortly. The flatmates have been very good to me and contintue to put up with my drunken antics. Bizzarely one flatmate is my birthday twin, so we are celebrating with a visit to Waiheke Island (vinyard tour and dinner on a boat - woohoo). She has also kindly invited me down to New Plymouth for Christmas. I hope she knows what she's letting herself in for!

How are things going? Bloody great thanks!