i can't believe it's oct 5 already. that's a shocker. i nearly had a nervous breakdown when i realized i had about 15 days to see the rest of the ENTIRE south island, but smiley [my bus driver] saved me and helped me plan what i hope will work out for the rest of my trip.
alright so i doubt anyone reads this these days, but to be frank, i haven't had internet connections much lately, and my laptop is in National park which is about 20 hours, maybe a full day, away from where i am now. where am i exactly? in a place called Wanaka. i was supposed to leave with the Kiwi Bus that i'm on, but i decided to stay here for a few days and catch the next bus. this Kiwi Experience trip is turning out to be worth every penny, i'm very pleased. Wanaka is only an hour and a half away from Queenstown, MAYBE 2 hours tops, and that's the next destination. these two towns are full of ski resorts, although a few are closed and their season is coming to an end. i don't feel that guilty not being able to go, i doubt the snow is very good and getting to the resorts would be a bit of a mission since i haven't got a clue a) where they are and b) how i'd get there.

i figure i may as well tell everyone now, but a few days ago my snowboard got stolen. i was keeping it in the back of my friends truck and he parks his truck outside his bathroom window [which he always leaves open]. that way he'll hear if someone tries to break into it or start it up. i guess they rolled the truck out of the car park and stole the entire thing, my snowboard included. i've just been informed that my gloves, goggles, and boots are safe, but my board is gone forever. oh, the truck was ditched on the side of the road as well, so i suppose that's good.
for a while, i was pretty depressed, but as i thought about it, my board was old. sentimental value, that's pretty much it. i could have sold it for MAYBE $100 or so, which isn't much, and to bring it back home with me would have cost another $200 on the plane. yes, it sucks, but to buy another one will cost about $500 and really that's only $300 more than what i would have spent had my board not been stolen and i took her home with me. i'm trying to look on the bright side, give me a break.
in the spur of the moment sort of deal, i went shopping today and spoiled myself rotten. i've now got this GREAT new plaid coat, along with a little bathroom bag that holds every necessity that i'll ever need. very happy about that.

i can't upload pictures on to here anymore, so if you want to see them i sincerely suggest you get on facebook because that's where i've been posting them all lately. lets face it, FACEBOOK ROCKS. and if you don't have an account, you should. in fact, stop reading and go make yourself an account. do it. now. facebook is wonderful. there is absolutely no reason to not be a member. the pictures take much less time for me to upload them onto my facebook account, that's why i've done this. to upload them on here means i have to upload them twice and it frankly takes ages. ages is not a good thing when internet costs you $4 an hour.
wanaka is lovely though, i adore this town. if i had the choice, i'd stay longer, but unfortunately i don't have the time. i'm sure queenstown will be much more of a bumping place anyway, so it's probably best i move on. hmm, i think the population here is 6,000 but don't quote me on that. it is hard to say because in the winter it swells up to about 30,000. yeah, that's quite a few people more. there are loads of little shops though and a beautiful lake surrounded by mountains. i love it here, i really really do.

over the last few days i haven't had much cellphone reception, which is driving me mental but i'm told that i'll just have to deal with it. there isn't many towers in the south island. period. i did get a chance to climb a glacier though! franz josef glacier, to be exact. there's pictures on facebook if you are ever so interested.
okey well i'm told i've got 5 minutes left on my card so i'm going to jet. i love you all, i'm almost home! xox

i took a few pictures on thursday at whakapapa when it was sunny! this pic isn't a very good example though...but it was taken later on when the clouds were starting to roll in. the day was wonderful though! i burnt my nose, my lips, and the back of my neck, oh and my part in my hair as well [damn pig tails lol]. shoulda put on some sun block but a) i don't have any and b) i was too busy snowboarding. this is me, brittany, and cathy, with mt doom in the back;


we're standing out front of the west ridge cafe, or better known as "brittany's cafe". she's a rockstar, that girl. runs an entire cafe all by herself and runs her butt off! ps: i adore brittany<3

anyways...
i finally have time to write in this damn thing a few more times than once a week! YAY. life is back on track, for those of you who don't know. i'm still at John's in auckland, which is good because they all got home from the snow tonight. the boys had a wonderful time at the mountain, claiming it was really sunny the entire trip just as the weather man predicted. that's good to hear, since it's the first time they've been able to use their season passes all winter. john and lynley did the kitchen this weekend as well, so now there's counters and things which looks really good! i'm going to have to see if i can get a few pics on here to show you guys.
alright so today i woke up a bit late and although i had many plans for my day, i ended up just lazing around. my cold is still lingering so each morning i wake up with a stuffed nose and a groggy head, lovely. i wish the stupid thing would just go away already, i'm bloody sick of coughing all the time and feeling so sluggish. for breakfast i had toast and avocado. canadians just don't do avocados justice. i've definitely grown a liking to them, and i'm told they are quite healthy for you which is nice to know as well. okay so before you get all weirded out, go buy an avocado and have it on your toast in the morning with salt and pepper. it's delightful :D you'll get addicted for sure. avocados are really cheap in NZ as well, probably because they have the perfect climate for them here; neither too hot nor too cold.
after breakfast, i got onto facebook and discovered the most addicting little activity EVER. you can apply this thing called "cities i've been to" and then plot out cities all over the world that you've visited. i'm honestly in love with this because it's pretty much google earth with pins to show where you've been. if you get a chance, check out my facebook and look at my map of NZ, it's pretty cool. i never really thought about how many places i've been, but once you start plotting it out on a map, i've actually been more places than i figured. the smaller towns like national park are not able to be identified by the map, but all the big cities are marked. pretty spiffy, eh?
craig and katie went out for a bit to get katie's contacts figured out, but they came home early since katie had work at 1pm. i had already made plans to see kenna today, but before i left i called StrayTravel to book my bus tour. i think that's all gone over smoothly now, and i'll need to spend tomorrow night at the Auckland Central Backpackers just so that i can be there for when the bus picks me up at 7:20am tuesday morning. sweet deal. john has already offered to give me a lift into town [isn't he just wonderful?] and i'm sooo happy because i was not looking forward to taking a bus with my backpack.
craig gave me a lift up to titirangi afterwards, where i waited AGES to catch a damn bus to New Lynn. i finally arrived in town around 3:30, and kenna met up with me along with two of her other friends. kenna reminds me a lot of john in a way, she's just so freaking nice. we went shopping and then the girls all wanted to stop at starbucks for a coffee. wow it's been ages since i stopped to have a coffee at starbucks. afterwards, kenna drove me back home [how super nice since it's very very out of her way] and i talked to mum online for a bit trying to help her figure out how to use facebook so she could see my city map thing.
katie got home around seven and the rest of the family arrived back about an hour later. it's really great to see them all again, i always find myself missing them lots when i leave. i'd say all in all, today has been productive and i'm quite happy with the way things are going, minus the fact that Stray still hasn't sent me my itinerary for the trip so that i may confirm. they also haven't rung up my visa yet, i wonder why? i've already e-mailed them asking if there are any problems, but i'll have to wait until tomorrow morning to get my responce since i'm guessing the office is closed. tomorrow is pretty simple mostly, i'll wake up early to have a lovely shower [definitely not too sure about how clean the showers will be at these hostel things so i may as well take advantage of this one while i still can], pack my bags [still debating whether or not i should bring two pairs of jeans or not yet. guh], and wait for john to come home to give me a lift.
i know i tell you guys enough, but john is a bloody superstar. he's one of those people that should be giving speeches to highschool kids so they know how to set a proper kindness towards other people, honestly. i've never met someone who's so willing to give a lending hand like this, he's wonderful.
okay enough about my john admiration, and more about tomorrow. i have a bit of shopping to do before i settle into the hostel like shampoo and things. the thought of going without conditioner is just too much to handle, and i'm not sure what i'm going to do about my hair dryer just yet. the straightener is another story entirely. why is my damn backpack so small? i just can't figure it out. i want to bring everything! ROAR. i guess it's for the best anyways, because i highly doubt i could carry all my stuff when it weights up to 3Xs my body weight. 

it's official:
life isn't going to always work out the way you'd prefer. tonight, after talking to a man who was kind enough to give me a ride home from the snow, i've realized that i'm never going to be satisfied with my decisions. i'm not pleasable because i always want more, and i'll always want more because i can't get enough of what i have. so here i sit, in an empty house planted dead smack west auckland, wondering how on earth i'm going to get this stray bus sorted, and to be perfectly honest, i haven't got a clue.
i guess things could be much worse; i could have just had to pay for a $60 taxi ride if colin hadn't been kind enough to drive me to titirangi. i could be back at national park, still trying to figure out my next adventure but really not making any forward attempts. i could be a lot of places, doing a lot of things, but right now i'm in a house, still confused about where i'm supposed to get picked up for this stray tour thing, and very puzzled about whether i'll be able to catch the sunday tour bus.
you would think they'd have it posted where we meet up, wouldn't that be logical? i feel like e-mailing them and asking, but it's probably printed somewhere on the website and i'm just too much of a wanker to figure the damn thing out. this is odd really, because all this time i figured i'd just have to get to auckland to sort out my life, when in reality, i've solved nothing. the most i've accomplished is the fact that i had a free ride which saved me from spending $80 to ride a train. i suppose i should be proud of that.
i'll be sleeping on a couch tonight i think, possibly on the floor if i can be bothered to find that comfy mattress they always leave out for me. that makes me sad in a few more ways than one because a) i'm alone in a house halfway around the world and b) i'm in titirangi, west auckland, but where exactly is that? i can't even be sure. auckland is so massive, there's hardly any normal person who could expect me to know my way around by now. i tried giving colin directions but basicly, i'm useless as a bloody stick. i may as well not speak english.
this is making tonight sound uneventful and depressing, when in reality i'm actually very happy to be on my way out of the rut i was beginning to get stuck in. yes, i've been to auckland many times before, and yes, i realize that last time should have been the time i made my move, but when you put all that aside, here i am. splat in the middle of everything and nowhere all at once. intense, i'd say. there's absolutely no one i can discuss things with, and although i keep giving my cell phone hopeful glances, there's no missed text messages. understandable, i haven't exactly been gone from national park for very long, but at the same time...
it's only ten o'clock. tomorrow will be a big day i suppose, i'll have lots to get sorted out with my packing, laundry, and other annoying tasks i wish i didn't have to do. i have to sort out my clothes and decide what i'll be bringing with me when i do finally get on this tour bus, and the thought of only bringing a single back pack is nearly killing me. i'm probably going to give in and just bring my other smaller luggage thing as well because lets face it: light packing just isn't my thing.
i know this is good for me to get out on my own, but what now? just dive in i suppose. that's what they tell you to do, not that "they" know any better, but i'd like to imagine "they" have more authority over the matter than i do. tonight has been successful, i've managed to figure out which tour bus i'll be taking [although the departure area is still a mystery] and that's really the only bit i was concerned about. i'm debating about whether or not i should get the YHA pass because although it gives me discounts on hostels and the tour ticket itself, i'm not sure how much more useful it will be.
this is probably one of those moments where i pass up an oppertunity and then later realize how much money i could have saved myself.
all in all, i'm going on a tour bus. it's a short tour, 3 days at a minimum but i think i should be able to stretch things out a bit. i'm really hoping to take a full week with this tour and then meet up with someone who will want to go back to national park with me, taking the eastern rotorua way back instead of heading directly south. i want to be back in time for the staff ball, which reminds me...i'll need to find a dress.
i think tomorrow i'll look and see which of the hostels in auckland are YHA, and maybe glance over pricing. never hurts to take a look. but seriously, i'm going to stay in a hostel. GASP. without a hair straightener...no, i take that back. we both know i never go anywhere without my hair weapon anyway, there's no point in telling you otherwise.

back at John's again!
i feel quite a bit more at home, and i'm learning how much i miss having a home in general. friday night, i truly and honestly had no where to sleep. while i looked aimlessly at my two tiny bags of luggage, it really hit me that i'm stranded. thankfully, i ended up at some 21st birthday talking to "auntie lynn" who prefered to be called "auntie lynley" because she was one of three "auntie lynn's" and that meant not original. luke, the boy of honor, was an entertaining young lad with many friends. there were loads of people there, i met more than half of them, randomly walking around and introducing myself as "hi! i'm tanya! i'm from canada!" i often got the "oh so how do you know luke?" at which point i'd say, "well, i met him 5 minutes ago at the door."
the food was good, i was more than a little hungry, although the sushi was slightly dry. the people i went with are katie's boyfriend's friends; i met them all last time i was in auckland a few times. ash picked me up at wayne and shane's house, which was awfully nice of him. i was just happy to have somewhere to go for the moment.
we got back to jame's place at about 5am, and i completely took over a couch and went to bed. it's an odd feeling to know that my life's belongings were sitting in the back of ash's car, i'm not really sure how i felt about that. in the morning [well, at about 10am when i woke up], ash took me to his place where i was blessed with a massive shower. i'm not even kidding, the shower was huge, and i loved every inch of it. he dropped me off at john's place on his way to work, and katie was in but just about to go to work herself. lame.
it's good being back at john's, not fretting where i'll be sleeping for the night, and knowing that i've got a warm bed in the living room with a nice pillow or two. last night i went to an indian 21st birthday for purneet and i've got to say, it was INSANE! hahaha i had so much fun! the BEST butter chicken i've ever had in my life, the BEST open bar, and the most hilarious time dancing. it was all this indian music, and everyone was jumping around. i think katie, her boyfriends friends, and i, were the only white people there. i met more people as well, purneet's sister included who lives in figi and flew over just for the special occasion. i keep thinking about the food. it was just amazing. so much curry, and such good curry. you honestly can't get any better indian food than from a rich indian cater place lol.
today i went to hamilton with katie and john because john had to pick up his brand new mercedes van, i think it's a viano? something like that. freaking pimp van, and hella expensive too. we got home around 4pm and i've spent the rest of the day looking for a car on trademe.co.nz which is like the NZ form of Craigslist. tomorrow i'm leaving again with john and we're going to national park. we're leaving about 10am i suppose, and painting te hut from what i'm told. i'm just stoked to see everyone down there! i can't wait to give brittany and all my kiwi girls a hug! should be good times, i hope so. nah, i know so. thursday night will be great! :D STOKED FOR ANOTHER JUG NIGHT! and i get to see josh again as well. :D yay!
i've got pictures that i'm uploading on photobucket...grr. one sec.


brittany and the kiwi sign!


me being the loser i love to be :D


dorkface<3


KIWI CROSSING!


ruapehu on a good day. i think this is one of the 5 good days we had at whakapapa lol jk










tipina and renee


LEANNE AND DA DIGGA!
hahahhaahha


dDub concert pic that i got off someone else.


circle of death card game was involved...


randoms at a bar or something like that.


BLONDE ladies of the night <3 ulrika, me, and hannah!


brittany and i<33 she's my favorite.


me hiking up to the crater from the knoll ridge t bar. took 2 hours. i nearly died several times.


brittany and i at the top of where the crater is! :D WE MADE IT! intense. i'm still kicking myself for not bringing my camera.


taranaki falls, a pic i got off leanne :) cute!


me at the top of the falls


aussie tim at the top of the falls looking down :D oooooo crazy!

that's it for now. i should really get to bed eventually i'm just not tired. i haven't slept much this weekend, that could be why. i'm really getting frustrated with this whole "buying a car" thing, but whatever. GET OVER IT. okay okay, i'm over it. back to looking at trademe. grrr. stupid trademe. i really hope dad finds a car on there for me, i'm rubbish at looking for a car. seriously. miss everyone, hope you like the pics<3

nope, contrary to popular rumor,

I AM ALIVE.

alive and well, thank you. unfortunately i'm in no way ready to post about my past few days but i will tell you i'm back in auckland, and if everything goes well, i should have a car by monday. i'm not staying here long, at least that's the plan. i want to go back to National Park to visit my friends whom i miss SOOO much and then off to the south island! EEEEP.
i've been bad at updating, but over the past week my internet connection has been fairly non-existant. i'm at wayne and shane's place in auckland [glenmore? something like that] and here they pay for internet on a little device of some sort so i don't like costing them money. there isn't a wireless connection here either, grrr. i was hoping to just steal someone elses internet connection but that's not possible.
don't expect much from me over the next week or so, i've just got too much on the go to be bothered figuring out how to connect to the internet on their computer [it was a huge mission this morning, i had to call shane and everything lol].

okay so here's what has happend: i got a ride to auckland with Kenna [canadian girl who lived in langley but now lives in east auckland or something] and that was sweet. we went shopping on wednesday which was wicked, oh i arrived here on tuesday just so you guys know. and another thing, my phone has decided to not text message. meaning i have to call people i want to speak to which is about 100Xs more expensive. hopefully i'll have a new phone by tonight. shane's going to take me phone shopping i think. i guess being stupid with your phone in a hot tub really doesn't pay off. oh well.
i shamefully bought a bathing suit as well...i don't know what came over me...i'm not sorry.
if possible, i really need help figuring out what to look for when buying a car. i know about CV joints [thanks dad!], checking oil, tire tread, uhh and a few other things which escape my  memory at the moment. so the big question is:

what do i look for when buying an old car?

i'm hoping for a toyota corolla, but that may be a little harder to come by than i figured to begin with. i'm bringing boys with me, so that way i won't get completely ripped off. okey LET ME KNOW! xox love you guys! sorry for keeping you waiting! <33

Tonight has officially been one of the most amazing nights I’ve ever had in NZ. Brittany made me butter chicken for dinner, which was fantastic and by ‘fantastic’ I mean ‘I’ve never tasted something so great’. Laura had already eaten dinner but she had a bit of our dinner as well because it tasted so good. The three of us did our dishes, felt extremely full, and decided to go for a walk around National Park for some exercise. We ended up walking to a house just down the road by the Hotel. The Ski Haus cottage crew just moved out and into the owner’s second house, which is much nicer. They’ve got Rene, Jacob, Rhiannon, Ian, and Terra all living there.
After the grand tour and a few chats, we headed out to continue on our walk and somehow ended up at this guy, Jake’s. He lives in a house not far from the Ski Haus crew, and we visited him for a while, playing with his black dog, Nutty. Haha. The rain started to pour, so we waited for a break and then booked it back to The Park for cover.
At The Park, we decided we were all hungry for chocolate desert and so the three of us drove down to the Hotel. It was nine by this point and the kitchen at the hotel closed at 8:30. I was so upset, I had to ask the bar maid if there was any way we could have a piece of the chocolate cake they offered on the menu. As it turned out, we ended up going out back and asking the chef who was out on his cigarette break if he could make us the cake. He agreed, and the cake was amazing. I can’t believe how massive it was! We all shared one order and it was seriously huge. I don’t see how one person could ever eat all that!!
Brittany found her Oldies cd, so on the way home we listened to that…things got crazy and somehow we found ourselves driving out to Raurimu which is 5 minutes down the road. We were all singing like mad, “I’ve had the time of my life” from Dirty Dancing, among other great hits you can’t help but dance to [Doncha wanna dance, say you want to dance, doncha wanna dance!! With me baby! With somebody who loves youuuuuu!]. How much better does life get? Three girls, chocolate cake, girly music, and a car running on zero petro. HAHA. The rain is still soaking everything, but we didn’t even care. Tonight has been so amazing, I feel like I’m probably just high off that damn delicious chocolate cake, but whatever!
Pascal text me tonight as well, remember that Canadian girl from Langley that picked me up one day? Well Pascal is her friend. He wants me to come to BaseKamp but I’ve got no ride and I’m not walking in the rain. I’m hoping they’ll pick me up but I haven’t heard back from them yet so I’m starting to doubt him. I went to Ohakune as well today and bought a new toque from TCB boardshop. It’s probably the most amazing toque ever. Ever.
I’m giving Pascal ten more minutes before I head off to bed. Aww that’s a little sad because I’d honestly love to go hang out with him tonight, although it’s probably best I stay home because I think I had a total of 3 hours sleep last night and I could definitely use a few more. Bummerness.

I’ve had a pretty intense past few days, at least I’d call them intense. Today is …Monday [had to check my calendar on my lappy to make sure haha] and I’ve just finished reading the final Harry Potter novel in the series. I’m beyond impressed, I loved the way J.K. Rowling fit the puzzle pieces together, and despite what anyone else says, I thought the book was absolutely brilliant. I doubt there will be many people who argue me.
Thursday was where most of the excitement started last week. We had our first ever jug night, and our theme was Trailer Trash. Honestly, how on earth do you dress up as trailer trash? The original theme was “Pimps and Hoes” which then changed to a few other themes that were suggested [Knoll Ridge staff were all planning on going as ninja turtles at one point, highly creative I thought], but I suppose I should just be thankful we didn’t stick with the “Mullets and Mustaches” idea. That would have got a little messy I’m sure.
I have many pictures, and I think I pulled off an alright costume. The girls were all advised to wear rainbow make-up, fishnets, etc, but I went for the ‘random’ look instead of the ‘I’m-a-half-naked-bimbo’ look. Something in my head told me that tights and leg warmers would be a bit more practical, especially since we had to walk to the bars at night in the cold.
Lift Operations had their jug night on Thursday as well, ‘School Girls, Nerds and Bullies’ but they were having theirs at the hotel. My boss had arranged to have our jug night at Schnapps because the owner of the bar told us he’d bring in a band. All in all, we had an interesting night. Brittany and I started early in the hot tub, where a few Crazy Mexicans [the drink lol] turned into two boxes. Mind you, we were joined by three other people so there were definitely a few helpful hands in the disaster. 


brittany, laura, freya and meee at schnapps decked out in 'trailer trash' :D lovin' the orange gloves. $2 at the loonie store lol


really gutted that this pic is blurry. such a sweet pic of brittany and i :D she's my favorite.


cuties! freya and laura<3


we work it work it work it! Carolyn, me and welsh leanne! xo


brittany [and her sexy face] along with cathy and sweedish ulrika


jayson and me with our sexy faces
my make-up looks pretty intense lol


we like to move it move it!


guy, me and kent [aucklanders]


bex [assistant manager of the F&B department], brittany, and aussie liam


see that beast in the dressing gown? that's my boss at KRC...


aussie tim! he leaves on thursday :( sad sad day.


no one will think this picture is funny, but this is sam and i [sam who works in rentals, she's from the UK somewhere i think, and i met her with john before the mountain opened at the Hotel when we were having dinner. she's wicked, anyways, i asked tim to take a picture of us [thus the pic of him above] and he kept drunkenly pointing the camera elsewhere...


we eventually did get a picture of our faces, after about 5 tries. lol


ladies; laura, tipina, freya and mee


boys boys boys


a few random liftys, school girl and nerd<3


<3


me and aussie dino! YEAAAAAH!

Schnapps was okay. Nothing great really, in fact we didn’t stay there too long. Everyone sort of ended up at the Hotel, which was fine by me since I’d rather have our jug nights all together anyways. Josh and the crew showed up, which was really cool. I told him that I’m leaving and we had a good heart-to-heart over the deal. Josh is wonderful. I caught Brittany dancing with my neighbour whom I’m extremely NOT on good terms with. I don’t know why the creep gives me such bad vibes, we’ve never really talked and for some reason I really want to keep it that way. He’s a freak. Grr. I talked to her later on about that [the next morning?] and told her to keep away from him or else there’d be major trouble to be had. She can do better than that anyway.
I saw Greg and Jesse there, which turned into a slight fiasco when Greg offered me and Britt a ride home and Jesse decided to take over the front seat although he was uninvited. I really lost it on him, and ended up walking home with Brittany instead. I’m not getting into things, but Jesse is a major tosser. I have reason to be on bad terms with him [Greg’s great!] and it wasn’t just the ‘not getting shot gun’ that set me off.
As things worked out, it was a good thing Britt and I walked home since we found Bryce sitting on some porch a few seconds down the street, ready to pass out. Bryce is about 6’0 tall, and we somehow managed to drag him to his feet and carry him home with one arm around each shoulder. Things must have looked a little hilarious with two short girls supporting this massive guy.
I had to work on Friday but of course they called me and gave me my one hour option to stay in bed. I’m not going to lie, my head hurt a bit and I had no intentions on declining a reason to remain in bed. Friday is a bit of a blur really, I went to Turangi with Bob, this girl Dee, and her friend Taylor. Things were okay, we checked out a super cool look-out: 








yes i'm wearing my trailer trash skirt, leggings, leg warmers, and boots....so what...

Not bad at all. Bob took us to his friend’s house that he hadn’t seen in years and the kid was a little odd or so I thought. He was much too excited to hear my accent [everyone else is from NZ] and kept asking me to talk. I just stared at him and decided it were best to keep my mouth shut before he got really excited to the point where things could get out of hand. Ew. Dee and Taylor had washing to do at Taylor’s parents place, which was alright, but it took up most of our day.
Friday night was quite fabulous since I ended up at the Rail Jam in Ohakune with Brittany and Laura. We had an amazing time, and afterwards hit up a bar to check out Kune’s nightlife which is actually much better than ours in National Park. None of us drank, but we danced a bit and enjoyed ourselves. 


laura, brittany and i. we all stood on this big wall thing so we could see the rail


this is an alright shot of what it looked like from where we were standing. not bad. lots of people :D


a dude hitting up the rail, taken from across the way from our original positioning


car ride home! :D

Saturday was the only day this week I actually worked for my eight hours. Work was okay, and it was snowing like mad up there. I had time for an hour ride break, and ended up meeting Bob. We took a few runs together, and then it was time for work again, however the rest of my day was good because I knew I’d get to snowboard home. Snow perks everyone up around here, honestly true, especially with all the rain we’ve been having lately. Such strange weather.
Saturday night was awesome as well, because we went out to Ohakune again for some more night life! Mainly because we wanted to go dancing…and by ‘we’ I mean Brittany, Laura and I. We went to Jaxon’s place but only Dave was up because Jaxon would be working at 1am as usual. Guh. I want to talk to him so much, hopefully I’ll be able to go for a cat ride this week so we can have a good discussion about my next three months. Dave was cool though, he came out with us and we had a pretty wicked night. One of Brittany’s friends from Auckland was down [Andrew] and he came out with us as well. Quite a rockin’ group, if I may say so. After the night was over, we crashed at Dave and Jaxon’s place in their living room. We’d all brought tons of blankets! Laura slept on the couch but Brittany and I took a billion or so cushions and made a nest on the floor. We fell asleep around two, woke up at six, and were back in National Park before seven because Brittany had to catch the 8am bus for work.
Laura and I didn’t start work until ten, which was perfect because we had time to make breakfast, chill out, and settle down from the night before. When we actually got to the mountain, all of the Knoll Ridge staff were being sent home except we were to stay for the day to work in other café’s. I worked in Happy Valley on tills while Laura took over the coffee counter in LBC. That was great because I really needed the hours.
Sunday was okey I guess. I went to Turangi for dinner at Burger King and had the most amazing burger ever. We are really deprived living in National Park because the closest fast food joint is Turangi’s BK and that’s about a 45 minute drive. I think the nearest Mc Donalds is in Taupo and that’s an hour and a half away.
Today I went to Taumaranui with the girls [Brittany, Laura and Freya]. I’ve now got blush again, yay! Lol. I’ve been a bit of a loser mostly, locking myself in my room and engulfing myself in Harry Potter. What a nerd. I feel better now though, that’s for sure. I can’t believe the series is finished. Guh. I definitely need to read the entire series when I get home, just to make myself feel better and to make sure I didn’t miss any fine details.
I bought waterproofing spray for my boots and backpack, and I’ve now got maps to help me along my travels. I’d be willing to bet money that I won’t have to work a full day tomorrow, so I’ll probably do my washing and start getting a few bags together for Josh’s. Still haven’t asked him if I can leave my stuff there, but I’m sure it won’t be an issue. We’re hanging out on Thursday so I’ll do it then I guess.
John came down this weekend randomly. I didn’t get to see him since I was in Ohakune and all, but I talked to him briefly on the phone. I’ve talked to Shane a bit too [“How do you feel about a Canadian sleeping on our couch for a few days while she gets her stuff sorted in Auckland?”] and I’m really happy to talk to them again. John sort of sent me in a tiff because I wanted to see him as well, but he wasn’t even in National Park for a full 24 hours. Well, I guess I’ll see them soon enough. May as well be patient!
Oh yeah, PS: The leg warmers, jean skirt, leggings and funky boot look that I wore on my jug night trying to dress as trailer trash…turns out I really liked my outfit. I think it’s my favorite wardrobe option at the moment hahah go figure!

okay i've got HEAPS of pics but i'm too lazy to upload everything tonight. i've got work tomorrow but i'm betting i'll be sent home. i'll post them tomorrow or something if i have time. HOW IS CANADA? oh ps:

August 2 / 07
OH SNAP.
Handed in my two weeks, Tanya is going to take over NZ in her crazy travels up north and then down south! MWAHAHAHA! I bought maps today and everything, I’m officially ready [er, as ready as I’ll ever be] to venture out on my own. :D HELL YEAH.
We’ve made scones, and now we’re planning on sitting in the spa for a long as time since we’ve had such a hard week not working, not snowboarding, and overall just sitting around like lazy bums. :D

Random photo i forgot to post of liam and i at the hotel one night...


July 26 / 07
Rentals had the first jug night of the season! here's a few pics i got lazy and decided not to post until now: 

Ben and I, this is Liam's roommate by the way.


Zoe and meeeee


Me, Zoe and Brianny AWWW my favorite picture by far


Fabio and I hahah he's probably one of the coolest people i know. he took our pictures at the Knoll Ridge Dinner shin dig
Sweet as. lol


Fabio, Brittany, and Tim


Me and Brittany! aka: Canadian and Kiwi lovers for lifers

July 30 / 07
Tonight has been wonderful! I worked only two hours today, started at eight…yuck. That’s okay though, after work I went home and called dad. :) it’s good to talk to Canada again! I called Kayla as well, but apparently she’s too cool to pick up her phone. Gurr. HAHA. Anyways, I made cupcakes today…Canadian SURPRISE! They didn’t turn out as well as I’d hoped, a little dry I think but I’ll make them better next time. I had help from Josh who randomly showed up for a visit [he’s so freaking nice] and Cathy helped with the sprinkles. We did them a little different since I couldn’t find the lemon pudding stuff for the topping, and instead I used icing sugar with a lemon juice base. Turned out pretty nice, if I do say so myself – and I do.
I had stir fry for dinner tonight with Brittany. We ate chicken since we’ve got heaps of it, with a honey soy sauce that’s probably the best thing ever invented. I’ve got this Wok thing down to a perfection these days. Brittany and I buy meat together, she cooks the meat while I get the rice going [I make rice best, we’ve officially decided] and after the meat is cooked, in go the frozen veggies and the sauce [I even help Britt out with this part!]. We cook dinner within about 15 minutes, because the rice takes about that long to cook properly and everything else is relatively impossible to mess up. Not bad, hey?
Somewhat healthy, quick, easy, and not many dishes to wash! The plan is fool proof.
I’m not sure I’ll be working tomorrow either since the weather is meant to be a little fowl again. Grr. I hate going up to do my two hours cleaning in LBC just to be sent home. A little birdy told me that the south island isn’t doing any better for snow, in fact the news showed massive ice storms down south so I doubt I’ll be heading down there to snowboard anytime soon. I’m really undecided about what I want to do right now. Seems like my options are so open that it’s hard to make a solid decision about anything.
I’m going to let this week go by, see how things go, and take it one day at a time. I want to go back to Auckland and work for a bit, but that’s a little far away at the moment. Seems so stupid to leave the mountain, but I can’t take this sitting around part of things. I want to snowboard. I’ve heard that Aus is having a wicked snowboard season, but that’s all hearsay and I’m not sure if I want to head over there quite yet.
After dinner, Brittany, Ulrika and I all decided it was a girls night. We got a mass amount of blankets, curled up by the TV, and watched Dirty Dancing while straightening each other’s hair. Blissful. I now feel like I want to go dancing so bad it hurts, and Auckland is beginning to look better and better. Then again, so is Queenstown, Christchurch and Hamilton. Haha. Somewhere NEW! 


Can you believe how well they turned out? i'm in absolute shock myself.


The creators of the amazing cupcakes; Cathy, moi, and Josh!

August 1 / 07
Officially not working again today, with my lovely ‘one hour stay at home’ option. Guh. I’m not really impressed with this. I sat around all day, called Kayla and talked to her for an hour, uhh oh and I read my Harry Potter [the adventure really never does die!] which was really great. Minus the fact that I’ve done virtually nothing today and I’m bored out of my tree. Brittany managed to work all day in LBC as a barista and I’m a tad bit jealous. She’s getting more hours than the rest of us, and although I understand because she’s a supervisor and all, I wish my paychecks were a little more hefty as hers seem to be.
While I sat around all day, I poured myself a Brittany drink [Pulse, orange juice and raspberry cordial YUM] and got extremely energetic after drinking all that sugar. I met up with Laura and she’s just as grumpy about not working as I am. I don’t mind the not working part, but if I can’t snowboard this all seems a little useless. My days off seem to be showered with rain and cloudy skies, along with angry winds even Pentiction would be proud of. Laura is really messed over because she’s heading to Aus with Freya and she needs money to pay for her ticket. That’s brutal when you work 15 hours a week [last week I got 22] and have a hard enough time trying to pay your rent.
I started asking her how she felt about leaving National Park. She stared at me for a minute and then said she was already thinking of heading home and working for a bit. The problem is, Laura doesn’t want to head back home again. She’s got a few friends in Taupo she could stay with, so she’s more considering that side of the deal if anything. I mentioned going down south and she was quite keen, but the money situation was an issue. Quite understandable, not everyone had a year to save up money to come snowboard in New Zealand. Oh, Laura is from NZ, forgot to mention that. So is Freya.
I tried my best to convince her, and she was honestly interested. I mean, we’d get jobs somewhere down south, I’m sure that would be easy enough. The four of us could drive down [Laura, Freya, Me and Brittany] taking two cars and we’d have so much fun! Freya text us as we were eating the famous 2 minute noodles and said she was on her way home from work. Sent home early, again. When she got here, I mentioned the south idea and she wasn’t up for it at all. “I want to stay here.” She says. Fair enough, I’m not going to get grumpy on her for that. My last hope was Brittany, who didn’t come home until after five.
That left me a few hours to do what I wanted, and I spent some time in my room making a list of things I wanted to pack with me, and a list of things I’d actually be able to take. Lol. It wasn’t that hard, and I think I’ve got most of it done now. As I was making my list, I did some laundry and cleaned up my room a bit to spread out the time gap. Liam text me later on so I went up to his room and Ben was kind enough to give me a piece of pizza. Pizza with canned spaghetti stuff on it, cheese and pineapple. Strange combination, I must say.
Brittany got home and I went to her room to talk about South. She really wants to go! WICKED! But there’s a small hole in the plan, because a) she’s got not enough cash and b) she still wants to finish up the season here. That’s not really the worst thing, because I’d like to head back up to Auckland for a little while and check out the north island some more. We decided that if I came back at the end of September, she’d come with me down south. At least, this is the vague idea.
I’m being irrational, and although I’m able to recognize that, it’s not going to stop me from giving Kyla my two weeks notice tomorrow morning. I’ll be leaving all of my supplies at Josh’s place, at least I think so. Most of my stuff may go to Brittany to keep for now, because I’m sure she wouldn’t mind a few extras.
I’ve packed my bags already, just testing how much room I have in my backpack. The one I’ve brought with me is a bit small, but I’m not in the mood to care. I really only wear the same clothes all the time anyway, so why bring all the useless stuff along ‘just in case’? My snowboard will be staying here, probably with Brittany since I’m sure I’ll come back to Mt Ruapehu for some snowboarding eventually.
Although I’m a little ticked about the season starting off so poorly, I’m also quite excited to move around. Getting to Auckland should be easy enough by either the train or with one of Brittany’s mates who comes down all the time to snowboard and visit. I’ve been checking out Rotorua a bit, which is a fair way north of here, and I think that’s where I’d like to make a stop for at least a week or so. There’s quite a bit I’ll need to figure out first though, like booking a hostel [oh my gawd I’m actually going to be a real traveler!! LYKE WOWZ!], figuring out transportation around town, etc. I want to stop there first before I head to Auckland just so that I can get an idea of what I’m up against, but I’m not sure quite yet. This is all a bit of a blur, really.
I’m scared.
Honestly.
This is probably one of the biggest, most daring steps I’ve taken since I got off the plane and I’m more than a little terrified. I’ll be traveling in a hostel, in a bunk with strange people, and all my belongings in a single back pack. Good God. I never really thought about this when I was planning to come to NZ. My mind was more set on how easy things would be once I got here, and I was right, my plans were gravy. John helped me out so much, not to mention Katie and all her friends, who made me feel more at home than ever. Josh is fabulous as well, introducing me to his friends and pulling me out of my room to watch a rugby game or two. I’ve been so spoiled, and I feel more than a little sheltered.
I just feel that if I can’t snowboard, I may as well go crazy and start traveling around. There’s nothing wrong with waking up in a new town every day or so. Bah. It’s so late [9:30 which is what, 2:30am your time?] and I really wish I could talk to someone back home. Anyone would do, I just need good ol’ Canadian encouragement and maybe some well thought out advice to top off the cake. Cooking isn’t as hard as I thought it was, so I should be able to survive, although I’m not sure the menu will be as extravagant as it is when I cook with Brittany.
The thing is, I’m capable of making it on my own. That’s what this all boils down to. I just need to get my act together, hold my chin up, and make a few mistakes. After all, how in the world am I supposed to learn anything if I don’t screw up a few times first? Fall down seven times, stand up eight. …Oh, and I’ll try to keep the mistakes to a minimum, no worries! <3