Tag Archives: New Zealand

Winter swim

I made it!!!! =D
I said I won’t leave NZ without being in the ocean once and that’s what I did today. =)
It’s been a really lovely day so I had passionfruit and chocolate ice cream. I managed to drip chocolate ice cream onto my jeans…anyway, while eating it I realized that it’s really really warm and thus probably one of my last chances to jump into the sea without it being some crazy night swim. I went home, packed my stuff and got to Oriental Bay. I swear every single Wellingtonian was at the waterfront today. So lots of witnesses for my swim. No pictures as proof though as Aaron chickened out. =P
Okay, that’s not entirely fair…he was roleplaying the whole day and it’s not like we made a date outta it. It was quite spontanious.
So yeah…I was sitting on the beach considering if or if not…when he convinced me via txt with “Go for it. It’s gonna be a lot colder at night time.”
It was strange to be the only one who went for a swim. *gg* People look at you as if you’re slightly nuts.
And it was quite cool in just a bathing suit. But then I went in just to say I did it. It was mind-numbing cold. O.o I think I probably managed to stay in for a minute. Which equalled about five strokes out and five strokes in towards the beach again. =P What worried me a bit was that I didn’t feel the cold anymore after this minute. I mean, that’s how swimming in NZ works in summer…you just have to wait for the point when you don’t feel the cold anymore…but in winter it might not be as healthy. So I went out.

But yay, I made it!!!!! =D

Hot pools = teh awesomeness

Last Monday (1.9.)
Tina had to work this morning so I had time to finish my uni crap that was due till today. Success is mine!!! =D Very sweet feeling to be rid of it. =) It still took me till noon…-.-
The sucky part though…people in Frankfurt actually let me down despite promising to help. =S I sent a reminding email now…but the deadline is done and over with. =S I also sent an explaining email to my prof but I don’t think that will help anything…=S German efficiency also means that excuses, no matter how good and sensible, don’t work. All that matters is that I didn’t hand in my share of work in time. =S
An extension is highly unlikely as it’s the 1st of September already and we’ll fly out to Copenhagen on the 15th. The whole damn thing has to be printed and bind as a reader till then. So yeah…I have to prepare myself to be told off for something that I didn’t screw up. Guess I am responsible though…can’t rely on other people. In German we say „Verlass dich auf andere und du bist verlassen“. =S
Day got better after I got over the fact that things will blow up in my face. Tina and I made it to Turangi to an internet cafe and I could actually be in the internet for an hour. =D It’s real hard to be without internet if you’re a cyborg like me.
I also got to buy chocolate in New world. =) Then we made it to the hot pools in Tukaanu. =D
Hot pools are my new love. Especially when you have sore muscles and are longing for a good massage. We got a private pool to ourselves for 20min and hopped into the public pool afterwards. =D So good….I felt all soft and fluffy…and the best part was to stand in hot water while it was getting dark around us, soft rain and we spotted the first stars. =D
I still wanted a massage pretty badly but Tina refused to give me one. =P Fair enough…she’s would have made me scream anyway. I hurt and bruise if you only look at me hard enough and Tina was talking about some „real massage that you can actually feel…and not two fingers poking you here and there“. So we dismissed that again. Since all our muscles were so relaxed, we could only walk quite slowly and I’m afraid I don’t walk like a penguin any longer. =P
Had dinner in an Italian restaurant which was okay…not really good but way better than lodge food. =P To celebrate we had ice cream on a stick from a petrol station. We’re classy…=P Anyway, laughed a lot and had a good time so it’s all good. =)
On a different note…we now entered my birthday month and the month of me flying back to Germany. *insert happy and sad face here…at once* =S

pics

Sorry for the invasion of posts right now…

I’ve added a couple of Tina’s pics to the Mt Ruapehu hike post. =)

Sunday:
Today, Tina had to work. That’s why poor her had to get up at 7.30…somehow I was up around that time, too, but being a slacker I stayed in bed. =P Around 9ish, I made it out of there, had breakfast all by myself and then helped Tina, Kate and Omega cleaning some rooms. I do have sore muscles but apart from having a sunburnt neck, the blister on my right foot is the worst. O.o Actually, it not even a real blister…I just lost some skin on my heel due to it being wet for hours while rubbing against the back of the shoe. So it’s bigger than a normal blister but only on the surface. I put a band aid on and that was okay.
After the vacuum cleaning of rooms, I decided I should read and write stuff for uni. Which I did. I managed to get a lot of it done and will most definitely be able to send my handout tomorrow. The part that’s worring me is the pictures. =S I still don’t have them and now it’s way too late to try and scan them myself. The girl who said she’ll be in the library in Frankfurt on Friday and she will do it hasn’t emailed me. And I think she’s forgotten. =( So I’m basically screwed…Will check tomorrow the whole day but I don’t have much hope. =( She would have sent it by now if she had them.

Tina was done with cleaning by 3.30pm. Since she was cold last night, we moved our headquarters from a cabin to a room up in the lodge. Advantage of a room up there is an electric blanket. =) First time for me…
After moving we got in the car, drove to the visitor’s center to watch a cheesy short film about volcanoes (save your money, folks, if you ever get here) and then went for a walk. Since the best cure for sore muscles is to do the same again, we thought walking would be good for us. So we picked two walks…each with the grand total of 20min return. =P *lol* And by 20min they meant if you try to crawl up there cause it took Tina and me about 5min to get down to the waterfall or up to the lookout point. Anyway, I probably have more pictures of these mountains now than is good for me but I still don’t count as picture whore cause there’s only one person who deserves that name and she probably would have taken more than 60 pictures of a day of doing nothing. =P

piccies

Sorry for my lack of talking, posting, being sociable, whatever lately. I might have procrastinated a tiny bit too long and have to force myself to a tight schedule so I’ll be done with everything in time. And I’m not even good with sticking to it. =S

Okay, what did I do besides working for uni/procrastinating/having my mind on a certain issue? Hm…well, I played D&D on Tuesday. It was great! Mat tried to kill me again. =D One round longer of being unconsciously on the floor and his evil cleric would have touched me with…whatever…killing a dying creature and getting power from it. O.o Whoa! At least one character survived a bit longer. =P
For some reason Horst had even more crap on his mind than normally so I had to tickle him a lot more than usually. He found something dodgy in everything I said. O.o *sigh* *lol* Sometimes another language is hard…you’re dodgy without intension and without even noticing…

Today, I had a lot of plans. Get up early, read a lot, write a lot, get things done. I succeeded only marginaly. First, it took me an hour longer in the internet cafe than I had calculated for it. O.o WHY do I get 22 mails on the day I don’t really have time for that??? O.o
So I went to have lunch and then up to uni…that was the plan. The moment I left the food court on Willis, a very excited Becky called me.
See, I also have to organize stuff. My train leaves on friday morning at some time stupid like 7am. Becky said it’s cool to store my suitcase and some other stuff at her place for the week. Plan was to get it to her place tomorrow morning at 10am.
Well…she called. She is evacuated from her house. O.O There was a landslide, a big one, a tree crashed into her window as well…and the city councel told them they are not allowed back in. Problem…Becky was at home when it happened…and slightly traumatized in my opinion. So I met up with her. (Breach of “only working” plan no. 1) Okay, she calmed down, she laughed, she was okay.
We went up to uni and I went to work at about 3pm.
Tina called. Twice. So I talked to Tina…more organizing. Apparently, Tina and I will climb Mt Ruapehu on Saturday. She was very excited about it…”we’ll have a guide and we’ll get those spiky shoes for climbing on the ice and…” – “Tina, how long will this take?” – ” The whole day, about 6 or 7 hours.”  – “Tina, are you aware of the fact that I didn’t bring my tramping boots?” – ” Oh, could be a problem. I’ll ask if someone can lend you theirs.”
O.o
Alright…looks like I’ll spent a day climbing. I’m so outta shape, I’ll be dead afterwards. *LOL* But Tina told me she has to work on Sunday anyway so I can snooze and slack around. =P I just think it’s great she’s so enthusiastic about doing stuff when I’m up there. =)

Back to work with me. At about 4pm, Aaron started to txt me. We somehow decided yesterday that we’ll hang out today. Very indirectly…I could just infer it from one of his statements. =P Something about me hitting him tomorrow. O.o Whatever…(but breach of “only working” plan no.2 … big one as well)
I fucked around with reading my books till almost 5pm and then stopped. There was not much point with me txting Aaron every 10 mins or so. *lol* Went back to Nomad’s, had some TimTam slams and then met Aaron. He kept laughing at me for almost the whole evening…and the worst one, I didn’t even understand why. O.o That’s a way to make me feel stupid, just randomly crack up laughing and keep me wondering what the hell is wrong. O.o =P Oh well, I decided to speak German for a while because that way I’m at least sure about what I say. =P
But yeah, good evening. =) Watched Sweeney Todd which is very disgusting with all the blood (I crinched a lot) and then Music and lyrics which made me laugh a lot as well. And get my hair into pig tails. =P But I had cats to pat, pizza, hot chocolate, chocolate and marshmallows. So I wasn’t joking when I said I’m gonna roll out of his place…feel really quite….chubby right now. =P

And now back to my laundry with me again. =)
So on Friday, I will stop being a Nomad’s nomad and become a real nomad again for a week.

I officially have a cold now. My nose keeps attempting to run away and for some reason I can feel my collar bones. O.o [/whine]

Today was nice and relaxed. Ellie, the German girl in my room, is good company.
Also the day was glorious again, so I went outside to sit in the sun, organize things and read a bit. After sitting at my spot for about 10 minutes, Simeon randomly came along. So I had fun company and a very unhealthy chocolate ice cream with chocolate chips on top of it. *gg* *chocolate monster* Happy note: I’m getting a tan. In winter!!! Whee. =)

Tina called me some time today. It’s odd to get a phone call on your cell phone and the other person speaks German to you. For a second I had a shock, thinking someone from Germany was calling. That would have been expensive. O.O
Looking forward to seeing her again now. =) She called to ask if there was anything special I would like to do in my time at her place. If I would want to go skiing. O.o I’ve been skiing once in my life and I doubt I still remember anything. She doesn’t ski as well so we might just take a lesson and a ride for the fun of it. =D Also, she said that Alan asked if we drop by to see him at his farm which we will do. =D

Been a good girl and read for uni. I now reached the part with relevant information…after reading 250 pages of nonsense basically. O.o
catching up on pictures

For the more visual orientated people amongst you:


birthday girl and birthday cake
Looky, looky, who’s got cake? =P
It was good cake too. With a lot of cocoa on top.
When Paula blew out the candles, she also blew cocoa powder all over me.
That’s right, I was standing out afterwards…the girl who smelled like cocoa instead of kerosene. =P


Thumbs up for Becky taking awesome pictures. =)


Paula having some of her cake


Analiese and Matt
…very cute


Paula and Matt fire dancing


That would be Naomi’s silhouette


Naomi fire breathing


Paula posing for a picture =P


Hamish


Maybe I do have a faible for other people’s head wear. =P I stole Hamish’s hat. Okay, “stole” might not be the right expression because when I grabbed it, he said “go on, have it, plus a bit of sweat from my forehead.” O.o *lol* So I was wearing it…and I shouldn’t have given it back. Technically, he didn’t tell me to give it back. =P
Anyway, Hamish took another picture of me with his hat…where it’s down over my eyes. *lol* See, Hamish’s head is HUGE so the hat naturally kept falling over my eyes.


I believe this is about the second picture of the two of us…that ever existed.


Brewing of the Marmitini….ewww….*shudder*
It’s basically beer, Marmite and vanilla ice cream. O.o
Disgusting…


Cheers! O.o


Looks like Hamish accused her of something. O.o Maybe he had it coming after all…


I got slapped! Whoa, the most horrible picture ever. =P
Mash walked over and told me that he’s seen it all, just a random attack of Naomi, he would be my witness if I wanna sue her. =P
Hamish is cracking up laughing and I’m over the first shock as well and am laughing my ass off. =P

But yeah…be aware around Naomi. O.o If she says she’ll kick your ass, she’ll do it. She most definitely has the strength for it.