So, i've now been in New Zealand for 3 weeks just about and in the last 2 i've seen a whole lot of the south island. As I said before I was meeting up with my parents in Blenheim on the 11th, which all went as planned (just about)... the flight was cancelled due to heavy fog and ice on the runway but eventually after a long wait in the airport it was rescheduled. So where to start really... I guess the first real outing to talk about was wine tasting in the Blenheim area (Marlborough region), i.e. the heart of [View Full Entry]

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So I arrived in Queenstown on Monday afternoon, and after a pretty scary hour-long interrogation by customs I was on my way. It appears I chose a pretty good time to arrive, 3 days of perfect weather in the middle of a fairly average patch of cloud and rain. Had a very nice taxi driver who told me all about different things to do in Queenstown and where to find various amenities I'd need along the way. Settled in to my hostel (Lakefront YHA) that evening and got an early night so I could be up early the next morning. 11am [View Full Entry]

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So my last shift was technically before I left for Melbourne but I got confused so this entry is afterwards. Not a lot to say, just thought I'd stick up some photo's of the bar and my crew for anyone that wanted to see. In the end I had 2 leaving drinks parties (greedy), one before I left for Melbourne (with everyone from work) and one the night before I left Sydney altogether (with work + general friends). Was a pretty sad affair on both counts, always a shame to leave good friends, especially Alex and Gaz my two flatmates who [View Full Entry]

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So seeing Pat's blog has spurred me to stop being so lazy and whack some updates on this thing for a change. I'm now in New Zealand but I'll work back from the last few weeks in Sydney and Melbourne and then get to the present in a couple of entries' time. I spent just under 2 weeks in Melbourne staying with an aussie mountainboarder who I'd toured with last summer around Europe. He's got a nice little flat in Richmond, the vietnamese quarter of Melbourne city (about a 10 minute tram ride from Flinders St. Station and all that). What [View Full Entry]

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OK so happy new year's to everyone back at home, thought I'd whack up some of the photos I took from NYE over here. Didn't take any photos of the main fireworks display at midnight, decided I'd rather actually enjoy watching it! The fireworks photos are from the family fireworks at 9pm... still probably the most impressive fireworks I'd ever seen so it's not all bad! Into my last month or so in Sydney now, crazy to think I've nearly been away for four months now... It's completely flown by, but I'm really looking forward to moving on to Melbourne for [View Full Entry]

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Okay so finally found the time to stick some pictures of the apartment up. It isn't big, nor particularly amazing in any way but it's a room and a half that we can live in and leave stuff lying around in without them being stolen so thats good enough. Also, have seen the Christmas/New Years rota at work so I know when I'm working and when I'm off... got Christmas Eve and Christmas day off which is good news, then working on Boxing day (my choice, the pay is amazing) and a couple of days between Christmas and New Years, then [View Full Entry]

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Okay, not much to report here... still working alot which is good, over the next couple of weeks I'll find out which days in the christmas/new years period I have to work. I've got my fingers crossed that I'll get New Years Eve off but I'm not too hopeful. We shall see! Just thought I should stick a rough itinerary up on here seeing as how there seems to be alot of people who are trying to plan whether or not they're coming travelling as well but aren't sure about dates because mine keep changing... so here is my current plan [View Full Entry]

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So... nearly 2 months now, the last 4 or 5 weeks have completely flown by. Got myself well set up in Sydney now which is reassuring, still looking for the right apartment to move into which is a major stress; but now I'm earning good money and have a good group of mates its all going pretty smoothly. And yep for anyone that didn't know, I got the job at the Intercontinental Sydney. Thats going really well too, the pay works out between 700-850 dollars a week; which is over double what I'd be getting for doing the same job over [View Full Entry]

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Ello ello, so this is just a little update from Sydney. Arrived last Wednesday so just about had my first week and so far it's been really good. The hostel is a great laugh, cheap and cheerful but full of wicked people... starting to get a nice friend base which is good, ended up sitting either reading a book in my room (The Kite Runner, if anyones interested, and its bloody fantastic) for the first couple of days or missing friends, family and Charlotte, but now I spend most of my time either talking about music with Alex (who it turns [View Full Entry]

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Hmm first try at this So yeah, just got into Sydney today and found some sweetass internet cafe where I upload my photos onto the computer... haven't taken tooo many so far but got some nice ones I think. I think Hong Kong is definitely the kind of place that would be 20x better if you had a couple other people to walk around with... its real hot and humid and I found it a bit too easy to run out of steam and go watch La Liga reruns on Super Soccer TV at the hotel. No doubt I'm going [View Full Entry]

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