No more shopping for me!

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Well hello there from a new country - New Zealand incase you didnt see the top bit.

Well what have I been up to since I Left Brisbane. Will tell you in a bit after what I did on my last day in Brissy. Firstly I went to the art gallery and museum. The former to be avoided during any Queensland holidays or schoolies. I unfortunately went on 'Toddler Tuesday' and discovered how much noise Toddlers can make in a small space. From there I moved on to the consortium, not v interesting you may think but inside was a treat for all gay men everywhere - An exhibition on Kylie's Dresses, not all of them as there are over 300! Before she got ill she donated all of her outfits to the Kylie Collection which is in Melbourne in a storage warehouse somewhere in 2004. From looking at her dresses she is very short and has no waist - bitch. Also designers fall over themselves designing one offs for her. There was also a video screen showing every single video that shes done, I did not sit and watch everyone. After that excitement went a did a bit of shopping in a surf shop. My rucksack is now starting to look like a surf shop threw up inside it! But how can one resist when such bargains as a nice O'Neil top for $25 (10 pounds!) and the Winter sales are on. Even bought a couple of things at the airport yesterday.

so from Brissy I went South to Byron Bay. This is pure surf land and hipy land. The weekend I was there a peace festival was taking place to coincide with the UN's peace day. Byron was a really nice place and had lots of little individual shops some that had incense coming out of every crack. Walked up to the lighthouse and cape byron (a bit steep) and had magnificant views of Tallow beach oneside and the main beach the other. Byron also has good surf and a couple of the surf labels have festivals down there. It's also the most Easterly point on the Australian mainland.
From Byron I went to Newcastle, which makes Newcastle in England look good. The only thing to do there was surf. The waves were really big and some decent surfing going on. It's a steel town and doesnt have much else to offer. The hostel had free meals at the bar they owned 3 nights a week and on Wed was my fave - unlimited pizza, mmmmm. Also happening in the exciting place of Newcastle was the world dualthon (run nd bike), which is happening tomo and Sundayu. Unfortunately the mens fave for the world title got taken out by a motorist while praticing on Tues. He was also fave for the World triathlon and Ironman in Hawaii. D'oh!

The East coast was good to go down but it is very touristy. Surfers paradise has apartment blocks everywhere. There's a 70 floor one going up at the mo. When I come back definiately will do the West Coast and Tassie.

Yesterday I got up at 4.30am in the morning to catch the bus to the airport. Had the most grumpiest driver ever who picked up at 6.30am. Had a fun 1/2 day at Sydney airport, not the biggest and not many shops. Im going to have a little rant now about something that does annoy me on planes - Short people sitting in the emergency exit row. Yesterday when I checked in they werent giving out the seats until you got to the gate. At the gate my name and some others were read out to change our boarding cards. One of the people who got up was a little short lady who for the purpose of this we will name Short Ass (SA). SA then turned out to be sitting next to me. It looked ridiculous, my knees wern't too far off the wall in front and Short Ass's feet could barely touch the wall. Then it turned out she was an alkie, from the free drinks trolley she order 1 small bottle of red wine, G&T and a vodka. I saw a couple of people who were quite tall squashed in the normal seats. Short Ass also lied about reading the emergency instructions when the steward said 'have you read them?' and had her bag blocking the floor which if you travel in those seats on a regular occurence you know that you cant do that! Durh. Now when I take over the world from my HQ of Surrey Council Im going to make a few rules 1. People under 5"10 can not sit in the seats unless you are with a tall person Number 2: There will be a stick at check in to check this (like they have at theme parks) and number 3: Heels will have to be removed to prevent cheating. And breathe....

In Auckland now here for 1 day and go to Rotoura (something like that) tomorrow for a couple of days. Stop in Taupo and Welly then cross over to the other side - The South Island, go down the west coast across the south and up the East coast to Christchurch.
Not a lot happening in Auckland, heard from people not to spend too long here. The woman on the arrival guide on the plane was struggling to fill the 10 mins. Auckland has a harbour where some of the America Cup teams are based. For $165 (NZ) you can have a 2 hour cruise on an old America Cup boat and for $30 have a race with the other one for 3 hours. I have declined both.

Must be off to go and repack my bag and organise it a little better.

Saw that rude boy Lemar won a couple of MOBOs, yey! Bit more than Aldershot and QPR are doing at the mo. Hopefully when I come back the jinx will be lifted.

Karen

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