I blame Echo and the Bunnymen

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How are you all?
Well, I shall spend my first Christmas away from the UK and it feels a bit strange.
As summer is kicking in here in New Zealand it seems odd that the sun goes down at 9pm at Christmas time - how can kids be in bed for Santa when it's still sunny?

I will begin the travel part back in Sydney.
Hmmm...
My last entry slated Sydney but to some extent I think that coming from Manilla direct to there was perhaps too much of a contrast.
Sure it has wonderful weather and the the landmarks we have come to recognise - the opera house and harbour bridge are worth a look, it just felt a bit like the UK, only with more convicts.

In fairness I did quite like it by the time I left - not for the place and certainly not the culture, not even for the weather but some of the most wonderful people I have met on my travels...




From Europe.



Yep, the people who I met in the hotel/hostel in Bondi beach have been reason enough to visit Australia.
Mainly German (yes they are everywhere) and Swiss - who came to Australia to learn English!
That's a bit like going to Nepal to learn scuba diving.
OK given the choice of weather and a beach in England in December perhaps not a bad move.
The problem is when the weather is soo nice the students where attracted to the beach more often than the books.
Would like to say hi (cause I promised) to the following people who made my stay enjoyable.
My 3 favourite Germans, Vanessa, Laura and Christina who I taught the best swear words to and the correct gramatical context - like to feel that was my contribution to their English learning.
The Swiss kids Sandro, Anja, Sabrina and Silvio (they have just passed through here in New Zealand (so more of them later) and young Archimedes - yes a typical Swiss name.
He was probably the most crazy 19 year old person I have ever met and we drank beer from 10 am when the others went to class.
He had paid for Engish lessons too but couldn't get up on time. And hated the sun and the beach!
Bondi was perfect then.
He was proud of his only achievment - the lowest attendance ever to the school at 32.5 percent.
We shared many stories and it seems Switzerland is not quite as reserved as we have been led to believe.
He has now gone back to be a ski instructor to 5 and 6 year olds - god help them kids.
So I left there and arrived here in New Zealand a week earlier than planned on 11th December.

What a contrast.

About 9 years ago I went on a blog site aas I wanted to find a copy of an Echo & the Bunnymen gig I had been to in Buxton (about 20 miles from where I lived)
I got a reply from someone not in Manchester or Liverpool but from New Zealand and the film duly arrived a week or so later.
We have been corresponding ever since - the odd email and phonecall - so you could say I am in New Zealand because of someone I met on the internet - which sounds dodgy!
I here am staying with Nigel and his wonderful family Terri and their two kids Piper and Paige in their home in Tauranga in the Bay of Plenty.
They live about 20 minutes from the City (I use the word City lightly - think small village in the UK)
It is so relaxing here - they have wonderful house which we would consider pretty remote with paddocks with cows and a pig. The place has tons of ducks and chicken wandering around kiwi fruit growing around and the feeling of being part of nature is prevelant.
I remember being in France in the summer and noticing the vast difference in the ammount of stars in the sky being significantly more than in the UK - the sky here at night is maybe 10 fold more amazing.
No polution either from the traffic or light means you really can seee a myriad of stars, galaxies and more.

I am sleeping in a shed! I expect this Christmas may well include visit from 3 wise men.
It is a garage actually and I share it with about a million spiders and moths and I think a rat too - I have mastered the art of zipping a sleeping bag totaly over my head - ok maybe a slight exaggeration.
The locals here have been really welcoming - I think overseas visitors here are a bit of a novelty - the Swiss people that I mentioned earlier came down for a couple of days on their travels through NZ so there were 5 foreigners - enough to put on a community barbeque by the river.
I went a couple of weeks ago to the community Christmas party which really was in a shed.
A wool shed in the middle of nowhere into which we installed a sound system and karaoke. A truly surreal experience during which I got exremely drunk, sang, did my party piece of sliding along the"dancefloor" on my knees and fell asleep on the road outside.
Took me ages to get the sheep shit off my jeans the next day.
I feel really chilled here actually and was just what I needed before I embark on 3 months in America in January. I will be going to Wellington before that for a few days and internet permitting hope to write more before I leave here.
So for now I will sign off and hope that you all get what you wish for this Christmas and the New Year.

I expect I shall be happy with my gold, frankincense and myrrh.

C
xx

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