another thing about new zealand...

remember this photo?

now watch this trailer, the part after the train...

sweet as, eh?

if a photo is worth a thousand words

then i just saved you 8000 words of reading.  i have had several groupings of photos to post over the last few weeks, but haven't done it.  so this is just sort of the condensed version.

• close up with a palm tree



• nanook of the north, cousin to my zipper pull



• my and maayke's room after a night of work



• orange berries



• giverny-esque shot at the queen's gardens



• flowers at the queen's gardens



• chinese garden, q.g.



• fountain in rose garden, q.g.

the mice at play, part 2

so, as i said, the owners are gone this weekend and i am managing the backpacker's.  it's been fairly event-free, which is kind of nice.  i took a little walk yesterday to the queen's gardens, and then last night i had tea with my friend tha (from work) and played a couple of games of really awful pool with her and her boyfriend.  so i haven't been completely stuck here.  either way, i've been enjoying the quiet of a kid-free house.  which is even sweeter since i am facing a four-day week with work, finally.

this last week was mildly interesting though, on monday i had a sort of weird breathing attack where i couldn't get a full breath, and it felt tight around my chest.  so i ended up with an appointment at the duty doctor, just to make sure i was okay.  it's happened before but not recently, and i thought well, it's cheaper to go to the doctor here than home.   anyway, he asked me some questions and did a breath test thing, and ruled out asthma.  he thought that i'd had a panic attack (!), but just to be sure it wasn't something else wrote up a thing so i could have some blood tests done for anemia and a thyroid problem.  i was kind of hoping it would be one of those two since i'm not readily accepting the panic attack bit, but those came back normal.  which means that apparantly i had a panic attack.  haha!

also, i am thinking about going to ozzie for maybe the month of june.  (or at least for a month around then.)  i want to fly into sydney, take the bus to melbourne and if it isn't too expensive (although i fear it may be) take the ferry to hobart.  go back to melbourne, bus to adelaide and then train to alice springs and see uluru.  back to adelaide and then either on to perth (if i decide it's worth seeing) or back to sydney and nelson.  the hoki season will probably be going then, so i could come back and work for a few more weeks at sealord and then continue travelling the south island if i want.  but nothing is set in stone at all, and i may completely change my mind as i am wont to do.  most of it depends entirely on money and how much or how little of it i have, versus the costs of the things i want to do, but i feel like now would be a good time to go, since i am already here and it's cheaper to fly to australia from new zealand than the u.s.

hm.

i'd also like to do some island hopping, but that is more expensive for flights and somewhat less practical.  really, i think i'm just going to end up coming back in a couple of years.

and i want to do my lake angelus hike in nelson lakes, but i'm also afraid of the weather.  it could snow up there at any time, and i don't want to get caught.  but i really want to do it.  i think i need to talk to the d.o.c. and get some advice.

so what is new at home?  i hear it's getting spring-like.  it's getting fall-like here, but without nearly as many turning trees.  between that and the fabulous farmer's markets i've been going to, i kind of feel a little homesick.  well, and i've been trying to find some new socks and underwear that are not ugly and reasonably priced and GEEZ i think that is impossible here.  i miss target!  also i miss magazines, but i don't know why since i hardly read them when i buy them.  i paid $12 for a NG adventure magazine because it had an article by gretel ehrlich, and i haven't read it yet.  but someone leaves a women's weekly rag mag around, and i gobble it up.  even though half of the celebrities are kiwi/ozzie and i have no idea who they are.  yep.

well, i  have to finish laundry and some vacuuming.  it's an exciting life, i tell ya! 

"deadliest catch caugh in fishy editing"

reuters article here.  guess i have to take even my favorite docu-drama with a grain of salt.

i'm managing the backpacker's this weekend, which means a) a lot of time hanging around the house in case of non-existant guests (it's really slow) and b) free internet for the whole time i am hanging around the house.

hopefully this means i will be writing a couple of posts and getting some new photos up.

random daily photos

for your viewing pleasure. 

oh, you know...more things i have been doing.

abel tasman

nelson lakes

last tuesday i went to abel tasman national park, which is probably the most popular park in new zealand.  it is certainly pretty, but i didn't get to see much.  i was on a sail-walk day thing, where i went on a catamaran from kaiteriteri to anchorage, and then did a hike back to marahau where i caught the bus back to nelson.  i didn't really feel like i got to see much outside of anchorage and stillwell bay (where i was attacked by sandflies). 

wednesday we rented another car, and i went back to nelson lakes with theresa, leah, and maayke and did a short hike around lake rotoiti to whisky falls, clambered up some rocks, and then hiked back.  two nice days, but then i was completely knackered!  since then, since i have not had work, i have been back to the library twice and baked some muffins (with some help from betty crocker) and some bagels.

yesterday leah left with her brother, so now maayke is the poor soul who is my roommate.  she keeps force-feeding me chocolate.  i know, it takes so much to convince me to eat chocolate.

and tonight is csi and men in trees night.  my last one with theresa, who is leaving this week.  i'm going to miss her!

also: please keep your fingers crossed or whatever that my mom finds the package with my sister's birthday present.  all of my photos up until i left rotorua are in there.  i thought it was just the present, but i found out today it's the whole thing...i really hope she didn't actually throw it away like she said she thought she may have done.