stringing you along

since i don't feel like telling anyone when i'm coming home yet, i don't think i will!  so nice of me!

maayke and i just bought tickets to see the all blacks in wellington.  i wanted to go too in dunedin, but it's all sold out, so this is my one chance.  it'll work out well though, afterwards i will go maybe to kaikoura, and then visit vicky in christchurch before i head to dunedin to look for work of a non-fishy nature.  (speaking of, i am back at sealord this last week and next, hooray.)

another news item that has porobably not reached the u.s.: hydro levels on the south island below normal.  hence commercials for this website being shown constantly.  brownouts?  blackouts?  i'm hoping not.

word of the day: "trepidation" (or "agitation" will work too).

today i made the booking for my flights home.  i didn't want to do it, i didn't want to have to pick a date, but it needed to be done siib.  i'm unhappy about the idea that i will ever have to leave here, not knowing when i will be able to come back.  and now i have a deadline.

but some good things happened today too, i've got work for a couple of days this week, my friend maayke will come back to nelson tomorrow, and i got another package from home.  this one containing, among other things, barbecue sauce!  bring on the ribs, lol!

sunset over sydney.

coming "home"

coming into christchurch, and leaving christchurch to nelson.  oh, happy day!
even discovering that the nelson post shop has moved did not disturb me (confuse me, yes).  i'm happy to be back, even if it's not for long.  and then, hopefully, on to dunedin i go!

photos: alice springs, uluru, kata tjuta, kings canyon

 

a) uluru
b) camel farm
c) uluru shadow portrait
d) bush tucker (kangaroo tail)
e & f) kings canyon
g) kata tjuta
h) the todd river

i'm back!

i thought that i had some photos on my jump drive but i was wrong.  i guess that means i'm a bit of a liar, since i promised photos last time!  but i'm back!  in new zealand!  after a three hour delay in sydney due to aircraft trouble, i finally made it to nelson and man it feels so good.  cold, but good!  i certainly had a good time in australia, especially being able to see some of the sydney biennale and between the devil and the deep blue sea at the sydney opera house.  and spending a day in the blue mountains in front of a fire with a book and tea was pretty fantastic too!  but now i am COMPLETELY exhausted and full of mac n' cheese (thanks erika!) and going to bed.

sorry, so slow!

i have been meaning to post, but then i want to put up photos and i never have them ready.  or lola won't work right.  i think i will just have to do it later.  i had a great time in alice springs on my tour, even though it was below freezing one night and i had a cold for the last two days.  and sometimes when you see/hear about something for long enough, you have expectations built up and that can be bad.  like with uluru, i wasn't quite so impressed with it like i thought i would be.  (same with sydney opera house).  i just imagined it to be bigger.  that's not to say it wasn't worth it, because it was still totally amazing, but you know.  i think the best part was just being in the desert--completely different than any environment i've been in recently.  it was sort of refreshing.  i also really liked kings canyon quite a lot, and we had a good hike there.

also, in alice springs i went to the reptile center and held a python.  the first time i've ever even touched a snake!  it was really quite nice feeling, and it was so cool to feel it moving...it's muscles were just sort of rippling...amazing!  i also liked the bearded dragon.  i kind of would have liked another day in alice, one of the two days i had was a public holiday and plus i was still sick, so i didn't get to see much.  i really wanted to go to the desert park and the royal flying doctors and didn't get to.  ah well, next time!

so i got to sydney yesterday, and i'm really not sure what to say about it.  it's a city, but at least a decent one.  the best part?  shops actually stay open past 5pm here!  crazy!  i am considering at seeing at least one film that is part of the sydney film festival, and perhaps something at the sydney opera house.  just to do it.  we shall see!

next time, i am promising photos!

an update of sorts

i'm back from my week in tassie!  i wish that i could have been there longer, the list of things i wanted to do was attacked a little bit but mostly greatly added to.  i did some day hikes that were really beautiful, saw a lot of amazing scenery, went into some caves, and only had to suffer snorers on the ferry over.  (thank goodness!)  now, after a horrible amount of delay on my flight, i am in adelaide for the night before i head to alice springs on the train tomorrow.  it is kind of overwhelming, really.