Baby one more time

Unless I have some hours to kill in the airport, this is it the last blog entry of the trip.

Not the end for the blog, I will try and keep it going at least for a while, it's a good way of keeping in touch with folk I know from far flung corners of the world and even from just down the road. I can be crap at keeping in touch sometimes.

It's been pretty damn special. Watch this space...

Blessid are the geeks

Thanks to all the geeks out there, who helped me bug check my new site style swapper thing and yes thanks to M&K for the inspiration. Er I guess as you can see things are slowing down a little. More fiddling with website than adventure and exploration makes a dull boy.

It's been a bit of a technology fest, I have been helping the old man with his purchases of a new plasma TV and now he is thinking of getting a laptop and i-pod. It's quite exciting watching other people spend money on cool gadgets! I got to set up the new stuff which was fun.

Attention has now turned to getting home and when is the optimum time to do it. It's cold and miserable back in the UK I'm sure, but I have the urge to get on with things and see all you lovely folk back there. Also I need to start earning some money again!

City life

I haven't made an entry in a while (and i'm not just talking about the blog either!) The previous post i wrote a few days ago when up in the country, but it didn't update for some reason, anyway back in the city now. So er not sure what to do with myself now, it's been really cool the last week, I've had a cracking time bonding with the old man in the country. 

The bugger has had me working like a dog, mowing the estate and helping him mulch the planted areas etc... Actually don't tell him, but I have really enjoyed getting my hands dirty and driving the little sit on tractor mower, it's really good fun!

We also had plenty of leisure time too. Played a bit of tennis and got beaten :( inspiring me to actually take some coaching as my Cliff (my dad) is a wily old player and I will have to learn a few new tricks to get the better of him, either that or just wait until he gets too old to run ;) Also got out on his little power boat, and that was so cool, he was a little bit wary of taking out too far being only his second voyage (the first ended in disaster by all accounts :) Anyway we saw a massive stingray fly along side us as we were travelling and that was really brilliant.

After getting into the water-sports we decided to try our hand at the more leisurely activity of fishing. This proved to be a bit of a disaster but also hilarious fun at the same time. first of all when casting the bait flew off the hook and was eaten immediately by a cheeky seagull. Then it started to rain. At this point Cliff notices that his mobile phone was still in his pocket, we are waist deep in the water. Suffice it to say he had no more calls from work that week ;o)

Er so what now? I'm not sure, I think my adventure has come to an end, but a really pleasant one. My travels have served their purpose, if they really had one, in that I'm now at a much better place and I'm thinking about home now, not in a homesick way, but in an I want to get on with my life way and that's a really good thing.

Country boy

Well I finally made it to New Zealand again and after briefly managing to loose each other in the car park me and a my dad travelled up to his country "Bach" in Mangawhai. The photo is my view out of my bedroom window on that first morning.
The New Zealand country life is a real change of pace, but a really pleasant one, it's just been great to help out with the work required in the garden and walk Dexter the dog. I'm not totally sure what my plans are next, but for now I think I am just going to enjoy relaxing and taking in the sun while I can.

I'll be a Monkeys Uncle

I'm at Sydney Airport, my flight has been delayed so I thought I would use this opertunity to make a quick blog entry. So I had an interesting night on the town on Wednesday, I may update with details later. So Yesterday I had a little bit of a hangover so I decided that a walk would be a good way to shake it off. K had recommended a walk from Bondi beach down the coast to another beach that sounded good so I thought, I may as well walk to Bondi. This was probably a mistake as it took me 3 hours to get there! Oh well I managed to see Bondi and I walked down the coast about half way before I got a taxi back to meet
my Uncle.

He met me at the hotel and we went over to Manly beach to meet the rest of the family, the two kids both work in a bar over there. They very kindly bought me a meal (ostridge steak, mmmm damn good!) It's so odd to think that it's taken me thirty years to meet this side of the family, but very glad I did.

It's been a right palava this morning, I got here with a fair amount of time, but the queue was massive. When I finally get to the front they tell me that I must have a visa or ticket out of New Zealand. Bugger! The girl at Emerates was really helpful and as it turned out I could buy a fully refundable ticket and then just get a refund when i get to Auckland. How stupid is that.