Kia Ora fellow earthlings….haha. I'm in a hostelroom in Christhchurch at the moment, feeling exhausted and having a sore throat....that's the result of a week on a Stray trip on the South Island. Good excuse to take it easy tonight and update my blog. Tomorrow I'm heading towards Kaikoura and the day after to Welly to start volunteering at YMCA Camp Kaitoke, right on time for their summercamps. And full back on the jobhunt...because I'll go crazy if I don't find anything soon. But first a short overview of my latest Stray trip...yes I know, not the first, maybe the last.At least for summer..and after summer I'll be working. But never say never...haha. What if I turn out to become a Stray driver ?

Was supposed to leave Picton on the 5th, but Karlyn ended up coming over to the South a day earlier (after an interesting start of the New Year including a front page newspaper photo), so hopped on the 4th.Straight after arriving I gave him a hand copying and sorting his information booklets which he hands out to all passengers at the start of a trip, and then off to Abel Tasman. Very good BBQ, mjummie, with nice HokeyPokey Iceream with fresh pineapple and Maltezers for desert. The guy should become a chef (ow, and Frenchie and me could be good kitchenhands). Enjoyed the campfire afterwards. Took it easy the next day, walked halfway up to Anchorage and back, and had phone reception on the beach so I was able to call Remco (who is leaving to Uruzgan tomorrow). Awesome weather. Spent the afternoon juggling and enjoying the diabolo skills of two fellow passengers, Diabolo Dave and Frenchie ( Loic, but hey, he's from France). Shared some Jack that night, and another campfire.

Barrytown day.... Well, not really different then two weeks before haha. Just an easier night. Some guys dressed up, we all had a couple of drinks, and had to endure the hilarious visits at 3 am of some very drunk boys. We ended up locking our door from the inside, haha. Did another bonecarving the next morning. Yes, I know, again, but I got a discount (the next time they are just charging me rent....) and I was very pleased with the result. Nice hei matau...but still wearing the old one. It's also interesting to be in a bus with a fueltank that says Empty and see how far you can get. Well, we reached the gasstation, and found out that there was no gasstation anymore. Oops. Luckily there was a guy around who brought his own mobile gasstation, and we could continue our journey.

Cooked a nice spaghetti with Frenchie and had kind of an early night...everybody had to get up early to do activities. I tried to sleep in (but woke up early after all), went for a run to some kind of tunnel, and walked the same track again later that day to explore the tunnel with a flashlight...to find out it was actually flooded, so no tunnel adventures. Started raining, and stopped raining as soon as Iris bought a rain jacket, way to go ! Everybody had a good day, while two tourists got crushed and killed under some ice at Fox Glacier... Mmm, those ropes and danger signs are there for a reason ! Went out for dinner with Karlyn and some other passengers and had a couple of drinks.

Off to Makarora, and it was pouring down. I had decided to put my rainjacket in my backpack that was in the back of the bus, but found out that a fleecesweater can take quite a lot of water before it gets really wet. And on the last short walk to the Blue Pools (with jumping Karlyn on the swing bridge as usual) the sun came out and turned our arrival in Makarora in a nice and warm one. Not too bad ! Had a nice meal (lambchops) and then it was Karaoke night. Basically you had to pull a number from a jug to decide the order to sing in, and then a song from another jug. Kinda nice if you have number 12, and have to sing second because all the others bail out. But hey, I had to sing Wonderwall, my first singing performance ever (coz I can't sing) and apparently it wasn't too bad (because later that night I got requested to do another song from somebody who seriously thought I could sing, hahahaha). Also funny to actually realize what you're singing and euhh..flirt with the audience. Never too old to start learning how to do that I guess...I do still suck though. Didn't drink too much, but was a good night out. Was even offered a job at the bar, but without workpermit, so illegal. Will keep it in mind though.

And then Queenstown revisited. Good Indian meal with 30 people (coz the bus was very full,...was actually lucky that I had a seat the whole way through...we even swapped busses at Franz to have more seats). Not the expected big night out though...everybody went to bed quite early, and we called it a day at 1.30. Met up with Geri (who was on mu snowboard course, and is working in QT at the moment) the next day, and spent the afternoon watching the National Sevens Rugby Championships. Nice, sunny, cheap beers and watching rugbyplayers in tight shirts, ey, no complaints !

Did my laundry, met up with some guys from the bus behind us in Altitude and went to bed at 12. Tired.... Not sure yet if Karlyn would drive out to Christchurch. His aunt died, and he was trying to get to the funeral. Well, he was driving after all, to fly out of Christchurch this afternoon. So said goodbye again...but not really....will see him again. I'm kinda responsible for some of his luggage to get to Wellington (coz he couldn't takeit all in the plane), mm, I actually do need a mountainbike...grinz.

Well, it was a nice trip, but the last one for now. The busses are very full;, so I'm never sure of a seat, and I'm just not enjoying as much as before. The whole jobsearch stress is in the back of my head all the time, and some other issues . But it was OK, always cool to meet up with Karlyn, good to meet some other nice people, and now I'm soooo ready to find a job soon. Saw some very interesting ones, so I'll go for it. And looking forward to help out at the summercamps and have a steady place to stay for at least a couple of weeks.

Other great news: Amy (who was on my very first Stray trip last year) is coming to NZ in February for a two week holiday...we'll try to sort out some reunion. And Mum and Ton are planning to come and visit me (and travel NZ) in March. Whoohoo ! Good to hear as my state of mind got me very close to book a plane back home... Juts the way I felt... Mmm, but thta's all good now. Coz I seriously don't want to go home at all, and it will all be good as soon as I find a job and can settle down a bit. Just want it all to work out, and these are just the rough times that come with immigrating to another country I guess. Got enough moral support this week from all of u guys (in and out of NZ) to keep going, thanks for that !!!!

Will keep u guys updated ! Chur !