Hello! It's been a while since the last proper blog but I shall begin with the arrival of Steve/Stephen/Pearson! As he's written we met him from the airport on Friday, he came through baggages really quickly so was waiting when we arrived! Was strange to see another face that we recognised after being here a month! We came back to the apartment and Steve settled his stuff in (I have moved in with Ben atm, think we're gonna try and make some sort of rotation system!) and unfortunately, we hadn't got around to filling the cupboards so as Steve mentioned, we went out for dinner at Pesto's, really good Italian place! Everyone was pretty tired though and we had work early the next day so it wasn't a late one!

Saturday we got up at 7am to get to the races for 8.30, arrived nice n early but oh well! Also arrived in pouring rain, which got worse and worse as the morning went on. This tropical weather is pretty weird, gotta admit! Tom and I were working outside in a markee, so got a little wet to begin with, and Ben was working inside (the assign you places before you get there). It wasn't really a hard day at all, just long. Guests arrived at about 12pm, so until then we weren't doing much. Luckily the weather held off for the first race and managed stay that way for the rest of the day! We just had to do tray service, then bring out the buffet courses and keep drinks topped up all day. At about 5pm our supervisor said we could go early if we wanted as our tent was the biggest, and was expecting 120 pre paid guests, and only about 50 turned up because of the weather! So I went to try and find Ben and see if he could go early but didn't have much luck as he'd been moved to one of the other rooms somewhere! So Tom and I ended up doing some odd jobs for the rest of the day, the worst being we had to throw away bottles of Stella that had been chilled too much and begun to freeze...it was tough to do as we threw away a LOT of beer, about 20 cases. Began to get quite emotional so had to leave and do another job (well we got sent there, but still!). It was a long day but we finished about 7.30 (only to find out Ben had been let go at 6!So he was waiting for us!) but it wasn't too tough and we got to see some races!

Sunday we did a big shop, and were actually able to get some proper food as Steve can cook...more than pasta or jacket potato I'll have you know! So we got some more adventurous things like chicken, mincemeat and sauces. So Sunday night we had a PROPER spaghetti bolognaise...not a poor excuse for one like we'd made in that it tasted GOOD. We also attempted to go out on Sunday night, how young n naive are we, as everywhere was shut. So we ended up just comin back and having an early night!

On Sunday we'd seen an offer on cases of beer at the supermarket so Monday was beer run day. We headed down to Foodtown with Steve's backpack and all our rucksacks...only to find the offer had ended! But we still got out stock of beer, 120 to be exact lol, for a little extra :) and carried them home in our bags. Safe to say, stacking them in the apartment was glorious and we all took a moment to sit and appreciate the beauty of fridge full of beer. Guilty we've already drunk 48 already and this was supposed to be a months supply. Think another run is gonna be needed soon! We managed to have a night out Monday night though and discover a few more bars which was good. Ended up with us in McDonalds at the early hours...not too sure why! And also, Tom had an incident with some ice cream, in that he'd bought a tub a couple of days before, and went to bed with it as he decided he was hungry....u see where this is goin, and next thing he's fallen asleep hugging the ice cream's and it's melted! But, it stayed in the tub which I think is a pretty good achievement!

Tuesday we were feelin a little delicate from a late night drinking so just had a lazy day around the apartment and didn't do much as we had work the next day! But, we had a sweet and sour chicken stir fry with rice. Yeah you heard me right, a stir fry! We were pretty impressed with Steve's efforts and grateful as it was really nice!

Yesterday (wednesday) we worked the races again, this time I was in a bar on the lawn and the other two were in various tents. Had a pretty easy day as all we sold was bottled beer and small bottles of champagne! And was right by the racetrack so saw all the races. The weather was really good as well all day so everyone had a really good time and the atmosphere was much better!We all finished at about 7.30 as well which wasn't too bad and were contemplating going out as it was a Wednesday night which is apparently a big one but we were all knackered! So came back and had spaghetti again and just had a few more beers in the apartment playing cards!

The weather's really good today, it's nearly 11am so we're up and getting sorted to go to the beach. Some people yesterday couldn't believe it when I said we hadn't been to the beach! Think we'll walk there as it's only a 45 minute walk to Mission Bay! We've also provisionally booked off the weekend of 21st/22nd/23rd to go to Waiheke Island as we've realised times getting on and we need to start seeing the sights! So that should be a good trip as it's meant to be one of the best places there! We're working for the next 3 days at the Langham hotel as Porters, taking people's bags to their rooms and bringing their cars around (some NICE cars!!!) which is good work as you get tips! And then next week, we'll probably do the shark swim if we can...so you'll get an update of who's got what limbs left after that i'm sure! (sorry, i know the mums probably won't find that so funny!)

Speak soon, hope everyone is well!xxxx

Yester