Living La vida loca

Hey hey hey, (or should that be ho ho ho) from K-town McDs

Whats with Santa not being allowed to say Ho ho ho? its not offensive because its not even in context. Anyway remember - ho's before bros. LOL

Yeah, whats there to write about. Lets try it backwards for a change.

Just before I was chatting with a workmate - I had come here to check my emails etc, and she had brought her kids here for tea. Naturally they hadn't eaten much of their food, so she asked me to help her finish it - it was only fair that I obliged. Good having a yarn to someone from work outside of work.

This morning we had our secret santa at work. It was quite good - I think because it was $10 limit rather than $5 people actually gave and got decent presents.

Last night I came here to check my emails and ended up having a hot chocolate with my mate Matt and his friends.

Last Friday night was our work do. Awesome feed. I didn't drink all that much but sure felt lethagic the next day. Probably due to lack of sleep.

Thursday night was our Toastmasters breakup dinner - again good food, Tuesday was our last meeting for the year - it was nice, I think because there was no evaluations - so it was all fun, and no tedium.

Monday was the break-up dinner for Te Reo class. We went to the Beachcomber. I had my usual Venison medallions. Nice.

The previous Friday I had dinner with the DOC girls and then a beer with Nicky from the play.

Other than that its been much the same.

This Friday (or Saturday morning) Im going to head south for Christmas - I want to do it in stages, stopping and camping at Paihia or Whangarei and/or Goat Island or Orewa, because I really enjoyed doing that when I came back up with Kevin.

New Years I haven't worked out yet - either Papamoa with my parents or Whitianga with Lizelle my workmate and some other friends. New Years is always a pain to organise.

Anyway, Have a good Christmas and New Year. Party on.

(I would drive) 1000 miles (kilometres)

Here I am again. What a massive two weeks its been.

Well, it started with me hightailing it out of Kaitaia (after doing my dishes etc) on the 15th, and staying the night in Auckland.

On Friday the 16th, after a bit of a look down Queen street, I went to the Airport and picked up Kevin. I have to admit it was quite funny at the mixed communication we had, especially at the start – due to not being used to each others accents again, and the Kiwi colloquialisms I have reverted back to.

Anyway, after escaping the airport, we decided to have an ice cream at Pokeno, on our way to Papamoa, (well it was my suggestion, mainly because every other time I seem to go through Pokeno Im generally on my way home either way, or in a hurry).

Anyway subsequent to that, we stopped again in Paeroa, so Kevin could get a taste of L&P, and for some lunch. Made it to Papamoa, had dinner at Breakers in Mt Maunganui, and then slept.

The next day we decided to do Rotorua. On the way there we stopped at Te Puke to see the Big Kiwifruit, and to have some Kiwifruit Ice Cream. Anyway, made it to Rotorua, and then had lunch at Pizza hut (just like the good old Japan days – Kevin had discovered the location of what must’ve been one of the very few Pizza Hutts in Japan). Following that we went to Te Puhi Geyser Park, visited a Marae, a kiwihouse, and then did the luge, which was cool actually doing that with someone else, not just by myself. Following that, because it was still only about 4pm, we jetted down to Taupo, to see the lake, and unsuccessfully to see “Mt Doom”from the LOTR (Mt Ngaruahoe) in the distance – unfortunately there were clouds in the way. We had tea there in an Irish Bar. There was a stag do in the bar above, which was owned by the same people, anyway, the ahem “entertainment” got changed downstairs before she went up. She was quite a stunner, and when she came into our bar, she looked at me and gave me a smile. It made my day I suppose you could say- mainly because it was genuine, obviously she wasn’t going to get any money out of me, and she wasn’t paid to be nice to me. Anyway, we drove back to Hamilton, and then went out on the town.

The next day we went to “Hobbiton” where they filmed the Hobbit village at Matamata. That was interesting, but was a tour for those that were passionate about the movies I think. Since our old neighbours literally live just up the road from it, we paid them a visit, and had a look at their chicken farm.

The following day (Monday) we sorted a few things out, then headed out to where we used to live, and went caving, had dinner at my Nana’s in Huntly, then drove through Auckland and went camping at Leigh – by the Goat Island Marine reserve.

The next morning we woke up, and went for a snorkel. From there we drove north, stopped at Ruakaka for a look at the beach, stopped again in Whangarei for reconnaissance (book our snorkel/dive at the Poor Knights) and organize somewhere to sleep. We ended up camping again, at the camp ground at Tutukaka, had a good barbeque tea too.

Yeah, so the next day, we went out to the Poor Knight Islands. Admittedly I felt a bit sick on the way out, not exactly sure why. Anyway, it was fun. We got back to shore at 4pm, and then it was a mad dash for us to get back to Kaitaia for my play practice.

Thursday we went up to Cape Reinga, via the usual stops – Kauri Kingdom, 90 mile beach etc. Again, it was a mad dash home. I dropped Kevin off to get some fish & chips, while I got ready, then he watched the show. That night we went out on the town Kaitaia style. Discovered a bakery that stays open. Nice.

Friday, we just headed down to Paihia. Had a bit of a look at the Waitangi Treaty grounds, and hung out in town, until I had to head back for my first performance, and Kevin was catching the bus to Auckland.

The first performance went well, but I was a bit nervous. However as we got through the nights I think if I was a little nervous it worked better because I was more focused, whereas if I wasn’t I was a bit cocky, and then I would screw up a line. Other than Sunday night, the crowds gradually grew, and on closing night on Tuesday we had a full house. My favourite night I think was Monday, just because lots of people in the audience knew me, and at the finale scene they called out my name, shallow I know.

Anyway, Wednesday & Thursday nights I barely knew what to do with myself, considering I had been busy for so long with practices, and even more so in the past week.