Last day at work!

Ello all. So today's the last day at work here in Queenstown for Kat and I. Crown relocations have been and packed up our stuff on Wednesday, so the house is looking a little barer. Add to that the impromptu sale of the remaining stuff in the house at a BBQ we had with mates on Thursday and we've got very little left!

So yes, a little sad at the mo.... looking out across the lake really makes you wonder what we're doing - but it still feels right to move... we'll see!

We don't actually leave till next Thursday, when we're flying to Sydney and spending the first 2 nights there with Bev and Chris in a flash hotel! NICE!

Then it's off to Bankok to see Mr. Brooks and his bride to be, before exploring the country and avoiding the poultry!!! We don't get much news on the bird flu here in NZ; they're pretty laid back about it.

Stewart Island - The secret weekend

Well as you may or may not know it's my birthday on Thursday. Last Wednesday was also the birthday of a good mate here - James. Between us, we've been trying in vain to organise something for everyone for the weekend.

To cut a long story short, Kat and Erin (James' bird) had sorted out a surprise weekend in Stewart island, which started with us being called unexpectedly home from work Friday lunchtime to be bound and blindfolded, before being herded in the back of a car! We then endured a two and a half hour trip to god knows where (Bluff) where we were finally relieved of the blindfolds on the back of a boat, where we were met (totally unexpectedly) by 10 of our mates - BRILLIANT! I'd spent most of last week moaning about how crap everyone was for dropping out of James and I's weekend, when in fact the crafty buggers had been plotting this whole weekend months in advance - SNEAKY!

Stewart island is a tad bigger than Malaysia and sits about 30km from the bottom of NZ. It's a protected island and a natural haven for lots of rare species and native birds/animals. There's a population of 300, 1 pub, 1 shop and a lot of beautiful bays!

When we got there Friday evening, right on cue a seal came out of the water just in front of the "batch" (kiwi holiday home) and had a roll around on the beach, much to our entertainment!

We spend the evening eating and drinking lots, playing the drinking game "F#$K YOU" and having a great time. At midnight, we celebrated the start of national nude day in style by running straight of the house into the sea, ditching the clothes on the way and heading in for a skinny-dip! After only a couple of minutes (It's only about 12 degress in the water !), we finally retired about 1a.m. nice and early for the 'surprise' fishing trip the next day.

Fishing in NZ is quality, there's shedloads of fish and they're HUNGRY! 8 Of us went out on the boat (a couple were too hungover... shocking) and between us we landed about 30-40 Blue-Cod. Made a mighty lunch on the boat with some bread and mussels on the side. The 76 year old Captain Birdseye bloke even got us some Paua, which you have to try if you ever go to NZ...

In the afternoon we played Hacky Sacky on the beach and had a U.K. Vs. NZ/OZ game of footy, which we shockingly lost!

More fun and games in the evening, with some naked laps for the boys around the house in celebration of the end of national nude day!

Alright, tiring writing this.... Sunday we went on a semi-sub (glass-bottomed boat type thingy), saw lots of fish etc etc...

Had a wicked weekend - great surprise, good mates, good laugh, gonna be sad to leave!!!

Here's a couple more - The gang, Kats monster fish, the girls in action and the boys chilling!

More pics from Stewart Island

Hmm... not sure what happened to them all in the previous post, but here's some more!

The relief!

Well all, looks like after 4 weeks of trying we've finally manager to sell our house - WAHOO! It's a massive weight of our shoulders as now we'll be able to go and explore Thailand on the way back to the UK without the worry of building up a massive credit card debt. It should also give us a few bob to get set up back in London............. and................. relax....!

There's still lots to sort out before we leave, with shipping things home, organising travel insurance, house lawyers, bank mortgage pay-off etc... but it feels like the hard part has now been done.

Speaking of Thailand, if anyone's got any top tips for travelling there (we'll be there for 6 weeks!) then send us an e-mail... you know the address ;-)

We're heading away this weekend to a place called 'The garden of Eden' in Paradise, which is an out-of-the-way spot about 2 hours drive from our place. There's a few of us going - so we'll get some fishing done, a nice BBQ and beers, games etc... but there's also a nice log sauna and plunge pool on the grounds. There's no electricity there so we'll have to chop wood and stoke up the backburner to get hot water (and stoke up the sauna boiler!) and take plenty of candles.

Hmm.... now to find some portable battery powered speakers for my IPod!