Day 151

After the late night yesterday we both got up quite late this morning and had a pretty chilled out time.  We both showered and browsed the internet and played on the piano trying to learn a new song.  Margret, Christine and I then piled into the car and we set off for an afternoon out.  We headed to Wyarapa and to the Paua world for a browse around the shop.  I bought a ring and Margret bought me a necklace.  We headed to a small town and wandered around the shops looking at shabby chic things.  There was a lovely café and I had a huge slice of chocolate cake which I could not finish so had to have the rest to go.  Back in Upper Hutt Christine and I went to a shop and I was able to buy her a gift to say thank you for having me to stay for 2 months.  I bought her a Fijoa tree so she can grow and eat as many fijoas as she wants.  On the way home we decided to finish a lovely day with a very tasty fish and chip supper.  I have to say it is one of the best fish and chips I have had! 

Day 150 Family Tree Hunt

After a quick shower I headed into town to try and organise my trip after Fiji. I had a rough idea of either south America or Africa. I went to see Katie in the flight centre but she was away so I wandered round town and ended up nipping into STA. The girl was very helpful but also quite pushy to me booking it there and then. I have found this with STA they are very keen to book things immediately. I managed to escape credit card still firmly in my purse and wandered round the shops instead. I don't think I bought anything but as I'm sure you know I am very behind with this and can't really remember if I did buy anything!! (sorry for the time delay on this blog!). Back in Upper Hutt I went to pak and save for few essentials. When I came out it was pouring with rain and I didn't have any kind of jacket with me! So I was lazy and got a taxi back! A couple of parcels of guide badges had arrived for me so I chilled and sorted them out and watched Stephen Fry's family tree programme. It was really interesting! Christine came home and bought Chinese with her, it was really tasty! Once we were full we were inspires by the family tree programme so set about trying to find ours on the Internet. I have to say it's not that easy and you need patience and time! We found a couple of things but nothing we didn't already know. We soon moved on the the pandora website and discovered you could build a virtual bracelet. Can you guess what we did next?! Yep we built a bracelet for Christine. It was very pretty if I do say so myself! It was also very expensive so it will stay virtual for a while!! We once again climbed in to our beds late!!


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Day 149 Sorting Day

Today is a day to sort all my stuff out so it will actually fit in my bag! I spent quite a while going through it all in to stuff to post and stuff to keep. Once I had done I watched some greys anatomy and chilled for a bit then gathered it all up and headed down to the post office. It took me a while to parcel it all up and address it all. I was surprised to discover you can't ship things from new zealand only air mail! Back at home I chilled and then headed down to Margret's for tea. Stuart and Jessica came too and he had bought really nice fish. It was really really tasty! I was due at another guide meeting so I dashed after dinner and walked down to the hall. It was a small hall and a small group, I helped a patrol sort out what they were going to bring the following week for a world food meeting. Once again it was nice to be a guide meeting and I like how it's a world wide family! I chatted to the leaders then went back for pudding at margrets! Apple and rhubarb tart! It was really really nice!! I said goodbye to Jessica as am not sure if ill see her again. Back at home I set about sorting out all the guide badges I have been given and making sure I have all the addresses to send them some badges. Once again a late night, the time just seems to run away!!


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Day 148 Photo Sorting

Once again a went on skype to Dan this morning. I chatted to Jessie too and began to sort out my photos. Once Dan had gone I chatted to mum on the phone. Big communication morning! Once everyone was asleep or busy I concentrated on sorting my photos out to folders for facebook and countries. I was very strict with myself as I don't want to upload rubbish ones or three of the same picture. As time went on I stopped sorting and walk in to upper hutt to get ingredients for tea. I am making the sausage casserole I learned from Fiona's recipe book. Yum yum! Back at home started I cooking. I had to guess the quantities of some things and had to get a different beer as they don't have Newcastle brown ale in New Zealand. I had also got stuff to make desserts Susie taught me how to make. How ever when I opened the creme fresh it was mouldy. I had to get Christine to pick a new one up on the way home. Margret came down and chatted to me while I cooked. We ate when Christine was home from work. I had to go to a guide meeting once w had eaten the main and I left them to enjoy the tarts. The guide meeting was good fun I helped make a guide quiz and then chatted to the girls about the group at home. One little girl called Isabelle asked some very good questions. At the end of the meeting I gave out some badges I had bought with me. I had one to Isabelle and she was very happy she gave me a hug!! When her dad came to pick her up she came and said thank you for visiting them and for giving her the badge! So cute and polite! Back at home I chilled with a couple of yummy tarts I had made and watched tv. After helping sort the washing up out we went to bed.


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Day 147 Chilled Sunday Stroll

I got up to go on skype to Dan. I was on for quite a while and Claire had called and we arranged to go for a walk. So after a shower and some lunch. We set off for island bay to meet her for a stroll. I thought we were going for a walk round a park but we walked along the streets around where Christine used to live. We saw her old house and walked up the hill she used to walk her dog, Molly. We stopped in a coffee shop for a drink and cake, the best kind of walking this!! Once back at the cars we agreed to meet at another shop for an ice cream. The shop was near the airport and was noisy. I had mint choc chip! Yum yum! I said good bye to Claire as I won't see her again then we headed back home. We chilled at home then walked down to Margaret's for tea. We watched New Zealand's master chef as we ate. After dinner we headed home and chatted then went to bed.


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Day 146 Return to Upper Hutt

I woke up and packed everything away while I chatted to Jamie. After checking out and leaving my bags in the storage room I sat down to some breakfast. I had to go to the flight centre to get my confirmation of my Fiji trip. As I was in town I realised I didn't have any postcards from Napier so I went in search of some. I came across a farmers market and just couldn't walk passed I had to have a look. There was a really nice guy selling jams and marmalades. I tried a few and bought a fijoa one for Christine. I also chatted to a seller who had lost of cheeses. His home made feta was very tasty! And his home made yogurt. I visited the art deco centre and watched a short DVD about the reason Napier is so art deco. It was really interesting. On the way back to the hostel I picked up something for lunch. After eating and saying goodbye to Jamie I headed down the street to get the bus back to Wellington. As I waited to board a woman began to chat to me. She seemed nice and sat in front of me on the bus. I don't know why I seem to attract very interesting people! We chatted for a while and she asked what I did for a job, I told her and asked what she did. She said she was recovering from mental illness and was only seeing professionals once a month and the medications where helping. We chatted a bit longer she was going home for mothers day. I then settle back to listen to my iPod. It was a beautiful drive though hills and mountains. Unfortunately my head phones broke on the way back. First one of them stopped working so I just kept swopping the other one from side to side. The bus stopped right outside the train station so I jumped on a train, I text Christine to let her know I was on my way. She collected me from the train station and we went and go pizza for tea as it was late and we couldn't be bothered to cook. At home we settled down with a film and the pizza. I have to say I was looking forward to sleeping in a bed with an electric blanket!!

Day 145 Tour Round Napier

Today I am doing a tour round Napier with Fregs Fantastic Tours! There is just me and one other person doing it! First we went to a few nice look outs over the city, the weather wasn't very good though. Most of Napier is art deco and we saw a lot of lovely buildings, even McDonalds is art deco!! For lunch we went to the RSA. It was very good food and the place was full of ex service men and women. After a lovely roast dinner we set off to another valley and visited a few wineries. At one we tasted a red wine which was not nice, the woman then told us to try some chocolate and try the wine again. I have to say it did make it taste slight better. The next stop was a chocolate place!! But they don't make the chocolate they just shape it. On the tour plan it said cheese factory which I was excited about seeing but unfortunately it closed last week!! We went to a honey place and once again I tried about ten different kinds of honey. Ferg then took us to a famous ice cream place and bought us an ice cream each. It was very very nice! He then dropped me back at the hostel. I walked to pak n save and got potato and mince for tea and made spaghetti bolognese and had it on baked potato. I made more than I could eat, as I took it to the bin I bumped into a woman who said oh that look nice. I said she could have it as I was full and it was only going in the bin other wise. Her name was Jamie and she was from California. We chatted for ages and got on really well. It got late fast as we chatted and we eventually went to bed at around midnight.

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