Memories

Another day, another year, and more great memory to keep and share.

Somes/Matui Island
As I said before, I was going to spend the night between Saturday and Sunday out on the island in the harbor, and it was pretty sweet. It was worth missing the other events.
I got to learn some stuff about the Maori culture along with some Maori words :D

Mega cool. Did some free diving too (wet suit free, about 12-13 degrees, for maybe 20 minutes) and caught some kina and mussels.

Got some good photos, and got to feel the mighty power of the wind (45-50 knots).

Night of the 26th
I was working on the 26th, and when the clock struck midnight, two girls in the hostel walked into the TV room with a delicious cake for me :D It was mega yum!

25 on the 27th
Woke up, people were congratulating me, and it was my day off. Went to the Botanical Gardens by myself, hung out in The Tree (if you climb up to the top, the branches are so thick, you can lie down with out falling through, great view too), read a book under a tree, took some photos, got a sun burn on arms and face, and watched some Maori martial art.

Later went back to the tree to hang with some friends, when the time was nigh, went down to the hostel to get ready for my dinner. Had dinner at Lone Star, which was descent food. Ate with my friends and met a friend who I did a road trip with in the South Island. Got one of the best presents ever. I was truly speechless! It was a scrap book of photos from our road trip. Went out and had some beers, then we went to the local strip club, got a lap dance, and went home at around 4. Awesome!

29-30th
Went back to work for Ministry of Education, but this time, I scammed the system into giving me $18/hr instead of 16. I rule. Was asked if I wanted to work in the 31st, I said no, and when they asked if it was because I was tired of them, I said yes. Being honest rulez.

31st - 1st
On the 31st I did a small photo session on Mt. Victoria with some help from a girl at the hostel. I won't post them up until I've edited them the way I want. And to do that I need Photoshop.

Also went back to the swing to take some photos, and then when I tried to do it starfish style, I slipped and flew off. It hurt. I think that I've fractured a rib, and I've definitely bruised the greater part of my left side. Dad, don't worry, I'm ok. The only time the pain is unbearable is when I take very big breaths of air, or have to bend over. Besides that, it's sweet. I wasn't bleeding from my mouth, I didn't feel/hear any liquidity sounds while breathing, it's just really bruised. My photo "assistant" saw the whole thing and freaked. It was pretty funny to see her face.

I also got to borrow an ex colleagues car, and drove up to Taupo to do a sky dive. The last jump for the day was a 17.20. I got the car at 12.50. The drive is 5hr 19min according to Google Maps. I arrived to Taupo at 17.21. I rule again (@ 140km/hr). It got cancelled, went camping in the whop-whops.

Just look at my map to see where. It's the last entry, I tried to post it directly, but it's not working like I had hoped. At the camp I climbed a hill, which was pretty hard considering my physical state. But it was well worth the effort.

Camp site was mint, it was only me, and so I did some more photography.

Next morning (woke up at 05ish), after having woken up several times trying to sleep on my left side, not that pleasant. I drive into Taupo on a near empty tank, yay. I made it and waited out my time by driving around until I was meant to call the skydive to see if I could jump in the morning. No go. Too many clouds. I see this a plus, cause when if I jumped and when they pulled the shoot, I think I would of been in unmeasurable amounts of pain. Something I was willing to put up with.

Plan B goes into play: Napier. I start driving to Napier around 9am, and it took about two glorious hours along some great roads and scenery. I get to Napier, and I was seriously pissed off. And I mean really pissed off. The place was so amazing. Perfect size for me, right by the beach, it reminded me of Spain some how. The sun was out (which it usually is up there), and life was grand. I only had an hour in Napier before I had to continue my drive back to Wellington. Checkout a look out point, went into central, and bought a bagel for lunch. Yum. Spoke to a guy there who had been at Ngunguru (village next to Tutukaka) for 7 months. Lucky mofo, and a pretty chill dude too.

Finally get back to Wellington 20 minutes before my shift started. Drove very legally. I rulez again.

I get to work, ended at 22.30, and then went to party (after having shaved off my goat-tee for Movember).

I was only going to have a few beers cause I was meant to pick up the owner of the car from the airport at 09.00. Bugger that. Went to a costume party, found it boring, went to see another friend at gig, 10 bucks entry, go for it. Got pretty drunk, and crashed on a friend of a friends couch. Woke up at 08.17. I panic. I had to poo too. Go to the loo, tried to find my friend without opening any doors (other flatmates lived there too you see), didn't find her, so I hauled ass out of there. Went to a cash point, took out 100 NZD. Started running back to the hostel. It hurt to breath, but I went military and just sucked it up. While I was running I was planning my next move. I had a blip of thought of driving in my current state. I said no way in hell. I wanted to live and the people on the road with me. So, I get to the hostel, ask my colleague behind the reception to order cab. I run up to grab the car keys. I get on the street waiting for my cab. A friend comes out asking if I needed a ride somewhere. I ditch the cab, and he drives me to the airport. We get there, pick her up, and drive back to the hostel. She was in a state of her own (read: drunk). She drives off, I go to bed, I wake up, have pancakes, watch some BeetleJuice, remove some stitches off a friends shoulder, and now I'm here.

BOO YA! And that my friends and family, is the a pretty good summary of my past week. Choice cuz.

Check out the map, and some new photos are up.

I kind of like writing like this, it was fun. Intense feel to it...Or?

Hmmm....

Well, yet again, heaps of amazing sh#t is happening this Saturday:

1. Rugby finals
2. Hawaiian/Brazilian  Party
3. Some's Island
4. Minuit Concert

Now then, I could pull off 1, 2, and 4 in one night, it would be pretty hardcore, but I've dedicated myself to Some's Island for some traditional Maori fun. I hope. I really want to go to the concert and party, AND the rugby game pretty bad. But rugby is in Oz, women are worldwide, and Minuit are well, yeah, another band? No, I don't know know.

However, a good traditional Kiwi weekend, nothing that comes around to every backpacker you know. And it's been part of my plan this whole trip. Now, no doubt I've been hanging out with quite a bit of Kiwi's during my time here, but not any Maori's. Yeah, I don't really know how to explain it, but you probably know what I'm trying to say.

Oh, and I checked out the new MacBook, oh yes, it's pretty sweet. I just might get it, but we'll see.

It's over...

My job that is. I was let go today for working too fast (I finished the work faster than expected). Who would of thought?

Now? Either try and work for 3 days, or just chill...I think I'm going to chill, and do some exploring.

We'll see.

Other than that. I'm happy.

:D

Yum

Went scallop diving today, which was quite a treat. Saw nothing but silty sand. Yay. Gathered 12 scallops with my dive buddy, so I got my share of 6 and prepared them in butter, garlic, white wine and salt. Yummy.

Other than that, all is good.

Breaking News

I've booked my plane ticket to Sydney: November 7th.
I bought my iPod for only 1700 SEK!
I talked my boss into giving me a week longer.
I have to ban another person from the hostel (a cool guy too). Lame.

That's it. Going to miss this place sooo much!

iPod or iPoop as Ruffus would say

It's bloody amazing man! The battery is a lot better and it works like a charm. Yay!

I re-read Military Mode and realized how many grammatical errors I made. I guess I was reliving it while I was writing it.

That's it.

Military Mode

What a night I had last night! And not in the good way either. People wanted to cook when I was trying to clean the kitchen, and I made it pretty clear that it was closed and that they were too late. I was rude to one girl, and a cool guy too.



When my shift was done and I was watching a movie (half sleeping too) I was disturbed by a guest that his room mate has wet his bed. Great. Absolutely great. I jump too, couldn't give two shits cause I was off the clock. I go upstairs too look at him, I wake him up, and ask him what's going on. He being too plastered to make any sense what so ever just pissed me off and I said they can sort it out in the morning and just to deal with it. I refused to give him new sheets too. His room mate was being persistant if there was another room available for him to sleep in; we were fully booked, no go. So I run back down to the movie and resume my previous position on the couch. A couple of minutes later the same guy comes back down and says that the bed wetter is in the shower now and he requested some sheets. I gave in and gave them to him, and he expected me to change them for him. I told him that the pisser should change his own sheets. This time I had had enough and decided to try talking to the guy again to see if would make any sense after taking a shower. I was pretty much all up in his face, giving him sh*t for being a complete twat and that he should get his act together. He then throws the option of him leaving into the air, I say go for. I try to tell him that he's not going to get away with pissing the bed, and that I need his Credit Card. He obviously doesn't know who I am, and keeps on telling me that he's leaving. He gives me a light push and says that I should get out of his face. I then inform him that I'm the manager and that I was simply doing my job (in a very hard militant manner). I tell him that he is going to give me his credit card before his leaves and that he doesn't really have a say in the matter (I was pretty worked up and was thinking about getting physical with this douche bag). I was being pretty intense and in his very personal space, making him feel very uncomfortable (he was quite a bit smaller and skinnier than I am), he begins to shake and I eventually get the credit card, run down stairs and make a copy of it. Give it back to him and escort him out of there. He was constantly apologizing (I accepted one of them cause of the weaker side of me) during the whole ordeal, but he got what he deserved. His room mate was feeling like shit now for having some sort of part in having him kicked out felt I was crossing the line in how I was handling the situation and thought it was stupid to throw out a drunk into wellington at 00.00. I said that it's his problem and not mine. When he left the door, I said "Good luck" and closed the door behind him. End of that.



Apparently I woke up some people who were sleeping and in the rooms around me when I talking to this guys (talking = using my loud voice). Meh...I wasn't a happy camper when I went to bed, so I listened to some Mitch Hedberg and fell asleep to it. It was great.

That was it, talk to you later guys!

Yesterday

Was a long day. Started it off with some Scuba Diving, then went back to the hostel to sort out my birthday present to myself. It starts with i and ends with Pod Classic 120GB. But I didn't sort it all due to limitations on the computers at the internet cafe. Bastards. However, I got a lot of songs from a friend here and will go to another friend to use his computer to sort it all out. Yay me!

Oh yeah, I got it with and engraving:

- = AwesoMenesS = -
ollie.olsson

It makes me weep every time I look at it :D

Played pool with G last night too, which was a joke. I pocketed all my balls, going for the 8, and then when I hit it, the white ball ricochets into a pocket before the 8, making me lose. I did this twice in a row, and then she won a match with her own skill. And then I pulled off a point in the last match. 3-1 disgraceful.

I might get to see the Big C from Paihia tomorrow. He's coming down for a visit, so that'll be nice.

Ok, gotta bounce to my next boring, time consuming iPod-fixer-upper gig. L8er!

It's the end of days for me...

..and my wicked cooking. How come you may ponder? My David's BBQ Rub is out. It's a very sad time for me and my cooking, but I'm sure I'll pull through some how. I'm thinking about contacting the store and seeing if they do international orders. That'd be pretty bad ass.

On other news, I contacted an old team mate of mine whose moved up to Piteå again. And he's 20 (I think), married, and he's *drum roll* going to be a dad. Yup, a dad. I flipped when I read it in his reply back to me and called him straight away. I just can't believe it.

So, J&E when are we going to hear some great news?

*Blub blub blub*

I just got back from a night dive down in Island Bay, and wow, it was fantastic! We got a bit lost, but bugger it! I got to swim back looking at the sunset and waves. The viz was ok, but nothing too spectacular. Not like the Poor Knights.

It's exactly what I needed after sitting on my ass in the office and in the hostel for so long. Bad ass!

I'll be sleeping well tonight :D But before I do, I'm going out to say "See Ya Later" to someone who's leaving NZ.

Bye-dee-Bye

11? Don't you mean 6?

Yesterday was a "big" day, yesterday was my 11 month anniversary for being here NZ. 11 months guys, wow...feels like it's only been 6.

Other Headlines

• Today, I'm going swimming.
• Weather is great.
• Getting photos developed for my grandparents (35 photos).
• I was about to murder someone last night, because a) Didn't eat until very late (and burnt my rice in the process) b) Bloody backpackers left one hell of a mess in the kitchen.
• Want a new camera.

Okay guys, just wanted to post about the 11 month anniversary. See ya!

Great news!

I've been granted my Working Holiday Visa for Australia now, which is AMAZING!!! WooHoo!!! Now I'll be able to fullfil my dream of wrestling with a kangeroo (just kidding)!

So now I have to figure out where I want to fly into. I'm pretty sure I'll jump over to Sydney first to say hi to some people I haven't met in...wow...over a decade now I reckon, easily.
_________

Otherwise the weather today was absolute crap, it was just about tropical rain fall today (it looked awesome through the window though). And then we had a movie weekend Friday-Sunday, and all three movies that had been rented, had depressing ending. Very depressing. But good none the less. We watched The Mist, Halloween: Retribution (2007), and Atonement. I can recommend them all.

Did a small photography session the other day, got some ok shots, nothing too spectacular. Been trying to figure out what my strong and weak points are, and the only conclusion I can come up with is that I need to be with a photographer who knows something about photography to point out my flaws.

Going swimming this Wednesday and I've volunteered to help out at the local dive club which should hopefully get me free dives + experience. Looking forward to it :D


Ok, guys, gonna go now, talk to you later!

Play - Rewind - Repeat

Another week has started here for me here in Wellington, and this morning was a real b**ch. Why you ask? My phone, in it's infinite wisdom, decided to change it's time by one hour forward. Having made this Supreme Decision, it ended up my alarm clock going off an hour earlier than intended. What a great start to my day - Yay. I got up no being any the wiser until I crawled into the kitchen where we have another watch, and it was an hour behind - I check my watch, same as the wall. DAMN! I eat some breakfast, and then stumble my way back into bed to get an extra 30 minutes rest.

I'm completely destroyed from yesterday. I went to the local swimming pool to get some excerise with some people from the hostel (felt grrrreat), did some laps and then bumped in CE from Budapest. I met him when I was in Tutukaka, and now I'm going to try to get some DiveMaster work done here. I wouldn't get paid, but it's good for experience. I should of done this a long time ago, but better late than never, eh?

And then people at the hostel were being, how to be PC about this? Demanding? They were just being normal people, and I just had to do my job. I just had to do it a bit more this time around. But what really f**ked me off was when two customers came to me complaining about their beds, they said that their beds weren't made and that someone had been sleeping in it. I've encountered this once, so I go to investigate. I get into the room, identify their two beds without asking them, and then the couple what the problem was. They then start to say that the beds didn't look like that when there were last there. After having made a few beds in different hostels, you quickly learn what a used bed looks like and also how the sheets feel like. Someone had sat in their bed and disturbed the "tightness" of a fresh sheet, therefore, it was dirty. I didn't have the energy to argue with them, so I just changed ALL of the sheets, duve covers, etc for them. I hope people in the room were loud and snored all night. And then another person came to me when I had clearly stopped working and shut down the office to get a wash token (I was sitting 1 meter away from the office door with the key on me, but it's a matter of principal), I told him that I was off the clock, but since I've known him for a while now, and it was his last night before his big journey I said uncle and got him a token.

Bah. Yeah. I need to get some sort of adrenaline based sport going again so I get some of this energy out. If only paintball was a bit bigger here, then I'd have a good outlet for my energy. Damn.
________________

I watched an awesome movie the other night, it was called The Mist. Holy hell man. The ending to that movie was absolutely brilliant. The movie itself was pretty good, but the ending - daaaamn. I would hate to be put into that situation. Not cool, not cool at all. Watch it.

Currently reading a book by one of my idols: Henry Rollins called Get in the Van, which is his diary printed from when he was with his band Black Flag, from 1981 to '86. Intense stuff.

Aight, gonna bounce. Speak to you soon.

Oh, mega keen on getting the new Nikon D90. I would most likely buy it in Oz if I have a lump of cash loaded away. It's a wicked camera (first DSLR to record movies) :D

Oz ho!!!

I've applied for my Working-Holiday Visa for Australia now, it set me back 195 AUD, but well worth it.

And so, my journey shall continue in almost a month, and boy am I nervous. You would think that I've gotten used to this whole traveling thing, but Wellington has become my home, I've built a little niche here and now I'm going to be leaving it :( This is the same feeling I had when I left Sweden and when I left Dunedin to go up to Mt. Cook. I couldn't stand the thought having to leave my stuff amongst strangers, it's so annoying. You don't know if they're trust worthy or what not (yes I know, they're thinking the exact same thing about me). But it's all part of the deal, no isn't it.

The past week, I've had a mega cruisey time at work. The longest I've worked until has been 15, and then I got to go home at 13 today. But here's the best part, I get paid until 17.00 or whenever as long as I get my 8 hours. My boss doesn't care, she's a really laid back person. And another one of the people there has invited me out to a house that she works at on an island in the middle of the harbour, so I'm going to try and jump out there some how when she's around. Apparently it's a whole group of people and I'll be able to get some free lodging and kai (Māori for food). It'd be good fun if I could get out there, and she mentioned something about a hangi too! This is when they prepare the food underground. I ate some of this at the Māori village in Rotorua, but I want to watch them make it from start to finish. Learn a thing or two before I leave. She was pretty surprised that I had eaten so many local dishes and thought I was almost a Bro (here in NZ, Māori's call each other Bro or Cuz most of the time - but not everyone does it). I thought that was a pretty funny comment.

Oh, and I received two packages today! One from Mom with my DM card, and another from a guy I met in Paihia, Mr. Eastwood (alias) and in it was a book about Henry Rollins, CD2 from his Think Tank album, along with The Rum Diary by Hunter S. Thompson. Today was a small Christmas for me :D

Alright happy people, I must depart! I shall speak to you soon!