Hi from Vancouver, EH?

I am on Canadian soil and am updating my blog from the plane, but will soon have to turn off the wireless connection. A 15-hour flight and a few AirCanada mishaps later, I am leaving Vancouver and will be in Saskatoon at 2:30pm today. SO excited!

Thanks for an awesome time, friends! And to my SK people... SEE YOU SOON!!!!

Recapping my last day in Auckland (and New Zealand!!)

Well folks, it's my last night in New Zealand! I spent yesterday just chilling out with Jude, then stayed at Aidyn's place last night. Aidyn and I spent the day together today - it was SO good to see him again after 3 years apart! It was totally like nothing had changed.

While we were out on Queen Street getting my last-minute souvenirs and gifts, Aidyn made some comment in passing about how there was some huge high school choir thing going on here this week. I was like, "Wait a second, there IS a huge choir thing here this week... it's The Big Sing! STEPHEN IS HERE TODAY!!!!!" So I texted Stephen right away, he called me, and we made plans to meet for literally a 10-15 minute visit at the town hall before his choir went in to listen to some other choirs perform. What an awesome little reunion!!!!

After our Queen Street adventures, Aidyn and I went to the Auckland War Memorial Museum where, strangely enough, we ran into one of the girls I had met on the Kiwi bus in Kaikoura. The three of us checked out the museum together for a couple hours; the most amazing thing for me was to see all of the incredible ornate Maori carvings. The highlight was definitely the Marae in the Maori court area of the museum (I took my shoes off and went in for a few pictures):

I also got a ton of pictures of the various tiki statues around the museum. It was really cool to see the full-sized ones, as their eyes are made of full paua shells (as opposed to the tiny paua shell pieces that the eyes in the souvenir-sized statues are made of):

So now I'm at Jude's place again, where I will spend the night before starting my journey back across the Pacific at 7am. We're going to aim for 4am as a drop-off time so I can get comfortably checked in before my flight to Sydney. In my journey home, I first fly to Sydney (3 1/2 hours), then to Vancouver (14 hours, 5 minutes), then to Calgary (1 hour, 18 minutes), and finally Saskatoon (1 hour, 4 minutes). Total estimated flying time = 19 hours, 57 minutes. Total estimated layover time = 5 hours, 32 minutes. Total time between take-off in Auckland and landing in Saskatoon = 25 hours, 29 minutes. 28 1/2 hours if you count the 3 hours I'll be spending at the Auckland airport before take-off. So, long story short, it's a long journey home but it will be well worth it.

In no particular order, here are some of the things I'm excited for about coming home:

- Jeff

- mom and dad

- Karyn's belly and the musical beans

- summer weather

- my room

- no backpack!!!!

- different clothes (living in the same ones for 5 weeks gets old)

- giving Jeff, his parents, Karyn and Nook, and mom and dad their NZ presents :o)

- taking my braids out and getting a proper haircut

- going to Waskesiu with Jeff

- the chair and a half!!!!

- ketchup that tastes normal

- my bed

- a quiet sleep that's not on a bunk bed with strangers as roommates (and no drunk people making lots of noise in the hallways after the bars close at 3am)

- my sewing machine

- a proper shower (no more hostels!)

- not having to carry my groceries around in a bag from city to city

- my car!!!

- payday (soon!)

- scheduling viewings for some of the cute starter homes I've been checking out online

- going to the gym

- taking a trip to Winnipeg to see the family at Scott and Jenn's wedding social

- unpacking and doing laundry without having to pay $8 per wash and dry cycle

- cooking proper food in my own kitchen, and eating with dishes that haven't been shared by backpackers around the world

- hearing the Canadian accent again :o)

I could go on... but that's it for now. It's 9pm, so I'll be heading to the airport in less than 7 hours. It has been an amazing month, but I'm very ready to come home. :o) See you soon, everyone!

Backpacking....

..... the image.....

.... and the reality!

Very excited to unpack when I get home in a few days. :op

A rainy evening in Taupo....

.... is the perfect time to update the blog about the past week in the Hutt. :o)

Lazy holiday mornings... ahhhh, how beautiful they are. I spent lots of time in my pyjamas this week - in fact, on 2 separate occasions I spent the better part of the day in them, and I make absolutely no apologies for this fact. It was fantastic. I watched daytime TV (Dr. Phil, Oprah, Rachael Ray, and even a cheesy kiwi teen soap called "Home and Away", which is embarrassingly addictive when you're lazing around in pjs on the couch...), made an iMovie of my Kiwi Experience trip, wrote a few postcards, etc. I thoroughly enjoyed that sort of holiday mode time, and am looking forward to more of it when I get home next week (only next week I get to laze around with Jeff which makes it that much better!!!!).

I wasn't lazy ALL week though. I did go to Fiona's school to visit on Tuesday, then I borrowed the car for the day which was fun. I did turn the windshield wipers on instead of the signal twice, and I reached for the seatbelt on the wrong side once, but I was definitely better than I was last time! Success! Haha. I also borrowed the car on Friday and went to visit Vicky and Danielle, Aidyn's mom and youngest sister. It was so good to see them again!

Now I'm in Taupo for the night, and tomorrow I'll be off to Auckland to spend the day with Jude, then with Aidyn on Monday. Then I fly home on Tuesday! Unreal. In a sense I feel like the time has absolutely flown by, and yet in some ways I feel very ready to come home, and like these last few days are taking ages.... in any case, I've had a great holiday and am looking forward to capping it off with a visit to some more great friends in Auckland. I'm even seeing friends from home along the way - Rayne in Vancouver and Danny in Calgary! Yay for layovers! (I never thought I'd say that!) :o)

Here are a few photos to sum up the week in the Hutt:

Little Miss silly Charlotte being a goof at suppertime

Introducing Kelly! (Fiona's youngest neice)

Miss Megan had a great time bouncing around on the big yellow ball at grandma's house... can you guess what happened right after this picture was taken? HILARIOUS!

With Fish and Carol :o)

A reunion with (half of) the Rasmussen clan!

Molly and Eleanor (2 of Sam's neices)

And then, finally, the sight that made me cry as I was leaving Fiona and Sam's house one last time so that Richard could drive me in to Wellington.....

AROHANUI, Halls!!!!!!!!

Back in the Hood... erm, I mean Hutt! :o)

Here I am, safely back at Fiona and Sam's. I spent 10 hours in transit yesterday to get back exactly where I started from, which was definitely frustrating (counterproductive doesn't even begin to explain it). In any case, I'm back, I'm warm, and I'm in the company of good friends. Life goes on.

8 more days until I head back home to Canada. I've had an amazing time over here for the most part (minor glitches along the way, but SO many amazing moments, people, experiences, etc.), but I have to admit that I never really realized how much I would miss Jeff, being away from him for over a month. It's time to come home. :o)

I'll be in the Hutt for most of this week, if not all of it, and then I'll hop a bus to Taupo likely on Saturday morning, stay the night, then head up to Auckland to spend the day with Jude on Sunday and Aidyn on Monday. My flight home leaves from Auckland early Tuesday morning.

I can't believe how fast this summer has flown by!