For those of you that missed it:

Hello everyone, I hope all is going superbly for you all, and that summers were enjoyed.

Now, first things first; an apology for being so lax in contacting all you lovely people, you should know that doesn’t mean I’ve not been thinking of you all the time. I’ve just been in a little bit of a writing-fanatically zone recently, and working very hard to pay the travel agent’s bills (see below).

So I’ve just handed in my notice at work, and will be bidding them farewell on the 6^th of December. The I’ll have a couple of days to sort myself out before getting the Trans Scenic (train across North Island) up to Auckland where I’ll be collecting my Mum for her second trip around the country. The plans include climbing Mount Ruepehu (Mount Doom), Cathedral Cove, Lake Tekapo, Dunedin, Ninety-Mile Beach... all the places I’ve not yet seen or would like to visit again before leaving. Then I’ll say a fond farewell to her in Christchurch a month later and take the Trans Costal (train across South Island) and then the Interislander back up to Wellington. Then there’ll be some bon voyage dinners and the like to consider. Then I fly out of New Zealand on the 11^th of January.

My first stop will be Sydney. There I’ll do the Opera House and Harbour Bridge. Travelling down to Melbourne, I’ll be going along the Great Ocean Road. A week in total will be spent in the country; that’s enough I think – I’ve had the ingrained dislike for Australia seep into me after spending too long with Kiwis. But I would certainly kick myself if I didn’t take the trip over there at some point!

From Australia I fly over to Thailand to start my adventure in Southeast Asia. I’ll join up with a tour in Bangkok, where eleven other similarly-minded people and I will unite to travel, get lost, be awed - and probably vomit up dodgy food. Then I’ll be travelling through Cambodia, where I’ll visit the ancient city of Angkor Wat and get my spiritual groove on. Finally on to Vietnam! The original kernal of the idea for this entire excursion; I fell in love with the country while watching the film ‘Deer Hunter’, with the glorious greenery of it all and the rawness of the landscapes. One of the last locations on the tour in Halong Bay. This was the place that made me consider Vietnam in the first place, and will be a definate highlight.         

After the tour, I’ll be spending about five days in Hanoi. It’s apparently a very bustling city; friendly and easy to get around, and there are a lot of extremely cheap trips out into the mountain villages which I can go on. After that I’ll be going back down to Bangkok for another five days, where hopefully I’ll still have the funds to ride some elephants and buy some cheap clothes.

On the 16^th of February I’ll be flying out of Asia, via Dubai, and will arrive into Heathrow at 6.25pm on pancake day. So, in short, no one’s allowed to do anything at all interesting until then. I’m very much looking forward to seeing you all! It’s time to come home I think. J

And a very big congratulations to Robyn! I hear that it was a beautiful day, and that you were stunning. Congrats also to all the various other people that got married! J

Love you all,

Tanya

Hello Tania

I hope you don’t mind me e-mailing you. I have a telephone number for Mrs Pengelly although I haven’t been able to speak to her so far. I wonder if I could ask you to ask Mrs Pengelly to contact me at the arts centre or on 02920 644467.

Many thanks

Janet Smith

To explain a little bit, this is my Dad's boss. I have no idea why she needs to speak to my Mum, or why my Dad can't just contact her himself. Also, she doesn't seem to know my Mum's first name, which is just weird.

Since my parents as split and now living apart, this all make me very anxious, and bad scenarios are flipping through my head. It's so bloody cryptic.

State Highway 1: Timelapse

Plane Coming in to Land, Wellington: Timelapse



Oriental Bay, Wellington

So I've decided to try being a vegetarian for a while. Seeing as I never ate all that much meat anyway, I'm thinking it's not going to be too hard other than giving up fish and trying to eat out. We have a new menu in work and we all had to go for a tasting session on Tuesday, which was interesting, as there were only two vege options, and other than that all I could say was that the mashed potato was very nice. Oh well, we shall see! It's been a week and a half so far, and no pangs as of yet.

Last night I really couldn't sleep, so decided to go for a walk. So I walked down to the bottom of my hill at 2am in the rain to post a letter toneojezebel. Mission accomplished, I wandered around for a little bit, using my umbrella as a cane and feeling like I should burst into song and swing off lamp posts.

I was asked by Beth to give her some film suggestions, sorry, it got a tad epic:

Now I'm re-diverting my attention back to 'Hook' and am sipping filter coffee (which takes me right back to Iceland each time). I'm getting more and more annoying with Facebook which isn't allowing me to upload photos at the moment...

1. The film must be between 2 and 7 minutes long.
2. A character named Alex Puddle, an exaggerator, must be included.
3. A rock must be used as a prop.
4. The line 'It doesn't fit!' must be used.
5. You must use the genre provided upon entry. (Ours was Family)
   

I hate you all. Stop putting up posts about the highlight of the year which I missed.

Maybe they'll show it six months late on UKTV, which seems to be the pattern over here.

I just watched the New Zealand premiere of the Doctor Who Christmas Special for heaven's sake! And they're advertising the final episodes of the Vicar of Dibley to be aired at the end of the month! That's soooo late...

Meh.

I shall console myself by drinking hot Vimto and eating oatcakes after my pillage of 'Cool Britannia' in the centre of Wellington.

They get their shipment of Jaffa Cakes in on Wednesday, and the whole British population has baited breath. There are posters and everything.

I have now spent hours compiling a list of what I have writing since arriving in New Zealand.

My problem being that every night I aimed to write 1000 words, and for months I did just that. But for the last two I've done very little actual work. Oh, I've spent quite a bit of time pondering and considering my options, but only really a couple of days' work.

And absolutely none of it is in any order. I tended to stick my new writing in anywhere, starting a new little section. I like to work from the middle so the edges expand without me having to actively write out into the void. So, my list consists of brief descriptions of each section, so I can rearrange the list logically, before spending another couple of hours rearranging the actual thing.

Perhaps this is a long way of going about things. But it has one definite advantage, and that is the refamiliarising myself with the work I've done over the ast 7 months. Some of which I really can't remember having written. I think someone rather better than myself snuck in a tip-tap-typed away for a good 75,000. (I like to think).

Here is a taster of the list, it amuses me:

99.        Killing
100.     Wind-whipped hair
101.     Sickeningly sanguine
102.     A new Thomas
103.     Messenger to Rosehall
104.     Jaundahl’s tomb
105.     ‘You made all this?’
106.     Awkward kiss
107.     Drunk
108.     Bodily hardships
109.     Home

I'm not finished yet, I intend to spend the rest of my waking hours doing so, and any waking after that will be spent doing some free writing, which is always full of fun.

Milford Sound

When I found myself in a rolling horizontal world
I had to make myself take the time to remember it.
Heaving water was dirty seismic glass, and
Fog, an arm-span above, smothered a nightfall. 

A thousand feet of water beneath me, and I feel
                Like a child jumping to see through stained glass.
                If this fjord is a church, it is too dark to see God inside; 
            The fathoms only echo the cold prayers of seaweed.  

Water ran down the oar and dripped
Into my lap in bullets of surprise.
I was wet and I was shivering, but I was not miserable -
There was too much to remember to be miserable.

I imagine falling one thousand feet and landing

Broken, on rocks in a place so dark and cold

That even my pain can barely slug its way

Back up to the rolling horizontal world.