New Zealand, like Australia... only Greener (in landscape and politics!)
Holiday to New Zealand was good. wichita_skyline and I did not kill each other (his journal was deleted long ago, not in a desperate post-holiday attempt to flee anything Dee related *g*)
New Zealand was COLD, they have unfathomable depths of hatred for possums and every TV news story in some way revolves around Aust. I was quite bemused to come back home and find that Australian news seems to make a point of never mentioning anything New Zealand.
Did you know that Aussie troops were flow to Iraq by Air New Zealand? A problem due to the fact that Helen Clark (NZ's kickass Prime Minister) indicated that New Zealand was not going to have anything to do with that illegal war that was killing thousands of civilians.
And did you know that NZ is taking Aust to the international trade court over apples? or that flu rates in New Zealand were down in comparison to Australian this year but thats only because they have had it worse in the past three.
SERIOUSLY. EVERY. NEWS. STORY. They could have been talking about the local school busy bee and it would be linked back to Aust somehow.
I learnt how to not fall out of a raft going through rapids on a -4 deg day (and eventually managed to peel fingers off said raft when it came time to leave)
I learnt how to snowboard and quadbike and swindle extra cutlery out of hotel staff.
(Do you know it appears that such a word as 'learnt' does not actually exist? How stupid is that? I don't want 'I learned how to' I want 'I learnt', Surely there must be a word?)
I unfortunately managed to catch a cold/flu variant with only a few days to go (thank god) and had the interesting experience of trying not to give it to a person I that spent every waking/sleeping hour within 2m of (And succeeded until the last day).
Also had the rattling experience of 3 hours non-stop turbulence for the flight home (I don't get airsick so the only downside of this was that they could not bring round the free drinks or food cart!) but it was slightly disquieting to see the wings pretty much 'flapping' us the whole way home.
And my cat missed me *feels loved*
New Zealand was COLD, they have unfathomable depths of hatred for possums and every TV news story in some way revolves around Aust. I was quite bemused to come back home and find that Australian news seems to make a point of never mentioning anything New Zealand.
Did you know that Aussie troops were flow to Iraq by Air New Zealand? A problem due to the fact that Helen Clark (NZ's kickass Prime Minister) indicated that New Zealand was not going to have anything to do with that illegal war that was killing thousands of civilians.
And did you know that NZ is taking Aust to the international trade court over apples? or that flu rates in New Zealand were down in comparison to Australian this year but thats only because they have had it worse in the past three.
SERIOUSLY. EVERY. NEWS. STORY. They could have been talking about the local school busy bee and it would be linked back to Aust somehow.
I learnt how to not fall out of a raft going through rapids on a -4 deg day (and eventually managed to peel fingers off said raft when it came time to leave)
I learnt how to snowboard and quadbike and swindle extra cutlery out of hotel staff.
(Do you know it appears that such a word as 'learnt' does not actually exist? How stupid is that? I don't want 'I learned how to' I want 'I learnt', Surely there must be a word?)
I unfortunately managed to catch a cold/flu variant with only a few days to go (thank god) and had the interesting experience of trying not to give it to a person I that spent every waking/sleeping hour within 2m of (And succeeded until the last day).
Also had the rattling experience of 3 hours non-stop turbulence for the flight home (I don't get airsick so the only downside of this was that they could not bring round the free drinks or food cart!) but it was slightly disquieting to see the wings pretty much 'flapping' us the whole way home.
And my cat missed me *feels loved*