The ALC

I am sure that most of you who read this (and I am actually not sure how many people that is) also have access to Facebook and have figured out who these wonderful people I speak so highly of from Auckland are. However, just in case you haven't worked it out, or would like some confirmation, or have not idea at all I am going to introduce you to the awesome fantastic and amazing ladies that make up the now internationally renowned Auckland Lesbian Choir...

This is the awesome and wonderful Miss Rebecca Lee...by day at Primary School teacher, by night Auckland's only ginger Madame and hardcore dominatrix, known for her tool of choice being a blue leopard print cat toy...MEEEOOOOW!!

Next we have Miss Nemo Craig Multi Box (a.k.a Lord Nemo). She is of the slightly unfortunate hindrance that she actually has some singing ability...but we forgive her for that and when we randomly burst into song, provided no one can actually hear that there is the occasional note in tune, then it is fine. Her passions include 'Rent' and 'Wicked' and if you ever happen to face the horrible misfortune of losing her, just look down...not only is she the only member of the choir that can sing, she is also the only member of the choir that needed a booster seat when we went to see the Rocky Horror Picture Show so that she could see the stage...TRUE STORY!

This is Kay...she could not by any means be described as the most dedicated member of the group, but when she is there you can almost guarantee she is the most entertaining! Up until very recently she faced some serious struggles with her sexual identity, however, since joining the ALC (and as the picture demonstrates fairly well), she has embraced her sexuality and in her own words "It feels like a disco ball has just exploded in my heart!"...Good on you girl, welcome out of the closet, it's a lot more fun out her, I can promise you that!

Meet Rivka...our official ALC Chairperson and another faintly talented member of the group, although this skill often goes TOTALLY unnoticed given Riv's almost pathological inability to remember lyrics to any song, ever, how ever many times she has heard it! Thankfully, when you do karaoke there is a screen in front of you telling you exactly what you have to say!

Finally, there is Nicole. She is a slightly unwilling member of the group, partially because she does have an element of shame and partly because her taste in music means that she often doesn't actually know the songs that we randomly burst into...it's not that she just doesn't know the lyrics like Riv, she has often genuinely not heard to songs before. HOWEVER, that said, put on a Disney soundtrack and rock out some Lion King or Aladdin and you get to see a whole different Nicole...this is the Nicole that secretly loves her membership to the ALC!!

And that's it...they are the wonderful wonderful ALC...well of course there is me...but you know me...don't you?! Would you like me to do a little bio about myself?! Okay then, you twisted my arm!

So, just to confirm something before we go on, this picture is not me in pain, oh no no, it is me singing along (probably to 4 non blondes) with more passion and enthusiasm than you will ever again see from someone who couldn't hold a tune or a note to save their life. I am probably the least talent member of the group...no wait...that's a lie...I AM THE LEAST TALENTED MEMBER OF THE GROUP, but what I lack in skill I make up for in enthusiasm, passion and often volume. See, my problem is, when I get into a song and there are other people singing with me, I don't give a shit that I sound shit, I just want to give it my all...and I often do, hence the picture that looks like I am in a lot of pain...there is some serious effort going into hitting that note which is about 4 octaves away from where it should be!

So there you have it, the ALC, they are fabulous, wonderful and amazing!! One day we might go on tour and you may get the chance to see us, but for now it is generally just unfortunate passers-by in the street and the poor people who came into the bar for a quiet drink, only to find out that there way karaoke and the next four songs when listed to be sung by...you guessed it...the ALC!!

Salutations All!
xxxx

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1. Fraser Island, Australia
2. Sydney, Australia
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4. Waitomo Caves, New Zealand

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I have failed as a blog writer!

May I start by announcing my sincere apologies at my total and utter failure to keep up my blog recently. The reason for this makes my failure even more significant as I have been doing so much and have therefore not had the time...hmmm...I think I have just realised that this blog writing thing can occasionally put you in a bit of a Catch-22 type situation...I am going to attempt to bring you up to speed on everything I have done over the past few months in as much detail as I can without sending any of you into total information overload or on the other end of the scale boring you so much that you just give up and stop reading! So, here goes!!
Job-wise I will keep this very short and sweet because it is definitely the least note worthy aspect of the last two months. In a nut-shell, very soon after I wrote my last entry I stopped seeing my private student, we just never seemed to have coinciding free time to see each other and to be honest, I was starting to burn out a bit not having a single day when I was free all day to just relax, so I was fairly pleased about that. I continued working at the school and continued to love it for the whole time I was in Auckland. I literally worked up until the last minute and have been given a lovely reference from the Principal of the school who told me that if I am ever back in Auckland and looking for a job then he should be the first person I call! I was very flattered.
So, now the good stuff. Also very shortly after my last entry I became friends with a big group of girls when I was out on a night. Initially I thought that this was just going to be one of those, meet on a night out, have a good time, never see each other again type situations...it turns out I was wrong. At the end of the night we all exchanged numbers and the next weekend there was a big party happening that as a result of this number exchanging I got myself an invite to. Long story short, this was the start of a lot of socialising and hanging out as a group and having some seriously amazing and memorable times together...they are a seriously fabulous group of girls.
In the two months that we had together while I was in NZ we went on two group roadtrips, one to Hamilton to see the 'Balloons over Hamilton' festival, which was beautiful and was possibly the most fun that 6 people have ever had in Hamilton...it is not a very 'happening' place, but we soon discovered that when we were all together as a group, it didn't really matter what we were doing, or where we were, there would be a lot of smiling and laughing...and indeed singing involved! It was during our weekend in Hamilton that we formally established the ALC (Auckland Lesbian Choir). This group was formed out of our occasional...regular...constant desire to randomly sing in public when we are in each others company. We decided that there were only 3 criteria that you had to meet in order to qualify for membership to the ALC...1) fairly obviously, you need to be a girl that likes girls 2) you need to have absolutely NO shame 3) you cannot under any circumstances have any singing ability...AT ALL!
The second roadtrip that we went on was to Rotorua (or Rotovegas as it is affectionately known). This was an equally fabulous adventure which involved continued random public displays of musical genius, luging in the pouring rain...always fun, amazing amazing polynesian natural hot spas...mmmmm and lots and lots and lots of yummy food!
The final roadtrip that I embarked on was just me and Rivka (one of the girls in the ALC) and was to the Northland, which is basically everything north of Auckland and is where most of the real Maori heritage of NZ lies. This trip was planned for Bank Holiday weekend and so was 4 days long and going with Rivka meant that I was going with someone who was part Maori, knew a lot about her Maori heritage and had a huge amount of knowledge about the area and it's significance in general.  It was an amazing amazing trip. I honestly can't even begin to describe how beautiful this area of NZ is and how fascinating some of the stories and the history behind it are. The landscapes, the sunsets, the stars...the whole feel of the area, it was like nothing I have ever seen or experienced before...it was truly truly mind-blowing!
When I wasn't going on roadtrips or working, most of the time I was hanging out with the girls...either going out for dinner or going for drinks somewhere...nothing massively exciting most of the time but like I said before, you put us together in a group and it often results in lots of loud laughter and singing, not always in that order and not always just us laughing (but I refer you to stipulation 2 to membership of the ALC).
And that was my last two months in NZ. Having had no luck on the job front to begin with and very little joy finding a hostel I liked or people I wanted to be friends with, I left having found a great job, a lovely hostel and some of the best friends I have ever made...I can tell you this for free right now...leaving was not easy! But, the travels had to continue, my visa was expiring and I had plans elsewhere, so it was time to move on...next stop, back to Sydney!
And that is where I find myself now. Before I go on, I would like you to either look back on, or simply recall the stresses and troubles I went through trying to settle myself in NZ when I first got there...do we remember...yes...OK, then I will continue.
I arrived in Sydney at 2pm on Sunday (22nd May), I had not slept for nearly 40 hours so I went straight back to the hostel from the airport stared into space for a couple of hours, said hello to one of my friends and then went to bed at 6pm. Next morning I woke up at 8.30 feeling much more human and ready to attempt a restart on the life sorting game. Aims for the day...go to bank and sort out money, sort out phone, start looking for short term/part time jobs, start looking for somewhere to live and research amateur dramatics societies in Sydney. Roll on to 12pm...bank - done, phone - done, job - done (start working the night shift at the hostel that I lived at last year), flat - already seen one that I liked and was seeing another at 5pm, amateur dramatics society - emailed. Roll onto 7pm: all of the aforementioned 'done' tasks are obviously still completed, add to that, flat - done, 3 month contract signed, moving in the following day, amateur dramatics society - done, invited to new members meeting on Wednesday and auditions on the weekend.
How's that for hitting the ground running. In less than 24 conscious hours back in Sydney I had settled myself in and was ready to start this leg of my adventure. I have now moved into my flat, I have the new members meeting tonight and my training shift at the hostel will be at some point this week!! Hell yeah! I can do this being a grown-up thing, it's not so hard once you've got the knowledge!
Right, so that brings you up to date I believe...I am sorry again for the lack of updating, I will try my absolute hardest to not let this happen again. I also hope that having to read this all at once hasn't sent you into a total tail-spin...if it is any consolation it has been a fairly epic mission getting this all down. Tis a good thing that I am super efficient and therefore have the spare time now to sit down properly and make up for my seriously lacks blog keeping ability!

Much much love to you all from my world of incredible organisation and efficiency...if you need anything doing, just let me know...I've probably already done it! :)
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The calm after the storm!

So it would seem that things just seem to be getting better and better for me at the moment. Last time I updated all of you fine people in the Northern Hemisphere I was working 3 jobs, all of which were good, but it was pretty mental and meant that I literally did nothing but work, eat and sleep. Since then I was offered a full-time teaching position at the school which meant that I could quit at the sandwich bar and officially call myself a teacher! This now means that I work Monday to Friday from 9 until 3.30 and then I work at the hostel in the evenings. I am really loving my job at the school, it's going really well, and the free time I have now means that I'm not so tired all the time and I can actually enjoy myself a bit more during the week and have a little more of a social life! In theory quitting at the sandwich bar would have meant that I had weekends off but I decided to take on a private English student as well to see what that would be like. He is a Persian-Italian guy called Oswald who has come here to study but doesn't speak good enough English to go to college. I was pretty nervous about doing this because it is totally different from teaching in a classroom and requires a completely different set of teaching skills, but it is going really well and I am enjoying it a lot, and he seems to be learning a lot which I guess is the most important part. Right now I don't really feel like much of a teacher because we just seem to hang out together so he can build his confidence using English so we go out for coffee and for lunch and go to the cinema...basically I am being paid to be someone's friend, it works for me!
Other than the continued positive progress on the job front I have very little of interest to report this time I am afraid because I am trying to work as hard as I can while I am here because the school is really good and I think that I could learn a lot about my job while I am working there! This is probably not good news for those of you who are expecting to me come back to England for a more permanent length of time in the near future because the better I get at my job the more places will want to employ me and the more travelling I can do!! I will come back...eventually...I promise!

Massive love to you all!!!!
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No jobs...to three jobs!

So, a fair bit has developed since last time I updated you all. After my slight (and seemingly premature) stress about the job situation I had a very successful 2 days of phone calls from employers. The first of which was from a school that I interviewed at very early on in my time in Auckland who said that they really liked my CV but unfortunately had no jobs available at that time. At the time that I got the call I was sitting in the sunshine in Auckland city centre contemplating the possibility that I would be in Sydney less than a week later. This was by no means a bad thought, but something I definitely hadn't been expecting. All of a sudden I was being offered a permanent part-time position teaching a beginner level class at at school, for 15 hours a week at $30 and hour!! This was definitely a turn up for the books and meant that even after tax I would have enough money to stay in Auckland and still be able to afford rent and be able to save a little bit of money for some travelling at the end. Perfect! But it didn't end there. The next day, while I was re-re-thinking my plans and deciding what kind of travels I would want to do in New Zealand and how much they would cost I got talking to the manager of my hostel who said to me that if I wanted it there was an evening job going to work for my accommodation so I wouldn't need to pay rent. I couldn't quite believe my luck...everything was falling into place so perfectly after being so spectacularly out of place for the three weeks before. I now had a very well paid job in the mornings doing a something that I love at a great school, a job at a sandwich bar in the afternoons...where, may I add, they feed me the most amazing sandwiches every time I work which I can fill with whatever I want (I always think food tastes better when it is free as well!) and a nice easy job in the evenings working at the hostel for a couple of hours which means that all the money I am earning working the other two jobs can be saved and go towards travels in NZ and be taken back to Oz with me when I leave! Right now, this has all turned out to be totally perfect! Don't get me wrong, it is really hard work. My only full day off is Saturday's and some days I wind up working from 9-12.15 in one place, 12.30-4.30 in another and then 5-7 at the hostel., but I tell you what if this means that I can save up lots of money for travelling at the end of my stay here then it is totally worth it...and was exactly the reason why I came back in the first place.
I know that part of my aim when I first started travelling last year was to stop planning things so much and to just take each day as it comes and go where the wind took me and I have done that and it's been great and some of the best times I have had over the past 14 months have been doing things that I never even thought about and that just randomly happened...Saying that however, it is nice when a plan comes together and that is certainly what seems to have happened here!
Does it show that I am very happy and feeling pretty awesome at the moment?! Well if it doesn't then both are true. It may be tiring and hard, and sometimes a bit stressful, but when I know how great the reward it going to be at the end it makes it totally worth it!!
In other news, Autumn has set in here, which in New Zealand means a fair bit of rain and very humid days. Not the sunshine I was becoming so accustomed to again, but given the amount of time I am spending outside at the moment it doesn't really matter all that much. And to be honest, it is still a bit of a novelty to look outside and see rain and respond by putting on board shorts and a tshirt because rain doesn't actually mean cold out here and board shorts and a tshirt will dry much quicker...see, 14 months later and I am finally learning how to dress appropriately for this side of this hemisphere!
Right, I am going to be off now because funnily enough I have to go to work!

Big love to you all! I will try to update again soon, but as I am sure you will all understand my free-time is now limited and also, there probably won't be all that much interesting stuff to report for a while!

Until next time,
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Auckland

Many apologies for not updating since I arrived in Auckland, however, my circumstances have been changing frequently and so I kept putting it off until I thought I had reached a point of stability...and then something else would change. So, in the absence of what could even vaguely resemble stability I am simply going to update you about what I have been up to since I got here.

My first week (and in fact most of my time here so far) was/has been largely dedicated to finding a job and finding a nice hostel that I would be happy to stay in for the potential three months of my stay here. I am now on my third hostel and I think I have found a good’un (which actually isn’t bad going seeing as there are A LOT of hostels in the centre of Auckland). The job hunt has been slightly more difficult and slightly less successful than I hoped it was going to be, but I am currently working part-time at a sandwich bar, which isn’t ideal, but it’s money and if I can get full time work there then I’ll be able to save a lot of money each week which will of course be going on fun and adventures either here or in Oz, so watch this space!

Now I have updated you on the more boring end of things I will tell you about the nice stuff. It appears that I have arrived in Auckland at a good time of year because a vast number of the once annual events seem to be going on and this generally means big festivals and lots of fun. The first one of these was Waitangi Day, which marks the signing of the treaty between the Maori’s and the white settlers that declared New Zealand to be a founded country.  There are celebrations for this all over New Zealand and one of the biggest is at Mission Bay which is just outside Auckland. So, on a beautiful sunny Sunday I walked to Mission Bay with a couple of friends I had made at the first hostel I stayed in and we went to the festival that was there, just by the beach, with great live music, amazing food, lovely weather and of course...the beach!

The next of these annual events was the Big Gay Out which is New Zealand’s largest annual gay event. Now, this may sound like it is going to be a massive thing, but bear in mind that the population of the whole of New Zealand is only 4.2million and it is not renowned for its gay scene! However, having said that, once again the weather was absolutely gorgeous (are you getting bored of me saying that yet?!) and there had been a lot of effort put into making it a busy event, so while there weren’t a massive number of people there and it was fairly small it was really good fun and there were some really good music acts and some very funny comedy acts, so no real complaints for a free event in the park on a weekend!

The most recent event was the Chinese Lantern Festival, which happens in Auckland every year to mark Chinese New Year (for those interested 2011 is the year of the Rabbit and people born in this Chinese zodiac year are supposedly very artistic but also timid and prefer to be behind the scenes of things...just in case you were interested – funnily enough, this is not my Chinese zodiac sign...who would have guessed?!). For this there was a big festival in Albert Park, which is right in the centre of the city and actually right next to my current hostel. As you may have guessed there were massive displays of beautiful Chinese lanterns all over the park, as well as music and a lot of amazing Chinese food...mmmm!! Last night was the closing of the festival and there was a big firework display for it. Unsurprisingly most of Auckland’s 1.2million people population turned out for this and after attempting to battle with the crowds in the park my room-mates and I figured that we would probably have a more enjoyable and less stressful time watching the display for our seventh floor window in the hostel. So back we headed and boy did we make the right decision. I love fireworks anyway, but if there is one thing better than going to see them in a big crowded park surrounded by lots of people going “Oooooh!” and “Aaahhhh!” it is watching them through a massive bay window while you lie in bed! Trust me, if by some stroke of luck any of you ever get the chance to try this you will understand the joy that comes from watching a really great firework display...live...but in the comfort of your own (kind of) bed!

The other very nice thing I have got to do since I have been here was to take a day trip to Waiheke Island which is about 40 minutes on a ferry outside of Auckland. I decided to do this one day a couple of weeks ago just because I had the time and...yes, you guessed it, the weather was lovely! Once I got there my original plan was just to walk around the island for the afternoon and enjoy the beaches and the sunshine. However, when I got there I saw that there was a bike hire stand and after an extensive discussion with the man at the stand he managed to convince me that this would be the best way for “a young fit girl like myself” (his words, not mine) to see as much of the island as I could in a day. I seriously doubted my ability to be able to do this given my appalling level of fitness, but I was actually pretty successful! There were a few shakey moments, in addition to a few hills that I had to push the bike up, but all in all it was a good day and I am glad I hired the bike. And specially for you doubters out there I took a picture of both the bike and me geared up to ride it, obviously I couldn’t take a picture of myself actually riding the thing, that would be very dangerous, but I wanted some evidence of the fact that this is not a little invented tale of mine!

And that pretty much brings you all up to date I believe. The one thing I must mention, and this will only be significant for some of you, is a small but very amusing pair of details regarding one of my current room-mates (who, for the record, I have chosen to stay with, she is not just someone random who I was put in a room with). She is a lovely girl...she just so happens to be from Liverpool and a croc wearer! Ordinarily, in my book, someone like this should be locked away, in a dark room and left there, just to save the rest of society the indignity of having to admit that there were people like this within it. And, if I am honest, sometimes when she is telling a long story which contains more uses of the word “like” (“likchche”) and the phrase “don’t get me wrong but” (“don ge mi wrong, bu...”)  I do wish I was deaf. However, in spite of her croc wearing scouse ways , she is lovely, and against all of my firmly established prejudices, we are friends. But I do stand by my beliefs, people who wear crocs outside of their own houses should have their feet removed as punishment, and scouse people should not be allowed to breed! Simple as! At this point I am going to remind myself never to give Leanne the address of my blog, I don’t think it would go down very well!

Right, I am going to go now.

Love to everyone back home. I hope this entry provided temporary distraction/amusement from whatever else it was that you should have been doing.

Big love!!

SFO ~ LAX ~ AKL...easy right?!

So I arrived in Auckland after what can only be described as an epic...and I really mean epic journey!  It began at San Francisco airport at 4pm on February 1^st and took me through to Auckland at 12.30pm on February 3^rd...okay, not all of that time was actually spent travelling, and there is the small matter of crossing the international date line in the middle of that which effectively means that I only have a 364 day year in 2011 and that February 2^nd never really existed...which I find a little strange, but believe me, it felt like I was travelling for that long regardless.  The journey involved 7 hours aimlessly wandering around the quietest terminal in LAX airport with my bags (comprising of two backpacks, one weighing 7kg and the other 17kg), no money and NOTHING to do...good start! Finally I was allowed to check-in and was informed by the very smiley lady at the Air Tahiti check-in desk that I was going to have to take the shuttle bus to the other side of the airport to catch my plane and wait there for the remaining 2 hours until my flight took off...”Oh goodie!” I thought, more lugging around of now only the 7kg backpack and more sitting/wandering around airport terminals with no money and now even less to do as everything that was open has now closed because it is the middle of the night! Finally after what felt like a lifetime of sitting and contemplating the meaning of life in an attempt to pass the time, I boarded the flight only to find that I had the pleasure of spending the next 6 hours on this plane right by the toilets...always the best place to sit I always think! Just to add insult to injury my television wasn’t working properly and the flight was full so I was left to the joys of more contemplation or risk going crossed-eyed attempting to read by the painfully inadequate spot lights which were all that were on offer given the fact that it was a night flight and so the ‘cabin lights were dimmed’ and everyone around me was snoring and drooling in the delightful contented manner of people with no concept of social etiquette! It’s fine I thought, once I am off this flight I have a couple of hours stop off in Tahiti, it’ll be early morning (5.30am local time) so it won’t be too hot and I can go for a wander and stretch my legs before I embark on the final 9 hours and get to Auckland. Sounds like a nice way to pass a few hours right?! Like it was going to be that easy after the journey I had had up until that point. We arrived in Tahiti slightly ahead of schedule and considering most of the people on the plane were transit passengers and not actually getting off in Tahiti the majority of passengers were ‘politely’ (I don’t think Tahitians know the meaning of this word) ushered through to the transit centre...this is where the fun began! My first mistake was to assume that at 5.30 in the morning Tahiti wouldn’t be too hot, it was unbearable...roughly 34 degrees and 98% humidity...AT 5.30AM...this is not a country I will be returning to in a hurry! Of course to add insult to injury the transit centre wasn’t air-conditioned but as I have previously stated, I assumed this would be a fairly swift and stress-free process and I would be able to go off to the air-conditioned cafe quickly and get myself a nice cold drink and relax before getting back on the plane! At this point I am going to give you a little mathematical equation...350+ passengers, 1 ticket desk (manned by 1 woman), 1 security gate open, 1 working scanning machine for bags, 1 working scanning machine for people, 2 security staff (both male), random bag checks of approximately every 8^th passenger...2 hours. Does anyone out there think these numbers add-up, because if they do I can assure you, THEY DO NOT! They began calling for people in my area of the plane to begin making their way to the departure gate while there were still 9 people in front of me, which meant that through my calculations meant at least 1 more random bag check and therefore at least 20 minutes!! I was not happy. Finally I made it through security and ran to my gate (distinctly flustered and stressed by this point) where a very disapproving Tahitian woman looked and my ticket and stated in a tone that can only be described as despairing that they had been calling my seating area for over 15 minutes now...I will never forgive myself for what I did next...I looked at her, looked at my ticket, took a deep breath and said in the most sincere fashion...”I know, I’m so sorry!” Oh I do hate being English sometimes! So there it was...my relaxing break in Tahiti was spent in a queue of sweaty, tired and aggravated transit passengers, in a non air-conditioned transit centre dealing with completely incompetent and unhelpful airport staff and to top the whole thing off...I wound up apologising for the experience. By the time I got on the plane I had resigned myself to the fact that this was destined to be the worst journey ever and that everything that could go wrong was going to...thankfully, the final leg of my journey went without any problems...this was probably largely to do with the fact that I joined the socially retarded masses and after about 4 minutes of sitting in my seat, passed out, mouth open, snoring and drooling all over myself...but boy did it feel good to wake up and know that I was only 30 minutes away from my final destination.

I would now give you a rundown of my first week in Auckland, but recounting the tale of my nightmare to get here has absolutely exhausted me and now I need to go and make a cup of tea. So, on that note I will leave you. Suffice it to say it has been a lovely week, lots of sunshine, some very good job prospects and met some lovely people. And to be honest, the journey here may have been a nightmare, but it is all part of the fun of travelling and it’s definitely one I won’t forget in a hurry, so there we go, every cloud has a silver lining!

Love from the City of Sails in the Land of the Long White Cloud (that’s Auckland in New Zealand for anyone who was wondering)

xxx

I left my heart in San Francisco...

The end of my time in San Francisco was naturally largely focussed around the momentous occasion that was my day of birth! I stayed at Regan’s house the night before and was awoken in the morning to blueberry, pecan, honey and vanilla pancakes (they were gluten-free, because Regan is weird that way, but you can’t have everything...they were amazing anyway, I have to admit)! In the afternoon we headed into San Rafael where I acquired myself a multiple significant occasion tattoo. This was to mark, my birthday, my time in San Francisco and my amazing travels in general. I got it at the top of my back and it depicts the Aboriginal symbols for travel and the resting place. That evening we were faced with a slightly unusual situation as the Regan I had met in Sydney was perfectly legal to go out and drink, however, in the wonderfully weird world of America, this was no longer the case given that she is 19, so we had to think of a plan that did not involve bars or clubs or drinking. Being the undoubtedly cool kid that I am I came up with and equally enjoyable alternative involving Charlie’s Angels 2 and comfort food...in my world that is almost preferable to a night out and certainly worked for me! It was certainly a very happy birthday! However, it did not end there, Regan’s birthday present to me was to take me to Teatro Zinzanni which is a bit like the circus meeting cabaret meeting Cirque du Soliel (for those who will understand it is a lot like La Clique) and this was the following night. So, the next day, after another night spent at Regan’s we took the ferry over to the city and went to the performance, which was amazing and so much fun and just happened to be accompanied by a fantastic five-course meal, including steak and the most ridiculously over indulgent chocolate mousse cake ever!!! More amazing food in amazing San Francisco...and we all know that I approve of good food!

My final full day in San Fran was very chilled and mainly involved enjoying the sunshine and going to Golden Gate Park which was beautiful and a lovely end to what had been an awesome time in America. And then it was off to the airport to start the first part of my three leg journey to Auckland where the business end of my travels were to begin...here comes the grown up stuff...kind of!

A Prayer For A Child - Dr Seuss

Saw this and loved it and I thought I would share it with my blog-following world.

"From here on earth,
From my small place
I ask of You
Way out in space:
In every land
What You and I
Both understand...

Please tell all men
That Peace is Good
That's all
That need be understood
In every world
In Your great sky.

(We understand
Both You and I.)

~ Dr Seuss

I love San Francisco!

So where have San Francisco travels taken me since my arrival on Monday?! Well, I filled you in on the details of my first amazing day out and happily for me that did in fact set a precedent for my time up until this point. Since I got here I have been to Alcatraz, Pier 39, Stinson Beach, Muir Woods lookout, Haight Street, Castro and Union Square. Basically I haven't stopped, which is the way I like it when I travel.

Let's start at the beginning. On Tuesday I took myself down to Fisherman's Wharf and got on the ferry over to Alcatraz. It really is the most amazing place over there and the history is fascinating! Also because it is so isolated there is some amazing wildlife and nature in general, and, as I am sure you have all seen from the pictures, the views of San Francisco from there are incredible! It must have been seriously hard being a prisoner there knowing how near you were to civilisation but how completely impossible it was to get to it! After I had walked all around Alcatraz, I then took the ferry back to the wharf and walked up to the famous tourist hot-spot of Pier 39. It's really funny walking along the wharf because it goes from a fairly boring looking functional wharf to an absolute tourist Mecca in the shortest of distances. I had a lot of fun walking around the pier and once again marvelling at the stunning views of the bay. After a couple of hours I met up with Regan and we went to the Bubba Gump Shrimp Restaurant! Yes, for those of you who don't know they actually built a restaurant after the film and it is awesome! And while you are eating your meal the waiters quiz you on Forrest Gump trivia...I got all the questions right...yes yes, I am THAT much of a geek!

The weather on Wednesday was absolutely beautiful so I took the ferry over to Larkspur to meet Regan and after she went to what turned out to be a very short (and successful) job interview we drove to Stinson Beach and spent the day there walking along the beach and building the most awesome sandcastle, complete with bridge and moat and it's very own Alcatraz! After the beach we went to an awesome Mexican place for dinner and then I headed back to the city to recover from my hard day of construction!

Thursday was my first day all on my own and seeing as once again the weather was lovely I opted for an extended walk out of the centre of the city through Haight Street which was the centre of the summer of love and has some of the most incredible street art and graffiti I have ever seen! Once I had walked up Haight Street (and I emphasize the word UP!) I then headed towards Castro. I loved walking through an area that has so much political gay rights history and seeing the actual shop that housed Castro Cameras and the centre of Harvey Milk's work. The area itself was such a great place to just walk around. Everyone was so friendly and so excited and willing to share the history and significance of the area. I could have done without the random ginger naked man walking down the street wearing nothing but a pair of converse, a backpack and a baseball cap...and no one batted an eye-lid or said anything?! I still don't understand!! Once I got back to the centre of the city I walked to Union Square and sat in the beautiful sunshine for a couple of hours...this time to recover from my epic walk! I may have been shattered, but it was totally worth it!

Like I said I totally love San Francisco!! I am having the most amazing time and the weather is just perfect, I couldn't be happier right now!

Hope everyone else is as happy as I am!

A little travel anecdote

As I write this I am aware of the fact that many of those who read this will not understand the significance of the tale I am about to recount.  However, it is such a momentous and significant occurrence that in my mind it warranted a blog entry. If after reading this you consider it to have been dull and irrelevant then I sincerely apologise but for those of us who have attempted the process of 'cleaning' clothes in a hostel this marks a significant and profound milestone!


I have just been forced to do the first wash of my around the world travels, and as I have become accustomed to this generally results in a time consuming, expensive and often redundant exercise of using hostel laundry facilities to wet and then warm up dirty clothing...leaving you with items that are likely to be less clean than they were to begin with as a result of being whirled around in recycled water in a dirty and often malfunctioning washing machine and then gently warmed in the world's oldest and most pointless dryer...not this time!

The laundry at my current hostel costs $2 for a wash and $2 for a dry..."so cheap" I hear you cry, it must be rubbish (my thoughts exactly)! Prior to embarking on this little venture I enquired at reception about the possibility and cost of procuring some detergent. The response..."oh that's free, you'll find a big tub of it in the laundry room". Already this experience was becoming increasingly alien to me.

So, at this stage I venture downstairs and deposit my dirty clothing and aforementioned free detergent in the washer along with $2. Forty minutes later I return to what looks and smells distinctly like clean clothing, but I reserve judgement until the process is complete. I now continue with the laundry process and transfer the seemingly clean clothing to a dryer and once again deposit the measly sum of $2 (fully expecting to return 40 minutes later to damp, warm, but potentially clean apparel). Forty minutes pass and I return to the laundry facility to be greeted by steaming hot, totally dry and unquestionably clean clothing...complete with pleasant floral detergent type smell!

If I was not currently sitting next to said clothing appreciating both the smell and subtle warmth emanating from it I would not believe this either, but I promise you, the tale I have just recounted to you is entirely and unequivocally true!

Now how's that for a happy little tale to tell the grand-kids one day?!

I am now going to go up to my room, spread out the clean, dry and warm clothing all over my bed and lie on it...it's the simple things in life the provide the most joy I find!

San Francisco Baby!!!

I feel I need to write this entry now, because I am currently on such a high that it is probably the only way I am going to vaguely be able to get across how happy I am right now!
I arrived in San Francisco this afternoon after getting up at 5.30am Boston time (so 2.30am San Francisco time) and flying for just under 6 hours. The first thing that excited me on arrival here was how much warmer it was than  Boston! Okay, to call it warm may be a slight exaggeration, but compared to the sub zero temperatures I had come from it felt tropical! Regan met me at the airport, and after a quick stop in town to drop off my stuff at my hostel we were off on the road for some sight-seeing and San Fran times.
First stop was for some food at a burger joint that Regan insisted was a California MUST. To be honest, having had it, I can't argue...this was definitely a burger experience worth talking about! For dessert we went to a place near her house for frozen yoghurt, which I instantly insisted was somewhere we went back to to!
After the feed we then went on a drive through Regan's past and she showed me around the area where she grew up. Once we had done this we then went on a walk through a beautiful park (see Facebook for pictures) which ended at a waterfall...definitely a walk worth doing! After the walk we had a short debate about what to do next and then Regan decided it would be a nice idea to go to a place called Marin Headlands to get an 'off the beaten track' view of the Golden Gate Bridge and the bay area. Oh, was this a serious under-sell of the experience. We drove around this winding road to take us to the top of the Headlands just as dusk was coming and the sun was going down. The view of the bridge and the city was completely breath-taking...and by the time we reached the top we were just in time for what I now consider to be one of the most perfect sunsets I have ever seen (again see Facebook for evidence)!
I am now back at my hostel, running through the experiences of my day in my head. I have currently been awake for about 20 hours and have spent most of that travelling, either on buses, trains or planes and so in theory I should be exhausted...but I'm not! I feel like I could keep going for hours! If it wasn't dark now and so not really the best time for sight-seeing and exploring a city I would still be out there exploring the wonderful amazingness that is San Francisco!
I am pretty sure I am going to love it here! Regan has put together a fantastic sounding itinerary for me the next week and I can't wait! I think this is going to be awesome!!!
I love San Francisco.
That is all for now, just had to let you all in on this!
Much love as always
xxxxx

The end of Boston travels

So, the first leg of my around the world travels have nearly come to an end and what a great start it was! After spending a very nice (albeit very cold) first day in Boston, I then jumped on a coach and headed off to Hanover to meet up with Edie at Dartmouth where I spent a truly lovely few days!
As I was expecting it was equally as cold in Hanover (but this time I had the advantage of access to a second wardrobe and therefore more appropriate footwear in the form of thick socks and walking boots!) but I wasn't going to let this stand in my way. After a quick arrival coffee we headed to Edie's apartment where I was expecting to be shown my comfy little space on Edie's floor...oh how wrong I was! As luck would have it one of her flatmates had only just moved to another place on campus and so there was a spare room, which I had all to myself, complete with bed and desk and a wardrobe (should I have felt the need to unpack...which I didn't...far too much like hard work!)
On my first night in Hanover Edie took me out for a lovely dinner and introduced me to a load of her friends...all of whom greeted me with the line "Oh, you're Edie's friend from London, I've heard so much about you!"...instant pressure! But they were all great and really easy going people...and what was meant to be a quick dinner and an early night took us through nearly till midnight...good thing I managed to kick jetlag's ass on my first night!
The beginning of the second day was mostly spent in a lovely cafe on campus called Dirt Cowboy, which kinda turned out to be my second home while I was in Hanover when Edie had classes or meetings to go to. That evening after a very chilled day we went to see a Spike Lee film on campus called 'She's Gotta Have It' and then headed back to Edie's apartment for an early night.
Day three was a really lovely one. After coffee and breakfast in Dirt Cowboy Edie and I headed to the art gallery to go and see an installation performed by Tibetan monks and then had a wander around the exhibition that accompanied it. In the afternoon we went on a walk around Hanover which was really beautiful in all the snow. My highlight probably being the circuit around the frozen pond where there were a load of people playing ice-hockey...so American! That evening a big group of us made dinner in Edie's apartment and then headed into town for some drinks with a group of her politically active type friends...much intense discussion involved in these drinks...it was great!
On Saturday morning Edie and I took the bus back into Boston and headed into Cambridge which is where Harvard University is. After a walk around the campus and the surrounding town we headed to Edie's grandparents house which is where we were spending the night. That evening her grandmother took us out for dinner to a lovely French restaurant and then it was back to her house for another, much needed, early night!
Today I am back in the centre of Boston and will soon be heading out for a final walk around Boston before I have to be up bright and early tomorrow morning for my 8.22 flight to San Francisco!  I am supremely excited about this (not least because it is about 20 degrees warmer there), but I still can't quite get my head around the fact that my flight time from Boston to San Fran is almost the same as London to Boston...this seems very odd in my head!
Anyway, for now I will sign-off, this being my last day in Boston I want to make the most of it, even if it is freezing...literally! Until next time....
xxxx

Some wise words...

"So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun."

Into the Wild - Jon Krakauer (Chris McCandless)
(p.73 Between A Rock And A Hard Place - Aron Ralston)

Boston

Hello All,
And so my travels have begun again. Contrary to last year I actually left England and managed to go somewhere colder...significantly colder. I arrived at Boston Logan airport last night at about 8pm (local time) and the temperature was -8...brrr!! I woke up this morning at 7am and by this point the temp had increased slightly...apparently, but it was snowing, big time snowing! It's beautiful though so I'm not going to complain.
Given the fact that I was up so early this morning I planned on doing lots of touristy wandering and photographing.  I started with Fenway Park Stadium, which is actually really near my hostel and then made my way into to Government Square with the intention of doing a bit of an explore of the Freedom Trail. However, after about an hour of walking around in the snow (in shoes that are just barely still classifiable as footwear) I could no longer feel my feet or hands and had to retire and head back to my hostel.
I wish I could have done more and stuck with it, but I do have a whole week around these parts, and as of Friday I will have my very own Bostonian tour guide who will hopefully be able to take me to the places I want to see/are worth seeing, without the aimless wanderings that us travellers often indulge in!
So, as I write this I am back at my hostel looking out of the window at the increasingly heavy snow falling and slowly but surely regaining the feeling in my feet.
Will update again when I have done more that is note worthy...while I am in Boston this will either require a reasonable increase in the temperature or me getting over it and just putting up with being very cold. We will see which happens!

Love to all in a significantly warmer England!
xxxx