Oh yes, Coca-Cola Christmas in the Park! Bring the carnival, bored as teens and drink to enjoy your free entertainment of Christmas Carols and cover bands. Someone forgot to give me the memo you can legally drink in the park...I would have taken full advantage of that. Instead, I was able to watch the 18s drink, eat and smoke questionable substances.
However, Guy Sebastian performed. Otherwise I thoroughly enjoyed my people watching (and the fact that heaps of folks bring everything minus the kitchen sink to the park).
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| My 15 seconds of FAME |
Big shout out to Momma Ella for the feast she & everyone prepared. I highly suggest everyone experiences a Tongan Christmas. Wilbur was absolutely delicious and, even on 20 Jan, is hanging around me mid-section. Too bad that "to-do list" for the first week of January was never accomplished.
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| Wilbur was delicious. |
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| Merry Christmas! |
I popped over to Ellerslie at an unknown establishment for the staff Christmas party. [Vodka Ice was $1.00.] Somebody had to enjoy themselves. [Glass of wine was $3.00.] Somebody had also needed to bring the party to life [Bottle of wine before arrival $7.99.] Needless to say the Indian appetizers and cheap drinks created an amazing atmosphere (even if the euphoria was in me head).
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| I Kissed a Girl. |
Getting On with a New Year
Listen here, having a public holiday on 1 and 2 Jan for New Years is like the most ingenious idea since slice bread. I'm afraid America has it all wrong.
Since I have been living in 'the City of Sails' since May, I decided it was time to finally do some sailing. So I popped down to the New Zealand Maritime Museum to sail the Waitemata Harbour to the Auckland Harbour Bridge. I sincerely thought about assisting the retired volunteers with the sails, but it was the Day After New Years Day and the boat was a bit rocky....
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| Put your rubbish in the bin. Otherwise whale's tails look like this. |
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| Aye Captain. |
So I went sailing on the Ted Ashby which is a "A ketch-rigged deck scow, typical of the fleet of scows that once operated in northern New Zealand waters". It's built of blackbutt (an Australian hardwood). We helped the old chaps hoist the sails as they were more fit and well for the "moaning and grunting" portion rather than the actual hoisting. People were very patient back in the day. Even I was like 'this takes ages' and we motored for half of our journey!
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| Look at that Beauty! |
It's nice being able to hang at the beach in January. By the way, the Pacific tastes and feels the same as it does in California. I guess this makes sense?
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| I nearly blew in to the straight, no joke. |
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| First Dip of the New Year @ Tamaki Straight! |
Getting On with my future
Thankfully, or no-thankfully, I live my life with no solid plans. Thus, I have submitted an application with Immigration NZ to stay and work here in Auckland for another 12 months. Yikes.
As we all know how any government department works, nothing is guaranteed. So I am actively looking in to doing a Work and Holiday Scheme in Australia for 12 months. Patty, we then are surely going to go on that Island cruise of all those lovely Pacific Island nations. I also need to get to Samoa and American Samoa. Just cuz.
