The Return Of An Idea

Before I even thought about going to Australia last year I had a dream...

...cast

Well, it was less of a dream and more of an idea brought on by a good buddy teaching English in Japan for a year. Yes, I intended to do the same thing, but then that plan got Fukushima'd up by an earthquake and the Japanese government getting all shifty about the integrity of their nuclear reactors and the rest of the world knowing Japan wasn't being too honest so advising to not go to Japan unless you're up for coming back with no hair.

Or stomped on, either way it wasn't a good idea.

 But now I'm thinking teaching English is worth doing, but first I need a qualification, which costs money, which sucks. But I'm definitely going to seriously look into it because then I'll unlock a whole new avenue of employment opportunities. A bonus is I can already speak English, which is really handy, another bonus is that a TEFL course is an internationally recognised certificate (like my CompTIA A+  desktop IT support thing that I haven't had to use, ever) or at least I think it is, more research is required on the subject methinks.

Meanwhile I took some photos the other night, so, here they are

This was on the bottom of a wall just above the grass and mud, which seemed odd because, well, why bother putting it there? Unless it's intended to be read by the dogs that are not allowed there?

Apparently Satan made this.

Right, I'm done for now. Not much going on but the teaching avenue may be one worth going down, we'll see. Until then, stay cool!

Fairies and Ferries

Yesterday was Bastille Day, but since nobody cares about that it I'll talk about what I did.

Don't worry, it will make sense in a minute

I took a ferry to Half Moon Bay at 10am. I still haven't got my rebate but I did have a cuddly toy in the form of a Tassie Devil from my week spent there.

The ferry took about 40 minutes, so I took some photos to kill the time.

 

 

I was mucking around with exposures, looks kind of cool.

I landed at Half Moon Bay and got picked up by Cousin Tim to attend Emily's 3rd birthday party! Hooray!(Hence the cuddly toy that I was going to send to Lauren for her birthday later in the month, but I might be too poor to send her presents this year so I might just send her a photo of a gift to save on postage)

I don't think I have been to a toddler's birthday party, except for when I was a toddler myself, probably. It's actually not that bad, even though kids are something I often can't stand, because the kids entertain each other so they're not bothering the grown ups. Maree had actually put a lot of work into the pirate/fairy themed party, with a pretty kick ass cake, a slushie machine (with a pina colada slushie for the grown ups), a little arts and crafts thing so kids could make pirate swords and fairy wands and of course food!

Not only was I there, but my Aunt and Uncle from over in Sydney had also come over to meet another grandkid, baby Kate. So a good catch up with the family and later a bit of a drink with a few of Tim and Maree's friends, watched a bit of rugby and then kipped on the sofa because the last ferry was at 7pm, not 11pm like I thought. So I watched a few old cartoons ('Aahhh Real Monsters' anybody? Or maybe some 'Invader Zim' and 'Rocco's Modern Life'?) and that was that, good day all round really.

This morning I awoke to the sound of a talking backpack from Dora the Explorer and got a lift back to the city from Tim as the ferries had a silly timetable and I wanted to make sure I wasn't kicked out of the hostel for not paying my rent the day before. (It's OK, I haven't paid rent for the past week as I still haven't got my rebate. But they seem to be cool with it because I'm such a nice guy, I guess?) I explained my lack of funds and they said 'yeah, that's ok', which is really cool of them, thus I fully recommend the Fat Camel as not only is it next to a massage place and a strip club or two, but they aren't dicks like that guy who ran Home Travellers who seemed to kick people out for reasons like having sex, or paying their rent the day it was due. Seriously, what's up with that?

Settling In

The hostel is OK, apart from the insane Italian girl in our room at the moment. Seriously, she is insane. She has full blown conversations with herself in the middle of the night with a strange shaky voice, like she's about to cry all the time, which is really off putting when you're trying to get your rod waxed.

Pictured: Not what I meant, but still sounds right

Annoying room mates aside, I have been having a laugh in Auckland. It is really laid back though, which is good as, once again, my finances are on the ropes, hence why I'm browsing every job website I can to find a job (just in case this weird farm job doesn't happen). So partying isn't something that happens, but there are some nice bars and restaurants including one called Father Ted's, which is an Irish bar (obviously) and last night was Snakebite Sunday! But unlike my uni days this one was a quiet few pints of the stuff by a roaring log-burner as a man played Irish/Scottish songs on his guitar/harmonica, not like the Chesney Hawkes and 4 pint jugs at Walkabout Southampton.

 

Aah... To think I'm still paying for those government loaned pints.

Earlier in the day Kimi and I walked to K' Road, why is it called K' Road?

Because... what does that say?

On K'rd we found a cool little licensed cafe and had a cheeky beer (organic wheat beer, actually quite tasty) before walking back to the hostel for a $4 roast dinner.

K Rd is quite a way from downtown (that's the harbour bridge way off in the distance)

It is also a bit of a sleaze hub (like Fort Street, where the hostel is), but that just adds to the charm

That was a nice Sunday, walking about doing nothing (I did apply for a job in the morning, but that's boring). The night before, Kimi and I walked around a few bars and found some nice little places, one that does half priced mussels on Mondays, but half price is still too much at the moment. The city itself seemed quiet, there were more people than usual but not what you'd expect a city to have on a Saturday night, so another laid back night, but still nice enough.

Today, well, I'm doing nuffink. But I did receive an email that I have only just read saying I have an interview for the one job I applied for yesterday. Seriously, if you provide a phone number on your CV why do they feel the need to email you something with no knowledge you have even received the message. At least with a phone call I could have spoken to them and arranged an interview. Needless to say I have now rearranged my interview via telephone to a time that gives me more than 30 minutes notice (1:30pm tomorrow). So we'll see how that goes and you blog readers will be the first to know, maybe, depending on how it goes. I'd say more but I don't want to jinx it.

As opposed to 'Jynx it' which is the same but with more minstrel.

Oh, also remember I mentioned how the money is odd here? Well this is what I meant...

Have you ever seen a stranger portrait of The Queen? What's with that smile/sneer?

Right, I'm off to sort out an IRD number (that's tax number to you and me), for now here's some more pictures. Bye for now!

KIA ORA!

I'm now in Downtown Auckland, chilling in the hostel. After my dismal flight(s) to get here I stayed in a hotel (which I am now trying to claim back from Virgin Australia because it was their fault) Then on Wednesday afternoon I went to stay with cousin Tim and Maree, plus their two daughters. It was good to catch up with the New Zealand chapter of my family and I'll no doubt be seeing them again soon.

Yesterday I checked in to the Fat Camel after a meal with Tim, Maree and the kids before being dropped off at the hostel, which is between 'Mermaids' the strip club and 'Lipstick' the massage parlour (where the Thai ladies look old, I mean, really old). The hostel itself is a bit scummy and there is a weird smell coming from our floor's common room/kitchen. Apart from that it's OK. Auckland itself is a lot cheaper than the Australian cities I've visited, though the exchange rate of 0.50p to the NZD means working out how much I'm paying is easy and it isn't that bad (got a Chinese dinner for £5 and it was pretty good)
 
The hostel does have a bar downstairs, which is kind of cool. Thursday night is the 'bar crawl' and I went along to get to know people/learn a few bars. It was OK although the bars all seemed remarkably similar (I would later find out that Auckland doesn't have any proper clubs, just bars playing the same songs as the other bars)

Here's a few pictures, the usual kind of pictures from nights out.

I met lots of people, although few of them were from my hostel, I've been thinking I might look for an apartment anyway, but that's for another day. One of the ladies I did meet (Kimi) was, shall we say 'keen' to go back to my hostel... so we did. Don't worry, I'm not going to go all '50 Shades of Grey' on you, but I will make a joke about eating 'Japanese' later on.

Next morning, after some more loving (as soon as the room was empty, obviously, it's just common courtesy), we went our separate ways because we both had stuff to do, although my stuff was walking around taking pictures.

The following picture was too gory for this blog

The Harbour Bridge

Later on Kimi and I met up for a Chinese (because I'd eaten sushi the night before (BAM!)) and then went to a couple of bars and just chilled out.

Well, it was pretty chilled out until the Hari Krishna's appeared!

HARI HARI KRISHNAS!

 

We ended up in the Viaduct area and sat by the fire at Danny Doolans (the place where I had a meal with Tim and Maree the day before) listening to some acoustic duo playing everything from Floyd to The Jam, then a couple more pictures...

Pictured: A couple more pictures

...before heading back to my hostel (because Kimi's is a 14 bed dorm that only gets cleaned once a week) to lay around and watch South Park. So not a bad start to my stay in New Zealand and next weekend I should be starting the weird farm job that I'm not too sure about and is probably a drug farm or something.

Today I will sign up to Adecco, the job agency, because I've been told they're actually quite good (unlike those ones in Sydney that want you to pay upfront), I'll also update the blog (done) and then... hmmm... Not sure, but if I do anything else then I'll be sure to write it on this blog.

Here's another picture of the Sky Tower