It has been well over a month and a half since my last blog post so I will separate the holidays into pre Australia and Australia on wards. So going right back to November and at the time I was doing a lot of training, I got my first bike puncture! That was pretty frustrating only 11km in and having t5o get a teacher to drive out and pick me up but I guess that was a new experience. I then had the hardest run of my life after that as I felt like that didn’t really count as exercise so I went on a long run in new trainers and I felt like dying.

In the last week of November I was able to go on Year 10 camp, I was on the Kawhatau Outdoor one with about 40 boys none of them from the hostel so didn’t know them. It started right from the beginning when we found out the weather forecast was the heaviest rain I would have had in New Zealand for the week. Relatively short journey there, and as soon as we arrived we had to split up into group activities. I was with Group 1 who were going horse riding. I have never been so was really looking forward to it. We were all lined up and then matched to different horses, I was given the tallest one, and once they get you on it, it is a really weird feeling and was a bit nervous as I couldn’t control it at first. We were only going on a short walk through the forest, and were not allowed to pick up some pace. My horse just wanted to go slow the whole time until the final straight back when the farm opens up and it decided to trot so obviously I let it do so, and finished first for the win. They even had the cheek to tell me off afterwards because what I didn’t realise was if one starts the others want to and they were following my lead. Back at the centre we collected ‘home baking’ which was cookies muffins and other snacks the boys had to bring, and anything really nice because the teachers property. I was then extremely excited to play spotlight. This was a game I hadn’t played before but I couldn’t wait to play it. Four of us teachers were to go outside and hide with troches anywhere in the grounds and they boys were all given pegs, if they got caught they had to give us their peg and go back and get another one. There was also a small torch hidden somewhere and when they found it and took it back they won the game. The real objective of the teachers was to get the biggest scare. I made three of the boys scream when I was hidden in the undergrowth and they crawled next to me without them realising. The next day was spent indoors as it was torrential rain, and we just played small games and then went sliding in the mud that night. We then went on a tramp the next day which took longer than expected as the rain and wind had knocked down numerous trees which were now blocking the route. The final day we went rafting in the morning, and I was the only one to fall out the raft and after getting back up and running after the raft tripped again, so I was a laughing stock. We then went to gravity canyon and went on the flying fox. This is a 1000m fly through the canyon strapped onto a wire, and I got to go twice as they forgot to record it, and as I really really really wanted the video they let me go again. We then went to Taihape for fish and chips and gum boot (Wellington boot) throwing, as the place was renowned for. The next day was just a clear up and head back to school where we then had beers in the staff room for the end of a long camp.

That weekend Chris and I met up with Eamonn who was back from uni and had drinks with him at his house then went to a party in Palmy that night. This mean I was a bit worse for wear for the Hostels end of year brunch at a nice cafe the next morning. I only had 3 days left of school, with one of them being prize giving’s all day. So I had to sort out the list of prize winners, cups and names on the cups for a while. Wednesday couldn’t come soon enough and luckily the first prize giving which were the sports awards went great as I had put the list together. The second one was only an hour and was the hostels prize giving with the parents and students, I even got my on mention which was a nice surprise from the head boy of the house. The final prize giving was the main one, like our annual and was held at the Manawatu sports arena. All the parents were on the stadium seats and the boys seated on the gym floor, all 1600 of them. I was seated with some of the parents on the side near the front. When it started the teachers are piped in and then seated whilst the Maori boys do a wiata (singing) on the stage then the whole school is called to do the Haka. This was something I had wanted to see and when all 1600 boys join in and are unbelievably loud it sends shivers down your spine and was truly awesome. The speeches by the head, head of governors and head boy are brilliant as they are less P.C than in England like everything out here, and they annihilated the two MP’s who had come to visit. There were then drinks in the school with the seventh form and parents before some of the teachers went to the pub for a well earned pint. That was the start of my long for day drinking spree.

The Thursday was going to be one hell of a day. I had booked to go on the staff end of year day, which this year was 9 holes of golf, then food and drinks at the TUI brewery and then town. Everyone met in the Staff room for breakfast and speeches for the teachers who were leaving then at 10am we hopped onto the coach to take us to the golf course. But of course we stopped off at the Off-licence and picked up some supplies. First beer was in me at 10.30am. I had decided after some persuasion by another teacher it was more worthwhile sitting in the golf cart and deliver the beer around the course and of course drinking ourselves. So we would visit each of the four groups at each hole taking the empties and giving for beer whilst trying to drink as many ourselves. We then had a short trip to the TUI brewery where there was an awesome bbq and free bar! After a few hours there we went to the Office a bar in town and another free bar. I also was dragged up to do my second bit of Karaoke by the guy performing there as I requested a song so he said I had to sing it. I was in bed by 11pm that night but I was proud of the 12 hour stint I had. After a recovery the next day Chris and I went to town with some of the other Gap Students who are at Wanganui and had a reasonably heavy night. We then had a horrible journey to Wellington, as Hannah, Chris and I were going to Shelley’s 21st. Shelley was the Gappy in Augusta when we were in 6th form. We met up with Alex and Annelise who were the other Gappies with Shelley at the time. This was a really good night as the drinks were subsidised and then we had a coach to the city centre and Wellington was always a good night. It was really good catching up with Alex, Shelley and Annelise again as it had felt like years since we had seen them. Following this 4 days stint I spent the next two recovering in bed and saving money by staying at school. I also went to Chris’s school and stayed there for two days where we just went swimming and kicking on the rugby field. The weather was now warming up and I had been burnt pretty badly for two days in a row, and I finally got some sun cream after a nagging from home.
On the 16th of December it was Hannah’s Birthday and so Chris and I drove up to Havelock to spend the day there. The weather according to Hannah was the best in New Zealand but when we arrived it was cloudy and quickly turned into torrential rain. However the weather did clear up slightly and so we went to Te Mata point, which looked out over Havelock and Hastings and then to the local beach. The next day however it all went wrong, we were driving back down to Palmy where Chris was then going on to Wellington to pick up his girlfriend Ellie from the airport. But disaster struck when only an hour in the car began to steam and after pulling over the engine cut out with smoke pouring from the engine. This wasn’t how it was meant to go. We popped the boot and after a few minutes in silence staring at the engine we realised we both didn’t have a clue what was wrong. Fortunately a local lady pulled over and started to help us, she knew a hell of a lot more than us, did something to the radiator and etc etc. Even drove us to go get some water from a local farm for the car. After a while she began to think it was the head gasket. She then phoned the local mechanic for us who in an hour could pick us up. So she left us there and we got on the phone to Hannah, and she started driving down to pick us up. Chris and I then sat in the car out the sun to wait “I can’t believe it’s the bloody head gasket” “I know Chris sucks...... Do you even know what that is?” “Not a clue bro”. Hannah met us and the mechanic came, so we dropped the car at his garage and we started the drive down to Wellington. The drive commenced only 5 minutes before she was due to land and it was about a 3 hour drive. We picked up supplies from my school and carried on with the drive. Jesse’s parents had picked up Ellie and taken here to theirs. Three hours late we made it Brief turn around and drove all the way back to Palmy. So we made it back around 9pm that night after starting at 10am. All in all a very successful trip.
The next morning I was on the way to Taupo with some of the seventh form boys who had left, for a weekend at his holiday home. We arrived there in the afternoon and finally some really good weather. So we began with cricket down in the park, of course with beer, soon we were joined by some local Maori guys and before long it turned into touch rugby. After teaching them a lesson at rugby we went back for dinner and drinking. The next day was spent playing more crickets and swimming at the beach. After another night of drinking with an all nighter before I was dropped off the next day back in Palmy. It was now the 21st and Sam and Jesse the Gordon’s gappies were back in New Zealand. Sam came to meet Chris, Ellie and I at my school. Was awesome seeing him again as it had been 4 months. Before we went to Sam's that night, I had to move rooms. As a new Gappy is coming to my school for the start of this year I was moving out and into a different room which is a lot bigger and has wireless internet thank god. That night we had a bbq round Sam's and a catch up with him from the last 4 months. Sam then took us to some of the ‘touristy’ things you can do in Palmy which are not amazing but I guess had to be done. We went to the Tui Brewery to do the tour but we missed the final one so just had some drinks there and messed around with the Tui advert sign making our own ones which you may have seen the pictures on Facebook. We then went to the river and were jumping of a small cliff; I still don’t have the guts to dive off. We then had to see Jesse before we went off to Australia as otherwise it would have been another month and bit. So we drove down early with Sam on the 23rd to meet up with Jesse and we all went to Wellington to do some other touristy things there. Again was awesome seeing Jesse and he showed us around wellington some more. The Cable car which I didn’t even know was there was pretty awesome as it looked out upon the whole of Wellington. We could only spend the afternoon there as we had to drive back up to Hannah’s another 4 hours journey. But disaster struck again when we tried to start her car, which we had been borrowing, wouldn’t start. We both thought it was the head gasket again. Luckily Sam's uncle lived very close and one of his friends was able to try a jump start. Luckily this was successful, but we couldn’t turn off the car because every time we did we had to get a jump start. But we made it after 3 cans of red bull later.
Anna Swan one of our ex Gappy’s had kindly invited us to spend Christmas with her family, at her holiday house in Taupo. So Christmas Eve morning we made the trip there in good time. Her house was pretty awesome and only 2 minutes walk from the beach. It hadn’t felt at all like Christmas at all until I saw the Christmas tree. As warm weather and being at beaches isn’t the same as a cold wet lead up to Christmas in surrey. Although news had reached us that there was more snow than ever in Surrey, so the one year I’m away it snows like crazy. But I wouldn’t change it for the weather we had. That night we went to the local Christmas carols which Chris and I got into, and then went for drinks round their family friends. A very weird story here though, Anna’s dad said that James one of their friend’s son was famous and we should get his autograph, Anna told me he was in a band and I just thought of a kiwi band six60 and mentioned it and she was couldn’t believe I knew it. Six60 was a band, who I listened to a lot after getting their music, and coincidently we had stayed in their old flat in Dunedin on our travels down south, and I even have a picture of the house called the Casino number 660. So now we love six60 even more as we met the guitarist, I was even looking for tickets to a concert of theirs a few days before.

Christmas day was like none other, waking up and having a big bbq cooked breakfast with their family friends. Then Anna’s dad asked if we wanted to go out on the boat. Obviously we jumped at the chance, so after getting the boat in the water we went out on the lake. He took us to some Maori carvings in the rocks on the lake and then we went swimming diving off the boat. We then had a go at driving the boat; I nearly capsized it apparently as Anna’s dad had to quickly correct the wheel. We then watched Love Actually.... Chris’s demand as apparently he did it ever Christmas. That night it was more beer and a great Christmas dinner which again was really odd having it outside with the sun still shining. It was definitely a Christmas I won’t remember in a hurry, as I don’t think I will be having a 30 degree Christmas is a while. Boxing Day was spent much the same in the sun, reading and starting my tan! That brings to an end the pre Australia part of the blog. So far it was shaping up to be an awesome holiday and I was really excited looking forward to my trip to Oz.