This is a short blog about going to Queenstown for the day and a whistle stop visit to Parachute 08... and trying to get it all down on 'paper' before I forget how awesome it was! (and I don't tend to use the word awesome lightly).
You may have heard about Air New Zealand's Grab-a-plane competition (and if not, I've provided a very handy link for you). As the web page says, it was won by Salvo Air - a nicely titled airline-for-a-day put together by our pastor... we filled a plane, it was entered into the competition, and our entry was drawn. Now you have the background. And here's a few highlights...
The flight down was hardly standard. Our pilot had put in several hours of planning time to make it as exciting as possible. We circled Mount Cook! How totally cool is that? He made sure the folks on both sides of the plane had excellent views, and with the special permission he got to descend to 16,000ft, it was mindblowing. We could have reached out of the plane and touched the mountain tops.
When we got to Queenstown, we had a bus waiting to take us into the city centre. The weather was perfect, and quite different to what I'm used to in Auckland. Down there, the sun is scorching (as it is up here), but in the shade it's *cold*, at least in the morning hours. And the air is dry. Lovely. No sneezing LOL. We walked around looking at the Saturday crafts market, and getting a feel for the place, then most of us boarded the bus again (some took scooters) and took the short drive into Arrowtown for lunch. Beautiful old gold-rush town.
Then back to Queenstown where we went on the gondola (for a very reduced price thanks to Air NZ), the breaktaking views and the opportunity to hurtle yourself down part of the hillside on a luge which was enjoyed by most... even if I did take the scenic, or 'granny', track twice heh.
After that we walked down a beach area on Lake Wakatipu for a barbeque courtesy of Air NZ again... Some of the guys had a quick swim in the lake - never did ask if it was absolutely freezing... it certainly looked like it would be! And then we were off back to the airport. And here's another quick sidebar - the airport was kept open for our flight... We were leaving two hours after the airport would normally close on a weekend.
And this isn't a plug for Air NZ - but I really to have to say that the idea of winning a plane for the day was huge in itself, then they went over and above to make the day as special as they could. A 6am start, and back home around 10pm - it was full of amazing experiences and memories to treasure.
The Parachute trip the next day was a last-minute decision. We had thought of going to P08 specifically to see Switchfoot on the Saturday, but of course the free flight down south took its place. But the pull was too strong! We were driving around on Sunday morning listening to LifeFM who were broadcasting live from Mystery Creek, and when my darling suggested a quick tikitour, it was too good to pass up.
That was an amazing and memorable experience too...
My current 'mood' descriptor describes how I feel about the whole weekend.
Blessed indeed.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Friday, January 25, 2008
Rolling with the Changes
There's a blog category called "School, College, Greek" - I'm a little baffled by the Greek reference, but I'll take the other two for a start.
So yes, I'm off back to school. I'd love to know what it was that finally got me accepted into the programme, but I'll never know, and it's not keeping me awake at night. I like to think I dazzled them at the interview... This paragraph sounds kinda blasé in my head, but believe me, it's nothing like that. I guess I should blog more often so that the news is fresh in my own head so I can relate it with all its appropriate alacrity to you, my public (oh please... stop... someone get a tissue so I can wipe my eyes...).
I'm constantly getting emails from around the company asking where my leaving bash is so they can come and wish me a drunken farewell. I'm not really into those under-the-table events (seriously folks), so it's not on my priority list, but it seems to be a required pastime. The thing is I don't know who to invite. Sounds odd I know. I started preparing a list to which I want to send my final farewell email. There are over 200 recipients. I doubt that a tenth of those would actually come have a drink, but wouldn't it be a hoot if they all turned up?
Anyway, still haven't decided where or when or even if. At this stage it's looking like it might be even after I leave as there are only two weeks left and they're both short due to Anniversary weekend and Waitangi Day... tip: Second week in January is a good time to hand in a month's resignation (in New Zealand) cos you get two paid holidays.
And as I don't really have any structure to my blogging experiments, let's now turn to a wonderful time in Holland with my darling and her kidlets. It wasn't a full-on tourist experience, not that I expected it to be. It was more a family time, the girls now at an age where they can meet (and remember) their Oma and Opa, for darling to catch up with some friends, and for me to meet the immediate family also. It was overall totally fab. This isn't a detailed blog about the things we did over there (Darling, if you want to blog about that, please feel free heh).
If there is one thing I bring back with me, it's the quality time spent with the girls in... dare I say it... a family context. What I mean is this - in case anyone isn't following me. Up to the trip, the girls got to know me in little chunks, a few hours here and there. You'll be familiar with some of those times, and the challenges they presented to us all. Being away with them, being constantly 'there' from morniing til night, from breakfast to bedtime, sharing a bed with their Mum to joking around on a train trip, and all of the above being perfectly... normal. All in all, that went very well, to the extent that the youngest would even crawl into bed with us in the morning, and the eldest (the one I had the most difficulty vis-a-vis acceptance) was fairly easy-going about the whole thing.
Two days ago, I picked them all up from the airport. I was holding my breath a wee bit wondering how they'd react to me after three weeks of absence. I had to keep a tight reign on my emotions because quite frankly, I was blown away by their response to me. I don't want to jinx anything - but they were, well, it seemed at least, actually excited to see me. Sure, everyone was tired, and who wouldn't be after 24 hours of travelling. To shorten this a little, last night we all caught up properly with photos and stories of their time away since I'd come home, and it was good. More than good.
I don't doubt for a second that there will be challenging times again - for goodness' sake, there's puberty and adolescence to go through yet (hahahaha)...
Oh, I'm going to stop there. I'm quite frankly very emotional about the whole thing. It's f*ckin' fab
The blog category hardly fits anymore, but I don't care - there isn't a category that reads "life changing experiences and other tales"... so I'll stick with it.
That's all for now folks... my brain hurts!
So yes, I'm off back to school. I'd love to know what it was that finally got me accepted into the programme, but I'll never know, and it's not keeping me awake at night. I like to think I dazzled them at the interview... This paragraph sounds kinda blasé in my head, but believe me, it's nothing like that. I guess I should blog more often so that the news is fresh in my own head so I can relate it with all its appropriate alacrity to you, my public (oh please... stop... someone get a tissue so I can wipe my eyes...).
I'm constantly getting emails from around the company asking where my leaving bash is so they can come and wish me a drunken farewell. I'm not really into those under-the-table events (seriously folks), so it's not on my priority list, but it seems to be a required pastime. The thing is I don't know who to invite. Sounds odd I know. I started preparing a list to which I want to send my final farewell email. There are over 200 recipients. I doubt that a tenth of those would actually come have a drink, but wouldn't it be a hoot if they all turned up?
Anyway, still haven't decided where or when or even if. At this stage it's looking like it might be even after I leave as there are only two weeks left and they're both short due to Anniversary weekend and Waitangi Day... tip: Second week in January is a good time to hand in a month's resignation (in New Zealand) cos you get two paid holidays.
And as I don't really have any structure to my blogging experiments, let's now turn to a wonderful time in Holland with my darling and her kidlets. It wasn't a full-on tourist experience, not that I expected it to be. It was more a family time, the girls now at an age where they can meet (and remember) their Oma and Opa, for darling to catch up with some friends, and for me to meet the immediate family also. It was overall totally fab. This isn't a detailed blog about the things we did over there (Darling, if you want to blog about that, please feel free heh).
If there is one thing I bring back with me, it's the quality time spent with the girls in... dare I say it... a family context. What I mean is this - in case anyone isn't following me. Up to the trip, the girls got to know me in little chunks, a few hours here and there. You'll be familiar with some of those times, and the challenges they presented to us all. Being away with them, being constantly 'there' from morniing til night, from breakfast to bedtime, sharing a bed with their Mum to joking around on a train trip, and all of the above being perfectly... normal. All in all, that went very well, to the extent that the youngest would even crawl into bed with us in the morning, and the eldest (the one I had the most difficulty vis-a-vis acceptance) was fairly easy-going about the whole thing.
Two days ago, I picked them all up from the airport. I was holding my breath a wee bit wondering how they'd react to me after three weeks of absence. I had to keep a tight reign on my emotions because quite frankly, I was blown away by their response to me. I don't want to jinx anything - but they were, well, it seemed at least, actually excited to see me. Sure, everyone was tired, and who wouldn't be after 24 hours of travelling. To shorten this a little, last night we all caught up properly with photos and stories of their time away since I'd come home, and it was good. More than good.
I don't doubt for a second that there will be challenging times again - for goodness' sake, there's puberty and adolescence to go through yet (hahahaha)...
Oh, I'm going to stop there. I'm quite frankly very emotional about the whole thing. It's f*ckin' fab
The blog category hardly fits anymore, but I don't care - there isn't a category that reads "life changing experiences and other tales"... so I'll stick with it.
That's all for now folks... my brain hurts!
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