We got picked up by bus from Suzanne & Bevan's house, and got shipped out to the venue - on State Highway 29, not far from the turn-off at Karapiro, near Hinuera. I thought it was an awesome place, very New Zealand Natural. The wedding was good, made me miss Adessa a lot. As to be expected, around about 9/10pm my energy levels started to crash, so I went up stairs and had a sleep on a couch until it was time to go home.
So, the following weeks were about getting back into New Zealand life, and catching up with people. The following Tuesday I caught up with my old school mate Dave, his wife Sandra, (you may remember their wedding in 2007) and their son Luca, who had been born in the time I'd been away. In fact it was this day that the Christchurch Earthquake hit, and because Dave is a branch manager at AMI Insurance, he had a particular interest in it, above your natural patriotic concern. Thursday I re-enrolled at the Wananga in the next stage of Maori - for something to do, but also to keep the brain working. Saturday was my mate Ron's (whose house I am currently house-sitting) birthday, celebrated with a massive amount of KFC, which was all good. I also got back into driving - which after two years was slightly scary - especially when it wasn't in my car. I think my first attempt was in Dad's car, 3kms away to the pub to watch a Chiefs' match (that sounds bad, but I didn't drink any alcohol, just L&P).
The next week was mainly about registering with recruitment agencies, although I also went with Mum & Dad to a dinner at which the mayor of Hamilton spoke at. When she jumped the queue getting in, I piped up with "So much for a classless society" much to my mother's embarrassment.
From that Friday until the following Tuesday I went to the beach at Papamoa for a bit of relaxation time. Thursday I had a job interview, and Friday I took Suzanne and Bevan to Auckland Airport, as they went to Sydney for their 6th Wedding Anniversary. On the way home from the airport I stopped at Nana's and received a phone call, letting me know I had got the job - a 4-6months temporary role doing Accounts Payable at Pacific Aerospace Ltd. That was an awesome feeling - knowing I had reasonably secure work for most of the next half a year, at the same rate I was on when I was in Kaitaia, which was career relevant, and local. Not only that, planes are pretty interesting too.
The following week was spent preparing, picking Suzanne and Bevan up from the airport, and going down to Mokau in Taranaki to attend a funeral for a family friend.
The next week I started work, which was a nice feeling. I'm in an office with a lady who is roughly about Mum & Dad's age, but we get on well, turns out she had done the Maori course last year, so we had a bit in common. The first week I spent boxing stuff from the filing cabinets, and had completed that by the end of Thursday, so they gave me Friday off, as my desk and computer hadn't come yet.
The week after that was when the air balloons have their annual festival in Hamilton, concluding with a night-glow on the Saturday night. I rang up my Auntie to see if I could leave my car at her place and catch the bus from there, turned out she was going with my cousin and her daughter, so I ended up going with them, which actually made it a bit more interesting. When it finished we went back to my Aunty's and watched The Last Samurai, which was good, although I did fall asleep right near the end.
The following weekend, my Maori class had a Noho Marae - basically a stay on a marae, Friday night, and Saturday until after dinner. The logic behind this is to spend the day revising our course work so far. We went to Waimakariri marae - which is in Tauwhare, near Cambridge. It was awesome, I had been feeling overwhelmed in class, having not been remotely exposed to Maori language in two years, and being the most Pakeha (white person) however, I gained some confidence back, and was feed tremendously.
Sunday was Dad's birthday, but also was our Thomas family reunion in Pukekawa. It was interesting, I didn't really converse with any relation's that I didn't already know, but did learn some more about our ancestors, which was really interesting. Some of our ancestors came from Cerne Abbas, which is famous for the Cerne Abbas Giant, I was really fascinated with this as I had intended to visit that while I was in the UK, but never quite made it. No one else in my family knew what I was talking about, so my enthusiasm fell on deaf ears. After the reunion we went to Nana's for a birthday tea for Dad.
The next weekend was the Hamilton 400 - V8 racing around the streets of Frankton, (the old central business district of Hamilton). King Street, on which Mum & Dad's business is on, was one such street, therefore to make lemons into lemonade (as it means their street is pretty much closed off for at least a week) they fashion a balcony to watch it, and invite clients, staff, and friends. Its rumoured to have better views than the paid stands. This year, the council decided that it would be good to have a couple of bands come and play in the evenings on Saturday and Sunday, ZZ Top, and Good Charlotte. Also because they were on the circuit, Mum & Dad received free tickets for the inconvenience, so Bevan, Suzanne, & I went and watched Good Charlotte on the Sunday.
The Easter holiday was the following weekend - the five of us went over to Papamoa for the weekend. Unfortunately most of the weekend was wet, however Sunday turned out not too bad, so the three of us went down to the Mount main beach and had a surfing lesson, something I had intended doing since the Summer of 2007/2008 when I was in Kaitaia (had planned to do it before going to London at the mount, and then had planned to go to Cornwall to do it too). Apparently Suzanne & Bevan had had similar aspirations, so it all worked well. Admittedly, it was rather exhausting, especially because I think I hadn't really swum in the ocean as much as I normally do in the last two years, and also getting stuck in a rip took it out of me. Conversely I managed to read two books over the weekend, which was nice and relaxing.
Which finally, brings us to this weekend. Once again, I ended up having Friday off, as there wasn't enough work for me to do. It worked well however, as it meant I could join Suzanne at lunch to celebrate her birthday, help Mum and Dad out at their work folding invoices, and knocking off a few personal jobs. Yesterday, Saturday, I did a whole of washing of clothes and dishes, and then went around to home, and Dad and I replaced the heating unit in my car, as one of the levers had broken. Today so far has been writing this, after this I need to do some important Internet business, and then will be concentrating on my Maori assessment due on Tuesday.
And so, in the first time since mid-August, I have got this blog up to date. Where to from here? as of this coming Friday (6th) I will have written 3 blogs spanning 6 years of my life (See where it all began.) Funnily enough, it also happens to be my 6 month anniversary of dating Adessa. I'm not sure whether to start a new blog to document this new chapter of my life. I think I probably will, I just need some inspiration on what to call it. Also my life has reached the end of the 'plan' and now it is into the unknown.
Unfortunately, one of the downsides of writing a blog retrospectively is that I haven't included much emotion into it, something which reading back over the previous two blogs, was part of the core. So I will try and sum my feelings up at the moment.
Things are going well, having a decent job really helps, and an amazing girlfriend, despite the fact we are on opposite sides of the world. If anything, the thing getting me down at the moment is uncertainty - where to from here? - when will I see my girlfriend again? what do I do with the rest of my life? how do I get to be in the same location long term as my girlfriend?
I do think I have grown over the last 6 years, not just smarter, but have managed to work through issues, found love, and don't sweat the petty stuff anymore.
After a good sleep, I found myself awake at about 6am, so I had a shower etc, and went and had a talk to one of the staff for ideas on things to see, and locations of the various things I wanted to do. On the flight trip I had made a bit of a list of must-dos, based on things I had enjoyed last time, things I missed last time, and things I hadn't really thought about last time.
Number one on the list was cheese in an aerosol can (pictured above) which I found at a supermarket. I have to say it wasn't an experience worth repeating, its pretty much the same as spreadable cheese. Also at the supermarket I spotted cookie dough in wrapping similar to luncheon sausage, and picked up some small tubs of ice cream - one cookie dough flavoured, the other peanut butter.
It was a bit of a hike, but worth it - I got there just on sunset, so got to enjoy the view in both light and dark. On the walk up, I think I may have seen the actress who played 'Darlene' on Roseanne - 
Once that was all done however, I had the mission of walking back to my hostel, which couldn't be done the way I came along the track in in the park, so I had to walk along the side of the road down the Hollywood hills - in some parts there was no lighting, and/or footpath. Eventually I made it back, and had a well deserved dinner of the below - basically a burger and chips, with chili con carne on both.
The following day (Sunday) I headed to Universal Studios - as it was only a short walk and two Metro stops from my hostel. (In case you are wondering why not Disneyland, it's because that's in Anaheim, which isn't particularly close to anywhere) The previous day I had looked at the website and discovered for the price of a day pass, I actually got the second day free - so I decided that was worth taking advantage of.
The above photo is of the roof of the Hollywood & Vine Metro Station. I made it to Universal Studios, the first thing I did was get some breakfast, I think this time it was Subway - a Pesto Chicken sub, which I don't think I've seen elsewhere. Following this I had a brief look at the shops, but wasn't particularly interested. 
I went on a lot of the rides, in the end (after the second day) I think there was only two I hadn't been on, but wasn't fussed as they involved big drops and I'm getting a bit old for that... I found it interesting, especially as I was comparing it to my experience of Universal Studios Japan. I think the biggest difference was less characters - i.e. it wasn't all cute-sy and trying to be like Disneyland - which if you wanted that experience, you could go to the real thing. This meant also there was no Hello Kitty and friends. The other thing was also it did show how movies were made, which was good. For the next few photos I'll just captionise.
Shrek
Thought this was rather humorous.
The Nissan Skyline from 2Fast 2Furious.
Basically the 
Next door was the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) - I didn't go in, however took a photo of this outside as it looks pretty cool.
So from there I went to a local IHOP (International House of Pancakes) - basically all you can eat pancakes for US$4, and then bused it to Hollywood Boulevard again, and caught the Metro back to Universal Studios to finish off seeing stuff there. Once I finished there, I headed to the airport. No dramas, although they got me to check in my hand luggage (i.e. have it put in the hold) as it was obviously heavier than usual, which worked OK for me, as it didn't cost me anything. Eventually we were let onto the plane, and I had about a 5 hour sleep.
Adessa & I also ticked another thing off - Going to a filming of a TV show - 2 in fact. The first was a children's show called 'Dick & Dom' which was kind of funny, filmed in a small studio on the outskirts in a place called Teddington. The other show was about Favourite books of famous people, which was to be shown during book week. The host was the lady who also does 'The Weakest Link' and 'Rogue Traders' (like NZ's 'Fair Go') in the UK, So I was expecting her to be a total grouch, however, she even had a bit of a chat to us, the audience beforehand, and gave us a background, such as this was episode 6 of 10, rather than doing what she could of, and been posh and not talked to the plebs.
We walked a big loop, quite a way, but really didn't see anything spectacular, didn't stop anywhere. The above photo is on the Nile, note the smog.
The Cairo tower.
No caption needed - although remember this is pre-riots.
And of course - remember junk food has no calories if it is deemed ethnic - hence the McArabia. That evening we met the majority of the rest of the tour group, did the administrative stuff, and then went out for dinner. Wednesday 29th December 2010. After breakfast, we met the remainder of the tour group, the ones who got there late the night before, or early that morning. The first stop of the tour was the Egyptian Museum. It was interesting, but we soon discovered that over-crowding is not a concern, one room got so full that some Italian guy lost his cool.
The next major stop was the Giza plateau - where the pyramids are. This really is only just outside the city limits, not far at all.
It was interesting, but it was kind of ruined by the souvenir & camel ride sellers, and the guys who would offer to take a photo for or with you, then demand a tip. One cool thing was going through the littlest Pyramid, although not quite as adventurous as in the movies.
That evening, we were allowed to go back to the hotel, shower and get some food. I ended up going with someone else and got KFC - one of the highlights of the trip - it turned out that the store I went to was run by deaf people, at the time I just thought they were really friendly and lateral thinkers, knowing the best way to communicate to a foreigner was through sign language. This however was followed by the low point of the trip, the 12-hour overnight train from Cairo to Aswan. When I saw it in the itinerary I assumed it would be in sleeper carriages, it wasn't. I'm not a really fussy traveller, I guess I just expected more for my money. The worst thing was the toilets, which stayed clean for all of about an hour. Thursday 30th December 2010. Anyhow, we got to Aswan at about midday, had a bit of time to have a look around - I had a bit of a look at the market, and got a feel for the prices of things. I got myself an Egyptian flag - to add to the collection. Later that evening we took a boat trip to a Nubian village, which included a camel ride, which was kind of scary as it was already dark. We had dinner at a Nubian house, it was nice, and also learnt that the Nile had been cleared of Crocodiles, however, the Nubians kept baby ones as pets (which doesn't seem logical, what happens if a boy and girl crocodile end up back in the water, meet, and do the crocodile rock?)
We went back to our hotel, and then had to be up again at 1am- in order for our tour bus to join the convoy to Abu Simbel at 3am. Friday 31st December 2010. After about a 3 hour drive through the desert, we made it to Abu Simbel (below). It was good, and what made it even more interesting was the fact it had to be moved at one point, when they built the Great Dam. Apparently we also visited the Temple of Hathor before returning to Aswan, and hopping onto the Felucca boat, where we celebrated New Years.
Saturday 1st January 2011. This day was spent sailing along the Nile. I mainly just read, and tried to keep warm, and stop the boat's kitten from urinating in my sleeping bag. I tried to go without going N.o2, but gave in that night, because all I ended up doing was trying not to think about not wanting to go. Sunday 2nd January 2011. We departed the felucca, and took a trip to Kom Ombo, and then to our hotel in Luxor. We then saw the Temple of Karnak, and the temple of Luxor, both were good, and our guide was cool and funny.
Above - This is one of the statues outside Luxor temple - they are uncovering them - basically there is an ancient road between the two temples, with these on either side. Below - A Mosque had been built on the site of the Luxor temple before they uncovered the surroundings and realised that it was in fact the site of the ancient Temple.
Monday 3rd January 2011. We headed to the Valley of the Kings, via this (below) the Colossi of Memnon, which apparently are 3400 years old. The valley of the Kings was awesome, the closest the trip got to the Indiana Jones fantasy - we explored a couple of tombs, one was just totally amazing, several levels, including one part with a bridge.
After that we visited the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut (below) which was also quite impressive, and hard to imagine that it is actually as old as it is.
Late that afternoon, we farewelled some of our group, and then headed to Hurgharda - we had to wait until we got clearance to leave Luxor from the Tourism Police, as it was around this time when the troubles began with a bombing in Alexandria. Anyhow, we got there without too many dramas, from memory I think it was about a four hour trip, not too strenuous. Tuesday 4th January 2011. The hotel in Hurghada was one of the best I stayed in in Egypt. Complimenting this was the best Egyptian breakfast too - lots of choice. Following breakfast I went down to the beach with all the others, and laxed back on a deck chair and read my book. The others went and did something else, and I took a swim - as I had been hanging out for one for over a year (the last ocean swim I had taken was in 
Wednesday 5th January 2011. I don't think I did a whole this day, other than catch up on some sleep, eat, and read. As you can see by these two photos - the cleaning staff took pleasure in doing cool stuff with our towels when they made our beds and stuff. The love heart was a bit much for my single bed in the room I shared with another guy, however, full marks for creativity.
Thursday 6th January 2011. Dahab was located about an hour or two away from Mt Sinai - the famous mountain climbed by Moses, where he received the Ten Commandments - so I thought it was worth climbing. Most of our group did it overnight, but one of the girls and I thought the daytime would be the more logical choice - at least then it wouldn't be freezing cold, and we could see where we were going. I still think that was the best choice. So I got up rather early, hence the sunrise photo.
After an hour or so's drive we reached St Catherine's Monastery - which houses the bush which is supposed to be the burning bush that talked to Moses.
The Burning Bush on the left. With Fire Extinguisher conveniently located to it's right.
It probably took us at least a good two hours to climb Mt Sinai. This photo below was nearing the top - hence the ice forming (this was January - Winter)
We got to the top in time for Sunset, which was nice - having climbed up in a t-shirt and trousers, I put on my thermal shirt and jumper for the climb down, as it got dark and cold rather fast. Climbing down wasn't as strenuous, but harder as I couldn't see my way all the time.
Once we got back to Dahab I had a bit to eat - although I was not really feeling like eating, and headed home to bed early to sleep and recover. 
Once back in Cairo, we settled back down, went out for dinner, and then I returned and went to bed after packing, as I had an early flight the next day, back to London.
Avebury was great, because you can walk around the stones, and it is massive - it is several circles, some inside another, and the biggest circle encapsulates the whole town.
Some of the smaller stones, like this one, had been shaped. Others, were in their raw form.
A stone hut in Avebury, and below, a frozen-over pond - which gives you an idea of how cold it was that day.
Our walk around Avebury was concluded with a lunch at the local pub - the Red Lion, which I grinned at, thinking of the NZ beer - Lion Red. "We're all brothers, but come from different mothers..."
From Avebury we hopped back on the bus, and headed to Bath. Along the way we participated in a "pub" quiz, the topics being Avebury and Bath. I'm pretty good at pub quizzes, but this one was very specific, so I didn't do so well. On an aside note, I was reading yesterday that quiz as a word came about, as an Irish guy had a bet with another, that he could make up a word, and spread it so it was known overnight. To do this, he paid lots of children to go around the town, and graffiti it in chalk everywhere.
This door is the one into Bath cathedral. At Bath we just walked around looking at the markets, concluding with dinner at the 
The following week I had Monday and Tuesday with no work, and then Wednesday & Thursday I worked, doing accounts payable for an I.T. recruitment agency - I was supposed to be there for a week, but then got another longer term job starting on the Monday, doing Accounts payable for a media company. The photos above and below are from Oxford street, which I took whilst on a date with Adessa.
This particular day I think was after we had been to Hillsong's (church) Christmas service, where they put on their annual Christmas show/play - which was awesome, and very professional. The below picture, although silhouetted probably doesn't need much explaining.
That job I started, took me right up to Christmas eve. The weekend before Christmas it dumped a whole lot of snow in London. Some of my friends ended up not being able to go away on part of their trip because of it, and I was praying that it didn't snow again before I went to Egypt. But in the meantime, me and Adessa had some great fun playing in and with it. Below is a picture from my back garden, looking at the Mosque behind my house - an unusual sight to see, a Mosque with snow on the top of it. 
Our snowman that we built, and below, an amorous snow angel. I had never made a snow angel before, so it was on the must-do list.
As you can see, there were some massive icicles coming down from the roof, which worked well as arms etc for our snowman. That night, because I hadn't met her family yet, and hence couldn't spend Christmas with them, Adessa made the two of us an amazing British Christmas dinner - afterwards we tried to burn it off by trying to converting an old coffee table out the back into a sled. Unfortunately it didn't work, but still provided some entertainment.