Another day...

I've been atrocious at blogging once again. Hmm... I've been doing a bit of study - this to gear up over the next 2 weeks until my final on 11 November.

It was the first long weekend in about 4 and a half months, just past. I spent the Sunday cruising in a very large and nice boat- the Foxy Lady. It had a proper shower & toilet, as well as a kitchen and sleeping area. It was Jo & Ron's 60th birthday parties and they hired it out for a cruise. We had a very large potlock lunch, and I ate too much. We had a friend out for part of the weekend and it was her first fishing experience. She caught a few spotties successfully. I was pleased and proud to try out the lovely new pink fishing rod for the first time- it looked amazing with a pink softbait on as bait. I caught and (of course) released some blue cod. The blue cod are under a 4 year (I think it is) protection in the Inner Sounds. The numbers were insufficient so the Ministry of Fisheries dropped the limit to 0 from 1 October. Hopefully the population increases over this period.

It's almost election time in New Zealand. Here is a little bit of the timetable:

Friday 7 November
Enrolments cease.
Last day to enrol for the election.
Advance Voting ceases at 6.00pm.
Friday 7 November
Midnight: all political advertising ceases and election signs taken down
Saturday 8 November
Election Day: Polling places open from 9.00am to 7.00pm.
Election Night: Preliminary results released progressively from 7.00pm.
Targets for release:
* by 8.30pm all advance vote results
* by 10.00pm results from 50 per cent of polling places
* by 11.30pm results from 100 per cent of polling places.
Saturday 22 November
Official results declared (including special declaration votes). (2pm target.)

The election environment also has the NZ laid back feel to it. Ive seen hardly any TV advertising. I have seen few candidate signs (other than clusters of them scattered along roadways). It is a MMP election- meaning you get a local vote and a party vote- and there are "list" MPs. I've not volunteered, unfortuately.

I should run. It might just be time to head out for a run, for the first time in months.

Random facts...

I've come across, in the blogosphere, the idea of having to post random facts on your blog to let your readers know more about you. All of my readers know me, as far as I know (tell me if I'm wrong on this one here, by comment.)

My random facts:
1- I try to pump my gas to the exact dollar (meaningless really- when I then use a 4 cent off grocery coupon- and at least half the time purchase a vanilla coke- my special treat to myself. Yum!)
2- When I was young I had an imaginary friend named GG. And he had a friend name Jana.
3- I hardly ever remember my dreams
4- My car is green (hardly my ideal choice- but I was looking for a Camry and it was good value).
5- I never went to Kindergarten- I would've been on the bus about 2 1/2 hours a day- a lot for a youngster.
6- I'm pathetic on a bike. I've only been on one twice since childhood. One was a short bike rental in Ireland, and another was wine touring in Blenheim. I was frightened of tipping over!
7- I had arranged a 2 year transfer with my company to New Zealand, but cancelled that, resigned my job, and came here on my own
8- Leo McGarry was my favourite West Wing character- I didn't discover West Wing until about Season 3 or 4. I'm just finishing off the final season on DVD having been in transit when it aired.
9-- Another favourite- this time a book: Steve Paikin's "The Life: the Seductive Call of Politics".
10- After living with a Burmese cat, I would never own a Burmese cat- unless I owned two of them!

A few photos...

I'm back from Sydney. And I'm back with a NASTY cold... Oh the pain of descending with a cold- my poor ears...

Nevertheless, it was a good trip. Here are a few photos.

A day of touring...

Today- I learned that it was the day of a Marathon and it made me get a half marathon itch... Thank goodness it wasn't yesterday in the 33 degree heat. I took the underground to Circular Quay bright and early this am, and then wandered through the markets in the Rocks. Oh yes, the Rocks- I've fallen in love. I signed up for a tour later in the day, and the off I went to catch the Ferry to Manley. It had great views back to Syndey town and I was totally impressed by how much coastline syndey has- and how big it is!! I had a brief stop on the pretty beach there, and bought some $20 jandals to replace my hikers that were causing my big blisters... (OF course, by the end of the day I'd gotten new blisters in new places, but it was a start.) After returning from Manley I found a bite to eat and then wandered back to my 1 1/2 hour walking tour of the Rocks. This is my highlight of Sydney- even bigger than the opera, shockingly... I loved the old streets, and the old buildings, and the elderly lady's cool porch in an old building. I have since returned to my hotel for a shower, and wandered Darling Harbour- even finding - YAY the yummy british pear candies.... Tomorrow its work instead of exploring... Perhaps this is good, I'm not sure my blistered feet could survive another back to back day of touring. But its been fun!

Greetings from Sydney

Where it was 33 degrees yesterday! Although I feel ready for summer in NZ, my body is clearly not ready for 33 degrees just yet. Today it will be a cooler 23 or was it 28, so I'm looking forward to that.

I arrived in via Air NZ around 2pm NZT. After a short stop at customs, I caught the very convenient underground which has a stop only 50 m from my hotel! Great hey! I then went for a wander- and in typical Kelly fashion turned left instead of right totally messing up my initial wandering plans. Anyway, I ended up at Darling Harbour, walking up to the Ferry Terminal and Opera house where I picked up my ticket for the opera last night, headed back to the hotel for a quick shower (ahh, coolness!), and then back to the Opera! The Opera house is amazing... Think sort of like Centre of the Arts- but much bigger, and cooler. I sort of want to do the back stage tour and see more of how the shows get put together, because the show itself was amazing. I was totally blown away by the effectiveness of the lightshow. The orchestra was simply amazing. And the opera itself was pretty cool as well. It was a french one- using Surtitles- called the Pearl Fishers. Although the dress code officially was "shoes are required", everyone dressed up so I'm quite glad I opted for a skirt. There were lots of ladies in fancy dresses. I took the convienient underground back to the hotel.

My early impressions walking around syndey are I don't like the heat/wind combo. We'll see if that is still present today. There are TONS of statues, and lots of high buildings. I'd lose weight if I lived here. After all my walking yesterday all I had the stomach for was a fruit salad and water. Yum... Moisture.

I've checked my bag as I switch hotels today and now I'm going to take the underground to Circular Quay to do some wandering and take some photos, and then probably take a ferry for some water views as well.

A cold is coming on and I shouldn't have chosen this weekend to break in the new hikers. My feet are covered in blisters. Never the less, I'm excited to see what a days exploring will bring. Wish me luck!

Another belated blog post...

I have a reason in being so slow in posting- it's been month end... Ugg. And I've been rather productive in my tax studies. I really only have the questions on Fringe Benefit TAx and GST left in this assignment, which is great news.

Slowly the winter has passed. It's warmed up to lows of around 5, so no need to turn on the gas heater these days. We had a beautiful weekend just past- we had our first barbeque of the season... It was delightful!

Not a lot else is new- except that I'm heading to Aussie for work for a couple of days... so I'll get to see a wee bit of Sydney. It feels like ages since I've been somewhere new, so I'm a little excited to get there.

My flattie is gone back home to England for about a month so I'm cat sitting. Little Burmese George continues to be high energy!

Olympics & Spectacles

I've been rather silent of late. It feels all my time has gone to being a student and learning all of the exciting, fabulous taxation laws of New Zealand. The first assignment has now been submitted and I'm giving myself a week off from self study! Like Casb it is supposed to take 12-15 hours per week. But there are only 2 assignments over a number of months instead of one per week, so I can pace myself.

I did get to watch a little of the Olympics. It was great to see a rowing race with a kiwi and a Canadian medalling. From the NZ side, Kudos to Mahe Drysdale on his bronze medal. He was super ill and still managed to do so well. I was delighted to see the Canadian equestrian team do so well- ya Ian Miller! :) Too bad Big Ben wasn't still around.

I went for an eye test last week. I knew it was time, plus my sunglasses that I brought from Canada broke so I need some news ones. Guess how much the ones I picked are.... Drumroll please for $950 odd dollars. Yikes!! I was used to paying about $600-700 for a pair of glasses in Canada because I shelled out at the optometrists office. My last sunnies were more in the realm of $200- as they weren't from a fancy optometrist, weren't properly fitted and were pretty much bare bones. But my sunnies use in NZ is much higher than in Canada - everyone has them here- you need them. Somehow that extra couple of hundred bucks from the glasses price just doesn't sit well with me. I was somewhat limited in my frame selection. The bigger the glasses, the harder it gets for the frames to support a perscription like mine. Doh. But I've decided these are going to last and since they're stronger I'll use them plenty for driving and the like, as well as out on the water- so paid the bit extra for the anti glare/skinny frames. But I still hurt... They should be ready to pick up next week sometime.