So I arrived here in the cover of darkness at 1:30 in the morning. On the bus I had made friends with a 250 lb tatattooed guy named Buzz so I felt a little better about arriving in the not-so-nice part of town because no one was going to mess with Buzz. We checked in at Footprints, although recommended the IEP I was pretty disappointed at this accomodation.

After Airlie I had to take a 13 hour over-night bus to Hervey Bay which is very small, but the people are SO FRIENDLY everywhere I've been in Australia and they actually say G-day mate, and call you love and darling all the time. They also say, "Fair Dinkum" meaning, I'm not kidding you. I just love these people, so witty and nice. I wonder if it's the amazing weather and scenery that has them in such a good mood all the time.

The next day I took a 11 hour bus ride to Airlie Beach which was really lovely. It's a little touristy party town right on the ocean. It's so humid here that when you get up at 7:30 am you are hot already. You sweat standing still. Still can't go in the water here because of stingers, you have to wear a stinger suit until May.

I lucked into a cheap flight from Melbourne to Cairns for $59 with Virgin Blue. Arrived there on Valentines Day. It took me a little while to get over having been in 3 time zones in one week but I was eager to get started. Cairns reminded me of Florida, kinda tacky and really hot and humid. I liked it anyway.

Finally here at last! I was so happy to be leaving New Zealand. I've realized I really hate waiting around for things to happen. I.e. waiting for my flight out of Christchurch and into Sydney. After I had done all I needed to do in Chch, I was dying to get out of there. Sitting around so does not agree with me.

I was really excited to be leaving Wellington and then when the time came I felt rather sad. The lovely people at Meridian Energy gave me a good-bye morning tea with danishes and scones, it was so sweet of them considering I was just a temp!!

We were quite happy to stay at The Extreme Backpackers and found this BBH hostel to be top-notch. After transport to and from the park was arranged we also sorted out what gear we'd be taking with us on this trek. The weather at the Tongariro National Park, especially this time of year, is very dramatic and changeable. One must be prepared with all-weather clothing.

Tuesday morning we were off bright and early. I had a little 'incident' on the way out of Wellington where I kinda, yeah, hit a curb. I'm telling you, this left hand driving thing is tricky!

Well Christmas sucked, let's just get that out there in the open. No sense beating around the bush. It was a really hard time for me, more so than I had thought it would be.

Well it's December 23rd, two days before Christmas here in Welly and what better time to reflect on the months past.