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.

It started off okay, Christmas Eve day at work we all dressed up in Hawaiian shirts and leis, then had champagne and chocolate covered strawberries, cookies, brownies, etc etc, (my kind of company!;). And funnily enough, I DID hear, "I'm dreaming of a White Christmas". You just have to smile.

My travel mates invited me to the hostel for an "interesting" dinner on Christmas Eve complete with boxed wine. Fifteen travellers sat down together to break bread during this time when all you want to do is be with your loved ones. But we took solace in each other's company and were in pretty good spirits.

Christmas Day was a tough one. Everything was closed and I think most people I know started drinking in the morning and were quite sauced by the late afternoon. Seeing as this approach to Christmas didn't appeal to Nynke or I, we decided to take the opportunity to photograph Wellington sans tourists, and in the end the streets were in fact deserted. That evening I made some dinner for us at my flat and we watched a couple of movies. I made the all-important phone calls home and it was SO GOOD to talk to everyone.

Boxing Day was much the same. Nynke and I rented a car and did our Lord of the Rings location tour. Now, I have to say, the actual renting of the car and driving of the car was far more entertaining than the location tour. We had a locations book, and she picked out some of the craziest spots that involved driving through very narrow and winding roads. I think it was my first time driving on the left side of the road (intentionally) and everything in the car was also reversed to what the cars are at home, so one of my biggest challenges was whenever I wanted to indicate I would turn on the windshield wipers instead. Over and over and over again. :) Oh and I guess I was driving a little TOO far over to the left because by the time we got back the left hubcap was rather scratched and mangled...I wonder if it had anything to do with hitting those rocks on the side of the road. But in all fairness we almost got taken out on more than one occasion by crazy drivers suddenly appearing around the corner coming in the other direction. Sometimes the roads were so narrow I thought we'd end up in the ditch as others tried to squeeze past us. One road was entirely covered in water, and you really couldn't see what was coming around the bend. I call it, New Zealand Adventure Driving.

Most of the locations were virtually unrecognizable since all the sets were taken down. Doing this made me realize just how much of the movie is computer generated as well - the wonders of modern technology. But we did get to see a lot of the surrounding areas of Wellington and even ate where the cast and crew ate in Seatown at a little place called The Chocolate Fish. This cafe has a major highway going through it, and the wait staff wear orange crossing guard vests so they can bring your food across the highway should you decide to sit on the terrace overlooking the water. The views were just breathtaking.

Monday was an easy day, still a public holiday here. We went to see Ocean's 12 at The Embassy where they had all of the Lord of The Rings openings. What a gorgeous theatre. If I could liken it to something it would be the Winter Garden in Toronto. Oh yes, add to things I love list: assigned seats in movie theatres. When you buy your ticket you get a seat just like when going to live theatre. At The Embassy I sat in the seat Viggo sat in when he came for the premiere. Sigh...