It’s hard to know.. but Emma who arrived here a few weeks ago said that she had stayed in a dodgy hostel in OZ and had picked up bed bugs. OK to pick them up.. a completely different thing to bring them to New Zealand!!!

I’ve been finding small bites on my body. They don’t itch particularly but still.. not the best. So I did a reasonable amount of reading on the net and sounds like they’re hard things to get rid of. In fact most guides suggested exterminators. So I found one in ChCh.. and he’s going to come in and zap the place on Tuesday. I *really* hope it works as I just love this house so much it’d be a shame to be driven out by bedbugs! IF indeed that’s what they are. At $180 you’ve gotta hope that the treatment will work. You still have to heat all your duvets etc. as they can harbour eggs etc. I’m not sure my puny drier is up to heating anything to 40C..

I was going to treat you all to a picture of what the bites look like but decided to spare ya’ll :)

Fun and (bloody) games.

So yesterday I had an MRI done on my lower spine. MRI’s are weird, you have to tick lots of boxes to say you have no metal implants etc. Then they lie you down on a stretcher and put you head first into a pretty confined tube. I hadn’t been told, but apparently you could give them music which they would pipe into you for your 20 minute session. It’s certainly not a place to go if you have claustrophobia. I did get a little nervous ‘cos if you have epilepsy or diabetes you’re not supposed to go in… and I guess I just wondered if what happened to me earlier this year could have left me vulnerable. But no.. all good. Should get the results next week sometime and we’ll see what the next step is.

Now, while this is totally un-environmentally friendly, I still thought it was a brilliant idea to have a jaccuzzi on the top of Mont Blanc

Well, the weather was looking decidedly dodgy this weekend but headed off into the wilds of the Lewis Pass with some members of the CUTC. Mayer who led the trip was someone I had tramped with before and really enjoy getting out and about with. His navigation is excellent… I really need to improve mine and then actually get out there and start leading my own tramps..

So the tramp in on the Saturday went fine. The rivers were up a bit but not too bad.

It was a nice enough hut – should have taken some pictures of the inside.. it’s also a free hut to stay in – no hut tickets required. With the stove going and the wine flowing it was a fun night for all. Except for the possums.. Mayer did his bit to keep the population down.

That night we had thunder and lightning which is something of a rarity – at least for me. I don’t think I’ve been in more than a couple of storms during my whole time here.. and frankly it’s something I really miss – I love a good lightning storm.

However, with the lightning came a fair amount of rain which didn’t let up too much. We decided to attempt to get out. Using good river crossing technique (needed) of linking up we forded the main river – and after that we only had smaller tributaries (though difficult enough too) to cross. All in all a good tramp – great to be out again.

Now, as for Maths – well today I went into Burnside school and sat at the back of a few classes and heckled the teachers mercilessly until I was put in detention. Just like old times. Ok, not quite.. but I did head along and see what it was all like. Burnside is a pretty good school so I think the classes were probably pretty well behaved on the whole. I dunno where the idea of teaching got into my head… I mean frankly it does fill me with terror – the thought of standing in front of a group of 30 kids who basically want to make you lose it. And then laugh at you. Sigh.

Who knows – it looks like there might be some more IT projects coming my way in work so I might do that for a wee while and maybe try get my skills back up in the meantime… I’m not really in any rush.

And as for the MRI.. well I’m going in for one tomorrow for my lower back.. so hopefully will work out what’s been going on!

Had a slight fiasco with getting my Irish Passport renewed. I sent it away with all the documentation etc. and after waiting a week mailed them just to make sure they had received my passport. They said they had and to wait a further 6 weeks.

So I waited. And waited… and then mailed them on Wednesday saying ‘any chance of getting my passport back’. They said ‘What Passport?’. I got nervous.

About an hour later courier post rang me and said “We’ve been trying to get in touch with you for weeks… we have a package for you”. I was surprised as there was no message on anything.

Anyway, now that I have my flash new 10 year passport I headed into the department of immigration to renew my visa… and they gave it to me. So I now have an indefinite returning residents visa. So, if I want to – I can leave New Zealand for 20 years and still come back in as a resident. I’ve been wanting that for a while. It’s quite likely if I do end up as a teacher that I might travel with it a bit.. perhaps do a year in Ireland at some point. We’ll see..

So for about 2 years now I have been having lower back pain from a squash match I played just before going travelling (and thus didn’t have time to get fixed). Unfortunately it’s still bothering me 2 years later.

I took myself off to a good physio who came up with a New Plan of Action. So I was given new exercises to do – but they’ve not really had the results we’d hoped for. So I’m being referred to a Doctor, and then probably to a specialist. Hopefully it’s all covered by ACC.. otherwise I’m going to be impoverished..

What else.. pretty lazy weekend so sorry no pictures to show. Went to a few movies, did a little maths study, and played some cards with friends. I got slightly roped into a croquet competition which is kinda scary as I’ve not played a turn in months and months – also it takes up most of my free weekends which is *really* annoying as it’s prime tramping and kayaking weather. Still, hopefully will be able to get out for a few of the upcoming weekends.