Hmm, no nice scenic pictures on the blog since Mt. Cook disappeared off… so here’s just (yet another) one from Castle Hill the weekend before last. Crazy place.

It was a fun week. On Wed was out for Kirstys birthday. Only this time she had some ‘bling bling’ I believe is the correct term ;) As she and Andy just got engaged. They’re just lovely! :) they deserve each other ;) ehehhe. This is Kirstys Victorian pose..

And the rest of the week has been quite lazy – spent today packing. It all seems slightly unreal that in 16 hours I’ll be flying to Sydney to meet Mhairi. Hope we can survive 4 months of eachothers’ company… ehhehehe, I know I’d go mad hanging out with me for 4 months. Still, fun and games. But I am so looking forward to travelling with her – I’ve had quite a silly grin for the last few days :D

Had a really great send off last night – lots of friends out at the Dux for drinks. I will miss them all.

Though the ones in this picture I’ll be seeing in Thailand (can’t wait!). Oh, on that note – perhaps a useful link for people is : IHI insurance. It’s great – covers you for everything, can take it out anywhere.. it’s just good.. I needed to get additional coverage.

Anyway, I wish I had the eloquence and verbal dexterity to sufficiently convey how truly spectacular this country is, how generous, friendly and kind the people are, and how much fun I have had over the last year and a half. I am really really looking forward to traveling, but I know that I will miss this place, these people, and that when I come back in February that I’ll be straight off sea kayaking with Warick and co to Stewart Island – and I know that’s going to be great.

I dunno – waffle waffle – but yes, I also am really looking forward to seeing family and friends in Dublin. That’s going to be great. But I dunno, there’s something about this place and people that just feels right. There’s less stress and more fun. If you want a high-powered career and lots of cash then this isn’t the place to come (except for your 15 days holiday ;) ehehe, ehem, but for a place to live – even for just a couple of years – it’s the best

At least that’s my opinion anyway. I know I’ve had a pretty unreal time of it – esp with the flexibility that my job has let me enjoy. So I dunno what it’ll be like when I come back – something I am a little nervous about – but it’s important to me to get the permanent returning residents visa – just a further 10 months… so yes. Will do that.

And.. I love being able to look like this.. and feel great about it!

Today I was slightly geekier than normal. See, without (though I will) sounding needy + pathetic ‘n stuff.. it’s *very* nice when away from home to get mails / calls / notes on a message board… and best of all – postcards..

So thanks to all of you who have said hello from time to time. I promise to try and send at least one postcard over the next 6 months (yes, 6 months!) of travel..

Anyway – there’s this thing on blogger where you can leave comments (the little links at the bottom of each post). But either you have to be a member of blogger (pain) or you have to have the posts anonymous – and then you get spam..

Someone wrote a hack to allow posts without having to go through the blogger screen and that’s here. However, you get spam using it – so I added in a little password field – same as my message board – and made a little site so that if anyone wants to use my change they can. And that’s here at http://patricktesting123.blogspot.com.

Anyway, ‘nuf geekiness for one day.. but feel free to leave a comment.. and to all the silent watchers out there… you can post anonymously ;)

Still waiting on Lorcan to mail me his version of our trip around the S.Island.. in the meantime.. here’s a sneak preview of what Lorcan looked like on our trip around..

20 months since my job on a building site and 17 months after leaving (my stressful) job in the recruitment company and starting work in the contact centre – I’m unemployed again.

I can say, without any doubt, that it’s the best place I’ve worked. While I know I’ve had a huge amount of freedom, the people who work there are just the loveliest happiest friendliest most helpful people I have ever, or could ever, hope to work with. Visitors (and new starters) in our office simply don’t feel like it’s real – that somehow it’s all just a show.. but no…

I’m not sure why it is really.. perhaps its that there’s no sales etc, it’s civil service and relatively low stress – though it was mental this week.. I’m not sure why it’s such a happy place – but it is.

Sorry, I’m not articulating very well ce soir.

On a lighter note – this was in the daily e-mail today – which I thought was just classic

So yes, me be a bum again.. can’t wait to be in OZ and on the road now.. lots left to sort out before I leave, but it will get done I’m sure. I can’t thank my friends, and especially my boss Andrew (mad, but great) in the M.E.D enough for making my last year and a half an amazing one, I will miss them all a lot.

Well, it’s been, oh, I dunno, maybe a month or something since I last raved about how wonderful skype is. It really is you know!! hehe – my friend Barry just pointed me to jyve.com which is a plugin for skype – amongst other things it can be used to show whether a skype user is online..

So .. on the right hand side of the page you will see this: icon. If it’s green, it means I’m online on skype, red means offline. If you have skype installed on your PC you can click the icon – and my PC will ring (like a phone) and we can talk. It’s that simple. Free phone calls anywhere in the world. Magic.

Other than that.. frickin’ twisted my back or something (well, my back) at squash last night.. quite annoying as I’ve been beaten consistently by my mate Fraser in work – and I was *hoping* to snatch the last match before I left NZ.. looks unlikely now. Ahh well.