So I'm back on the road and venturing around the South Island!!! I was looking forward to watching the North Island leave and the South Island arrive outside on the ferry, but as it turns out my sea legs haven't gotten any better over time, and even though the Cook Strait was really very calm, I found myself having to lie down on a bench outside and close my eyes to make it through the first three hours of the trip. Once we'd gotten past the Cook Strait it was all no problem. The sea was as calm as a lake and the scenery was simply stunning. I can only imagine what Captin Cook must have felt as he sailed slowly through the surrounding hills leading into Picton. An absolute treasure of peace and tranquility, still very much unchanged even to this day.
Picton itself is a lovely, tiny picturesque village. It reminded me very much of Coromandel, except a bit bigger. I went for a breathtaking walk to the Snook Track which lead me out onto the end of a hill poking back into the sea the way we'd sailed in. It was a perfect first day on the South Island. The hostel I stayed at provided free chocolate cake and ice-cream in the evening and I went to bed both tired and happy. Unfortunately the ext morning I found that my iPod had gone. It's possible I left it on the Snook Track when I stopped to eat my sandwich, but I didn't actually use it, and I was careful to make sure I hadn't left any rubbish behind, so I believe it may have been stolen. It full effects of this I'm still waiting to feel. My iPod has been a trusty companion for a very long time now, and with so many long bus and plane journeys ahead of me, I'm not looking forward to having just the humm of the engines to keep me company. Although I'm not entirely without music, I did crudely record 4 or 5 jazz albums onto my dictaphone, straight from the stereo, so at least that's something, and they're really good jazz albums!
Next day I get the bus to Blenheim, where Paul is currently staying and working. My first impression of Blenheim is not a good one, it's a bit of a dump to be honest. But it was great to spend a couple of days with Paul, and next time I see him will be in Thailand! He's been working ridiculously hard lately. In the past 28 days he's had 2 days off, and working 12 hour days in a food factory. Hard graft for sure!
Well my internet is playing up so I'm going to post this before it breaks and hopefully continue more soon!

Hello, my apologies for not having written an update for about 5 months now, but I find when in one place, working a normal job that time disappears as quickly as it does back home in England. When I was travelling to a different town each week I always found time to write and things to write about, but when you stay in one place the time whisks away and I forget all the things that have happened! So now I'll attempt to catch up on what's been happening this year so far.

I'm into my last week of working at Dockside now, and it's going to be really quite sad to leave. I've made some of the best friends I've ever made here in Wellington, and most of them I've met through working at Dockside. We have a tradition that if you're leaving or it's your birthday that you get thrown into the sea, off the edge of the restaurant. Well my birthday and leaving date are within two weeks of each other, so I'm getting a double dip! And let me tell you, despite the fact that I'm still wearing sun tan lotion and sun glasses to walk around, the water is absolutely freezing!!!
It's been so strange being here at this time of year. We've had summer already, and it should now be autumn, but they don't really have deciduous trees here, so there's no leaves disappearing, or colour changing. The Sun is still really hot, although the wind is very cold and once the Sun goes down you know it's not summer any more. I still walk to work in a t-shirt, but have to come home in two layers and a coat. It's all thrown my body clock out a fair bit!

Our other English housemate, Nancy, has left and gone off travelling through China, and Sheepii has also gone back to Hong Kong, so we have new people in The Bruce! A girl called Mondo (Amanda) who has the personality of someone who actually lives at festivals, and a German couple called Charlotte and Moriz. It's been great having new people in and the Germans especially are hilarious! We've also had couchsurfers staying with us pretty much constantly, a few in tents in the garden again. I'm so pleased I have my own room though, privacy with that many people is a must!

We had the best houseparty I've ever been to a few weeks ago. We had three different bands play in our house (watch out for Battlecat, they're amazing!), a DJ once they'd finished, table football outside, fire poi, a pizza making conveyor belt! It was unlike any party I've been to before, we could have charged people to come it was so good! Hopefully the pics uploaded, but I think they're all a bit dark to really see how awesome it was!

I also had my birthday a few days ago and had once of the best birthdays I've ever had! Normally I never make much of a big deal about organising people together on my birthday. I only expect a few people to turn up and we have a few drinks and maybe dance somewhere. Perhaps this year wasn't too different either, except lots of people turned up, we had lots of drinks and danced the night away with abandon! Once again I must thank my wonderful friends from Dockside for making it such a great day. Especially a huge thanks to Kelsey, who got me a Greenstone necklace. Greenstone is a really big deal here in New Zealand. It's a sacred stone that you cannot buy for yourself or ask another to get for you. It has a long tradition of being used and revered here starting with the first Maori inhabitants who fulfilled an ancient prophecy by travelling over the seas to find 'the God stone' as it was known then. When you see someone with one, it means that person is special to someone else. I know old Maori who have never been given one, and have already expressed how impressed and jealous they are that I have one. They're normally very expensive, but Kelsey had her father carve mine for me himself. It is also a stone they believe needs to be blessed. Wearing a Greenstone you bought yourself or got someone to buy you, or one that has not been blessed is a sure-fire way to have really bad luck. This is believed so strongly I regularly get asked if I've had it blessed, as no one wants to run the risk that I'm wearing it without knowing what it is. So thank you, Kelsey, it's the best present I think I've ever got! 

Hello, update coming soon but first please note my site will be reverting to the old www.thelongpathway.weebly.com domain name!!!