I'll try to stay awake as long as I can

I'm sure everyone has been anxiously awaiting an update on how I'm doing in the YMCA competition. I'm still in the lead!! Sooo stoked. Minus the fact that I am unbelievably sick of the gym. I can hardly bear to be there for an hour, much less my usual 2 hours (5x/week). Its brutal. Katie made me an awesome workout which helps me to stay a bit motivated. I'm halfway done, just 14 more days to go!
I forget exactly what I wrote about last week, so I will just begin my ramblings as per ushe. Friday after going to the gym I went and saw Boy (a kiwi flick about a little Maori boy) with Mama T (workmate) and her son and neighbours kids. I picked up some Candy from Pac n Save and ran into Katie and Adam. I swear I see Katie every time I am buying crap food! Flippeeen Boy is a sad movie. I cried a little bit. Also, was pretty funny as it was set in the 80s. Some people thought I might not understand the kiwi humour. However, I think the 80s were just a hilarious time all over the world.
Saturday I worked out, skyped the whole world and then spent ages cleaning the bathroom and kitchen and doing laundry because it was a sunny day! Honestly, when its sunny you would never know its winter. It gets warm and feels like Ottawa Spring (you know when its warm enough to wear sandals, a tee and shorts just because you remember how cold the winter was). I went to church for Impact, a youth conference that night. The band was fantastic, so cohesive and just awesome sound. Unfortunately, the speaker was rough. I had heard him speak before and loved it, but he dumbed the message waaay down and just did like 1000 alter calls, so after 3 hours I just peaced out. Couldn't handle it anymore. I went home and ate rocky road chocolate and watched the Mentalist, my current favourite show because J & K's friends lent them Season 1. Its such a good show. All about this guy who used to be a psychic, but after his family was brutally murdered he decided he wasn't a psychic at all and joined the police to help them track down killers using his mental prowess and his keen ability to read people's body language to solve crimes. LOVE IT.
But I couldn't fall asleep because J & K were away for the weekend and I was afraid of being murdered.
I worked out Sunday morning and then took a day trip with Mike to Wairarapa. It was pouring rain in Upper Hutt (shocking!) but was only 50% chance over the hill, so we chanced it. Got lunch supplies at Pac n Save and drove to Masterton. Stopped along the way at a number of tramps so I could find them on my own next time I want to go for a walk, since I have now done Canon Point over 1,000,000 times. No exaggeration. Masterton is an insanely small town, really old school buildings, and its famous for its wineries. Some fab Pinot Noirs come out of there, I am told. Stopped at Cabbage Tree Winery to try a few wines. I tasted a Pinot Noir followed by a Semillon. Big mistake, supposedly, you are meant to have the white first. But, I am not a wine snob and I prefer reds so I had red first. The owner showed us his wine making set-up, I think winter is really slow for them. I spotted a Book sale in the town hall, so of course I bought a few books. Including a little kids book for Daph!


Moving on, drove to the coast, stopping a couple of times for photo ops. My. camera. sucks.

Final destination was Cape Palliser Lighthouse which I have wanted to see for ages. There were exactly 248 steps to the top. Made a bet on how many steps there were. I guessed 275 and Mike guessed 200. I win! The view from the top was absolutely stunning. We ate lunch, salami sandwiches with avocado, brie, hummus and chips ?!?! People here eat 'chippy' sandwiches. I was apprehensive, but when in Rome! Can't say it was very good, The crunchiness was a bit unnerving. Will probably never do it again, but it was an interesting cultural experience. There were 2 kiwis up the top of the lighthouse and I got to talking with them, they were SO friendly. When I said goodbye the girl just gave me the hugest hug. As a Jackson, I am not too big on the physical contact so my first thought was that this chick was on drugs, but I'm sure she was just friendly...

View from Cape Palliser Lightouse

There was a seal colony down by the sea, Mike got a bit too close and one of the seals started flipping out (do you see what I did there? Seals don't have arms they kind of have flippers...). It was growling and bearing its teeth. Got some pictures of it on Facebook if you are into that.


The pinnacles were just down the road, but it was about 1 hour until it got dark and the walk was estimated to take 1-2 hours, so it would be tight, but we walked it anyway. My pictures are complete rubbish and do not do the pinnacles justice, so you'll have to take my word for it that they were really impressive. Parts of Lord of the Rings were filmed there. That doesn't mean much to me anymore as every single place in New Zealand says part of the movies were filmed there.
Pinnacles

Got back to the car as the sun was setting and drove back to Upper Hutt where it had been raining all day! Luckily it was great weather in Wairarapa region. Caught up with J & K and had a flatmate night of watching the Mentalist and eating raspberry slice. Yum.
Work on Monday was brutal, its slow so there was nothing for me to do. I basically sat on my desk all day and distracted my workmates. I forgot my lunch and hadn't had breakfast because I went to the gym before work. Luckily I had a liquid breakfast and 2 granola bars in my car. I went to Kathmandu (an expensive version of MEC; I know what your thinking, MEC is already expensive! but this is even MORE expensive) because there was a 60% off sale, so I wanted to get some thermals and a fleece. Sadly, it was still too much for me. A crap fleece with no zipper was 50$! Heck to the no. My car stalled 3 times in the parking lot, and its not even standard! Soooo annoying. I was late getting back to work, by about half an hour, luckily no one cares.
Last night I went to Jade and Tracey's after work. Tracey made an amazing dinner of Lamb with mint yogurt sauce on pita with a side salad. For dessert we had mini meringues with cream and berries. It does not get any better than that! Jade and I watched Shortland Street which is a soap opera filmed in Auckland. Complete rubbish and totally addictive. Worst acting ever!
Today work was better, went for a walk at lunch along the Hutt River which reminded me so much of internship last summer when I ran along the Ottawa River at lunch time.
Got an email from Dad today, apparently the parents are having heaps of fun driving across the country to the NWT. Crazy.
I'm giving my 2 weeks notice to my boss tomorrow, I'm excited! South Island trip starts July 8th I booked the ferry tonight. Only 200$! Oh wow.
LOVE!