Peace

I realize that I find extreme peace when I pause for a minute and stand out on my balcony and look at an amazing Auckland sunset.

You gotta enjoy the little things.

Stunning.

too much too much

Today is just blah.

I looked at my bank account and cried. I haven't had this little money in like, 2 years. I feel like a total FAILURE for not being able to find a job. I've tried so hard, but no one is interested. I'm at a total loss for what I should do.
My friends wedding is going to cost me a lot of money, money I don't have. It's all too much too soon after I'm home. Literally 3 days after I'm home. I can't afford it, I don't know what to do...
Actually I know what I'm going to do.. curl up in bed and pretend I can make it all go away.

I'm so happy here, but I'm letting this money issue get the best of me. sigh.

It's Cookie Time... It's Always Cookie Time

My weakness, my "Achilles Heel" so to speak. I've pretty much become addicted to them. They really are the best cookies I have ever had. Triple chocolate warmed up. Yep, drool.

Lifes little moments/lessons

I've learnt a lot of things while I've been here. Most of them being about myself, but I thought I'd share a few.

1. Flatting with a bunch of girls is so great. Showing off new clothes/shoes is actually a bunch of fun. We all get along, have never fought, and somehow have a great balance within the house.
2. Flatting is expensive! I was so ignorant to the cost of living before. I've definitely learnt that lesson.
3. Living off money with no income is stressful. I'm so thankful that I had saved enough, so else I'd be in a bit of trouble.
4. Being a foreigner trying to find a job when even Kiwis are having issues trying to get work is a bad bad thing.
5. I'm a lot more independent and confident on my own then I ever thought I was.
6. Travelling is quite possibly the best thing ever.
7. Saying good-bye to the people you meet on your little journeys doesn't get easier the more you do it.
8. Boys can actually be amazing, treat you well, make you happy and laugh all the time.. in other words, not all boys are jerks.
9. (in reference to #8) Kiwi boys are far superiour to Canadian boys.
10. I'm not the only one who loves Anime, Disney movies, ice cream cones with a scoop of mint chocolate chip and cookies and cream (best combination ever), and wishes they were fluent in Japanese.
11. I really enjoy grocery shopping. Finding things that are on special, reading the ingrediants, comparing sizes to prices. With that said, bringing groceries home on the bus is awful.
12. Motorcycle rides are the best. Especially ones that include riding while the sun is setting. So lovely.


I love spending mornings lying on this beach. Auckland decided to have amazing weather last weekend, and I took full advantage of it. Unfortunately I think the nice weather days are going to be few and far between now. Winter is fast approaching, and the days are getting colder and shorter.

I love it when the Sky Tower is blue. It's been blue for the past little while, and seeing it all lit up when I go for my runs/walks at night just makes them so much better. It was previously purple and green, which looked nice, but blue is best :)


Who would have though that I would actually enjoy cooking? At first, I couldn't stand having to cook myself meals. It was a lot of salads and basics. However, now I've come to actually like it. It can be very relaxing. I wonder if I will keep continuing to cook when I'm back in Canada.. hmm.. probably not.

I know that I mentioned this in a previous blog ages ago, but really, this is what I look at while I'm waiting for the bus. I really live in such an amazing location. 5 mins walk to the sea wall, surrounded by the ocean and beaches, walking distance into the city. I still don't get how I got so lucky.

I don't think I will ever get tired of seeing the Sky Tower. I see it everyday, and everyday it makes me so happy. It's best when I'm out in town at night. I love being so close to it and seeing it all lit up. It just, really feels like home.

I always knew that my desire to go to New Zealand really ment something. Sure, I've been stressed about money, finding work, etc. But come on, my life has been incredible. I'm so happy here, it's actually ridiculous. Home sickness has melted away. I'm trying so hard not to dwell on the amount of time I have left, cause it actually make me sick to my stomach to think about it. I wish so much that I could be here till November. I don't think I can say it enough...

I love New Zealand, I love Auckland, I love my life.

Nail my feet to the ground.

I don't want to go home. I don't want to go home. I don't want to go home.

I am so happy here, and everything is just so wonderful. I can't leave in 2 months..
Don't make me leave
:(

Too bad I am pretty much broke and no one wants to hire the Canadian girl whose VISA expires in 6 months.
Eep, stress stress!

CANCELLED

I was worried enough about going through security at the Bali Airport. There are signs everywhere saying "Death Penalty for Drug Trafficers" Not that I would have drugs on me or anything like that, but when there are people pushing handfuls of drugs at you, you get a little concerned that someone might have slipped something in your bag. Needless to say, when I packed, I took everything out of my bag, checked all the little compartments and made sure it was totally empty.

I was a little sad to be leaving Bali, but excited to get back to Auckland. My flight was at 1am, so I got to the airport about 1030pm. To even check in, you have to get your bags scanned, then searched. It is intense. While waiting to check in, I started talking to an Aussie guy named Daniel. He was on the same flight. We soon learned that our flight was delayed 4 1/2 hours! I started freaking out, cause I had a connecting flight to Auckland that left at 330pm from Sydney, and now we weren't supposed to arrive in Sydney till 240pm! Daniel was great, he calmed me down, assured me that when we got to Sydney, he would help me find someone to get me through security fast to make sure I caught my next flight. It was great to have someone help, since I was alone. We checked our bags in, then he decided we should go back into the city and get some drinks instead of waiting at the airport. At this time, another Aussie guy named Tristan had joined us. I had no Indo money left, so they paid for the cab and bought me drinks and it was a nice evening. They helped me relax and assured me I would catch my flight.

So, we rock back up to the airport at 330am. Flight is cancelled. The airport was empty, everyone else on the flight had learned it was cancelled much earlier, and were gone already. I instantly started crying, and sobing about how I was now going to miss my connector flight back to Auckland. I am SO GLAD I had met up with Daniel and Tristan, they helped so much. After what seemed like ages at the airport, they shuttled us off to a 5 star hotel for the night and next day. Hmm.. free stay at a 5 star hotel, an extra day in Bali.. maybe it wasn't so bad. So we stayed here:

Sanur Beach Hotel. I don't really have to say how nice it was, you can tell from the photos. The 3 of us had a room, and we didn't sleep at all. I was too stressed, they were too wired. We enjoyed an amazing free breakfast, then I got my flights sorted out. Once I had changed my flight to Auckland and it was all settled, we enjoyed a full day at this awesome hotel. Basically just in the pool all day.

7pm it was back to the airport. More security. We now had to fly to Melbourne, then connect to Sydney. Then I had a 5 hour wait to catch my flight to Auckland. It was an extremly long night/day of travel.

Melbourne was another flight disaster. Our gate had changed for the flight to Sydney, but when I checked in, they neglected to issue me a new boarding pass. I went through security, arrived at the gate.. it was empty. So back I went to the check in, and the woman freaked. My flight was leaving in 5 minutes, which I would have known if they had given me the right boarding pass! So I ran to the new gate, just as I was about to go through security, I realized I had left my laptop at the previous gate. I was in panic and running as fast as I could to the other gate (which was on the other side of the airport, and you had to go through security again) I cut in line, threw my stuff on the scanner, grabbed my laptop, then booked it back to my gate. All the while I could hear them urgently paging me, that my flight was waiting to depart. I got the gate basically in tears saying "I'm sorry" over and over again. I actually almost missed it. When I got on the plane, sat down and relaxed, I passed out. It had been 48 hours of no sleep, extreme stress and my body said "NO MORE!"

Sydney airport was good. No problems. Tristan waited with me for 2 hours to keep me company, which was so lovely of him. I got back to Auckland, and it was pouring rain. But I was soooo happy to be home.

Man, 7 flights in 2 weeks. I'm becoming a pro at this whole airport/flying thing :)

Bali Nightlife

Going out in Bali is an experience. It's totally different from clubbing back home. Outside some of the clubs, there are people with handfuls of meth just trying to get you to buy it from there. Never seen that before. It's rather pointless to seriously do your hair and makeup, or even get dressed up fancy. You sweat all your makeup off within an hour, your hair/clothes get sweaty almost instantly. Seriously, I have never sweat so much.

Busy busy Kuta. This is tourist central. Right outside Sky Garden, where I spent 2 nights.

Yaah, we don't have performers in our clubs back home. This club was also 4 levels, with different styles of music on each level.

Bintang beer. Bali's famous beer, I drank a lot of that.

Favourites :)

Vancouver Cops. They were taking a little holiday after dealing with all the Olympic stuff. They were awesome and bought me beers. I'll be looking out for them when I'm downtown Vancouver now. haha

MIKE. He was this random guy that stayed in the hostel for 2 nights, but just kept showing up everywhere. We ran into him all the night. He was odd, funny, and rather strange. But really fun to hang out with. He also looks like Bret from Flight of the Conchords :)

Just a tiny bit of Kuta

Just a few shots of Kuta.

This is Kuta Beach. It's really pretty, but not the cleanest beach around. It's mostly for sufers cause it gets great waves. I admit, I didn't go swimming in it, but we walked along it. There were heaps of shops on the beach, full of people yelling "cheap cheap! Good price for you darling!"

Ubud

Myself and 4 other hostel friends decided to go up to Ubud for the day. if any of you have read "Eat, Pray, Love" when the woman is in Bali, she's mostly in Ubud. Just a little fun fact. It's about an hour and half drive away from Kuta, but the drive is really beautiful. It was so cool to actually get out of the main touristy part for a bit and just see natural Bali.

Rice Fields. Something I was really looking forward to seeing. It was just green. So lush and beautiful.

So Lovely :)

They had a giant market in Ubud. It was so full on and really exshausting. Natasha and I got seperated from the others so we went off shopping. Neither of us bought anything, however I got whipped in the back with a dress by a woman because I wouldn't buy it. As I was walking away she was yelling "20 thousand!!" which is only $2.. so it was a super deal for a cute dress, but she whipped me! So no way! haha

Now, I'm not the biggest fan of monkeys, but when you visit Ubud, you basically have to go to monkey forest. Basically all it is a path that leads to this forest/park thing and it's full of monkeys. They aren't in cages, they are just walking around. Free to jump on you, pull at your clothes is you wish. Now, I made sure that didn't happen to me, but there were people with monkeys on their shoulders just loving life.

I admit, the babies were really cute. There were heaps of babies too.

So concludes our day in Ubud. It was really lovely.

Temple time

On our way to Ubud for the day, our driver stopped to show us this temple. He didn't tell us the name, or anything about it, but it was still very beautiful and peaceful.

Before you were allowed to enter the temple, women put silk skirts on you. Once again, not sure why, but it was pretty cool anyways.