Home for a Rest

I have been home for just under 2 weeks. It now feels like I've never really left.
To be 100% honest, I have been loving home. It's been a whirlwind of friends and family with everything going on. Today has been my first full "nothing" day. You really just can't replace your friends and family eh?
I know that I did do some changing/growing while I was away, because I came home and realized my bedroom was too young and immature. I LOVED it before I left. Haha, I've been slowly changing it to suit my tastes now.

Auckland, New Zealand.
What do I even say about the 7 1/2 months I spent there. I'm still grasping at straws as to what I should write.
For some reason, it was pretty easy to get over the sadness. Maybe it's cause I was instantly busy and caught up with weddings and seeing all of my friends again, or maybe it's because I'm good at doing the whole "out of sight, out of mind" thing.
I feel myself not wanting to go back as desperatly as I thought I would. It just feels like a very long dream at this moment. I can't fathom the fact that I was there for so long, and also was lucky enough to visit Cook Islands, Australia and Indonesia.

I just.. can't write right now.
To Be Continued...

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Miss you most.

See ya later Auckland

Last day. How am I feeling on my last day in New Zealand?
Lets see..
sad, upset, lost, excited, nervous, panicked, etc..
I've been crying on and off and said goodbye to my lovely flatties this morning. Packing is done, yet reality hasn't hit me yet.

Last night, they finally gave the sky tower some color. Pink and Purple. It was the last time I'll really see it at night (FOR NOW), and was so happy to see it lit up in all it's glory.

New Zealand, is the best thing that has ever happened to me. It really has a part of my heart. Since the saying goes "Home is where the heart is", well, it looks like I've got 2 homes now.

I actually can't believe that this day is actually here. That it's happening. Tonight I leave on a plane, then I'm back home. Wow..
I really wanted to type out a long message about my trip right now, but I think I'll wait till I'm home.. see how I feel knowing how far away I am from it all..

..

I have 1 full day in New Zealand left....
I know that it's not really "goodbye", it's more of a "see you later" sorta thing, but still.. I've decided to dedicate my life to building a teleporter.

I've been starting to cry at random times. This is pretty much the hardest thing I've ever had to do.
I'm just not ready yet.

Change of Season

Tattoo. Finally.

Pumped and ready to go, but slightly terrified. However, it's peanuts compared to the monster on my back.

Making progress.

This was a happy moment. Lyall asked me to describe what it felt like. I replied with, "Like the needle was ripping through my skin and tattooing the bone." Pleasant, eh? Ribs, HURT.

It's very small and cute. I love it.

Like the dried blood on the C? Soo happy with it. And a giant thanks to my lovely flattie Renee that helped with the lettering.

New Zealand tattoo, accomplished.

xx

Reality and mild nausea set in.

I actually can't believe it's coming to an end. It's seems like just yesterday I arrived, terrified and not knowing what the next almost 8 months had in store for me.
This morning, the reality hit me. My departure date is in a week. A WEEK. The thought makes me sick to my stomach. I can't tell you where the past 7 months have gone. I am so thankful that I have written in my journal everyday. Documenting everything I did and all my thoughts. I'm sure it will be a tear fest when I read it when I'm home.

I was thinking yesterday what my favorite months have been. For some reason it was easy to pick Jan, Feb, March and May. I have reasons for why they are the best, and the others are not. If you wish to know, remember to ask when I see you all very soon.

I'm going to try and calm myself down/clear my head, so I'm off to go for a run along the water. It's warm and sunny today :)

ps. TATTOO TOMORROW.

2 homes.

No one would ever need to question my feelings towards Auckland. I make it very plain and clear, I Love Auckland.
I do really love Vancouver too, and I know now that my life is going to be 1 foot in Vancouver, 1 foot in Auckland.

Mercer released their 2010 Quality of Living survey, and it made me laugh that Van and Aucks got the exact same score. They tied for 4th overall in the world.
So maybe that's some insight as to why I've fallen in love with Aucks. It feels like home.

xx

Reliving memories

On my 3rd day in New Zealand, I climbed a volcano. It was called Rangitoto, and the hostel I was staying in offered a group climb. I made a blog entry about the climb, saying it was so hard and hot and I wore jeans to climb it. However, once you got to the top, it was incredible.
I've been wanting to climb it again for months. Everytime I try to go, my partner can't come, the weather is bad, or something just gets in the way. However, with the girls back, I was finally able to do it again. This time I wore athletic pants, instead of jeans. It was a much better choice.

We started the day with a rainbow. Good sign. I was excited to see how difficult it would be to climb again. Since being in Auckland, I've started running a lot and generally got myself into much better shape.

This was about halfway up. While it was no walk in the park, I definitely noticed that I wasn't struggling at all.

This is the big crater, right before the summit. Rangitoto is set to explode within the next 100 years. Since it's so close to the city, that will be a tragic day.

At the top! What a great feeling and what a view. I was so happy to accomplish it again, and have Kelsey and Kendra do it with me.

The terrain and path you follow is pretty rough. When you're going down, you're watching your feet and where you're stepping the entire. I rolled my ankle coming down. Thankfully it wasn't bad and didn't really start to hurt until the next day.

With the way the ferries run, you get 3 hours, or 6 hours to be on the volcano. We only did 3, but we had about 45 mins to kill before the ferry came, but everything around it is so gorgeous, so the wait was not a problem.

I love this place, so much.

Sugar Coma.

I finally got the girls back to Auckland. We decided to head back the Chocolate Boutique to get some mid afternoon dessert. It was delicious as usual. I'll certainly miss it when I'm back home.

Iced Chocolate :)

Heaven in food form. Iced chocolates, raspberry chocolate tart, pavlova. YUM

Raspberry chocolate tart. It was beyond delicious.

This picture just screams CUTE. I love it.

We tried so hard to finish it all. We failed. It was just way to much.

Pretty much dying at this point. I was bound and determined to finish the ice chocolate though, and I did :)

It was such a lovely day out in Parnell with my lovely ladies.