Yet another gorgeous day. Mowed the lawn for the first time; took care of the car. Jeez housework takes way longer now that B isn't here to split the chores. I made ginger kisses out of my kiwi baking book for the New Years get together this evening. I was exhausted all day but couldn't sleep (I was up late the night before researching Great White Sharks). ;-) Poor Laura (sis) was messaging me--4am her time and 1am my time-- she works nights now so she tries to keep to the same schedule even when she's not working.

Arrived at Josien and Marc's in time for a fantastic sunset. The South Island was clearly visible.


Doug and Laura were rained out of their camping trip and arrived home late last night after driving 14 hours to get home. We all talked until midnight, and then watched the fireworks in Auckland on tv. We had to laugh when the New Years' tv programming abruptly ended at around 12:10am. 21 more hours until Seattle gets its New Years'.

Beaches

Woke up to a gorgeous morning. Here's the view outside my front door, I took this picture to send to Grandma after she sent me a picture of the snow she woke up to at her place.


Met Josien in Porirua at Spotlight. I had to buy some tea towels of course; I got the cutest campervan ones, perfect for summer. You wouldn't believe how big those campers are inside that the kiwis camp in. Huge and roomy. Anyways.
I made sure to buy a journal while I was near the Porirua mall; I'm on my 3rd journal now. I like writing in it as I just don't feel comfortable being too open over the internet in this blog.
We stopped to say goodbye to friends before they left on their road trip up north (everyone seems to be going up to the northlands for the holiday). Then finally we were off to "shell beach." That's not it's real name, just the name I gave it.

Josien did great walking the very steep trail down to the tide pools despite being almost 6 months pregnant and wearing sandals. We found lots of pretty paua shells for her. We found live crabs, and even a starfish.
Josien told a great story about how when she was camping in France (I can't get over when my friends talk about "camping in France") she found a ton of starfish on the beach. Before she went to bed she laid them out to dry, but in the middle of the night she heard tons of cats. The cats ate all of them except for a tiny starfish that she saved for years. I like starfish story.

After the beach and a few other random chores (it's fun to be with a pregnant woman when she buys 4-5 bottles of wine-- for guests) we went to her house. Their house is amazing, right on the beach.

When her husband Marc came home, we all went out for a swim. The water was waist deep for several dozen yards out to sea. I jokingly asked Josien if there were sharks in the water, and she said "yes." Then she said that they were great white sharks. (!!) She said not to worry though, that the sharks keep to the island across the way (The island that was clearly visible-- maybe 5 kms away). Naturally I promptly got out of the water. When I got home I researched whether the area really has Great White Sharks and apparently it's true, one was even spotted this time last year on the same part of the beach I was swimming in, in waist-deep water. aaaaagh

Sailing and Ice Cream

Well today showed me that I wasn't an idiot afterall for staying in NZ while my hubs ski bums around the West Coast. It was social sailing today. About 5 hours of fun. We sailed a double handed dinghy, a 420-- I took turns crewing and skippering. My boat mate was a little nervous about jybing and I couldn't figure out why; I had never ever worried about jybing before. Well, naturally on my first jyb the boat tipped over. It didn't just tip over, it turtled! Agh! At least Evans Bay, where we were sailing, is deep enough that the mast didn't get stuck at the bottom like it used to in Garbage Bay (Union Bay) at U of WA.


With two other boats, we sailed to nearby Oriental Parade for gelato.


We parked right up on the sand.


We took a leisurely sail back to Evans Bay. I've learned that when it's Sailing Day, you keep the whole day open for the sail, you never know how long you'll be out and there's usually beers at the yacht club afterwards.

Ack!

Woke up this morning to 130 km/hr (80mph) winds. It was BLOWING. I thought for sure that the concert tonight at the bottom of my hill for Fat Freddy's Drop would be cancelled, so I didn't bother ordering tickets. A friend invited me to see the movie, Somewhere, at a cute movie theatre that I've been wanting to go to for awhile, so I went there instead. Basically, the movie sucked donkey balls. I did however learn that gingerbread and lemonade is the best combination ever. While a lot of small movie theatres in New Zealand don't sell popcorn, they do sell wine and yummy baked goods, which is an okay trade by me.

Went home to drop off some library items and go grocery shopping-- the town was dead. Deader than usual. And to top it off, it was perfect weather and you could hear the concert from the library, from the video store, from the supermarket, and from my front yard-- ACK! Made the wrong decision there.

New Zealand Film Festival around here

I slept better than I thought I would last night. Yay for independence! Went on an organization rampage, poor B, he's gone only a few days and I'm getting rid of massive quantities of paperwork.

Watched "Heavenly Creatures," that movie is crazy.


Also saw "The Piano," for the first time.


I'm trying to make my way through a whole list of New Zealand movies that I've collected over the past year and a half. Also saw, "The Fastest Indian," (good), and "Angel at my Door" (ick) earlier this week.

Lazy times

Woke up this morning at my friend's house feeling much better. We go on a great walk around Titahi Bay. The weather isn't as sunny as it's supposed to be, but still not bad. Bryce is keeping me updated with his whereabouts by text.

I drive home and start Lazy Day. I have a pile of dvds and books to get through and I don't plan on leaving the house for a long time.

I skype with Bryce in the early evening, he looks happy.

Christmas

Cinnamon rolls again, and coffee on the doorstep. Finally, a peaceful, sunny day. I'm relieved that his plane will take off in calm weather. It leaves at 3pm. The hours keep advancing on the clock. We go for a little walk to look at the view.


We realized that we have enough time to go to the beach again. This will go down as the saddest beach trip in history.
At home, Bryce finishes up his packing. I have him help me shake out a big rug that I can't shake alone. I ask him to get a vase down from a high shelf for me. I remind him of our skype date tomorrow. We have leftovers. I thought I would drive him to the airport but I am crying too hard. He leaves the house for the last time and I see that he doesn't really miss it. He will miss me but he's happy to be going. This whole trip has been much harder for him than for me, especially the four months where I had a job and he stayed at home. I'm glad I'm not leaving now, but I'm still struggling with my decision to choose a summer NZ for a little while over my husband. We know that it won't happen again.

I wait with him in line at the airport, for an hour. There's problem with their software and even the plane is delayed. The saddness stops with the boredom of waiting in line. We rush together to security, and we realize that's it. A quick kiss and I race to my car so I can watch his plane leave. Stupidest idea ever. His plane disappears into a tiny speck.

Luckily I had plans to be at a friend's house for the day; we have a great time and by the end of the night I feel almost normal again. The last week of dreading has not been fun. Now it's time to see how I do.