Dah! It's been a month already since my last post. Time flies when your job sucks and all you do is work, eat, and sleep.
In the last month... Colin and I went to Auckland for a weekend for Steff's 21st. That was a great weekend. We only had 3 days/2 nights in Auckland, and we saw as many of our friends as we possibly could. Sadly, many of our friends have already moved overseas. We spent Saturday morning/afternoon at Tiritiri Matangi (bird sanctuary island). We saw TONS of birds first thing in the morning, since we took a path we thought no one else was on. Greg the takahe was up at the visitor centre, and we saw him steal someone's sandwich, and then all the volunteers ran out to try and take it away. We got lost on the walking tracks, got chased and attacked by fantails for a half hour, and eventually made our way down to the beach, and we found penguins in the nesting boxes! Nesting boxes are man-made cement nests with a window in the top and a lid that goes over the window. You open the lids and look inside, and once in a while, you find some penguins!
Penguin Nesting Box
(This photo is actually from my last trip to the island in 2006.)
Greg the Takahe
Takahes were presumed extinct until some were found in fjordland in 1948. Wikipedia says there are only 225 of them.
Greg asking me for my sandwich in the visitor center. He already stole one earlier from a bird photographer.
We spent that evening at Steff's party, which was a total blast. I drank a bit more than I usually do these days, and would up almost sick from an unusually small amount of alcohol. I had a rough night. The next morning we went to the sky tower for lunch with Hayden. I felt dizzy the whole time (being a bazillion feet above the city with panoramic views didn't help), and then got a fish bone stuck in my throat! I spent the afternoon in Hayden's bathroom trying to pull the bone out, and gagging until I had a headache. It was two more days until I think I swallowed it. NOT FUN. Then, that night I got a cold.
We have no heaters at work, and the southerlies started blowing as soon as I got sick. It's probably somewhere in the 40's (deg F) inside at work when the southerlies blow. This made me much sicker. I recovered a bit, and spent the weekend trying to determine my rights as an employee and called the department of labor on monday. Work gave me a warmer jacket, but that's it.
Work is driving me insane. My bosses are idiots. My new coworker is good, but I'll probably never see him again because of how the schedule works. He used to manage an outdoor clothing/equipment shop in town. He would probably be a better store manager than our current one. I think he'll take my job when I leave. I get to put in 4 weeks notice in another 1.5 weeks.
7 weeks and 3 days until I fly home!
But I REALLY do NOT want to leave Colin behind.
6 weeks without Colin = torture.
Tonight Colin and I went back to the beach in Eastbourne to look for penguins. Kenny and Bea took us out there a while back. Blue penguins were hopping all over the place and making funny penguin noises. It was great, but it was pouring rain and freezing cold, so I didn't bring my camera, and we didn't stay a super-long time. Tonight we had my camera, decent weather, and borrowed Kenny's massive super-powered flashlight. We spent an hour on the beach at sunset. No penguins. We warmed up at the local pub and ate some snacks, then went back an hour later. Still no penguins. We were too cold to hang outside for another hour, so we gave up for the night. Hopefully, we'll go back later this week.
I think I just felt an earthquake as I was uploading photos! My iBook screen was wiggling and something metallic in the wall was vibrating -- the water heater I think.
Earthquake!!!
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