New Zealand - Part 6 of 12'ish

Part 6: Back 'Home' to Palmerston North
April 22nd: After a day's respite, it was back to the airport for me again today. I was finally going up north, flying via Christchurch to Wellington. When I booked the tickets, I was a bit annoyed that I couldn't get a direct flight, but it turned out to be a very good thing indeed, because it meant I got to see Clive! (my host-father) He'd been away at work in Palmy when I was in Chch earlier that week, so I hadn't gotten to see him - to my great disappointment. However, he called while I was there, and when he heard that I'd be flying back via Chch, asked me to leave my flight information with Ruth, so he could come out and see me in the airport! Yay! :-) I was incredibly touched that he'd do that, and SO grateful that I got to see him. As I'm sure you've figured out by now, my host-family means a LOT to me, and have really become my 'second family', so I'm glad I got to see at least some of them. It was extremely difficult to say goodbye to them when it was time to board my plane.


Once in Wellington Lauren and Tane picked me up and drove me to their place for a quick lunch (lovely, lovely kumera soup - yum!) before heading off to Palmerston North. Lauren had very generously offered to drive me there, and it provided us with an excellent chance to catch up and have a bit of a nostalgic drive around Palmy. Lauren and I met at Freyberg High School, so of course we had to drive by there and have a bit of a wander around to see what had changed. Not too much fortunately, so it wasn't too disconcerting to be back. The same can't be said about Winchester School (my old primary school) though... perhaps not so strange, considering it's been 20-21 years since I attended that school, but I still feel that time should stand still while I'm not in Palmy - so there! ;-)

Lauren and Tane dropped me off at Dot & Brent's place at around 5. Dot and Brent (and their kids) have been friends of my family ever since 1990 when we attended the same church as them, Nina and I went to school with their two youngest children, and Mum and Dad became very close friends with them. They were there for me when I returned as an exchange student, and I ended up in the same Youth Group as Tim, their youngest son, and their oldest son is now living in London and is the godfather of Jordan - so yeah, all in all, a very close friendship has survived between our families for more than 20 years - of COURSE I had to see them when I was back.

It was still too early for dinner when I arrived, so Dot and Brent asked me if there was anything I'd like to see while in Palmy. Since they lived just a few minutes walk from the house my family and I lived in the first time we were in New Zealand, I told them that I'd really like to go past there. I'd checked in the white pages that it was still the same family living there as when we rented the place, so even though they might not remember me specifically, I knew that they'd remember my parents, and wouldn't mind me dropping by. Turned out that Dot knew them too, so even less reason for concern on that regard.

... I'm not... altogether sure it was a good idea though... At least, it was definitely very, very bittersweet. Once again I'd expected time to stand still, and once again I'd been shown very forcefully that that was not the case at all!

The owners were home, and they did indeed remember me, but it turned out that they had subdivided the section of land, had built a new house where the garage used to be, and were now renting out the old house to another family. I know it's completely unfair, but it was horrendously disconcerting. I was invited to go for a walk around the garden of the old house, and then shown around in the new house. I didn't care much about the new place, to be honest, but went along with it to be polite. I stepped from the patio into the living room - and almost burst into tears when I recognized the old living room arrangement! "I had not expected to get this emotional!" ... but I did. Could hardly speak for being so choked up. Really, really weird!

We walked back home shortly after that, and Dot got dinner on the table for us. Dinner was as Kiwi as Kiwi can be :) Lamb chops for mains and then a Pavlova with feijoas and hokey-pokey ice cream for dessert. Yum! Shortly before I left Denmark, Dot had sent me an email, asking me if there were any New Zealand foods I specifically missed. My reply was an instant FEIJOAS! I fell in love with this fruit back in 1990, but have been completely unable to find it anywhere outside New Zealand. It wasn't in season when Lars and I were there in 2004, so I hadn't had any since 1999! Dot reassured me that they would be in season while I was there, and had proceeded to get a huge bag full for me! I was a bit afraid they wouldn't live up to my expectations, but fortunately they most definitely did :-D I think I can best describe their taste as being a bit like a mixture of kiwi and pear... it still annoys me that I couldn't bring any home with me ;)

Saturday morning Dot had invited Tim and his family over for brunch. I am SO glad I got this chance to see Tim again! He used to be one of my best friends when I lived there, and it was great to spend some time with him and finally get to meet his wife and children :)

New Zealand - Part 5 of 12'ish

Don't worry, they're not all as insanely long as the last one ;)

Part 5: Queenstown - Day 2
April 21st: My first day with no flights! And also my first day with no set plans. I celebrated this by sleeping in ;) Around 11 I was on the road though, and for the first time experienced the drive into Queenstown by daylight, so I could finally see how GORGEOUS it is! I really should have stopped to take some photos of that as well, but didn't think that far until it was too late.

I found a place to park near the gondola (cable car) that is one of the hallmarks of Queenstown and took the gondola up to Skyline to try out the Luge track. Oh, my goodness - SO MUCH FUN!!!!




The view from the gondola, and to the other side once I'd reached the top.


There were two different luge tracks - Scenic track, which everybody must start off on, in order to get a feel for the luge, and then Advanced which is a lot steeper, has sharper turns, jumps and tunnels. I'll repeat myself and once more say SO MUCH FUN!!!!

I'd originally just bought tickets to try it twice, but though their tag line is "Once isn't enough", it turns out that "Twice isn't enough" either ;) So I decided to go just once more and then head back down. And trust me - it was a battle not to do a fourth and fifth run as well! Say it with me now - SO MUCH FUN!!!


Don't I look like somebody having the time of her life? ;-)

The rest of the day was spent wandering around Queenstown - I had another ice cream at Patagonia (and posted a couple of photos to FB ;) ), went for a walk around Queenstown Gardens (and found Rebekka's roses) and had dinner at a lovely tapas restaurant. For a day I'd been sort of worried about, I ended up having a TERRIFIC time! :)

New Zealand - Part 4 of 12'ish

Part 4: Milford Sound - FLY!
The original plan had been to return to Queenstown by coach, as that was what I had booked from Denmark, but on the way out in the bus, we had been told that it was also possible to fly back to Queenstown and we would be able to book that on the spot, even if we hadn't included it in advance. I'd read about this already back in Denmark, but had initially decided against it, because I felt it was too expensive, but the more I thought about it, the more tempted I was. Several reasons:
1) I'd be back 3.5 hrs earlier! Worth adding as a consideration, as the coach wouldn't have me back until 8pm, and then I'd still have to get back into town in order to get dinner.
2) Though it was a lot of money, it wasn't actually expensive for what it was.
3) If not now, then when? I had the money in my budget, and knew I would regret it if I didn't do it for financial reasons alone.
4) AMAZING experience and fantastic view!
5) A once-in-a-lifetime experience.
And last, but not least...
6) Money for tourism = more help to Chch. Once the guide told us that proceeds would go to the rebuilding of Christchurch, there really was no doubt in my mind any longer.

I am SO glad I did! Yes, it cost a pretty penny, but it was worth every bit of it! Our guide met us as we disembarked and sent us towards the airport (airstrip, really). Here we were met by our pilot, Stan, and shown to our small 10-person Cessna. I was about to enter the plane through th back door, when Stan told me, "There's room for one up in the cockpit if you'd like?" Don't have to ask me twice. "CAN I???" I exclaimed, and giddy with joy over my luck, I immediately jumped in.

Without a doubt one of the coolest things I've ever done, so once again, I'll let the photos do the talking.








Queenstown coming up in the distance...


"They're making a left right turrrn!"





Hopefully it's now perfectly clear why I took 300 photos that day alone ;-)

New Zealand - Part 3 of 12'ish

Part 3: Milford Sound Coach-Cruise
April 20th: I was much unamused - my alarm clock would have rung at 6:30am, but I woke already at 5:30am with a raging headache :( I get those once in awhile, and when I wake up with them, pills will usually have no effect at all, but I took a couple anyway, prayed and hoped for the best. PTL it mostly disappeared within a few hours - NOT a regular occurrance, but I was very grateful!

Anyway, this was the day I had arranged for a coach-cruise trip to Milford Sound, so at 7:20am a taxi picked me up from the lobby and drove me to the Real Journeys office in town, where the bus awaited. And thus started one of the best days of the entire trip. There's not much to actually tell about the trip, because basically it was just one amazing view after another, so I think I'll let the photos do most of the talking. Suffice to say that during a 4-hour bus-ride I didn't touch my book once... in fact, I even forgot I had it! ;)






Te Anau - a quinessential New Zealand town.


Mirror Lake


On bush walks, you don't cut down trees! You build around them!








Milford Sound


See the fault line? I was quite intrigued by that!


Yes, that is my hair! I had forgotten a scrunchie. It was a delight to comb out that evening, I can assure you.


Seals relaxing in the sun :) We got to see a couple of dolphins too, but unfortunately I got no photo of them - I prioritised seeing them "for real" rather than just through a lense ;)






I love the spiderweb effect on the water!


Two-year-old site of a tree avalance.


Ten-year-old site of a tree avalance - just so show how quickly it regrows. But as you can see from the first photo, the trees grow on very, very, VERY little so no wonder avalances happen.

Right, this is long and picture heavy enough as it is - I'll leave the rest for my next post.

New Zealand - Part 2 of 12'ish

Part 2: Queenstown - Day 1
April 19th: Tuesday afternoon Ruth drove me back to Chch airport, and I got on a small plane to take me to Queenstown. It's only a 1-hr flight and except from being a bit bumpy when going over the Southern Alps, completely uneventful. I arrived safely to Queenstown, and managed to get my rented car without problems - even driving on the wrong side of the road was a smaller deal than I had feared, even if I did wash the windows a couple of times when I tried to find the indicator ;) My hotel was about half-way between the airport and the center of town, and right on the side of the main road, so very easy to find. The parking cellar was a bit of a challange though - the driveway down was very steep and winding. Not a problem going down, but a huge problem coming back up again, as you could only manage it in first gear... a fact I discovered when the car stalled half way up, and I had to reverse back down and try again! After that I'd floor it, cross my fingers and grind my teeth whenever I had to go up it ;) I tried to take a photo, but unfortunately steepness doesn't translate well to 2D.

Aaaanyway, I digress. When I checked in I was told that I had gotten "one of the nicer hotel rooms", and I would have to agree. It was nice and roomy and had the most amazing view, so it was almost a shame that I would only be using it to sleep in ;-) Below is a photo of my room and of the view I had from the table. Not a bad thing to see as you sit eating your breakfast, eh?


I got myself sorted in the room, and then drove down to Queenstown center to get some dinner and buy bread for my breakfasts (no restaurant connected to the hotel, but fortunately they had a toaster in the room). Everybody had been telling me that Queenstown is a really touristy place, but I've got to say that touristy in New Zealand is nothing like touristy in Europe, so I really liked the place, and found myself looking forward to Thursday, where I'd have time to just wonder around and enjoy the place :) As it was I found a nice sushi place for dinner, and then walked around town a bit to find a place to get some ice cream for dessert before heading back to the hotel. Easier said than done though, so after having fruitlessly gone up and down a few streets, I decided to enter one of the (many! must admit to that) tourist bureaus and ask there, figuring that they were more likely to be locals, rather than people I met on the street.

"Hi, I hope you can help me - I'm looking for a good place to get some ice cream?"
"Oh, you are almost there! Just around the corner, at Patagonia Ice Cream. They have the best homemade ice cream! And churros to! Man, now I want some!"

Heh, love the friendliness of Kiwis ;) And the ice cream was delicious. Turned out that it's one of the few places in Queenstown with free Wifi, so now I knew where to go to update FB :D

New Zealand - Part 1 of 12'ish

A warning in advance - this is going to be LONG and with loads of photos. I took 726 photos while away, and even after deleting the blurry ones, there are still well over 600 left. I'll do my best to narrow it down as much as possible, but even with splitting up the account, I have a feeling it's going to be really, really long - because the trip was really, really excellent, and I want to remember as much of it as possible!

Part 1: Christchurch
April 16th-18th: New Zealand and Denmark are pretty much as far apart as two countries can bee on this earth, so it takes absolutely forever to get there! On the way out I flew via Frankfurt which meant first a 1hr flight there, then a 12hr flight to Singapore and finally a 9hr flight to Christchurch. The flight was utterly uneventful for which I'm very, very grateful. After the horror of the 9hr delay last time I flew to NZ, I was relieved to find everything going smoothly.

Saying goodbye to Lars was every bit as difficult as I had feared, so the wait in Copenhagen airport - where we were still in the same country, but couldn't be together - was horrible! But fortunately the 'atmosphere' changed completely when I boarded the plane to Singapore. Suddenly I could go from being sad that I'd left Lars behind, to being excited about what I was flying towards. And PTL my homesickness never became as strong again. Sure, I missed Lars, but I knew that it was temporary, so it never got to the point where it overshadowed my enjoyment of the trip. So definitely worth it.

Singapore airport is without a doubt the best airport I've ever been to! Nice and open concourse, free foot massage chairs, a non-stop cinema, cheap sushi, free wifi... it was a real culture shock to go directly from Frankfurt airport (which is boring as!) to this one... but in a good way :) In Frankfurt airport I'd been sitting eating McDs while feeling really sorry for myself that I was leaving Lars behind. In Singapore, I sat down to eat a delicious dinner of sushi for the same price, while feeling really excited about soon being in New Zealand again! I am very grateful for this transition in mood and atmosphere.

The best part of the trip was when I arrived to New Zealand and had to go through customs. That's always rather elaborate when arriving to NZ because they're so careful about what people bring in of food, plant stuff etc. I'd brought some Easter candy, so of course I had to go through the "something to declare" line. When it was my turn, I went up and greeted the man at the counter.
"So where do you live?" he asked.
"In Denmark."
"No, I mean when you're not in Denmark. Where do you live here?"
"Oh, I don't live here! I've just come to visit."
"But you used to live here, didn't you?"
"Uhm.... yes?" (at this point, I was somewhat confused) "I lived in Palmy for two years when I was younger."
"I knew it! With that Kiwi accent, I knew you had to be a local!"
and with that, he sent me through :) Gave me a much needed laugh, and I was happy to discover my accent is still strong enough to fool even native Kiwis ;)

Ruth (my hostmother from 1996-1997) picked me up at the airport and dropped me off at their place for a nap while she went off to work (I had arrived at 9am). She returned shortly after lunch, and took me on a drive around Christchurch to show me some of the damage done by the February earthquake. Most of the worst affected part of town was still closed off though - e.g. the main square with the cathedral - because it's still unsafe to be there, so I only saw very limited damage, but even that was enough to show how devastating the quake was.

Hannah (my oldest host-sister) dropped by with her two kids, and it was terrific to see her again! She was the sibling closet to me in age, and we became very close the year I stayed with them. Unfortunately she had to go off to work, so we only got to see each other very briefly, but at least it was better than nothing. After dinner, Ruth drove me up to Amberley (just North of Chch) to see Annie (my second-youngest host-sister) who worked up there, which I really appreciated as I would have missed her otherwise. As it was, I knew I wouldn't get to see my last two host-siblings which was a huge shame, but since I was only there for a day - and a day during term at that - I guess I can only blame myself for that.

... No, wait, I can actually blame the earthquake for that as well!! Annie was supposed to have graduated from uni that week, so the whole family would have been in town for that, but with the quake, the graduation was postponed, so they weren't! Stupid earthquake!

We didn't actually get back from Amberley until well past 10pm, so I was asleep on my feet by that stage. It was worth it though :) I'm so glad I got to see Annie! Besides, I still reckon that jetlag isn't as bad when going to NZ as when going to e.g. the States (because the long flight there will ensure that your day is messed up no matter what), but it's still bad enough.

Mer' Scrapbooking...

Se nu bare hvad min iPad kan!

T-10 Saving Memories...

Jeg leger lidt med digital scrapbooking i øjeblikket, og vil se hvordan Smilebox virker...

Count-down til New Zealand - 3

T-24 Pros 'n' Cons
Jeg fik et chok i dag da jeg kiggede på kalenderen og opdagede at jeg ikke har mere end 16 arbejdsdage tilbage før New Zealand. 16. SEKSTEN!!! Det er jo ingenting!! Nu varer det ikke længe før jeg realistisk kan begynde at forvente at få mine billetter. MyPlanet sagde 2 uger før afrejse, og jeg kan mærke at nu vil jeg gerne snart have dem fysisk i hænde.

Jo tættere vi kommer til den 16. april, desto mere spændt bliver jeg og desto mere glæder jeg mig. Sidste uge brugte Anne og jeg lang tid på at chatte og finde ud af hvad vi skal de 2.5 dage jeg er i Sydney. Liz og jeg skriver mere sammen og chatter oftere end vi har gjort i årevis og glæder os helt vildt til endelig at se hinanden igen - for første gang siden januar 2004!!!

Jo tættere vi kommer til den 16. april, desto mere spændt bliver jeg, og desto mere nervøs bliver jeg. Det er første gang jeg nogensinde er på ferie alene - ikke rejser alene, det har jeg gjort mange gange, men rent faktisk skal sightsee'e alene - og selvom jeg normalt ikke har noget problem med bare at have mit eget selskab (så længe jeg også har en bog eller to i nærheden ;-) ), så ved jeg at det kommer til at påvirke hvor meget (eller rettere, hvor aktivt), jeg kommer til at savne Lars.

Det er også det længeste jeg nogensinde har været væk fra Lars siden vi begyndte at komme sammen, så jeg er lidt bekymret for hvor meget jeg kommer til at savne ham - og endnu mere for hvor meget han kommer til at savne mig. At savne ham vil være det værd for mig af egoistiske grunde. At savne mig vil være det værd for ham af uselviske grunde.

Jeg skal altså finde den perfekte gave til ham fra New Zealand! Normalt ville jeg kigge efter en eller anden togbog, men det bliver jo nok svært der...


T-19 Elmvang nee Tøndering
19 dage tilbage. Kun 19! Det bliver mere og mere vildt. Om tre uger er jeg ankommet til Christchurch og sidder enten og snakker med Ruth og Clive eller ligger og sover... formodentlig det sidste, alt efter hvordan jetlag'en behandler mig.

Her i weekenden slog det mig pludselig at mit kørekort stadig står som Tøndering, og jeg nåede at blive noget bekymret for om det ville give problemer når jeg skal leje bil. Skulle jeg prøve at nå at få det ændret? Kunne det gøres som en hasteopgave? Eller skulle jeg alligevel få et internationalt kørekort? Kunne DET nå at gøres inden jeg skulle afsted?

Men så besluttede jeg mig for at slå koldt vand i blodet. Det er New Zealand det her! Jeg medtager kørekort, pas og navneændringsattest. Be´r de kun om at se kørekort - nå ja, så hedder jeg Tøndering den dag. Be´r de om kun at se pas - så hedder jeg Elmvang. Og be'r de om at se både pas og kørekort, så KAN jeg ikke være den første de oplever stadig have kørekort i sit pigenavn, og navneattesten er tilpas straight-forward til at den burde kunne forstås, selvom den er på dansk.

Og helt ærligt - det er New Zealand det her - de skulle have ændret sig MEGET i mentalitet for at det skulle være et problem.

Jeg ringede til Mor og Far for at få en 'second opinion', og de var heldigvis helt enige.

And worst comes to worst - så er det bare en bil, og så klarer jeg mig uden. I Queenstown bliver det ikke noget problem overhovedet. I Palmy et lidt større, for så skal jeg finde en alternativ måde at komme til Hamilton, men selvom toget kun går en gang i døgnet, så går det dog, og ender det med at jeg er for sent ude, så jeg bliver nødt til at blive hængende hos fam, Costley en dag til... så går det nok også endda.

Meeeeeen... når jeg kommer hjem tager jeg nu alligevel forbi rådhuset og får nyt kørekort. Nu har jeg strittet imod i 7.5 år, men det er vist trods alt ved at være på tide alligevel ;)

Count-down til New Zealand - 2

T-36 Money, money, money, Must be funny, in a rich man's world
Så er den newzealandske og australske valuta hentet. Jeg havde glemt hvor forvestrålende deres sedler er. Se bare her:


T-32 To Luge or not to Luge
En ting jeg kunne finde på at lave i Queenstown når jeg alligevel er alene...

http://www.skyline.co.nz/queenstown/luge/

De åbner kl. 10, så det skulle være muligt at planlægge at komme forbi. Weeee :D

T-30 Australia, Here I Come!
... så T-46 burde jeg vel rettligt skrive, eftersom dette handler om Australien og ikke New Zealand.

Anne og jeg sad og chattede et godt stykke tid tidligere i dag, og jeg glæder mig så meget til at besøge hende nu! Det bliver 2.5 travle dage, men også rigtig, rigtig fedt!!!

Hun henter mig i lufthavnen når jeg ankommer til Sydney om morgenen den 2. maj og sammen med hele familien kører vi ud til Featherdale som er en Wildlife park ved Sydney. Yay! Koalaer og kænguruer - oh my! Vi spiser frokost derude og kører så videre til Blue Mountains / Three Sisters for at nyde naturen der. Hvis vejret tillader spiser vi fish'n'chips ved en strand i nærheden.

Dagen efter skal Sydney by udforskes. En tur over Habour Bridge, forbi Sydney Opera House (jeg har lovet Lars et billede foran SOH sammen med en Nemo-fisk, så nu håber jeg at jeg kan finde en sådan), rundvisning på The Rocks og en gåtur der tilfældigvis tager os forbi en butik med hjemmelavet chokolade. Og selvfølgelig den meget berømte Royal Copenhagen Icecream!

Den 4. maj skal jeg nok være i lufthavnen et sted mellem 13-14, så det er nok begrænset hvor meget der er tid til der, men vi har allerede overvejet et smut forbi Krispy Kreme, ud for at se den Oplympiske bådehavn (eller hvad i alverden det nu hedder) og så selvfølgelig en tur forbi en Swarovski-butik. Det er da et must!

Nu må vi se hvor meget eller hvor lidt vi når, men jeg GLÆDER mig! Ikke mindst til at møde Anne efter 15'ish år som e-mail-pennevenner.

Count-down til New Zealand

T-70 Så er planen lagt!
16. april: Rejser fra Danmark.
18. april: Ankommer til Christchurch. Overnatter hos fam. Martis.
19. april: Flyver til Queenstown. Sightseeing sammen med Penny.
22. april: Flyver til Wellington, bliver kørt til Palmy af Lauren. Overnatter hos fam. Costley.
23. april: Kører til Hamilton. Bor hos Liz.
1. maj: Kører til Auckland. Bor hos fam. Dove.
2. maj: Flyver til Sydney. Bor hos fam. Cuthill.
4. maj: Rejser fra Sydney.
5. maj: Ankommer til Danmark.

T-60 Or not...
Nå... Penny kan ikke rejse rundt med mig alligevel. Hvorfor i ALVERDEN fortæller hun mig først det nu, når hun har vidst det i flere måneder og hun vidste jeg har prøvet at få fat i hende? Ah well, bil og fly er bestilt, så jeg får bare det bedste ud af det alligevel :)

T-55 Queenstown sorted... more or less
Fedt! Der er mulighed for busture direkte fra Queenstown til Milford Sounds - med afgang fra det hotel hvor jeg skal bo! Super! Så kan jeg se ting uden at være helt alene. Det glæder jeg mig til! Det betyder så selvfølgelig at jeg ikke havde behøvet at leje bil før dagen efter, men det er der ikke noget at gøre ved - det kan også være den bliver meget rar at have når jeg kommer tilbage om aftenen.

Derimod tror jeg at jeg må droppe turen til gletcherne. Jeg ser nu at der er 5-6 timers kørsel hver vej - aner ikke hvordan jeg kunne have overset det før!!! Så må det blive Wanaka eller Te Anau i stedet... eller bare blive i Queenstown. Det går nok også ;) Også selvom jeg havde fået sat næsen op efter Fox... Ah well, next time.

T-43 Mixed feelings
43 dage til New Zealand. 30 arbejdsdage og 5 weekends. Pludselig går tiden bare hurtig!

Jeg glæder mig rigtig rigtig meget på nogle punkter og er vildt nervøs på andre. Hvordan går det at være alene i Queenstown? Hvordan i alverden får jeg hentet og afleveret bilen hvis der kun er åbent fra 10-18 og jeg ankommer 17-et-eller-andet og skal rejse 7-et-eller andet? Ikke helt gennemtænkt mig selv. Og hvis jeg ikke må aflevere den udenfor åbningstider, hvordan klarer jeg mig så torsdag aften? Nå, selv NZ har vel taxi... især en så touristy by som Queenstown ;) Det ville nok heller ikke være et issue hvis Lars var i nærheden, men jeg VED hvor meget jeg kommer til at savne ham... især når jeg er alene. Jeg har altså ikke helt tilgivet Penny for at hun 'bailed on me' med så kort tids varsel. Jeg ved ikke OM jeg ville have planlagt anderledes hvis jeg havde vidst det, men jeg tror det, og jeg ville i hvert fald gerne have haft muligheden...

Nå, sket er sket, og det ER stadig NZ, så jeg vil bare sørge for at få det bedste ud af det :) Heldigvis har jeg ikke problemer med at være alene med mig selv, så absolut worst case er at jeg 'spilder' en aften på mit hotelværelse... og hvis jeg stadig har jetlag er det måske ikke det værste der kan ske.

T-42 De sidste ting...
Jeg skal huske at hente valuta i banken på torsdag, men så tror jeg også at der er styr på det hele. Så mangler jeg bare rent faktisk at modtage billetterne (ca 2 uger før afrejse i følge MyPlanet, så der er lidt tid endnu), bekræfte turen til Milford Sound (dagen inden afrejse) og sikre mig at jeg har adresserne på de forskellige biludlejningssteder (kommer forhåbentlig sammen med billetterne eftersom de også er lejet gennem MyPlanet - ellers må jeg lige ringe).

T-39 Being reminded why I'm going
I løbet af de sidste par dage har jeg chattet med både Clive og Liz - længe leve FB chat! Ingen af dem skrev noget særligt, men begge chats fik mig til at savne dem endnu mere og GLÆDE mig til at se dem! Desværre lader det til at hverken Solveig eller Ben er i Chch, men det er der så desværre ikke noget at gøre ved. Jeg smider nu lige en facebook besked til Solveig 'bare for at spørge'.

Top 10 iPad Apps

Top 10 Apps
VLC (free) - Video app. Unfortunately I don't think it's available any longer, but I prefer this over the default "Videos" app because it accepts more formats and I can transfere videos directly to it without having to set up iTunes to synchronize with my iPad.

GoodReader ($4.99) - A terrific app for reading various documents. It can be linked directly to dropbox, box.net, google docs, your ravelry library and various other sites, as well as download documents directly from the 'net. Would be worth it even at a greater price. It doesn't read epub-files unfortunately, but I can download them here and then transfer them to iBooks or Kobo to read them. I must have gotten it at a discount, because I'm pretty certain I only paid $0.99 for it. It's still worth it at the greater price though!

Cloud Reader (free) - Handles rar-files as well as cbz and cbr. It's only disadvantage is the layout of your library isn't very pretty. BookMan handles that a lot better, but on the other hand it doesn't turn pages as smoothly, so I've ended up downloading both :)

iColoringBkL (free) - A really cool colouring book where you can download your own PDFs. It has a large variety of colours, and you paint using your finger. Its greatest advantage is that you can set it to register contrast, meaning that if you start out with a b/w picture, it won't let you colour across the lines! I love colouring books, and this is the best electronic version I've seen. I haven't yet figured out what's extra in the full version - can't tell from the iTunes store - so I don't know if it's worth spending money on or not.

Flipboard (free) - A surprisingly fun app where you get to design your own magazine using facebook and twitter.

Friendly (free) - Good Facebook app.

iBookshelf ($1.99) - An app that will let you register your library on the iPad. It's the only one I've found that actually stores the database on the iPad, so it also works offline, which was a must for me. It crashes a lot, and the import could work better (the format is very rigid and the FAQ no longer online), but once I got that sorted out, it was the work of an evening to get all my books transfered to it. Now I just have to remember to keep it up-to-date!

My Box Office ($1.99) - The same as above, only with movies. Registers title, genre, format, status (owned, borrowed etc.) and whether or not you've seen it. Unfortunately doesn't have actors listed, which is my main problem with it. Also crashes often, but since my database is a lot smaller, it opens faster than iBookshelf ;)

Zinio (free, but magazines cost money) - Great app for buying/reading magazines. I'm not sure how much I'll use it myself as I think the selection is a bit too limited, but it immediately became a HUGE hit with Lars when he discovered it carried railway magazines :-D Definitely his favourite app!

Kobo (free, but books cost money) - Yet another ereader, but this one can be linked to Facebook and is made more fun by giving 'awards' for reading challanges (first book read, first book finished, reading through the night etc.). Quite a nice selection of ebooks available with free samples of most of them, but it's also possible to read PDF or epub files on it, which you can transfer directly or via GoodReader.

Top 10 Games
Plants vs Zombies ($6.99) - The most costly app I've bought, but definitely worth it! I love the PC game and it actually works even better on the app than on the PC. I feel cheated now - it was at least twice the price when I bought it! Still worth it though.

Beyond Ynth ($1.99) - A new favourite game. I downloaded the trial version and got so hooked that I had to buy the full version. It's FUN!

Cut the Rope ($0.99) - See above ;) This is fun and entertaining for children of all ages. My 5-year-old nephew blew me away by being great at it! Would be worth it even at a higher price.

Flight Control (free for the iPhone version) - Surprisingly addictive. I hadn't expected that at all. I'm now considering purchasing the iPad version, as I think it could benefit from the larger screenplay, but I haven't quite convinced myself yet.

Sudoku Joy (free) - My favourite Sudoku app. Works well both for filling out final answers and marking guesses, and has a good variety of puzzles. I'm getting really good at solving them too :) I started out on easy, but have now moved through moderate to intricate. Pretty soon I'll be ready for devilish :D

Sheep Mania Lite (free) - I think I may just purchase the full version before I leave for NZ, because this is a very fun puzzle game that I could see myself spending hours playing. It's silly, but fun.

Labyrinth2DHLite (free) - FUN! I'll probably end up purchasing the full version of this as well, once I've completed the trial. It's based on the original Brio labyrinths but is a LOT more fun than those ever were!

Picross HD (free) - Paint-by-Number' puzzles ala Conceptis. Fun as always, but could use some graphical improvement as well as a larger varity of games. Also, I wish conceptis would make more of its puzzles available! Sym-a-pics for the iPad would be GREAT!

Sudoku Colors (free) - Just like sudoku only it uses coloured marbles rather than numbers. Great fun when you need a break from the 'normal' sudoku.

Snake Puzzle ($1.99) - Yet another fun number puzzle where you have to connect numbers so they add up to the 'head' of the snake. Yes, I'm a geek, but I love games like that :)

Disappointments
Mondo Diary (free) - A travel diary that looked terrific until I discovered that there's no way of e-mailing entries to yourself or otherwise sync it to your computer. I believe it's probably saved in the iPad backup, but I wanted to be able to use it for my travel diary when in NZ, and it's no good at all for that if I can't afterwards transfer the entries to my computer.

Magic Piano ($1.99) - Definitely NOT worth it to me. I'd read raving reviews of it - that it was better than any other piano app out there - so I spent money on it, and was terribly disappointed. It would have been a fun toy if it had been free, but is not worth the money I had to pay for it - so I'm just glad it was cheap! :)

Angry Birds Lite (free) - Sorry, I simply don't understand the alure of it.

Top 10 x 2

De 10 bedste romaner læst i 2010
The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear - Walter Moers
The Book With No Name - Anonymous
The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
The Gorgon's Gaze - Julia Golding
The Lightning Thief - Rick Riordan
Halfway to Forever - Karen Kingsbury
Who Do I Lean On? - Neta Jackson
Born at Midnight - C.C. Hunter
Dark Life - Kat Falls
Under the Dome - Stephen King

De 10 bedste fagliterære bøger læst i 2010
The Happiness Project - Gretchen Rubin
Too Busy Not To Pray - Bill Hybels
84 Charing Cross Road - Helene Hanff
Garlic and Sapphire - Ruth Reichl
Ex Libris - Confessions of a Common Reader - Anne Fadiman
Good Book - David Plotz
The Year of Living Biblically - A.J. Jacobs
The Gift of Fear - Gavin de Becker
Hearts on Fire - Various
All By My Selves - Jeff Dunham

Jump Start

Nej, jeg følte mig da slet ikke ramt, hvor kan du tro det? ;-)

NZ

Let the planning commence!

Med andre ord:

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D :D :D :D

Created For Freedom

The Christian women's conference this weekend was amazing! Possibly even slightly better than last year, so I'm definitely going again next year if at all possible.

I'm still on a total high from the weekend, and am almost going through withdrawals! ;)

Ever since last year, Nina and I had no doubt at all that we wanted to go again, so we got our tickets about 4 months back. A couple of days later, Rebekka told me that she'd bought tickets as well! Apparently Nina and I had been raving so much about it that she wanted to see what the fuss was all about. Unfortunately Mixi had other plans Friday, but she ended up coming along for Saturday as well! And I managed to lure my cousin-in-law along as well :) Lars and I had dinner together with her, my cousin and my cousin's parents last week, and I told Camilla that she should come along too! Thankfully she took my word for it, and even though she was only able to be there Friday, it was terrific to have her there. She seemed to enjoy herself too :)

The main speakers this year were Christine Caine (USA) and Rita Elmounayer (Lebanon). Turns out that Rita Elmounayer is a colleague of my uncle and aunt! (the ones in Cyprus). They work for Sat7 - a Christian satellite station that broadcasts all over the Arab world. I'm always completely blown away when I hear of their experiences. We really have it easy here! We're free to have church out in the open, we're free to convert to Christianity without being persecuted, we don't risk being fired or losing our house... Wow.

During her seminar, Rita showed a music video called "Let me live", sung in (I think) Arabic by various (I assume) well known people. Sort of like some of the charity videos done here. The music, the lyrics and the video gave me chills and brought tears to my eyes. Unfortunately I can't find it anywhere online, but I'm going to ask my uncle and aunt if they know if it's available. The chorus was (from memory) "You who try to kill me, don't you know we're both human. Don't make me leave my house, my family, my country. Don't terrify me. We only have a limited time on this earth - why do we spend it fighting?" We saw it twice, and I can still hear parts of it for my inner ear - it was amazing!

Christine Caine was by far the best speaker of the conference though - possibly the best speaker I've ever heard. She was inspired and inspirational, and so passionate for God. The theme of the conference was "Created for freedom" and she put a lot of emphasis on the difference between "being free" and "being delivered". As Christians, we've all been delivered, but if we're still walking through the wilderness, then we're not truly free. The Israelites weren't delivered from Egypt to the wilderness, they were delivered from Egypt to be FREE in the Promised Land (interesting aside, did you know that the journey from Egypt to Canaan should only have taken 11 days, but because of the Israelites' disobedience to God, they wandered the desert for 40 years! Of course I've always known the latter, but I didn't know that it was supposed to have taken as little as 11 days. Really puts things in perspective!). We need to be free of all the things that are making us wander around our personal Mount Sinai for 40 years - whether that's fear, harboured unforgiveness, unfulfilled dreams, a past of being abused etc.

Rebekka had brought Rosa along, and thankfully she was a doll most of the time, so Rebekka got to listen in on almost all the seminars. There was only one where she'd had enough and Rebekka had to leave, but considering that she spent a total of 19 hours there, Rebekka felt she got off easy by only missing out on half of one 45-minute seminar :D Besides, Rosa ended up winning a free admission to next year's conference! Gift certificates were given to the oldest and youngest woman there, and at 11 weeks, Rosa was a clear winner ;) And of course, it being a woman's conference, everybody went "Awwwww!!!" when Rebekka walked up to the stage with Rosa to claim her prize ;)

A fantastic, blessed, God-filled weekend. I already can't wait for next year!

Oberammergau Part 2 - The Play

We arrived at the hotel with no further problems, and were told that our rooms would be available in an hour, so decided to go for a walk around town until then. The town was very quaint and charming, and had a lovely church that the friendly local had recommended we saw, but it was raining and we were tired, so we only walked for about 30 minutes and then went back to the hotel and sat in their lobby with our books until the room was ready. Lunch wasn't for another hour or so, so we decided to retire to our rooms until then. I don't know about Mum and Dad, but I was sorely in need of a nap!

During lunch Dad commented on the fact that we'd had an insane number of "almost problems" on our trip, but that none of them turned out to be real problems. "We've got the right connections," I replied, because it really was amazing how many times we could have missed our connections, yet we ended up arriving at Saulgrub at exactly the time our schedule had said - pretty much down to the minute. We agreed that God must have wanted to get our attention for whatever reason, but also agreed that we'd be happy if He felt we were now sufficiently aware of Him, so everything else on the trip would run smoothly ;) As Dad said, "The prayer most rarely answered in the affirmative is, 'Please let it happen soon!'". God has his own timing.

After lunch we packed our bags, and got ready to head off towards Oberammergau and the Passion play. A bus came to pick us up at 1:20pm and drove us (via various other pick-up sites) the 14km to Oberammergau where we were dropped off close to the theater were the plays were performed. We quickly made our way to the theater and found our seats. Unfortunately we hadn't gotten seats next to each other (they were split up 2-1 - one aisle seat, and two center seats in the row behind), which was a shame, but at least they were fairly close to each other, so we entered through the same entrance.


Dad asked, and was told that the theater seats 4,800 people and they have about 100 performances from May-October.

The first half of the play took us from Palm Sunday to Maundy Thursday and took 2.5 hours. The play was in German, but with a textbook translation provided, and while I (obviously) know the story as the palm of my hand, it was still nice to be able to follow along in the English text, as it wasn't always easy to understand/hear what they said. I was incredibly taken in by the thoroughness and the lengths they had gone to, to make it appear accurate and detailed. It's the first time I've seen donkeys, sheep, horses and camels on the stage, that's for sure! And when Jesus emptied the temple, and overturned the cages, actual pigeons were released! It was fascinating! And really, really well done!

It did turn out to be a bit of a problem to me that the play was in German though. My vocabulary there is very limited, and the language barrier did mean that I didn't get as immersed into the play as I would have liked to. I kept having to pull myself out, to check something in the textbook, and therefore didn't get the same experience as I would have, had the play been in English. It did help that a LOT of the dialogue was direct quotes from the Bible though (OT and NT both), so as soon as I'd figured out the Scripture, I knew what they were saying ;)

The interval ran from 5-8pm with plenty of time for dinner. In order to keep from extreme chaos, every hotel had booked tables at different restaurants in Oberammergau, so we knew exactly where to go ;) The meal was fairly standard German fare, but thankfully with lot less vinegar than I've sometimes experienced. AND they had a dessert buffet, which is always a good thing ;)

After dinner, we still had time to walk around Oberammergau for a bit, and despite it currently being very touristy, I fell in love with the place :) Oberammergau is a typical Bayern town, and I really think I'd love to go back in a non-passion-play year to enjoy the atmosphere of it. I loved the nature and the buildings and would have loved to see the local museum to see if it had more information about the history of the passion plays.



There were lots and lots of stores with woodcarvings, but I was a good girl, and didn't buy anything ;) Didn't want to have to lug it around for the rest of the trip, and anyway, there wasn't anything really obvious as I wanted something that represented the passion plays and not just Oberammergau itself. I ended up just buying my usual fridge-magnet souvenier with a photo of the theater.

At the main entrance to the theater was a small exhibition of the history of the play. I don't know if it's readable in this photo - otherwise click on the photo to see the inscription.

More than anything else, it's this background for the plays that amazes and inspires me.

Dad and I switched places for the second half, as I'd had the aisle seat, and there really wasn't room for his legs in
The second half was more or less solely Good Friday. At this point it had gotten so dark that it was no longer possible to read the textbook translations, so I had to focus more on understanding the words as they were spoken. Actually this ended up being a better experience, so I almost wish I hadn't had the textbook, because when I had it, I couldn't keep myself from using it. There were some amazing details and interpretations - e.g. Judas' motives for betraying Jesus. The play depicted it as Judas being tricked by Caiphas, and that he had no clue of his real intentions. I know this is pure speculation, but I really liked that different take on it. Somehow I find it easier to understand that he'd lead him to questioning than to his death.

And the crucifiction was incredible! I have NO idea how they did it to make it look so real. I'm sure there must have been handles to hold and places to put their feet, but none that were visible from where we sat.

I wasn't too impressed by their depiction of Easter Sunday though. For some reason they had decided to have Mary Magdalene meet an angel rather than Jesus himself. At first I thought it was because they didn't want to show the risen Jesus (which I could understand! Playing the part of Jesus is one thing, playing the part of the risen Jesus shown in all his glory is something else entirely), but he did enter the stage at the very end. *shrugs* I don't get it. That said, I really, really liked the person who played Jesus. I know it doesn't make much sense, but he completely fit my mental picture of him :)

As is fairly typical with passion plays, I felt the second half was a lot more drawn out and slow-moving than the first half. Of course it didn't help that I was running on very little sleep, and becoming even more tired by having to focus so much on understanding what was said. I wouldn't go so far as to say I found it boring in parts, but I certainly wouldn't have minded if they'd cut it down a bit - after all, it lasted 3 hours!

It was still an amazing experience though. But I really wonder how many people went because they were Christians and therefore wanted to see it, and how many went for solely the cultural experience. I went for both reasons, but for me it ended up being a HUGE cultural experience, but not really a religious experience at all. Like I told Mum and Dad, I'm glad I went, but I couldn't really see myself going on a regular basis... perhaps in 20-30 years together with my own kids.

The bus back to the hotel was a bit late, so I got to be QUITE cold. I wish I'd known that it was going to be late, as it was parked right outside what looked like a really yummy ice cream palour, and I would have had plenty of time to buy some if I'd only known ;) Finally we arrived back at the hotel just around midnight, and I fell into bed and asleep right away - sleeping so heavily that I was completely disorientated when I woke the next morning, as I was certain I was back home!

Compared to the trip down, the return trip was ridiculously punctual! No train was late (until we came to the ferry from Germany to Denmark, and at that point it really didn't matter, as we had no further time-sensitive connections to make), we made all our connections with plenty of time to spare, and nothing of any interest at all happened ;) Unfortunate we didn't have seats together until the very last leg of the trip which was a shame, but at least we had lunch in the dining area of the train from Munich-Hamburg (I had a DELICIOUS curry-coco soup! I'm going to have to see if I can find a recipe for that!), and had the chance to sit together and talk there.

But it was a LOOONG trip home! We left the hotel at 8:30am and I arrived home at around 11pm. I do like reading, but after awhile I want to do something else as well! Fortunately we'd brought along Fluxx so when we finally got seats together, we could spend some time playing that.

I'm really, really glad I went. It was an amazing experience, and I very much enjoyed getting to share it with Mum and Dad.

Oberammergau Part 1 - The Trip

Here's an account of my trip to Oberammergau in probably too great detail ;)

... Okay, I was going to post this as just one long entry, but I'm obviously even more long-winded than usual, so I'll split it up in two - the trip down there, and the play itself.

I left work early on Thursday in order to get to Copenhagen central station by 3:30pm as the train left at 3:45pm. We arrived a bit early, which turned out to be a good thing, as Lars sent me a text message saying, "Assuming I'm in the area and want to say goodbye - where could I find you?" He was out trainspotting and happened to be on one of the neighbouring stations, so he jumped on a train and arrived in time to give me a kiss goodbye. I thought that was sweet :)

The first part of the trainride was uneventful, and we arrived to Rødby Ferry exactly on time... Unfortunately the ferry didn't, and we ended up being half an hour late getting across to Germany! We had a 70 minute stop-over in Hamburg, so it wasn't a problem yet, but we didn't want to get much more delayed. Fortunately no further delays occurred, so we were only the expected 30 minutes late to Hamburg - no problem at all, and it still left Mum and me plenty of time for a dessert-smoothie ;) (we'd had dinner on the ferry which was delicious and surprisingly reasonably priced!)

About 15 minutes before the train for Munich was supposed to leave, we went down to the track, only to discover that it was 15 minutes late! No problem - while we didn't have much time to change in Munich, the trains from there left every hour, and we had plenty of time to reach Oberammergau, so we weren't worried. We were impatient though, so when the 15 minutes grew to 25 we got increasingly restless! It finally arrived though, and we got settled in our compartment. They were TINY though! Previously when we've taken the night train, we've usually had much bigger cabins, so there was room to move around and get comfortable even when not lying in bed. Not so here. There was room for a bed and a sink and not much else. Mum and Dad's compartment was even worse, as they had bunk beds AND lower to the ceiling, so there was no place Dad could stand up straight, and the only place they could sit up straight was on the floor. Mum and Dad ended up spending most of the awake time with me, as I had a single room so there was a tiny bit more room.

We played a couple of rounds of Bezzerwizzer (and - of course - listened to Skimbleshanks, the Railway Cat from Cats - that's a must!) and then went to bed. By then it was 11pm, and the train would arrive in Munich at 7am, so we figured we'd better get some sleep, as we had a long day ahead of us.

That was easier said than done though. The bed wasn't all that comfortable, and the pillow even less so, so I didn't sleep much. It didn't bother me though - I've always found the movemet of a train to be soothing, so while I didn't fall into a deep sleep, neither did I toss and turn as I would have, had I been home. I still ended up turning on the lights and grabbing my book half an hour before my alarm clock rang though ;)

After a quick breakfast (served on the train) we got off the train in Munich and went to find the regional train that would take us onwards via Murnau to Saulgrub. Thanks to Lars (I may tease him about his geekiness, but it comes in REALLY handy at times!) we knew exactly which track it would leave from, and were able to head there immediately.... only to discover that a cable had been cut between Munich and Murnau, so we'd only be able to take the train half way, and then had to change to a replacement bus instead! For those keeping track, that means there was an issue with all three trains so far! It was starting to get just a tad too funny for our likings.

It didn't end there though - we got the first replacement bus without any issues, and quickly arrived at Murnau... where the next replacement bus was just about to leave right in front of us! (not terribly smart to leave before the connecting bus arrives, but what do I know...) Thankfully our busdriver yelled out the window and got him to stop and wait for us (I'd hoped to have just 5 minutes break there, as I really, really needed to pee! Thankfully the next bus had a build in WC). We drove on towards Saulgrub, and got out of the bus when the busdriver announced "This stop, Saulgrub!" only to discover that we were in the middle of nowhere! Thankfully the bus hasn't left yet, so we were able to ask the bus driver if it really was Saulgrub. No, that was the next stop - he had made a mistake in the announcement! He was suitably horrified and apologized many times for making the wrong announcement, and just before the next stop announced, "This is definitely Saulgrub!"

From Saulgrub there were another 4.5km to our hotel. Worst case we could easily walk that (would take about an hour), but we hoped to be able to find a taxi - especially as it chose this moment to start pouring down. However, there were no taxis around at all, so Dad went to see if there was a bus we could take instead. There was, but it didn't leave for another hour and 20 minutes. We were just debating what to do, when a local came up and when he heard of our plight, he asked us which hotel we were staying at. We told him, "Ah! My sister-in-law works there!" (at least I think it was his SIL... my German is only so-so), and he proceeded to call up the hotel and get somebody there to come pick us up! You'd better believe we were very, very grateful!