Yep, we're still here! Somewhere along the line, this blog got buried underneath a mountain of other priorities, so apologies if you've been waiting for an update that just hasn't come until now. But here it is at last! And it may well be the very last from New Zealand :(
As of today, we have exactly two weeks left in Wellington, and only three weeks left in the country, before we fly back to the Northern Hemisphere. I'll just explain a little about what we've been up to and what the plan for the next months will be.
Firstly, I'm down to working weekends only since the Kirks Easter Shop closed, and I'm over in the Wine & Cheese department. So if you ever need to be told the difference between a Gewürztraminer and a Viognier, I can pretend to know it. It's been a nice way to slowly wind down from working full-time all year, and having heaps of time off has given me a decent chance to tie up all the loose ends in Wellington, as well as enjoying the last of the summer weather in the city. Last week was also my final time as the sound man at Bristol (or, as I learned sound men used to be known, the 'Balance Engineer'), and I oversaw the board for an album release party for a singer called Carol Bean. It went well, and I've really enjoyed doing it since October. It's sad to think I won't be back.
Emily is still on full-time at Bristol, but her schedule has been a little kinder to her recently, with plenty of 9-5 days. So in the evenings we've been looking into possibilities for next year, the most prominent of which has been joining a program to teach English in South Korea, and discussing the idea with some friends who are already there. Last week we sent in our application forms and letters of recommendation from work, and next we're expecting a Skype interview, after which we'll have to chase up other official documents like duplicate degree certificates and apostilled police checks. It's all complicated drastically by our temporary residence on the other side of the world, and if we leave it too late (for instance, when we get back home) we'll miss the deadline. It adds a nice 'race against time' element to things, as if we weren't under enough stress.
Our plan for the next few weeks involves finding someone to replace us in our house, and trimming the fat from our luggage to be brought home. This morning we dropped off a LOT of clothes at a second hand op-shop, but it's still all up in the air whether or not we'll be able to get everything back! Other than that we have all the other issues like closing bank accounts, packing, and saying goodbye to friends and the city.
After we leave Wgtn, we fly to Christchurch where we'll pick up another campervan, and attempt to resume the trip around the South Island we didn't have time to finish at the beginning of the year. We haven't yet finalised an itinerary, but we'll definitely head down to Queenstown, and time depending explore some of the other regions at the far south of the country. We might get a chance to see Dunedin and Otago, and maybe even head back up to Kairkoura and Hamner Springs. Hopefully, if we have similar campsites as before, we'll use the internet facilities to update on where we are and what we're doing.
Then, after our camper-trip, part deux, we're due to fly back from Christchurch to Auckland, and then on to London via Hong Kong. It'll be a long day! Emily will be staying in Harold Wood for a week, and if we're not too jet-lagged or tired, we'll head down to Canterbury to catch up with some friends, before Emily flies on to Boston. At that point, we'll just be waiting on the word from Korea...
So that was Wellington for us! I know I keep saying this, but at some point I'll upload the recent pictures onto Flickr from the whole experience. And I'll get Emily to round things off from her perspective when she's not too busy. Thanks for reading!
