Chancellor Motor Lodge & Conference Centre Palmerston North

"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it."<br><br>I couldn't help but smile when I read this quote. Over the upcoming months I will be living my life with this quote in mind.<br><br>At 25, society politely informs you that you should be settling down and having a family. I have spent all my life under orders of some sort. Since I left home at 17, I have been in the army doing as I&#8217;m told, with minor splurges of ...

Rory here again, Sarah is doing the next blog entry, promise! Okey dokey, we didn't really know what to expect of Palmerston North since we've had mixed experience of these types of towns in New Zealand but it turned out really nice. First however I shall mention the drive from Wellington / Upper Hutt to Palmerston North. On our road map it looked like a fairly standard road heading north from one of the country's biggest citys. It's one of the main roads so we didn ...

... some very interesting information, and was quite surprised by what I read. It was definitely a wake-up call as to what has been happening in the Arctic, and that global warming IS happening. What a great topic to write my last paper on. It was something I was highly interested in learning more about, and it's not about a past event taking place, it's about the here and the now. Now, I'm not trying to ...

... a vey swollen river. You had to keep an eye on the road though, because as well as being winding and wind-swept there was a lot of debris on it - mostly fallen rocks due to the weather. In several places the road itself was down to one lane due to wash-out of the downhill side. Wanganui was pleasant enough, but if there are exciting bits, they aren't under the shelter of the shop canopies ...

... gab's zum Fruehstueck Waffeln mit Schinken und gebackenen Bananen, das war soo leck**! Am Montag waren wir wied** bowlen, dieses Mal war James, Gens Freund, auch dabei, es war wied** eine Gaudi. Und einmal hab ich sogar gewonnen =), Tom wollte **st nicht mehr reden, da ** schon seit Jahren bowlt und ich habe ihn beim zweiten Mal Bowling geschlagen. Tja, ich bin halt ein Naturtalent... =) Am Tag darauf haben wir die Oma von Gen und Tom besucht, das war ein bisschen ...

... totally thought that I was a Kiwi. He said that he heard me talking to someone in the hall a few days ago and it sounded like I was a Kiwi. Weird! I guess he wasn't listening close enough, because I am pretty sure I haven't picked up an accent... yet :) Oh, and I was waiting in line for dinner tonight in the dining hall and some Kiwi girls told me that I look just like one of their friends... ha, I guess everyone has a twin... even in another country!! Well... time to upload some ...

... a bit soft), we inflated, drove around for a while and seeing that Palmy was still asleep and making no effort to wake up and convince us to stay, we left. The Waikawa DOC site ("What the bloody hell do you mean? We've already driven three times further down this track than you said...oh, was that it? Yeah, that thing back there with the bush growing around the sign. How the hell am I supposed to turn a van this size around in a lane ...

... my trip - especially if it is something that reminds me of somewhere or someone. We then proceeded to take a drive up a narrow, steep, gravel track round a hill. Sadly Dan's car was not up to the job and we had to stop in the entrance to a field and let it hiss and steam for a bit whilst it cooled down. Some Australians stopped to offer assistance, which was quite entertaining, and the sheep kept offering ...

... pub. Nothing too strenuous, of course :) Great to see Andrew again and catch up on everything since Christmas. He's in a new house now, much nicer and complete with sunroom and jacuzzi. (Pirate-parrot "Johnny" likes the sunroom but I still haven't tested the jacuzzi.) The house is in the outskirts of town, but it's in a nice area and only about 30mins by bicycle or ...

... at a most opportune time! :) The kids are so adorable with their little accents, and there are plently of other young leaders who seem to be quite fun, so I think it'll be a good getaway from schoolwork. I met up with Leah last Thursday evening on the train and we headed out to Wellington for the weekend. We had great fun shopping, taking the cable car up for a view of the city, going over to Days Bay on the ferry for ice cream ...