MicroTel Hamilton

... next to me and was only separated by an aisle. He had with him a screaming, vomiting child and he was wearing a surgical face mask. He was then escorted off the plane for "treatment" for swine flu. I haven't started feeling ill so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

After getting our car we finally arrived in Hamilton. It's quite an odd place - as we approached the town, there were commercial ...

... if this is sand here, and therefore there is sand at the end of the bridge, do you think the cars just... drive into the sand?" "Yes, yes I do. You know, next time you're in New Mexico and you ax (yes.. I said 'ax'... I was annoyed, okay?) a stupid question, I'm going to be a complete ******* to you, too!" "I like being an *******, just to see how people react." So, I had previously asked him about kayaking, and the conversation went like this: "Can I take a kayak ...

... and a LOT to eat. If this hasn't already been explained... the Maoris are New Zealand's natives who are still very much a strong presence in New Zealand. Tuesday we said goodbye to smelly Rotorua (from all the sulfur and thermal activity - ugh) and headed for Auckland. We checked into 3 nights at BK Hostel and did what we did best - explore! Since parking was a bit of an issue in the city, we said goodbye to our rental car a day early on Wednesday and ...

... were at our jobs. Generally, this is a good thing but when it really doesn't matter how efficiently you do the work (it was time based and not task based), we learned to gear down a notch, get our work done but not too quick as they genearlly would then have to find something else for us to do which would mean us standing around waiting for them to figure something out! With time, they were much better at keeping us busy. Our meals were great, although I think ...

... s problem is that there is often no place to stop by the side of the road to take that prize winning photo. Shoulders don't exist on these narrow roadways and traffic flies at 100 kilometers per hour (or better) which is the national speed limit. As an American driver, I must constantly remember to stay left, particularly at intersections. I've only threatened a head-on collision with an oncoming Kiwi once and that was after a wrong turn resulting in a ...

... if I can't believe in the words I'm saying, I feel like a fraud saying them." I had my First Communion when I was seven years old so technically I am allowed to go up and get the host but this Christmas I didn't. With some goading from Dad, I went up to get blessed instead. Obviously, I have nothing against people who attend Church. One side of my family goes regularily and they enjoy it. I don't think there's anything wrong with that nor do I think there's anything wrong with me ...

... admit... I pulled a stalker move and went up and looked in the kitchen window. HA! It was very clean inside, and not a dirty dish in the sink! :) After snapping a few photos I headed back to the lodge where I had some new roomies... Adele from Ireland and Eve from England... both on the Stray bus that I was to be getting onto the next day. I spent the rest of the night hanging out with my new bus friends... going to watch the sunset up on the hill with Adele and Shane, her ...

... the black sand Raglan beach, where the surfers were having a pretty good day! The water here was freezing too, but we had try to ride the waves a bit! After a nice afternoon at the beach, we dropped two of our friend off in Hamilton and headed back up north!

... is Im back to plain film and dark rooms with 10 million different cassettes to use on different patients. Their exposures are just mad and the paperwork is something else! Anyways Im hoping I can get to grips with the whole thing soon or it could be a very long three months! On a plus the staff are really friendly and Im sure the whole thing will be a learning curve....well I hope so anyways! No pics by the way still trying to locate some new friends to go in them lol x