No time!!!

hello. this is to be a very short post. it's now friday night. We couldn't post last night as it was jam packed. I went to a guitar lesson straight after work, then came back to the hostel to meet sal, and off out again straight away to go and view a flat. We didn't get back till ten, and then i had to pack my stuff as we had to move rooms this am before heading to work. Still no luck with flats. We'll do a longer blog over the weekend, but tomorrow is also to be dedicated to flat hunting, so it may be sunday before you see anything. Hope you are all ok. :) xx

Not much to say. Yet I've said a lot!!

Hullo. The only news we really have today is that Sally has an interview tomorrow morning, wahoo!! Though whether it's a job that's worth doing remains to be seen. Yes. My news could be that I had my photo taken for the commerce commissions website today, and apart from reading your replies (which was obviously a thoroughly joyous experience), that was the highlight of my day (and when i say it could be my news, i don't mean it could be in that if it had happened it could be, coz it did happen - i mean why would i make that up - just that it's one of the things that happened that was of any significance) . Ooh although i did get my own stationery today which may not excite you, but it means i get to name things, and i do love naming things. Plus i get to decorate my desk space with pretty pictures (some of you guys are up there already -well anabee so far, don't know who else of the lytham guys actually read this, so i suppose it could just be one of you -you being the viewers- although if anyone wants to send a pic for me to put up, that'd be cool, in fact it'd be more than cool!!). Sorry about that. i also love decorating stuff, so i got a bit carried away with possibilities. Anyhoo, bye bye for now. Kt. xx
I've just read over this and realised i've babbled a heck of a lot. Apologies. I've been on my own a lot today, so all my chatter that i would usually spread out over the day has been condensed into this. Aaaaah. i'm going. Keep your superhero answers coming.

Next question...

Here's the next thing for you to ponder my friends. Continuing on the superhero theme (as you all seemed to like it so), who would your nemesis/arch enemy be? What is their evil plan, and how do you intend to stop them? We haven't thought of answers ourselves yet, but we'll let you know when we do (perhaps mine would be birdseye, i'll think on that).
Also, can anyone think of any questions that would help us all to get to know each other better, and that are just a bit of fun? We are liking this interaction!! Kt. xx
P.S We are very interested to know what Elsie's superpowers etc would be.

Yo!!

Wow!! what a lot of response to that question. you're all superheroes in our eyes, but there are many more of your alter egos still to appear. Tongue boys message to those who haven't yet responded - "don't hold your tongue"!! Does someone perhaps have 5 alter egos? Could you combine them? Think about it. Anyhoo, this is just a quick update. I (being Kt) now have a job!! It's as a project support officer in the commerce commission. And that's really all there is to tell. Sally says life is good. She has just finished a book and is happy. Just off to see the pink panther movie. tarra. xx

Helen's superhero post

Inspired by our conversations with Helen at Wellington YHA, we have some questions to ask which we think will help us all get to know one another a little better. They are:
1) If you were a superhero what would your name be?
2) What would be your superpower/s?
3) What would your costume look like?
4) Who would your sidekick be?
5) And most importantly, what would your catchphrase be?

Katie's answers:
1) Susan
2) Shelling any given quantity of peas in under 5 seconds.
3) Purple spandex with a silver miniskirt, pea-green elbow and knee pads and pea-green roller skates.
4) The Bean (silent but stringy)
5) "I love peas!"

Sally's anwers:
1) The Cunning Linguist
2) Speaking any language that's ever existed fluently.
3) Map of the world romper suit.
4) Tongue-boy
5) "Oui si jah da baby!"

Tongue-boy says "Cat got your tongue?"- let us know your thoughts! S and CL xx (We love peas in any language)

A Normal Title

Hello! We have now been in not-so-sunny Wellington for a week and the whole week's excitement happened last night. We had an absolutely lovely evening which was a much needed and welcome break from flat hunting, job hunting and spending as little money as possible. At this point thanks must go out to our food sponsers Fi and Dunc. Thanks guys, we love you! Our evening started with drinks at a fab little caf' around the corner from the YHA, the Hummingbird. Frankly we were looking fab, the first night we've got properly dressed up since we arrived in NZ. It's been hard (for Katie!). I'd wanted to go to the Hummingbird ever since I found out it served a cocktail with Appletizer in. I had it yesterday- the Strappleberry- and it was the nicest drink I've ever tasted! Katie described it as "All of the Opal Fruit flavours in one!" Then we went for tea at a restaurant by the waterfront. And what a meal it was! We both ordered lamb shanks with mashed potato and a tomato, basil and garlic sauce. It was heaven. We didn't speak, for we couldn't. We savoured every mouthful. Mmmmmmmmm. Then we went to see Bic Runga (a Kiwi singer-songwriter). She was ace, but the support act, the flight of the conchords, was mega! All the more so for being so unexpected. They were comedy-musicians. No one can describe the aceness of them. Bic's band (including Neil Finn of Crowded House!) spoke more than she did, she seemed a little shy of the limelight, but that didn't make her performance any less wonderful. She almost did an impromptu performance of 'Sound of Silence', but didn't. Jah. Today, after finding we could do little flat-wise or job-wise, we caught the bus to Seatoun and walked along to the Chocolate Fish Cafe, which used to be frequented by the LOTR's cast. We saw Peter's oscar again, as we passed his house twice. It's really not what you'd expect. Small, a little shabby, and right next to the road where anyone can peer in. We played it cool though and donned our shades to walk past. So that's all for the present. Back to the fray tomorrow xxx

Who Knows

Well viewers, I thought things were going ok, but it's all gone a bit backwards. The job that I was sure I had has now gone, and it would seem there are no flats to be had, so it's back to the drawing board. We found a few apartments yesterday that had been advertised in Saturdays paper, but they had already gone when we phoned, and there were none to be seen in todays paper. We are now looking into hostels where you can stay on a more permanent basis, as if we continue to stay at the YHA we will have to change rooms at least every 6 nights (though it's likely to be more frequent), and that idea bums me out. Sally's feeling ok, she's a lot more positive than I am (I think the job thing's just thrown me as i only found out on my way here) . Just polishing off her CV as we speak. Anyhoo, we've bought a lottery ticket for tonight, so if we win - problem solved!! That's what I'm going for - as Sky Masterson sings "Luck be a lady tonight". Kt.xx
P.S. Thanks for the answers guys, we feel very informed now.

We need answers

We have had a few questions that have come up over the past few weeks, and we would greatly appreciate your help in answering them. They are as follows:

1, What does Grand Marnier (or Grand Mariner as Sally likes to call it) taste like?

2, Do you win Solitaire, or just complete it?

3, What is French Toast?

If any of you have any questions that have been puzzling you recently, please write in with them, as either me and Sal, or the other viewers, may be able to help and put your mind at rest. I'm sure we will have more questions in the not too distant future. Bye for now. xx

What job would you do?

It is now Tuesday afternoon with us and we have just been in the Wellington central library (a very nice library it is too) looking for flats to rent. We have found a few that are in the centre and sound quite appealing, so we're going to chase those up promptly. We spent yesterday morning wandering around the town looking for any jobs that were being advertised in shops, but we were disappointed that there didn't seem to be many positions available. I then had an interview (plus the usual tests) with Hudson employment agency, and was offered a job doing data entry in a bank for 2 months. It could be monotonous, but it's pretty good money, and money's what we need right now!! Sal's currently sorting her CV out and will be distributing it to some worthy establishments tomorrow (she's just waiting on a mobile number).
The most entertaining thing we have to tell you is about some of the jobs we found whilst looking through the ads in the paper yesterday. Which job would you do from this list:

1, Head Shepherd
2, Porto-loo driver
3, Share milker
4, Brothel worker (with good personality) *

*This is only open to slim, energetic 18+ year old girls, so keep that in mind!!

We'll leave you on that note. Kt xx

The Long Road to Wellington

We're back in Welli!!! After two days of nothing but travel, we have arrived safe and sound back in Wellington where, as you may or may not know, we plan to get jobs and find a dominion of our very own (the quest for all begins tomorrow). The journey went pretty much without a hitch, we had plenty of breaks on the way up from fox to nelson yesterday, and our journey was nicely split up between coach and ferry today. The only major occurrence in the whole thing was me picking up somebody elses bag at the conveyer belt thing when we arrived in Welli, but it all got sorted - the shuttle driver kindly phoned the terminal and took me back to get it. Luckily it had been put behind the desk, and so it was all done with very little trouble to me.
We had a cool coach driver by the name of Neville for yesterdays journey, and drove through some lovely scenery. We began in rain, but the weather got brighter as we went further north. We spent last night in a nice hostel in Nelson (the Paradiso - good recommendation Analisa) with ladder access to the internet room - very kooky!! The only downside was that we were sharing a room with some very smelly boys who came in at alate hour, and i didn't end up getting much sleep (Sally, however, slept like a log, and had a rather fabulous dream about Captain Jack Sparrow - the lucky thing!!). We are now happily installed in YHA Welli.
FYI, daylight saving ended here last night, so we're now only twelve hours in front, soon to be 11 in a week.
Bye for now. Kt and Sally Sparrow.xx

Crampons and Ice

I actually had a dream about writing this blog last night- it was full of witty comments that left you all amazed and delighted- but it all seems to have disappeared from my head now I sit down to write. By the way, you really have to smack the o key down on this keyboard, so there may be some o's missing later...
Katie and I left Queenstown quite thankfully and arrived at Fox Glacier thursday afternoon. We were staying in a hostel that had a sort of mini cinema- three rows of cinema seats in a normal sized room- so we stayed in and had a ghostbusters fest, hurrah! Fox Glacier town was tiny and had no scones for sale (Katie and I now seem to judge a town on whether we can get scones or not). But we did go to rather a classy pub, and bought fortune chocolates for a dollar. My fortune read 'you will win a prize'. I'm taking this at its word and we've decided to invest in lottery tickets. Friday I went for a day-long hike on the glacier which was absolutely fabulous. The weather was pretty clear and sunny so I didn't get too cold, except when I had to stand still for an hour while our buff guides carved out steps in the ice with axes. (They were very buff, but unfortunately, a little young). I did fall over on the ice and cut my hand (which is unsuprising, if I can injure myself I will) but the walk was amazing- we crawled through ice caves and walked through big cravasses. Now I must go as I've run out of time. Bye bye!!
I (Kt) would like to add, I went for a walk round a small lake while Sally was off being adventurous. Yes. Not very exciting, but I didn't want you to be sat thinking - i wonder what katie was doing. Now you know. And you probably wish you didn't. Bye!!!

Lesson Two

This lesson has been a hard and annoying lesson to learn, and the lesson is - when travelling through Queenstown make sure you book everything well in advance, and have lots of extra money in case you forget to book something and have to pay extra just to be able to get somewhere (like out of this place). We learned this first with accommodation, and now with buses. In all other places we have had no problem booking our bus the day before we wished to travel, but today we tried this, only to find the bus for tomorrow (and there is but one bus a day) was fully booked. We have therefore had to pay to go with another bus company, otherwise we would have lost money elsewhere. We are not happy. We have learned the lesson.
Anyhoo, I will now fill you in on our plans for the next five days. We leave Queenstown tomorrow morning at 7.30 am (can't wait!) and travel to Fox Glacier on the west coast where we arrive about 3 pm. We are spending two nights there, for on Friday Sally is doing the glacier walk. On Saturday we have an 11 hour journey to Nelson, where we shall spend the night, before a further 2 hour journey to Picton on Sunday morning. We take the 12.45 ferry to Wellington and there we are to stay for the next few months. Thus our travelling will come to an end, and i'm afraid the blog will become rather mundane from then on. We will try to have adventures of some sort so as not to leave you all with no excitement, but it could never last forever could it?!! And that's all there is to say for now. Oh except that we get really sad when we come on and see no comments from anyone. Please just say hello so we know you're there. We miss you all.xx

P. S. some other blogs have sprouted from our blogging, so if we're not enough blog for you please try www.newstosallyandkt.blogspot.com, and www.harthside.blogspot.com. These will perhaps only be of interest to a select few, but we find them very entertaining and comforting. Thanks go out to our parents.xx

Todays Lesson

Good day to you ladies and gentlemen, or perhaps good evening. Whoever you are and whatever time it be that you are with us, we welcome you, and invite you to share with us todays valuable lesson. For today we went in search of Paradise. A quest attempted by many, but a quest rarely (if ever) fulfilled. It began with a journey of some length back to the familiar (Queenstown), and then on once again into the unknown. We passed high over the lake, far under the shadow of the mountains, forded the streams, on a road that became a track, and a track that went ever on, all the while searching for Paradise. But what was Paradise? Would it be obvious that we had found it? Would there be a clear sign - this is Paradise? All that had surrounded us for miles had looked liked Paradise. How would we know we were there? The answer is, we did not, and do not know. We may have been to Paradise, but we will never know. You may think we are disappointed that we did not find that which we had searched for (or did not realise that we had found it), but we are not my friends, for this is the lesson which we learned - make sure you enjoy the journey, for the destination may never be reached.
In the end we found our own Paradise. And it was good. And we were pleased.

Enjoy your journey.

Kay-Tee da Freestyler in da raptor-copter!

Well my dearest friends and relations, when I wrote last Kay-Tee and I were about to begin our journey to Te Anau and Milford Sound, and what a journey it was! We picked up our hire car friday morning, and were delighted to find a rather old red Ford Lazer with go-faster stripes and a plastic spoiler; all in all, a complete chav car that we named Vicky (Pollard). The drive to Te Anau was marvellous, but we couldn't pick up any radio reception, and thus Katie as we all know and love her metamorphosized into Kay-Tee, MC. She was happily rapping away (Example: "There is a moon, there is a river, it is wider than a kilometre!") Meanwhile I was crying, "Right, right, right!" Kay-Tee thought that as a member of her crew I was joining in with the rap, but in fact I was trying to indicate that we needed to turn right, and speedy James Bond-style driving was needed by Kay-Tee to prevent us missing the turn off. Despite these escapades and Vicky's habit of moving when she hadn't been told to, we made it to Te Anau unscathed. However, the James Bond-type experiences weren't to end there. In Milford Sound, Katie and I went on the most exciting of our adventures together: we flew on a helicopter!! It was entirely unplanned; on our day trip to Milford Sound, our guide mentioned that it was possible to do a half-hour helicopter ride. Sunday, the day of our trip, was just glorious weather. We had bright clear blue skies and the mountains were covered with fresh snowfall. It was the most perfect of days, and so we decided we had to do it. And it was absolutely awesome! We flew above the Sound, amongst the mountain tops in the most wondeful sunshine, and landed on the top of a mountain that Edmund Hilary wasn't even able to climb, with only mountains and snow and glaciers as far as you could see. Watch the opening shot of The Two Towers and you might be able to imagine how fantastic it was... I have never experienced anything like it before. And I have never seen anything like the landscape we saw on Sunday. The drive between Te Anau and Milford Sound was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. The photos below will not do it justice. In fact I will give up trying to describe it all, because sometimes words just aren't bloody good enough, and instead give you all mine and Katie's love x
(sorry that the photo's on its side, couldn't manage it any other way at the mo)

Wilkommen Frau Laura and Unafred!!

We would just like to give a warm (if a little belated) welcome to our two chums Laura and Fred who arrived in NZ last week. Ja!!! We have been meaning to write this for a few days, so it's not that we forgot you were coming, we just forgot to write it. Have fun my little munchkins. Look forward to seeing you both soon. xxxx

IMPORTANT NEWS

No no no no no!! Katie has just been online and got us tickets to see Dylan Moran in Wellington in April!!!!!!!!! For those who don't know he is an Irish comic who stars in Black Books and me and Katie love him!!! yeah!!!!!!!

One goes mad on Stewart Island, two go adventuring in car

Hurray! Katie and I have been reunited. It may have been a short seperation, but it was tough. So much so that we're both suffering from upset tummies (though mine might have to do with some dodgy mussels I got at the Stewart Island fisherman's co-op). My last couple of days on the Island were very eventful. After not speaking to anyone for days, I was befriended by a huge group of fifty-something Kiwi fishermen that were taking their holidays on Stewart. There were about twenty of them, all hulking, friendly, southern comfort drinking men. First they tried to insist that I was from Scunthorpe, then Birmingham?! When I told them I came from Halifax, they all nodded their heads vigourously. "Good League country! Good League country!" they said. I can only assume they were speaking about something to do with rugby, and thus I was accepted and they immediately gave me whiskey to drink and cod to eat. The cod, freshly caught, was absolutely amazing, unlike any fish I've ever tasted. It was like Plato's ideal cod, with all other cod I've ever eaten a poor imitation. The whiskey wasn't so good, but there was no way I was drinking southern comfort. It appears they took me to their hearts, as every time someone new came into the living room they shouted, 'Have you met Sally from Halifax!", and they kept asking me if I was travelling with my mum... I don't think their intentions would have been entirely honorable towards you Granny Fi! I slept late the next day and took a boat to Ulva Island which is a bird sanctury, completely predator free, so the birds were wonderfully friendly, and the forest absolutely beautiful. On the way back I went on a little cruise around Stewart Island, so was able to see the old whaling stations, and the wreak of the Othello, a pleasingly Shakespearean whaling ship. Then this morning I was up at the crack of dawn to get my ferry back to the South Island, and back to my gorgeous Katie. And what plans we have! Queenstown is absolutely chokablock over the weekend so we've rented a car for the weekend and are going to drive down to Lake Te Anau, and hopefully see Milford Sound. Wayhey, road trip!!!!! L'vie est belle! xx

Prosporo's Island of mists and rain

I wanted to begin this post with a quote from The Tempest so you would all be amazed at my intelligence and well-readness. But unfortunatly the Islands library is only open for three hours a week, and hasn't been open yet while I've been here, so there's been no Shakespeare for me. Perhaps I should say 'O rainy new world!' Yes here I am on Stewart Island, the third largest island in New Zealand, and it's raining. It has been raining since I arrived, and will continue to rain until I leave. But nonetheless, I love it here.
When me and Katie seperated I headed south to Invercagill, which is right on the south coast of New Zealand, and there it rained. Rain might be a continuing theme of this post, in fact it feels like it's been a continuing theme of this whole country for the last two weeks. Invercagill is tiny and there really isn't an awful lot to do but it does have a certain charm, and a marvellous cinema. I went to see Casanova and it wasn't marvellous, it was rather bizarre in fact. I spent a happy day reading and trying to dodge the rain, and yesterday morning caught the ferry to Stewart Island. The crossing is, to quote the Lonely Planet, famed for turning the stomachs of even the hardiest of sailors, but I was not afraid, and a combination of All Bran and a ginger capsule kept my tummy as strong as iron. Good, character-building stuff, All Bran. As it was raining heavily (of course) as we crossed, the Island came towards us out of the mist like it was out of the Tempest. My hostel is in Halfmoon Bay, which is the largest settlement on the island, and it has one general store, one pub, and nowhere to get scones as I found out to my dismay yesterday. I'm staying in my own private room, for the price of ten pounds a night, and it has a raidiator!! So I slept like a baby and this morning woke determined to see more of the island, despite the rain. I walked up to Horseshoe Point, a spot on the top of some cliffs, and just as I got to the top the sun came out so I was able to see wonderful views of the bays and the surrounding islands, and very distantly, the South Island. By the way Mum, one of the bays here is called Frenchman's cove, how exciting is that? I had one hour of beautiful sunshine before the rain forced me back to the hostel, where I found that some rogue had stolen my pasta sauce from the fridge! Bastards! However I am not downhearted as I have the Three Musketeers to console me. Not all chivalry is dead when I can read about their exploits. Aideu!
(By the way Dodfather, all of the place names here are ace- there's Adventure Cove, Dundee Street, and last but not least, Elgin Terrace, can you believe it??!!! Tell Ali I haven't found a Lossiemouth Place yet!)

Queenstown. Yeah. It's beautiful. Really beautiful.

Hello everybody. We two have broken our bond and are now living our different adventures, so this is just me Kt. I arrived here in Queenstown yesterday evening and for the first time as we were driving in, the scenery brought tears to my eyes. It's so beautiful (at one point it almost looked like the scene when Sam and Frodo are leaving the Shire - you know Sal, my favourite scene, so no wonder i was emotional). The pictures I have taken in no way convey how amazing it is (as you few will know who have been here). Anyhoo, after alighting from the coach i made my way to the black sheep hostel, where I knew our previous acquaintance Emma to be residing, and after dropping my stuff we headed into town (only 2 mins away) for a brief wander around before grabbing something to eat (lamb again for me!!). We had an early night as we were up earlyish this morning to have another walk this am before Emma had to make her way to work. Over breakfast (kindly provided by the hostel) we met a Canadian girl called Theadra (everytime i come to spell it i forget how to, so apologies, i'll have to correct myself later probably) who joined us on our walk, and after I acquired more winter clothing (it's rather cold here) we made our way to the top of the hill overlooking Queenstown and the Lake (photo above). It was a tad breezy but well worth the hike. We looked around a bit, and then wandered down again, for what else could we do? (suggestions on a postcard). And that's pretty much me up to date. Myself, Emma, Theadra, and two other guys from our room (Jim and Kevin) have just popped into town for a drink so i'm off presently to rejoin them (it's happy hour soon!!). I shall therefore bid thee all a fond farewell. Kt. xx
P.S. I would like to apologise for all the brackets.
P.P.S. To Elsies Mum, you could perhaps send a package Poste Restante here to the Queenstown Post Office and Sal can pick it up when she gets here (I would think we'll be here long enough to get it). I think you just label it Poste Restante, Main Post Office, Queenstown, South Island, NZ. Hope that may be of some use. xx
P.P.P.S Barnacle looks ace in the shades - happy birthday!! (he also looks a lot thinner - has he been working out?!!) xx

Penguins (and the parting of the ways)

Well my friends you have come to a bittersweet moment in our New Zealand Experience. Our little fellowship is breaking, but only for a very brief while. Katie heads East to Queenstown, and I head South to the inhospitable landscape of Invercagill, and Stewart Island. So for a week or two you will have seperate posts from us adventurers. But don't worry, we shall soon be reunited and back together once again, like Bill and Ted, Wayne and Garth, Butch and Sundance, Shrek and Donkey...
Yesterday was a fitting end to our time in Dunedin. As Katie was very keen to see Penguins, we went on a wildlife tour of the Otago penninsula, which is about thirty minutes drive from the city. For the last two days we have had rain and wind almost nonstop, and so yesterday we found ourselves on the cliff side with the wind roaring around us and the sea boiling below us- it was absolutely spectacular. The waves were smashing against the rocks at the water's edge, and so we got to see a huge collony of fur seals at close range. The pups were only a few weeks old and not strong enough to swim in the sea, so they had climbed up the cliff very near to where we could watch them. On our walk across the beach to the penguins we passed a harem of five huge sealions, all male, as females are very scarce on the penninsula. They were absolutely massive and extremely playful with each other in the cold weather, and we were able to stand only metres away from them, an experience that was both exciting and frightening! We got onto the beach at about 8 'o' clock, the time when the penguins are returning from the sea after a days fishing, and so we got to see them waddle out of the surf (and fall over a couple of times) before walking up the hill back to bed. They were yellow-eyed penguins who are very shy of humans and so it was a brilliant experience just to see them. Bye xx

FAO Monseigneur X

Pardon Monseigneur, we were ignorant of your presence until the sweet moment but trois minutes ago, when we happened upon your petit pois. Ah oui!! Ca va? Please, come again. Au revoir ma cherie. x x

You have appeased us (we will not say ni!)

Aah friends you are back with us. We are smiling once again. So yes, what were we saying about the weather the other day - warm, sunny, no rain? How things can change!! It's like being back in Aberdeen. We are wrapped up to the hilt and have just been out to purchase fleeces. This is Dunedin!! On the night of the last (ie. last night), we met up with an old friend from Auckland by the Robbie Burns statue in the Octagon (which is pretty much the centre of the City). Her name is Analisa (you may remember her from other blogs such as the ones at the start involving Auckland) . It was only eleven o clock when we came together and yet there was no life to be seen anywhere. We wandered about for a bit, had a cocktail in a nice but mostly dead bar and headed back to the hostel. Sally went to the uni this morning and we wandered around town this afternoon. Tomorrow we are going to visit the penguins - yey!! And that's that. bye for now. xx
ps. I'll have you know travelling is work Katie!! We have to get up early almost everyday, facing uncertainty, and try to find our way in this new world. We have to hunt for our food and shelter in a new environment every couple of days, never knowing whether the landscape will be lush or hostile. Yes, it's hard, hard work. And yo Fred! We just noticed your comment back in the archives... looking forward to seeing you two (and too, jah see what we did there we are rakish wits indeed!) Aaahh goodbye to you all.