Say goodbye to Wellywood

Well, I wasn’t sure I’d ever see the day but this will be my final blog from the wondrous city of Wellington. The ferry leaves at 230pm Tuesday 10th, and we will be on it ready for some new adventures on the South island! Since I last blogged I have achieved lots, mostly working my way through the library including the entire Harry Potter series. Happy days. We have also been out and about and exploring what there is left – not loads as it turns out! The good thing about Wellington is that even when you run out of sights that you would see as a tourist, you can still just drive for half an hour and get to somewhere amazing and just wander around to your hearts content. The one thing I don’t understand, is that there is so much space in this country but absolutely none in our flat. One of the great mysteries of life that I will never know the answer to. In other big news, nobody was more surprised than me when I ended up at a senior technical tax conference last week. What was worse, was that I actually understood what they were saying! Although most of it was still a blur – phew. Anyway I actually had a brilliant time, for another reason… firstly there was the tea break in the morning. I thought I’d grab a quick tea… but just as I reached for a cup my eye was caught by a huge plate of freshly made scones. And a bowl full of jam. And an even bigger bowl of cream. The poor cup of tea was left abandoned as I got stuck in. Then I had a little break, and it seemed to me the perfect time to polish off my packed lunch, which I did. THEN someone came and got me and told me it was lunch time… and lunch was provided. Upstairs I went obediently, and saw the most food I think I have ever seen in my life. I did what I had to do, told my belly to pretend it wasn’t full of scones and sandwiches, and got involved with the buffet. There were a few funny looks when I came back with a plate full of pasta bake, roast potatoes, 8 different bits of sushi, seafood salad and a Caesar salad, but in my defence I didn’t get any of the veal. I’m a poor backpacker I need to fill up where I can! Did have to take my belt off on the way into the afternoon presentations though… anyway I have decided that I really do enjoy conferences and that I must attend more. We have been doing loads of planning and booking stuff for America, so we have got the itinerary pretty set in stone (allowing plenty of time for Disney World and Universal Studios – don’t worry). We’re both getting pretty excited about that, and have to keep reminding ourselves that we have a little holiday in Fiji before that. Nina told me the other day that she has seen Elijah Wood in Wellington ‘loads of times’ but so far I have seen no evidence of him, which is a bit much I think. There are six days left for him to find me and ask me to live in the shire. That’s pretty much all my juicy gossip, so I will leave you now with this tragic tale of something that happened to me last night. There I was being a domestic goddess and cooking a culinary masterpiece involving quite a lot of cayenne pepper. Forgetting that I had used my hands I adjusted my nose stud, and about 2 seconds later felt a horrific burning sensation. Yes, I got cayenne pepper stuck in my nose piercing. My nose hasn’t felt that horrible since I got a bit of snickers stuck up it. Half an hour later, I couldn’t take anymore and started rinsing my nose out. It was not an experience to be repeated. Dinner was nice though. Lots of love, and not too much cayenne pepper xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx