WAS - What A Scream!

This morning I got up really early, got ready for my exciting day out to a primary school and decided that for a visit to a primary school, it was probably going to be a better idea to wear jeans rather than a dress or skirt (as it turns out, a very wise decision indeed!). I didn’t have time for a cup of tea, as I had to head off on my slightly scary journey to the school which was going to involve taking public transport to somewhere I had not been to before and which I didn’t have a map of. I was going to have to rely on the vague list of road names I had written down when I went online yesterday.

I left the house at 7.30am and walked up the road for a bit, to the point at which I thought I was going to be able to get a tram from, but this seemed unlikely when I realised that there were no tram lines on the road. Hmmmm. I was just looking at the sign, which seemed to indicate that it was a bus stop, when a bus turned up and the driver asked if I was ok. I told him where I was trying to get to and he told me to hop on as the tram stop was further up the road. So I took a free three minute bus ride to Moonee Ponds, where I hopped out and saw tram lines. Despite the fact that time was ticking and I should get a move on, I decided that finding a coffee was equally as urgent, so I went to Gloria Jeans and got a coffee to set me up for the morning (mmmmmm), before hopping on the first tram that pulled up, in the hope that it was the right one!

As the tram went along, I was pleased to see that we were going past the road names I was expecting to see, which made me feel confident I was going n the right direction. I got off the tram at the point that I thought I was supposed to, but soon afterwards realised that it was a bit too early, so had to walk a fair way up a very long road, which added a bit of time to my journey. As I walked, a rubbish truck went past and after turning down a lift from the bin men who had asked if I was lost (which on reflection might have been a mistake!) we ended up leapfrogging the whole way up the road, joking as we went to see who would reach the junction first. I won, so was happy, then continued walking up the next road until eventually I came to the school. Phew, it was a fair walk! I arrived at 8.50am – just in time for the start of school!

I asked at reception for Gabi, who came along and took me briefly to meet the Principal, Val, before we went to the classroom and I met the other teacher, Sarah and the Education Support Worker, Unette, they explained to Gabi that the other ES was off sick – it meant that my day of observing in a primary school setting was slightly shifted – I was now going to be a primary school teacher for the day! No sooner had we said hello, then we were heading outside, through the playgrounds and back out to the road – along the way I noticed that all the door handles were right up at the top of the doors, so that the children could not open the doors themselves. The first mission was to collect the children from their buses and take them to class. There were buses and people everywhere, both children and adults, so I followed Gabi and she hopped on one of the buses and came out with a little boy. She handed me the little boy and asked me to hold his hand, whilst she collected another child who was screaming blue murder.

We stood on the pavement with a screaming little girl and the quiet little boy, whilst Gabi tried to calm the little girl down. She told me the little boy was called Remi and we then started trying to bring the children into the school. Remi was quite compliant, walking when I started moving, but constantly looking over his shoulder and walking with me but backwards, Gabi had Tess, who cried and wailed the whole way. As we got to through the second playground, Remi was still walking backwards and Gabi told me it was because he has an obsession with watching doors open and close, so he was fixated on watching the buses’ doors close. I managed to get him into the building, then had to get him to take his bag and coat off and put them on his hook, but he was far more interested in watching the door to the playground closing.

Eventually, I had managed to get Remi into the classroom, Gabi had got Tess in too; although she was still crying a lot, Sarah had brought in Jorjah-Jade and Unette had Munir. Four students and four adults all present and correct! One child was absent, which I think was a bit of a god-send as I don’t know how we’d have coped with five children between the four of us! These were kindergarten children, aged 5, all with autism and very high needs; only Tess could speak and was toilet trained.

First thing was ‘Schedule’. After extracting Remi from the door handle, putting headphones on Munir and getting Jorjah down from the table, we managed to get all the children sitting down, well sort of, while Sarah introduced them (and me) to the schedule board. She stuck up on the board pictures of each child, then of each adult, saying each name as she did, then she put the pictures of the absent child and ES in the corner with a red cross over them, to show that they were not there. She then sang a song about saying hello and went through singing hello to each child, only Tess responded through her tears with the appropriate ‘hello’ at the end. Next she went back to the board to explain the day’s schedule. The board has numbers one to six down the side and then pictures of different things next to each number, as a visual cue to what was happening. For example, next to ‘1’ was a picture of a bus, next to ‘2’ was a person waving with ‘hello’ written underneath, next to ‘3’ were pictures of children doing different activities, etc etc. At the bottom of the board was an envelope covered in black and white checks, this was the ‘finished’ envelope. Sarah went through the schedule and then put the picture of the bus in the finished envelope. This was quite a lengthy process and there was little indication as to whether or not the children had any idea about what she had said.

The next activity of the day was Occupational Therapy. Each child has their own OT plan, so each of the staff started the child’s session, whilst I interacted with Remi to occupy him until Sarah had finished with Jorjah and so could take him. First we played with a very simple puzzle and I tried to engage him by describing the puzzle using words like ‘open’ and ‘close’- he was still fascinated looking at the doors and handles. He completed the puzzle several times, then we moved on to a different activity with a box where you drop a little wooden mouse into a hole at the top and it slides down a sequence of slopes until it pops out at the bottom. This occupied him for a bit and then it was his turn for OT. The different OT activities ranged from a mini trampoline, to an exercise ball. I then took Jorjah and got her to choose a toy to play with; a little wind up caterpillar.

A lady called Helen then came and collected me, to go on a tour of the school with a group of parents of prospective students. It was very interesting going about the rest of the school. We went into each classroom and it was particularly confusing when I saw Tess in another room and she was not crying, but instead walked straight up to me and asked what my name was – it turned out to be Tess’ twin sister, Eliza and it was surprising to see the difference in the two 5 year olds. On the tour we also saw some speech therapy lessons going on, then the gross motor skills classroom with a lot of large soft play equipment and a very big trampoline. Helen also took us to some classrooms where there were older children, who were quite talkative. They showed us some of the things they have been doing and it was not surprising that some of them would be able to progress to mainstream schools next year. In one of those classes I saw Remi’s older brother, Gaston, who looked exactly like him.

Once the tour was done, I went back to the classroom, just in time to help them take the children out to the playground (after Sarah had taken each of them to the toilet), where Unette stayed with them, whilst Sarah, Gabi and I went back in for a cup of tea and a chat in the staffroom.

After our break, we went back to the playground and collected the children, again I took Remi and felt I had the hang of getting him to move past gates and doors, by pointing out the next door or gate ahead, so that he did not have to walk backwards to look at the last one! Back in the classroom, we went back to the schedule and put some more things in the finished envelope, before Sarah explained to them about their excursion on the bus. We got everyone to put their coats on and Sarah took each child to the toilet, then we went out to the bus and managed to get all the children installed in child seats with their seatbelts on. This was surprisingly easy as everyone was very compliant. Tess was fine, as she had her personal schedule with her (a mini version of the one in the classroom), clutching it very close to her. Unette, Gabi and I sat in the back with the kids, whilst Sarah hopped in to drive.

Before long, we were on our way to Melton – about a half hour drive away. This went relatively smoothly; Remi, Tess and Munir stared out the window and Jorjah just sat squealing with excitement in her own little world. We eventually arrived in Melton at the fish and chip shop, where we each took a child and brought them into the shop. Munir did not like it as there were lots of different noises going on and it was difficult to get him to go in. They sat and ate their lunch quite successfully, until Munir made for a great escape when someone came in through the door, but I managed to chase him and catch him before he went too far – Unette then came to my rescue and after a bit of a kerfuffle, enticed him back into the shop with some food! Sarah bought them some chips which they seemed to like, only Tess was able to ask for chips though, the others just ate what we gave them. I had a chiko roll – it’s still very odd and I don’t think I should like it, but it’s ok!

The main reason for the visit to this specific shop was because they also have a soft play area, which the children seemed to enjoy playing in. Each of them bounded around in their own little worlds, not playing together, but just enjoying running about and crawling through tubes. Even Munir enjoyed it – it was the first time he seemed to take in and be aware of his surroundings, it was amazing. He then started engaging with Gabi and even laughed and giggled! No one had seen him like that before and it was lovely to witness him actually seem to be aware of others and enjoy something. After they’d had a good run around, we had to prepare them for the ride home, which went smoothly and without tears. I went with Tess and got her to look at her schedule, together we put the fish and chips picture in the little finished envelope and we ascertained that we were now going on the bus to go back to school. This helped her get in the bus without any traumas.

The drive back to school was fine as well, Munir carried on giggling away to himself, although the children did get a bit confused when Sarah stopped for petrol. They thought it was time to get out and had unclipped their seatbelts as soon as she’d switched off the engine, so we had to get them all back in their seats and explain what was happening.

When we were finally back at school, we took the children back into the classroom and to the schedule, where we put the excursion pictures into the finished envelope and clarified the next parts of the schedule – rest time. This was quite funny as only Tess was compliant and laid down on the floor under a blanket. Remi had gone into what Sarah called ‘Door Land’ – this involved him making door shapes with his hands, opening and closing them, all whilst humming a really repetitive tune, getting more and more excited and animated whilst he did so; this was the first time I had even heard him utter a single sound! Meanwhile Jorjah sat in the corner plucking the petals off some very small flowers she had picked when she got out of the bus, laughing to herself. Munir wandered around in the corner, still giggling. They all seemed pretty happy though. During this time, which was only about ten minutes, Sarah and Unette wrote up notes in each of the children’s home/school books.

Rest time was over and we got the children back to sitting around the schedule, this introduced them to get their coats and bags, then they gave out the books and it was time to put all the other pictures into the finished envelope, before explaining that it was time to go home on the bus.

We took the children out into the playground, I had Remi and Tess; we found their buses and safely passed them on to the relevant driver and soon they were on their way. PHEW! As soon as we were childless, I realised just how shattered I was! What a day! Gabi and I went back inside and chatted to Sarah and Unette, whilst we tidied up and set up for tomorrow. I was so pleased that I had worn jeans, as I had done so much running around after the kids and had had various children clamped to my legs at various points during the day, I only wished that I had worn trainers. I thanked everyone for giving me such an insightful day, it really had been amazing – seeing such special education first hand was something I had not anticipated to have enjoyed so much.

When I left, I made my way back up the road and stopped at Maccas for a well earned coffee and swift click about online. I then jumped on a tram and headed back to Ascotvale, where I fell through the door and promptly collapsed on the sofa with the others! I told them all about my day and I must have been rather excited about it, even if I was totally shattered. I said to Becs that I don’t know how she manages to survive teaching five year olds every day; I know that hers are not autistic, but with a ratio of 1:1 today, it was still incredibly exhausting! After my initial slump on the sofa, I got showered and changed and settled down for the evening.

Becs had not been at work today as she had been given the day off to write her reports – she had actually spent a lot of the day making pies for dinner. This was definitely a decision that worked out well for the rest of us. They were absolutely delicious! We enjoyed them whilst watching tv, including Masterchef of course. We spent the rest of the evening relaxing and chatting with a few drinks and the tv.

Sleepy Sunday

Another slow day today, we all got up quite late. We had a cup of tea and Tom went across the road to get the Sunday papers and we then spent a couple of hours sitting around in the lounge reading the newspapers, each taking a section and passing it around when we were done with it until we’d all read pretty much everything. We chatted about some of the main stories as we went and did all the quizzes and crosswords together. Today we were not on as good a form as we were the other day and we didn’t do very well on the quizzes.

For lunch, Tom made me Vegemite on toast again, this time with a thicker spreading of the iconic spread. Again, I didn’t really have an opinion one way or the other about it, but did decide that it was better when it was thicker. Tom was slightly more satisfied with my response this time, but both he, Sarah and Becs were still confused about why I did not have a definitive answer to ‘love it or hate it’ conundrum – the same one that we have in the UK over Marmite (which again I don’t have a particular opinion on).

The rest of the afternoon was chilled out and involved tea and tv. I took a walk down to Maccas for a wander and click about, to get some idea of where I would need to go tomorrow, then had a look in some of the not-very-inspiring shops nearby. When I got back to the house, Becs and I chatted about some of the students in her class and I helped her come up with some good phrases to include in her reports.

We sat in the lounge and watched tv for a bit, including Dr Who - an odd episode where they were flicking between reality and a dream world; like the Vegemite, I couldn’t decide whether I thought it was any good or not and to be honest I am still not convinced about the new Dr and even less convinced about the companions. Once that was over we went out and got some boxes of noodles for dinner, returning to the house to munch on those, whilst watching Masterchef and bagging the dishes they were making – it is a great show for collectively loving and hating the different contestants!

After a bit more tv, I took a shower and had an early night so as to be fresh for the morning and my visit to the Western Autistic School.

Slow Saturday

Having had a rather late night, this morning was rather slow, as was the day in general. It consisted primarily of everyone just chilling out, chatting, watching tv, drinking tea and general Saturdayness like that. I also put some washing on, which was vaguely interesting.

In the afternoon I decided to get some fresh air so went for a walk to Coles, popping into the pet shop along the way to look at the animals and considering whether the Japanese fighting fish looked a bit miserable. The Coles is rather small so it does not take long to have walked around it, but I picked up some bits for the house; namely biscuits and Cheezels.

Before heading back to the house I stopped for a coffee at the kebab shop (I know, it sounds odd, but actually the coffee was really good!) and sat in there reading the paper for a while. I read about the ‘Crossbow Cannibal’ in the UK and it made me realise that I have no idea of what is going on at home. By the time I left, it was getting dark and after the ten minute walk back, the girls had been wondering what had happened to me!

We spent the rest of the evening watching tv – a variety of trashy programmes like Australia’s Got Talent (which is even worse than Britain’s Got Talent!) and then they had a double bill of Toy Story and Toy Story 2, so that kept us entertained over a few beers. Once that was over, we put on South Park and watched that for a while before turning in.

Vegging, Vegemite & Very Late Night!

This morning I got up, dressed and settled down with a cup of tea and my laptop. Sarah came down and we had a chat before she went off to uni, she was feeling a bit under the weather, with the beginnings of a cold. I then spent a couple of hours just chilling out, clicking about, sorting out my photos, with half an eye and half an ear on the tv and chatting to Tom when he got up, he mentioned feeling like he might be coming down with a cold too.

For lunch, Tom insisted that I try Vegemite, so he made me toast and put the iconic Aussie yeast extract on it, then watched me expectantly as I ate it. I was indifferent to it, much in the same way that I am indifferent to Marmite. He was slightly disappointed that I did not have a definite opinion one way or the other, so has vowed that I will have to try it again at another point in time when he will put the Vegemite on thicker.

After a bit more fiddling about on my laptop and half-hearted tv watching, I decided to go for a walk to Maccas so as to be able to go online for a bit. The walk itself was not too far, but I decided to pop into the pharmacy on the way and pick up some cold/flu medicine, just in case I started feeling the same as Sarah and Tom. Once in Maccas, I got online for the first time in ages and set about reading the ridiculous quantity of emails that had piled up in my internet absence. Time passed very quickly and before I knew it, it was time to go as I was supposed to be going out to the pub with Tom and some of his friends.

Back at the house, I threw on some different clothes which would be a little more appropriate for going out and we set off to the Prince Albert, where we met Hilary and Melissa. We sat chatting and having a drink, then Tom’s best friend Ewan arrived. After a few drinks, we went over to ‘Barry’ – the pub’s quiz machine. We played several rounds of the Cluedo game, where you have to answer trivia questions and move around the board, tying to guess ‘who dunnit’ – this caused much amusement as we actually did quite well. After a bit, we decided to have some time out from the game, to regroup and collect our thoughts, over another drink. Hilary managed to get hold of a roll of sellotape and then spent the next half an hour sellotaping anything and everything together. To move away from the sellotape relted frivolity, we went back to Barry and played Cluedo again for a bit, before changing to the Ned Kelly game, which we decided was not as much fun to play as a group. Mel left to go and meet some other friends and Tom, Ewan and I went to a tiny place called Don Tojo, a Japanese restaurant, where we chatted away over a delicious dinner – called a don don box.

Full to the brim with Japanese food, we left there and went to another pub called The Clyde, where we sat in the beer garden, hiding under the big umbrella from the torrential downpour that started more or less as soon as we arrived! The guys thought it was about time I boarded the ‘rum train’ so I had my first Bundaberg rum with coke of my trip. I don’t particularly rate Bundy rum, but it’s not too bad. We eventually conceded and went inside, where there was a women’s football team having some sort of big, loud gathering, so we had to shout over the top of them to be heard. Mel arrived with two of her other friends, and we all sat chatting (with raised voices!) for a while and discussing AFL.

Tom and I left The Clyde and went to the last venue on our list for the night – a pub entertainingly called The Lambsgo Bar. It took us both a while to get the joke, as before we’d arrived, he hadn’t realised that they include the word ‘bar’ in the name. We were there for leaving drinks of a friend of Tom’s ; Penny who was going travelling. I met Penny and some of Tom’s other friends. I got chatting to a couple of girls who are learning Makaton as they work with people with Down’s Syndrome, so that led to comparing BSL and Makaton signs and then further people joined the conversation and wanted to know more signs. Before we knew it, there were people signing all over the place! The music in this pub was really good and we had a bit of a dance to some classic Nirvana, before they called time at midnight and we started heading home, feeling quite done in!

When we arrived back at the house and started walking up the drive, we could hear music which confused us – we turned the corner and found the lounge and kitchen full of people! Sarah had brought a load of uni people over, so we grabbed some beers out of the fridge and joined in the party!

It was quite funny because Sarah is usually really quiet and reserved - I hadn’t ever seen her even remotely intoxicated, but she had definitely had a few to drink and was so different and incredibly lively! Suddenly at 1.30am there was a mass exodus and the throng started getting into taxis to go clubbing. They tried to convince Tom and I to join them but neither of us fancied clubbing and we’d been out at the pub since 4.30pm, so did not really have the energy. I was relieved as I know that I am never going to be a clubber – I definitely prefer a pub or a bar, and I doubt I could keep up with this lot!

They left in a whirlwind and Sarah was overly apologetic for the mess they’d left the house in, but we insisted that it was ok and ushered her into the taxi with her friends. There was still no sign of Becs, who had gone out clubbing with some of the teachers from school, so Tom and I cleared up the most immediate mess and watched a couple of episodes of South Park, before I let my age catch up with me and flagged!

ATI & A Terrific Insight!

This morning I had to get up early but I didn’t really mind as I had something exciting to do – this helped inspire me to get ready quickly (or as quickly as I am able to – I am definitely becoming more laid back which means I don’t do much in a hurry nowadays!), into my special ‘school visiting outfit’ which was having its debut today. I put it with some fishnets, which instantly gave me an overwhelming longing for putting on a pair of boots (sigh – I miss my boots!) like I would do if I was going to work. Instead, at first I put on my red ‘Dorothy’ shoes (from Basvegas) but then changed my mind as I wasn’t sure the world was ready for me in my red shoes yet, so switched for the black ones.

All set to go, I left the house, crossed the road and promptly arrived on the doorstep of the Autism Teaching Institute (it’s that close it made me wonder if they’d seen me getting ready!). From the front, with its little white picket fence, the building itself looks like a house, which I guess it probably once was, it must be quite an old building as it has the old metal work on the front and looks quite pretty. I was met by Mary Thomson, the Director of Teacher Training and she invited me in. Despite the office furniture, notice boards, shelves full of books and general teaching paraphernalia, it was still possible to see how this was once a house, with stunning wooden floors and big windows – certainly a nice environment to work in.

We had a cup of coffee and sat, chatting about the ATI and how it fits in the bigger picture of the Western Autistic School. She explained about the ATI’s role in teacher training; with many people coming from across Victoria to attend their programmes. It was the first registered training organisation in Victoria to offer accredited courses specific to Autistic Spectrum Disorder. The courses they run are the Vocational Graduate Certificate and Diploma in Teaching Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Their students are practicing teachers from both mainstream and special schools and will spend two years working towards the Diploma, part time. Mary described how they are building their alumni of graduates into a network, so that they can share good practice and continue their professional development. Once they have graduated, they become the specialist for their school and can then use their expertise to advise and develop other teachers in their school.

Mary then took me to the classrooms out the back of the house – they have several fair sized portacabins for teaching. They have a selection of small groups come in each day, in order to offer those Diploma students the chance to work with young people with ASD (of secondary school age), in case they don’t have much in the way of access to such students in their own schools. Also, it works to benefit the students with ASD as they are given the opportunity to come away from their own schools and into a specialist setting, to work on an individualised programme.

We first went to see a group who come in for an IT related programme. There were only two students; Dylan and Trystan, with one teacher. The students are only about 12 years old and attend mainstream school, coming to the ATI for one day per week, where they study a variety of things, but the main focus is IT. Dylan was quite animated and told me about what he was doing – playing a game called ‘Spore’. Apparently he has a massive fascination about the concept of evolution and this game links with that. As they work on individualised programmes, based around communication, he had chosen to make a video instruction guide to Spore and was going to start shooting the video in the afternoon. His teacher suggested he practice his explanation on me, so I was then lucky enough to be given a lengthy description of the game and a blow by blow account of how to play it! I was very impressed with his communication skills and his ability to use appropriate facial expressions and hand gestures, along with pretty good eye contact. This was in total contrast to Trystan, who was incredibly quiet and very difficult to engage with – even for his teacher. I managed to glean from some appropriate questioning and guesswork that his project was to create a webpage using html and he was developing a PowerPoint presentation about html.

Having visited them, Mary took me to another class, where there were three students; Callum, Dylan and Sallie and two staff. These students were older, 15-17 years old and again, each goes to a different mainstream school, coming to the ATI for one day per week. From observing and engaging with these students even briefly and listening to how the teachers described the schools they’re from, I can imagine that coming to the ATI must be a very welcome experience indeed – away from massive schools full of thousands of students, to a quiet place with people who understand them. Their teacher asked them to guess where I was from by listening to my accent, this took a fairly long time and several clues, but in the end Callum guessed that I was from England and I then told them where in England I live. In this group Dylan was the most talkative and told me about some of the things they have been doing – they focus on arts as a means of expression. I saw some of the work they have done and a lot of it was fantastic. Sallie was incredibly quiet but is very talented and has created lots of artwork with a manga theme, which she showed me. Dylan told me he prefers drama and hopes to be a professional actor and tennis player when he is older, as he has just started taking tennis lessons and wants to go on Masterchef too! Callum said very little, only ever giving a one or two word response to any question, so I only learned that he likes rugby.

Mary showed me a really interesting project one of the other groups has been working on – a stop motion animation of the story of Titanic; they’ve made and painted scale models of Titanic out of ceramic, there are several different sized ships, plus ‘bits’ of the ships for making it appear to ‘sink’ and a background with different sized ceramic waves. This project links with the Titanic exhibition that has just opened in Melbourne, which they will be visiting soon.

We then went back into the main house and I was introduced to some of the other staff. We chatted to them for a little while, about my background and some of the things I had seen which had interested me. One of the teachers, Gabi, asked if I would be interested in going to see her at the actual Western Autistic School next week and I very much jumped at the class. She is one of the teacher trainers, so mostly deals with teaching those people studying for the Diploma, but still goes into the classroom one day per week at the school.

Having chatted a bit more, I said my thank yous and goodbyes and headed back across the road to the house. By the time I got back, Tom was up; I hadn’t seen the girls before I had left as Becs had already gone to school and Sarah had just for uni. I chatted to him for a bit, then got changed out of my ‘school visiting outfit’ and settled down in the lounge with tv and tea.

A few episodes of Futurama later and Sarah came back from uni, so I chatted to her about the experience at ATI. She told me about her day at uni and the wine tasting session she’d been to – a legitimate part of her course! She joined me watching tv and soon afterwards, Tom re-emerged with a DVD and we watched that. When that was over, we hopped in Sarah’s car and headed to the supermarket to pick up some things for dinner and then came back to the house in time to watch one of Tom’s favourite shows - M*A*S*H (of all things?!).

Becs came home from school and was barely through the front door before she was in full throw, telling us about the hilarious things that had happened at school. At break time, one of the children (a 5 year old boy) had climbed to the top of the climbing frame and jumped off, straight onto a pigeon, which had kind of exploded and covered the nearby children in guts and gore! To make matters worse, the pigeon wasn’t killed outright and the boy who did it was not remotely remorseful and totally uninjured, so Becs and the other teachers had to clean up all the kids, who were slightly traumatised. I think the story traumatised me too!

We had pizza for dinner whilst I told Becs about the ATI and then we all settled down for an evening of chatting and watching more tv, including of course, Neighbours and Masterchef.

Waxing Wednesday

I got up this morning and went for a run, it was tougher today than the other day, I don’t know why, but I was not in the zone at all. When I came back, Sarah had just come downstairs, we had a quick chat, then I went and got myself washed and dressed before coming back to the kitchen and having a cup of tea with her. Tom and Becs had both gone to work before I had gone out and Sarah was going to do some uni work, so I got set to go out into the city again.

I walked down to the tram stop and hopped on the first tram that arrived, which took me back to Elizabeth Street. On the way, I got chatting to an Italian girl who has been in Melbourne for three months, she was on her way to get her hair done and this sparked a conversation about the Academy. I told her about it and she was really interested, so I gave her the card that they’d given me with the phone number and address! I really am turning into an advocate for the salon, which is where I was heading back to, but this time to investigate their beauty section!

Once at the Academy, I was taken upstairs to the beauty school, where I had booked in for a leg wax. I was a little surprised at the look and feel of the salon as it was equally as grey as the hair salon downstairs – in my opinion, not the best colour for a beauty therapy environment as it felt rather dark and dingy. Two girls came to do my leg wax – they simultaneously waxed one leg each, which I also thought was a little strange. On the positive side, it meant I had two people to interrogate about what and how they learn at this Academy. They were very compliant and answered all my many questions; it turns out that they have to do a lot of study but only learn what I would say were the very basics (manicure, pedicure, facials and waxing) and also they do not really learn much theory (such as anatomy and physiology), which means there are no theory based assessments, only practicals. Either way, the service was good and they did my legs very quickly; well there were two of them doing it, so I guess it would be quicker than usual!

Waxing over, I headed further into the city and spent the remainder of the day window shopping and having a general mooch around the shops. Whilst I was shopping, I had a call from a lady at the Autism Teaching Institute, which was incredibly exciting and we arranged a visit for tomorrow to their school. It was particularly funny because at one point in the conversation she asked me how I would be getting there so she could give me directions, I told her that I could see the front door of the ATI from the front door of where I was staying and she couldn’t believe it!

Having sorted that out, I had a bit of a spring in my step, so I walked down to Flinders Street to hop on the tram. I was surprised to see a giant, inflatable, white elephant sat outside the station, it was advertising something but the advert was lost on me as the elephantyness of it stuck out far more than the message written on the side! The tram took me to the shopping centre along the docklands – I had been passed it on my previous trips on this tram and so decided to finally check it out. The shopping centre itself was described as an ‘outlet’ centre, which was a little misleading – most of the shops were just random places selling a load of old rubbish and only a few were vaguely interesting. I did however manage to pick up, at an outlet price, some PJs I had seen in NZ so that was good!

Feeling a bit weary of shopping, I got the tram back to the city centre and then took the tram back to Ascotvale, where I popped into Coles for some supplies of Cheezels and Oreos, before walking back to the house. Becs and Sarah were home, so we had a good chat about the beauty salon, my leg wax and my shopping exploits. I told them about my visit tomorrow to the ATI and they were pleased for me. I then decided to have another shower, as I had that horrible sensation of sticky legs from where there were erroneous little bits of wax left on my legs, sticking to my jeans!

When I came down, I sat with the girls watching Neighbours and the news, then Tom arrived home from work. Becs cooked us all a tasty dinner of pad thai, which was delicious and we decided to crack open the rum once more, whist we whiled away the evening drinking that and again hurling abuse at the chefs on Masterchef! I went to bed once I realised that I had better stop drinking for fear of turning up at the ATI with a hangover in the morning!

Tram & Trim

When I got up this morning, Becs had already gone to school and Tom had gone to work. I took a shower, got dressed and when I came down to the kitchen I had a cup of tea and chat with Sarah. She went off to do some uni work and I decided to go into the city.

I got my stuff together and went for a walk down the road to the tram stop. I didn’t have to wait too long before the number 57 arrived and I hopped on. The tram ride took me past some familiar sights and when it arrived at Elizabeth Street, I got off and went to Vicky Markets; the sounds and smells of the markets were intoxicating – well, as intoxicating as the smell of fruit, veg and fish can be; I guess it was the sense of being back there which was intoxicating!

Having walked up and down Elizabeth Street so many times on my last stay in Melbourne, I had gotten to know it rather well. For that reason, I decided to go to The Academy – a hair and beauty school that I had seen countless times before, but never gone into. I asked if they could fit me in for a cut and blow dry (or blow wave, as they call it!) and they could, so I sat in the waiting area until the class came back from their break, which was only a short time.

I spent a couple of hours in the salon, having the cut and blow wave, but also talking to Vivien; the hairdressing student who was cutting my hair. We discussed her course, the way she is taught and assessed and what it is like studying at the Academy. It was really interesting. I also found it fascinating looking about at the salon itself. It is a large, high ceilinged warehouse, painted grey. As a training salon it functioned well, but I thought it lacked the style and decor of a commercial salon; I know it is primarily a training salon, but I felt it could have been more aesthetically pleasing. I also decided that I like the professional look of our students, namely the uniform tunic they wear, at the Melbourne Academy there is no official uniform, however the students all wear black, but they did not look very smart. Vivien cut my hair quite well, perhaps a little shorter at the front than it should be, but it was a good enough job and I know it will grow!

When I left the salon, it was pouring with rain so I did my best to keep under my umbrella, but to no avail. To avoid the downpour, I darted into Maccas and for the first time in eons got online using free wifi once more! Whoop whoop! I managed a quick surf about for about an hour before the place was overrun with school kids and I made a swift exit – Aussie school kids are so loud! I wandered down the road and popped into Peter Pans, where I was supposed to be sorting out a refund for the Abel Tasman sailing trip in NZ that was cancelled; they were really busy so told me I could use their internet for free whilst I waited. It sounded like a good offer so I jumped online and checked out a few things, however I then realised that I might be waiting far longer than had been suggested, so I gave up and left.

The rain had cleared slightly and so I decided to walk a bit further into town and just generally take in the ambience of being back in Melbourne. It was so nice just ambling along in no particular hurry, with no specific destination, casually looking in shop windows and watching people go about their day to day business.

I made it down to Flinders Street and was just admiring Federation Square once more, when I had a call from Tom. He had just finished work and was going to the pub, so I hopped on a tram to go and join him in the Prince Albert. There, I was introduced to a couple of his friends and we chatted away over a few pints of Green – the eco friendly beer. From where we sat at the bar, the staff seemed to constantly be going past us to deliver food from the kitchen to the tables behind us and every time, the food seemed to look and smell better and better, so we decided to jump on the bandwagon. It was delicious – I had a Cajun chicken burger and it was almost as great as the one from Fergburger!

We headed back to Ascotvale and found the girls watching tv, so we sat chilling on the sofa with a beer, chatting – the girls were keen to hear about my experience at the salon and we discussed how good the prices were; I think Becs will be going there for a full head of foils! I think this conversation might have been a bit too oestrogen-fuelled for Tom! We flicked on the tv and spent the remainder of the evening watching a host of programmes. The highlight was Masterchef; it is getting quite exciting and we enjoyed slating each of the chefs and trying to guess who would be evicted!

TV Marathon Monday

Today I had another lie in, then got up and went for a short run. I came back, got showered and had a cup of tea with Sarah before she went to university, Becs had left already for school (she works in a primary school as a kindergarten teacher).

I put the tv on and watched the news, then got sucked into watching some silly infomercials which are really long but strangely captivating! Tom appeared and we connected up his computer again, to put on a marathon of Flight of the Conchords (a NZ programme which is surprisingly good). For lunch we had the very healthy delicacy of Cheezels (another new Aussie treat I have been introduced to!) – they’re a cross between Wotsits and HulaHoops. We sat and munched on those, then we put on a DVD of the film ‘City of God’, which was a rather violent film and quite heavy going.

Sarah came back and we chatted about her day at uni. Tom offered to cook dinner, so the three of us went for a walk down to Coles and bought some supplies, then spent the rest of the afternoon drinking tea and watching tv.

When Becs arrived home, Tom started cooking and came up with a delicious dinner of creamy pesto chicken with gnocchi. We ate that whilst watching Neighbours and reminiscing about old storylines, trying to work out what was going on and ascertaining who the new characters were, along with their connection to the other characters. I then chatted to Becs about her day at school. It was really interesting hearing about life as a prep teacher; she described some of her students to me and we discussed some possible alternative teaching strategies to help those with specific needs.

We decided to crack open the rum I had brought from duty free and that made for a nice, chilled out evening, chatting and watching more tv. Masterchef was on and that caused much amusement as we all got rather into the swing of passing judgement on the chefs and dishes. I really feel in the spirit of chilling out and it has made me realise just how much dashing about I have been doing for the last few months!

Super Sluggish Sunday

This morning I had a lie in, I think I really needed it! When I eventually emerged, I found the others outside reading the Sunday newspapers. We sat and discussed some of the funny stories, read the horoscopes, then did the quizzes and crosswords together, over a cup of tea. We sat outside for a while, then came in and sat in the lounge for a bit, watching tv and generally having a Sunday chill-out. I then had a shower, got myself together and went back to tv watching with the others.

A few cups of tea later and it was Sunday afternoon, the whole experience of relaxing and doing nothing particular was so refreshing! Having done a lot of nothing, we all got in the car and headed to the bottle shop to pick up some more beers, then drove to the house of one of their friends, Sammy, who was having ‘going away’ drinks – he is going to America for a year on Monday. There I met some more of their friends and we all stood about in the garden, having a drink and chatting about all sorts of things. I think my Britishness caused some amusement! The sun went down and suddenly it became really cold, so we decided to head back home.

For dinner, Tom insisted on introducing me to another Aussie delicacy (*cough*) – chiko roll! We went across the road to the fish and chip shop, where we picked up a dinner of fish, chips, dim sim and chiko rolls. I have absolutely no idea what is in a chiko roll and I don’t think I particularly want to know, as if I did I think there is a very good chance that I would be scarred for life, but it wasn’t too bad (this is a similar story to dim sim which are also slightly dubious). We all sat around the lounge and enjoyed our dinner, watching the news and talking about random things.

Sarah pointed out that Dr Who was going to be coming on and I was unsure about whether or not I should be watching it – it’s the new Doctor and I haven’t seen any of the other episodes with him yet, but they convinced me to watch it. I reluctantly agreed and we settled down with the tv and a little Buddha beer each. I really wanted to like the show but struggled to do so; I was slightly disappointed in the story – it was an episode about vampire fish aliens and was rather stupid and lacked any sort of excitement. I have heard about the weeping angels episodes that I have missed, I am really looking forward to watching them eventually, as the weeping angels freak me out beyond belief and I really like scaring myself! The trailer for next week’s episode looks a bit more hopeful, so fingers crossed on that one.

Having watched Dr Who, we decided to have a South Park marathon, so hooked up Tom’s computer to the tv and spent the remainder of the evening going square eyed to that with a few more beers! I think I have watched more tv in the last two days than I have in the last month – I am not complaining though, as it is really nice to be in a house where I can chill out on the sofa and be normal, it feels so homely and is so good. Having such great company in the girls and Tom is grand too. It’s fun chatting to them as we get on so well and can have such a laugh, I even enjoy them teasing me every now and then about my age!

Home Sweet Home!

I had to get up ridiculously early this morning to get to the airport. My flight was at 6.15am which meant I had to check in at 5.00am, so I got up at 3.30am and got myself together in time for my cab at 4.30am. Jet got up to say goodbye and to carry my bag down the stairs – I was perfectly happy to drag it down the steps myself but it would probably have woken up all his neighbours!

Once at the airport I checked in successfully and was pleased to see my bag’s weight was only 21kg and even more pleased that they didn’t charge me for that extra kilo! Through my slight bleary-eyedness, I realised that I was actually really excited about the prospect of leaving NZ – I felt like I had spent enough time there and was definitely ready to leave, it felt like I was going to where I was supposed to be. This fact helped me to get over the shock when I found out that I had to pay to leave the country, so I joined the stupidly long queue and paid the $25 to get home.

After going through security, I had time to have a quick look around the three shops, buy some duty free rum and grab a gdrink, then they called my flight and began boarding the plane. I think everyone was as keen as I was to leave NZ because it seemed to take no time at all for everyone to board and before long we were well on our way. Despite not being particularly comfortable, within moments of take-off I was asleep and made the most of the chance to catch some more shut-eye before arriving back in Oz. I woke up for the last hour of the flight and had a coffee when the trolley came around.

On arriving in Melbourne I had an overwhelming sense of relief and was surprised at how quickly I made it through passport control, baggage reclaim and customs. As I stepped out of the airport and saw the sun, I felt ‘right’ once more. I sent Tom a text to say I had arrived and joined the very long queue for the Skybus, but my good mood at being back was enough to make the long wait pass relatively quickly. Once on the bus, the lady sitting next to me asked me some questions about Melbourne and I felt really pleased that I was able to answer them! The two guys behind us must have overheard and then also asked some questions, which again I was able to answer. Hmmmmm – maybe I have missed my calling and tourism is what I should be doing (as long as it also involves a vehicle that goes ‘tschhhhh’!)!

As we drew closer to the city, I began getting even more excited as I could see the skyline ahead of us (with skyscrapers – whoop whoop!). When I got off the bus Tom was there waiting for me – it was really good to see a friendly face! We headed to the train station and more or less straight away got on the train to Ascotvale, where I would be staying with him, Sarah and Becs. The train ride was quick enough and it gave Tom and I a chance to chat, specifically giving Tom a chance to bag NZ – one of his favourite things to do!

When we got back to the house, Sarah and Becs had just got up and were sitting outside in the garden. It was sunny although it was a little bit chilly, but the excitement of being back in Oz made me forget about that – the long sleeved tops I bought yesterday did come in handy though! It was great to see the girls and we sat outside drinking tea for a couple of hours chatting about what we’d been up to the last few weeks.

We came inside and sat in the lounge, watching tv – they showed me the spoof Aussie show called ‘All Aussie Adventures’ featuring a guy called ‘Russell Coight’, who is a cross between Ray Mears and Steve Irwin. They tried to pull it off as a serious show, but I spotted the spoofness before the show’s introductory credits had finished rolling! It was really funny and we had a good giggle at it. It was then time to take a trip to Coles (the ‘supo’!) where we went around and picked up some groceries, then went to the bottle shop and bought a slab of beer – really funny beers in bottles shaped like little Buddhas! Back at the house we cracked open the beers and celebrated my not being stuck in NZ any longer!

Becs cooked dinner and it was great – she made burgers from scratch, which was fascinating to watch and even though I was really worried that I would not be able to eat them (seeing as I don’t eat burgers!), when she dished them up, they were absolutely amazing! This is not to say I rushed straight out to Maccas and ate a burger, but I think I might have to try making my own burgers at some point. Whilst we ate, we watched tv and chatted, then we put on a DVD – Hot Fuzz (collectively one of our favourite films!) and chilled out with a beer watching that. I think all the dashing about caught up with me and it was then that I felt absolutely shattered, so went to bed and crashed out, feeling so happy and grateful to be in a house with some really great people in such a great city.

Nearly No More NZ!

Had a lie in this morning and spent the morning mooching about the flat. It was pouring with rain and so we didn’t feel particularly enthused about going out. Jet had a look at my ipod and tried to fix it; I am not sure what he did to it but it now contains music that wasn’t on there previously although my original music is still on my itunes so I guess I should be able to work it out at some point!

We went for a wander around Christchurch and it was super cold; much colder than it had been previously and I did my best to grin and bear it. Jet took me to the Botanical Gardens where we found the Rose Gardens which were actually quite pretty, although most of the roses had finished blooming. We also went into a big conservatory place (I think it might have a different name, but I can’t think what it is) which was full of tropical plants. After a bit more of a walk about, we went back to the city and went to a cafe for lunch.

It started raining again, which meant it was not so good for walking around the city, plus it made it feel even colder, so we went back to Jet’s. I took the opportunity that the poor weather had proffered to sort out my bag, so as to lighten the load and lessen the chances of having to pay a hefty excess baggage charge. We then sat and watched another film on Jet’s laptop, this time ‘Help!’, with a few cups of tea, listening to the rain beating down outside.

By the time the film had finished, the rain had subsided and so I went back into town to do some chores and go to some shops. Having experienced this cold weather, I decided that I may need some slightly warmer clothes seeing as it was almost officially winter, so bought three new tops with sleeves. Having achieved that, I wandered around a few more shops and treated myself to a Starbucks. I made my way to the library and briefly got online (I’d forgotten how great free internet was!) to check and finalise my flight booking and online check-in, then Jet came and met me and we walked to a really good pizza place and got our dinner.

Back at Jet’s we enjoyed our pizzas and the delicious side order of kumera (sweet potato) chips, whilst watching a documentary about Blur on his laptop. Jet got a call from Andy Williams (the other friend from home who emigrated here) and he came over – he hadn’t seen Jet’s new place as he has only recently moved into it. We sat and chatted for a while, then went into town for a couple of quiet drinks in an Irish pub called Baileys.

Andy couldn’t stay out too long and I was very aware that I should try and get a bit of sleep seeing as I was going to have to get at an ungodly hour, so we headed back to Jet’s. Along the way I decided that I needed one last iconic NZ fix, so we went via Maccas and I had a lime milkshake (I know; lime milkshake – crazy!). I still couldn’t decide if I liked them or not. Once we had reached Jet’s, I finished off the last of my packing, sat down with a cup of tea and watched a bit more of the Blur documentary before curling up and trying to get some shut-eye; my last night’s sleep in NZ.

Stray Panther's Final Strike

Woke up very early, got dressed and went with Rebecca down to the bus pick-up point, where we met up with the others who were leaving on the first bus at 6.45am to go on the deep south tour and those of us who had come to wave them off. We chatted and said our farewells, then Daisy arrived with the bus and it really was time for them to go, so they all hopped onto the bus. Two of the girls were missing so Bobbie and I went back to the hostel to see if we could find them; they were still in bed so we reported back and the bus left without them! It was really sad watching Rebecca, Sarah and the others head off with Daisy in the bus – the end of another Stray bus adventure.

I didn’t have too much time to think about it as I had to get back to my room, finish off my packing, say goodbye to TJ and Bobbie, check out and get down to meet my bus at 7.30am. I was the only person from my last bus who would be travelling up to Christchurch on today’s bus – some of the others would be going on the bus tomorrow, but I had decided to go today so that I would be able to spend more time with Jet. When the bus arrived, I introduced myself to the driver, Trouble – also known as Brent. I was the first person on the bus, so we sat and chatted whilst we waited. I told him about my new fascination with driving the bus and how people on the last bus had thought I worked for Stray; Trouble gave me the clipboard with the manifest so I could tick people off the list as they got on!

I sat up the front with Trouble and we started on our way and went to a couple of other hostels where we picked up some more people and I ticked them off. One of them was Charlotte – one of the girls from the north island tour, it was really nice seeing her again and we had a catch up. We chatted for ages as we carried on the drive. The actual drive itself was not very interesting, apparently it’s the least favourite drive on the circuit as it is really long and relatively dull. It made me realise that being a Stray driver must get really boring as it involves a lot of driving through scenery which is beautiful but I guess there is only so many times you can see it before you zone it out. Charlotte disembarked the bus and we picked up another person, then carried on our way.

After a while, we stopped off at a town by a lake for a break. I got to fill in the mileage chart! Some people went for a walk to see a church by the lake, whilst the rest of us went for a coffee and then drove down to pick up the others from the church. The church itself had a beautiful setting, with the backdrop of the lake, but unfortunately there was a funeral about to start so we couldn’t go in and look around. We hopped back on the bus and I did a head count with the clip board.

Over the next part of the journey, I carried on chatting to Trouble and passing the time. The scenery changed as we went but it didn’t really register on my radar – I believe I am now officially impervious to NZ’s beauty. It is a shame I know, but I think it is because I definitely was in need of seeing tall buildings and being in a town with more than one horse’s leg. We stopped for another break at a town famous for salmon farming – so they have put up a big salmon by the side of the road, how Kiwi. After lunch, I persuaded Trouble to go ahead with the keys and let me start the bus – the need to hear the ‘tschhhh’ was so strong! I checked people back onto the bus with the manifest and then hopped back into the passenger seat.

On the rest of the journey, I helped sort out the drop off points in Christchurch and a few people came and asked me some questions about stuff which indicated that they thought I worked for Stray, so I got back into character and went with it! Thankfully they were asking questions about things I actually knew the answers to, so I could give them genuine information! We arrived in Christchurch at 5pm and I helped navigate around the city to some of the more obscure drop off points, then said goodbye to Trouble, hopped off the bus at The Bog (the pub where Jet works), picked up the key and went to his house.

The journey had indeed been long and even though I hadn’t done anything other than talk and pretend to drive the bus, getting back to Jet’s place was really good and so I just flopped onto the sofa and chilled out for a couple of hours with a few cups of tea, then took a shower and got ready to go out.

When Jet finished work we met up in town and spent the evening having a few drinks and catching up one another’s news. Jet was interested to hear about my travels around NZ and whether my opinion about the country had changed over the last few weeks. We moved between different bars and met up with a few other people and had a generally entertaining and jovial evening. One of the bars had a very retro video game machine which caused some amusement. Time flew by and we eventually made our way back to Jet’s in the wee hours, stopping along the way for some very peculiar form of food which I dare not think about too much as it was so wrong – a strange chicken, ham and cheese combination in breadcrumbs, but at that time in the morning it seemed like the best thing to do! Back at Jet’s we had some tea and watched a movie on his laptop before flaking out.

Jet-Boat Bonnie & Big Burgers!

Despite a very late night, both Rebecca and I both woke up really early and by 9am had taken the decision to get up and go out. We gravitated towards Starbucks and sat in there for a while enjoying a coffee. That sorted us out enough to set us up for a wander around the shops. As the winter season is just about to begin, the vast majority of shops are geared up to that, so are selling winter sports gear. We had a look around those and at the tat shops. There wasn’t a lot to see, but we enjoyed walking around the town, being girlie, window shopping and chatting.

We went back to the hostel where Sarah and Rebecca got ready for their horse riding trip. Everyone else had gone off on their various excursions, but after the bungy yesterday I had decided that I didn’t really want to do anything, although I had considered going up in the gondola, but it was overcast so there would be no view as it was too cloudy. I therefore plumped for chilling out for a bit, but got a bit bored so headed back into town for a bite to eat. I ran into Daisy in the cafe and we had lunch together, then went for a wander around town ourselves. He showed me the university he went to; it specialises in delivering degrees relating to the hospitality and tourism industry so I had a good look about, chatted to a couple of lecturers and read their prospectuses on the different courses.

We went to Starbucks and Daisy told me about another adrenaline-rush activity invented in NZ, jet boating. Apparently a Kiwi guy had a farm which kept flooding or something and he invented a powerful water pump for propulsion which enabled easy manoeuvrability in rocky shallow water with a depth as little as 3cm – it meant he could whizz about on his farm with no trouble. The concept was then commercialised and the propulsion system added to specially designed boats which they drive super fast along the canyons of the Shotover river, whizzing past the rocks on either side and through the shallow water, spinning 360oat times. Daisy convinced me that seeing as Queenstown is known as ‘Adventure Capital of the World’, I should give jet boating a go and this was going to be my last chance to do so, which meant that once we had finished our coffee, I went to one of the bookings agencies and signed up for a Shotover Jet ride a little later in the afternoon.

I waited for my pickup and was taken to the Shotover canyon, where I chatted to a rather annoying guy from America. We were given massive plastic ponchos, life jackets and goggles, then put into one of the big red boats. I didn’t really know what to expect and to be perfectly honest, I was not really feeling that excited about the prospect of the ride; I just didn’t think it would be particularly interesting. I was pleased to discover that the experience was actually really enjoyable.

Our boat’s driver showed us what the special propulsion system could do – I couldn’t believe how fast the boat went; it really flew along and I could see why the goggles were necessary, as the air whipped past my face so fast that it made it go numb, if I hadn’t worn the goggles I fear my eyeballs may have frozen! The boat’s speed caused lots of spray too, so the poncho was most useful. The canyon itself was quite narrow, so the speed at which we were flying past the rockfaces on either side of us was heightened by the fact that we were merely inches – I’d say less than 6 inches – away from them. Every so often the driver would give us the signal to hold on tight (as if I already wasn’t!?!) and he’d spin us 360o – the boat had an incredibly tight turning circle so it literally turned on the spot. He also took us over shallow bits that were so shallow it made the boat bump along.

The trip itself lasted just over twenty minutes, so after a couple of lengths up and down the canyons, we went for one last time and the driver made us go even closer to the rocks and at one point just spun and stopped the boat dead right next to the rock, this caused a big wave to slam into the rock, fly up and straight back down on top of me! I don’t know how, but out of the whole boat, I was the only one the wave hit and I was drenched – the poncho didn’t help as there was just far too much water, and it was freezing! It was funny and the driver did feel a little bad so gave me a towel to use on the way back.

Back at the base, I took off the poncho and inspected just how wet I was – it was bad! The worst bit was the fact that my jeans were drenched in such a way that I looked like I had epically wet myself! It was really uncomfortable too as the jeans were all clingy and cold – brrrrr! I hopped on the Shotover shuttle and went back to town, where I walked hurriedly back to the hostel to get out of the cold and into some dry clothes and also to avoid people thinking I lacked bladder control!

At the hostel I met up with TJ and he fancied a walk into town, so once I was dry, we headed in and had a bit of a wander – it’s not the same window shopping with a guy! We then went back and found the others, I decreed that it was to be Fergburger for dinner and all agreed – TJ didn’t even remember that he had been to and eaten at Fergburger the night before! We all went and got ready and went out en mass (twelve of us) to the shop, where we ordered off the extensive menu. It looked and smelled just as good as it had the night before, so I was made up when the Cajun chicken burger I ordered turned up – it was divine! I might even go so far as to say that I enjoyed it even more than the Wendy’s I had in Auckland!

The others went back to the hostel and I went for one last wander around town, then found them in the hostel lounge where we sat and chilled for a bit. Having had such a late night last night, no one really fancied a big night out and some of us would be getting up early to catch our buses. I suggested a quick drink in the pub opposite and a few people came over, but after one drink there, Rebecca and I decided to return to our room and get packing. Once that was done, we went and chatted with the others who still remained in the lounge, saying a sad goodbye to those who we would not be seeing again and then hit the hay, knowing that tomorrow would be when we would have to say goodbye to one another and some of the others who had made this leg of the trip such fun.

B's Big Brave Bungy

Another early start this morning, getting up, ready and packed once more. We hopped on the bus and began our journey – the final leg of the tour, to Queenstown, where people would be going their separate ways, so it marked what was going to be another sad point at which I knew I was soon going to have to say goodbye to those who I had become quite close to over the last few days. It’s odd, because although you only travel with people for a relatively short time, it is such an intense experience that it feels like you have known one another for so much longer.

The drive to Queenstown was again picturesque, as we continued through the Mount Aspiring National Park. We passed the seashore and admired the stacked stones on the beach – apparently it is a tradition to stack stones on the roadside, signifying good luck for travellers and so now there are piles of stones as far as the eye can see, some decorated with messages and pictures. It actually looked quite beautiful.

A little way inland we came to Lake Hawea which was a pretty big lake (35km long and over 400m deep!), but it was a bit overcast, so not particularly interesting to look at. Next we came to Lake Wanaka (45km long and over 300m deep) and again, it was a little overcast so the views of the mountains were not so clear, despite my increasing jadedness towards water-related scenery, I could appreciate how stunning the view would be if the weather was better. As we drove around it, I witnessed my first cow-related road block! This made the lake far more entertaining, as the bus was surrounded by cows, all walking along to wherever they were heading, being herded by some sheep dogs. We just had to wait as there were just so many of them and apparently lots of them were pregnant, which meant they could not and should not move too quickly.

Eventually, once we’d broken through the cow barrier, we made it to the Skydiving centre, where we dropped off those who would be leaping from a plane, then we delivered some other people who wanted to go to Puzzleworld. The remainder of us went to the town of Wanaka – a popular holiday destination due to the beauty of the surroundings. Rebecca and I had a quick wander around the shops and then bought coffee and a cake, which we enjoyed whilst sitting next to the lake and having a really nice girlie chat in the sun! After we had finished our coffees, we walked along by the water’s edge and came across some unusual sculptures. We decided that Wanaka was actually the most interesting place we’d been to in a while – I think that this might have been because it was the first place with some form of civilisation!

Back on the bus, we collected the Puzzleworld people then went back to the Skydive centre, just in time to see Ian jumping out of the plane! We watched him freefall and then float down with the canopy of the parachute – it looked really cool from directly below and Ian was awestruck when he landed. When he and the others were ready, we continued on our way.

The next stop was at a big fruit shop, where we hopped off for a stretch of the legs and a wander around the shop. It sold all sorts of fruit and veg, as well as honey and ice cream. Most people bought some ice cream but I knew that it was probably best I didn’t. I headed back to the bus with Rebecca whilst the others made their purchases and found Daisy waiting there with his ice cream. I asked if I could sit in the driver’s seat and he said I could. WOW! It was so exciting, so different from being sat behind the wheel of my Smart car. I felt overwhelmed with size and power. The bus has not always been a bus, it is a converted lorry, so it was like sitting in the cab of a massive truck, with a huge steering wheel and big pedals. Daisy and Rebecca laughed at how excited I was. I then pushed a little further and asked if I could start the engine; bemused, Daisy agreed. WOW! The sound of the massive engine firing up was awesome; it sounded monstrous. I pressed the clutch pedal and it went ‘tschhhhhh’ in an oh-so-satisfying way, the brake pedal made the same sound and then I pushed on the accelerator and the engine revved. It was great! By now, people were getting back on the bus and some were looking at me slightly dubiously, others were whooping and telling me to drive! I think this episode may have helped fuel certain people’s belief that I worked for Stray, so that was funny too. As much as every bone in my body was telling me to take the hand brake off and pull the bus forward just a few feet, I knew I shouldn’t for many reasons, so managed to resist and reluctantly climbed back out and into my usual seat next to Rebecca.

As we continued our drive, I tried to keep from my mind our next destination – the Kawarau Suspension Bridge. The reason for my uncertainty was because the Kawarau Suspension Bridge is famous for one thing – being the home of AJ Hackett Bungy; the world’s first commercial bungy operation. I was going to be participating in another iconic, Kiwi, death-defying activity and I was not at all convinced it was a good idea!

By the time we arrived at the bridge, I was shaking like a leaf. We were taken into a cinema where they showed us a short film about the history of AJ Hackett Bungy; how two Kiwi guys were inspired by the Oxford University Dangerous Sports Club and a ritual of people in Vanuatu which involved jumping from heights whilst attached to some form of cord. These guys then experimented and developed their own attachment system and set about jumping off all sorts of different things in all sorts of different places around the world, including the illegal scaling of and jumping from the Eiffel Tower which led to AJ’s arrest. In 1988 they got permission to use the Kawarau Suspension Bridge, originally built in the 1880s but fallen into disrepair, as a commercial bungy jumping operation – from a height of 43m. The people of Queenstown initially thought that the idea was ridiculous and would not take off, but they were wrong in a big way. Since the inception of AJ Hackett Bungy at the suspension bridge, they now have other set ups from which to jump. The film was really interesting but only served to remind me as to what I was about to do. My anxiety was justified thus; although my skydive was from a significantly higher point, I had not made the decision to jump out of the plane; I was merely attached to someone else who took that decision, so I was actually thrown out of the plane, with bungy I would have to make that decision myself and go against the natural instinct of not throwing yourself from tall things. I was going to have to break my mum’s mantra of ‘Don’t Go Near The Edge’ once more. This scared me a lot.

By the time we had watched the film and had our induction talk, the Bungy Operators had gone on their break, which meant I had to wait until they came back. I went and had a quick look at the bridge and the drop; not a good idea. Nicole decided to do the bungy too and so we both were really nervous; Rebecca and Sarah were really sweet and tried to calm me down. The tension continued to rise and I floated about feeling more and more shaky but resigned to myself to the fact that I was going to do it. Mind over matter.

It was time. I made my way with much trepidation over to bridge with Nicole and somehow managed to get pushed to the front. It is at this point that the whole experience becomes a bit of a blur, like a hazy dream. There were two Bungy Operators there and I recall them asking me if I wanted to be dipped into the water, but I have no idea what I said in response. All I do remember is climbing under some scaffold pipes and being told to sit on the floor. In front of me on the floor was a folded up blue towel, one of the guys then started wrapping the towel around my legs. I remember saying “That’s a towel?” and the guy agreed that it was; this alarmed me – I had a towel wrapped around my legs; it did not feel particularly scientific. I questioned the towel issue again and the guy told me it was a ‘special towel’. I was not convinced. He then started wrapping a bungy cord around the towel and between my ankles. I just kept looking at the entanglement of elastic and towel and contemplating whether it was what I was expecting; it was not.

The guy helped me stand up and because my legs were now tied together with a towel and some elastic, he helped me to shuffle forwards, like I was a penguin walking a plank on a pirate ship. At this point, I could see down. Down was a long way. At the bottom of down was the water. I then became aware of noise; lots of noise. I looked left and saw faces; lots of faces. It seemed that because these guys had been on a break when we’d arrived, it had meant that the numbers of spectators, who had stopped at the centre to watch some stupid people jump off a bridge, had been given the opportunity to build up. So now I realised people were watching. No pressure then. I could make out a few of the faces – people from the bus and could hear people calling my name. I could see lots of faces I did not know, including lots of tourists of an Oriental persuasion; all with cameras poised. OMActualG.

I refocused and the guy was saying to look at the camera, I vaguely looked in the direction he had pointed towards. He was then saying something which I took to be some form of instructions, but I was not focussing enough to actually take it in. I felt like I didn’t know what was happening and so tried to ask what I was supposed to do, but only confused myself and him further, by asking “Which way do I fall?”, when what I was really trying to ask was what direction I should jump, but whatever his answer was, I didn’t hear it. Next thing I knew he was counting down “3, 2, 1..” and I did not move, instead looking back over my shoulder. I knew that I was going to jump, but I needed it to be on my terms, so I tried to tell him that I was not going to be able to do this on his count; he told me I needed to. I had my hand behind my back, holding onto the guy; he shook me off and tried counting down again, but again I ignored his numbers; they were insignificant to me, and reached behind me again. Once more he slid my hand off and got me to put my arms out in front of me; this time I knew I needed to jump, so counted in my head at the same time as him, that way it felt like it was on my count and on my terms.

When it came to the point of jumping, I recall a sensation of “I’m jumping and it’s too late to do anything about it” and hearing lots of cheering. The fall itself was quick and the jerk back up from the rope was unexpected and like a signal to me that it was over. The subsequent bouncing up and down made me feel like a rag doll being thrown around, so I just let me body go limp and be flung about, feeling almost relaxed. I felt the towel slip a bit which scared me, but I figured I couldn’t be too high now, so it didn’t matter. The spinning left me feeling quite dizzy and when I heard voices calling to me, I snapped out of my daze and tried to see where they were coming from; I couldn’t. They were telling me to ‘grab the pole’, but I could see no pole. Eventually I spun around and caught sight, upside down of a boat and a long piece of plastic, so tried to grab it, but was feeling rather disorientated. After what felt like exerting exorbitant amounts of energy, my hands caught hold of the pole and I could feel myself being reeled in like a fish. I couldn’t feel my legs and I remember telling these upside down people that, so they lowered me into the boat and I subsequently flopped on the floor of the boat, giving a vague wave to the people above, so they knew I was alive, whilst an English voice spoke to me and fiddled with the not-so-technical get-up entwining my legs, loosening it. Then I managed to come to enough to slide up and into a sitting position whilst they brought the boat to the water’s edge, summoning up some energy to clamber out and onto the land, still with legs like jelly.

Suddenly the adrenaline rush hit me like a big wet fish in the face and I felt elated, especially looking up at the bridge from below, where I could see Nicole standing on the edge. I whooped and cheered for her as she took the plunge and watched as she disappeared up to her middle in the water, then emerged soaked and laughing! When she had been hauled in and had gotten out of the boat we were both beside ourselves with excitement and she was freezing as she was soaked! It occurred to me that I hadn’t gotten wet and I thought back to when they had asked me about it on the bridge – I think they must have taken my non-specific answer and obvious anxiety over the whole experience as a good indicator that perhaps dunking me in the water might have been one step too far, a decision that I am indebted to them for.

We bounded up the stairs and met Jimmy who gave Nic a huge hug and then took off his jumper so she could try and warm up. A family of people watching rushed over and congratulated me, as did several other people I didn’t know, then I came to the rest of the bus gang who gave Nicole and I a big cheer! I felt as high as a kite on the adrenaline! Rebecca and Sarah rushed over and were telling me how cool it looked and I became even more aware of just how many random people had been watching, as I continued to get lots of ‘thumbs up’ from passers-by!

I was ushered into the centre where I was shown the film of the jump and amazed myself watching it back! The sensation felt like an age but on video it looked so fast. After that, I floated around the centre, talking to people from the bus and trying to ‘come down’ from the excitement, but it was hard – I was pretty wired! We watched some more people jumping and then Matt decided at the last minute that he wanted to do it too, so we had to wait whilst he got sorted out. Daisy wanted to get moving, so gave me the bus key and asked Rebecca and I to go ahead, ushering some people as we went, and open the bus. We did just that.

Once back in the car park, we located the bus and I revelled in unlocking the main door and allowing Camilla and Philip in, then I went round to the driver’s door and climbed up the little steps and into the driver’s seat, opening the front passenger door and letting Rebecca up into the seat next to me. It felt awesome. I then decided that it looked like we had some time on our hands as there was no one yet coming over, so I started the engine (again, another really satisfying roar of machinery) and gave a confident little wave to the man who was standing in front of the bus we were parked next to – I figured that the best thing to do was seem confident and that way no one would question whether or not I was supposed to be doing what I was doing! I then sorted out the music, put my playlist from Daisy’s ipod on and put the volume up real loud and we had a bit of a party on the bus, singing along! Something caught my eye – the microphone. Ooooh! I grabbed the microphone and took on my Stray driver ‘Panther’ persona, giving my passengers the spiel that I have been using many a time during this whole trip, it goes a little something like this; “Over there to the right, you can see a formation of rocks and trees, these were featured in LOTR. Over there to the left, you can see some trees which also featured in LOTR. You see that thing there? That was in LOTR. And so was, this, that, that over there, that and that”. Camilla and Phillip thought this was hilarious, so I continued my commentary, pointing at lots of other random things and claiming they were in LOTR. Thinking back on it, I guess the adrenaline rush must have made me go a bit peculiar! I also continued making the pedals go ‘tschhhhhh’ and revving the engine – oh the power; it felt good!

Gradually people started wandering back to the bus, so I enjoyed pressing the ‘door open’ and ‘door closed’ buttons, again these created ‘tschhhhhh’ noises with the hydraulics on the door, which was very gratifying indeed. We laughed so hard and as more people re-embarked, they too joined the bus party! Eventually Daisy came into view, walking across the car park, shaking his head and laughing as he saw what was going on. He got on the board through the passenger door, sat down in what had been my seat and told me to go ahead and drive as he could do with a break! As incredibly tempting as that offer was, I decided I had better not, as there were lots of cars and buses in the carpark which could potentially be crashed into, so I grudgingly climbed back out of his seat and rejoined the bus throng. I decided there and then that I have a new mission in life – I need to drive a big lorry or bus at least once, even if only for a few feet – as long as it goes ‘tschhhhhh’ I will be happy!

Our final drive into Queenstown was very short and along the way, Daisy made an announcement over the microphone about Queenstown’s only skyscraper, which would be coming into view around a corner – I cheered – but sadly around the corner there was nothing but a big hole in the ground. Apparently someone had intended on building a big (well big for NZ standards) skyscraper but had run out of money whilst still in the process of digging out the foundations, so there it remained as just a big hole in the ground. Daisy found my disappointment hilarious – for the past few days I have been going on and on about being slightly sick of beautiful views and water-related scenery and instead needing to see a tall building, so he had enjoyed playing with my emotions for a couple of minutes!

Thankfully though, it turned out that Queenstown was actually quite a civilised place and whilst they did not have any skyscrapers, they did have buildings with more than one storey, so that was something. Daisy gave us a quick tour of the town in the bus, so we could see where everything was and then we were dropped off at the hostel. We all checked in and Rebecca and I found our room; it turned out that we were sharing with TJ, the German guy (no one knew his name), the Frenchies (two French women whose names we also did not know) and two randoms who were already there (from the Kiwi Experience bus – boo!). Rebecca, Sarah and I went for a quick wander into town, where the girls booked to go horse riding tomorrow, then we went back to the hostel and chatted in our room.

Before disembarking the bus, we’d formulated a bus gang plan for the evening, as this would be our final night together (well, some people would be around tomorrow, but this was deemed the end of the tour), so Rebecca, TJ and I sat around in our room chatting and getting ready, with a couple of beers. Kev came along and joined us then Rebecca and I headed off to the Thirsty Ram where we’d meet the others from the bus gang – leaving TJ and Kev to follow on later.

We started the evening with a couple of drinks and then we were joined by some more of the bus gang. Everyone was in the party spirit and we ordered some pizza for dinner and it was delicious. A few drinks later and people decided to move to the World Bar so gradually people started dispersing. Daisy convinced Rebecca and I that the World Bar would not be in full swing yet, so we stopped off on the way at Buffalo. Rebecca and I loved it in there as they were playing some really good music and they had a big open fire, but not like a fire in a fire place; it was raised up to table level and was nice and warm (it was freezing outside and I was still disobediently not wearing a coat or clothing appropriate for such a cold climate!).

After a couple of drinks in there, we headed to World Bar, where we saw the famous teapots all hanging up. This particular bar is known for serving cocktails in teapots. We loved the idea as it seemed very British, so Rebecca and I shared a pot of Long Island Iced Tea; it was rather funny pouring it out! We found the rest of the gang and settled down, laughing, drinking and reminiscing! The music in the bar was horrific – impossible to dance to and ridiculously loud, Rebecca had mentioned to the others that we’d been to Buffalo and so the general consensus became that we should make our way there instead. This turned out to be a really good idea, as there was a far better party atmosphere in Buffalo and everyone was able to sing and dance along to the cheesy music they were playing.

Before we knew it, the bar was closing and it was 3am. Some of the group were a bit worse for wear, so Rebecca and I put on our Scouting/teacher hats and shepherded people out and down the road. As we suspected, everyone wanted food so we went to the iconic Fergburger, where the gang all ordered burgers. Rebecca and I decided that we weren’t hungry and would not eat a giant burger for the sake of it, but that instead we’d have Fergburger for dinner tomorrow. Once everyone had eaten, we continued our herding and ushered everyone back to the hostel; everyone made it back ok, then Rebecca, Sarah, Daisy and I decided that we’d go for one last drink at a little bar we’d passed on the way back, it was a really cute place, very chic and there was only the four of us and the barman there, so I think he was pleased to have some customers!. We celebrated the end of an amazingly fun tour and very entertaining night out with a delicious drink called a ‘Money Shot’ – tasting just like banoffee pie in drink form – we had a few as it was so good, then headed back to the hostel and hitting the hay!