Songs In Blue

We arrived at our lakeside hotel Friday evening and were immediately impressed!  The room was HUGE and had so many perks we wondered how they got away with charging us so little!  The best part?  This massive spa bath:

We made a quick trip to the grocery store to pick up the necessities (wine, chocolate, strawberries, grapes, crackers, brie…) then spent the rest of our night chillin’ in the spa bath.  We took a few photos of the sunset too.

It was pretty awesome.

On Saturday, we walked into town and had a go at the mini golf.  Matt won, by a lot, but it was good fun!

Why yes, that is me wearing shorts and jandals!  The weather was so nice and warm all weekend – I even got a bit of a sunburn.  Hello, Summer!  (at least in Taupo, not so much in Wellington.)

After lunch, we walked to Huka Falls and took some photos.  I still can’t get over the colour of the water here – it’s so blue and pure looking.

Didn’t end up doing much with the rest of the day – ate some ice cream, went out to dinner, and watched a movie in our room.  It was nice to be able to take our time to do things and have a relaxing weekend.

Sunday was awesome.  We went to the hot pools and soaked in the hot water for a few hours with a couple waterslide breaks!  Look how pretty:

To top it all off, we had massages.  I’m addicted now – pretty sure I can justify getting one once a month from now on.  Why did I not have one before???

The only kinda bad thing that happened on our weekend was Sunday night’s dinner.  We went to a new Indian place and they were still getting used to running a restaurant.  We ordered our food and waited.  And waited.  And noticed EVERY table was waiting for some part of their meal.  After over an hour, I went up to ask when the food was coming as we hadn’t even been served entrees yet.  Apparently, they thought we had already had our entrees – at least the food came pretty quickly after I asked!  At the end of it all, we finished eating at 10pm.  Luckily, we were able to laugh at the whole thing.  We felt pretty bad for the staff cause they were just run off their feet.  One couple wasn’t so understanding though – they ate their entrees then did a runner!  It was pretty funny watching them run down the street.

I could definitely get used to weekends away!  Our next trip isn’t for a couple of weeks but I want to go NOW!

We’re going to Taupo this weekend!  There will be walks, and hot pools, and massages, and you’ve heard all this before…Can you tell I’m excited?  And also, a little nervous?  This weekend will be the first time I’ve driven IN A YEAR!  I have no need to where I live and, more importantly, no car to drive even if I wanted.  I know as soon as I get behind the wheel I’ll be fine – just need to remember to drive on the right (left) side of the road.

We actually have quite a few trips planned for summer. So many that we should really come up with a name for the collective group – I’ll leave that to someone else as I’m not very creative in the name department…

Anyway, 3 weeks after our Taupo trip we’re going to Toast Martinborough.  It’s a one day wine festival that we’re turning into a weekend with a few people from Matt’s work.  We booked our house way back in April and it was one of the last places available.  It looks awesome, and I can’t wait to go!  I bought a dress to wear on the actual day – it’s up on Flickr and I’d really love your opinion so leave a comment!  I don’t mind brutal honesty so be sure to say EXACTLY what you think.  I still have a few weeks to buy a new dress if need be…

The trip after that is a big one!  We leave Dec.27 (Happy Birthday Mom!) and will be road trippin’ for 2 weeks in the South Island.  We’ll be in Golden Bay for the longest amount of time – hanging out on the beach, doing some walking tracks, kayaking, and I want to go horseback riding along the beach.  Matt’s not too keen on the last one (fair enough) but I’ll go by myself if I have to cause it looks like so much fun!

After that, we’ll go to Westport for a couple nights, Franz Josef (Glacier and Hot springs) for one, Wanaka for 2 more, then spend a few days visiting Matt’s Dad in Timaru.  We’ll finish the trip with a night in Christchurch (apparently Chinese food and the Casino are on the menu) and fly home the next morning!

But wait, there’s more!  Three days after all that we’re flying up to Auckland for a few days and going to Big Day Out – a one day music festival being headlined by Muse!  We’re staying at the SkyCity hotel which has a heated rooftop pool (that you won’t get me out of) and the Casino (that you won’t get Matt out of) downstairs!

There’s also a few ideas for camping trips and visiting Matt’s older brother and nephews sometime in February, but nothing’s been booked yet.

I’m excited (and little bit tired) just from writing all that out but we want to make the most of this summer, especially since there will be little to no travel next year.  Matt starts accounting school in April so he’ll have his head buried in books for the majority of 7 months and I want to use that time to save as much money as I can.

We’ll have to plan a big trip when he’s finished to celebrate!

All the nerves, insecurities, worries, and excitement I had felt over the last few months had reached a boiling point.  I thought I was going to throw up as I gathered my things.  My legs were almost too weak to carry me through, what seemed to be, the longest corridor ever made.  My mind was racing so fast I thought it would explode as I neared the open door.  Then, as quickly as my panic had started, it was over.  I saw him.
His smile was all the reassurance I needed.

A year ago today, I got off the plane.

First of all, I have to say thank you for all the awesome comments I got on my last post. You guys ROCK! I can’t tell you how much better I’ve felt since writing that. It took a lot to work up the courage, but it was so worth it!

Now that that’s all taken care of, let’s get back to the fun stuff, shall we?

A while ago, I mentioned that I was in the process of getting a Partnership Visa so I could stay in NZ and keep my job. Things changed, and I no longer needed it for my work contract so I put it off until I had enough money and was running out of time on my current visa.

After a couple months of gathering all the evidence we had to prove we were in a ‘genuine and stable relationship’ (emails, pictures, bank statements) and making it look pretty (highlighters are my friend), I finally sent in my application.
But, I forgot to include the fee.

I’m awesome like that.

So I called and begged them to not send my application back and said I’d be in the next morning to drop off the fee. They agreed and soon had everything they needed to judge me. These things usually take weeks to process, so I was left to hold my breath and wait. Which I hate doing. Maybe they knew that because three days later I was approved.

YAY!

This visa gives me another year in NZ, plus I can get permanent work instead of just short term contracts. I can’t wait for the day when I’m a resident and don’t have to worry about things like this. It’s enough to do my head in!

While I’m on the topic, I’m also waiting on some documents from my mom so I can get an Irish passport. My grandpa was born in Ireland and I can gain citizenship through him! That means if I happen to go over to the UK, I can live, work and travel all over the EU! I’m trying to get my younger siblings to do it too, since they might as well! Matt can also get the same thing through his dad, except he’d be on a British passport.
It’s pretty cool that there are options like this out there. Yeah, it might be a lot of paperwork but it’s definitely worth it in the long run.

I usually call home every week or 2 to check in with the fam.  It would be a little less frequent if people (Mom) were more helpful with their replies to my emails.
Case in point, Mom’s response when I asked for her curry rice recipe:

At least she’s always good for a laugh.

Anyway, talking to my sister on the phone is like pulling teeth.
I’ll ask her what’s new, she’ll say “nothing”.
I’ll ask her how school’s going, she’ll say “good”.
Then I’ll ask if there’s anything she wants to talk about, she says “no”, so I ask to talk to mom.

Everyone else I talk to back home goes on and on about how much she misses me! In my mind, if you miss someone, you talk to them every chance you get.

But Courtney has always been an ‘actions speak louder than words’ kind of person and proved it again today.

This morning I got another oh-so-informative email from Mom saying that Courtney had done a portrait of me (it’s like 2 feet high!) for Art and it was featured in the school foyer.  Of course, I had to see it so Courtney emailed a picture.
She’s so sweet, I may or may not have cried.

I miss you too, Courtney.**
**Although, I won’t show it in the form of artwork since 5-year olds are more artisically inclined than I am and whatever I managed to create would probably just be insulting.

My Wordpress and Flickr accounts appear to hate each other right now, so I can’t upload photos to my blog without a lot of time and energy….which I don’t have.
I think my whole site needs to be taken down and re-installed, but I’m a little scared to attempt that on my own.

Anyway, we spent last weekend in Castlepoint.  You can see pictures here.  It’s a tiny town, so there wasn’t a whole bunch to do.  We hiked up the big cliff and it was so windy I thought I’d get blown off .  We walked along the rocks  to the lighthouse.  Then the rest of the time was spent playing Trivial Pursuit, Boogle and watching Flight of the Conchords.
Overall, it was really nice to relax and give my camera a bit of a workout.

Last April, I applied for a Partnership Visa with Matt sponsoring me. Unfortunately,  we didn’t have enough evidence supporting our relationship at that point and it was declined.  The lady dealing with my application was really helpful and said she would give me a 1-year Working Holiday Visa instead.  That way I would still be able to work and live in New Zealand then re-apply for Partnership once Matt and I had been living together for a while.

I was going to wait a few more months before doing that, but thanks to work, plans changed.

My 6-month contract with work ends in the middle of April.  I’ve been asking for an extension until August because it would be impossible to find a new job with only 4 months left on my current Visa.  Last week, work asked if I could apply for the Partnership Visa now so they could give me a longer contract or even make me permanent!

There’s a lot of extra paperwork to go along with the 16-page application form, so it’s going to take a couple weeks before I can send it in.  This creates a bit of a problem since I probably won’t be accepted before my work contract expires.  I’m still not sure what will happen in this case…they want me to continue working, but I’m not really comfortable doing that without a contract.  We’ll see how it goes, but I may have to take a couple weeks off.

Good thing is, since I sent in the same application last year, my police certificate and medical forms are still valid so I don’t have to send in new ones! 
This saves me a lot of time and not to mention, money I don’t have. 

The only downside to applying for this Visa early is that it’ll only be good for a year so I’ll have to go through the whole process again before I apply for residence. Overall, I’ve had a pretty easy go with Immigration matters, which is more than most can say.  Hopefully, that luck continues.

******
There’s an update for my last post on my sideblog

Somehow, in a cricket game played by New Zealand and India, I managed to find a Canadian flag.  Pretty random…

Last night, Matt was saying how he no longer had a huge desire to live in a different country after he was chartered.  He wanted to stay here in NZ and settle into a career, get a house and all that life stuff.  I mentioned that I wanted to do the same, that I didn’t really want to live overseas, I’d rather just go for holidays.
I honestly didn’t even realize what I had said until Matt pointed it out.

I already live overseas!

This is not where I was born, this is not where my family is, this is not where I’ve spent most of my life.  But I still seem to forget all that.  It’s hard to explain how I feel about living here, and even if I could find the words, it would be hard for people to understand.

Back in Canada, I had no idea what I was doing and just felt lost and confused.  I didn’t feel like I had a place there or that I belonged.  I knew before I left that I was doing the right thing in moving to NZ, amid all my worrying and concerns other people brought up.  It’s been 5 months now and I haven’t regretted it once.

The only thing I miss about Canada is my family, and even that isn’t a big deal because I talk to them every couple weeks and know that I’m just a long plane ride away.  I’m not going to lie, it took a couple months to adjust to the idea of being here long term, but now I feel completely settled and happy.  I have an awesome boyfriend, love my job and am starting to get some sweet friends.  I want to have a career, get a car and a house, and continue to build a life here.
I feel like I’ve been in this country forever and don’t want to leave.  That may seem like a contradiction to my last post, but while I am still proud to say I’m Canadian, New Zealand is where I feel at home.

Last weekend was the Rugby Sevens tournament.  I missed the parade and seeing the Canadian team, but some people I work with brought me back some goodies they threw from the float.  I now have a make-shift shrine to Canada on my desk, complete with a flag, tattoo and Maple candy!

Unfortunately, the Canadian team didn’t do very well in the tournament, but I can’t tell you how cool it was to watch them play and hear the Kiwi announcer say ‘Canada’ and ‘The Canadians’ over and over.  He even showed off a bit by saying ‘Saskatchewan’ properly.

I was so proud.