"Going to See the Rellies"

     It was the begining of the year 2006 that we had it in our minds that we wanted to visit the "Rellies" (Kiwi slang for Relatives or Family) in New Zealand for Crimbo. Although we are very good at planning lovely excursions such as this, we are notoriously bad at actually getting to the next stage (especially when the next stage means physically saving money), let alone completing said plan; over and above this, we can't organise our selves out of a paper bag. Even if it was wet and we had a stanley knife.     So, needless to say, we're both a little astonished that we're packing our bags and organising the attic for our departure.

The outbound journey, as it stands now, is as follows: - Friday the 17th of November : Catch the bus to London 9pm - Saturday the 18th of Nov. : Arrive in London 6am, spend the day with  Clares' long-lost friends - Saturday the 18th of Nov. : 10pm - last boarding call for Hong Kong - Sunday the 19th : at some point we land in Hong Kong and transfer - Monday the 20th : 1pm we land in Auckland. Probably tired. Definitely drunk. Hopefully greeted by a crowd of Clare lookalikes and brilliant sunshine.

Then, in New Zealand... lots of high ideas concerning extensive travel, but the real bulk of our time will be spent doing as little as humanly possible without contracting atrophy. "Wine" (if you drank the stuff, you'd put it in brackets too) is unnervingly cheap in NZ, we'll be based a few minutes from a beach, and Giles runs an internet café which supposedly has enough entertainment to while away a quiet night in. So, yeah, Let the Chilling Commence!

And Homeward... hey, it's too early to think about that now. Lets just hope for the hottest and earliest summer New Zealand has ever seen. And that our pitifully small amount of cash miraculously lasts for 8 weeks (if Jesus could do it with fish, it's gotta be possible.).

We're going to miss our friends, our Attic, and especially Molly and Jazz, but how often do you get to wear a swimsuit on Christmas Day without catching phneumonia?