And North Again...

Righto...so I flew out of San Francisco on Sunday night after a fabulous evening with two aussie guys in my San Fran Hostel. I made it up to Portland and spent the first day sleeping thanks to Delta airlines punctuality...or not.

Today I spent the day exploring down town Portland- having a look in all the little boutiques. It is pretty cold up here. Snow is falling and it's making me feel really christmassy. Mother...I would love turkey, stuffing and lovely red cabbage when i get back home. Oh and Bread sauce.

Four weeks exactly til i hop on my plane!

xxxx

Travelling North

So- I made it out of Los Angeles thank goodness. No wonder everyone is taking 'anxiety pills' and checking in to rehab, the city was close to swallowing my soul. Despite this I had a wonderful week at Jigsaw. Everyone was really friendly and I learnt alot being part of the office.

Following a hard weeks work I left LAX on Friday night destined for San Francisco. I was flying Delta on the smallest plane known to man. The flight was extremely rough and I swear there were afew small moments of nose-diving and some serious rocking. Fortunately I made it (3 hours later than scheduled) and had a wonderful day in San Francisco. I walked down to Union Square and then on to the Museum of Modern Art, which was incredible. I walked up through China Town and down to Fishermans Warf. From there I took a boat trip around Alkatraz and under the Golden Gate Bridge.

Tomorrow evening, after another day exploring the city I fly up to Portland to see a friend for afew days. It should be really good, though I'm expecting the weather to be a little colder up there.

I hope everyone at home is doing well. Cannot believe it is only just over 4 weeks until I get home, scary, scray thoughts.

xxx

Los Angeles & The OC

Just completed m firstrst day of real work in afew months... it appears i no longer possess any stamina as I am completely shatttered. I am working at the Jigsaw Head Office in Beverly Hills. The area is really pretty glam and the shop and office is beautiful. Experienced my first enjoyable chinese takeaway- it isn't the MSG rubbish that we seem to get in England- It is takeaway that actually tasted like real food (regardless of the 1000's f calories).

I had one of the best weekends of my Travels this weekend. Was picked up by a friend and driven around Orange County which is kind of Newport, Laguna beach area. The place was stunning and i watched a beautiful sunset which funnily enough was enhanced by the smog of LA. I ate fast food and slept in a real bed- Lovely...

So I will be working for the remainder of this week and then heading up to San Francisco for some more adventures...

Missing everyone back home!

J xxx

Queenstown- Dunedin- Lake Tekapo- LA

Hey Hey

So an update on everything that has been going on over the last few days. I left Queenstown after going on a nice sailing trip round the Marlborough Sounds and Luging and watching my friends bungee. The town had a seriously damaging effect on my bank account but was really really good fun. After Queenstown i went on down to Dunnedin, where i had planned to visit the Cadbury factory- but it was closed! Disaster... Instead I visited the art gallery there and just strolled around a little.

After Dunnedin I left for Lake Tekapo- the area was beautiful and i could have spent afew days just chilling out by the lake but had to make my way up to Christchurch to catch my flight. Spent a couple of days in Christchurch with a friend and went to the botanical gardens and to the art gallery. The food in Christchurch was really good. Went out for afew lovely meals and just generally chilled out.

I am currently sat in an internet cafe in Hollywood. LA has a really dtrange feeling about it. It is true what they say about everything being big over here. I have only spent a day here so haven't properly explored yet but will hopefully be getting a guided tour from a friend over the weekend.

Hope everyone at home is good and you;re all enjoying the new year.

See You!!

xxxxx

Catch Up

Sorry I haven't been keeping up to date!

So Christmas was wonderful. I spent the day with my Aunty and Uncle and we went out for lunch- I had my first experience of Oysters and all of the seafood was phenomenol. On boxing day and the following day we did afew things arounf Taupo. Took a trip on an old steam boat- visited a prawn farm and attempted some fishing but the darn things are too clever! We then went to a thermal area with lots to see- I will have to put some photos up to do it justice!

I left Taupo on the 28th for Wellington and spent afew days in the city exploring. I visited a museum just outside of central wellington where they had a photography exhibition on and also a Philip Treacy and Isabella Blow hat exhibition which was really good. I partied in the city on New Years Eve and had a really good time and spent new years day sleeping!

I caught the ferry across to the south island on the 2nd of January. The scenery on the boat was incredible and there was also this brilliant band playing in the bar on the ferry so that was a bonus. The feryy run this scheme where if a band plays in the bar on the way across they get their ferry crossing for free! I think it's a good idea...

When I reached Picton we drove straight down through to Nelson. Nelson was nice. I just spent a day relaxing as the hostel I was staying at had a nice swimming pool. I moved on from Nelson down to a place called Greymouth. It is sort of reknown for being abit dull, and it is a well known fact that the only thing worth doing in greymouth is the Monteiths Brewery Tour. So me and afew others from the magic bus joined the tour and it was really good fun. I'm not sure if they have Monteiths in England but if they do I can really recommend it- they do alot of limited editions like Summer Ale and a kind of Lemony beer. It's really nice.

After Greymouth we moved on to Franz Joseph which is where the Glacier is. It was a really good stop off. I went on the half day hike up the glacier which was really worth doing. You were given spikes and a big jacket and everything and you actually climbed up on the glacier itslef- it was brilliant. We went out for some drinks in Franz Jospeh after a hard days hike and met some Kiwi guys that were driving down to Wanaka so we jumped in the car for a little roadtrip down to Wanaka. On the way we stopped at this shoreline and saw Hector Dolphins- which are apparently really rare. They have black rounded fins and don't jump out of the water. So I tried to jump in to swim with them but I don't think they were too keen!

We spent the day in Wanaka- there is a a really nice lake there and some beautiful mountain scenery. In the afternoon I caught the bus down to Queenstown and met up with some friends from the magic bus that had already made it down. And that's where I am right now. I'm hoping to get out to Marlborough Sounds in the next few days so that should be a really gorgeous trip.

I hope everyone is well at home! I have been gone for 7 and a half weeks now so i have had over half my time! Its strange. It has gone so quickly.

See you all soon and I hope that your Christmas's and New Years were as good as mine!

Jos xx