Kiwi Christmas

This family DO Christmas. And they do it properly. All the food, all the games, all the presents. I was not really feeling Christmassy all around the country. The are no dark days, huddles around the pubs fire with mulled wine, and the German Market don’t come this far out. Who worries about putting on factor 50 sunscreen at Christmas time?! But the quantity of lights, tinsel and food in that house brought it to life. Even in the middle of summer.

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Nelson Nattering

Arriving at Grahams house in the dark meant the view was a wonderful surprise the next morning. We had stayed up late catching up on family events, plans, travels. While this happened,  Osama (Bin Ladin) and Obama (Barrak), curled up on our laps and shed all of their fur. I got up to go to bed and found my black tshirt was now hairy and white.

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Oily Bits

I’ve done just over 4500km by this point since buying the bike and it’s time for an oil change. I opt for a new filter too. I had called the shop from George’s house and they said it would be there by midday. The courier picks it up and takes it straight past the motorbike shop onto another job. This causes a 3 hour delay I could have done without.

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Windy Walks

Oh God… What have I done… The alarm went off quietly under my pillow. As I woke I had the dawning realisation of what I had agreed to do today. It was 8am, early for backpackers. Particularly those who had been out the night before, drunk a bit too much and not had enough sleep. My foggy morning head wasn’t clearing as I dressed and wandered down to a cafe for a quick breakfast. I think my taste buds were also unenthusiastic about today’s prospective activity because the food didn’t taste of anything and didn’t help settle the growing nerves.

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