Travels over and so back to "Normal" life!

As per usual...........sorry for the delay! Life has changed alot for me lately as im no longer back packing around but am back in Sydney, looking for work and its as if the last 3 months travelling never happened. However, I had an amazing time but now need to focus on accruing as much cash as possible for the lads arrival in mid December so that I can enjoy the full 4 weeks while they are here and not worry about anything! So the hard work begins!! But before that, this is what I got upto in the last 6 weeks.

25th August - Flew into Auckland after purchasing a return ticket to OZ (mentioned in my last post)
25th - 30th August - Auckland, Wahekie Island and Piha (North Island)
31st August - 3rd September - Wellington (North Island). Met 2 great lads from the UK in my hostel, Calum and Jon, who have been travelling for about 18 months now, they started from England, then through the US, Oz, now NZ and then doing Asia before heading home. Spent all week with them and had some big nights, also Tom was there (from my Oz travels) and we had a great week! Randomly they are going to be in Queenstown when I get there so we planned to meet up and do it ALL over again!
3rd Sept - Flew back into Auckland and had the worst flight of my life!!! After a windy take-off and terrible constant turbulence for the whole flight, we had a failed landing with the pilot pulling up at the last minute which was scary in its self, but then on the 2nd approach the plane got struck by lightening!!! However, at the time there was a massive flash to the left of the plane (it was a night flight too) and the most amazing BANG and so everyone on board thought the worst and most were screaming hysterically thinking we were going down!! The captain reassured us that all was fine and that it was a lightening strike, which is pretty standard in bad weather (supposedly)!!! We eventually landed with one of the bumpiest landings ive ever had and the planes passengers erupted in cheers of joy and clapping! Definitely the worst experience of my life, but only the start of bad things to come in NZ!
4th - 6th - Rotorua (North Island)

However, also on the 4th was the biggest earthquake, 7.1 on the Richter scale, NZ has had in 70 years in Christchurch on the South Island. I didnt feel a thing in Rotorua but was planning to fly into Christchurch on the 7th, so spent alot of that weekend checking that it would be ok to visit as alot of the city was shut down, including the airport. On the 7th I was told all was well to fly and landed as planned (no lightening this time) in the evening. As I landed at night I couldnt see much damage to buildings on my way to the hostel, but alot of roads were shut and by the time I went for a walk in the morning it was very obvious that its going to take a while for Christchurch to recover. Not due to the fact that every building had fallen, but as most buildings in Christchurch are over 20 years old, the mortar in the buildings brick work has struggled under the pressures of the earthquake and even though no damage can be seen the buildings are no longer structurally sound and so the estimate that 50% of the town will have to be pulled down and rebuilt, including some of its oldest and iconoc buildings, which is a real shame!
On the 8th of September I was woken up by a 5.1 aftershock which was very surreal, but also strangely intriguing as I did want to feel what it would be like. In my time in Christchurch there had been smaller aftershocks which were strange to endure but this was basically another small earthquake which went on for about 30 seconds and left me and my 2 other room mates literally bouncing and rolling around the room in our beds!! It was an amazing thing to experience!!
9th Sept - 9hour bus ride from Christchurch to Queenstown. The idea of a 9hour bus trip didnt please me at all, and the first hour out of Christchurch confirmed my fears. However...........as soon as we got out into the South Islands countryside and it was impossible to be bored! The scenery is absolutely stunning! Mountains, Lakes and just amazing vista's made the trip fly by. We stopped at 2 lakes along the way, Wanaka and Takupo, and if you look at my facebook pictures that ive uploaded you'll see what I mean!
9th - 14th - Queenstown!! Met up with the lads from Wellington and Tom, randomly was put in room next door to Calum and Jon and shared a balcony so basically together for the whole time there. We had some brilliant nights out, played some Frisbee golf (which I won), went on the luge they have at the top of the closet hill/mountain! Queenstown is an amazing place with everything you'd ever want to do! Great nightlife, lots of extreme sports (bungee etc) and amazing views as it surrounding by the local mountain range, called the Remarkables!!! And the names apt when you see them!!
On Sunday the 12th I had booked in to do the same day trip to Milford Sound as Tom. Milford Sound was once described by Rudyard kipling "the 8th wonder of the world" and when you see it you can see why! However.....after a MASSIVE saturday with the lads, the 7.30am start was not what the doctor ordered and as the trip to Milford was 3hrs in a bus, I was not looking forward to the trip! After an hours worth of sleep on the bus and some paracetamol again the NZ scenery saved the day and kept me well entertained until we arrived at Milford. It was a brilliant day and something im glad I did, as I was considering blowing it out in the morning when the hangover was in full force, but glad I didnt as if you look at the pics on FB you will see what I mean. Truly breath taking!
Will stay on touch with Calum, Jon and Tom but they are all off to travel Asia next, so have fun lads if your reading this, and look forward to catching up back at home!!
Sept 14th - Flew to Auckland
Sept 15th - Flew back into Sydney!!! Travels over!!! 10 weeks round Oz and NZ Done!!!

Since being back I have been staying in Nick and Kerryn's spare room, but as Kerryn has a friend coming to stay for 2 weeks as of this afternoon (4th Oct) I am moving into a hostel for a week while I look for a more permanent place to stay.
Workwise im currently helping out with an office move in North Sydney which isnt ideal but its $$$ in the pocket for now, but I do have a role more up my street starting on Oct 12th working for the property management company Jones Lang Lasalle. I'll be doing data analysis there and hopefully it will lead on to more work with them as they have mentioned a few projects they have coming up which they need help on.
Also been on a good few nights out with the lads back in Sydney, had a day at the races which was good fun as I won enough to pay for the day and also me and the lads have started A 5 A SIDE team, currently called "The Pandas" but soon to be changed to "The No-Shows", as we only had 3 people turn up on time for our first match. Somehow............we won 6-0!!! Im the keeper due to my dodgy knee and if you want to keep a track on our performances, use the link below.

www.intrinsicsports.com.au/dyn_twr.asp?comp=714

Will update this again soon, but until then hope your all well and speak soon!