Wednesday 8 November 2006

I am currently coping with the rude shock of having come back from three weeks holiday and finding the weather miserable and cold (although it will get much colder, I know!) and plenty of work to do.  I’ve been back for over three weeks already and have just been so busy!  Sorry to those who’ve checked back here for updates to find nothing!

Africa was amazing.  It was a fabulous holiday, with good people (the best represented “nationality” being South Islanders, for once!) and loads of memories.  We saw all the big animals – lions, rhinos, elephants, cheetahs, zebras, wildebeest, buffalo and loads more.  I took over 700 photos in the three weeks!  (Don’t worry, I won’t put them all up on the site for you to look at!!)  We visited a Masaai Village and a fishing village, we walked with giraffes, sailed past hippos, waved to local children from our big monster truck and ate fabulous camp meals thanks to our aptly-named cook Goodluck.  We ended up on Zanzibar island for a few days at the beach.  I did five dives and thoroughly enjoyed them, with the underwater sites rivalling those above ground and those in the Red Sea even.

Unfortunately the start and end of my trip was marred somewhat by a couple of airline-related mishaps – I arrived in Nairobi safe and sound ready to leave on safari the following morning, but unfortunately my luggage did not!  I was without it for five days in the end.  Surviving with the clothes on my back and not a lot else was an adventure in itself, made more difficult by the new security rules meaning I had no toiletries whatsoever with me!

Then sadly at the end of my trip, my visit to see my sponsored child Anna was very nearly cancelled completely when I turned up at the airport to discover my seat had been sold to someone else as I hadn’t confirmed it!  I guess one day I’ll be able to laugh about my distressed behaviour at the airport as I ran around wailing and wanting a solution.  The end of the long story is that I did get to meet Anna and her family and it was an incredible experience.

I’m really busy at work which is good.  Last week I did my first ever contested hearing which was a real buzz.  I think I did OK and we got the order, which is the main thing!  I haven’t told work that I’m leaving yet so things are starting to awkward around here as I try and think up imaginative reasons why I don’t want to pay a deposit for the Xmas party and the like!  It will be a relief to tell them when I do, but I am just cautious about doing so too early.

I’ve been spending my evenings catching up with loads of friends as the time I have left here is flying by now.  It has hit me now that I’m leaving and I have mixed feelings about it – glad to be going home to see family and friends, and definitely glad to be getting away from this winter, but sad to be leaving my friends here and really quite anxious about what life holds for me back in sleepy New Zild.