.:Aino in Australia and in South-East Asia:.: March 2007

WOW time seems to go so fast! Today I have 4 good reasons to be happy and 2 to be sad.
First the most important ones: Ms Anniina Baumann has 23rd bday today! Happy bday sweety!!! Another happy news; today is my little cousin Liisa is meant to give birth to her firstborn. So exciting! Please let me know how everything goes. Then today I have ONLY 37 working days left… soon counting the hours :) and yes, today is Friday, jeah! Bad news; no clubbing for me this weekend cuz I’m absolutely broke and Julia left today back to Sweden :(

Work is very stressful at the moment, because the Finland seminars (which I’m responsible for) are getting closer. For those who doesn’t know what in the earth I’m talking about: As our company is the Marketing representative for Finland here in Australia, we are organizing (or I’m organizing…Don’t get much of help from my boss) 2 seminars in Sydney for 100 people (3rd April) and in Melbourne for 80 people (4th April), media functions in both cities and a welcoming cocktail event at the Finnish Consulate. So basically I have been signed to be the coordinator for the whole event and as there are no employees in Finnesse besides me and my boss, (well Anders and our new Lithuanian intern) all the work is on my shoulders. But anyway… ill let you know how everything goes. And no more work talk for this entry.

More interesting… NEW ZEALAND! Few weeks ago we left Australia with Julia and headed to New Zealand. The land of amazing landscapes, sheep (four times more than people) and extreme sports. We arrived to Christchurch after 3 hour flight and stayed that night at one of my class mates, Hanna’s place (She is doing her internship in there). It was so great to see her after 9 months and compare our work experiences… It seemed that I wasn’t the only one with some shitty times at work :) The next day Hanna showed us a bit around the city before our bus to

Queenstown that departed at 10am.

9 hours on the bus was quite torture, but the sights were breathtaking; Surrounding mountains with snow on the top, lakes and rivers with turquoise water. The weather also got better from that on and for the next 4 days we had cloudless sky and +28degrees. Queenstown is located on the Southern island, by the second largest lake in New Zealand (Wakatipu) and surrounded by massive mountains. It is a tiny village with only 9500 locals

(compared to Christchurch, with the population of 200,000 people), famous for extreme sports; bungee jumping, skydiving, paragliding, drafting, river surfing, all sorts of winter sports etc. and for its magnificent scenery and therefore it is a popular place to movie shooting (Lord of the Rings, Last Samurai, Narnia, just to name few). (picture: Queenstown)

After a long bus trip we checked in to our hostel (bungee backpackers) and took the rest of the night easy. Had a dinner,

went for a drink and zzzzzzzzz…

The next morning I woke Julia up with my lovely voice, as it was her bday. That day was going to be full on! At 9am we got picked up with a jeep from our hostel for the Lord of the Ring’s safari. Us and 2 other people plus our guide was about to explore the wonders of the Lord of the Ring’s scenery… and yes I have to say that it was amazing even tho I have to admit that I’ve only seen one of the movies and fell asleep during, ups!

Later we had some sushi lunch at the park, enjoyed live music and the market that was held next to the park every weekend. 2pm it was time for the adrenaline shot of the trip. As bungee jumping is originally from Queenstown and the first commercial jump has been made from Kawarau bridge in 1988 it was obvious for us to give it a go. Even though I have sword that I could never do it, rather try skydiving…but, well have a look yourself :)

Yes, still alive and really loved it! Next time I want to do the worlds highest bungee jump; 132m and 8,2sec of free fall, which is also in Queenstown! Julia didn’t really enjoy it, but at least she have something to tell her future grandchildren.

From bungee jumping we headed back to the centre and took the gondola up on the top of the mountain. After viewing the beautiful sight and sunset we went to see Kiwi-Hakka show, which was something. They even forced me on the stage to spin the “poijs”, in which I really sucked!

Then the best part… New Zealand buffet!!! Stayed there 3 hours and were probably one of the last ones to leave. Left some inappropriate comments to a hot waiter and rolled away with a too

full tummy. What a great day!

On Sunday Julia left early for a Milford Sound –tour exploring the famous fjords. I had a sleep in and later went horseback riding to the mountains. It was so cool to ride next to the wild life, reindeers and sheep… and I cantered the first time properly :) After a nice afternoon nap I headed to the “city” and as Julia was still on her tour I had to have a dinner alone, tried some Korean food.

One cool thing in Queenstown is the Otago Wine tasting centre, were you can load money to a chip card and taste hundreds of local and international wines. We were supposed to meet up in Otago with Julia at 9pm, but after the time passed 10pm and my chip credit was getting low I decided to go back to our hostel to check if she had fallen asleep or something. As I walked I saw the tour bus dropping her of the same time. It certainly was a full day tour, 14 hours, but she said it was worth it!

The next morning it was time to check out from the hostel, and have the Queenstown’s best breakfast; Blueberry pancakes with lemon syrup, yummy! We also did some last minute shopping and went again to the wine tasting in Otago. This time not alone :) Our bus departed 2.45pm and this time luckily went faster, only 7 hours. Hanna was waiting us in the station and we had a dinner together before crashing her couch again. The next morning it started to rain in New Zealand and has been raining ever since… the holiday was over.