Here's one I prepared earlier.

Here is a picture of the Lamingtons I made yesterday. They were so much fun to make! I think I over cooked the cake a bit but other than that they turned out pretty good. Ben's friend Ewout from Holland had never tried Lamingtons before last night and he had two.

I went to the grocery shop yesterday afternoon to get some desicated coconut for the Lamingtons and some beer. The lovely ladies at the shop sold me the VB (it was Aussie Day after all) despite me not being able to produce my passport as ID. They don't accept foriegn licences here and as a result I have been refused service before. I told the ladies yesterday that I was 30 in June and I think they all thought I was pulling their legs but in the end they gave me the benefit of the doubt anyway, bless em!

We had dinner in town with Ewout last night which was lovely. Afterwards we came back here and I plugged myself into the computer and listened to the tail end of the Hottest 100. I VOTED FOR BIG JET PLANE!! So chuffed!! I wish I'd been in Aus to spend the day with my buds, but I had a pretty good day anyway.

I got my first Kiwi pay today! It feels so good to be earning again.

Hope your hangovers are brief.

xxx

Happy Aussie Day!! from NZ...

Why G'Day!

I woke up next to my lovely Ben this morning after having a rather strange dream about Avis and penises and my third thought (after 'What the...?' and 'I need to get out more...') was 'It's Aussie Day'! I have been encouraging Ben to have a half day today so we can listen to the Hottest 100 together, or more to the point, so I can have company and don't feel like such a loner. I reckon I'm pushing shit uphill a bit though as the world doesn't stop because it's Australia Day and I'm here on my own.

How depressing!

Like a good little Aussie I am listening to Magic Dirt and and contemplating making Lamingtons. Here is the first recipe I came across:

Ingredients:
4 oz butter
3/4 cup castor sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
pinch salt
1/2 cup milk


Chocolate icing:
4 cups (454 grams) icing sugar, sifted
1/3 cup (30 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder
3 tablespoons (42 grams) unsalted butter
1/2 cup (120 ml) milk


Coating:
2 cups (480 ml) unsweetened desiccated coconut, finely ground

Directions:
Cream butter and sugar, add vanilla, beat in eggs. Fold in dry ingredients alternately with milk. Spoon into greased and lined pan (approx 8" x 11") Bake at 350F for 40-45 minutes. Cool and store for a day. Cut into squares; dip in chocolate icing, then roll in coconut.


Icing:
Place the icing sugar, cocoa powder, butter and milk in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Stir the mixture until it becomes smooth and of pouring consistency.


How exciting for you! I have come to realise that this blog has become therapy for me rather than news for you, good reader. Thanks, you are a great listener.
 
Let me think... news... I am reading War and Peace. How's that for news!
 
Anyway, enjoy your Australia Day. Have a beer for me.
 
xxx

Later that day...
My Lamingtons look amazing! I can't wait to eat one. I have made a 'DO NOT EAT US SIGN' to stick up in the fridge because no doubt once Benji gets home they will be short lived. YUM!

It's really hard to concentrate on writing a blog while listening to the Hoodoo Gurus on your headphones.

G'Day!

It's Aussie Day eve and I am in NZ! Does anyone want to make an impromptu visit to the Shakey Isles to bury some Fosters with me tomorrow? Will provide food, bedding and sheep to chase...? Get in touch post haste and I shall arrange to have you collected from the airport in a gold encrusted Mazda 3.

No, really, it is very hard to concentrate on anything but air guitar with the Hoodoo Gurus playing. I can still recall the time, she said she was always mine. And she left, as people do, and forget what we've been through...

Back to ze riveting blog that I shall spew forth for your semi entertainment.

I am really enjoying my new job! It sucks that it's only a day or two a week at this stage but I have picked up a few extra shifts as the full time staff start to go on holidays in a couple of weeks. Should be crackers. It's really nice to be nursing again, I forgot how much I enjoy it. Once I start uni at the end of February I will have something to fill in my days off. Until then I am going to do puzzles. Really, really big puzzles with lots of colour blocks so it takes me ages to figure them out.

Speaking of uni, I am coming back for a brief visit and to head to Wagga Wagga to attend a residential school for a few days. I'll be staying on campus and meeting my class mates and things. I am very much looking forward to this! I plan to linger at my folks for a few days following, making a nui(my girl don't love me no more!)sance of myself and eating all their food. Mum (oh god, Tojo is my favourite song on this album) had a partial knee reconstruction last week so I'll make her cups of tea and rub her feet and be the good daughter that I sometimes am.

Today I am motoring in to Manukau to get my glasses fixed and watch a movie. My specs were accidentally elbowed off my head in the heat of a 'play fight' (Benjamin fending off my spin attack)a couple of weeks ago and are now slightly askew. I'm normally very OCD about my glasses being straight so this has been a very good test of my cool! Not sure what flick I'll see yet, whatever is about to start when I arrive I suppose.

One of Ben's colleagues from Aus is arriving for work tomorrow. He is staying in the little granny flat next to our house and I am bit looking forward to another familiar face being around for a couple of days.

What else.... hmmm.... oh yes. We are moving out of the guest house in a week or so, maybe. Our current arrangement was only ever temporary so our suitcases are still packed (mainly due to lack of clothing receptical)and we wait with baited breath for word that we can move out of here and into somewhere that we may be able to settle into. Even then, if the company moves someone with a family out here and they need the house we are in, we are shifted again. So the campaign has begun for us to move into a furnished apartment in town. Sheep are fine as neighbours but they make some weird gutteral sounds in the night. Quite spooky at times. I suppose human neighbours tend to do the same... hmmm...

Ben and I are doing great. I feel kinda sorry for him being my only sounding board but he is very patient and having just finished a massive solo stint in Asia, understands solitude better than anyone. I am very lucky to have such a great fella (cue bucket).

I think that just about covers it. The Hoodoo Gurus just finished and I am now listening to The Lemonheads. Must. Dance. FOCUS!

One last thing. Kids - eat your vegies. Apparantly I haven't been eating enough and as a result have developed a little sore in the side of my mouth. I am the new poster girl for malnutrition! I'm on the mend though - we did a good shop last night and got lots of healthy stuff and some multivitamins. Just need to keep my mouth shut for a few days and hopefully it will heal itself to hell.

Let me know your flight time this arvo/ tomorrow and I'll pick you up from AKL. Can't wait to see you.

xxx

I like to give the people what they want... Thursday 20th January 2011

Word on the street is that people don't always want to hear the good stuff. Sometimes they want to read about the shit that goes on in the lives of others. After all, is anyone truely happy all of the time?

So I'm going to tell you about some shit that happened to me on Monday.

I went in to my new place of employment for a bit of a trial day. While I was there I monitored an anaesthetic for a cat dental. One of the tasks involved in this is checking the patients temperature at regular intervals to ensure their temperature doesn't drop too much. As in people, it is much nicer for puppies and kitties to have things stuck in their bottom if a little bit of KY is employed, so I, being the lovely vet nurse that I am, did the KY thing and took kitty's temperature.

There are two types of thermometres typically used for general temperature taking these days - mercury thermometres and electronic thermometres. The electronic variety do not require shaking to get an accurate reading and on Monday I found out that this is a very handy feature.

While shaking down the mercury thermometre after taking this kitty's temperature I felt something land in my hair. Sure enough, it was some faeces laced KY from the end that had just come out of the bottom of poor kitty.

That's my shit story for the week. Stay tuned for more exciting adventures!

Call me Ishmael. Wednesday 19th January 2011.

Hello missed ones!

This has been an eventful few days for myself and Ben. We have been kept most busy and I have enjoyed every second of it.

On Thursday I had a job interview at a vet clinic in Auckland. It went quite well and I felt very good about the clinic and the lovely ladies I met who work there. Hannah (the head nurse) and myself arranged that I come back the following Monday so she could assess my skill level and to see how I fit in with the other staff. I came home feeling wonderful and made some banana and date bread and drank some wine :)

Ben had suggested that we head in to town on the Friday night to get us both out of the house as we were going a tad stir crazy. Imagine my excitement!!! It seemed like ages since I had frocked up and drunk a beer in a licenced establishment and this suggestion was most welcome, so Friday we motored into Ponsonby and ate, drank and were merry. Part of our mission was to locate some live music. Ben took me to a pub called 'The Dog's Bollocks' and we caught the tail end of a great band who played a cover of a Johnny Cash song for their encore. Needless to say we left The Dog's Bollocks in very high spirits!

Saturday we caught the ferry over to Rangitoto Island and walked to the summit. Such a lovely view! We picked up some hiking boots (matching, his and hers hiking boots...) and came home and tramped around the house laughing at ourselves in these big clunky matching things.

We went to a car fair to buy me a car on Suynday morning. There were a hell of a lot of shit boxes there but on the way out we stumbled upon a 2005 Skoda Octavia that looked to be a good buy. We took it for a test drive, Ben did his haggling thing and we gave the guy a day or so to come up with receipts and service history before the deal was closed. He didn't, hasn't and we are still on the hunt for a car.

Monday I went back to the vet clinic for my trial day. I had a great day and was offered the job there! Hooray! It's a casual position and only a few days a week but there will be more shifts coming up when people leave for holidays. I am oh so very pleased with this :)

Ben's sister and her two kids came to stay on Monday night. Was a brilliant night! I make hamburgers I get all the girls, and I take them out to dinner and I give them all the world... Sorry, I made hamburgers for tea and we sat at the boardroom table and deliberated over whether or not we would go back for seconds. We did.

What a long post! No doubt filled with fluff and air but I am feeling good and fluffy and airy.

I hope everyone is well in Oz. Love to all xxx

Tolstoy is my mate. Friday 14th January.

Hello my friends!! How I love and miss you all astronomically!!

We are getting on with settling into some sort of routine here. Ben is off to work daily and I am rattling around the house and job hunting - desperately. I have thus far applied for approximately 15 jobs. Yes siree, I need work. I had an interview at a wonderful little vet clinic in Greenlane (about a 40 minute drive from home with no traffic. Apparantly in traffic it is hell) and it went pretty well (despite me getting lost and being 6 minutes late). Going in for a trial day and to meet the boss on Monday which I am very much looking forward to. Also have an interview at Specsavers Botany (also a fair hike from home) on Sunday afternoon. I have been a bit down due to the lack of employment activity but my spirits are on the rise! Bring it on!

Last weekend Ben and I went to Hawke's Bay for his friend Tim's 30th. Was a darn fun weekend I must say. I fell in love with the little town of Napier, as well as Ben's mates. They are a great bunch of kids and have all made me feel very welcome.

I am hungry.

We are going out tonight!! I am so freaking excited. I have been scouring the gig guide for names I know but then thought - no lady, you aren't in Sydney any more! Go see some local Kiwi bands! - so that's what we'll probably do. Is going to be great to get out of the house to have a beer and get to know Auckland City a little bit.

Tomorrow we have a walk planned on Rangitoto Island. We have both been a bit lazy of late so are looking forward to getting out and walking off some Christmas pudge.

It feels very strange being over here safe in the sunshine and watching the Queensland floods on the telly. The coverage has been huge here - can't believe what is happening. I hope you and your family are all safe...

Love to all! xxx

We have internet! 5th January, 2011.

Today Ben snuck a laptop home from work so we can have the internet at 'home' (the guest house we are staying at until the 10th - I can't wait to unpack my suitcase!!). I have been busy all afternoon creating a flickr account (http://www.flickr.com/photos/imasmellywombat/) and just sitting in front of the computer looking at bits and pieces. Internet - I shall never take you for granted again!!


Things are grand over here! On new years day Phil, Brenden, Tim, R. Beagle, Ben and I climbed a hill at Makara- pretty special way to shake a hangover. Wellington is beautiful. We spent a couple of days there and I was lucky enough to have some of the best tour guides in town showing me the sites. We went to karaoke - I sung. Oh lord. Ben and I belted out 'Goodbye Yellow Brick Road'. The idea was to drown out the professional sounding ladies in the next booth which I think we managed to do...


We climbed Mt Ngauruhoe on Monday which was amazing. I still get excited just thinking about it! It was a 7.5 hour walk all up and we were pretty well wrecked by the end of it, but goddamn- what an amazing experience. We were both covered in volcano afterwards so we stopped and got some ciders and our books and towels and went and had a dip in Lake Taupo to wash off. Monday has been my favourite day here yet.


Tomorrow I start looking for work. Not looking for anything in particular, just something to get me out of the house and some cash in my pocket. Which reminds me, I have to get a NZ tax file number and bank account...


Come visit me!!

xxx

NZ fun times.

Happy New Year all!

Too much to write, don't know where to start....

Staying in a guest house next to the steel works. There is a row of tall trees between us and the works and it's kind of cool sitting on the balcony with a glass of wine at night watching the big candle be lit then go out. We wake up to the sound of sheep baaing away in the paddocks around the house.

Had a bit of a tour of Auckland on Monday. We live about 40 minutes from town. Can't wait to track down some live music pubs.

I met the Fockers! We stayed with Ben's family in their holiday house at Pukawa on Lake Taupo. Google it... pretty darn amazing.

We had a bit of a trashy (but very fun) New Years Eve in Wellington with Ben's friends and are staying with his mate Phil for a couple of days before heading back up to Auckland. Photos to come of the view from Phil's balcony, it's a bit lovely. Ben has just cooked us bacon and eggs for brekky. I have a pretty speccial fella over here, yes I do.

Until I next have access to the internet!! xxx