this is not an official post. You have to pretend you aren't reading it because I don't get proper internet access back until this Friday the 11th. (so I can't reply to e-mails till then)
But, just to say I have had a magical time here in the Marlborough sounds. Once I leave I will post the website of the hostel where I'm staying so you can all see it and see just what an amazing spot I've been in. It's an eco-lodge.... I only have candles to read by at night (although it isn't getting dark until 9.30pm, woo hoo) and all the food I'm eating is fresh and just caught, snapper, mussels, wild pork, wild turkey. It is such a different life out here. We get one mail boat a week and unfortunately I haven't even got my Christmas presents yet - I have put in an order of fresh fruit once a week which arrives on said boat and I am definitely looking forward to getting back to civilisation and having such things as supermarkets where you can choose whatever you want to eat. I can't imagine it at the moment. You can only eat what you have here, and the other day I had a craving for strawberries. It's a case of TOUGH, you have to wait a week. How many people live like that nowadays?
The staff are all really nice and I have met all sorts of nice guests. I almost got a Christmas kiss from a very handsome Austrian who I might well have fallen for had he done so, but alas I found out at the last minute that he had a girlfriend (rat!).
I went swimming in a swimming hole the other day (freezing! but sandflies forced me underwater), I have been taken up on a quadbike to see a pet eel (the path was barely big enough for two people let alone a bike and there was a very steep drop down to the sea on one side, it was so terrifying) and I have done masses of writing. There is luckily a great library here too so I have done a lot of reading...... items to choose from include 'Land Rover International magazine' and 'Pig Hunter' with lots of pictures of dead boar spilling blood down hunters arms (typical Kiwis, they catch them then give them a piggy back home (no pun intended))
We have had days of 32 degrees and torrential rain. I have had days of happiness and days of terrible pain - my tiredness meant I dislocated a rib the day before I got here, plus got a bad virus so I am clearly pushing things, but there will be time to rest when I get home no doubt.
I am missing my dog, my friends, the INTERNET but definitely not the winter. Being here in Spring/summer has done wonders for me.
must go, after all, am not really online (perhaps it's those elves I've been looking for). love to all xxxx
