New Terminology

New Vocabulary I've picked up from friends and at work:

Jabs-shots (immunizations)
Shifted-moved (He is shifting house next week.)
Higelty-Pigelty-all out of order (The house was higelty-pigelty after the party.)
Sussed-checked it out (I sussed out the situation.)
Nibbles-munchies
Drinkies-drinks
Knackered-exhausted
Fussed-worried, fussy, picky (He's not too fussed about it.)
Bum Bag- fanny pack! (fanny is a bad word here)
Manky-nasty. moldy, dirty (That loo is absolutely manky.)
Chemist-pharmacy
Nosey-Have a look around (Lets have a nosey in the store.)

Attack of the Black Swan

This Saturday, Jeff and I decided to go tramping. Bell Rock is a two hour tramp located about 45 minutes from Napier. I packed my water and GORP (known as scroggen here!) in my little camelback for the afternoon trip. It was a beautiful day with no clouds in the sky. A perfect day for hiking. Jeff showed up with a backpacking pack full of all kinds of extra stuff. An emergency kit, extra clothes and a tent fly (in case we needed to build a shelter!). I scoffed at all the unnecessary items that he would have to carry. He informed me it's always better to be prepared. As we were driving up to the mountains, I saw a tiny little cloud in the sky. As we drove closer to our starting point, the cloud got bigger and bigger and eventually, as the day wore on, completely misty and overcast. I ended up having to use quite a few of Jeff's "unnecessary" items. Apparently, the weather can change drastically in one day here.

The hike still turned out to be beautiful with the clouds clearing for a few minutes so we could see the view from Bell Rock.

We drove back towards Napier and had our lunch at Lake Tutira. Hundreds of black swans live around this lake. We found a good place for a picnic and I hopped out of the car to take a close up picture of a black swan at the water's edge. In the back of my mind I wondered why Jeff didn't come from behind the car, but I was too caught up in my picture to think much about it, however, I soon found out. As I was innocently taking a picture, the swan attacked me! And Jeff laughed as I ran screaming to the shelter of the car. I guess the black swans are known for being territorial, especially if there are some baby swans around!

"Remember Remember the 5th of November"

Guy Fawkes Day is celebrated in honour of his hanging. The story is about a bloke, Guy Fawkes, who was part of a plot to blow up the House of Parliament in London on November 5, 1605. The plot was foiled at the last minute and Fawkes ended up in the noose! The weekend is full of bonfires and fireworks to celebrate the thwarted assassination of King James I.

Napier is said to be one of the best places for fireworks, so Jeff and John-Luc and I got to the beach early to get a good spot for watching the big event. There were tons of people all around, waiting for the fireworks to begin. Finally they started! It was so exciting-for about 3 minutes. Then is was over. What I thought was the grand beginning of the fireworks show was actually the grand finale. It lasted less then 5 minutes! Then everyone went home! So much for fireworks on Guy Fawkes Day!

MOvember

Movember-the Month of the Moustache

Movember originated in Australia and New Zealand in order to raise awareness of men's health issues. Men all over New Zealand are growing out thier mo's. I've been seeing several scruffy men lately in the hospital, including Jean-Luc, an OT I work with!