"we left the freezing north atlantic to freeze our asses off in the south pacific"

Sorry for the A word granny... twice!

So Julie N here! writting from the lovely town of Nelson, new Zealand to confuse you all a little. my personal speciality apparently.
never have i ever been on a ferry boat crossing the south pacific ocean when a tsunami hit..... DRINK! well im sure you ahev all heard about mother natures latest slap in the face, we just so happened to be crossing frmo the north island of New zealand to the sunnier nicer half the country, the south island, when the captain of our lovely vessell told us we couldnt dock in the planned bay becasue of a tsunami and would ahev to stay out at sea just to be safe. none of us really paniced, Julie B, who we now refer to as bell island, slept throught he whole thing, Shanna seemed more interested and well im julie N.... unless i was stranded at sea i didnt really care... though that might be a good time... the boat did ahave a bar ad cafereria... what could go wrong? hha then we looked over to see our good friend miss Amy ... white as anything ahah and the best look on her face, dont worry folks i do ahev pictures of her "tsunami face". hahah i think shes still worried we'll be hit by one in our sleep.
Anyway we docked in Picton, poop. 4000, with no sight of a wave an hour late and had to run to baggage to get our stuff while shanna used she good old newfie charm to stall the bus man. needless to say we arrived sweaty and alive to the bus. then our lovely, cough cough, bus driver talked the wholeeee 3 hour drive to Nelson. Personally i was just pumped to not ahve to stay in picton over night... might ahev been a downer. we would practically double the population and be the new main attraction, literally the town ahs a ferry dock, a subway, and of course a few sketchy hostels.
Anyway once we got to nelson, a small but super pretty town, we checked into our new home. its a beautifully restored old home, the owners are local and super friendly, we ahve a room for the 4 of us and its a very nice place to be. the whole town is filled with coffee shops and used books stores and supermarkets. lots of travel agents and i booths for tourists who are just passing through on their way tot he national parks near by. honestly from the looks of this town yuo might think your in the alps, theirs green mountains all around and they look so peacefull and the drive in was filled with sheep farms and farm land. very nice. minus the old man tlling us his life story as well as every detail he knows about NZ. educational for the first while... annoying when yuor tring to sleep and only one ear of your ipod actually works.
so lets see, the first few days of NZ were good, pretty laid back but fun. it rained alot and was a huge climate change for us from the warm sunny aussie. here its like 15-18 and either raining of sunny. not to bad. Wellington, even though its the capital, was a disapointment compaired to this small friendly town. i think our favoriet park of wellington was goig to a movie one nigt in a very classy old movie theater... haah were lame! but it was fun. i think for us wellington was a little too "artsey fartsey" as i think shanna and amy both quoted. everyone wears black and cries about their sad lives with their black cats and creates poetry and art about their sad lives with their black cats... its all a little too much. our first full day in wellington we hiked up tot he top of mt. victoria and took in a wicked view of the world... seriosuly i could see NFLD... almost NS anyway. and we walked through the lord of the rings set and had beer at a pub and walked around town alot. we went to the botanic gardens one afternoon but it rained and most of the lovely things wernt out in bloom yet as its to cold. we did get to walk throught he rainforest though which we all loved! im a big fan personally, i may just become tarzan and live there... hmmm... tarzan or an education... hmmmm such a debate.
So tomrorow we will offically be unreachable for a few days. we leave Nelson at 7 am to take a bus to the Able Tasman national park to do a three day 51 km hike. we stay in huts at night and hike all day, doing tidal crossings and everything, look at us sucre ahha. should be funny. we get a water taxi fromt eh end of the hike on sunday back to the start where a bus takes us back here to Nelson to our lovely hostel for one for one night of linens, showers and warmth before we that the train from our new love, Picton, to Christchruch to stay with soem of amys family. i might just lie on her floor just ebasue i can. hostels are not the most sanitary and a real house will be the most exciting thing in the world.... unless i see a realll liveeee KIWIIII and soon. haha
anyway the ladies are cooking supper and fat kid is super hungry so im off.
love and tsunami relief from NZ
you ranodm scatterbrained Julie (julie nolan that is)

keep it real kids!