time management problems

I was meant to write a big blog today but I got distracted by the myriad wonders of the internet and now have like, ten minutes.

Liz flew back to New Zealand this morning at 3.20am so now instead of being the Famous Five, we've been reduced to the Fab Four. It's kinda sad but we're dealing with it ok so far.

We went to an italian restaurant for dinner last night and the food was great. We were really intent on going out dancing too only I tripped over the edge of the road (it's really roughly sealed) and totally wasted myself. I've got a massive graze on my knee and the palms of my hands AND, as the cherry on top, I managed to rip a huge hunk of flesh ALMOST completely off my big toe. It's really gross to look at, kinda black from the blood blister under the ragged cut and it stings like piss.

Other highlights from the last few days...

We were on the island of Savaii for five nights. One day me and Liz and a german dude called Philip rented bikes and rode to this little place where you can go swimming with turtles. The water was fucking freezing cos it came froma freshwater spring but the turtles were awesome. We were sitting by the edge of the water with our feet dangling in when this big old one came up and bit Liz's big toe really hard. She screamed and pulled her foot out of the water. We laughed at her. Ten minutes later, the turtle like, LAUNCHED itself out of the water and latched onto her toe again. It was hilarious.

We rented a car a few days ago and went for a drive right around the coast of Savaii. The car (an SUV thing) had a CD player but it refused to play any of our CDs. We stopped about halfway round the island and went for a walk in the rainforest to this swingbridge 9m up in the canopy. I loved it, Lei and Vicki were shit scared. The other cool thing there was this massive Banyan tree which was about 20m tall which has a big platform up the top of it. In the dry season you can stay up there for the night. There have been loads of storms lately though so we decided not to risk it.

Anyway, we get back in the 4x4 and continue our roadtrip when suddenly Lei discovers that, no shit, the brakes have stopped working. She'd have her foot flat on the brake to no effect, pull on the handbrake to it's full strength and the car would still take like, 500m to come to a stop. Not good when you're driving through villages where both children and pigs have the scary tendency to walk on the road and dart out in front of cars. I suggetsed taking it out of Drive and shifting to 2nd which helped cos eventually the brakes came back - I reckon they'd overheated. Anywho, I figure this is the perfect time to try another CD, and flicking through my CDs I see "Wing Sings ACDC" and thinking "wouldn't it be hilarious if this works" I put it in.

And it works.

WING SINGS ACDC WAS THE ONLY CD THIS FUCKING VEHICLE WOULD PLAY. I nearly pissed my pants.

Now I have to go and catch a ferry back to Savaii. One week until I'm home! Kinda looking forward to not having to worry about mosquito nets and sunscreen anymore. And having a real bed with a proper mattress to sleep on. And choclate which doesn't melt straight away! YUSS!

brief update - more to come later

I'm sitting in a tiny little internet cafe in Savai'i, in the village of Manase having just imbibed two and a half rather strong cocktails and biking back to our hostel in the pouring rain. We went to visit some turtles and go swimming with them, great fun.

One of them kept biting Elizabeth's toes - it even reached it's head out of the water and latched it's beaky mouth over her toes. They must be quite tasty wee piggies for that kind of effort. A small child came to the waters edge with three papaya and proceeded to hack the papaya into massive (and not so massive) hunks which he then threw into the water for the turtles who went slightly mental and fought like wild things over the juicy orange flesh. i was just worried the child was going to lose a finger or ten in the process of hacking up the food - he was, after all, only three and in the possession of a large kitchen knife.

Anyway, I'm starting to go brown (finally!) and I'm running out of time - both in this internetcafe and in Samoa... we leave not this Friday ngiht but the next, feels so soon.

When I get back to Apia where the internet is cheaper I'll tell more, but in the meantime, I got back my paper results...

B+ Thea212 (better than hoped for)
A (85%) for DESI204 design and the environment
and...
A+ (90%) for DESI202 design and communication.

SO RIDICULOUSLY HAPPY RIGHT NOW!!!

Sunstruck

We've just spent two days on Namua Island down at the eastern tip of Upolu - it's like the definition of what a tropical island paradise should look like - if you ignore the mosquitoes, then it very well might be perfect.

They had three adorable dogs on the island,a pet piglet, loads of chickens and rowdy rooster, one samoan family who ran the place, a german couple with a kiwi friend, and a young couple from florida. So it was pretty quiet and relaxing.

Being the adorable retard that I am, I spent way too much time in the saun which lead to me getting quite severely dehydrated and sunburnt and lethargic - basically, I got sunstroke. All was well until dinnertime when I smelt the food, felt nauseous and passed out. Woke up on the floor with a really sore nose and surrounded by worried faces. After a few minutes of lying on the ground with my legs raised and a bottle of icy water under my neck I was allowed to walk back to the fale (nearly passing out again on the way) where one of the Samoan boys, Auguso, promptly set about putting nono leaves soaked in cold water onto my my head and rubbing them around until I felt like a human again.

It was quite hilarious. Had the bonus of "bringing everyone closer together" because after my little fainting spell, all the Samoans came and hung out with us and talked to us and so on, - including an adorable little girl called Lisa who bonded brilliantly with Liz, and Tai, a 21 year old lad who went for a walk with Lei and then made out with her. Hahaha, he was hilariously good fun.

Had the downside of leaving me witha rotten big cut across the bridge of my nose and an equally charming scrape above my right eyebrow. NO MORE PRETENDING I'M LIVING IN A DUNEDIN CLIMATE FOR ME!

Anyway, it was great, even with the fainting. We're off to Manono Island today, then back to Apia for a night before we head to Regina's in Manase on Savai'i for five nights. Should be a blast, I'll try to keep this posted.

Living in a sauna...

I LOVE SAMOA!

Yesterday...
We woke up - I can't believe how hot it was during the night, I was all sweaty and mosquito bitten (some had gotten under the mossie net) when I woke up and it had been a pretty restless sleep anyway. Breakfast was divine - fresh fruit and toast. Hahaha, toast is good in any country.

We spent the morning at this place called sliding rocks - basically natures idea of a waterslide formed by volcanic rock being worn smooth over time. It was UBER fun - kinda scary to begin with cos you think it's going to be painful, but when it isn't you just wanna keep going down them again and again and AGAIN!! I kept losing my bikini top because of the force with which I hit the water. Sigh. Luckily no-one other than my friends were there to see my boobs... unlike last Friday...

Then it RAINED. Tropical rainforest rain of the kind I've never seen or experienced before. We were soaked through before we even realised what had happened but it was gloriously warm so we just enjoyed it.

In the afternoon we went to the Palolo marine reserve and for $5NZ rented snorkelling gear and spent the afternoon chasing gloriously coloured fish around the reef. The water was amazingly clear and such a beautiful turquoise blue in the deeper parts. The fish were hilariously flashy. It was kinda like swimming around in a giant rich persons tropical aquarium.

Liz and I didn't put sunscreen on before we went in though so by the evening, the backs of our legs had turned bright red and stung like crazy when we sat on them - I think mine were worse burnt than hers but it's been pretty difficult functioning ever since. Also, I'm really itchy from the mosquito bites. Haven't had any on my feet luckily but the ones on my hands are driving me spastic.

We got really drunk for next to nothing last night - very cheap beer (which is much better than most beers back home) and cocktails. At one pub though, I noticed a cockroach on the wall and pointed it out to everyone - they freaked out, Liz tried to put it into a cup adn it fell on her and she freaked out and then the Samoans laughed at us. And then hit on us. Just like they do every single day no matter where we go or what we're looking like cos they think western gals are easy. Hilarious.

Anywho, today we're off to be intrepid adventurers on a tiny island inhabited by turtles for two days, then going to a differnt island and then we'll be back in Apia so I may post again then. Sorry about no photos but they can't do that in this internet cafe, we'll just have to wait until I get back.

Postcards are on the way soon - if you want one and I haven't got your address let me know asap. Not that you really need one if you read this but meh.

Samoa in your FACE suckers...

Samoa is AMAZING! We flew out of Auckland at 6am this morning and although it had been warm in Auckland, we totally weren't prepared for the 29 degrees celcius heat wave that hit us when we got off of the plane. Like, it was almost as though we'd stepped into a sauna.

I hadn't taken twenty steps and my whole body was starting to sweat. I've been covered in perspiration ever since.

But yeah! We found this little internet cafe in the capital and it had air conditioning (uber rare and fantastico) so I figured I'd check all my emails and stuff and avoid getting the sunstroke/sunburn/I had two beers at lunch and they went straight to my head in the heat.

It's such a ridiculously beautiful place - the water is turquoise blue, the sky is this intensely clear blue and the people are amazingly friendly.

And everything is soo sooooooo cheap. I wanted to buy everything at the market today - they have these amazing necklaces made out of seed pods and we can't get anything like it in my town so I went a bit nuts and bought like, five necklaces and earrings and I STILL WANT MORE COS IT'S ALL SO RAD!

I'm going to go to the supermarket and buy fruit and lollies and then I'm going to have a nap and possibly another cold shower.

Ya! Ya! I'm in Samoa and you probably aren't!

holy crap

Could my last weekend in Dunedin before flying out to Auckland have BEEN any better?? I think not! I don't think so... I mean, really, it was insanely good and yes, I am goign to explain, but in bulletpoints cos I'm in Auckland and want to do other things than post on a blog in the middle of the night...

-FRIDAY- Social Acts end of year party.

*got really drunk at robs house
*went to see a movie with my family (hahahaha)
*went back to the party and got drunk some more
*got into rob's spa pool (this is rob mccann not awesome rob from all the photos)with about ten other people
*got half naked in the spa pool
*everyone saw my booooobs
*went into town and sang karaoke with hayden and dags until my throat was hoarse
*ate a kebab
*started walking home
*found a sushi sign on the side of the road (big and wooden) so took it on my walk
*some random man in a car tried to get me to let him sleep at my flat, anywhere i'd let him...
*i obviously said no
*left the sushi sign on some car's windscreen
*got home at 5am and slept

-SATURDAY-

*woke up at a late date and ran some chores
*can't remember what i did all arvo
*got home and got somewhat clothed for the 21st i was intending to go to after dinner with my dad at 7.30
*got picked up by dad and mon and went to table seven
*SURPRISE! it wasn't dinner with my folks, it was MY TWENTY FIRST!

I mean, AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! I was so stunned! And happy! All my favourite people came and they were all so lovely and happy and drunk and it was all for me! Like, AHHHHHHHHHH!!! And ashley had come down for it, my family were all there, dad and rosey and lei and kath had been super stealth with planning it for MONTHS and, holy sweet jesus, Jeremy from the Upbeats was the DJ.

I don't think I'll ever have such a good party ever again in my whole entire life.

Ever. It was amazing.



Me. Amazed. And scared cos I thought they were gonna make me do 21 shots. But they let me give them out instead. Huzzah!

i'm such a tard

I just deleted all of Rob's saved passwords for all his websites on his computer. Totally by accident and now I feel really bad about it. Aw! Such an IDiot...

I sloganised my name again today - still sounds slutty:

"Whatever You're Into, Get Into Luci"

it's the final countdown

ONE WEEK UNTIL I LEAVE FOR SAMOA! JUST ONE!!
We fly out of Christchurch for Auckland next Monday and then on Tuesday we fly into Apia. YUSS!! SO snuck up on me, I had NO idea it'd arrive so soon, still feels ridiculously surreal but I'm sure the 30degrees+ weather will make me realise I'm in Samoa when I get there.

6 WEEKS AND 6 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS!

7 WEEKS AND 5 DAYS UNTIL NEW YEARS AND MY 21ST BIRTHDAY!

Things have gone ridiculously speedily.

wickeywoo, keeping us photographed... alllright

Ok, these are just some of the best photos from wickeywoo as of recently - wickeywoo being a site set up by Rob which has thousands of photos of all the parties and stuff that've been happening this year and last year. It's great.

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HAMISH- DRINKER EXTRAORDINAIRE



Hamish, one of our lovely neighbourhood friends, did the Peter Griffin Challenge last Friday/Saturday which involved drinking 38 beers in one sitting. He accomplished it and then had to go to hospital. Brave lad.



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GUY FAWKES NIGHT
Saturday Night


Beginning of the evening - L-R: Me, Wal, Hayden, Bex (obscured by...), AJ.


Bexabillion wearing the AWESOME t-shirt her brother made her.


Hayden with the pellet gun. So gangsta.


Rocking out with the glowing cactus, keyboards and guitar. Multi-talented.


Me with the pellet gun. It was so much fun to play with. Yay for guns which can't REALLY hurt you.


The only firework we let off at the flat - Rob's sparkler.


CANDY!!! Nerd Rope is delicious, so scrumpciously good...


...but also quite sour.


Loudspeaker time. Yussssssss.


BUBBLES! So exciting, I'm hyperventilating just thinking about the bubblyness.

There are loads of other ones but I'm lazy - this whole photo uploading thing is freaking annoying. Like, crazy annoying. and besides, I now have to go and run errands because I"M GOING TO BE IN SAMOA IN A WEEK!!! AHHHHHHH!

FINISHED!

Since finishing I've had a rad time.

Went to the gardens and drank beer and then sang karaoke at The Bowler (which is normally a no-go zone EXCEPT for monday karoke occasionally) and because we SO rocked the mic all night, they gave us loads to drink to the point where I was so inebriated that when I got home and into bed, I threw up out my window cos I wasn't sure if I'd make it to the bathroom in time. Hot eh?

Also went to a Wing gig at Refuel when I was meant to be studying. It was AMAZING. Adam couldn't deal with it, he thought she was nuts, but it was one of THE best things I've ever seen in my entire life. I've never left a gig feeling as happy and entertained as I did after Wing's performance.

Adam also bit my arm really hard a few nights back and I now have a giant bruise in the shape of his teeth on my arm. Two giant yellowy purple orange segment sized bruises. Hot.

Got a haircut too. Yussssssss.