Chillin' out maxin' relaxin

January 30, 2011 10:00am
We have officially left NZ. In fact, as I write this we are in flight to Thailand.
Our last week and a half in NZ did not disappoint. One of the highlights of the whole trip was spending time with relatives from my grandpa's side, my moms cousins and aunts and uncle, many of whom I'd never met. It was unbelievable how welcoming everyone was. We were so thankful for the warm and comfy beds (no offense to Metallica), delicious meals and the fantastic company. 
From the south we headed north inland working our way towards Christchurch. 
We saw some beautiful country on the drive. Unfortunately it was too cloudy to see Mt Cook, but the cloudy and rainy weather was a good excuse to stop at a hot spring instead.  
That night we filled or bellies with meat pies, trying mutton for the first time, and the next day drove to Akaroa, a cute little seaside village. 
Our last two nights were spent in Christchurch. We did some shopping, said goodbye to Metallica and tried to avoid the chaos of the Busker Festival (the 30 minute preamble before a performance got a little tiring).
Today we caught an early flight, we were up at 330 am and are comfortably stretched across 3 seats in an airplane catching up on episodes of Modern Family. In T minus 8 hrs we will be on a beach in Thailand!

New Zealand summary...
Favorite foods: chicken flavored chips, meat pies, L & P, pineapple lumps, Ginger kisses, Tui beer, pavlova

Favorite features: no tipping, BYO restaurants and movie theaters, smallest change is 10 cents, all taxes included in the price, rigor (a refillable jug of beer)

Kiwi : Canadian translation
"sweet as" = used to exemplify something or the proper definition 'I confirm that what you are proposing is good by me.'
raddle your dags = hurry up
Judder bars = speed bumps
Lollies = candy
Jandals = flip flops
Bits and hops = this and that
Chilly bin = cooler
Car park = parking lot
Singlette = tank top
Tea = supper ( trust me, this gets confusing)
And always ask for a toilette not a bathroom/washroom. In NZ they are literally separate rooms.
Those are only a few of our favorites that we came across.

February 4, 2011
We have been in Thailand for 5 days and most of the days have consisted of this routine: waking up, eating breakfast, watching climbing (as Q sheds a tear because he has no gear), going to the beach, having a coconut or banana shake for $1.50, getting a massage for $10, showering, eating a delicious Thai meal and walking to the beach for dessert which consists of banana pancakes with peanut butter for me and nutella for Q. 
We did have one pretty exciting day. We gave first-aid to a woman who was stung by a sting-ray (we think it was a sting ray), ran in to a guy from Lacombe who we went to high school with and watched three base jumpers jump from a cliff that was right above our heads.
We stayed on Tonsai beach (a climbing haven) which is where Q stayed last time he was here. It's one of the more underdeveloped resorts with power only at night, no flush toilettes and no hot water, but it suited us just fine and in the end we weren't sure if we wanted to leave. After much debate we decided to see a little more of Thailand.
We took a bus to Surat Thani and we were looking to catch another bus from there to the gateway destination of  Chumpon. In Surat Thani we were fully immersed in the city culture. No signs had the English alphabet on them so when we were dropped of at a bus stop we had no idea where we were or where to catch the next bus. Of course there was a friendly Thai gentleman waiting to help with the catch phrase "where you go, where you go?" So far along our travels, following these people has worked out for us so we followed him. Sure enough, the station he took us to was strictly for tourists and the price of transport to our destination was 800 baht when it should have been more like 160. We got out of there in a hurry and luckily we found the proper station only a few blocks away. Unfortunately the last bus of the day had already left. Fortunatly again there was a train going to Chumpon for a third of the price. Long story short, it all worked out and we are enroute via a train.
Tomorrow we will catch a boat to Ko Tao... If all goes as planned.