Another week in the lives of Mari, Liz, and Danny...

As I was on the job hunt again this week, I came to notice that everyone I saw in town looked like they were doing the exact same thing. Walking from bar to bar, asking to see the managers and hoping that they were hiring. I started to think that everyone I saw was holding a folder of resumes just like myself. No worries, I’m not giving up on this town, something is bound to give in due time. As for Liz, she was busy working her 9-5 job each week day. With a few weeks under her belt, she started to get a handle on her job and instead of the job running her, she was running it! Mari had a couple shifts during the week at Rydges, even though, each shift seemed to get longer and longer, Mari stuck it through knowing that in only a couple weeks she would be back home in good ol’ Minnesota.
In the middle of the week Mari and I went out to celebrate her coworker’s birthday. Tania was turning twenty-one and she was about to go on a trip so her birthday party became a semi-going away party as well. We met everyone at Rydges and took a cab up to one of the girls’ house. However, the roads were REALLY icy and the cab driver refused to drive up the massive hill to get to the house. Coming from Minnesota, I completely understood. Taking that last sentence into mind, I can’t believe I have never had trouble walking up an icy sidewalk. I never thought the Uggs I was wearing would disagree with the sidewalk so much, but they did! I had the hardest time trying to get up this hill. I would literally start sliding so I had to grab on to some friends hands just to stay standing! I eventually made it to the middle of the street where there was sand to walk on but once we got to the drive way, there was no more sand. With some more help, I finally made it to the party safely. It turned out to be a chill night, we all just got together and had a couple drinks while hanging out at that house. Mari and I caught a ride home pretty early from a couple who also work at Rydges. All in all, it was a tame night but nice to go out for a change.


This up coming weekend we planned a trip to Milford Sound, we have heard a lot about Milford since we have been in New Zealand and we were anxious to see it for ourselves. The only thing we had to worry about was the weather because it was always hit or miss in Milford. On average Milford gets 180 rain days a year! We left Queenstown on Friday around 5 o’clock. We picked Liz up from work and headed to Te Anua, the last place of civilization and halfway point between Queenstown and Milford. On our drive, we noticed how fast the sun went down. It was only 7pm, but it felt like 11pm with the dark night sky and stars shining! We ended up getting a cheap hotel and snuck Mari in. It worked out perfect because the room was set up for three people, with one double bed and a single bed. We kept talking about how nice it was to have a fully heated bathroom! The next morning we got up early and made some breakfast. We couldn’t help but sit outside as we ate our breakfast and took in the amazing sunrise! The drive to Milford was gorgeous! The weather was nice and sunny with only a little bit of clouds. Some highlights of the drive included: various videotaping, stopping a couple times for pictures, getting car sick with the unbelievable windy road, and a massive tunnel that was 1km long! Known as the Homer Tunnel, it looked as if it might collapse on us! The tunnel was built back in the 1950s and I’m pretty sure there hasn’t been much work on it since. It is a one lane tunnel that has dim lights on the ceiling and reflectors on the sides to help guide you. There are a set of lights outside each end of the tunnel that tell you when its your turn to go. However, these lights can make you wait for up to twenty minutes in a highly prone avalanche area. It has been discussed to just widen the tunnel into two lanes but knowing kiwis, it will take a while for that to happen. Either way, we made it through safely. As we arrived in Milford, the clouds started to roll in but only partially, which made for great rays of sunlight beaming on the mountains. When you arrive in Milford, you are taken back by the breathtaking atmosphere and landmarks. Dominating the skyline is Mitre Peak, a 1692m pinnacle of rock that forms the world’s highest sea cliff and one of the most photographed mountains in New Zealand. It has an almost eery feeling to the place because even if someone was yelling at the top of their lungs, they would seem unimportant to the epic landmarks surrounding them. It is as if you are walking among sleeping giants.
We planned on taking a 90 minute cruise around milford to explore the sites. Our boat cruised along the glass-like water taking us through the sound out to the Tasman Sea and back. The guide of the cruise would come on the load speaker every so often to enlighten us about the sites before us. One interesting fact is that the average depth of the sound is 330m of water. However, 3 meters of that water is freshwater from the rainfall each year. This creates multiple ecosystems in one area! Mari believed that some of the footage from the Lord of the Rings was filmed here, possibly the part with the elvish boats? Along our cruise, we were hoping to spot some penguins but only found some seals. There is a certain point known as ‘Seal Rock’ that inhabits seals all year round. One outstanding highlight of the cruise was Stirling Falls. This massive waterfall drops 146 meters from a beautiful U-shaped hanging valley carved out between the mountains. Stirling Falls is the second largest permanent waterfall in this national park that is fed by the glaciers situated in the mountains behind it. Our cruise was able to get so close that I felt as if I could touch the water! As the cruise came to an end, I was glad that we decided to do it. Seeing Milford from the water is how it should be done.


Since our cruise got done around 1pm, we had plenty of time to go on a tramp and take in the more sites. We talked to a guy working at the i-site and he told us about possible hikes we could do. We decided to go on a hike to Lake Marion. It was about a half hour drive back towards Te Anua and suppose to be a 3 hour round trip hike. The only thing we had to worry about was getting back before 5pm so we wouldn’t lose sunlight. As we started this trek, we didn’t think it would be too bad. We stopped constantly to take photos of the rainforest-like surroundings and rushing waterfalls. After about twenty minutes, the trail began to get rougher. With a consistent climb up loose rocks, we really felt the workout... We would come to part of the trail where there was literally a riverbank of just rocks and we would have to look for the little orange triangles to guide us to the trail. After one of the riverbanks of rocks there was a straight up vertical wall of rocks, we had to use various tree roots to help pull us up. We kept thinking, I hope this Lake Marion is worth the hike! As we were getting closer to the lake, all I could think about was jumping in. It was the one thing pushing me to get there faster. Then finally, we had arrived and the view was breathtaking! With the blue sky beaming above, sun perching over the tips of the mountains shining down on this gorgeous lake that looked like glass and reflected the views from above, the cameras didn’t stop snapping. We got as many photos as we could before the clouds rolled in. We each took a turn taking a photo on this massive rock located at the edge of the lake. While taking photos, we all cooled down and realized that jumping in the glacier-cold lake probably wasn’t the best idea. It would have been nice to stay longer and explore more but we had to hurry back before it got dark. The whole tramp took a little over two hours and it was completely worth it. We couldn’t have asked for a better day, everything worked out so smoothly!

A Little 'Slice' of Heaven

We had a great time visiting our friends in Richmond, but we're ready to get back to Queenstown. Monday morning we woke up bright and early at 5am! This way we could leave at 6am to drive back to Queenstown. The plan was to get home around 4:30pm, so Mari could get ready for work by 6pm. The car ride definitely did not get any easier. Danny was car sick the whole ride from Mari and I getting really comfortable with driving around all of the twisting and winding roads. We made it back by 4pm, a record time of doing that drive under 10 hours! We were all really happy when we got out of the car and Mari had plenty of time to get ready for work. I prepared all night for my interview with Trojan Holdings for the next morning.
I had my interview with Emma Bennett the next morning. I felt really prepared since my mom helped me get ready for this interview. It went really well and she said she would give me a call in a couple days to let me know the outcome. Emma ended up calling me that night to offer me the accounts assistant job! I was so excited that I had to call my mom and dad at 2am their time and tell them the good news! Then I had to rush to Rydges and work with Mari.
Mari had to work at 6am the next day. It doesn't get any easier getting up that early. I went into town to meet Emma, my new boss, and go over my new contract. Danny had her trail at Winnie's Pizza Restaurant and was given a $50 voucher for working there that night. We were all excited to have free Winnie's in the future!
On Friday, Mari and I worked at an amazing race competition for medical students. Our flatmate, Johnny, hooked us up with this gig through a friend of his. We were rewarded with pizza, beer, and $70 for sitting outside for 4 hours and handing out clues to different teams coming to our different destinations. Compared to Mari, I had it pretty easy. I waited for clues and told the teams good luck. Mari had to watch the teams build sand castles to a certain height and then she had shovel the castles back down to ground level. She wasn't to happy, since she got blisters from all of her shoveling. On a better note, we met some guys that were working at the race as well who were looking to put together a hockey team. They didn't sound very good and Mari reassured them that she would blow them out of their socks with her talent. That was a good laugh! (but probably true) While we did this most of the day, Danny had another trail at Pub on the Wharf where she got to do some bartending.
On Saturday, we used Danny's voucher from Winnie's to have one large Montonara Pizza. It was a big piece of heaven! The Montonara pizza is a specialty at Winnie's that comes with this delicious pistachio sour cream to put on top. It is amazing! After that, we stopped at the liquor store because they had a great special where you buy one 12pack of beer and you get a free large pizza from a Harry's Pool Bar. We thought that was a great deal! Then we got home and our flatmates taught us how to play poker. It was really fun to start bonding with Steph, Morvin, and Johnny. Mosh, our other flatmate, had to work but, we met up with her later since we went out on the town with Johnny. As we were walking to town, Johnny decided to hitch hike and put out his thumb as a large, empty charter bus was driving by. The nice old bus driver opened his door right up and offered to give us all a ride to town! Talk about a sweet ride! Johnny took us to different bars to experience all the different NZ music cultures. Reggae, Techno, and Dub were all the new music we tried dancing to but, we are not that good compared to the New Zealand crowd.....yet!

It's All Good!

Since I was having no luck on the job end of things, I decided to take a little vacation up to Richmond to visit our old flatmates for a week. Mari and Liz stayed in Queenstown and worked for the week before heading up to meet me for the weekend. I had to fly from Queenstown to Chirstchurch and then Chirstchurch to Nelson, each 45 minute flights but, with added layovers and delays, it took me over six hours to get up there. I arrived in Nelson around 7pm where our old flatmate, Brad, was there to pick me up. During the week, I spent my time relaxing, catching up with friends and enjoying the nice weather.
Another reason why I went up there was because it was Brad’s Birthday! It was on a Monday so, it was a pretty low-key night. While the boys were at work, I decided to walk to town to pick up some things for dinner. Brad and Todd had rugby practice that night so i figured it would be nice to cook them dinner. What better than Mexican? YUMMY! Seeing that Chicken Enchiladas were such a hit at Mari’s birthday, I knew the boys would love them too. Ding, Ding, Ding... I was right. The boys scarfed it down like it was their last supper!
The week went by pretty fast being back in Richmond. Mari and Liz were planning on driving up Thursday. It was a long drive, but I reassured them that it would be worth it! After a long ten hour drive, they made it! But before Mari and Liz could nicely come in and say hi, they ran through the front door literally falling over each other to rush to the bathroom. Apparently, there weren’t any stops on that drive?
With working all week, Mari and Liz had a little money saved up and it was time for a shopping spree in Nelson. As they headed to Nelson, Brad and I took a little ride up to his families farm. The weather wasn’t the best, but lucky for us, the rain had stopped for a couple hours once we got there. We took out one of his four-wheelers for a ride and he showed me around his farm. I couldn’t believe how much land they owned. They have sheep, cows, bees, horses, and little wild goats that run around in the hills. As we were driving on the four-wheeler, we came across a group of goats that ran away once they saw us. However, they left behind a little baby one that couldn’t be more than a couple days old. This was the cutest little goat I have ever seen. We couldn’t just leave it there to die so we took it back to Brad’s house where his mom could take care of it. She loved it, and took the little goat in as a house pet. After the goat got some milk, it was running around and jumping over everything like she owned the house.
We spent our Saturday morning doing a little more shopping in Nelson before we went to the boys rugby game. Liz had to pick up some last minute things for her interview back in Queenstown. It had been raining all day, and it wasn’t looking like it was going to let up. We all wished we had rain boots, known to Kiwi’s as gum boots, to wear to the rugby game since the field was covered in mud! Little did we know how popular these gum boots were! Everyone we saw was wearing them. However, Mari brought a massive umbrella so at least we wouldn’t get too wet. When we got there, the score was 9-13 and everyone on the field was covered in mud. The score went back and forth for a while until the other team made some lucky tries and won the game. We went back to the flat for a little while, to let the boys cool off from the loss.
Even though it rained all day, it was Clubroom Day. The Clubroom is the main meeting area at the rugby fields. Its a large building that has several locker rooms and a banquet room with a concession stand and bar. On this day all the rugby teams from the club that had a match were invited to a bbq in the club rooms, there was even a band playing! Mari, Liz, and I were a little worried that the loss would put everyone in a bad mood for the night but, that all changed once we got to the club rooms and everyone seemed pretty happy. The night was full of dancing, drinking, and fun! We ended up staying there until the place was ready to shut down. The next day was filled with sleeping, food, more sleeping, and movies. Most of the rugby team came over to hang out as we all lounged around in the living room. To much our surprise, Todd asked Liz and Mari to cut his hair! (and man, did he need it, his hair was starting to look like a mullet) They sat him down in a chair and started cutting away. I caught a glimpse as they were were cutting the front. I don’t think I have ever seen Todd look so depressed. Liz held his hair out with a comb as Mari took the razor to it. With a quick buzz it was all gone, his hair was left too short and slightly crooked... Todd referred to it as a “frollet” because it was long in the front and short in the back! I felt his pain, it looked horrible. Liz and Mari were at the point of quitting because they couldn’t stop laughing and didn’t want to screw it up anymore. After taking a short break to catch their breath, Mari started working on the sides. I decided I couldn’t watch anymore because Todd didn’t like the sight of my looks or laughs I was giving him. Thankfully, in the end it turned out good and I am pretty sure he will be calling Mari and Liz for another haircut in a month or so!

Two Down One To Go!

This week was my second week of work and Liz’s first! Yes, I am happy to say that Liz also got a job at Rydge’s Resort and it wasn’t as an immigrant housekeeper! She works with me as a waitress in the restaurant and caterer for events. Danny is still on the lookout for a job, but in the meanwhile she is our stay at home wife:) On Monday, Liz’s trial day, we catered for a golf convention. This was pretty easy, we set up for morning tea, lunch, and then came back that night for a couple of hours working the bar. Liz passed her trial with flying colors and is now on the regular rotation with me!
The biggest issue with this job, fairly consistent with most jobs I have worked, is that most people act like you have been working with them for years. One coworker, Jess, likes to ask us to do things with out any direction. Just one example, she asks Liz to set out the napkins for morning breakfast, by-the-way we have at least 4 different sets of napkins. Liz asks, understandably, “where and which napkins?” Jess, rolling her eyes tells her they are the same napkins always used, as you might imagine this information means very little for Liz. It is her first time setting up for breakfast and she has never worked a breakfast. Jess then tells her they are in the linen room, which is also useless information, she hasn’t been shown it yet. Liz, still not understanding which and where these napkins are, just turns and attempts to find these breakfast napkins on her own. This might have taken a lot longer if another coworker hadn’t come over and saved the day. He was truly an unsung hero to all next day breakfast goers.
So now that we have the negatives about our job out of the way, here are some positives: we finally have made some new friends!! Tuesday after the morning shift at work, we went out and bought cake and dinner ingredients for my birthday the coming day. We were very excited because this was the first time we were going to have friends over. Three weeks was the longest we had lived in a place without making friends, so needless to say, we were long overdue! The next day, a.k.a Cinco De Mari, Liz and I started off waking up at 8am for work. We worked about five hours and then came home to nap, had to power up for the big fiesta! The night kicked off with Danny making chicken enchiladas and the cake, we were very grateful that she was willing to do all the cooking. Dinner was great, couldn’t ask for a better chef, and the guests came shortly after. Four friends from work came; Enrique a Chilean, Mariana a Brazilian, Tania an Australian, and Chelsea a Kiwi. We played cards for a couple of hours then headed out to Chelsea’s room at the Rydge’s Resort. We weren’t there too long before we left to tear up Q-town!
The next couple of days aren’t anything to write home about, literally, I will spare you the insignificant details of those days. Saturday we dropped Danny off at the airport, she was flying to Nelson to visit our friends to the North. This had to of been very exciting for Danny since I am sure cabin fever was starting to get her. Liz and I decided to do a little shopping around town, thank God nothing seemed to work out. Always a little disappointing, but mainly a relief knowing our money is safe for another day. That night I left home to head off to work, there were only two of us serving. A lot of times that would be sufficient because we are pretty slow, since we are situated on the sixth floor, but not tonight. At least not for me who is still a newbie, I got pretty stressed when six tables all came in within a half an hour of each other. Maybe six tables wouldn’t have been that bad if I wasn’t also being the host, running the food, and putting the orders into a computer system that I had just learned. Reagan, the other server and manager, told me he wanted to watch me, I didn’t think that meant that was all he was going to do! Though I can’t give him too much grief, he did cover two tables and did a great job of making sure the kitchen staff was in good spirits.... I foresee a long lasting relationship with him.
Sunday the day of rest, or at least it is for most people, but not Liz and I as we had to work. The shift started at six so we were up at five, at least awake enough to hit the snooze a couple of times. This was my first breakfast shift, nice and simple, perfect since I am not a morning person. Liz and I cleared plates for a couple of hours until I got to go on break. We are allowed to collect food from the buffet to take on our break, this was very exciting since they have a nice variety to choose from. As I get to the pancakes the chef comes out to restock, he is an outgoing funny guy. He loves teasing and making sure we are doing well by asking us repeatedly... He comes around to where I am standing to restocking sausages and while doing so covers up the pancakes I am about to take from. Not much of a problem, I lift the lid from the other stack of pancakes and start to take a couple from this stack. While doing all of this he had struck up a conversation with me, telling me that I have a nice breakfast, then he proceeds to tell me I can’t have the pancakes that I was taking. I laugh and say “OK” in a tone as if I was going along with his joke, but I keep taking from the same stack. The pancakes look the same and there wasn’t any clear label, so my conclusion was that this must be another one of his jokes. Not a very funny joke, but who am I to judge. Then he proceeds to laugh and say “and she is still taking from the same stack.” As the pancakes are just about to touch my plate he screams, “I TOLD YOU NOT THOSE ONES!” I freeze for a second, in half embarrassment and half fear, then put the pancakes back. I quickly explain that I assumed he was kidding, since that is in his nature, I saw no apparent sign, and they looked the same as the others. He was a little calmed down, but the damage was done, I didn’t need to look behind me, I knew the customers were definitely looking. He explained that those were gluten free pancakes and if the head chef ever saw me take those he would be very mad. I walked away a little shaken up and took my break. I wish I could say he saved those pancakes from the hands of someone without the gluten alergy, but it was in vain, for when Liz went on her break she took those very pancakes. Lesson learned, don’t assume someone is just telling a bad joke, it might just be their passive aggressive way of telling you something, who would of thought... That afternoon we went home and took our long awaited nap, this was followed by dinner and watching Lord of The Rings: Return of The King with our roomies. We had a lot of fun trying to guess where some of the scenes were shot. Liz and my repeated guess was the Remarkables, the mountain range right outside our window, we aren’t that familiar with the New Zealand landscape yet...

Bringing Home the Bread

This last week has been a quiet one, it rained five out of the seven days. Queenstown was on the verge of flooding. The lake had risen so high that it was level with all of the docks. We went to town to see if any of the businesses had been flooded, but they all were better protected than when the town flooded in '99. I read in a newspaper that the attitude of the town then was don't worry about it, the water will go away. It seemed that the town was more than ready this time with many volunteers helping with sand bagging and barricading businesses on the lake front.

Seeing all of the businesses closing down in case of the flood did not stop us from job hunting. Again not very successful. A few businesses actually collected our CV's, so that was a little better than them saying that they were not hiring for another three weeks. Mari had me go fill out an application at her new hotel job. She had been getting the latest gossip from her other co-workers that there were people quitting and that a housekeeping position was available. We walked to the hotel together because she had to fill out forms herself. On the way she informed me that her supervisor did not like the supervisor of housekeeping and that she was not very nice. That made me a little scared and nervous, but desperate times call for desperate measures!

On a positive note for the week, Mari is getting a lot of hours at work. Her second day she worked eleven hours! She must have done an exceptional job because after that she was getting called in each day after that to come work more hours. She was bringing home the bread, literally. Mari actually started bringing home loafs of bread that were left over in the staff room. She brought home raisin bread, which was a real treat! Mari was also making new friends at work. Fabio, Will and Eddie were a few of her new buddies. She even invited them to her birthday party that was coming up this following week. This is great news, since we don't have any friends. It would have just been Mari, Danny and I celebrating and maybe our flatmates if we were lucky. Now it will really feel like Cinco de Mari.

Mari's new work life has been the excitement around here, but Danny and I have been trying to do a good job of keeping ourselves entertained. We have been watching movies, playing rock band and going on tramps around our neighborhood. Our weekend was filled with American Idol gives back. The living room, where we spend most of our time, is one of the coldest places in the house. To keep warm we have to build a fire every night, which is usually made by Danny. Though this weekend we were faced with chopping our own kindling wood. It was the first time I have ever cut wood and it was quite the process to get comfortable with my aim. After 20 minutes I had succeeded! As you can see it doesn't take much to entertain ourselves.

After a long weekend of nothing, I got a phone call from Rydges Hotel where Mari works at. They said that I have a trial run tomorrow at 10 am! I hope it is for waitressing, but I will take the housekeeping job if that is what they are offering. So, wish me luck and stayed tuned to see what job I get.

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Party like a rockstar! on a zero budget...

Whelp, another boring week in the lives of three lonely, jobless ladies living in queenstown. Don't get me wrong, we find ways to entertain ourselves, but there is only so much you can do on a zero budget. For the past week, we have used our creativity and wits to get us through our days. Some highlights include: tramping adventures, job attempts/trials, and band rehearsals.
Our new home is conveniently located near several tramping (hiking) trails that weave all over the area. On one of our tramps, Mari led us on a long trail that seemed to get more and more scarce as we walked. We kept asking her if she knew where she was going but, she reassured us with a famous quote , “Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” I am surprised we didn't get lost on this trek! During our little adventure, the trail got a little steep and as I was trying to concentrate on my footing, I caught a glimpse of Mari slip and grab onto a tree for her dear life. It was so steep that it seemed as if she was hanging off a cliff! Thank god, she was alright and after a solid 2 minute laugh, we carried on our journey. We jumped rocks to cross a stream, ducked under tree limbs, and climbed down boulders as the sun was going down, rushing to get home before it got too dark. Luckily, Mari was right and led us home just in time.
As for the Job hunt, we have had a little luck! Mari got a call back from a restaurant located in a hotel a couple days ago and after a trial shift, she was offered the job and will start this Thursday! Liz got a call back from an internet cafe position and went in for a second interview. Apparently, Liz wasn't bubbly enough for the job, who would've thought? Me, on the other hand, haven't had much luck but, as the winter season gets closer, more jobs will open up.
After a long week of job hunting, we decided to clear our minds and bring out our musical talents! Our flat mate, Johnny, set up rockband in the living room and after a couple songs, we were pros! For all you that do not know, shame on you, rock band is a playstation video game, there are actually a set of drums, guitars, and a microphone that are hooked up to the t.v. After each of us trying out a different instrument we stuck with Mari on the bass, Liz on the guitar, and me on the drums, we were on our way to making hits one song at a time. We even recruited our flat mates, Johnny and Mosh, who brought the vocals. We got so into it that we had band meetings, which really brought the house together! Who would have thought that a virtual band would be our common ground...
Saturday, finally a night out on the town, or so we thought. We took our time getting ready for the evening and started to have a couple drinks while we played some card games in our room, I guess rock band didn't do complete wonders... We decided not to go to town because we couldn't afford it, but made plans to go to Johnny's sister's party instead. The party didn't start until midnight and poor Mari just couldn't hack it. After usually going to bed around 10pm each night, Mari just couldn't handle staying up any later. This will have to be worked on since when people go out here in Queenstown they do not go home till at the earliest sunrise! As she was tucking into bed, liz and I were just leaving. However, we just weren't up to kiwi standards, Liz and I were home sleeping by 6am while the rest of the party continued until 5pm the next day!

Fierce Four No More!

After much persuasion from our families we decided to keep up the blog! Though don't get too excited, because we are no Jessie Doig. Things will also be a little different since we will be switching off who writes the blog each time. Hope you enjoy!

Thursday, April 15th:

We spent the first half of Liz's birthday seeing Jessie off and it was harder than I thought it would be. I am definitely not comfortable with showing emotion in public, but people passing us by wouldn't have guessed that. I cried on the way to the airport and was convulsing with sobs while she left us to board the plane. This also continued three hours later when I went on facebook at the internet cafe and saw her status, stating that she was leaving NZ to return home. Danny and Liz just shook their heads at how ridiculous I was being. The day did eventually change from mourning Jessie's departure to celebrating Liz's birth. After looking at a couple places to live we got cleaned up and headed out to Lonestar, an old west styled restaurant, for fajitas and burritos! The food was great, we love any chance to get Mexican food. When Liz was brought out her free dessert with a lit candle we realized that we hadn't even sang her happy birthday yet! So of course, to Liz's embarrassment, we had to sing it to her there at the restaurant:) The rest of the night was spent watching Sherlock Holmes, we enjoyed having a low-key night since going out the night before for Jessie's last horrah. This wasn't the biggest birthday celebration, but we are the only friends we have in Queenstown so far...

Friday, April 16th:

Today was a pretty big day for us, we finally found a home! Not everything we hoped and dreamed for, but nothing to complain about either. It is a ten minute walk to town, has wireless, which as you know is a big deal to us, living area and kitchen are a decent size, and gorgeous view of the Remarkable Mountains and Lake! Some things that aren't so reputable are the cost, 400 a month, and our roommates. When being introduced to our roommate's girlfriend, she told him to not even tell her our names because she won't remember them anyways. It was nice meeting her too... I guess this house will not be where we meet our first friends! After we had all of our things moved in we cleaned up and headed into town to search for jobs. I had an interview at an internet cafe, but I am not counting on getting that job since they want "extensive knowledge" of computers. That was some fine print I didn't realize till the interview was in process. I don't think being on the computer for at least an hour a day counts towards extensive knowledge of it, I would only be able to show customers the ins-and-outs of facebook. A job that Liz and I were really counting on was a bartending job at The Ram, we met the co-owner, Skippy, a few weeks earlier and he told us to stop in with our resumes. When we came in Skippy was no where to be seen and what must have been the other owner told us that they weren't looking to hire for another month... We heard similar things at the other restaurants and cafes we went into as well. We will have to just try again next week. The rest of the night was spent grocery shopping and watching American Idol, our favorite.

Saturday & Sunday, April 17th-18th:

Saturday wasn't too exciting, we spent most of it lounging around till late in the afternoon when we went on a hike. We took a trail that follows the lake to Sunshine Bay. The hike was close to a two hours and along the way we entertained ourselves with a game of follow the leader followed by disney sing-alongs, because I guess the breath-taking views weren't enough... We made it home just in time for American Idol, we have to keep up on our American reality television:) For Sunday we took a family trip to the mall, where we picked up a few things to make our room a little more home-like. These things consist of hangers and a bucket to use as a drawer, as you can tell we have a very low budget. Tonight we are just blogging and journaling.

Kind Regards,

Mari