Back home in Scarborough. Wow. 4.5 months have come and gone just like that. I've been to desserts in Rajasthan and the Australian outback, snowcapped mountains in New Zealand, castles in Edinburgh in modern beautiful cities like Mumbai, London, Sydney, Melbourne, Aucland, Wellington, Christchurch and Edinburgh. What a fantastic way to spend the last few months. Met some cool people. Had a lot of Amazing experiences and ate some Delicious food.

 

I must say though - it's really nice to be home with people that I've missed for a long time. I can't wait to catch up with everyone and I think I might have a couple final entries still pending on this site. Unfortunately, I can't upoload the rest of my photos because I've exceeded my monthly upload limit for July. So, come August 1 - you will all see the final shots (some of the best ones actually at Milford Sound, Snowboarding at Coronet peak, Christchurch city, London city and the Edinburgh castle)

 

Thanks for coming along on the ride - it's officially done and this site will be officially finished soon too.

 

 

I arrived in London 2 calender days after I left New Zealand but because of the wonders of the date line, I was able to push back time and I literarlly got about 24 extra hours which was REALLY cool. It's like large chunks of that plane journey don't really exist. So, how did I pass the time on the Air New Zealand flights? Well for starters, I watched A LOT of movies. 5 in total. Then, a bunch of tv shows and finally, I played a lot of Tetris. I really can't imagine a long hall flight without your own tv and on demand movies and shows. It just helps the time pass by so much.

 

The weather here is nuts! And definitely a stark contrast from the winter I was experiencing in the Southern hemisphere. Some people were saying it's probably the first time someone has flown from New Zealand to London and exclaimed that the weather in London was nicer than in New Zealand. I went from 5 degrees and sunsets at 5:00 pm to 33 degrees and sunsets at 10:00 pm. I'm not a big fan of the heat and humidity but I'll take the ~16 hours of daylight anyday!

 

I've been in London now for a week and it's been cool cause I've absolutely just been chilling out. Each day, I don't get up till about 9:00 or 10:00 am and then I eat some breakfast, watch some tv, read a bit and get planning on my day. My days have been pretty good and relatively busy. Last week, I finally saw the Lion King musical which was such an amazing show! The colours, costumes, music were all wonderful. I also went to Wimbledon and got some amazing court 1 action where I saw Rafael Nadal beat Jarko Niemenan. Wimbledon is full of so much tradition and it's just such an amazing event - I'm really glad I went and got to experience that. And honestly, live tennis is quite exciting to watch. Oh yeah, did I mention I was sitting in the 5th row as well? Yeah, I did all right with that.

 

On the weekend, Raj, Pari and I went to Edinburgh in Scotland. It's a cheap flight we bought back in January for like £19 or somethign. (As an aside, air travel in Europe is AWESOME). Edinburgh is a charming city with amazing architecture, cool night spots, friendly people and yummy food. You honestly can't ask for much more (other than slightly warmer weather). Over the 2 days, I did a tonne of walking and exploring the castles, parliament buildings, gardens and galleries. We also did a nightime Edinburgh Ghost and Torture tour which was entertaining. Edinburgh actually has quite a dark past from a couple centuries ago with an entire "underground city" below the bowels of the main city core. In the past, all of the homeless and less fortunate souls had to live down there in very undesireable conditions. Most died of disease and famine and if they managed to survive, they were probably murdered by others. It was really a scary past that we learned about. I defintely enjoyed Edinburgh and would love to go back as I just got a taste of it. We stayed in a cosy b&b within walking distance of the city core. I also tried haggis. I won't describe what's inside but if you are extra interested, just click here to be grossed out.

 

Seeing as we bought this flight back in January, we obviously weren't thinking about the World Cup at the time. And it cost us because our flight was at 7:30 pm Edinburgh time. So, we saw the first 25 minutes of the game (both goals actually) at the airport before boarding our flight. Then, once we landed in London - we RAN to the bar on the departures lounge to catch the game (if it was in extra time). Luckily we got there just as Extra Time was starting and we managed to see eveything (including the very unfortunate Zizo/Matarazzi clash). I don't excuse Zidane at all for what he did because he is a captain and a professional athlete and should know better and if he was being insulted, berrated, etc - he should have risen above it. I guess it is easier said than done though. What really sucks though is that a lot of people will only remember this incident when they think of his career. They aren't true fans though and don't totally understand what he has done for the game of football. The sad image of him walking past the World Cup with his head bowed in shame will appear in mind for a long long time.

 

I've had a good couple of days in London since getting back from Edinburgh. On Monday, Sam and I met up for some yummy turkish food for lunch and yesterday, Clara and I met for a fun picnic/siteseeing expedition in the park. I got to see Suhas last night as well so that was GREAT and then a bunch of Raj's mates came over for dinner so all in all, it's been good times with friends and feasts.

 

All I can say is "Wow, that was quick". I can't believe I'm already back here in London at my brother's place. It doesn't seem like too long ago that I was at his old flat and I had started this blog. That date was February 27 to be exact. And now, roughly 125 days later, I am back here almost ready to go home. Before I get there though, I've gotta have some fun here in the UK don't I?

 

And before I get to that, I suppose I should let you know about the end of my trip in NZ. I told you all about snowboarding on Canada Day which was an absolute blast and once I get onto a highspeed connection, I'll upload a bunch of pics from that glorious day. That night, it was a lot of fun because the gang all went out for some drinks at a couple local bars in Queenstown. I wore my Canada hat and a red and white t-shirt in honour of the day and there were actually several Canadians all around the place. After the fun evening, everyone stayed up because the England - Portugal quarterfinal World Cup match was on at like 3:00 in the morning. I stayed up as much as I could but I'm afraid I just couldn't make it past the 1st half so I went to bed and found out the result in the morning (In some ways, I'm kinda glad I was tired because seeing how pissed off English fans were after that game would have been kinda bad).

 

The next day, I left for Christchurch which was an aboslutely spectacular drive through mountains, over passes and beside enormous lakes. The snow was pretty much lightly dusted everywhere so it was really pretty - especially when the sun would shine through the clouds and sparkle on the finely dusted snow. Christchurch is quite a pretty city with a TONNE of gardens and green space all snaking around right through the city. I enjoyed my day there and did a lot of walking and breathing in the fresh air.

 

Why you ask? Well, I was getting ready for the grueling 24+ flights ahead of me. In total, there were 3: Christchurch to Auckland (1 hour but delayed by 1 hour). Auckland to Los Angeles (12 hours). Los Angeles to London (11 hours). And yeah, you did see that correctly - last Tuesday at around 6:00 pm, I flew right over Toronto and waved at a lot of you. Too bad I didn't get a chance to stop.

 

Overall, I had really good impressions of New Zealand primarily because of the scenery and most of the locals that I met. I found them to be very genuine and hospitable. The scenery absolutely speaks for itself. I don't think I've been on so many scenic modes of transport whether it was flights, bus rides or boat rides. And it was always tough for me because I wanted to capture everything on camera which wasn't always an easy task. There are parts of New Zealand that I missed so I have a reason to go back. Who knows - maybe some day I'll be back in the south.

Sorry about my lack of attentiveness to this site. It hasn't been for lack of trying. It's just that Internet of late hasn't been easy to come by and then when I do find it, the computers are really crappy and coin operated and you can't plug in cameras, memory card readers, etc. So for starters - I've uploaded HEAPS of new photos from my time in NZ so please check those out.

 

I've only got 2 days left in NZ and then it's back to London to spend some time with Raj and Pari and then, home in about two weeks (I can't believe it).

 

The last 10 or so days have been great. Franz Josef was definitely a huge highlight. The downside of the last while has been that I was quite sick (with what I think was food poisoning) for a while... But, I'm much better now and eating everything again. I've met some really cool people in the last little while so that has made it a lot more fun. Two of them were Canadians.

 

Speaking of Canada - today is CANADA DAY so happy Canada Day to all. Guess how I spent it??? I went snowboarding today at Coronet Peak. It was absolutely brilliant. We had a flag on the hill and it was a blast.

 

I'm leaving for Christchurch tomorrow and my 22 hour flight is looming in a couple of days. A belated happy father's day to all out there and also a special shoutout to my parents who have both celebrated birthdays this week.

 

See you all soon!