(RING RING)... Baaaaaa!

In spite of my legendary organisation skills things are slowly starting to settle here in Auckland. My day in Sydney was nice, I didn't really do anything except read a book in a bookshop without buying it, but from the general atmosphere I definitely want to go back to Australia before the end of the adventure, and I found that there's plenty of opportunities for cash in hand work in Sydney so if I get bored here I can get a flight back to Oz, work and travel, then come back here and carry on working.
However, that sounds too much like a plan so who knows what I'll end up doing. My week in Auckland has been okay, I'm starting to get to know the local places to socialise which is great as the Backpacker's scene was starting to wear thin. The hostel I'm staying in is brand new and has been designed by Backpackers so it features a nightclub, sauna, spa, and TV screens in the Washrooms. It's strange being in Auckland with no money, as there are plenty of fantastic things to do around the area, such as dolphin swimming and Bungy Jumping, but my main activity has been mastering the art of inactivity, lying on Beanbags and watching terrible daytime TV, waiting for the Simpsons. So I've pretty much resumed my UK lifestyle, but with beanbags. Come to think of it, I did a lot of staring at screens in India and Thailand too, but that somehow seemed like an adventure in itself.
Anyway, things will start coming together soon, I start a job tommorrow in a call centre, which seems to be my destiny in this life. This time it's a helpdesk for sheep farmers, or something like that, so I'm sure there'll be plenty of sheep related stories in trhe next few blogs, and these ones I can talk about as they won't involve me.
But apart from the new job and a lot of drunken socialising there's not much to report. Things have mainly been about readapting to the western world. I still keep saying thank you in Thai, so alot of people think I'm a non-english speaker and speak very slowly and clearly to me. This is quite useful at night during happy hour, but sooner or later I'm sure I'll get used to things again. The main problem is remembering that things aren't dirt cheap anymore, though I struggled with that notion before I started travelling. Anyway, to conclude, things are fairly normal at the moment, Auckland is a good place for work and saving money, but from a travelling point of view it's not too great. It's a very straight and modern city, with no strange little areas that I'm usually drawn to. To begin with I found it annoying for no reason, which bugged me untill I found out that a lot of people think this. It'll do for now though, and luckily I am still thrilled by small dull things in life, such as the flush 'options' on the toilets, but I'll save that fascinating anecdote for next time.

Back to Reality(ish).

Got about half an hour before I leave for the airport to head to Australia. The last week has been okay, but for some reason not felt much excitement here in Thailand. I like the place, and it was nice being back on a beach, but feel the need to move on now. Since last time I met up with Nick and Joy who I met in India and we have a good time in Bangkok for a couple of days. This included a visit to Patpong, the red light district. Sadly we ended up going on Buddha day, when all the bars are closed, but we found one that was open, drank very expensive cokes, looked at the girls and left. I'm not covering up some shameful story here, sadly. Maybe next time.
Koh Tao was another time of way too much relaxing in movie cafes and bumming around. However, the Scuba Diving was fantastic, even better than I thought it would be and now I think I'm addicted, which will prove to be very expensive. Maybe I should have become addicted to croquet, that's fairly cheap as far as I'm aware. But the course was great, it was very strange being at another Beach Paradise but having to do homework and exams, and started to worry that the info wasn't going in and I'm end up with a set of burst lungs or something, but got the hang of things in the end and can now tell you all sorts of things about buoyancy and nitrogen narcosis etc...
After the course finished I started getting very tetchy in Koh Tao. Didn't find any like minded souls and I think the whole chilling out by day, drinking and partying by night thing is drying up for me. Didn't really relate to the atmosphere and was actually glad to be back in crazy smoggy Bangkok.
Once I got here I was finally required to do some organising, and got my flights changed so that this time next week I should hopefully be getting a job in New Zealand. I have no idea where to go or what work to get, but the basic mission is to work very hard and save as much as I can. I've been told this is difficult in NZ, but if I can last a few months being a Hermit and only doing social things that are free, I should make it to South Africa by the final part of the year.
Anyway, I'm just thinking out loud now, there's not much to report for the last week that doesn't involve Star Wars or sweat. I'll certainly come back to Thailand oneday, maybe soon, as it doesn't feel like I've 'done' the country yet, and I still really want to see other parts of South East Asia like Laos and Cambodia. But it's been a good holiday here before the work begins, and like alot of people I'm determined to continue my Scuba Diving education and possibly start a new life under the sea.
Untill that day, New Zealand should be a good alternative, and it's also the promsied start of my new ultra healthy lifestyle, so I can mess my health up again when I continue travelling later in the year.
Right, better get to the airport, apparently the Australian customs are very strict about soil, sand or anything else that may effect the eco system, so I guess I'd better go and clean my finger nails.