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Saturday, December 29, 2007

Te Anau: sweet.

The backpackers is right next to the lake which I can see from my bed (If i turn my head around). This is apparently one of the cheaper rooms but i think i've done pretty well. The lake is awesome and so still and peaceful tonight. Earlier I swung on the swing which someone has tied to a tree right next to the lake. (I'm building up a collection of great swings; Governor's Bay overlooked the beach, Halfmoon Bay on Stewart Island and a rope swing (tested on on Christmas day) on Ulva Island.

This evening I cooked some mussels on the barbie with the help of a nice Canadian guy; we'd all picked some mussels from the rocks on the bus ride (Bottom Bus again)up here. I was the first person on my tour to try a raw mussel (not many people did) which i thought tasted pretty much the same as a cooked mussel just a bit colder but as no one else wanted theirs either then or later, i took them home for my tea. Hurrah! I mixed up some lemon and melted butter and salt and pepper (as the guy had told me) and poured it into to the mussels just before they cooked. It was yummy.

We also stopped off on a farm on the way up and did some farm-y type things like feeding lambs and sheep and saw the sheep being round up and some people (including a guy from Congresbury (1 mile from where i grew up for non-Somerset types) sorted them into woolly and sheared. I also had another go at shearing (only four out of 16 people tried it)- I'm not sure I was any better this time but at least i didn't cut the poor ewe although that was probably because the blade was rounded off.

Stewart Island was amazing and was so busy having fun with my new found friends that i forgot that one of the main reasons i wanted to go there was to see the kiwi! We did go out at night to try and look for it but I think our loud talking and singing well and truly scared it off.

P.S Sorry for the lack of individual emails/msgs but thanks to everyone who has sent me one including those anonymous anonymous people who are err anonymous!

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

HAPPY CHRISTMAS from the roaring forties! Have been to Ulva Island this morning and saw lots of pretty birds and a massive elephant seal on the beach which was quite special. Have a great day! xx

Sunday, December 23, 2007

Yay have had a fun day chilling out on Stewart Island. Have made some new friends and we are planning on cooking a big Christmas lunch in the backpackers. We went to a community Christmas party today where we got lots of yummy food and Richard (my hostel friend) baked a yummy cake (I took the easy option and brought a packet of biscuits). We had to say grace before dinner (I can't remember the last time I did that) and after dinner we sang Christmas Carols. Am planning to go to Midnight mass tomorrow. Now all we have to think about is what we are going to do in the day. It's a hard life...

Can't believe it's Christmas Eve tomorrow! Hope you are all having a great Christmas-this is the closest you are going to get to having a Christmas card from me so enjoy it. Lots of love lucy xoxoxoxoxxx

Saturday, December 22, 2007

In a word, awesome.

Goodbye and a hug from the lovely Colin (He is the real Farmer Hoggart of The Sheep Pig/Babe). Then an interesting drive to the harbour with Christine. On the way we saw two pukekos and some harrier hawks and then went on a walk up the hill with an amazing view and then we went to the end of highway one where we watched the Greenpeace boat come in - it was there to refuel before going down to Antarctica to try and stop the Japanese whaling ships. How cool was that? I couldn't have planned it better. Obviously i didn't plan it.

A hug and goodbye to Christine and then on the Stewart Island ferry, a quick detour into the bay so we could see the Greenpeace boat properly. Then on our way to Stewart Island we saw albatross and flying fish before arriving at the gorgeous harbour that is Halfmoon bay. On the way in we passed a couple of gorgeous little bays - white sand with green, blue and purple sea.

Christine's friend Gwen came to say hi to me when i landed and told me to pop up to hers for a drink later. Then I went to the hostel where I met some friendly English-types. I met a nice boy called Ian and we went for a walk to some of the gorgeous little bays we'd seen (with some knee-deep sinking sand). After that I went to the beach and sewed up my trousers (again), then i walked up to Gwen's for a drink.

I came back to the hostel watched a bit of tv and then went up to the observation point with Ian to watch the sun set. There were some other people up there and i shared my banana cake that i'd made yesterday with them. It went down well. There were parrots and pretty birds singing and flying around. Then we came back to the hostel had some tea and toast and chatted to some interesting people. Result.

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Am at Christine and Colin's near Invercargill which is cool and this morning i went out with Colin on the 4wd motorbike to move the calves. Glenn the dog came with us too but i'm not sure about his cow-herding abilities - he did quite a good job but he seemed to waste a lot of energy barking... He is very cute though.

One of the calves was a bit slow at walking and would just about move when i walked right behind it but when it had to walk up the hill it slowed right down. Colin tried to push him but he just refused to move and lay down on the ground instead. He didn't look very well so we went back to get the trailer and Colin also found some de-worming medicine and antibiotic (which i got to draw up-always fun) and then we went and gave it to him. He looked worse when we got back and his head was all bent round but Colin went up later in the day and said he was standing up, so fingers crossed.

Yesterday was really fun on the Kiwi Experience Bottom bus. (I'm thinking about travelling around NZ with Kiwi Experience for the rest of my trip as it was soooo good. Also they pick you up from your hostel and drop you off in the evening so you don't have to carry your bag anywhere-always a good reason for picking a tour company after the ridiculously large blood bruise i have on my hip.) Anyway we saw some great scenery and went on a couple of short walks one to a lovely waterfall and one to a lighthouse. We also saw some more sealions and seals both swimming about and on the beach, one of which i only realised was there when it cried out after i almost walked right into it.

I also saw some more yellow-eyed penguins; We were all looking towards the sea so we could watch the penguins coming out of the water when i turned round to leave the beach and saw a penguin standing right in front of me. He had obviously just come out of his nest at the back of the beach and was waiting for his mate to come back.

The penguin beach was cool as it was a petrified forest from squllions of years ago. (I think about 170 million years ago). I think that was my favourite bit of the day - the rock was so cool because it looked like wood and tree stumps (because it was wood and tree stumps??!)and I reckoned its texture was like wood but no one can confirm that for me because apparently it is stone. Anyway I just can't get over how much it looks like wood. I also saw some more today on the beach near Christine's as well as loads of crabs. It's ages since I've looked under a stone and seen a whole family of crabs underneath it, umm maybe I've never looked under a stone and seen loads of crabs underneath.

Other news: have booked my ferry to Stewart Island for Saturday and the backpackers for a few days which is where I'll be over Christmas. Yay I've found an island with loads of wildlife to go and hang out on.

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Have been having a pretty chilled couple of days in Dunedin. Today i went to the museum which was really good and yesterday i went on a wildlife tour where i saw a royal spoonbill, some pukekos, albatross, little blue penguins, yellow-eyed penguins, nz fur seals and sealions, shags, black swans, black-backed seagulls, pied stilts, variable oystercatchers and a heron.

I have been having some nice chats with people in the hostel as well. I love hostels as it's so much fun talking to random people. On the tour i sat next to a lady from Japan who was practising her English - she asked me to help her with her grammar which was fun but i'm not sure how much help i was. She came up with the sentence 'we have seen penguins' which i said was correct but later she came up with 'we saw penguins' which i said was better but i'm not sure why. Some grammar-y expert help me out here.

Also friendly in the hostel are a boy (uni age) and his dad from England, two boys form S Korea who told me (again) how tough life is there. Min Wook had told me before and i knew he didn't want to go back there but i didn't really realise how difficult it is. Forget weekends, there is so much competition for jobs that you probably wouldn't get a weekend until you'd been working for a company for a good few years. They said ten. The S Korea peoples are over here to learn English so they can get better jobs.

Also really cool was y'day i met an old guy who was in town to see his grandson graduate who knew Christine and Colin McKenzie -Fi's friends who i'm going to stay with tomorrow :) He'd even been over to their place for a walking group lunch last week. It got me all happy 'cos i thought 'ooooh everyone knows each other like on ki'. He said they have a lovely garden so i've got high expectations...

Other interesting-types: In the Christchurch hostel, i met a guy from Tynemouth. Never has the west-country accent been so appealing to me. I started talking to him and felt an immediate west-country bond -not sure what one of those is but he told me all the places i needed to go in nz so that was pretty handy.

In Melbourne, I went to a theosophical society meeting about how the body stores pain. It was quite interesting but for a society that was meant to have a Buddhist core there were an awful lot of egos flying around the room. Anyway this one guy called Michael mentioned how he'd had a bike crash and smashed up his arm but had managed to self-heal it which had totally changed his philosophy on life. I know i've probably lost you here but he sounded interesting and at the end i went up to him and asked him if i could talk to him about his experience. He said here? And i said, do you want to go for a coffee? After i'd said this i thought that maybe i'd gone a bit mad because i didn't know him at all but then i thought well what else have i got to do tonight? So we went for a drink over the road and had the best conversation ever.

I told him about me and he told me about himself (he complemented me on my name as he had a daughter called lucy) and we had a couple of drinks and chatted as if we'd known each other for ages. There was no physical attraction, no ulterior motive, just two people in the same place at the same time interested in each other and, for that time, totally connected. And at the end of the evening, he kissed me on the cheek and we both said we'd had a really lovely evening. And that was it: a perfect travelling moment.

Friday, December 14, 2007

YAY! Have been all smiley and happy today. And what have i been doing? Sitting on a bus for hours on a rainy misty day and lugging my ridiculously heavy rucksack (even though I have culled quite a bit of stuff) around. And that's what makes my happiness even cooler - I was all happy inside. Yay! My KI happiness has returned.

I was sitting on the bus all smiley which has only ever been known in the past (before KI) if it has been caused by something -usually exam results or maybe boys...but there was nothing really that made me happy today. Well except being me. I know, something else i thought i'd never ever write. How could i? I've hated being me since I was about 12 but now i like being me again, and it's such a cool feeling.

When Penny was cross with me last week i was a bit upset but her criticism didn't make me crumble and cry and collapse on the floor in a heap of rubbishness as if i was the most useless thing ever to exist on this planet as it would have done in the past. At first i thought it was because i was feeling more confident but then i realised why i was feeling more confident. I was feeling more confident because i know i am a good wwoofer and work hard. (Not too hard though. Min Wook in Warrnambool would work all day and i tried to tell him no, no, no because it gives other wwoofers a bad name as the deal is half a days work. Now I understand so much more about speed of work and unions and accepted work rates...)

And i was feeling good because i've met and worked with lots of new people and they've liked me so if Penny doesn't like me then that's her problem not mine. I know pretty groundbreaking stuff. Think I need to tell Richard (ye olde therapist) about this. And then a day or so later I realised that my self-confidence was actually emanating from the fact that i actually liked myself and that other people like me too. It was a cool feeling.

But Penny and Rob did like me and I was sad to go this morning and they said I could go back or if I got ill and needed somewhere to go i could hang out there. And then i realised that everyone i've stayed with in oz and nz has said i could go back. Averil from Servas (peace org where you stay for free in order to promote understanding between different cultures) who i stayed with for a couple of days in Christchurch also said i could go back when i leave nz or if I got ill and needed somewhere to go and rest. The coolest thing i did with her was go to the beach where we harvested mussels from the rocks and came home and cooked them. Also i had my first nz lamb in nz.

In Oz, KI peeps said i could go back as did Ray at the yha, Caroline, Ruth's friend in Adelaide, Andrew and Maureen (servas peeps) in Adelaide, Jono (rob's bro), Jo and the wwoofing people in Warrnambool. I think that's everyone.

Also i remembered how nervous i'd been when i first rang Andrew and Maureen even though I'd met their daughter Hannah in the uk but now i can phone up random people and go and stay with them and fit in and live as part of their family as easy as pie.

So yeah, am feeling pretty chuffed with myself.

YAY!

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Oooooh I'm all happy, and sad too. This is my last night at Governor's Bay and now I don't want to leave. I had a fun day - cleaned shelves and cupboards this morning while listening to the radio. Kate Adie came on air and was talking about what was going on in the UK and it was interesting to see how the rest of the world hears about and so sees the UK. She was saying about how the whole country was gripped by the canoeing guy (esp my mum, i bet) and talking about the number of eastern Europeans in the UK and how they'll be someone 'a foreigner' (which I thought was a bit provocative) working in every pub and restaurant. She wasn't saying it was a bad thing, in fact she said it was a good thing but she did say how 4 out of 5 new jobs have gone to foreigners. The overall impression that I got from it was that the situation was a negative one.

Anyway, I phoned up Fi's mum's friends in Invercargil and I'm going to stay with them on Monday. YAY! Apparently the bottom bus (which I found amusing, god i'm so immature) can drop me off right outside their house. Christine sent me a nice email saying she was sure they could fine me some work to do as she hasn't polished all the silver for Christmas (lol). The lol was hers but there seems to be far too much silver cleaning going on in this part of the world. I cleaned a bit of silver on KI and the lady who helps here was cleaning silver on Saturday which i thought was pretty insane considering how many other more noticeable/pressing jobs needed doing (maybe they just needed to leave them for me).

Anyway, anyway. This afternoon I went to my shed and started packing and got quite mad at myself due to all the rubbish i've got and so forced myself to read the articles about Oz and NZ that I have been carrying around since the UK... Then I went for another little kayak (third day in a row) as I just love it so much. The bay is really tidal so you can only kayak at high tide which is why i had to wait otherwise, i think i would've kayaked all day long. I've even been trying out my new waterproof camera - any bets on how long it's going to last?

The waves were a bit more choppy today so it was fun to paddle into them head on and then ride over them (if that makes any sense, i'm not sure it does but i know what i mean and hope you sort of do too). It's been drizzling all day today but I didn't really mind as i was having so much fun even though i made the mistake of wearing trousers in the canoe and came out soaking wet.

After dinner, I had a bath with Biddy (Bridget) which was fun. It wasn't weird because the other day she'd walked into the bathroom while i was having a shower to see if i was ready for trampolining...

So the point is is that I was a bit cross with myself for not accepting the situation. All my talk about accepting things has gone back to talk and for the first few days i was here I was trying to re-create a KI experience when I should've just been accepting it for what it was. After all, the reason i chose this place, as well as the horses and kayaking was because of the kids because i figured that at least there'd be someone for me to hang out with. Now i'm sad because it was too rainy and we couldn't trampoline tonight and i don't really want to leave the girls.

But at least i am travelling. Shock, i know. I'm going into Christchurch tomorrow (Where I have to pick up some meds from the pharmacy. Incidentally, cf consultant was soooo lovely. He gave me water to mix with my colomycin for free because he said it was too expensive and when i asked him to prescribe me Symbicort (an inhaler for you non-cf-types) he said he couldn't do that because they were too expensive and were heavily subsided by the the government but then when he went off to get my water he brought me back a Symbicort :). He did also say that next time it might be a good idea to get in touch with them first so they have all my info...Can you believe i don't have any info about my lung function with me? Oh yes, it's me we are talking about. I took more info with me, a whole intro letter, when I went from Bristol to London. Think i might ask Leeds to email me something. Think also i might write a book on how to travel backwards or rather how to travel and do everything after you should've done it.

Incidentally 2, I thought i better email my consultant in Leeds as the last thing i told them was that i was going to Australia for two months... He didn't seem that bothered about me going to Thailand and just said it sounded like a great trip and for me to go to the Blue Moon Festival, if i'm still there then :).)

So i have booked a bus to Dunedin (seals, albatross and suchlike) and am going to stay at the hostel there for three nights. That's about as travel-y as I get.

I just got a lovely message from George (of KI horse-riding and sheep shearing and cutest children fame) and it made me so happy and i'm so tempted to go back. Let's just see how i get on with this travelling malarkey.

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Had a pretty cool day today. One of my jobs entailed going to find a pony and leading him back to the house (other jobs included cleaning a car and a truck so not so fun but not too bad either and I'm getting to be pretty much an expert) and then after learning about the economic history of nz, I went kayaking.

I took a kayak out from the beach and at first I was a bit nervous when I went around the headland as the sea got a bit choppy and my arms were achy (i'm not sure why, must be all that cleaning) but then it got easier. Also I realised that the sea was pretty shallow (as my oars hit the bottom). It was really cool being in the water and the scenery was just awesome with bright green mountains surrounding the bay and hundreds of pine trees leading down to the shore. And it was so peaceful and relaxing to hear the splish, splash of the oars in the water, the waves lapping against the kayak and the seagulls.

Then this evening I played a bit of tennis, not properly but just hit the ball back a few times and although quite a few of them went to the back of the court, none went over so that was pretty impressive.

I've just noticed an interesting correlation here between happy, non-stressing me and physical activity...

Monday, December 10, 2007

Hello from a beautiful spot on the Banks Pennisula where I'm staying with a family of five kids and about 25 horses. There are two adorable six-year old twins who seem to have taken a shine to me and one of them when I had just arrived said I smelt lovely; of perfume and golden cream, which I think is just about the best thing that anyone has ever said to me. I think it was Julia but it may have been Bridget, however one of their friends was impressed that I could tell them apart after half an hour.

They like me bouncing them up and down on the trampoline and I'm happy to oblige although they seem to have no concept of the fact that i may not want to go on the trampoline just after I have eaten or just after I have stopped due to the fact that I am all bounced out.

It's a gorgeous, gorgeous spot - 180 acres with private beaches and everything and I have my own shed which is 5 mins away from the house. There is a 'long drop' toilet which I think has the best view of a toilet anywhere in the world - it would certainly be hard to beat it. pic to follow.

(Third good thing about having to spend money on meds as initially (obviously)i was going to buy the cheapest camera, not because I couldn't afford a more expensive one but because I'm super mean esp when it comes to myself, but after spending that money, I decided to buy one that is Lucy-proof (mistake with the first one) and may actually last. Also Min Wook from Korea who was wwoofing with me in Victoria had a similar problem with his camera (lens error- i think mine was caused by sand, no surprise there then) which may or may not have been my fault...basically I passed the camera to him and he didn't grab it and it hit a rock and the lens won't open just as mine won't open. So I decided I'm definitely jinxed. Anyway new camera is all sealed as it's sand and waterproof and you can take it under water to a depth of 1.5m. My sis will be pleased as she likes taking pics of all the pretty fishes.)

So when I first arrived on Friday night I was all happy and smiley and thinking, I can't believe I've found another spot so gorgeous - how lucky am I?

But, there's always a but, the next day I had to get up at 6.30 to go to a pony show. That was fine but because of the kids and the set up - it's difficult for me to get any time on my own and it took me a few hours to work out that playing with the kids wasn't part of my four hours work. (The more places I stay, the more I realise how lucky I was on KI...) So I was missing being alone (although I've been a bit lonely, having quality time alone is still very much needed especially with so much energy around) and I asked Rob (dad) when I should be up on Sun and he said they were going to have a lie in and to come up when I wanted company. Now I realise that their idea of a lie in was til about 7.30 and they assumed I'd be up at nine but because I'd been on the go all of the day before, I figured I could take it a bit easy and do my work in the afternoon. Apparently not. Penny came down to my shed at 11 and was pretty pissed off and said the deal was four hours work, blah, blah, blah. And I said I know and I'll do it and I asked what time I should be there and I wasn't given a clear answer and was really tied after yesterday. Anyway it was fine and I had to muck out a paddock and the twins helped me which was so cute and then I had to collect seaweed from the beach which wasn't such a bad job.

As much as I love playing with the twins as they are adorable, it's lovely and peaceful now as they are at school. And so I've spent the morning cleaning the kitchen (which I think is the most disgustingly dirty kitchen I've ever seen and even after spending four hours cleaning, it still doesn't look that much different to me.). Anyway I cleaned and listened to Radio National NZ and had a pretty chilled out morning. Now Penny (mum) and Poppy (13) have gone to town and I'm here all on my own, which is why I can use the internet in the day. Well, actually there are three dogs here too, one of which followed me back to my shed last night and slept with me. It was soooo cute.

The other kids are Alice (16) who's too cool to hang out here much and Oscar who's 9 and has Downs Syndrome. He's pretty cute and also likes trampolining and videos.
Now I think I'll run away to my shed before the kids get back from school...

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

A very medical blog (specially of interest to medical types, family and cystics, lol-I can say that cos I've got cf. When I was 11 and first in hospital, my mum and I were really upset when we saw a peak flow meter which said: 'For asthmatics and cystics only'. They changed it straight away.)

I'm liking NZ altho it's a bit too like the UK today - all cloudy and cold. The last few days have been lovely and sunny and so I think I've been a bit spoilt, and also was wondering why everyone said the weather was so rubbish here...Anyway here I am a'la internet cafe in Cathedral Square.

Sensible people with cf plan ahead. My friend Rob with cf said that registering at a Medicare office, which you need to do to get cheaper medical care in Australia, was the first thing he did in Oz and the lovely Fi (who has just given me a potential contact (with NZsheep-woohoo)) linked up with the cf clinic here in Christchurch before she left.

Anyway me, obviously, did none of that and meds and jabs and suchlike has been causing me a bit of stress (more than I realised). So I've booked my ticket to meet my sis in Thailand but my first thought was, I can't go to Thailand, how can I get jabs in Oz or NZ? I'll have to go home. I was a bit stressed too about the medical care, more of that later...

But of course you can get jabs, you just walk into a doctor's and get them. It's even easier here than in Oz.I was all worried in Oz about registering with Medicare when I didn't have a permanent address so I waited until I was at Jo's but here I just gave the youth hostel address and it was fine. Then I just made an appointment to see the doc and voila. I had to pay to see the doc but it wasn't very much (less than 20 pounds - no pound signs on this keyboard)and obviously I had to pay for my jabs but they weren't too much either. Not after Oz...

You have to pay for the doc here and in Australia you have to pay in a lot of clinics but some 'bulk bill' Medicare so you don't have to pay. I don't really get it but obviously I found one where i didn't have to pay. I saw the doc and that was fine - really easy again although I sort of panicked and ordered quite a few meds. Although I was nearly the end of my stay in Oz, i looked on the internet (i used pride myself in my google-searching abilities, obviously am losing them) and it said that NZ was pretty similar to Australia as far as drugs are concerned and there was no free healthcare so make sure you have good insurance... However I'm fast realising that it's not the doctors that are the cost to people like me but the drugs. It was easy to get the drugs I wanted but they didn't have a really basic broad spectum antibiotic Cefradine in Australia, weird huh?

I took the script to the pharmacy to find out that I had some over-the-counter meds (ventolin (how exciting and pretty cheap too and salt tabs), some NHS meds (standard prices although mine seemed to cost the higher rater about $30) and some non-NHS meds (the antibiotics which he advised me to shop around for these). The cipro (which I take if i have an infection) was going to cost me $85 so I thought, do I really need it? But then I thought, have I gone mad? I went to all the trouble of going to the docs and getting the script and what happens if I get ill? It's a damn sight cheaper than flying everyone out to come and visit me. I went to another chemist and he said he could do if for $80 (about 30 pounds) instead of $125 (??) and would have to order it in. The first pharmacist had cipro and I was surprised that it wasn't held in stock as it's pretty common in the UK but I guess no one can afford it there. He also quoted me $20 (for 24 flucloxacillin !! -how many of those pills have dissolved and mashed together at the bottom of my bag or fallen on the floor?)

I went back to the first place, picked up my other meds and she said she could match any price I'd been quoted so I knocked her down a tiny bit and got the meds. When I got home, I looked in the Discount Warehouse meds leaflet I'd picked up the day before. I was really cross with myself about this because I'd specifically taken it with me and why hadn't I looked at it before I'd paid stupid money for drugs? Anyway I saw that cipro was less than half price so was really mad with myself. Why do I never think ahead?? Never, never, never.

Then I realised that the cipro was only enough for seven days which was worse than useless and would just make my last few remaining cipro-sensitive bugs resistant. Luckily the doctor gives you 2/3 scripts all at once so I went to cash in the other one (and some more meds too) at Discount Warehouse. Anyway with cf going to Oz should go here (they can also send drugs to you anywhere in Oz) as all the non-NHS drugs were so much cheaper. Fluclox was $11. On the advertising leaflet Creon was $40 for 100 (how many did I feed to Beale??) so godknows what they cost anywhere else.

Anyway spent about $350 on meds in Oz which I didn't really need urgently. Prescriptions here cost nz$15 which is about 5 pounds (and they give you decent quantities),so made a bit of an error there. This is the mad way I think-I was thinking I hope the meds here are going to be really expensive because otherwise I'm just going to be so annoyed that I spent all the money on drugs that I didn't need urgently anyway. Obviously I should've just been pleased that they were cheap but no that would just be too rational.. Oh well, ho hum.

But the good things about this are: 1.Finding out how the Australian health care system works. Although I do not like it -all stupidly small quantities of drugs and high, high prices and having to barter with pharmacists. But when I go back it will be easy peesy and won't cause me any stress.

2.Realising how lucky we are in the UK. I wonder what people with cf in Oz do? Um probably should've checked that out. Anyway I just thought, I'm never going to complain about the NHS ever again. One of Oxfam's campaigns I was working on was the Access to Medicines campaign, which campaigns for drug companies and had the slogans 'People before profits' and 'Access denied: too poor to pay'.

I did lots of campaigning on this and while I was passionate about the issue, I didn't really feel the anger and the unfairness like i do now. I've seen films of a boy died from AIDS as his parents were too poor to take him to the doctor and of some people who were risking their lives crossing boarders to buy generic meds so poor people could access the meds they so desperately needed.

I also saw one of a man with cancer who couldn't afford the medicines and had to re-mortgage and re-mortgage his house until there was nothing left to re-mortgage. It just made me stop and think: I had a credit card it was no problem for me to pay for my medication, it might've been a pain and made me a bit grumpy but what if you really couldn't afford it? If you knew there were drugs that could make you better but you couldn't have them? How would that make you feel? How could you stop being angry and bitter? The guy with cancer was protesting against the drug company and drug companies really are evil - they say they need to price their drugs high because of the cost of the research but a lot of the research is carried out by unis and most drugs are second-generation which means that they only differ slightly from existing drugs. The big pharmaceutical companies are trying to stop companies in India manufacturing generic drugs but India is the pharmacy of the developing world and these affordable drugs are saving the lives of millions of people. (More info on Oxfam's website.) Check it out, oooh I'm getting all pro-active and campaigny ;).

I know that the drugs are there for me in the UK if I really need them and if I get ill the doctors will do everything to make me better but how would you feel if that wasn't the case? It makes me mad, the unfairness of it all.

Anyway I got my jabs yesterday -Hep A, thyphoid and tetnus and it was so easy, I couldn't believe I'd been so stressed about it. The doc also gave me a script for some meds but said he couldn't give me a script for one of my meds because a specialist needed to do that. He said I should just go up the hospital between 9 and 10 to catch the registar on the ward round and see what he could do for me. ;) It was really easy to do this as the hosptial is right next door to the botanical gardens which is next to the hostel. As I wasn't doing much yesterday afternoon I thought I'd just go and see what was happening. I found the ward and started telling the receptionist what I wanted, luckily the (cute) house officer was really friendly and said I should come back the next morning.

So I got up bright and early and pumped up the tyres and oiled the chain of a rusty old bike and cycled to the hospital (am staying with a nice Servas person called Averil). I only had to wait a few minutes and then saw the lovely consultant (also cute-definitely a bonus of having cf all these medical-types). He asked me if I'd contacted the NZ cf association as they'd had quite a few people from the UK inquiring but I said I wasn't that organised and he said that was the best way to travel. ;) He said he could give me a script now but as I had time he said could I come in tomorrow and we'd do it all properly.

However he did warn me about Thailand... Not to freak anyone out here but he said that one of his patients went to Thailand, got sick, lost 40% of his lung function ended up in intensive care, came home, had a transplant but didn't make it. :( Obviously have majorly freaked everyone out now.

He said you (me, everyone, people with cf) have to travel but said that two months was probably too long as there are loads of bugs there and gastric diseases and with the humidity and rubbish healthcare facilities... Anyway I'll speak more about it tomorrow but I think I'll have to revise my plans. Although at least my sister will be there to look after me and she is very good at doing that.:)

Tuesday, December 04, 2007

Am doing good adminy type things in Christchurch so I don't spend the next two months stressing about them-jabs,money stuff,camera,phone. So should be having my jabs for Thailand tomorrow. eek! Did I say I'm going to Thailand? Am flying there at the end of Jan to meet my sis for my birthday. Hurrah!

And til then I'm in NZ. Have arranged to go to a Servas person (a different one to the person I'd originally planned to stay with but she sounds more fun) for two night and then I'm going to a horsey wwoofing place on Friday where I should be for a week if all goes well.

Christchurch is v like Oxford - rivers and greenery and punting and ducks and kids in ridiculous school uniforms. Incidentally two ducks tried to eat my toes today - they came up to me and started pecking them and then came back again and again. Must like salt or something.

Monday, December 03, 2007

Hello from NZ!

Somehow managed to fit all my stuff in my rucksack (although I did throw out a couple of bags of tree-matter for recycling) and I was a bit shocked when I saw the heavy tag on my luggage...20kg! Must be pretty fit though because I can actually carry it.

Was walking down the street in Christchurch earlier and did actually think for the first time, "What am I doing here?" Not in a why am I here kind of why more of a what am I going to do here way. If that makes any sense, probably not.

Anyway I'm at the youth hostel and it always makes me feel like I'm actually doing proper travelling when I stay in hostels - like I'm actually on the move and have to quickly write down everything that's happened in the day. Like how I had to declare that I'd been on farmland in the past 30 days and that I had mud on my boots. They were actually really dirty and because of that the nice man in bio security cleaned them for me. :)

I'm not really sure why it feels so different in the hostel (especially because I have to pay for internet access) but it doesn't happen to me when I'm wwoofing or staying with friends. Maybe because there isn't really much else to do in the evenings and if I'm feeling a bit lonely, the computer becomes a friendly face and companion and my blog as well.

Flying into Christchurch this afternoon was amazing, I feel in love with the country straight away - first the azure ocean and a long, long white sand beach, then snow-capped mountains with lakes and valleys, after that farmland and then coast again as we turned around over the sea to land.

While this country is undoubtedly beautiful, I don't really have any desire to actually see it. Not on my own anyway. What I've realised with my travels so far is that I am actually quite rubbish at the travelling bit which is why I stay at the same place for looooong periods of time. So if I meet some other travelling types I might go travelling or maybe I should look at doing an organised-tour...or maybe I'll just find another nice wwoof place and hang out there for eternity. A thought, if I actually hung out with other backpackers and stayed in places they stayed, maybe I'd meet some people to hang out with. But I'm not worried. I'm going to stay with a Servas person on Wednesday - I think, just need to sort it out. And then who knows?

I'm definitely missing people a lot and when I'm missing people I write more blogs and when I'm happy and busy, I just don't have so much time. So sorry about that.

P.S. Have just realised that I haven't actually been saving any of my spell check-ed words, d'oh me. Also when I bought my phone in Adelaide I didn't actually think ahead (no change there then) as to whether my phone would work in NZ, and so, surprise, surprise, it doesn't.

P.P.S I think this is the most disjointed blog I've ever written.

P.P.P.S Am feeling pretty good though.

Sunday, December 02, 2007

Can you believe it? My last night in Oz. Well for now anyway.

I'm back at Jo's lovely house in Melbourne and am being very spoilt as she's taking me to the airport tomorrow morning at 7am to catch my flight to New Zealand. All I have to do now is pack, well try and fit a ridiculously large amount of clothes and medicines and general Lucy rubbish in a bag which is blatantly too small.

If I manage to do it quickly I'll come back to the computer and write up the last few weeks, but anyone who knows me knows that's obviously not going to happen as it will take me ages to sort all my stuff out.

So in summary, YAY! Australia's been great. I LOVED it and love it - the wildlife, the scenery and, of course, the people.

And it's on to the next adventure...