Up to the minute post, 7 days late

Uh, it's been awhile.
But in my defense! I just got wifi....
So I moved again, I'm now living with Robert and Dan, coworkers from my store's hunting department.
We have tons of fun and our house is super awesome.

I dig this place

The Lakeview from the lounge

It's as close to a cabin in the woods as you could get in the city limits.

 

The homestead

The

Wood shed, carport, and hill behind the pad

Rob is an amazing cook from Louisiana and Dan is the dancinest man, and a queenstown native.

Dan and Robert and the hind end of an unfortunate deer

In our first week, we blew through all the quotes from every will ferrel movie, butchered a deer in the kitchen, and had dance parties to keep warm until our fireplace got fixed.

In between dance moves, venison is made 

These pictures are funny if you can imagine the dialogue from the luau scene in Forgetting Sarah Marshall

I could be pretty happy living here for the next year. In fact, my new house and roomies made my decision even tougher than I thought it would be...But I've decided to come home instead.

I'm sure I'll miss this guy

And see what else I can scheme up...
There's a lot of places I'd like to live in the world....
And, If all else fails, well, NZ will still be here. I think I could possibly cajole my way back here if I decide to.
Meanwhile, a proper Cali summer sounds amazing.
Also, I'm truly homesick. I'm not lonely, I'm not having a bad time, I just miss the amazing people back home. I could travel the world and not find the same caliber of peeps. Ev-ar.
So, my car was in an accident a few weeks ago, and instead of getting it fixed the insurance company has decided to just pay me for the value of the car.
Yeah. jackpot!
I won the stupid decision lottery.
So I'm sans car and waiting on my payout.
With only a few months to go till my plane ride home, I've decided to not buy a new car and spend my insurance check traveling.
I think I'll either go to Bali for a few weeks or island jump through the pacific.
I'm not sure yet.
All I know is that first world problems are the best possible problems.
And... I'm open to suggestions. So if you can think of your dream vacation.... Or a place you've always wanted to explore/dive/visit/hike/surf/kayak/fish/etc. ...please let me know.
In the meanwhile, Queenstown is holding its annual Winterfest celebration. I missed the opening fireworks show last night but I did make it to the parade today.

Storm trooper on parade

 I went with my co-worker, Bridgette, and her family. I adore Bridgette.

Bridge and her fam; Thalia, Trev and Maddie

I'm trying to convince her to move to North America with me.  I have so much fun with her - she's my kiwi girl crush.

Climbers in the parade

Jets boats on parade

She's so awesome and it makes me miss my girls back home even more.

Parade zombies

My friend Jamey was in the parade as a brain eating Zombie..

Jamey in the parade

This is how my ex roomie Fiona dressed him up for his interview

So, that about sums it up. I spend most of my days working, and my evenings are spent making dinner and watching movies by the newly working fireplace. With lots of time spent staring at the beautiful mountains and watching the snow come down.

View of the Remarkables from my lounge

Not too shabby.