You would think that summer time should be a time when you can spend most of your time outdoor and take advantage of the prolonged daylight (16h) and the ideal weather...not so...

for the past few days we have been hit with a cold spell where the southerly wind reigns...everyone here is always talking bout the wind, the wind speed, the direction of the wind and its magnitude, because the new zealand weather is pretty much determined by the wind factor...

So geographically, what's south of NZ? Antartica...yeap, the current carries the wind that is blown across the ice all the way here, and hence what do you get? ICY wind...literally...

On new year eve, people gather around the town centre, wearing layers of pullovers, jumpers and sweaters, standing there in the cold, and enjoying themselves immensely...we were getting ourselves prepared, drinking and watching LOTR2 on national television at home...(yeah, the kiwis are very proud of the LOTR trilogy)...the good thing about Kiwi TV is that, when they show films that has a sequel, they always show them in consecutive days or weeks...for eg. I saw the starwars (1-6), LOTR(1-3), matrix (1-3), Harry Potter (1-3) and others on telly...that way, you will never miss anything...alright fine, ive become a bit of a TV junkie here...dont get me wrong though, there're heaps to do around here, well, didnt i mention the cold spell? :)

sorry for the digression, so everyone was standing chilling out at 7 degrees, while we were in our cozy house, and suddenly, the power snapped and we had a blackout...we waited for 10 minutes and decided that's it's gonna take a while, so we put on some clothes and join the folks in town...it was 10pm...

the streets were in pitch darkness, the town were full of noise but u can hardly see anyone...what a day to turn off the power!! we saw some folks juggling fire sticks, some street performers beckoning to passers-by to come closer, and lotsa food stalls...

Some band by the name of ÁBBAlicious' were playing on stage...yeah, you can have a good idea what sorta songs they were singing...the atmosphere got better when another rock band took over...everyone was entertained, and rightly so, most ppl were kinda pissed by now, anyone can play on stage and no one would so much be bothered...

Midnight came, we counted down, hugged, kissed, cheered, wishes were exchanged, saw the firework, very much entertained, and then lamented: another year has begun, has JUST begun, in fact...

after singing Auld Lang Syne with some band playing bagpipes, we headed back...

well, Happy new year everyone!!

p.s. would love to show some pic but the cd is not working right now...bummer!!