New Zealand

Well what can I say - its beautiful! The scenery and landscape is just amazing and naturally beautiful.. The people are real friendly and its a really vibrant country.
I arrived in Christchurch and then headed to Dundedin (Cadbury World and the city is also known as Edinburgh of the south) .. Got the scenic Taieri Gorge Railway to Pukerangi and then, what turned out to be - a private bus the 560km to, Queenstown!
Just amazing countryside its no wonder Lord of the Rings was filmed there..
Went to Doubtful Sound, saw seals, dolphins in their natural habitat, and many of the Lord of the Rings sights.. Skiing in Queenstown and happened to be there during the Winter Festival - so loads going on about the town.. stayed there a few nights (and even one extra as got snowed in!)
Travelled onto Mount Cook and Lake Tekaop, and to Christchurch another day.. Circling most of the south island.. To Picton and crossing to the North Island and stayed in Wellington..
Then on to Rotorua (loads of naturally occuring geysers there, so the place is a bit smelly!) .. hot mud baths.. volcano's.. went to a Maroi park also, so got to see some of their culture/traditions.. Flew out of Auckland then..

Australia..

Well my 'post phd, southern hemisphere tour' has commenced and I'm enjoying it! ;)
Just been to Australia so far, but its all been really great - seeing and doing loads.. Cairns was my first stop, then wandered down the east coast to Brisbane, Sydney, on to Adelaide and am now in Melbourne..
Went out to the great barrier reef (and its not called the 'great barrier reef for nothing - really is 'great'), stayed a few nights in the oldest rain forest in the world - at cape Tribulation, been to surfers paradise, the gold coast.. Harbour bridge and the Sydney Opera house really is something special - was just amazed to see it in real life! The wine valleys of Adelaide and touring sporting Melbourne was great (went to an AFL footie game in the MCG - was just brill! ;)
Will post photos of my travels in time.. but for now am signing off and heading for a latte! ;)

And off i go..

Heading to the southern hemisphere tomorrow – but rather than the usual southern trip to the banks of the Shannon, its a bit further this time - Oz, NZ and Asia here I come! ;)
Keep the texts and emails coming, will stay in touch as much as is possible... and will hopefully stay up-to-date with the GAA games too ;)

Football and movies..

Ok, yesterday’s Dublin Meath match was a ridiculous game of football.. the fighting during the game was just appalling .. its fine the team rivalry, but when every player expect for one of the goalie’s get involved in a bust-up – is disgraceful! Everyone should have been red-carded!!
Monaghan played badly yesterday against Westmeath and so missed out on their chances of promotion to Division One.
Well done to Tipperary in winning the Hurling final .. it was great to see Tipperary and Galway play .. two teams who weren’t so prominent last year.. Its great too that both Canning brothers are playing with the county team.. But does yesterday’s loss dampen Galway’s chances of a double??? (we are referring at all times to "the double" being football and hurling senior titles - aren't we?)

Last night I watched the movie ‘Wedding Date’ .. did anyone else watch it? At times attending a wedding alone is the most nauseating and awkward experience.. but would one ever hire an escort for the day? Do people do this?
Movie-wise it was a cute romantic comedy ;) .. easy watching on a Sunday evening..

Surf's up!

A surfing weekend is being planned and organised for May 17^th and 18^th in Bundoran, Co. Donegal. 2 nights b+b, 2 lessons and gear for 110euro!

If you are interested drop me a mail .. the more the merrier!! ;)

Second eye complete..

Well second eye complete and i can see!
Not sure if people want to know the exact process – but in really simple/brief form - the eye is given a local anaesthetic (via drops) – so your eye is complete numb.. the front layer of the eye is removed and the eye is then lasered/japped (and yes you can smell the burning briefly)..
I didn’t find the whole experience that painful, not at all what I expected. One feels out of sorts that evening, but the next day the sight is improving..
I was back the following morning for a check-up and again two days later. I’m really happy with the surgeon I went to – I think that is really important..
Got loads of drops now to put in for the next few weeks but all in all – would recommend it .. its great being able to watch tv, drive etc. without glasses! ;)

I’ve been lasered..

One eye done another to go..

Got the first of my eyes lasered on Wednesday last .. Was an interesting experience – wasn’t sore and was feeling grand after..
I have to wait 2 weeks now until I get the next eye done – this will be the interesting challenge! ;)

Opps - its been a while..

Its been a while – I haven’t blogged in ages.. Dunno why really – no particular reason.. Will try blogging again for a while..

Yesterday I was listening to the hurling club match – well done to Portumna .. you have to wonder was their win ever the more welcome, because of the angst over last years county final debacle..
The Monaghan Dublin league match was postponed until next week...

Did a Myer Briggs assessment as part of a course today at work... - can we really assess peoples personality and categorize into boxes? Do our personalities change? How does society and our environment influence how we react...
The four dichotomies are: Extroversion or Introversion, Sensing or Intuition, Thinking or Feeling and Judging or Perceiving...