Things are Nuts!

Hey,

So, it's a new blog and already I'm taking ages between posts. Yup, I'm bad. But I've been busy and bad. Planning isn't going as I, um, planned but other areas are working out. Here's the update:

My planning was given a kickstart last Tuesday when I made some new friends. Anne is the sister of one of my sister's friends. (read that again, it makes sense). Her and her boyfriend Dean are a well travelled couple who, on hearing about my plans, invited me for dinner. Very unexpected and extremely kind of them. They are both great. Very friendly, easy going and absolutely full of enthusiasm and great advice on travelling. Conversation focused mainly on India as that seemed the most daunting place and was also the first on the list. Both Anne and Dean have travelled to India twice so they are pretty expert. Talking with them certainly gave me more confidence to take on India and made me realise what is possible even given the huge size of the country. We talked about some of my other destinations too which was good. Above all else, it was a really fun evening!

I've been having a great time buying stuff (I need). I love gadgets and outdoors equipment and stuff so it's been great fun shopping for all this. It's kinda bloke shopping so it's allowed. I've been a regular at Tiso on Baird Street where I got such goodies as a cable lock for my rucksack, a pegless washing line and a daybag that packs into a mesh bag for putting into my main bag. I've been checking out mosquito nets in Adventure 1, near Queen Street Station. They have a heck of a range of mosquito nets for good prices. A few have sat for a while so the insecticide treatment will have worn off but that can be reapplied. I'm just trying to decide on a balance between keeping the mozzies out and allowing the breeze in. I've also go my sterile needle kit, ball of string and bulldog clips. If I can track down a pair of convertible trousers I'll probably have the majority of my kit.

Plans seem to be coming together for my girlfriend, Nidhi, and I meeting up in India. She's heading out to a wedding in Delhi at the end of September and we plan to meet up at the beginning of October and fly down to Goa for a while. I'm hoping that we'll be able to find some interesting things to do there as well as enjoy the great beaches and wonderful sunsets. Now that India is making more sense I've been able to ask Nidhi some more sensible questions about the country. She's been lots of help with loads of random questions I have. Hopefully she'll teach me some useful phrases in Hindi too =)


Still lots to do though!