I must say it was very strange getting on the plane from Auckland to Wellington alone as I had spent a long time with everyone else being around me! I was very shocked how little security there was on internal flights but it was so much quicker and less hassle than normal!! Such a short flight, by the time I had eaten my cookie and drank my coffee we had arrived and so very different from the long flights previous!! As I had no clue who I was looking for at the airport it was very useful that they were holding a sign with my name on it (just like in the movies!!) It took around an hour and a half to drive on to Masterton from wellington but I hardly noticed as we were driving through such beautiful scenery!! I then arrived at solway college and found out there would shortly be a BBQ which was nice for my first evening. My room is actually bigger than I thought it would be and so after attempting to organise my things my new flat mate Rike gave me a short tour of solway and Masterton. Masterton is small but has some great photo opportunities and so am often spotted by the teachers wondering around with my camera.
Solway is very unique, with less than 150 girls is very different to what I am used to back home! Everyone at school is really nice and friendly and I have been doing lots of very different jobs but am mainly here to help the girls who need some extra support in lessons! Well I wouldn’t be me if in my first week I hadn’t found were all the ducks were! There is a great nature reserve about 5mins walk from solway which is full of ducks (I do sound like a crazy duck lady). I mostly get the weekends off work which was very nice to hear as I am only a short train ride from Wellington!! There is lots to do in the area though and good to go along with the girls at the weekend if they are up to something nice. My first Saturday here I went along to the Martinbourgh fair, where I could have easily spent a lot of money but resisted mostly!! I then topped my first weekend off with some time out in the very hot weather and a relax in the pool, ( if anyone back home saw me they would think I had a nice tan but compared to everyone here I am still very pale).
I enjoyed having an extra long birthday this year as I could still claim it was my birthday for an extra 13 hours in the UK compared to here, and so was very nice getting birthday messages for well over a day!! I had a great 19th birthday spending the evening in the flat with Rike drinking wine & cider and eating chocolate!!! 2 days after my birthday we got a day off for Waitangi Day!! We decided to go along to Henley lake with the girls where there was a small event on with some Maori bands, but as the weather was not so good we didn’t stay to long. It was a beautiful place and I would love to go back at a quieter time with my camera though! (yes more ducks).
