my Top 5 of 2010

I hope everybody has had a wonderful christmas time and a great start into 2011. My holidays were quite unspectacular. I was lucky enough to be off over christmas but I stayed in Milford anyway to be here for our annual community christmas dinner/party. It was raining for 4 days straight and so there wasn't much to do for me accept for having looong sleep ins, cleaning my room and watch a lot of movies. New Years I was working and I had a BBQ invitation from one of our skippers. It was 8 of us and we enjoyed a few drinks, sausages and mince paddies and a good laugh about this and that. I didn't get much sleep last night but at least I wasn't hangover like some of my workmates which I wasn't too happy about (party hard, work hard!)

In retrospective I'd like to share my Top 5 of special moments and events of 2010 with you.
1. Seeing my little nephew Henry for the first time and holding him was very special to me and I was looking forward to that moment a lot when I was still back in Vancouver. Right now I am not too sure when I can see him again but I hope it won't be too long.

2. Being part of and experiencing the 2010 Olympic Wintergames in Vancouver and Whistler is something I will never forget. I have experienced the Wintergames in all aspects possible; first working for VANOC recruiting the Games' Volunteers, then ensuring everybody's safety while working for Contemporary Security Canada and later volunteering for the Paralympics in Whistler. I don't want to miss any of those special moments and most dear to me is seeing the dress rehersal for the opening ceremony. It couldn't have gotten any better than that!

3. Being back in New Zealand and Milford Sound and cruising the fjord again after being absent for the last 2.5 years. Back on the boat it really hit home that I am back where I belong and where I feel content and home. Permanent Residency is my goal and I won't leave Milford before I managed to get that stamp in my passport!

4. Being able to travel the Canadian Rockies and take all those beautiful pictures of lakes, mountains, frozen waterfalls, tons of snow and heaps of other stuff was great. For the first time ever I snowshoed, tried hiking with crampons and saw footprints of bears. I realized that sometimes I am as brainless as all the other tourists I always complain about; reaching Lake Louise I was a little bit disappointed to see it frozen because I was so looking forward to taking pictures of mountains reflecting in the lake; it had never crossed my mind that in the middle of winter a lake could be frozen (to all fairness, that would not happen in New Zealand....) !

5. Last but not least, I finally saw Niagara Falls. As one of Canada's icons the Falls should be on everybody's list and although I wasn't really happy with the hype in Niagara (the casinos, bars, loud music, carrousels etc) I really enjoyed the Falls. Powerful, pure and definitely wet (as I experienced myself)

Have a wonderful 2011, may you come closer to implementing your dreams and plans for your future.