My Time has come!!

So... I fly out of Nelson today.. (OMG!!!!) Rosie is coming to pick me up to take me to the airport in just a couple of hours!!
I've had a great last few days..
It was my last day at Founders on Friday so they had a special morning tea and gave me presents and chocolate and made me wear a hat with corks on it!! (photos will be put on here soon!).
Then in the evening it was my leaving so for Tasman Street so we went to The Indian Cafe which is an award winning restaurant that I've been meaning to go to for ages! I wanted to have the buffet but its for a minimum of 2 people so I turned everyone elses meals into my buffet (they did ask if they had a choice.. but happily plonked a bit of their meals on my plate.. so much that I couldnt eat mine! so they pasked it up as a takeaway and I had dinner sorted for the next night! I was very restrained and stopped at 2 glasses of wine..
Then the following day it was my last day at Shortbread Cottage and I was a bit worried as there was no replacement for me.. but Cindy (Cinderella - cool name ay?!) came in looking for a bed and asking about jobs... so there was no room at the Shortbread (we've been fully booked for days now - high season is finally here!!) so I got her to stay at Gingerbread House for free and told her to make her way back in a couple of hours so I could train her up to start the next day!!!
Training someone up has never been so much fun!! I have never laughed so much in my life!!! and she said she was giggling to herself that night about it when she was tryingt o get to sleep! She hadnt any experience of working in a hostel so we did all sorts of fun roleplay (normally I hate role play but this was really entertaining)!! I was all sorts of didicult backpackers etc so she had practise asking all the normal questions asked..
Later I phoned Jimmy (the owner of the hostel) this is how the conversation went...!
Me: "Hi Jimmy, its Melissa.. Just thought I'd let you know I've employed a replacement for me, her names Cindy, I've trained her up and she's starting tomorrow"
Jimmy: "Oh....er... right... um... okay... cool... okay then.. thank you..."
Suddenly realised that yes I do walk around like I own the place... whoops.. to think I had low self esteem before I left England..!
LOL! Okay should actually watch myself that I cant get tooo big for my boots.. Mind you Jimmy came in the next day to meet her and was thanking me profusely for everything I've done and finding her so thankfully it didnt splat me in the face or anything..
but its such a shame that I only met Cindy now.. she and I get along really well and if I'd been staying I could imagine us being good friends.. but of course she is my replacement..
I hung around on the Sunday to check she was okay etc while I packed (and she helped my me giving her things that didnt fit in my backpack - and my isttign on it so it shut!!)
Theres alos been a great bump of individual travellers staying at the hostel so i've been talking nonstop for the entire week which has been great!! (I think I've been high on life too with the excitement of going so I've been even chattier than usual!)
Also popped out for lunch with Helen and the kids as it was Elliots 3rd birthday. I almost died of shock because who should walk in while we were having McDonalds? Ronald McDonald!!! I was probably more excited than the children!!!
Then we went to the christmas parade, which was a carnival coming through town with floats etc.. it was quite cool!!
Then it was suddenly 9pm and I was sitting on my bed basically not knowing what to do with myself.. I sat on my bed thinking well I could go to bed.. when Debby who was also sitting on her bed innocently said why dont we just go out for one drink... so we persuaded Deirdre to get out of bed and headed to the Maen fiddler where live music was playing.. of course we insisted that of course we would only have 1 drink.. I was actually good.. no drunked exploits.. I have put a limit on myself that 3 glasses is enough and that I have to stop there.. I stopped at 4 and dont have a hangover and didnt do naything hideous so thats good! I mean we were tipsy..Debby and I just giggled all the way home and I dread to think of what the poor lone guy still up having a cigarette outside the backpackers thought as we garbled nonsense to him.. it being a tiny world Debby (Armstrong) was 2 years above me in Worthing 6th form college and her brother was pparently the year below me!!
The Maen Fiddler was a really nice bar and the music was great but one of the bands was so floaty and quiet (though lovely) that this guy told us not to talk as he couldnt hear the music.. since they were on for nearly 2 hours not talking seemed a tad much (I mean bars are meant to be social places arent they?!! and by that time we were the noisy table - it wasnt just us 3 we had a few other friends we made in the bar and a random irish guy trying to buy us all drinks (which we accepted!). He was clearly on the pull and attempting to grab me every 10 seconds even though I kept removing his hand from my arse but he was harmless enough and entertaining (apart from when he sent the table and glasses flying and soaked us all in alcohol.. and there was broken glass all over the place! Anyway we ended up going to the Royal which was the only bar open at that time on a Sunday night which was funny as as soon as I went in I realised it was familiar (I suddenly remembered a very drunken night in there a year and a half ago when I left Nelson the last time - dejavu or what!!)
Anyway, so here I am.. all packed and ready to go and have just pooped into the library to return all my books on Australia.
I fly from Nelson to Wellington and then I have an hour or 2 at the airport before my next flight to Taupo.. hopefully this time tomorrow I should be well into the Tongariro Crossing (one of the 10 best 1 day hikes in the world apparently)!