Happy Birthday Jessika!
I am going to miss this life so much! imagine knowing everyone in the village, being able to go to the shops and know everyone whether their baking bread in the back on the till or stacking the shelves. It takes me an hour to get round four square nowadays!

Last night.. Jessikas birthday..

West Coast Pop Idol...thats Rikki up on stage..
it was a fun night.. definately nothing would make me go up though!

Ana dancing! lol, its good to have a dance around the house!

Happy photos, good times.. god I will miss franz Josef (I wont miss my job but I will miss my friends!)

Traditional, Quebec style dancing.. so much fun! sooo exhausting!

More photos of my leaving party.. classic photo of Mike and Jessika, Jessika, and Jessika and Vince

remember me saying about that elbow thing? that apparently you cant lick your elbow? well for some reason we all ended up trying.. some of us are pretty close!

Me and Ana and more animated discussion!

More of my leaving do.. theres photos of me crying but am not putting them on! (am not very attractive when crying!)

My goodbye party.. at the beginning of the night..

That mad but very entertaining girl Rikki that came round the other night and sang at pop idol..

another dinner party! pretty similar to the rest of the dinner party pics!

Jessika, Mike, Vincent, Brett me and Ana.

this was out sushi night the other night.

I have been so bored today.. have had to restrain myself from rambling away on here, have been at work since 8am and its nearly 4pm now.. just over 4 hours to go.. it has been so quiet that I thought I might die of boredom. I've been on all the job websites, all the backpacker websites and read other peoples blogs.. a particularly good one about Australia which really makes me want to go there..
I have been working too.. I've vacuumed, polished the windows, sorted out the leaflets.. checked all the rooms but for some reason Franz Josef is dead today.. still if it was the other way round I would be complaining so I should just enjoy sitting here.. Ana has been sent off to the internet shop to get my photos put onto CD so when she gets back I'll put my new photos online.. dont think theres any of pretty scenes like you all like though.. think their all of my friends at goodbye parties this week!
Had a lovely night last night.. we went to the new Indian (Priya) and the food was good, it was a buffet eat as much as you like style so I had piles of nan and poppadoms and various curries.. yum yum yum! Its ben ages since I had a curry! I really hope they do well, its good to have some world cuisine in Franz Josef rather than fish and chips and game meat. It was very nice of them to extend the invitation to 4 instead of 2!
right so now Ana has just come in with my photo CD so I can get to work on that...

HELP FIND JUSTICE!!
Please read the following information and help us to locate this missing person.
ALL LEADS WILL BE KEPT CONFIDENTIAL IF NECESSARY. WE AS A COMMUNITY OF TRAVELLERS AND INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS OWNERS MAY BE ABLE TO RESOLVE THIS MYSTERY. WHATEVER THE OUTCOME, LET'S TRY TO HELP JUSTICE AND HIS FAMILY. If you would like to add this information and/or photo to your web page or travel blog please contact Travis at tangerine231@hotmail.com or Andrea, the owner of The Purple House Backpackers Hostel, at purplehousehostel@yahoo.com. Hostel Owners, please consider putting up these pictures as a screensaver. Thanks for your help.

JUSTICE (JUSTICIO) SANDOVAL
(these photos are from 2002)
The following information was given directly by Justice's brother, Travis. It was posted on The Lonely Planet Thorntree guide in September 2006.
Greetings to you all!I love to travel just like the rest of you. And I appreciate you taking time to read this. I just want to ask all of you about my brother who has been missing for 4 years and some of us are fearing the worst. Some of you may have come across him in your paths, some of you may have met him and even befriended him. His name is Justice, and almost 5 years ago he set off on a backpacking mission from the United States through Mexico and Central America and onward to Chile. He was a wonderful brother, kindhearted soul, a free spirit, an amazing personality and very smart. If you met Justice, you would never forget him. Please email me and let me know if you know anything about where he is today. We miss him and love him very much. He is from Wisconsin, (USA).
He is about 5'6 and he has hispanic features, he had long black curly hair and a beard, he could have dreadlocks now and would be 32 years old. As far as we know he wasn't into drugs. About 3 years ago, my father, and brother and I went down to Panama which is the last place we heard from him. Many knew who he was, but had not seen him in a while. We talked to the embassies and had a Private Investigator. As far as we know his passport has not been used in the last 3 years. We heard that for 9 months or so in 2003 he was making/selling jewelry in Panama City. He slept in parks, in the jungle, on the beach wherever he could throughout 2003.

I am very grateful that there are wonderful people out there willing to help me out in finding my brother Justice (Justicio). If you happen to see him or someone who looks like him, please take a picture and send it to us. Everything helps.

All we want to know is if he is ok, if he wants to stay down there, that is ok, we just want to hear him talk.

Peace and love to you all of you,

TravisTangerine231@hotmail.com

I'll be there for you/ I will survive..

So its my last week in Franz Josef and its busy, fun and emotional all at once!
I'm getting meotional about leaving and I have to admit a few tears have been shed!
So whats have I been up to?!
I had people over for dinner Wednesday (Vincent and Brett), I felt bad as I imvited them but had been working all day but Ana and Jessika ended up doing the cooking.. (they are so lovely) Vincent helped too and brought yummy cookies too.
I finished at 8pm (after having had words with Deane on the phone about various stuff... he thought the builders etc should have to stay in a room with no toilet etc..) and he wanted me to stay late, after working 12 hours straight there wasnt much chance of that when a) I wouldnt get overtime and B) what can they do if I say no? sack me?!! I leave in a few days! so I said no..
Brett turned out to have to go eeling at 9:30 so he couldnt stay long (not a good sign.. I can understand him wanting to go as I would too but if he liked me he'd come over after eeling?) but we arranged to meet up the next day for a walk so I felt better about that.
We spent the rest of the evening drinking wine, listening to music, eating and relaxing which was cool! Vincents part of our family now, which is cool, means he doesnt have to knock on the door and knows where everything is..
The next day I had off so after a bit of a lie in I went over Vincents as he was playing guitar and singing on his front porch. So we had breakfact and chilled out in the sunshine (yay!! grey clouds were fast approaching and it poured down all afternoon and evening but for a moment there it was sunny). We had a cool time, got to chat lots and find out each others secrets and I strummed the guitar while he played! I got introduced to lots of music I've never heard of before (Tegan and Sara etc), then we went over my house and Brett came over around 3pm ish, we were meant to be going for a walk but it was pouring down so we played some games etc and then everyone made themselves scarce so I could be alone with Brett (and unbeknown to me were at the same time organising a goodbye party for me..). Brett and I talked loads and I got all confused again wondering whthr he liked me or not.. why else would someone keep saying their bad at making the first move? But anyway we kept on talking and he tried some amateur psychology on me which really annoyed me (people should be careful when their trying to push emotions out of you.. I know their trying to help but I think it can be quite dangerous) anyway, then it was time for yoga, which I was so not in the mood for. I was fed up with Brett and what he'd said and all that. As for yoga, I just kept collapsing in the poses so most of the time I missed out all the middle poses and went to the final one in a series of poses! and every so often I'd nearly fall asleep and realise she was talking and everyone else was doing something different. She comes round every so often to manouvre people into correct positions.. luckily at this time I was in the position I was meant to be but was so relaxed that when she tried to push me further into the position I was just flopping everywhere. she thought it was funny! just as well.. besides yogas meant to be relaxing aye?!
so after yoga we walked home and when we opened the front door, Jessika Vince and Mike leaped out yelling surprise! I screamed! It was so lovely!
Brett nearly spoilt it by looking in horror at the sight of alcohol (he doesnt drink) and saying he was going home (which was fine with me with the mood I was in with him.. so I marched out after him and said I wanted to speak to him first.. and said right I have two things to say to you.. number one.. dont try amateur psychology on me and number 2 I fancy you and if you ever want to do anything about it let me know.. at that I didnt wait for a reaction.. I just swung round, slammed the door in his face and went in to my party... whoops! ah well, at least I said how I feel even if he is too scared to ever see me again! After much discusion with friends he's not right for me anyway.. (just as well as he's not come over since..!) Shame really as we were getting on and that afternnon he was telling me all about himself and showing me his blog. I was like are you sure? isnt it private? and when he checked his emails I said are you sure? and he said he had no secrets from me (we were sharing seat at the internet shop....)
anyway after that we had a great night.. Vincent taught us traditional dancing from Quebec which was sooo much fun!! exhausting though!! It remind me of old fims and the way they race around the room swapping partners! it was great!! we sang and danced, ate and drank and had a bloody good night! Just as well I had the next day off too!
I cried because Ana and Jessika got me a card and presents.. a new purple maglite to replace to one I lost on the glow worm walk that night, a MILK little card and a MILK travel journal filled with memories of our time in Franz Josef.. photos and messages and sayings.. it was so sweet and MILK stuff is my absolutely favourite.. I had said this the other day.. apparently after they had bought the stuff for me so they know me well! If anyone hasnt heard of the MILK series of stuff I love it! Its beautiful photos with inspiring quotes.. I think MILK stands for Moments of Inimacy, Love and Kindness.. anyway, I relaised how much I will miss them and now I adore Vincent too.. I've only just got to klnow him and now I'm leaving.. its so unfair..
The next day I slept in.. Ana was off sick from work so we sat around a bit and went shopping getting ready for Jessikas 21st. we were all ready for a niht in rrecovering from the last few days of parties when Vincent came in and asked i f we were going to West Coast Pop Idol,, I had thought it was just a line of people going into a shut room for their auditions like it is on TV.. so when people had been asking me all day if I was going I had said No.. but it turns out everythings different on the west coast.. we still had the panel of judges (who looked a bit shellshocked to be in Franz Josef) but they also had to do it front of us in a bar!! great aye!! at least they'd know if they had the confidence to be a pop idol!
Vince, Ana and I decided to have out own little table, but pretty soon the whole world joined our table (I'm not used to being at the popular table)! and we became the table full of people auditioning so lots of noise and drinking from us! It was fun! Rikki sang a few songs! (mad girl who came over to our place the other day and reglaed us with her life stories - very interesting - particularly the oncew about her old job in porn movies!) anyway she has plenty of confidence to do this kind of thing.. texas, a guy who works in the mobil garage got up and sand a few songs from texas, luke from 4 square sang my favourite greenday song ( its funny though as the other night when we were out I asked him how old he was and he said 17 really quietly and I laughed and said something along the lines of yeah right.. however it turns ut he really is 17!! OMG! 10 years ago I was 17 and obsessed with green day! god I felt old)
various other people sang and the judges did their comenting thing.. but we got tired around midnight so Vince, Ana and I left and walked home. I found these giant moa statues on the walk home which I had never seen before and had the bright idea that us sitting on them would be a great photo.. lol! Oh dear! it didnt go well, ended up with a lot of laughs and me laying flat on my back with a sore ankle.. we plan to go back tonight with a ladder..(or at least a garden chair to hoik ourselves up..) It has to be at night or the world will think we are insane..
Today is Jessikas 21st birthday so I gave her a card I made and a neclace I bought in Queenstown.. we are going to go out this evening, I'm working till 8pm but then we will go out for dinner. We were going to go out to Scenic Circle but I've just spoken to the Indian restaurant which has a special opening tonight for the management of hotels so we can advertise it to our c ustomers(ie free meal for 2), Deane was not going he's being his normal racist self so.. I spoke to the owner of the restaurant and he has let me have it for 4... yay! so I'll run out of here at 8pm and we can go straight there after I've quickly changed (its a good job I'm not the kind of girl who takes ages getting ready!).. free soft drinks as well which will please Jessika as she doesnt really drink much.. I had meant to go to the scenic circle the entire time we've been here though and never got round to it.. its an expensive hotel and restaurant..

what a good idea lets get the entire universe of builders to come and rip out rooms (kitchen fitters, bathroom fitters, carpet layers, vinyl layers.. plumbers) and still book people into the rooms and then go on holiday and leave Melissa in charge... fantastic...

I am in such a good mood today!! all smiles at everyone!
Brett came round last night when he finished work at around 10pm, luckily I wasnt in my PJ's, normally I would be at that time but I was still watching nip tuck on TV.
He came round to ask if I wanted to go for a walk and there was the most amazing full moon (was enormous!!). Ana and i had already been tkaing loads of photos of it in the advert breaks but we had been waiting for it to get really dark (sun down is around 10pm at the moment but the moon rises really early still.
Anyway since I fancy the pants off Brett I jumped at the chance! we went for a walk up Canavans Knob and saw the moon over the glacier etc which looked great (it didnt rain yesterday)!!! Its not a long walk (about 40 mins) and the moon was nice and bright to lead our way (we had a flashlight too for the bits deep in the rainforest). anyway... dont know where the time went because by the time I was opening my front door and looked at the time it was 1:30am! I really like him! I completely underestimated him. he's so interesting and we have so much in common. We literally talked non stop. I dont know how he feels about me, I cant tell if he just wanted to talk to someone (ie have me as a friend) or whether he feels something more. he did admit he's terrible at making the first move so I dont know if thats a hint or not?! grr and I only have a week left in franz josef to work out how he may or may not feel. He's coming over for dinner on wednesday as I said yesterday so at least I'm seeing him then! I've invited Vincent over too so that Ana doesnt feel like a gooseberry! (also because vincents a nice guy too obviously!) and he's got the day off thursday like me so were meant to be seeing each other then..
I'm also in a good mood because I 've had a few emails lately from my friends back home. I like hearing from people, even if people read my blog I dont necessarily know they are reading it. Besides its not fair that they get to know whats going on in my life and I dont know whats going on in theirs! As I think I mentioned yesterday Aurore and Patrice emailed and updated me on all thats going on in Quebec (it was so nice to catch up on all the goss), Eva sent me a nice email from the North Island -she's got her medical to see if she can extend her visa today, Laura sent me a nice proper update from Worthing -she's hating her job right now!, and Lou emailed me from Surrey and sent me a lovely long 8 page email (I have printed it out to read!)! makes me feel happy getting emails as sometimes you feel out of touch with everyone and wonder if they've forgotten you!
anyway off the subject of my good mood.. arent people strange? I went on MSN earlier and some girl said hi Mel, and I was like um hello who are you? and then a guy said hello and I still wondered who it was, eventually he says hes James (this doesnt ring any bells either until I work out its Liz and James, James, anyway last I heard he and Liz had split up. Turns out this is his new wife and they live in NYC now, funny though, he didnt ask anything about me, just said he was married and lived in NY and then cut MSN off. arent people weird? you dont hear from someone for 2 years and then they randomly tell you their blissfully happy but dont actually want to chat, say anything else or find out anything about you! still I'm happy for him! I guess he just wanted to tell someone his good fortune! I've not heard from Liz in ages, I sent an email but it got returned, and Laura told me in her email that Liz's mum told Laura that liz has relocated somewhere... wonder where? (not that I'm nosy at all and not that I like to know what the gossip is or anything?!)
Work is a nightmare, Marie has gone away for the week as I said, but arranged for builders, carpet layers etc to all come in and work, so organising thm is a nightmare (builder rips out sinks and then asks when the plumbers coming in.. plumber? we need a plumber? of course theres no plumbers locally so they cant come in till tomorow.. so at this moment we have no water and the guests are complaining non stop - thats aside from all the guests that got woken up by the builders this morning who all complained to me.. I completely agree with them, its not fair to be paying $250 a night to be woken up by builders ripping a kitchen out of the bedroom next door. I'd complain too.. so I've decided to upgrade people to keep them as far away from the building as possible. I'm sure Marie wouldn't agree but shes not here...and it keeps the guests happy!
Its 2pm here so only another 6 hours of work to go.. then I get to sleep and then its working 8-8 tomorrow..

yay! I am only working till 2pm today! yay!! yay! I went out last night so am knackered! (mini pub crawl of Alice May, Landing and Blue Ice.. not a heavy night drink wise really but I never sleep well after even one drink so am tired now) good to get out though.
Am working 8-8 the next 2 days Tues and Wednesday, its a pain as I have invited Brett round Wednesday night for dinner and I dont finish till 8pm so I'm not going to have much time to prepare! I'll have to get him to help. Ana said she'd help too and we might invite Vincent too. At least it gives Brett time to go to martial arts first. I meant to go to martial arts but never got round to it, I was either working or having people round.. or ill. Now I'm gutted as this week will be my last wednesday in town. Guess you have to do things when you get the chance or you miss out! That'll teach me! maybe in the next town I move to there will be yoga and self defence etc! I hope so! I miss the self defence classes I used to do back in the uk. I like the bits where I get to punch and kick a bag!
Its weird as things are easier at work and in the house with daniel and mel and I almost wish I wasnt leaving, but things are probably easier because I'm leaving. It kind of takes the tension away! Besides I need to see new places!
Today we have builders and carpet layers coming in again so that should be fun, as soon as guests see a builders van they start freaking out and complaining.. My boss Marie has gone away for the week - she'll be back Sunday 10th. Deanes still around but he works at Air Safaris too so I guess it'll be me dealing with them!

the useful thing about work is that I can load my photos while I'm working. It takes ages so costs a fortune when I'm in an internet cafe but here I can just have then loading while I'm working and write a comment inbetween customers. My last working day in Monday 11th December.. am looking forward to it.
Might go and work on a farmstay just in exchange of food and board. Its a B&B in a really rural area, but I'll let you know whether I end up there or not, it will probably be just for a week or 2. Have been trying to get myself on a doubtful sound cruise but they are fully booked.. still they've got to have an opening sometime over the next 12 months..!
as usual its raining, have been at work 8-8 and its 7:20 now! yay not long to go, am working 8-8 tomorrow though as well..
am feeling a bit better now, have been stealing Vincents cold rememdies (you cant buy any in franz as we dont have a pharmacy). Quite funn yreally as his flatmates are a bit weird and didnt seem to bother when i walked in their house and helped myself to them out of his room (he'd told me where they were). they'd never met me before.. good job I;m not a burglar! It being a small village/ small world, vincents house and bedroom is my ex pauls old bedroom!
a new bookshop opened in franz josef which is pretty exciting! we spent ages in there yesterday at the grand opening. its cool as when we go shopping we have one more place to hang out.. as well as the 4 Square (supermarket ? if you can call it that), and the 2 souvenir shops..! I had considered working there but decided against it as I wanted to explore somewhere new.. someones got my job there now though, the manager of the alice may pub has gone and worked there not doing her notice, so now alice may is short of a manager and assistant manager (so if anyone wants to manage a pub theres a job here for you!).
an indian restaurant is due to open as well, its a few minutes out of town, but still exciting! Jessika has never had curry (clearly she hasnt lived) so we shall have to go there.. maybe for her 21st birthday or something. its her birthday at the weekend.
I just realised I can mention my sister now, when she first mentioned her pregnancy I wasnt allowed to mention it on my blog as not everyone knew, but since shes due in 2 months if people havent noticed yet then their blind! its so exciting! I'm going to be an Aunty again! I'm desperate to buy a little pink outfit in the shop, but since we dont know if its a boy or a girl yet I have to restrain myself (even though I'm convinced its a girl). The annoying thing is I'll have moved by the time she gives birth so I'll never be able to buy that outfit.. still I suppose there will be more cute baby things wherever I move next!
Lots of people are having babies.. me being behind the gossip in england only just found out dave and cat had their second child (in july apparently, they had their first shortly after my sister had her first so she got pregnant again sharpish) alslso my friend anna in nelson (the backpacker who got pregnant here and cant go home due to a cyst) gave birth yesterday to a little girl. So thats another reason for me to go back to Nelson! (aside from the weather and the vibe and the job in the nursery - the nursery still email me asking where I am etc which is lovely!)

More glacier ice

I couldnt resist taking a photo of the a piece of the glacier sitting next to the frozen peas in our freezer! (no room for anymore food but we have a piece of glacier)
So this is what the glacier river looks like after lots of rain, grey from rock flour, flowing fast and with chunks of ice in..

The other night after yoga Ana went for her usual walk and the glacier river was full of ice which had come off the glacier, so she walked all the way home with a chunk!

Meal out a Karinas house.
Left to right,
Tommy, Some german girl, Vincent, Ana, another german girl, Me, Karina

Do we look wet by any chance?! this is Jessika and I are our Alex Knob walk where we got a tad wet!

Okay so I complained alot about the kids in our house but they were cute really (I can appreciate they were cute even if I didnt want them in my house).
I made them little aprons out of supermarket bags and Jessika made them play dough to keen them entertained.
so this is winamu and destiny.

Pretty much exactly rhe same photo twice, but I like these photos as you can see how happy we are to get out of the rainforest on our Glow worms night! (and also the computer wont let me delete one so you have to have the one with me pulling a funny face too!) This is the guy that caught my hand and hauled me up from the steep drop I fell down on our glow worm walk!

okay I cant resisit blue skies and sea, you'll have to put up with another photo of it!

Had to take a couple.. so nice to see a sandy beach and blue sky! Its been a month since and its rained everyday!

On the same day it was snowing madly in Queenstown a few hours up the road at Knights Point it was like this..!

As this is closer to Franz Josef I have to admit this is the only time I've seen it look like this, usually there is so much cloud and rain there is no view and it justs looks like the end up the world as all you can see is cloud!

More photos of Queenstown all snowy.. I got excited at all the snow!

Queenstown in the snow!