Pomms arrive!

yey! Megan and Niall finally arrive after their mammoth journey which started 2 days ago UK time! we watched their plane coming in to land which was cool! they were welcomed to the land of sails to a bright sunny day. we must say they have coped with the jet lag far better than we did. went to bed quite early the first night, slept right through and almost as normal the next night. it took us over a week to be able to keep our eyes open past 9pm!

Megan - Jetlagged Az

Our furniture cometh!

Excitement and anticipation as our container was scheduled to arrive on Thursday. It sailed into Auckland on Monday, and all forms had been filled out ready for the quarantine inspection on the Thursday afternoon.


We declared out garden furniture, bikes, vacuum cleaner and camping equipment, and identified which boxes they were in as they had to be put to one side for the MAF inspectors to open and assess. If not up to scratch, they could be destroyed, fumigated or confiscated along with a hefty fine! So we were a little nervous to say the least.
                                                                                   

                                                                                        oops wrong container                                                                                                                           

The Pickford boys arrived on time and we all watched as the driver skilfully reversed the container down our (very) narrow drive. Took a nice foto as they unlocked the doors as the Gaffa the realised it was the WRONG container. This was not our stuff!

What numpty did not check this one and only simple but essential thing??? The driver quickly set off back to port to collect the right one, and an hour later, we were back in business!


                     Thats better!

All belongings present and correct and only one casualty- the back of an IKEA bookcase was a bit damaged. Nothing that a bit of gaffer tape and some carefully placed books cannot hide! The MAF inspector came and was impressed with our nice clean stuff. She said it was a pleasure after having “a few crappy ones today...including an especially manky lawnmower full of old grass clippings”
So at last our house feels like a home.

   do we need so many glasses    

Its kind of weird seeing your old and familiar belongings suddenly arrive on the other side of the world... like a faithful little puppy! And it was bliss to sleep in our own bed, and have more than 2 cups, plates and cutlery foruse.

                                                                                                       looks familiar!

The house is still cardboard city and we have a fair few more boxes to open... its a bit like Christmas, not knowing what’s inside the wrappings- and sometimes disappointment thinking..”why on earth did we bring that rubbish!” but all in all, our stuff looks great in this house. Its a similar style- modern and nicely decorated, as our old one.

So whenever any of you fancy a trip over here, there will always be a nice warm bed for you!

GEEKS-R-US

well we have a new hobby\obsession\addcition. its called Geo caching, and is basically like a 21st century treasue hunt. with the aid of GPS coordinates and a few clues, you locate secret caches hidden by other geocachers. they are usually hidden in places of interest or beauty, so you get to have a great day out too!

we were well chuffed to find our first find yesterday, secreted in the reserve just across the road from our house. its amazing as they're hidden all aound you.

this is Jax (Marigolds on in case of touching something alive!!!) opening our first cache. after signing the log to say "you wuz ere" you can then swap small items/trinkets/collectables, before replacing the cache! Cool or wot??

...So truly bitten by the bug, we ventured out to Point View reserve today, home to around 5 caches, of which we looked for and found 3. a beautiful day in an amazing place with great views and wildlife (Tui's, Swifts, Fan Tails, NZ Pigeon?) en route.

Park info

Pic's of first find

Pic's from Point View Reserve

City Slickers

As it was the Expats forum drinks meetup we headed into the city to check out the sights. Getting a good deal on wotif.com we stayed in the lovely Duxton Hotel. It was a beautiful day so we walked a loop around the city seeing the SkyTower, the wharf, Queen St, Albert Park and Aotea Square (though unfortunately this is being completely rebuilt and was just a huge building site!)

The hotel was excellent and included complimentary fizz and a spa bath which was a luxurious treat prior to going out.

We were dying to try one of NZ's legendary Beetroot burgers and on our walk we spotted Burger Fuel which came highly recommended by our car dealer!! (who despite being rake thin knew just about every restaurant in the area). Jacqui had the 1/3rd pounder Bio Fuel which was massive and contained a egg, copious amounts of beetroot, salad, dressing and a huge burger patty! and it was delicious, definitely going to go back there :)

The night out was great fun although the fact the organiser had ar

ranged cheap drinks all night didn't help the hangover in the morning!

More piccies here

Employed!

Hey I've got a job!
i wasn't going to apply for a job until Meg and Niall had gone back to the UK at the end of August, so i would be around for them, but i saw the part time practice nurse job advertised in the local free paper, only 25 hours/week, and just 10 mins away.

sounded like a perfect solution to my boredom, and lack of friends and money, etc.. and if the hours were over 3 days, then i would still have lots of time off with the kids.

I applied by sending my CV online, and informed them my Nurse registration should be approved any time soon. They phoned me to come for an interview, and in the mean time, my nurse registration came through!

it was like it was meant to be!. the interview was very relaxed and informal, and the next day, they phoned me to offer the job. the hours will be spread over 3 days, with some flexibility too!
excellent! sign me up!

just waiting now for my annual nurses practice certificate,and i can start working. should only be another week or so!

i cant quite believe it. its perfect! and all happened so fast!