Ticket to Ride.....

Today it was a $5 ride all day special on the rail, so we all had a ride into wellington.

Only 45 mins on the train - slow stopping service.

From there we took the kids round the shops, on the cable car and down through the botanic garden - they have a great playground.
It was very strange re-visiting the botanic garden and to think it was only less than 5 months ago Andy and myself were walking around the botanic garden deciding if we liked NZ enough to move the whole family. It certainly has been a very quick 5 months.

We found a nice cafe for lunch in lampton square and a great toy shop on the way back to the train station. We also discovered where the Intercontinental Hotel is. Very Posh!

Pukeko

So who else wants to know what a Pukeko is?......

A very nice neighbor of ours, the colourful NZ marsh Hen.....

My Garden

I have had my head in a few boxes for the last 2 weeks - hence no updates!!!
Well there we go my vast colour co-ordinated garden all 2 Tugs of it!!! What they call potting compost - urghh.... Thats going to take some getting used to!

The house is straight at least now, just unpacked the last few boxes in the house and carted a load more back out to the garage which is now looking like a warehouse. I have only to re-arrange the boxes to find something in the bottom one at the back a couple of times a week!

The kids have toys - well some of them - they make enough mess with the few they have without them having everything!

DVD player got wet in the move??!!!! so doesn't work. The container leaked so a few boxes were clearly water damaged, but other stuff - electricals have got damp too and stopped working - DVD & small TV. But no breakages - found yet anyway!

Normality is taking place - my phoenix cards are unpacked and life moving on......

A few hick ups with the house sale - like the buyers not having their mortgage in place on the day we had asked to exchange!!!! ho hum..... so we are still waiting for that to happen!

Josh and India's school is 2 kms away from the house - I walked it yesterday with Saffron. Josh and India only had to walk it one way! I doubt I will do that too often - I still ache today!

Apart from the distance from school it is in a flat area with plenty of green land. Very quiet and pleasant. Close to Military base, Prison and dog training school. Home away from home then!

We have plenty of local wildlife - lots of Pukeko's, a pair of paradise shelducks who much around the green in front of the house most of the day and a randy mallard with his two female companions!!! No foxes etc so all rather safe for wildlife etc.......

Still sampling the wine - oh such a never ending task!

Right must go do some tea and chase estate agents/solicitors etc.

Moving Day

Well it is finally here, it is 4.40am and very windy and now just started to rain, but hey ho it is moving day! I can not sleep, excitement and having been woken by India on a night time expedition again and then the windy was very strong so I am up check emails and stuff.

The container arrives at 9am along with the keys - don't panic! It is deciding what goes where as it is much smaller then Brandywell, so a lot will stay in the garage I suspect!

I have won my first item on trademe - NZ equivalent of ebay. A ladies push bike! for $20 a real bargain! I just need a helmet - compulsory here and I am off - well at least I can keep up with Josh now! Andy has his bike, India on hers and Saffron in the seat I will fix on to mine - Don't think she will fit in the basket!

I can not believe how much we have accumulated since arriving in NZ. It will be 6 weeks tomorrow! where has the time gone?

I will post some more pics tonight of the empty and then filled house - I expect it will be cluttered! Oh well maybe I need to get into another de-cluttering mode!

Lush

Well it's Thursday evening, another week almost over.
Josh is busy in school, plenty of homework which is the cause of a few upsets of volcanic scale!
India has a fun filled Kindy week and a great bath tonight. And Andy now has his head in HP. I finished about 11.30pm Tuesday! I couldn't put it down once I got to last 150 pages or so! there was a huge Flash Gordon moment near the end - Andy didn't get it - hope you lot do!

I went into Wellington today - Job Interview. Interesting company - lots of opportunity for growth in the next few years. Will have to wait and see if anything happens, so 1 month in and 2 job offers. Plus I got my pack for starting up Phoenix here.

While in Wellington I discovered the Lush store - oh what a treat! A got the girls a new butterfly bliss ball. Turns the bath pink and has 2 cloth butterflies in the middle - they loved it!

I have also been out doing other shopping again - oh its such fun. new toaster as we didn't bring ours. Got a whole $10 off. And I have got 10 plugs ready to swap on Fridge, kettle, Washing machine, tumble dryer and extension leads for TV lot, computer stuff and stereo stuff etc. I am sure I will need a lot more too - oh hoover - mustn't forget alarm clock too.....

I am keeping an eye on the second hand freezers and will also need a new single mattress for top bunk bed for the girls. And a cheap pushbike for me!

We are also having fun with some great books from the library - Wolves by Emily Gravett. I think Andy enjoyed it more! I wanted Meerkat Mail but it was out. A lovely book on Pukeko's too - purple marsh birds - they are fun.

Interest rate has gone up to 8.25 here today - ouch, but exchange rate is high - especially against USD$. We have lost $30,000 in exchange rate since April! Ouch - we may have to put it all in UK premium bonds and wait for better exchange rate! Still on target for mid August completion. The survey was done 13th July and as yet we have not been asked to reduce price for anything so fingers crossed nothing has come up in surveys that they feel they want to try it on with....

Josh also had a lovely email from Mrs Duggan - she is off traveling this summer - sounds loads of fun. Now comes the fun - getting him to reply!

Harry Potter and the deathly Silence.

shhh.... I am reading....

Yes I have my copy and desperately trying to finish it before anyone tells me how it ends - so no spoiling it!

Although finding time with 3 loud and bored kids is not easy - We took them to the zoo yesterday - very useful these annual passes. It was a glorious afternoon and we meet Tahi the Kiwi (Maori for one - he has one leg thanks to a mantrap!) and a load of spiders - yuk. They did a talk on local spiders - was good to see the different sorts that live in the gardens here - they are not little ones! But only one that bites - White tailed spider - small and nasty - but if you have daddy longlegs you don't have them! Oh and keep your house around 19 degrees in winter - they live in 20 plus - so come inside in winter. Nothing a boot or rolled up paper will not sort! Its the wolf spiders in the garden - only about 4cms and fast - yul yuk yuk!

I have uploaded some more pics of the animals - was too wet last time we went. They also have a nice cafe there and we could see the Wellington phoenix players training in Newtown park next door - they are the new and great soccer team - pondlife compared to The Arsenal!

The kids had a good run around and then we had fish and chips for tea - I had picked up a huge piece of Tarakihi. More like Cod, a nice white fish not the yuky Hoki you get in the fish fingers!
And oven chips - the kids loved it - especially Saffron!



Post from my parents has slowly arrived, My first attempt at post home took 14 days! I thought they said 4 days to the UK? Oh well glad email is quicker.

First Day....

Well he has a great day, we collected his stationary kit, Book bag and Chair bag and off he went to class.
Mrs Stenhouse is apparently from Brighton! And he has made friends already with Tom from the East Midlands. They sat next to each other. In fact he was so busy being the centre of attention and the newest boy and chatting to some of the lads he didn't even wave goodbye to us or miss us!
There has only been 17 new pupils in year 2 so far this year! they have 3 classes all getting full for year 2.

He came home with a big smile, homework already and 2 library books on motorbikes, plus a load of new friends. I am glad as he is a much happier boy this evening having got back to a 'normal' routine.

I have also been nusy and had a visit from a rep of the local government funded childminder group. They will have no problems getting a placement for the girls!

Andy has come home with news that he is off to Texas in September for the SEG and probably a follow up in November/December time.

It is quick, but we expected him to have to do some traveling. At least by then I will have the kids in a routine, in rented with our own stuff and I will have made a few more friends and contacts.
Hopefully he will take the chance get some Christmas shopping!!!!

The only no smooth aspect is that we have been unable to register with the local family doctors - they are full and not taking any new patients on for a while! Other lcoal GP's are in the same position - its like the uk and dentists!