2 steps forward 3 steps back

A Weta in case you didn't know!!!!!










Well it has been a hard week, no sleep and lots of calls back to the UK.

Our current buyer failed to meet the 3rd and final exchange date last week and after organising everything was ready to go Monday for exchange and completion this Friday but he is now refusing to exchange over some stupid excuse that is not related to the sale. Enough is Enough he has been told exchange and complete Friday else goodbye house!

Lucky for us we had already started to re-market on the QT after he failed to exchange and it looks like we may have found another buyer. But we have to start again from surveys etc etc. I dread to think how much money we are loosing every month that the house goes unsold. Let alone the huge rent we have here while waiting for the money from the house so we can buy here. I flinch every time I hear the kids banging the doors, running up the stairs dragging some toy or see raspberry kiss marks on the windows!

The good news is I have 2 fab friends I need to hire out as garden SOS workers. They have donated a morning to go and mow the lawn and trim the bushes and tidy it up. I appreciate it load - thanks girls!

Other positive news - I had my first phoenix order as a NZ trader - yippee!!!! The first of many I hope! I have been leaving posters everywhere and doing leaflet drops in the letterboxes on my walk to school.

Saffy had her first session at her school! Cope out really as the swimming pool has a creche and I have booked her in for 1 hour every Thursday while I do some lengths and have a wind down in the spa pool and sauna for 45 mins! It is one of my good days while India is at Kindy and Josh at school I am getting to do some me stuff finally!
And saffy gets to play in the sandpit and on the slide and have lots of fun too.

Right off to get some tea before another round of calls to estate agents!

Oh Josh gets invested as a Kea Scout next thursday - NZ equivalent of a Beaver Cub.

Slugs and Snails, Wetas and Whales

After receiving 'The Dangerous Book for boys' for his birthday he has been making friends in the Road where we currently live and they all disappeared into the bush behind the houses building dens and being boys. Which is one of the reasons why we moved here, he can go off cycling and playing and you feel a little more secure than in the UK.

I am sure it will not be long before he is out catching Wetas and other scary insects.

Anyway Rugby is one and I am off to watch the replay of the AB (ALL BLACKS) game.

Big is Good

New Zealand's Strongest man Levi Vaoga and the front man for the Mitre 10 stores was ding demos on Sunday for the opening of the new Upper Hutt Mitre 10 store. His catch phrase is ' BIG IS GOOD'

Josh was impressed watching him lift the bikes.

We also survived his party that afternoon 6 lads running riot - all good fun!
They had a macdonald's tea treat and plenty of fun. they were even too busy to eat their cake!

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!