Kiwiagogoland

 It seemed appropriate that 2008 bowed out with a spectacular sunset. The last couple of days have seen temperatures soar into the mid 30's in Canterbury, so it looks like summer is well and truly here.

Where do ghosts send their laundry?

The dry screamers!

  Our trip to Hanmer Springs as part of Georgia's birthday present, couldn't have been better. Perfect weather in an idyllic place. Views of the mountains, good food, happy kids and a superb environment for relaxation. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the day, without exception. I think Georgia would have liked a Spa treatment though.....girls! ;)

No matter where you are.... the supermarket, the park, or in the street, Kiwi kids all sound the same at toddler age. And whenever we hear one, we are reminded of this advert for Mitre 10

Why did the football manager flood the pitch?

So he could bring on the sub

The block party that we were invited to at the beginning of December was a good night. There were a few neighbours invited and the kids had a great time in the spa pool, while us adults tucked into some tinnies from the "chilly bin". We finished the night off with food from a good bbq, before getting an early night in preperation for our trip to Hanmer

  Santa parades are big business in NZ. The main ones are in the cities, but the nearby village of Lincoln had its own version too. It's typically the summer carnival with Santa on the back of a lorry. The whole village turned out and when you consider numbers (population 4000) the efforts were on a much grander scale than that of Solihull (which we witnessed the week prior to leaving the UK). This carnival procession had floats!

Another feature is the "dress your bike" competition, where all the kids try to out do each other with various Christmas themes for their bikes. As you can see from the pictures, helmets are still compulsory!

What happened to the editor who interviewed a cannibal?

She's now editor - in - chief

 I think its safe to safe Georgia really enjoyed her Birthday as you will see from the pictures in the family album. Plenty of presents from the UK, a great curry and some surprise treats and trips, helped the day go down well. Topped off by an amazing solid ice-cream cake.....mmmm

Thanks everyone for all your cards, presents and phone calls. I am this morning in the process of updating all the photo's in the albums. More on these, which each post. I am going to schedule the updated diary entries, so that you are not bombarded with 20 posts, so keep tuned over the next few weeks.

Nicki had a camcorder for Christmas, she has been busy taking video for you and has left it to me to get uploaded. I've finally worked out a format that Picassa is happy with so I will get a new link out to you soon with details on the video album.

Thats it for now, so sit back, relax and enjoy our offerings.

What do sea monsters eat?

Fish and ships

What runs around Paris in a tupperware box?

The Lunch Pack of Notre Dame!

What is the definition of an archaeologist?

Someone who's career is in ruins

What do you call a nervous witch?

A twitch

We are the first inline to celebrate anything in a given year, so let me be the first to wish you Merry Christmas on Christmas day itself!

Pics, updates and gossip coming during the week and probably a few posts later today too ;)

The grass, that is. It's been so dry here recently that the grass had already turned brown, however it was the first day of summer on the 1st December and, since then we've had quite a lot of rain (well comparatively, since we arrived). Some days have been drizzly and some have been baking hot sunshine with showers, but "it's been good for the ground".

The "heat" is very tolerable as its not humid with it, and I must say that its been really pleasant so far.

Things have been really busy recently with Birthday events and Christmas, but I will hopefully get some of our more recent expeditions uploaded soon.

Google street maps now offers you the opportunity to drive around our town at street level, and see what its like living in New Zealand. You can "drive" past the house on the way to the shops, call in at school or try my route to work, taking in the scenery of the hills to the east and the mountains to the west.

Further afield you can check out our shopping centers at Hornby and Riccarton - although they do seem to have picked out rush hour! I've never seen so much traffic there :) It certainly gives you a great persective

We've had a great time today. I'd give you an update, but we've had too much wine....well it was rather nice!

I am currently in the process of updating the family album with Birthday pictures, so be sure to check out the new ones.

8.45am... Got a call from the windscreen company. The stock item windscreen, that needed to be measured up - has come in broken, so it won't be fitted now until next Wednesday.

2pm... The mobile rang again "I'll be there in 20 mins", declared the man at the other end. He was and he was busy cleaning and polishing the glass as I arrived with the keys.... Just a shame about the 95mm x 4mm gouge across the middle of the screen! Rescheduled for Friday this week.

3.30pm... Man called again to say will he will be there to fit another windscreen at home, just after 5pm tonight.

6pm... Man arrives and finally fits windscreen. He should have finished his shift at 5pm, but fair play to him, he came out and completed my window, finally finishing at 7pm.

This weekend is a busy one. Not only is Nicki working her first weekend, but she also finds herself on night call for the first time. Normally both events are separate, but with Christmas coming she has the short straw, but at least it gets it over and done with. Talking of Christmas, this weekend is my work Christmas meal. We are both invited to the Rossendale Restaurant and Winery for what promises to be a pleasant evening.

Next weekend is Georgia's Birthday weekend, so we are hoping to organise something special for that. It also sees us all invited to our first ever "Block Party". It's being organised by George (our 'neighbor' from over the road) and is an opportunity to meet the new neighbours. The girls have to take a plate, the gents a bottle, whilst the kids have to take their "togs" to enjoy some Spa time. Sounds like fun to me :)

Much is being made of last weekends rugby results and many feel the the impressive displays are due to controversies surrounding the pre match Haka, which apparently made all the difference.

The Rugby League World Cup win, New Zealands first, was made all the more sweet, due to the fact that we beat the Aussies on their own soil in the final to take the trophy. It was the biggest upset in years and NZ had lost heavily in the same match weeks prior during the group stages. The Kangaroos had advanced arm in arm towards the Kiwis during the Haka, coming within touching distance, in a show of defiance.

Meanwhile, in Rugby Union, the Welsh thought they had come up with a cunning plan to un-nerve the All Blacks. The tradition is that the players will not turn away until after the opposition players move to take up their positions. However, the Welsh coach (a former AB) knew this and told his captain to stand his ground. The inevitable and seemingly controversial standoff ensued, finishing only after the referee had to man handle to captains away, some 2 and a half minutes later.

The British press, who for some reason see the Haka as merely pre-match entertainment, are now likening the All Black embellishments to that of a tribal war dance...... erm, that's EXACTLY what it is! Sure, Kapa o Pango (which was composed for the New Zealand Rugby Union a couple of years ago) lacks momentum and is longer than the original Haka, Te Rauparaha's, but the meaning is the same - its a challenge to the opposition.

This all leads to Kiwi's claiming that there is now a lack of respect for their culture, but the Haka's overuse by all sports teams (it was used at the Olympics) is being identified as the cause of the new disrespect. Basically the novelty and entertainment value for opposing teams (and their supporters) is wearing thin. If the practice of the Haka is not moderated, there is likely to be increasing disrespect. And, as the editorial in this weeks New Zealand Herald says, The Haka is too important to risk that.

Anyway, neither response was enough to stand in the way of either Kiwi team, as the AB's now look set for a Grand Slam, the only team in their way? ...... England!

When I took out my car insurance, I was really surprised to hear that the windscreen excess was nil. You can make as many claims as required and it has no affect on your policy or NCB. This week, I think I've discovered why.

I found a small chip in the black band of the window under the wiper, but I was safe in the knowledge that a quick call to Smith & Smith (who are part of the same group as Auto Windscreens) would fix the problem. The guy came out and tried to fix it but during the process of drilling a hole for the resin, transformed it from a 10C chip to a $2 chip (1p to 2quid). He wasn't happy, but we agreed to suck it and see. Despite this, he decided to take a measurement of the glass anyway, just in case (his book didn't have the sizes for an 08 Fiesta, despite telling me it was a stock item prior to starting the work).

At this point he attempted to lift the rubbers using a screwdriver and wondered why the edge of the screen chipped, creating a crack across the windscreen. He fobbed it off with a comment about not being happy with it anyway, but proceeded to get his proper "rubber lifting tool" from out of the van to complete the process.

He is due out on Thursday (7 days after the event) to fit a new windscreen.....

 Yesterday afternoon was time for our first full-on Sunday roast since moving to Rolleston. We decided to be adventerous and go for it on the barbeque. So roast beef, yorkshire puddings, roast potatoes and pepper sauce all made their way to the outside "oven". It worked well, expecially the Yorkshires!

For pudding, it was the turn of the kids. BBQ'd banana and chocolate fritters and pineapple. Abi made the most of the excess chocolate as you will see in the family album.

 We decided to take a trip out to Diamond Harbour this afternoon. I would have pictures, but I managed to forget my camera, so you can take a look at our route instead. You can find the location directly at Google Maps The cliff track was just that, a track. It provided some great views across the harbour to Lyttelton, but it was not for the feint hearted! Back onto stable land, we made to the only cafe/shop we could find for some lunch, before taking the road back through to Governors Bay and home.

On the hunt for free entertainment this weekend, we decided to take a look at the first ever public Diwali celebrations in Christchurch. Held in the square, there were about 200 people present. The food on offer, although overpriced was good, but that's about all that can be said for it. Still, the kids enjoyed the trip out and the highlight of the day was when Nicki saw us on the live webam, which can be found at Cathedral Cam (its not on the BNZ building anymore).

 This was one of those times that you heard the storm coming before it got here. Not because of any thunder or anthing, but because of the noise of the hail bouncing off the tin roof's as it made its way up the road! The stones were upto 10mm in diameter - the large one pictured was 9mm - and its certainly the largest hail I've seen. Needless to say, the kids thought it was awesome, eh!

 We took advantage of a charity day today, to get down onto the Avon for some punting. Abi was at a friends house, so the four of us took a walk through the botanical gardens to the Antigua Boat Sheds, for a 20 minute trip up river. I have to say it was very relaxing and great to get on the water during such a warm day. I've changed the way we get pictures to the blog, so clicking on the image will take you to the gallery to see the rest of the days pics. The ones of us can be found on the family link if you have it ;)

Those of you who avidly read the blog will notice that Georgia has a tidy room (see Rolly House) and you will also have noticed that she has not texted recently (because she has lost her phone).

Anyway, don't tell anyone....but I've found it......under her bed ;)
Shhhh! Don't tell her ;)

 A gloriously sunny day gave way to bitterly cold winds on a night that would have benefitted from the heat of a bonfire. Nicki and I completed our stints with the PTA and I think its safe to say we both thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, even if we were in need of a warm coffee and hotdog by the end of our allotted times. Georgia disappeard for a time with some school friends and the fireworks, set to music were well worth the $5 family entrance fee. Some hand held pictures of the fireworks themseves can be found in the Fireworks Night Album. It also raised a fantastic amount for the school as they had a stall next to the other fair ground rides (think carnival or large village fete) and were allowed to use council land to turn into a carpark at $2 a shot.

 At last the long awaited pictures of the house at Rolleston (that we have just moved into) make it into the Family Gallery section. It really is nice to live here. 4 Bedrooms (to keep our promise to the kids), plenty of space and an all important northerly aspect for solar heating and light. Its very modern and clean, having been built in January of 2007. The pictures show pretty much every room. The showers are big enough for 2 and according to Nicki the bath is wonderful as its deep enough to sink into, after a full days work.

PS to avoid confusion the number I texted to people is not a new mobile - its the landline number!

We now have a broadband connection at the new house. As soon as I have sorted out a few more boxes, I can get on with my list of internet based jobs. However, we now all have better access to email and messaging. This of course also means we have a landline number. I've sent out the number via text to a few people, but if you would like to give us a ring, then drop me an email for the details.

Nothing unusual there you may think, but its causing a bit of a stir with the locals as its nearly summer here! Some snow flurries for us in Rolleston this morning, but a few areas around and about have a thin blanket covering. Temperatures are set to drop to -2C tonight, but that will give us clear sunny days over the weekend. This is good news for us as it keeps us warm indoors. Solar heating through double glazed windows is very efficient here and an hours sunshine will heat the house for the rest of the day. You can keep up to date with local variations of weather at NZ Weather

With Christmas and Birthdays coming up, a number of you have enquired about banking for the kids. They now all have pocket money accounts, but you should be aware that they will incur a $20 service fee for international money credits. Times that by 3 and its $60 from any money you send out.

My suggestion would be to transfer it into either Nicki's or my account so that only one transaction fee is incurred this end. We can then transfer it across electronically for free. Whether you get charged a fee by your bank, depends on which bank you use!.

An better alternative would be to use a service like Western Union Money Transfer. Whether you decide to send it one lump or 3 depends on you, as all the transaction fees are incurred by the sender.

Cheques....if you send a cheque in Sterling, the kids will be charged an international transfer fee. If you send it in NZ Dollars, there would be no transaction fee this end, but your bank may charge you for this service.

Today is bonfire night and we have a community fireworks display to go to on Saturday. Already the local school has us working on the PTA stall and car parking.

There is a total lack of fireworks being let off on the run up to the day, primarily due to restrictions on sale. Only very few places actually sell fireworks, and they can only do so for 3 days. The system works really well and so far seems to ensure everyone goes to organised displays. I was wondering if we would get the odd rogue home display today, but with high winds and rain forecast, it may be more of a wash out. Still, its looking good for the weekend!

I know, I know, I promised photos. As well as being really busy at work, its been incredibly busy with the move to Rolleston and cleaning out the house at Lincoln, so some things have been put on the back burner, sorry about that.

I mentioned the phone has been connected. If only broadband was as simple! I am trying to setup a package through work, but the customer service of the company is appaling and the packages have changed from the info I was given to base my initial decision on. They now only bundle with phone services too and having just connected to Telecom it means I need to look elsewhere. This also limits my options with other providers, due to the Telecom account. I do hope to have something in by the weekend though.

Boxes .....bloody things are everywhere. The furniture was great and it looked like we got a lot done on day 1, but the boxes seem to be taking ages to unpack - well 2 days anyway, so far ;) The lounge (media room) is done, but the rest is still subject to boxes - lol.

Plugs .... We were advised to cut them off before leaving and I'm so glad I didn't! As a result we are not too bad at the moment as I have used 4 and 8 block extensions from the UK with NZ adapters for main plug, so we are getting round that. Having changed 22 100 watt light bulbs around the house for 13 watt energy efficient ones, changing 50 or so plugs doesn't rank high on the list yet ;)

TV's.....1 half works - the LCD has sound and vision to terrestrial channels. It can pick up the freeview but with no sound and picture. The other 3 CRT TV's for the kids room's have pictures but do not have sound - so they are only good for the DVD's and games consoles atm.

Speak to you all soon

Finally we have a phone number. It's been connected today and naturally goes to the new house. Once I settled on a phone company it actually only took them 2 hours to run the connection through, which is pretty good service.

.....all we need now is a phone ;)

 Just to let you know that from Monday 3rd November, we will have a new address. If you would like the details, please send an email through. We had a postal delivery the other day, and following my request in Value of the Written Word, I'm pleased to say the magazines have gone down really well, as expected and one package even contained some bonus pocket money, so thank you to those who have sent through some dollars!

The magic vases....they work really well as you can see from the picture and should be recommended to everyone. We had a delivery in a recent parcel from Carol and you can see more of them in the Lincoln House gallery

We managed to get to the semi final of the rugby to watch Canterbury take on Hawkes Bay. It was a close match, but towards the end, fitness levels prevailed and Canterbury reached the final with a 31-21 victory. The final itself was at Wellington yesterday, which meant we were unable to travel, but Canterbury won the cup, with a dramatic 7-6 victory. Those who are interested can see the match report.

This weekend however, sees the start of the FIFA World Cup - yes a football finals in NZ......for the under 17 ladies ;)

CHCH plays host to a number of teams and the matches are played at QEII stadium, which is a fantastic sports centre (we went swimming there yesterday, it was like a Centre Parcs pool)

Just to let you know that I am aware of the email fault, which will have resulted in you getting returned emails over the weekend. Unfortuantely, I cannot get to the server until Tuesday monring to rectify the problem.

Every now and then the calm of the Lincoln contryside is shattered by an air raid siren. The continuous whale (WWII all clear) can come at any time of the day or night. Its used to call the local retained fire brigade into action and to notify the locals of a civil defence warning - the latter is signalled by the tone going up and down (WWII Raid) at which point you are supposed to listen to the local radio station for public service broadcasts.

The system can be used for national disater, earthquake or tsunami warning, although it won't work in a power cut..... can you spot the deliberate mistake?

Having been here just a few weeks, you could now be forgiven for entering into consiracy theories.

First, having settled down to my first beer in NZ, a week or two back, I found myself crunching on the dregs at the bottom of the bottle. A quick glance showed it to be shards of glass (with no sign of damage on the bottle).

Then came the spider bite from a White Tail (an Aussie import). The swelling was localised and painful for a good few days, but went down with no further problems.

Finally my work gets hit with an outbreak of Noro Virus. Its been contained very well so far and the quick implementation of special measures, paid off.

Nicki is on her last week of induction and has picked up a car today! Woo hoo! No more early moring lifts, which will please the little ones as well as me. It seems nice to be able to see a routine on the horizon, albeit a new one to get used too. Due to the way the pool cars are issued, we will have to do the odd pick up and collect, but hopefully that should be little more than once or twice a month.

Having done 3500km (2200 miles) in the Fiesta since getting it a month or so ago, it will be nice to be able to reduce the daily travelling down to 20km a day.

Monday (yes the bank holiday) is Nicki's first day proper in her new position, so please be sure to send on your best wishes.

Hot news off the press! The container has been delayed (obviously) and will not arrive now until the 27th, having left Sydney on the 21st. The 27th here is a bank holiday (Labour Day).

Although they won't give me an exact date, the shipping company say they hope to be able to deliver the week commencing the 3rd November.

Having had discussions with our current rental we can stay until the 10th if needed, so soft beds all round :)

After a stressful couple of days wondering, this will work out quite well as we now have plenty of time to move our existing gear between the 2 houses, clean and check everything over. A quick scout around the new place and it looks as if its already empty and waiting for us!

 Spring is now definately here and the garden has continued to bloom. Peony's and Azalias take preference at the current time and the trees are also starting to get their buds. Some birds have fledged the nest (blackbirds and thrush) and some are still nest building (sparrows). Ducks and their offspring are a frequent sight, crossing the roads during the school run as they wander between the water courses. We've not lit the fire now for a couple or 3 weeks and the evenings are lighter - until around half 7, quarter to eight. We don't get long evenings anyway, even in the height of summer daylight is from around 06:30 to 20:30, so no trouble sleeping ;) More images from around the garden can be found at Lincoln House Gallery.

As I mentioned in a previous place, my new employ is moving from Pegasus mail to Outlook 2007 and Exchange (a different way of sending email to those not in the know).

Anyway it seems that as we complete bringing a department online, so a messenger is despatched on behalf of the happy customers, with a tray of muffins and thank you cards for the ITS staff! Combined with the daily "thank yous" from IT managers and directors it really makes those busy days worthwhile and reflects perfectly, the pleasant nature of the locals.

Its not long now until we expect to move out to a new address. The unfurnished rental in Rolleston (10k up the road) will allow us to take delivery of our container of furniture, but this is where it gets complicated.

Our current rental expires on the 30th Oct and we have to take on our new rental from the 28th. This is great as, it gives us a few days to move what we arrived with (12 cases of clothes) and a few things out of the fridge.

However co-ordinating the container is another issue. We still don't have an ETA for its arrival. The shipping company refuse to give a date but state a lead time of around 7 to 14 days from arrival of the ship. The ship is expected on the 21st (from the info given to us in the UK) but again the NZ company will not confirm this. If they ring over the next few days and tell me they want to deliver before the 28th, we are into handling and storage fees. If its after the 30th, we could be without furniture for a while.

The saving grace is that we may be able to extend our current rental time (although they have a new tennant lined up already) if things get messy, although of course, they would like some notice. So it seems everything revolves around the 21st.....

This is our "Sutton Park" alternative. 30 mins drive away from home, just to the north of Christchurch City, Bottle Lake Forest Park has a number of walks and tracks for walking, cycling and horse riding etc. There is also access to a beach, although on our first walk, we didn't quite get that far. Some pics from our trek with the dogs can be seen in the Bottle Lake Gallery. Enjoy!

What a stunning place. Akaroa has been on our list of day trips for a while, and with FrenchFest at the weekend and temperatures of 25C expected, we decided to venture over last Saturday. As you will see from the Akaroa Gallery you approach from Hilltop, with stunning views over the valley. The village itself is very picturesque and is naturally sheltered by the headlands. If you zoom in on the satellite location map you will see a number of piers dotted throughout the town, some of which are used for the infamous Swimming with Hector Dolphin trips, which have since been added to 3 Christmas lists - lol. The festival was very well presented and backed by Christchurch City Coucil. There was plenty to do and lots of local produce stalls with a Frech twist. A definate tourist hotspot and not a bad place to moor a boat either ;)

You may have noticed a lack of pink posts in the blog. If you would like to see some, then let us know by putting a comment below :)

I've now got the pictures up from the rugby match on Friday. Most are in the family album, but some have been placed publically with general views of the AMI Stadium. Canterbury won 48-10 (thats forty eight - tin, if you are a local) to reach the semi finals which are being played this weekend. The cheer leaders made me laugh. They would sit on their bench talking, then suddently jump up into their routine, shocked when they heard the music for a try - lol. It was a good game and everyone enjoyed the expereince enough to want to go again. Next time we will get their earlier so the kids can pick up their team pack (facepaints, clapper things and goodies) so they can get the players signatures :) Whilst Nicki and I try to study a rule book - lol!

This televised event proved to be very worthwhile. Although I didn't sit through all of it (to find out what we did do, you need to tune in over the next few days) the result was interesting.... Think BTCC but endurance racing.

1000km distance, 6.5 hours main race duraction, 2 drivers per car (including some from BTCC). Ford finished 1st and 3rd, with a Kiwi driving a Holden (Vauxhall)in 2nd place. The top six cars finished within 10 seconds of each other with just 2.5 seconds splitting 1st and 2nd. It was a little more exciting than F1 and the last 8 laps were a sprint, with cars running out of fuel, overheating and hitting tyre walls adding to the fun. Great stuff! If you see my first post at Sports Weekend for the links.

Hmmm, The Garden Party. Its the students answer to an end of year rave....on campus! The sports fields are fenced off, and partolled by over 30 police and stewards whilst the students party to live music and lots of drinks. Its ticket only and runs from 10am to 4pm, but the event unoffically starts 12 hours earlier with an all-nighter and finishes in a similar vein.

It results in a quiet campus with pockets of drunken students wandering around in fancy dress, who are watched with amusement by those of us currently still sober.

Not to be out done of course, the staff have an End of Garden Party Party, where beer and a lamb BBQ are on the adgenda for the princly sum of $4 (1.50 GBP) per head. Now why did I book those rugby tickets?

Talking of rugby, I hope we still make it as Nicki is currently in bed ill, with a tummy bug. Not to be out done Alex has "requested" a day off too, to look after her....

Yes written as opposed to typed. We recently had the joy of some post for the family and its just great to see how a letter, postcard or even a UK magazine is covetted and treasured by everyone. We really love it, so here is your challenge....send us a letter!

It can be to any of us, but it must he hand written and posted. You can send it to our physical address or to the PO Box we setup before leaving. If you can't remember either, drop me an email for the details.

P.S. If you have any magazines for little boys and girls, please consider sending the odd one over for our chap and chappess's to read (even if you've read it first) as it contains a WOW factor, like you wouldn't believe :)

Well it didn't take long. We get to go to our first NZ rugby match this weekend. It's all Nicki's idea. She has been talking with a colleague at work who goes to the matches and as kids go free this weekend, she thought we should take a look. It will be my first ever rugby match. It's quarter finals - so that should see a strong crowd ( maybe 10,000 ) to see Canterbury take on Tasman in the Air New Zealand Cup. I can't figure out how it works as its a league of 12 teams, but they only play 6 or so home matches, before getting to the finals ???

A slighly different league as just finished with Manly taking on Storm - both Aussie teams, but there was huge interest as the "Warriors" from Auckland made the semis.

In the new year Canterbury gets replaced by the Crusaders - this time its a 14 team league with 6 home matches, and a season ticket buys you into both teams games ...... If you can't work it out take a look at Canterbury & Crusaders Rugby

The weekend continues with TV coverage of the motor racing. Dominating the saturday and sunday TV, there is coverage of warm-ups, qualifying, practice and race coverage for the Bathurst V8 Supercars where even the Saturday night film keeps the focus - 2 fast 2 furious! The race website looks amazing and you can watch the live data panels as the race unfolds.

If its anything like the NZ Rally coverage we should be in for a treat - yes they even covered that with more than a UK token gesture of a 30 minute slot at 5 minutes to midnight!

Anyway, for those not into sport - Georgia's camera photos have been uploaded with the flight from Sydney to Christchurch, so you can see our approach as we crossed the West Coast.

I've uploaded some pictures from Nicki's camera today to keep you up to date over the weekend. I will try and sort out Georgia's photos soon. Most of the additions are to the family album (which you need the special link for), although there are a few additions to the public albums covering the Christchurch area.

We have a new google album!

I have used this one because I can access it from our current PC's to upload the images. It also allows us to add a map to show people where they were taken, to give you an idea of what is where and how far from us things are.

The publically viewable galleries can be found using the Blog NZ Photos link on the left of the main page.

I have also included a family section which contains images of all of us. If you would like access to this section, please email Grant for the link with the access key. There are around 100 images uploaded at the moment.

 I did promise this one a while ago. Although I can't access the gallery at the moment, I can now get the odd image up on the blog. This one is the view from the front of the house towards the mountains. If you want to see the full image, just click on the picture to the left.

Today was Nicki's big day. She has been very nervous over the last couple of days and venturing out of bed at 6am this morning was a monstrous achievement, well for me anyway ;)

Alex came with us as I had to drop him at holiday club after dropping off Nicki, he was really well behaved and was looking forward to his exciting day. The poor girl was there almost an hour early, but settled into McDonalds for a drink. Feedback this afternoon was positive and whilst the next few weeks are here and there with induction programs (causing transport headaches), she managed to scrape a lift home this evening, getting home an hour early.

Hopefully we will hear some first hand news about how it went, over the next few days.

 We really enjoyed the visit to the International Antarctic Centre. The Hagglunds were great fun athough some might admit to being a tad scared if you ask them quietly ;)

The Blue Penguins being fed, were another highlight and the information on the displays were clear, well presented and contained stacks of information for those who were interested. 70 percent of all Antarctic personnel leave from CHCH and we were lucky enough to view the flight deck of the transport aircraft and see the airport fire truck do a demonstration. Strangely fire is one of the the biggest risks in Antarctica, due to the lack of water. It's not rained for millions of years and the annual snowfall is less than 5mm a year! Talking of weather, they also have a storm room, where we all dressed up in thick coats before subjecting ourselves to 46kmh winds and temps of -16C brrrrr!.

Much is made of the regular winds that come around the time of the equinox. The north westers are renowned for howling their way across the country. This year is no exception as we were subjected to 120 kmh winds overnight, which brought down a tree in our front garden. Luckily its smaller uper branches were the only things to come into contact with the house itself, so there was no damage. It could have been worse had it have fallen 10 degrees left, it would have taken out a window.

The wind still amazes me here, not due to its strength, but to the effect it has on the days temperatures. Yesterday in Dunedin it was 15C, but overnight it reached 18C, purley due to the warmth carried on the subtropical NW'er. Had it have been W or E the temp would have been 6-8C and had it have been Southerly, the temp would have dropped to around 0C

This weekend marks the opening of the Christchurch Antartic Festival. The Christchurch Antarctic Festival celebrates the start of the season where the scientists make their way over to the greatest wilderness on earth.

Hopefully the weather will improve enough for us to be able to get to the ice-capade tomorrow, so that we can take a look around the C17, Hercules and other equipment used as well as trying out the Hagglund ride.

The nearby port of Lyttleton (where our container docks) is also playing host to some events and exhibitions as this is where the likes of Shackleton left from.

Just so that you know, NZ goes into DST tonight, so we will be gaining an hour.

Picture the scene.....

Its 6:30pm, you are travelling west, towards the setting sun. The blue of the sky is beginning to pale and the colours of orange, red and pink deepen in the evening clouds. The road is straight, the land flat and a cloud of dust is visible in your rear view mirror as your car moves forward. To your left and right is farm land, edged by tall pine and eucalyptus trees, that act as wind breaks. Every now and then is a cluster of trees to produce a copse. In front of you is the outline of the montain range, greyed by their own shadow, but tipped white by spring snowfall. The view remains the same for 5 or 6 minutes, broken only by 400 yards of housing, just before you turn into the supermarket car park.

Today we have been here for 4 weeks.

Things are very diverse. Already, apart from the usual desktop stuff, there are 2 email systems to maintain, users to create and update, network shares and permissions to assign, printers to fix, ports to patch and antivirus servers to check and update. Basically server, apps, infastructure and workstation all in one. The great thing is that you can have a go at it all.

On day 2 I was congratulated for being a bit more casual (I didn't tuck my shirt in) and tomorrow should be interesting as its dress down Friday, combined with blue day for prostate cancer. The weekly email notice has gone out from the staff club, to remind us that a free finger buffet is available from 4pm, with locally brewed beer and cider from the deep south, available to all ;)

The catering here is out of this world and seemingly heavily subsidised. A cooked lunch is equvalent to 1GBP unless you have a large portion then its 1.80 The coffee shop is unreal and is the equivalent to a Druckers and Greggs the bakers combined. To make up for this, full gym facilites are available (although the pool is being refurbished) but staff membership is equivalent to 55 quid.....a YEAR!

Everyone has been really helpful and friendly and I am fortunate to work with a great team of very skilled and capable people.

Thanks for your cards and well wishes. Work was busy today as they just implemented outlook for the first time on Friday afternoon. Trying to get my head around how they work their antiquated helpdesk system was a challenge. Things are so laid back though its unreal. Dress code: sunny day - shorts, tshirt and sandals.

For my health and safety briefing we went and sat on the lawn in the sun and read through the paperwork, then I got shown a fire extinguisher and a first aid box so that I could identify what they looked like - lol.

The kids seemed to have settled well in their respective schools, although Georgia is now coming out with a sore throat that is going around. Nicki starts work next week and is hopefully enjoying some time to herself during the day this week, while we are all out. The school day seems more relaxed, but they actually spend more time at school as the holiday cover 12 weeks a year (6 weeks summer, then three x 2 weeks at the end of each term. There are no half term holidays).

The dogs have settled well, and enjoyed their time on the beach at the weekend, after their flight. They are in good health, but seem to be constantly on the hunt for food. The only dog food you can get out here is branded - eukanuba, purina, hills etc or fresh meat! We've opted for eukanuba as it always seems to have an offer.


Keep in touch, hope you enjoy the blog updates and speak to you soon

The car has arrived and is really neat. I did wonder why every car has aircon as standard, but after this last week of blazing sunshine, 19C in the shade, means 40 degrees plus in the sun - as I've said before, its sooo piercing. The 1.6L engine is quick off the mark (the only size they do and a bit different to the 1.4 even with the low grade fuel).

All the kids seem to have settled at school. Alex says he has a lot more friends here already than at home, and I think this has been helped by his change in approach to his peers. I hope he keeps it up, but so far he is doing really well and its rewarding him! He's also taken an early interest in basketball - lol

Abigail has been invited to a party this weekend. It starts at 1pm with ice skating and ends at 8pm, after a video and food. After a dilema about school camp next week, she has decided not to go and will spend the time with 4 other classmates, which she currently gets on with really well.

Georgia seems to have made a friend in her buddy, who also lives on the University and she came home today having got full marks in an English project that she was dreading doing, so that has been a relief for her.

Our UK money finally hit our NZ bank account so that has been a pressure lifted to some extent for us as we now have some liquidity. I made a promise back in the UK and I'm still keeping as tight a reign as possible, as we will have no wages coming until mid October. Savings currently equate to an emergency trip home or a house deposit. I am determined not to eat into them and we hope to build on these after 6 months or so.

The dogs arrive tomorrow, which should be a really good boost. Finding things to do within budget during our spare time is difficult at the moment as all our stuff that goes to keeping us busy and occupied has not yet arrived. The kids have finally rebuffed any further suggestions of walks in parks or museums, although trips to the beach still feature as a plus point - lol

As a final update, I sent out an email to friends at BCU last week. I'm not sure that it got throguh though due to the way in which my email is currently being routed, so if anyone can confirm or deny that would be useful.

Time for Abi and Alex to start school in the morning. Both are really excited and love the compulsory 'sun hat' for break times :) They also have the rest of their uniforms and really look the part.

Georgia seems to have had an OK day. With the usual grunts and hmms when asked about aspects of how it went, as a parent you can assume that thats generally fine. Talking of fine the weather has been great. Sunny and warm for the last couple of days. We went to Sumner or an hour today and its really pretty, so when we go again that willl be a camera trip ;)

No show for the car due to late arrival from Auckland, but its been promised for tomorrow.

Georgia started school today at Lincoln High School. I'm not sure who was more emotional her or us, but the good news is that she escaped PE as her first lesson, due to inductions ;)

The school is very proud this week as a current student (who is only 15 and in the year above Georgia) has won 3 gold and a silver for swimming at the Paralympics in Beijing, setting a number of world records in the process.

Today we have an enrollment interview for Alex and Abi at Rolleston and hopefully they will also be starting tomorrow as long as we can get uniform and things sorted.

Fingers crossed that we can also get our own transport today, rather than having to rely on a hire car, as we a re due to take delivery of a Fiesta later today or tomorrow.

Speak soon.
Grant

We said our goodbyes at Birmingham airport after a smooth and quick check-in 12 cases and 5 peices of hand luggage. Emirates were great and we had 50kg each! Security was quick although I had a slight handicap in that you have to remove your belt. No problem normally, but as my trousers were now 2 sizes too big for me it did cause a slight issue (especially 3 times round for each airport).

The kids were great and enjoyed their first experience at flying. We didn't sleep out to Dubai, and the morning air hit you like a wall. Transit in the aircon bus was nice but I found the terminal too busy for my liking (a bit heathrow!) Georgia had an experience with security but they were that quick we didn't realise until after the event. The 3 hour wait went quickly and after being fed (again) on the flight we managed to nap.

Sydney was an altogether better experience - fantastic airport! We were due to have 3 hours according to our tickets, but the times were wrong and we actually only got 40 mins, which was a shame. Nicki got the drugs test this time but we had known about that due to a program we had watched on sky about Aussie customs at Sydney. We felt refreshed and the flight to Chch was now exciting.

Flying over the mountains was an experience and our first view of New Zealand. It was awesome. Landing at Chch, was like landing at Elmdon all those years ago. It seemed small and run down as we approached the "strip" but as you taxied off the runway the buildings got a bit bigger - lol.

We went through security, this time the MAF dog indicated for Alex - lol but all was well and within 20 mins we were getting a transit taxi having been met by my future boss (team leader).

Our first impressions were that the roads are a sort of cross between the continent and the US. There is a weird left turn give way rule that takes some getting used too, but thankfully the roads are quiet in comparison.

We arrived at the house and I think our first impression was that it was dated. Fittings, lights, electrics and the fireplace looked from the 50's and at this point I did begin to wonder what we had let ourselves in for, but we have now got used to it.

My team leader had gone to a great deal of trouble for making us feel at home. He had got the heating on and he had arranged a great welcome pack of tea, milk, fruit and basic provisions as well as champagne (with fruit based alternative for the kids.) I'll get some pics up in the photo gallery soon and you can take a look at our new setting. One thing I have to say is that the campus is awesome, but thats for next time.

OK so I have lots to catch up on. We are here, having arrived safely a week ago. I'll tell you more as I get more time, so there will be lots of back dated posts, so check through the August and September posts thoroughly.

Big up to all our friends out there hoping for updates, they will start coming soon!

Today was our open house, for those who could come along, it gave opportunity to say goodbye. I really enjoyed the day and it was especially good to see friends, family and surprise guests who were able to make the journey and drop in with such short notice. The last few days have given us some time to relax and get over the house move. We have been very lucky and blessed by family and friends who have offered to look after us all during our time of 'Big Issue' selling ;)

I am constantly amazed by those who rally round and we have formed some great friendships.....so make sure you stay in touch! The blog of course is our outlet to keep you informed, the flip side is you HAVE to comment to keep US informed :)

The container arriving was an event in itself. The lorry can hold 40 and 20ft loads, so it shortened itself to get up the road in reverse. The men duly loaded it up, and guess what....yep, it doesn't all fit. So my bike, the fridge a bookcase and a couple of boxes are going seperately. Oh well, such is life. I spoke to them the following day, threatening to leave it in their depot and not ship it out, they responded with a small discount ;)

The new people don't move in until tomorrow, but the cleaners are in today, and will come again in the morning along with the oven man.

PS If you've never had an oven man clean you're oven, it's the best 70 quid you will spend - fantastic

Today is my last day at work. Although I dont officially leave until the 7th September, with holiday leave etc, it is possible for me to bring my last day forward. Bye bye everyone, it's been a pleasure :)

The packers arrived today and worked through. Already there are comments about the stuff not fitting in the conatiner, despite clearing out a large skip full of stuff. I hope it does bloody fit after all this.

Since getting confirmation through, its been go, go, go! For NZ MAF everything that has come into contact with the ground has to be spotless. So I've been cleaning bikes, shoes, tents, tools, ladders etc with the steam cleaner and wiping them over with Jeyes fluid, ready for inspection on arrival. I stink of Jeyes - even the lady at the petrol station commented on me 'smelling nice'. Apparently she loves the smell of creosote.....whatever turns you on ;)

Finally managed to get our tickets booked tonight. We have our seats and meals arranged and we fly out on the 26th August, arriving on 28th August at Christchurch. We decided against the stopovers as things were so complicated and its late int eh day to add additional worry of more visas, hotels, cost etc.

I need to phone int he morning to arrange our additional free baggage allowance, then its just a case of sorting insurance, car and somewhere to stay - lol.

Anyone know a nice holiday park in the Christchurch area ;)

Phew! They made it. I got a phone call at 16:15 local and I thought it was to tell me to wait until Monday as they had not exchanged. But I was wrong. Everything's worked out fine and we now have a green light :)

Not looking good so far. Buyers solicitor not returning calls with regards to exchange, which means we will be on hold over the weekend.

We are due to exchange contracts today - the point of no return (unless you are prepared to pay 10% default deposit). I've just rung the solicitor (in case they had tried to contact me at home again, rather than on the mobile) to find that she has gone home for the day.

Aaaargh! Fortunately it looks as though things have been hended over to someone else. No news yet though.

Phew what a whirlwind 24 hours! We are now all set for completion on the 21st August. Hopefully we will have exchange completed by Friday so at that point, we will be able to sit back and relax in terms of the house sale being finalised.

In the mean time I am on the phone again trying to finalise removals. There are now 2 of the 4 companies who quoted, still left in the running and I am just waiting for a price adjustment to come through to be able to close the deal.

With visitors coming over on Sunday, that just leaves Saturday to tax the car, get the pre-booked haircuts for me and Alex, then sort out clearing out the garden, shed and ornaments. You know the sort of thing - composter, water butt, bird bath, feeders, kennel, hutch, shed, BBQ. I think I might need a van and a skip :)

At some point I also need to take down the weather station!

I'm still waiting for 2 quotes to come through for the dogs to get shipped over and we need to finalise flights and baggage allowance, because we need to pack that before the moves come in on Tuesday.

On top of all that, tonight I have the loft to clear and the filing cabinet full of old paperwork to go through. Should be done by midnight ;)

The solicitor has rung today and left a message on the home answerphone. Not sure why as we both work and she has our mobiles, but hey ho. Fortunately Nicki was off work and picked up the message after a bit of shopping.

The only problem now is....the solicitor is on her lunch ;)

My resignation is now in at work. The original date was for 7th September as being my last day, however with annual leave, that date has come forward to 20th August. Frighteningly close as that is now only a week away.

All we are waiting for now is confirmation of the completion date from our house buyers. We should have heard by now if they were going to meet our deadline of the 18th August, so it looks like there will be some slippage.

While you can still access the blog using the old domain name, I thought we may as well use the URL for the new domain too. So here we are :)

I wasn't going to bother with an NZ domain name for family email, but I've decided that it would be a good idea after all, due to the amount of spam some members of the family currently get. This time its going to be whitelist enabled from the start, so that should help everyone that bit more.

Nicki and I now have NZ bank accounts. It was very easy to setup via email and although they aren't fully active until we arrive, everything is now in place.

We've now had all the quotes in for removals and insurance too ....Now we just need a completion date for that darned house!