Kiwiagogoland

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.