Tomorrow night at 20.30 New Zealand will turn off its lights for an hour in support of action against climate change. We'll be with candles for the hour...as long as we go and buy them tomorrow.
Many cities around the world are taking part...are you?
Friday, 27 March 2009
Sunday, 22 March 2009
Seemed only appropriate to add a map!
I've added the good old Google Map to the blog...
You'll find it on the right hand side and I will try to make sure that the locations are updated as we spread our wings and explore this amazing country.
Hopefully it will help you to get some idea of what it all looks like.
Careful though...it will make you want to come and visit!!
You'll find it on the right hand side and I will try to make sure that the locations are updated as we spread our wings and explore this amazing country.
Hopefully it will help you to get some idea of what it all looks like.
Careful though...it will make you want to come and visit!!
Can you believe that this is our 5th weekend here??
Wow! Doesn't time fly when you are having fun!
Firstly here are a couple of photos that I missed from last weekend when we headed out to Lake Wairarapa - about 60 minutes North East of Whitby towards Marlborough - wine country.
We dropped down to the lake to have a wander. It is only a couple of feet deep so Oakley had a great time running through the water.
Kate and Max
Max walking in the sunshine
On Saturday we headed into Wellington to watch the Dragon Boat racing.
Max fulfilled a lifetime ambition and got to travel on a train! He has been 'Choo Chooing' them since we have been here so it was about time that he actually managed to travel on one.
The Dragon Boating took place at the water front in the city centre near Frank Kitts park so there were of course the usual food vendors and fairground rides that I am sure would be condemned in the UK! Max decided that he wanted to go on the cars strung to a metal wheel by string...and then proceeded to shout 'down!" (I want to get off please) after the 2nd rotation! Poor lad - I don't think it met his expectations - he probably thought that he was going to get to free drive around for a while in his own car!
Down!
After that 'experience' we quickly settled him with an ice cream - that always works...
What does ice cream do Max? Brrrrr....
Seen as we were there for the Dragon Boating, we thought we ought to watch a few races. It was as one might expect. Adults dressed in various garb paddling for all they are worth along a 100m course. The crew here did a good job with their costumes - Doctors and Nurses from Wellington Hospital.
At the same time there was a Power Boat race taking place in Oriental Bay which brought the boats up to the Wellington harbour area, so the grunting from the Dragon Boats was occasionally drowned out by Horsepower!
Today, Sunday, the weather wasn't great - winter is coming of course, so after doing a food shop in the morning, once the day had dried out a little, Max, Oakley and I drove over to Titahi Bay and we went for a blowy wander around the coast. Max likes his backpack which means that we can get a decent amount of ground covered.
Checking out the view
The views around the bay are great; looking back over to Parameta and Whitby and North into the hills.
Looking North
Back towards Porirua City
The train from Parameta to Wellington; Choo Choo
Oakley on the beach; sniffing for dead fish!
Pampas Grass
When we got home Max decided to play 'Bob the Builder' with his many Bob machine toys and his hard hat of course!
Scoop!
Max the Builder
Another great weekend behind us and another exciting week ahead.
Having successfully had Skype calls to Blackthorn, Romsey, Weedon and Satellite Beach, Florida we are all set up for video calls should you want to give us a call. Our skype name is kiwicalverts - add us and we'll respond when we are on-line.
We've found Max some childcare so Kate will be taking him to settle in this week. Just a few hours here and there. I am sure that he will be fine - he really enjoyed playing with Zak last week when Kate went to see the house.
Kate is preparing a job application for her 'dream' New Zealand job. Hopefully that will all go OK and she will get an interview... Fingers crossed.
I have a typically busy week of fixing to do having been asked to work out a Disaster Recovery Plan (interesting when you have to take into account Earthquakes and Volcanoes!) for our IT systems delivered to SLA customers...nice!
Have a good week everyone - more from us as the week goes on!
Love from us all.
Firstly here are a couple of photos that I missed from last weekend when we headed out to Lake Wairarapa - about 60 minutes North East of Whitby towards Marlborough - wine country.
We dropped down to the lake to have a wander. It is only a couple of feet deep so Oakley had a great time running through the water.
Kate and Max
Max walking in the sunshine
On Saturday we headed into Wellington to watch the Dragon Boat racing.
Max fulfilled a lifetime ambition and got to travel on a train! He has been 'Choo Chooing' them since we have been here so it was about time that he actually managed to travel on one.
The Dragon Boating took place at the water front in the city centre near Frank Kitts park so there were of course the usual food vendors and fairground rides that I am sure would be condemned in the UK! Max decided that he wanted to go on the cars strung to a metal wheel by string...and then proceeded to shout 'down!" (I want to get off please) after the 2nd rotation! Poor lad - I don't think it met his expectations - he probably thought that he was going to get to free drive around for a while in his own car!
Down!
After that 'experience' we quickly settled him with an ice cream - that always works...
What does ice cream do Max? Brrrrr....
Seen as we were there for the Dragon Boating, we thought we ought to watch a few races. It was as one might expect. Adults dressed in various garb paddling for all they are worth along a 100m course. The crew here did a good job with their costumes - Doctors and Nurses from Wellington Hospital.
At the same time there was a Power Boat race taking place in Oriental Bay which brought the boats up to the Wellington harbour area, so the grunting from the Dragon Boats was occasionally drowned out by Horsepower!
Today, Sunday, the weather wasn't great - winter is coming of course, so after doing a food shop in the morning, once the day had dried out a little, Max, Oakley and I drove over to Titahi Bay and we went for a blowy wander around the coast. Max likes his backpack which means that we can get a decent amount of ground covered.
Checking out the view
The views around the bay are great; looking back over to Parameta and Whitby and North into the hills.
Looking North
Back towards Porirua City
The train from Parameta to Wellington; Choo Choo
Oakley on the beach; sniffing for dead fish!
Pampas Grass
When we got home Max decided to play 'Bob the Builder' with his many Bob machine toys and his hard hat of course!
Scoop!
Max the Builder
Another great weekend behind us and another exciting week ahead.
Having successfully had Skype calls to Blackthorn, Romsey, Weedon and Satellite Beach, Florida we are all set up for video calls should you want to give us a call. Our skype name is kiwicalverts - add us and we'll respond when we are on-line.
We've found Max some childcare so Kate will be taking him to settle in this week. Just a few hours here and there. I am sure that he will be fine - he really enjoyed playing with Zak last week when Kate went to see the house.
Kate is preparing a job application for her 'dream' New Zealand job. Hopefully that will all go OK and she will get an interview... Fingers crossed.
I have a typically busy week of fixing to do having been asked to work out a Disaster Recovery Plan (interesting when you have to take into account Earthquakes and Volcanoes!) for our IT systems delivered to SLA customers...nice!
Have a good week everyone - more from us as the week goes on!
Love from us all.
Thursday, 19 March 2009
An interesting day...
Yesterday was my 37th Birthday. It was an interesting day to say the least.
I got up early to walk Oakley and then managed to have a little time with Max and Kate opening my presents and cards; thank you all who sent me Birthday greetings, before heading off to the bus - I have become a slave to the bus timetable!
Then it was a quick commute into the city for an easy catch up meeting with MAF (Ministry for Agriculture and Forestry) to go over the final issue that we have to fix for IRS (Incursion Response System) which is the application that assists in the management of any BioHazard incident which may occur across the whole of New Zealand.
After that I wandered through town and spent my Birthday money on a 32GB iPod Touch. I supplemented this with the money that I got from ESRIUK when I left. It was only fitting that this cash was spent on a new gadget. I am sure that people would expect nothing less!
It was then a regular day at work; I'm working on productising the Eagle SLA offering at the moment and using 2 new SLA customers as Guinea Pigs.
Then at 4pm I headed off to the dentist to have my new tooth made. You will recall from a previous post that a few weeks ago my last remaining milk tooth snapped off whilst eating a carrot! The dentist had used this detailed X-Ray that I had taken last week at an Orthodontist to order to right sized bits for my implant.
The gap...
On its way in...
Almost there...
All the way in!
***
After the screw was in Rob started to build a new resin tooth and fit it. This took a little time but after more prodding, pulling, grinding and polishing I left with a new tooth fitting the gap!
Then the local wore off and I immediately dosed myself up with Nurofen and Panadol!
My darling wife and son collected my from the dentist and we headed home to enjoy and rather excellent Chinese Takeaway and Chocolate Mud Cake with fresh coffee! Hmmmm...lovely.
Today it's a little achy and I guess will be for a few days...but I have no more gap...hoorah!
Have a good weekend one and all and we'll catch up again after the weekend with more photos.
I got up early to walk Oakley and then managed to have a little time with Max and Kate opening my presents and cards; thank you all who sent me Birthday greetings, before heading off to the bus - I have become a slave to the bus timetable!
Then it was a quick commute into the city for an easy catch up meeting with MAF (Ministry for Agriculture and Forestry) to go over the final issue that we have to fix for IRS (Incursion Response System) which is the application that assists in the management of any BioHazard incident which may occur across the whole of New Zealand.
After that I wandered through town and spent my Birthday money on a 32GB iPod Touch. I supplemented this with the money that I got from ESRIUK when I left. It was only fitting that this cash was spent on a new gadget. I am sure that people would expect nothing less!
It was then a regular day at work; I'm working on productising the Eagle SLA offering at the moment and using 2 new SLA customers as Guinea Pigs.
Then at 4pm I headed off to the dentist to have my new tooth made. You will recall from a previous post that a few weeks ago my last remaining milk tooth snapped off whilst eating a carrot! The dentist had used this detailed X-Ray that I had taken last week at an Orthodontist to order to right sized bits for my implant.
After the insertion of what felt like a litre of local anaesthetic, much prodding and pulling, some grinding and more prodding he drilled the pilot hole. Thankfully I didn't feel a thing. Then Rob carefully started to screw in a titanium self tapping screw; approximately 3cm long and 2.8mm diameter into my upper jaw. Nice! That took about 20 minutes to complete with 4 intermediate X-Rays taken - I guess to ensure that it wasn't going in too far! I am trying to get hold of copies of those X-Rays to supplement the one above.
*** Update: 14.20 on 20/03/2009
Here are the X-rays that were taken during yesterday's proceedure!
*** Update: 14.20 on 20/03/2009
Here are the X-rays that were taken during yesterday's proceedure!
The gap...
On its way in...
Almost there...
All the way in!
***
After the screw was in Rob started to build a new resin tooth and fit it. This took a little time but after more prodding, pulling, grinding and polishing I left with a new tooth fitting the gap!
Then the local wore off and I immediately dosed myself up with Nurofen and Panadol!
My darling wife and son collected my from the dentist and we headed home to enjoy and rather excellent Chinese Takeaway and Chocolate Mud Cake with fresh coffee! Hmmmm...lovely.
Today it's a little achy and I guess will be for a few days...but I have no more gap...hoorah!
This afternoon we are heading to the beach for Max to have a post dinner paddle and for Oaks to have a swim.
Tomorrow in Wellington harbour is the Dragon Boat festival (Max will finally get the train ride he has been desperate for) and on Sunday we will more than likely head back up the Kapiti Coast to go to the beach for more walking, paddling and no doubt a late breakfast.
Marvellous!
Have a good weekend one and all and we'll catch up again after the weekend with more photos.
Saturday, 14 March 2009
2 beautiful Kiwi things...
No. 1: Mac's Brewery, especially Sun Dance ale and Great White wheat beer
No. 2: Pavlova! The Kiwi's love it so yesterday for our first "Out on the Deck BBQ" I made a Blueberry one
Both are delicious when served outside in the warm Kiwi Autumn sun!
Sunday, 8 March 2009
The story so far...
The story so far...
We’ve been in New Zealand for two and a half weeks now so it’s about time we gave you a full update as to our adventures so far...
I’ve already mentioned that the apartment didn’t live up to expectations...well, it got even more interesting during week 2! I got back from work on Monday to find 2 messages from a Solicitors on my UK phone. They got my number from a sign that Kate & I put on the front entrance to the apartments for the couriers that were going to be delivering the boxes that we sent from the UK. The intercom to the apartment didn’t work so this seemed to be the most sensible option given that we didn’t really want to miss the delivery. Well, the solicitors were calling me because they had been trying to gain access to the apartment we were renting for months as the owner had defaulted on his mortgage. No wonder he was reluctant to reduce his rate for the extra 2 nights that we needed!
To cut a longer story short, I finally managed to get them to agree not to change the locks until we had left – which was 08.30am last Wednesday! The apartment owner is a massive bloke whose Grandfather captained the Maori team when England, The All Blacks and the Maori All Blacks player together in the 60’s. There were also Tai Kwondo trophies all over the walls – so I am pretty pleased he doesn’t know where we have moved to...unless he finds this blog of course!!
Over the weekend I also attended my very first car auction and managed to come away with a nice little bargain... We are now the proud owners of a Subaru Legacy GT Twin Turbo. Loads of poke and loads of boot. Would you look at the size of that exhaust!
Scoobee Doo...
Black and shiny...
View from Wellington Zoo
"Animals!"
Chimp palace
Explorer Max
Needs to grow a bit to see over the steering wheel...
Hippo riding
Animal...
The week still wasn’t quite finished with us! We had been talking to the shipping company about delivering our container – we had found the house in Whitby and had a car to get us there and had the date of rental to start as Wednesday 4th March so getting the container there on the same day seemed like a good idea. The shipping company were OK to release it – they had unpacked it and separated out the items that MAF would be interested in and had re-packed. Then came the upper cut – because our residency visas had been issued to us after our container arrived in New Zealand (arrival is defined as when the vessel crossed the 12 mile limit!) we were liable to pay GST – General Sales Tax on the perceived value of the goods. Given that Kate & I had estimated the replacement value to be something like NZ$60,000 that made my heart stop somewhat as GST is 12%. I then found out that NZ Customs had applied as estimated 2nd hand value of NZ$15,000 and that left us owing a little under NZ$2,000 to have our container released. After a long chat with the Chief Customs Officer for Client Services which included a discussion about the ambiguity of the information they offer on their website and on their fact sheets (this states that you need to prove residence when you arrive in order to defer this GST payment – it mentions nothing about the legislation introducing the date dependency already mentioned) he did all he could and reduced the value of our container to NZ$7,500. I duly paid my money and told him that I would be writing to Customs to pass on my opinion about this whole episode to them...
6 Ensign Lane
Our letter box
Making sure that everything is done properly!
Lorry...
Lunch Al Fresco
Enjoying the view over a spot of lunch
Planes fly in the sky
New deck...new road
Is there a bug in there?
The front door (from the inside!)
The stairs up to the front door
The main feature of the house - the laundry chute in the bathroom.
You put dirty washing in here and it magically appears clean a few days later.
I think we have New Zealand cleaning fairies included in the rent!
The bathroom and Max's new turtle potty
The corner 'spa' bath
Neil's walk through wardrobe
No - this isn't Tracey Emin's latest 'bed' creation - it is just the
current clothes filing system!
The new telly!
The lounge from above
The lounge
The kitchen from above
The kitchen
The dining room from above
The dining room
The stairs to the downstairs bedrooms
The guest room - we'll get a bed in it soon!
The downstairs utility plus the all important
laundry chute!
The downstairs utility - including loo and shower
Since arriving in Whitby I have managed to find the local bus service to get me to the train station and take the train into Wellington, followed by a brisk walk into the office. Total journey time is under 40 minutes and still allows me to walk along the seafront to the office from the train station.
Pebbles in my shoes Mummy...
Driftwood
These pebbles are tasty!
Black water at the shoreline
Dirty hands...
Hole digging
Leaving the house
Over the bridge
Along the boardwalk
Up the hillside
The view over Whitby
Looking back down the hill
Views to the hills
Across the water to Plimmerton and Titahi Bay
Into the Eucaliptus trees
The very noisy Cicada
More views as we head down
Looking over Whitby Village Centre
Possums spread Bovine Tb so are controlled using poison
The Department of Animal Health are responsible for the ongoing
battle to protect New Zealands agriculture which accounts for 50%
of exports
More Whitby views
Back home...
Looking towards Kapiti island
Oakley heaven...driftwood!
Making an entrance
Miles of empty beach one way...
and the other...
Land ahoy...
Looking at the ocean
Run away...
There's more beach this way...
Entering the surf...
Digger...
Max determined to get even wetter!
Walking through the surf
Max and Dad getting wet feet
Oakley enjoying the waves
We’ve been in New Zealand for two and a half weeks now so it’s about time we gave you a full update as to our adventures so far...
I’ve already mentioned that the apartment didn’t live up to expectations...well, it got even more interesting during week 2! I got back from work on Monday to find 2 messages from a Solicitors on my UK phone. They got my number from a sign that Kate & I put on the front entrance to the apartments for the couriers that were going to be delivering the boxes that we sent from the UK. The intercom to the apartment didn’t work so this seemed to be the most sensible option given that we didn’t really want to miss the delivery. Well, the solicitors were calling me because they had been trying to gain access to the apartment we were renting for months as the owner had defaulted on his mortgage. No wonder he was reluctant to reduce his rate for the extra 2 nights that we needed!
To cut a longer story short, I finally managed to get them to agree not to change the locks until we had left – which was 08.30am last Wednesday! The apartment owner is a massive bloke whose Grandfather captained the Maori team when England, The All Blacks and the Maori All Blacks player together in the 60’s. There were also Tai Kwondo trophies all over the walls – so I am pretty pleased he doesn’t know where we have moved to...unless he finds this blog of course!!
Over the weekend I also attended my very first car auction and managed to come away with a nice little bargain... We are now the proud owners of a Subaru Legacy GT Twin Turbo. Loads of poke and loads of boot. Would you look at the size of that exhaust!
Scoobee Doo...
Black and shiny...
We also went to Wellington Zoo which is on a hill over-looking the city. It was a lovely day and Max had a great time using the word ‘animals’.
View from Wellington Zoo
"Animals!"
Chimp palace
Explorer Max
Needs to grow a bit to see over the steering wheel...
Hippo riding
Animal...
As if all of that wasn’t enough to be going on with, on the Sunday evening whilst cooking Max’s tea I managed to finally break the milk tooth that I have been caring for, for the past 36 years.
I was munching on a bit of carrot at the time. In some way fortune then smiled on me as I managed to find the only dentist in New Zealand if not the world who is performing mini implants with small titanium screws to replace small teeth like this one. I am booked in to have my new tooth built on my Birthday – nice! That's the 19th March in case you were wondering! ;o)
The week still wasn’t quite finished with us! We had been talking to the shipping company about delivering our container – we had found the house in Whitby and had a car to get us there and had the date of rental to start as Wednesday 4th March so getting the container there on the same day seemed like a good idea. The shipping company were OK to release it – they had unpacked it and separated out the items that MAF would be interested in and had re-packed. Then came the upper cut – because our residency visas had been issued to us after our container arrived in New Zealand (arrival is defined as when the vessel crossed the 12 mile limit!) we were liable to pay GST – General Sales Tax on the perceived value of the goods. Given that Kate & I had estimated the replacement value to be something like NZ$60,000 that made my heart stop somewhat as GST is 12%. I then found out that NZ Customs had applied as estimated 2nd hand value of NZ$15,000 and that left us owing a little under NZ$2,000 to have our container released. After a long chat with the Chief Customs Officer for Client Services which included a discussion about the ambiguity of the information they offer on their website and on their fact sheets (this states that you need to prove residence when you arrive in order to defer this GST payment – it mentions nothing about the legislation introducing the date dependency already mentioned) he did all he could and reduced the value of our container to NZ$7,500. I duly paid my money and told him that I would be writing to Customs to pass on my opinion about this whole episode to them...
Then we moved in to the new house...and all was well again...
6 Ensign Lane
Our letter box
We arrived at 9am on Wednesday and received the keys.
At 12pm our container arrived and Max had a great time running up and down the ramp.
Lorry...
About 15 minutes later 3 more blokes arrived and they proceeded to distribute cardboard boxes around the house which took all of 20 minutes.It is everything that we hoped it would be...it even has similar decor to our ‘old’ house in Thame (still available to rent or buy should any of you have come into a spot of cash and want a fantastic investment opportunity!) and our furniture just fits.
We spent the day unpacking – well, making a first attempt at least and getting ready for the imminent arrival of Oakley dog. This of course included our first visit to ‘Animates’ pet shop to purchase his new bed, bowls, toys, food, etc. Mr. MAF BioSecurity arrived in the afternoon to scrutinise over the aforementioned items and gave us the clear. That isn’t to say that it was just a formality. It was detailed enough for him to unpack both tents, find the inners, shakes them from the back to the front and remove anything found inside in a clear plastic bag for incineration. Being the Scout that I am, there was in total one dead beetle and a blade of grass – but taken away they were! Max had a great time using the deck as a new play area and enjoying the warm weather during lunch.
Lunch Al Fresco
Enjoying the view over a spot of lunch
Planes fly in the sky
New deck...new road
Is there a bug in there?
We think we’ve done an OK job of getting kind of sorted so here is a quick photo tour of the new pad...
The front door (from the inside!)
The stairs up to the front door
The main feature of the house - the laundry chute in the bathroom.
You put dirty washing in here and it magically appears clean a few days later.
I think we have New Zealand cleaning fairies included in the rent!
The bathroom and Max's new turtle potty
The corner 'spa' bath
Neil's walk through wardrobe
No - this isn't Tracey Emin's latest 'bed' creation - it is just the
current clothes filing system!
The new telly!
The lounge from above
The lounge
The kitchen from above
The kitchen
The dining room from above
The dining room
The stairs to the downstairs bedrooms
The guest room - we'll get a bed in it soon!
The downstairs utility plus the all important
laundry chute!
The downstairs utility - including loo and shower
Since arriving in Whitby I have managed to find the local bus service to get me to the train station and take the train into Wellington, followed by a brisk walk into the office. Total journey time is under 40 minutes and still allows me to walk along the seafront to the office from the train station.
We have also been to the beach with Max...
Pebbles in my shoes Mummy...
Driftwood
These pebbles are tasty!
Black water at the shoreline
Dirty hands...
Hole digging
Then the big day arrived! Oakley joined us here on Friday. I collected him from Air New Zealand Cargo on Friday afternoon. He was delivered in his crate – he was asleep at the time – having been cleared by MAF in Auckland. He really didn’t look as if he had just flown half way around the world and to say that he was pleased to be out of his crate and see me would be an understatement. I immediately took him to the beach around the corner from the airport for a run, swim and a feed and then I brought him home.
Over the weekend we have had an explore of the local area. On Saturday we found the local dog walk which will more than likely become the regular morning yomp – it takes us up over the hill behind the house so is a good leg and lung burner. Here are a few photos of what we see on that walk...
Over the bridge
Along the boardwalk
Up the hillside
The view over Whitby
Looking back down the hill
Views to the hills
Across the water to Plimmerton and Titahi Bay
Into the Eucaliptus trees
The very noisy Cicada
More views as we head down
Looking over Whitby Village Centre
Possums spread Bovine Tb so are controlled using poison
The Department of Animal Health are responsible for the ongoing
battle to protect New Zealands agriculture which accounts for 50%
of exports
More Whitby views
I have also found the local dive shop and club – a convenient 5 minutes away in the car. They meet every Tuesday evening at 6pm for a dive and the first Wednesday of the month for club night. I’m heading for my first dive in a couple of weeks time and can’t wait.
Oh – and we bought a new telly – a very nice Sony Bravia V series. Just 32” but it is full HD...not that we can receive anything on it at all! We came home and I excitedly opened the box, fitted the stand, plugged it in and went through the start up menu to find 1 channel! We deliberately bought this one as it had a Freeview receiver built in...but nothing, nada! We have a ‘man’ coming around hopefully tomorrow to test the signal on all 3 aerials that we appear to have on the roof to see what can be done about it. I think I have found out why so many Kiwis have Sky – it’s nothing to do with content, it’s the only way to get a decent picture! I guess we’ll find out if we need to go that way in the next few days. The XBox 360 does work however, in glorious full HD 1080i – yee haa! The BOSE is thankfully non regionalised so NZ DVDs – mainly Bob the Builder for Max – work, so we don’t need to buy a 2nd one which is a bonus.
**The man has been and has fitted a signal booster and has had a professional 'fiddle' and we now have 10 channels...Sky could be iminent...**
Today (Sunday) we headed north in the car and found ourselves at Waikanae Beach. It was amazing as you can see – and only about 20 other people about. Max had a great time playing in the surf and Oakley had a good swim. I am sure that we will make that a regular trip as it is only 20 minutes or so up the coast from us. We found a cafe for lunch and then headed home over the Akataeawa Pass which was an experience. The Legacy’s 4 wheel drive and multiple turbos handled the road beautifully! The pass is a very windy single track road which was more like skiing than driving it was so windy and narrow at times. Good views from the top though... Max slept through the entire experience.
**The man has been and has fitted a signal booster and has had a professional 'fiddle' and we now have 10 channels...Sky could be iminent...**
Today (Sunday) we headed north in the car and found ourselves at Waikanae Beach. It was amazing as you can see – and only about 20 other people about. Max had a great time playing in the surf and Oakley had a good swim. I am sure that we will make that a regular trip as it is only 20 minutes or so up the coast from us. We found a cafe for lunch and then headed home over the Akataeawa Pass which was an experience. The Legacy’s 4 wheel drive and multiple turbos handled the road beautifully! The pass is a very windy single track road which was more like skiing than driving it was so windy and narrow at times. Good views from the top though... Max slept through the entire experience.
Looking towards Kapiti island
Oakley heaven...driftwood!
Making an entrance
Miles of empty beach one way...
and the other...
Land ahoy...
Looking at the ocean
Run away...
There's more beach this way...
Entering the surf...
Digger...
Max determined to get even wetter!
Walking through the surf
Max and Dad getting wet feet
Oakley enjoying the waves
It really is true that around every corner is another view that you could just sit and stare at all day!
And so begins out third full week – hopefully it will be a slightly cheaper one than last week!
Kate has a few job applications that she is completing this week and is also heading to have a tour of Lower Hutt Hospital. It does look as if there are a number of opportunities out there that fit Kate’s experience and passion for dealing with community health. She also has been told that her qualifications have been ratified by the New Zealand nursing council so we have fingers crossed that this round of application completing pays off.
We have a few child care options for Max too so are going to look into those this week – he needs to have some time with other children as I think he is becoming bored with Mum and Dad! He has had a chance to play with some little people at the story telling sessions at Te Papa (NZ museum in Wellington) that Kate has taken him to as well as some other group sessions. He’s been absolutely brilliant and has coped so well with everything that we have thrown at him. He’s still sleeping better than he ever has done so the air is certainly doing the trick. As you will have seen in the Waikanae Beach photos he is loving the adventure here. His also has familiar things around him again after unpacking and that has helped him feel more settled.
Oakley will be acclimatising and will no doubt quickly get rid of his UK winter coat. He has found it quite hot here over the last 3 days but I am sure that he will get used to it very quickly. The 3 sea swims that he has had already are doing their bit to remove the memory of his flight!
As for me – another hectic week at work awaits...more customers to see as well as the Senior Exec Summit on Tuesday where I am to be introduced to many more of Eagle’s customers. Despite the pressure to deliver that I am under – my arrival has apparently been long anticipated and the expectation has obviously been building over the past 2 months – I am really enjoying the challenge and my new work colleagues are all good fun – an eclectic bunch of Kiwis, Americans, Malayans, Scots, Irish and Brits. I am also going to try the cycle to work thing – well, to the train station at least – and then along the front in Wellington to the office. Doing that 2 or 3 times a week should have a positive effect in a reasonably short period of time. The cycle to the station will be great – it is downhill for about 8km and then a quick 4km dash along Highway 1. The cycle home will kill me!
We should also get a landline phone and an internet connection sorted out by Thursday at the latest so we can finally get on line in the evenings and give more frequent updates.
And so begins out third full week – hopefully it will be a slightly cheaper one than last week!
Kate has a few job applications that she is completing this week and is also heading to have a tour of Lower Hutt Hospital. It does look as if there are a number of opportunities out there that fit Kate’s experience and passion for dealing with community health. She also has been told that her qualifications have been ratified by the New Zealand nursing council so we have fingers crossed that this round of application completing pays off.
We have a few child care options for Max too so are going to look into those this week – he needs to have some time with other children as I think he is becoming bored with Mum and Dad! He has had a chance to play with some little people at the story telling sessions at Te Papa (NZ museum in Wellington) that Kate has taken him to as well as some other group sessions. He’s been absolutely brilliant and has coped so well with everything that we have thrown at him. He’s still sleeping better than he ever has done so the air is certainly doing the trick. As you will have seen in the Waikanae Beach photos he is loving the adventure here. His also has familiar things around him again after unpacking and that has helped him feel more settled.
Oakley will be acclimatising and will no doubt quickly get rid of his UK winter coat. He has found it quite hot here over the last 3 days but I am sure that he will get used to it very quickly. The 3 sea swims that he has had already are doing their bit to remove the memory of his flight!
As for me – another hectic week at work awaits...more customers to see as well as the Senior Exec Summit on Tuesday where I am to be introduced to many more of Eagle’s customers. Despite the pressure to deliver that I am under – my arrival has apparently been long anticipated and the expectation has obviously been building over the past 2 months – I am really enjoying the challenge and my new work colleagues are all good fun – an eclectic bunch of Kiwis, Americans, Malayans, Scots, Irish and Brits. I am also going to try the cycle to work thing – well, to the train station at least – and then along the front in Wellington to the office. Doing that 2 or 3 times a week should have a positive effect in a reasonably short period of time. The cycle to the station will be great – it is downhill for about 8km and then a quick 4km dash along Highway 1. The cycle home will kill me!
We should also get a landline phone and an internet connection sorted out by Thursday at the latest so we can finally get on line in the evenings and give more frequent updates.
**Tuesday update - we're connected! We finally have a landline telephone with a $10 per month unlimited UK call package and an Internet connection. Hoorah!**
For now, we hope you are all well and look forward to hearing your news soon. Stay in touch!
For now, we hope you are all well and look forward to hearing your news soon. Stay in touch!
Love from Neil, Kate, Max and Oakley xx
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