Is winter really over?

I can't quite believe that the last post was on the 7th June!? Where has the time gone? Here we are already in August. The winter has apparently been and gone! Certainly the days seem to be getting slightly longer, it's light in the morning around 7am and is getting dark at about 6pm. It doesn't feel like it took too long to get through that, so here we are full speed ahead looking forward to the NZ summer!

So the last 2 months...what have we been up to?


Well, out and about as often as we can at the weekends. Kate is still looking for permanent work so has been working at an Old Peoples Home - although I assume that there is a more politically correct way of referring to that these days, but this is NZ so I think I'll be OK to call it that - on Saturday and Sunday from 2.30pm to 11.00pm which has of course impacted what we are able to do. I will let Kate tell you more about her frustrations in applying for pretty much every Public Health job advertised in the Wellington area!

I have been working - hard - despite the vicious rumours you may hear! The work is really interesting and challenging - every day is different - ah, that old cliche, but it really is true. That is what you get working in a team of less than 40 people, especially with my ESRIUK background which has certainly helped over the past 5 months.

Max is now attending Mana Early Learning Centre on Thursday and Friday. We think he likes it! The outdoor play area is really good and includes climbing and getting wet - 2 of his favorite things and he comes home shattered so we take that as a good sign.


Max post Nursery sofa pose!

We try and get out on Saturday and Sunday mornings to continue our explorations of the area. Recently we have visited Queen Elizabeth Country Park several times, approximately 20 minutes north of Whitby, been back to Lyall Bay which is at the end of Wellington runway. Oakley had a great time swimming with furry friends and Max watched the planes landing. We have also had time to explore the Hutt River dog walking area a little more - a great area for Oakley to get some doggy sniffing in...say no more!

Whareroa Beach; QE Country Park, Kapiti Coast

Throw the ball!

Kapiti Island

Max desperate to get wet!

Oakley desperate to get wet!

Max digging for Pumice stones...

Looking North up the Kapiti coast


Max at the Hutt River - ready for action!

The Hutt River

Max & Katie - looking gorgeous

JUMP!

BOUNCE!

Ahoy there me hearties!

Kate and I have also managed to get a night out in Wellington using one of Kate's friends as a babysitter. I had a Service Excellence Award from work which was $200 towards dinner so we used it at a Japanese restaurant just off Courtney Place in Wellington plus a trip to the cinema to see the new Star Trek movie. It was great to get out for the evening - I think our first since arriving here in February.

There have been a few amusing moments too - most notable Kate arriving home from work last weekend driving the car into the closed garage door! I was asleep at the time, awoken to Kate calling my name looking rather shocked. I should have taken a photo of the scene that greeted me as it was quite spectacular - the front of the car was indeed embedded in our very large green electric double garage door. I reversed the car out to the expected squealing of metal on metal and after popping the garage door back to something close to its normal shape and bending a few of the runners back into their tracks with my largest screwdriver is didn't look that bad. Kate had actually skidded on the icy surface of the decking which leads to the garage so I guess I have to let her off the hook! I must admit to thinking how easily parking in the garage would be if something was to happen on approach - I just never thought it would actually happen!

Mummies origami hat

Max and his duathlon medal - cycling and running

Our garden has also had some work done to it. Our landlords Mum is a keen gardener so has come over to do a huge tidy up which has included adding fence all around the property which has in turn denied Oakley access to the wider community. That is a good thing of course as he seemed to have developed a penchant for cat excrement after finding next doors feline burial sites, which is nice....NOT! The fish also got the clean out treatment with a total pond drain and fill. Now they can actually see and we can see them! We have 20 goldfish of varying sizes enjoying their luxury pad.

Cleaning the fish pond

A few weeks ago I managed to wangle myself as the third person from Eagle to attend the ESRI User Conference in San Diego so headed off to the Northern Hemisphere summer for 10 days. It was a very busy time with sessions starting at 8.30am on Saturday morning and finishing at 2pm on the Friday that I flew home. It was great to enjoy the summer weather but also gave me the chance to catch up with ex-ESRIUK friends and colleagues.

The San Diego Marriott Hotel

USS Midway

Cruising San Diego Harbour

California Sealions

Our other exciting news is that both sets of parents have now booked to come out to visit. My parents will be here for Christmas and Kate's parents are coming out mid-February. We can't wait to show them around. We also have the first of our friends indicating that they will be out to see us early in 2010. Ian, Lee and Sam Bodily will hopefully be here towards the end of January for a few weeks. All very exciting!

So that's the update. Kate will write about her highs and lows over the next few days and I will get that posted as well as uploading a good number of videos that we have from the past months adventures.

We hope you are all well and are enjoying the UK summer...ha ha haaa! Hope to hear from you soon.