Home Sick

New Zealand is a fantastic place, its got great beaches, amazing countryside, its clean, there are loads of sparrows and the people are so friendly but...I'm homesick!

I miss sharing a bottle of wine with Jodie

I miss having tea with my mum and dad on a Thursday

I miss having coffee, lunch and dinner with friends

I miss having my horoscopes read by Hayley each day at work

I miss my lovely friends at work

I miss seeing familiar faces when I'm walking in the shopping centres or down the street

I miss listening to Chris Moyles on the radio on the way to work

I miss chatting to friends at Harry's cricket match each week and I miss Carol and Graham's bacon sandwiches

I miss Sainsbury's, I know very sad of me but its hard work shopping here the brands aren't familiar, there isn't quite as much choice and it seems really expensive but I think thats because it looks more in dollars (there's approx $2.60 to a £1)!

In saying all that I am glad I'm here I think we will have a fantastic life here...but right now I just miss home!

Real life begins

Harry started school last week at Bucklands Beach Intermediate, all the staff at the school are so friendly. On his second day at school he was introduced to the assistant principal, whose orginally from Wakefield and has been in New Zealand for two years. They had a chat about familiar things from England, like local rugby and football teams.

So that just left me at home, the thought of being a lady of leisure appeals but in reality I think I'd just get lonely. So I signed up with a recruitment agency, Momentum. I did that on a Thursday, got an interview with New Zealand post on Monday for a two month contract and started work last Friday.

So the holiday is over. Well almost... last weekend the weather was fantastic, we had lunch at Pine Harbour, a beautiful place and views on the drive over there are amazine. On Sunday we played cricket, it was so hot (and this is winter) we were just in short sleeves. So life's not bad!

Dolphin Safari

It hasn't been all work whilst we've been here we've had time to do some fun things too...

Last week Harry and I went on a Dolphin and Whale Safari setting off from Auckland Harbour. It was a beautiful sunny day but with a chilly sea breeze, we spent most of the four and half hour boat ride sat at the front of the boat...it took us about two hours to thaw out when we got back.

The safari was run by Explore NZ on the day we sailed there was a 95% chance of seeing dolphins and a 75% chance of seeing whales, with the promise that if you didn't see any you would get a voucher for another trip.

We were out about 40 minutes before we spotted the first pod of dolphins. They swam alongside the boat for ages, we had a great view from the front of the boat. We saw another two pods of dolphins and some penguins but although one of the crew thought they saw a whale in the distance the rest of us didn't. That was a bit disappointing I've seen dolphins in the wild before but never a whale. But the captain of the boat gave us all a voucher for another trip because we hadn't seen any whales - so we get to take another trip out sometime soon.

Last Saturday Harry and Darren went to watch the All Blacks play Australia in the first match of the tri-nations, it was a sell out so they were lucky to get tickets. And the All Blacks won - our new team except when they're playing England!

A room with a view

I've finally found the perfect home - well almost perfect. After looking around lots of properties I was about to compromise on the area I wanted to live in and start looking in other areas. I thought one final look on trademe, the website kiwis use to advertise everything, just to check if there are any new listings...and there it was my dream house!

I rang the real estate agents to arrange to view it as soon as I could and fell in love. It has views to die for (see the pics). It's right on the waterfront looking over the sea and with just a glimpse of sky tower. After a little dance of joy I signed for it immediately. It was a little over budget but I was sure Darren wouldn't mind.

And now here I am sat looking out over the water. Our furniture is on its way from the UK so at the moment the house is very sparsely furnished and we're making use of cardboard boxes for a tv stand and coffee table. Hopefully our things should arrive on the 15 August so not too long to wait.

Although the house is lovely its not really made for the cold weather, no double glazing, no insulation and no central heating. We've spent our nights snuggled up under throws and hot water bottles in the beds. Its not for long though the winter isn't very long in New Zealand and certainly nothing like as cold.

So now we have the house I can enrol Harry into school when they re-open next week after the holidays. Another hurdle complete.

Next step a job for me...

I've got wheels!

We've been New Zealand residents for 12 days and things are going pretty well.

I've now got my own set of wheels (pictured at Eastern Beach) to get around with which has been really handy as I've spent the most of the week driving round looking at rental properties. I'm also getting used to the area a bit now but would have been lost without Emily - the sat nav. Driving is pretty much the same as in the UK except a really strange gave way rule, which has nearly caught me out I've been beeped at a couple of times. If you are turning left into a road and there is a car turning right, you have to give way to the car turning right - I keep forgetting!

Buying my car was very exciting we went to Turners car auction. It was a huge garage with hundreds of cars that you just looked around and could test drive if you wanted. I was looking for a practical economical family car - boring I know! After an hour every car looked the same, the ones I liked I was told were too old. The one I really liked a two seater red sports car, wasn't practical I was told.

So I had a short list of three a Honda, a Mazda and a Toyota to bid for, all automatics - most of the cars over here seem to be. I stood watching the bidding for other cars to pick up some tips, getting more and more nervous as it came nearer to the Honda. Harry and Helen went to the cafe to get coffees, I waved to them on their way back and nearly bought the wrong car.

Then it came to the Honda, someone else bid first at $7000.00, cool as a cucumber I gave a little nod to the auctioneer to make my bid. The bids went between me and the other buyer and I was getting close to the limit I'd set myself, the bid was with the other person at $9300.00 so I put in my last bid at $9500.00 and got the car! I was so nervous I couldn't sign the form my hands were shaking so much.

It was really good fun though and I got a bargain. Its not the sports car but it is a nice car for getting around. It took me a while to get used to driving an automatic, I would panic pulling up to the traffic lights thinking what do I need to do - nothing!

Next step now to get a house...