Holy Macaroni! Can you believe it's been well over 2 months since the last blog entry? If you've been wondering where we've been, the answer is simple - nowhere! For almost 8 weeks now we've had rain, rain, storms and more rain. Yes, it often felt like we'd never left England! Well, it is wintertime here so we didn't expect the weather to be great but on Sunday we had our first sunny day without showers for a long time so wasted no time in donning our walking boots and foraying into the great outdoors again. Our destination was the Firth [View Full Entry]

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For a while now, I've been meaning to put together a bit of a blog entry about all the things I've come to love about New Zealand. These are pretty random thoughts but I'm hoping they'll give you a better insight about life and the people here, and of course why we are so happy here. Who knows, maybe it'll give you a little bit of 'inspirado' about visiting us on the other side of the world! Telling it like it is The Kiwis are straight talkers for the most part and usually in a good humoured and positive way. For [View Full Entry]

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Hi folks :-) Just a short one tonight as I'm absolutely shattered after my very first day at workin New Zealand! My main work permit is still being processed but Immigration graciously issued me with an interim permit for 3 months so I've now officially joined the Kiwi workforce. Everyone in my new office seemed very friendly and my head is already spinning from information overload. It's only 9.30pm and I'm ready for bed! I'll be in touch again soon but for now, leave us a message on the blog and tell us how you are - we haven't heard from [View Full Entry]

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One of the many reasons Glynn and I opted to live in Auckland rather than Christchurch in the end was access to the live music scene. Those of you who know us well know that going to rock gigs is one of our passions, so it was with no small measure of excitement that I managed to get my hands on a pair of the hottest tickets in town to go and see the one and only Foo Fighters live in concert. If you haven't heard of the Foo Fighters before, where have you been? Do you remember a band called [View Full Entry]

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I once calculated that since I was born 33 years ago, I have moved house at least 35 times. Well, now you can make that 36 times as we've just moved again! This time it was a case of 'goodbye CBD and small, noisy apartment' and 'hello massive, quiet house in the suburbs'. We're now in Takanini, a tranquil neighbourhood in South Auckland which also happens to be home to our good friends, Liz and Allard. The house is huge; in fact, I think it might actually be the biggest house either of us has ever lived in! It's an old [View Full Entry]

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Ok, are you ready for some big news? Well, Jude has finally landed herself a job! Hip hip hooray! It only happened yesterday and I don't think it's sunk in properly yet but with both of us working, we'll be onto a winner :-))))) I'm going to be working as an Information Systems Trainer for a family-run company that manufactures concrete pipes. Doesn't sound very exciting, I know, but I will be running the entire training department all on my own and will get to travel all over New Zealand as the company has lots of small branches on both North [View Full Entry]

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Hi Everyone Just a quickie today to let you know that we are moving house to Takanini tomorrow and probably won't have internet access at home for a while. As soon as we get connected, you can bet your life I'll be posting photos of the new house (just to make you all jealous). We're really excited about the move so let's hope everything goes smoothly because I just don't want to pack ever again!! If you don't have our new address, drop me an email and I'll be in touch asap. In the mean time, we mustn't forget to say [View Full Entry]

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Leaving the beautiful bay at Rawhiti, we had a few potential camping spots to investgate for our next stay. Up and down the winding, undulating gravel road we went again with Glynn looking worse today than he did yesterday. After about 30 minutes, we came to our first campsite candidate at Helena Bay but a quick inspection showed us a small, brown beach with choppy seas and no obvious place to pitch a tent. On we drove. We headed back south, returning to regions we passed through in the early morning mist just yesterday. The landscapes looked totally different in the [View Full Entry]

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With the Easter Holidays fast approaching, everyone in Auckland seemed to be buzzing with anticipation of a long weekend away. The weather forecast promised blue skies and hot, hot sun - a complete contrast to UK Bank Holiday weather - and the opportunity to escape the city and take the new car for a long run was just too good to resist. Alas our plans were almost scuppered when Glynn came down with a bad cold but his determination won through and at 6am on Friday morning, we were all packed and ready for the off. We had originally considered spending [View Full Entry]

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Auckland is a city built on not one but over 50 volcanoes, all of which are blessedly dormant (but not extinct!). This lends the urban sprawl some fabulous features including a rolling landscape, plenty of big green spaces and a sense that you are never far away from nature's beauty. Just across the water from the CBD (Central Business District) where we live, stands the mysterious Rangitoto Island, Auckland's newest volcano at just 650 years old. Given that the ferry terminal is just a 20 minute walk away for us at the moment, we decided to treat Liz and Allard for [View Full Entry]

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