Two Months Down, Rest of Our Lives to Go

My, doesn't time fly when you're busy settling into a new country? I can scarely believe we've only been here two months and so much has happended already. And they're all good things too! Not only has Glynn had his job offer but his work permit application, which we expected to take 30 days, was all done and dusted after just 4 days. That's almost unheard of! The best news is also that we're now entitled to stay here for at least a year - it's official!! :-)

Having the permit already meant we would be needing a car far sooner than expected but after touring a few car dealerships last week, we knew they offered no better consumer protection than buying privately and they charged a lot more. Instead we looked on TradeMe, New Zealand's answer to ebay. We tested out a couple of vehicles and opted for a Nissan Largo, an 8-seater people carrier that we're hoping will double as a bit of a campervan for future weekends away. It's a 1997 model and cost just $4000 (about £1,640), which I think is great value considering that it's in almost perfect condition bar a few little dinks and scatches on the outside.

The next difficulty we faced was finding somewhere to park it. There are parking spaces to rent in our apartment block but we rented our flat privately rather than through the building's managment team and that means we weren't entitled to rent a parking space from them, which I think is a bit mean. Luckily for us, we found a private space just around the corner from our building via another local website. Although we got a good deal on it, it's still quite a hefty extra cost on top of our rent so we are now looking to move out when our apartment lease expires in a month.

We picked up the car on Thursday and no sooner had we returned home than the phone rang. It was Glynn's work asking if he would be able to start the next day! They were having an introductory tour of the brand new factory where Glynn will be working and thought it would be a good opportunity for him to meet all his new colleagues. He has now been there over a week and so far, so good :-) While Glynn spent his first day at work, I jumped on a bus and headed to Glenfield where none other than Trinny and Susannah were appearing in person for a free 'What Not to Wear' style show in a shopping mall there. I had a fun day chatting to loads of friendly women and although I didn't get selected to go up on stage for a mini makeover, I did get singled out in the audience by T&S as an example of a woman who dresses like she's still a student. They seemed to disapprove of this but I was actually quite chuffed!

We decided to take the van out for a long drive on Sunday and went to visit 2 regional parks we've get to experience. We also thought it would be nice to get away from the crowds in the city for the day but to our immense surprise, when we arrived at the first park in Omana, we found a Children's Day celebration in full swing! The party reminded me of a traditional school fete with homemade cakes, a coconut shy, gumboot throwing, a rhythm band and a dog display team. It was fun to walk around and people watch although I couldn't resist a go on the tractor ride. For the ride we got to sit on hay bales and be bounced across the park to where a sheep dog trial and sheep shearing demonstration were in progress. It was all interesting stuff to see.

The idea was still to escape the crowds so after a while we headed off to another regional park at Duder. Here we got to walk through the grassy countryside full of pukekos, a native goose-like blue bird with a red beak and feet. They're quite ungainly when they run so they make me laugh! We strolled down to the coast where we watched herons fishing and got to enjoy the peace and quiet for over 1.5 hours without seeing another living soul. Perfect.

So, what have you been up to?

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