The Wait Is Over...

Auckland

Kia Ora!!!!!

Well hello there!! It's been a long long time. What have you all been doing?? There hasn't been any photos of me or Sian for over a month. What have you all been doing to get your Jav & Sian fix? You must of all of been pining over old photo's. Maybe with a glass of wine. Listening to a Luther Vandross CD maybe? Well don't worry, there's loads of photo's on here. This one is probably going to be a long one (I hear you all groaning from here). Also, a blog first for me and Sian theres a video on this one. And may I say, it's brilliant. And I took it. So that makes me brilliant.

By the way, i'm on my own today doing the blog. For those of you that don't know. Sian has left me and run off with a Kiwi rugby player. I'm not bitter. I would of run off with him had I the chance. Just kidding of course!! She's at work. For those of you that don't know...i'm a jobless bum!! And that is true. While she is off earning some $$$ I am a mighty House Husband. I'll let you in on my day to day duties later on. Sian will be in later when she finishes work to do her editing job on the blog. There's probably loads of things she's taken out that I would of let you in on.

All of this blog is going to be abit blurry I think. After all we've been here for about 5 weeks now and it seems like about 5 years! Seriously. We were talking the other day about whether we feel it's gone quick or dragged. We're both in the middle somewhere. It hasn't flew by, but then again it feels like we've been away from home for ages and just doing some quick maths and we'll be leaving New Zealand in about 8 weeks. It doesn't seem long at all. So forgive me if I don't remember absolutely everything.

We got in after a mammoth flight. It wasn't so long, it was about the same as flying to America from England. It just physically drained us. Sian got herself the window seat as usual which left muggins (me) in the middle. And wouldn't you know it. Drunk skaghead get's to sit next to me. She stunk. She started talking to me and Sian, but Sian wasn't really paying her any attention due to the fact that I was in the middle and could take most of it. She was slurring her words. Introduced herself (although I can't for the life of me remember what it was - we'll call her Mary) "iiiii'mmmm Muorrry, whazzz yuuur naaammzz??" I wasn't even going to start with attempting Javed with her so I settled on Ed. Sian of course says "Sian" "whhatz?" comes the reply. "Sian" "Whatsssszz, Steve????" "SEEE-ANNNE!!!!" "Hunnniee you'rrree gonnna haz too speell that" This carried on for awhile. But after all of that Mary never once referred to names again. I don't think she ever got the hold of 'Steve's' real name. Then she takes her friggin' shoes off!! "I hope theyyy don't smeeel, they don't smmmellz, I washed thiz morning" They certainly did smell love. They honked. Then she shouted something out about getting her a vodka and valium. I was dreading the next 8 hours. I tried to just bury my head in my magazine. She'd keep piping up about a case of wine she wanted. After about 10 minutes she just passed out!! I thought brilliant! 'No-one talk for the next 8 hours so as to not wake her' I thought. Then the plane was taking off. Bear in mind, taking off!! Not landing. It starts going fast ready to leave the ground "WHAT THE F*CK WAS THAT?????" She screamed out. Scared the life out of me. I was like "It's just taking off relax" "ooh" Passed out again. She was pretty harmless after that. Except for when I had to wake her to go for a whizz.

Got in and headed to to our bed. A place called Freemans Lodge. A little b&b/hostel. We'd booked in for a couple of nights in a private room then was going to move into the dorms after that. Got in there and there was a little saying "Please take your shoes off at the door" it was alright the first time. The next 5 days it was getting on my tits big time. The place was okay. Was alittle grubby but not really dirty. There was a Indian lady named Seema who run the place. Gave me an absolute grilling one day about my name and parents and all that. She lived next door. Unfortunately so did her family. These three little kids who were the noisiest little brats ever. And there little Corgi dog named "Ronny". Would never leave you alone. Yet still looked 'snooty' and never really thought anybody was good enough for him. The place was pretty quiet. Met an English couple. The lad was cool but his girlfriend was a right miserable git. Two Dutch lazer beams who were on our flight from LA actually. They were cool. Got talking to them abit. And the Japaneese girls who lived/worked there. They were all nice except for the dictator one who kept on hiding the milk from me. All in all, decent place. Had free internet. Oh yea, just remembered. There was one pc, and this girl kept hogging it selling stuff on ebay! Wasn't a fan of hers let me tell you. Anyway!! One of the few things we did those first few days besides look around, search for a place to live and get going around there, was a trip to Kelly Taltons. I sealife centre. But was really cool. Penguins. Real penguins. They built a Antartic replica for them to live in and make tons of fresh ice everyday. Had sharks, stingrays, loads of differant fish. But the penguins were defo the best of the day. Other than that, I can't really recall anything else from that period.

Except for the fact actually on our first day there. Pretty jet lagged. Gone forward two days and back 3 hours, we were starving. And remember our bellies were full of American fast food at this point. All the same food rolling into each other without ever tasting anything. We walked past a place in Ponsonby (a little district in Auckland that's pretty trendy) and there it was. It was like a mirage. It was one of those moments where you don't really have to talk to each other. Just a look at each other will do. So we looked at each other. And went. For a......Curry. It was friggin' lovely. Tasty food again.

I'm sure more stuff happened but really can't remember!!

The New Pad

Thanks to a little real estate letting department named Barfoot & Thompson. Sian and I got our first ever place together. We wanted to make sure that it was half decent. Believe me, it seemed we looked for days on end. But finally settled on a place on a recomendation from one of the Agents. A woman who had been going round with us for the days! A woman who I had scraped her car door all along the floor of a risen curb (I thought she was going to bludgeon me to death at that point). A woman who reminded the pair of us, the first time we ever talked to her of the mighty Mrs. Gwen Tighe. Exactly the same, (Sian here) Gwen I never thought i'd say it but she was just like you, the way she worked, the way she talked, the way she had a million things going on at once and still got through it all. We think your brill and miss your daily antics and dry humour and for a short while Jan gave us a little refresher of you! For those of you who don't know who the Mighty Gwen Tighe is, she's our old boss and our friend.

So we got it. Oaks Residences : 24I, 16 Gore Street: Auckland City: Auckland: New Zealand (for cash donations, send here) Moved in. And then had our first (of many) trips to....FOODTOWN. The supermarket. It's about 5 mins from our place but it's such a hassle having to go there. And I should know as I go there all the time. (That's a line for Sian when she reads it).

Sian got herself a job working for Air New Zealand a couple of weeks ago working in HR. For which she enjoys very much. (Sian here now made it through another week!!) Yes you can all breath a sigh of relief i am now back at work and no better of than the rest of you pencil pushers!! Well actually i am, i'm in New Zealand for gods sake and working in HR (my first love, i mean my second of course Jav is my first!). My jobs pretty cool, i work in a great office and my view is of the sea, yes the beautiful harbour, kicks the s**t out of my old view (for those of you that don't know, I used to look at the carpark and Solihull train tracks!!). The people are really nice and the jobs good. 1 thing however, i now have to work 40 hours a week 8-5pm what the hell is that all about, again for those of you that don't know i'm used to 37 hours and flexitime!!! All in all i think i have fell on my feet, considering it's only temp work it's fits me good. Jav takes care of all the flat stuff (i'm sure he'll tell you more) and of ME!! Meanwhile. I have become a pretty decent cook! This is all part of my House Husband duties as I was talking about earlier. I have made a couple of Lamb dishes (well I am in New Zealand!) made a Thai Massaman curry from scratch. Which involved shopping in an Asian supermarket. That was an experience let me tell you. The poor Chineese woman who didn't have a clue what I was saying, and me who didn't have a clue what she was saying. I made a wicked stir fry. I made a cauliflower curry (with the help of the boss on the email - cheers Boss ; ) Not as good as yours though). Kumara potatoes. I'm slowly becoming a master of them bad boys. Fresh Fish & Chips with mushrooms packed with feta cheese and spinach - now that's a f'ing dish! Who knows what's next!! I also do the cleaning although never to Sian's standards...honestly...what hope did I ever have??? I make Sians lunch everyday. Pack her little lunchbox. Did the ironing the other day. Do the shopping. Ah....never a minute's rest. To be honest, I don't do too badly. Could do without the Foodtown trips though. I get to get up and watch the Euro 2008 matches in the middle of the night! Couldn't do that if I wasn't a house husband. I got up today at 3:50am for the Germany v Croatia match. Absolutely ludicrous. I don't support either of them! Get to watch my dvd's from the video shop although im in the middle of War with them at the minute, will let you know how that pans out. I go out. See some sights, take some photo's. And then meet Sian and go for a beer. Life is good. Although I received a phone call today, let's just say, the days of being a House Husband may be numbered......damn.

Not having a job means that I also don't have to keep clean shaven. When were you clean shaven when you were at work I hear you say! But it did culminate one Saturday night when I was having a shave. For abit of a laugh, decided to leave abit of a Moustache. Showed Sian. We had abit of a laugh, then Sian challenged me to go out with it. I can't turn down a challenge. Off we went. The three of us. Sian, Me and the Moustache. We had a class night actually. There are photo's for you to enjoy!!

On the subject of going out over here....it's pretty pants. Raggae and 80's Electro Dance music is the main music over here. Not sure if they've ever heard of a guitar. People dance like they're taking the piss. But as I said to Dave Evans the other day I joined in and WAS taking the piss. But i'd be very surprised if there wasn't anybody in there not slightly jealous of my moves. I can only of imagined what it would of been like dancing like I was and with a moustache back at home. I think a trip to A&E probably would of been on the cards.

Also, we went out one day for a meal. We decided to get these Steaks. Basically, you choose your cut, then they bring it out to you on an unbelievably hot stone which then cooks the meat for you. Absolutely amazing. I was literally stuffed for about 2 and a half days.

New Zealand is an absolute beautiful place. I'm sure everyone has an image of New Zealand in their heads when they think of it. And you're probably right. It's like that all over. On clear days, especially from the balcony, you can just see for miles and miles. Even though we're in Winter over here now, it's not cold. I'd kill for winters in England to be like this. Around 18 degrees and has rained a handful of times. We're in Auckland which is although isn't the capital, it is considered the busiest area of New Zealand. The most is going on here. I'll be honest, they haven't got a clue what busy is. It's so relaxed and quiet. Even at lunchtimes when most office workers are out getting their sarnies there's no walking all over the pavement trying to get past people. A guy I was chatting too in the boozer while I watched the Champions League Final with, who was from London, said he was in his Kiwi friends car the other day and they were sitting in traffic about 3 cars deep. The Kiwi guy was getting agitated and saying it was "Ridiculous, is it as bad as this in England?" That kind of gives you an idea of how un-busy it is over here. But I think that's why I like it so much. It's so chilled out. Everyone is just relaxed and so friendly. Bar a few of course but on the whole, it's a top place.

Well that's it im afraid. I've probably missed loads of juicy stuff but like I said, it's all abit blurry! Addie Roe (Sians Sister by the way) is coming over next week. Looks like the House Husband has got himself a little assistant. We're both looking forward to it. Except for the fact that I have to deal with both of the Roe daughters on my own. Keith and Anne certainly knew what they were doing palming them both off on me. If I survive, i'll write another blog again soon, and I promise we won't wait as long next time!!

Now i'm off to get into my Lord of the Rings costume and play in the garden......

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