Auckland, NZ (at last and apologies for lateness)
First stop after Fiji was Christchurch back in March. We made it through customs ok and they stamped 2 years worth of visa in our passports so all the weeks of medicals back home and the cash that went with it was all worthwhile! The flight to Christchurch was great, champagne breakfast and all just pity really that we had to get up at 4am to make it so we were pretty tired and desperate for a day without rain.
Christchurch
Arriving in Christchurch was like stepping back in time, the place reminded us of Beamish museum, and we had a nice couple of days wandering about and taking in a few of the sights. Anywhere free in fact! The main square was great to people watch and try and blend into the crowd so as not to be picked on by the eccentric old dude preaching about preaching whilst perched on a step ladder. There was a fantastic little market on and we were a bit gutted we’d had lunch before we found it as the food looked amazing. The art gallery was well worth a visit, especially the comic book character (oh sorry, super hero as Aidan would say) exhibition. In true tradition of our travels we found the botanical gardens and spend a few hours walking through them. Christchurch will be remembered by us both for the best drinks ever; Monteith’s summer ale which tastes like ginger ale; and the first of many glasses of wine to be had in NZ which was gorgeous. The beginning of the end of “a glass of the house white please”.
Auckland
Being met at the airport was a novelty and it was so good to see Alex and Rob. Staying with them was like an episode of ‘Friends’ and great fun. Thank you so much. Day one in Auckland was a bit of a reality check doing boring things like opening a bank account and sorting out tax codes etc but at least we knew we still had some time off before we started work. I have not been speechless many times in my life but thanks to Al and Rob another time will be remembered as they took us to the restaurant they work in for dinner. Posh? Doesn’t even come close! The poshest place I have ever been – check the photos out. I will admit though that I was a little gutted when Rob tried the eel as I wasn’t keen but couldn’t let him be one ahead of me. I won’t be having that again that’s for sure!
Auckland has lots of parks and places to walk so it doesn’t feel like a city at times. We spent the few weeks before we had to start work walking all over the city. It view with the sky tower and high rises reminded us a lot of being in Shanghai but here we have the added bonus of speaking the language and being sure of what we ordered in a restaurant. Its so cosmopolitan and now that we have an income we can’t wait to get trying out some of the 100s of great looking places to eat right on our doorstep. The lifestyle seems so laid back and the city has a nice feel to it. We spent lots of time lapping up the sun and reading before we knew we had to enter into the real world of work again.
Easter weekend with Al and Rob both off work was spent catching up, heading to the park and the obligatory crazy golf contest (it seems a long time ago now but I am sure I won!). The walk to the crazy golf place is all along the coast looking out to Devonport and it’s a place we both love.
House hunting was a bit stressful when we first started out as we didn’t have a clue where we wanted to be or how much anything costs. Estate agents are the opposite from those we’ve ever dealt with back home and we were so pleased when we found our flat privately and didn’t have to part with any cash to any agency. We walked into this place and fell in love with it and signed on the dotted line pretty much straight away. There’s no way we’d be able to afford to live in a similar set up back home so we are making the most of it. The place is like a plush hotel room with everything in so was perfect. The train station is 2 minutes walk away which is a bonus for me to get to work and Aidan can get to the ferry if that’s the life he can get for the day. Just as well we’ve got a spare room too as we’ve already had a few people to stay.
All those times Aidan took the mick out of me for becoming a train spotter when we were heading through Russia and Mongolia have given me great ammunition as he is a proper boat spotter now. I wouldn’t be surprised if he whipped out a notebook one of these days to record the name and the country of the boat unloading in the dock!
Saying goodbye to Alex and Rob as they left to head South in a camper van was sad and was a bit of a shock to the system as we realised this was us now and we weren’t going anywhere but thanks to them we have got lots of tips on where to go and lots to get excited about. There is so much to do in Auckland alone but one of these days we’ll have to get out of the city and venture further a field.
8th June 2007 – Auckland, NZ
That’s another few weeks gone by to catch up on. Working is all very well for the bank balance but it gets right in the way of things like keeping in touch and as there is so much to say it’s hard to write this cramming in the highlights of our trip!
We are pretty settled here now, having had people round for tea this week and met up with people at the weekends to head off for walks out at the coast has been lovely – we have some friends! One of the girls who came for tea managed to smash a wine glass as soon as we sat down to eat – great to see we have similar traits! I think it’ll be me making sure there is a plastic one in the cupboard for here instead of some of you having one stored for me!
Getting up at the crack of dawn everyday for work almost feels normal now. I don’t think I will ever truly be a morning person but when you get up at 6am everyday come the weekend 8am is a massive lie in and we have crammed so much into the weekend days its great. Last weekend was “the Queens birthday weekend” (they don’t call them bank holidays here apparently) and a long weekend was such a welcome thing. We went back to tourist status and headed to the zoo in the pouring rain on Saturday. It’s a fantastic place and the animals came to say hello which was great and I was happy as there was lots of photos to be taken. (one of these days I will work out how to put these on the blog again). We met up with some friends for lunch the Sunday before which lead to a great night of laughs and chit chat and they rang on the Sunday to see if we wanted to head to the coast for a walk. We’d made a packed when we arrived that we would never say no if people invited us along to things and its definitely a great way to think as we had such a laugh and the scenery only 30 mins out of Auckland is fantastic, true Lord of the Rings country and stunning rugged beaches. We left the map reading to them which lead to one part of the walk involving wadding though water, boots and socks in hand! The next day saw a long session sat in the steam room and Jacuzzi trying to get our legs to work properly! Fingers crossed that won’t be the case tomorrow after todays trek.
Work
Aidan will fill you in on his work sometime so I will stick to mine for the moment. I am doing trauma orthopaedics which is great and so relaxed compared to working in A&E back home. Staff stress or rather control of it is big on the agenda here and we get a ½ day a month off to prevent stress. Brilliant! Between that and the free muffins and scones we also get work is pretty cushty. It is getting busier but the change in pace of life and maybe our travels over the past few months has made me totally chilled out and I am loving not having any stress at work. The team I work with are a laugh so all in all I am glad I took this job and really like it. Work nights out have a lot to learn here though. It goes without saying pretty much at home it’s going to be a late one when you are out with work – here they go home early!
17th June 2007
Winter has well and truly arrived here, its freezing! We both had our down jackets out earlier and the thought of this being the start of it and we have a few months ahead without heating is not filling us with any excitement. It may be benefical to your health in terms of less colds and flu having no heating but its going to take some getting used to that’s for sure. It’s been great to potter about this weekend and walk up to the cinema (don’t bother with Becoming Jane, it was very boring) and spend the day relaxing today. I think we forget sometimes we are living here and work is part of everyday life as well as seeing the sights. We went out for a Korean meal with Doug on Friday. I was a bit worried this would involve eating unidentifiable things as per China but I can definitely recommend it, the food was great. Fortunately the boys had more of the “wine” than me as I have a feeling Saturday morning would have been tough had it been equally shared.
We have got a fair few people coming to stay over the next few weeks which will be great and a good start to our adventures out of the city.
In terms of my wrist the saga continues and next on the list is an MRI scan to see the extent of the damage I did to it when I fell. Trust me not to do it by halves! Still, at least I have seen the consultant now and things are moving forward and getting sorted. She thinks that surgery to repair the cartilage is the next option as it won’t heal on its own but we shall see after the MRI.
The sun set was amazing tonight. Pity the camera was in the flat as we walked along the road as its been a crisp clear day and as the sun set the few clouds that had accumulated turned orange and pink. That’s definitely one thing that we’ve come to appreciate more since travelling – the wonders of the world around us.
Our social life has taken off now too but work gets right in the way as all these early mornings are a right killer when you’ve been out the night before. Cheese and wine is on the agenda tomorrow then no doubt a trip to the flicks and a few drinks at the weekend. Home away from home and we are both really happy here. Rock on the start of July though as then Aidan is off for 2 weeks and our pal from Mongolia (Stuart) is coming to stay.