One week in

Sorry we couldn't update you more during our trip to NZ. The wifi in the transit lounge at LAX couldn't cope with the number of people wanting to use it so we couldn't get on. We managed to finally jump onto the network as people were packing up ready to reboard the plane. Hence the rushed update.

We landed in Wellington at 8am on Monday morning following a reasonable night's sleep (as far as plane sleep goes) and were ready to get on with our new life. First was the challenge of getting to our temporary digs with two adults, five suitcases and a couple of bits of hand luggage! Luckily there's a minibus shared taxi style service called SuperShuttle that has a luggage trailer attached! He could just about cope with us and the other three people as only one had luggage!

20 minutes later, having had our first experience of the commuter traffic from the Eastern Bays of Wellington, we arrived at the temporary apartment ready for a freshen up. The place that Annalie's company have put us up in is just five minutes' walk from the office and is a lovely one-bedroom place that has all your needs to get started. However, we only have this apartment until the 2nd October so we set about looking for another place straight away.

As our container isn't due to arrive in NZ until early December, we decided to look for another short-term furnished apartment where we don't have to worry about anything other than power and internet access! We also wanted to try and be central to save on commuting costs. Anyway, we managed to find a studio apartment just a few doors down from where we're staying now, so we've actually managed to make Annalie's commute even shorter (if that's possible!). It is small, but it has everything we need and we reconcile the size with the fact that we're only staying there for a couple of months. Ian might have to find a night job so that we're not in the place together at the same time for very long!

Thanks to finding that apartment so quickly, we didn't have to rush around trying to find somewhere to live so we had a "free" weekend. We decided that, seeing as we have a rental car at the moment, we could get out and explore some longer term options for living. Day one was spent in Lower Hutt, looking at Petone (pronounced Pee-tony), Eastbourne (no help required there) and Days Bay. We loved the last two, and maybe this photo shows why...

Although you can't make it out too well, that's Welly on the other side of the bay. And we were enjoying a lovely lunch outside overlooking the harbour. The problem with this area is there's only one road in, one road out. Outside rush hour, it's just a 25-minute drive. Unfortunately that probably doubles at the times Annalie will be using it the most. There is a ferry though that takes just 20 minutes to cross the harbour to the CBD (Central Business District). But as windy Welly can be, well, a bit windy, that commute could probably be a bit ropey! Also, house prices are very high, due to the wonderful bay views from pretty much everywhere!

On Sunday we headed up to the Porirua area to meet up with a contact Annale had made and to look around another potential area to live. The weather didn't co-ordinate as it had done the previous day, but sometimes it's better to see these places at their worst.

We had a look around Whitby (no translation needed!), Paremata, Aotea, Papakowhai (Papa-koh-fy), Camborne, Mana and Plimmerton. All described as good areas to live. Ian took a strong fancy to Plimmerton, because it is seafront and a surfing beach - but the prices are reflective of this. Perhaps Annalie will have to get him to settle for a view of the sea rather than right on the water!

Other things we can tell you about our new home. It's very hilly! The distance between The Terrace and Lambton Quay is not huge, but the difference in elevation is quite something! Annalie's walk to work is really easy, but the return journey is not so straightforward. Still, we're hoping that it's all good for the thighs! Welly is also very much a walking city. There's not much parking to be had and it's pretty flat once you're down in the CBD and waterfront areas.

We've also been blessed with the weather. There's been some fantastic days since we got here, nowhere near as bad as we thought it would be this early in Spring. Of course it is changeable too. We live on a peninsula on the Cook Straights. The weather can be every season in a single day. Keeps you on your toes though!

The people that we're meeting are extremely friendly. The first day we got here we went into a mobile phone shop to ask about unlocking phones and got talking to the West Country couple who ran it! We also got talking to a Kiwi on the flight over from London who lives about 50kms up the coast and runs a business around the corner from Annalie's work. Everyone has been really helpful and happy to give us advice/ask us out for a drink/help us settle in. Even when we're asked where we've moved from and we say "America" they quickly notice we're not American!

And Kiwi TV isn't as bad as we expected and we have a few of the programmes we had been watching in the States, and some from the UK. We might just be a few seasons behind right now!

A quick update

So a quick update as we're about to board our flight from LA to Auckland. 2 out of 4 legs completed.

After our overnight flight from JFK to London, we managed to escape the airport for a couple of hours. TC came to pick us up and took us to the Brunel institution - the Wondercafe - for a final farewell brunch. We were met there by Somerset and Rachel as well. It was a lovely opportunity to see the girls before we headed out on our new adventure.

And off we go to Auckland.

The journey starts

It's 17th September. A Friday night. And we're sat at JFK airport waiting for our flight to London to begin our mamoth journey to NZ. We are bidding farewell to our American adventure and heading for a new one "Down Under". Well. Sort of.

Our journey is taking us on an overnight flight to Heathrow. We then spend 5.5 hours there, enjoying a goodbye brunch with some of our dearest friends, before we set off on a 29-hour journey to Wellington. No one ever said we did things the easy way!

We will land in Wellington at 8am on Monday morning. We have an apartment provided for the first couple of weeks to enable us to find our own rental. We are thinking about taking on a short-term furnished apartment in a fairly central location to start with. We don't anticipate the container with our worldly goods to arrive in Welly before early December. Taking on a short-term let will mean we get the chance to look around and figure out where we want to live long term and establish ourselves a little bit. We'll see how that goes.

It was very sad leaving Maddy behind :( Ian had the task of taking her to our friend's on his own. Annalie is glad she didn't have to face that one. If all goes well, and flights being on time, she will reach NZ at the start of December and we could pick her up from quarantine on 31st December - just in time to see the New Year in as a family ;)

We have also left behind some very dear friends that we have made over the last 2.5 years. The guys from the Fire Department that have made Ian feel like part of the family. The dear friends that Annalie has had some very fun times with and also worked hard with - you know who you are! We love and miss you all.

Other than that there's not much else to update you on. Obviously the photos will begin soon, once we get to NZ. But we've got a long way to go before that happens.