We're back to being DINKs

Yep, that's right. We're back to being DINKs again (that's Double Income No Kids for the uninitiated!). Ian has started work so we're both gainfully employed for the first time in over two and a half years. It's a bit of a shock to Ian's system but he's been looking forward to getting back to work. He had an interesting first day though. As he was doing his induction, two of his colleagues had a fist fight and one walked out! So that was a great start! It meant his induction was cut short though and out on the road he had to be.

Do we have to remove the NK though when Maddy arrives? ;-)

Speaking of which, we've now got all the paperwork required for her import so it's now just a case of three visits to the vet in CT (thank you so much Suzanne - love ya!) and then she can start her long trip to NZ.

We've also been getting into supporting the sport in our new homeland with a trip to our local stadium to watch the "All Whites" - the football alternative to the All Blacks. Although nowhere near as good! The national team is made up of quite a few players from the English leagues, plus some who play in the local "Australasian league" and a few others. One player isn't even playing club football! I'll leave you to guess at the quality of the football. There are a couple of pics in the online photo album (scroll down to the Picasa link on the right).

At the weekend we managed to get ourselves to a local animal sanctuary - Zealandia - mainly because they had a free locals weekend. It has an indoor exhibition that is very educational about evolution, extinction and the effect of Man on the natural world. An eye-opener. You can also walk through the valley to see some of the birds and animals that are part of a major conservation project. However, it was p*ssing it down when we went - if it hadn't been free, I don't think we would have gone. We hoped that the rain would subside over lunch but no such luck. We have a 2-for-1 voucher in the Entertainment Book so we'll save that for a sunny day.

Whilst we've been wondering what our first adventure in NZ is going to be, Annalie only went and won an Air New Zealand competition! They rang her on the 18th October to tell her that she'd won a prize of flights, hotel and tickets to watch the All Blacks vs the Wallabies in Hong Kong! Only problem was that we'd had to leave on the 28th at the latest as the match is the 30th. We wouldn't get back until lunchtime on the 1st, when Annalie has a big client launch as 11am that day. Bummer!! Thankfully Air NZ has been REALLY understanding (after all, they did admit they'd left it a bit late to let the winner know!). They've offered us the flights to Hong Kong and hotel anyway, any time between now and July. We just don't get to see the All Blacks. They could have just told us to get lost but they haven't. So we just have to decide when we're going. We're thinking Easter Weekend to make the most of having two bank holidays anyway! :-D

And finally, here's the thing the mothers (and TC) probably don't want to see. As we're living in a central apartment buildling, we have no car parking (without having to fork out $$ for it). Ian doesn't work in town so we had to come up with an alternative form of transport.

Sorry Mum(s)!