On 17 September 2010, we packed up what was left of our belongings and drove to JFK Airport in New York, to set off on our next adventure. We said our final goodbyes to the USA, full of hope for the next stage of the journey.
Our route took us back to London for a total of six hours. Yes, it may seem mad, but saving money on an expensive emigration project seemed important at the time.
What was more important though, was that it gave us the chance to say some proper farewells to some very dear friends who we still miss very much. You know who you are.
We then boarded our flight to our new life.
We'll do a proper one year in post on Tuesday. That is our one-year anniversary. But we'll leave you with this.
We decided to make the move because we didn't want to look back in years to come and say "I wish we'd given it a go." we couldn't regret it if we tried and it didn't work out for whatever reason. At least we would have attempted to follow our dreams.
All we can say now is, no regrets.
Friday, September 16, 2011
Friday, May 20, 2011
Our Easter bunny prize
You may remember back in October that Annalie won an Air New Zealand competition to win a trip to Hong Kong. As she couldn't take the original prize on offer to see the All Blacks play Australia, they rearranged the flights for Easter weekend. So on 20th April we duly set off for our first trip off these shores since arriving.
We'd been to HK once before, about 5.5 years ago, and only for a couple of days. So we'd done a few key things and weren't quite sure what to do this time! Normally we're incredibly organised and know exactly what we're going to do, and even when! So this was a bit fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants. And I don't think we liked it!
To try and make the most of it, we bought hop-on, hop-off tour bus tickets before we left. That gave us something to do when we got to HK and keep us active (and awake!) after the 11-hour flight. We did most of the HK Island tour, getting off at the Mid-Levels Escalators. For the uninitiated, this is a unique HK form of commuter transport. In the mornings the escalators travel downwards, taking the stream of commuters from the affluent SoHo suburbs into the town centre. From 10am, for the rest of the day, they go the other way!
The bus tickets included a trip on The Peak Tram. We'd done this last time we were here in 2005 but we thought it might be nice to revisit it. Not much has changed, but it's still and interesting (and steep!) trip on a funicular!
The one plan we'd made was to take a day trip to Macau. Known as the Vegas of the East, that was once under Portuguese rule, we thought it might be interesting to see what it was like, and maybe have a play on the blackjack table.
When you get off the ferry in Macau, you obviously have to clear immigration - it is a different country after all! But given that the Chinese are huge gamblers, and that it was the Good Friday holiday, there were a lot of people in the queues! And if you know anything about the Chinese, they don't queue very well. So we had to adopt a bit of a "when in Rome" attitude!
After what seemed like forever, but was probably only about 35-45 minutes, when we finally got through immigration, we were met by all of the casino operators offering free shuttles to their hotels. We jumped on one to the Sands, supposedly the cheapest of the casinos.
Given that we'd had to get an earlier than we'd hoped ferry due to it being so busy, we were in the casino by 10am! It seemed a bit rude to start gamling so early, so after wandering around the floors, we decided to go and explore Macau itself.
With map in hand we walked to the city centre which holds most of the traditional architecture. The East meets West feel is slightly odd, but pretty all the same.
After grabbing a quick lunch, we decided to head back to the casino to start a bit of a wager. We'd allowed ourselves HK$1000 for betting, about £100. Now we're used to playing on tables that are US$5 in Vegas or at Mohegan Sun. The cheapest table we could find in the Sands was US$25 (HK$200). Given our HK$1000 limit, this could be a very short stint at the table!
Well. It was a very short stint. But not for the usual reason. Within 30 minutes we'd doubled our money! So we decided to quit while we were ahead and legged it! Very sensible!
Then came the dilemma of what to do for the next three hours until our ferry back!
We set of on a mission to find some souvenirs (nearly impossible) and finally found some in the ferry terminal. Luckily we were allowed on an earlier ferry back to Hong Kong, so at least we didn't feel like we were hanging around.
On the last day we did what any respecting visitor to Hong Kong does...shopped! As NZ is quite expensive for most things, we looked for some new trainers for Ian and also an iPhone case, some headphones and a snow globe for our friend's daughter. As is expected, some severe haggling was employed with some successful bartering at the end of it.
We also finally remembered to watch the light show. We'd seen this on our last visit too but it was great to see it again. It is quite a spectacle and quite how they control the lights on numerous different buildings is a bit of a mystery!
You can click here for a full range of photos of the trip.
Long time, no speak
First off, apologies. It's been a while. Forgive us. We've been getting on with life over here, and that includes our first tranche of visitors.
So what's happened since our last update?
Well, we've had two more lots of visitors. Firstly, and slightly impromptu, was our darling friend Suzanne. Lucky for her (and us) she had a last-minute excuse to visit Jetstar in Melbourne. Given that she was flying all that way, it seemed criminal not to spend 3.5 hours on a plane to visit us. So she duly did.
Cue many squeals of delight and feelings of incredulous surprise as we didn't think we'd see Suzanne again for a long, long time. we showed her some of the lovely sights such as Mount Vic lookout, Brooklyn wind turbine (the first wind turbine in NZ) and a walk along the ridgeline to take in the views. We watched dolphins frolick in Lyall Bay and enjoyed some quality time in the late summer sun.
It was joyous to see her and sad to see her go, but promises to visit again (and try hard to get another trip to visit Jetstar!!).
Next it was the turn of Annalie's parents. They seemed to cope really well with the jet lag and got into the Kiwi way quite quickly. There was some diving to be done for Colin. Some shopping and eating for Mum. Plenty of walking. A trip to the Wairarapa for some wine tasting and a cruise to the South Island to take a look at Picton.
Sadly we couldn't take any time off though. The holiday laws in NZ mean you don't actually receive any holiday until after 12 months of working somewhere, even though you're accruing it. So you're kind of given it retrospectively. But Ian's shifts saw him home a couple of days. And unlike the States, at least there's decent public transport here and you can walk to places! So they got independent and found their way around.
All too soon the two weeks was over and it was time for another goodbye. Now there's more uncertainty about when we'll see people again. In the US we had the knowledge that flights to the UK were affordable, or that Annalie would travel a lot through the UK, or that air miles would easily get us home, or that RR would pay. Now those trips are a lot harder, which probably makes the farewells harder too. Still, that's a consequence of the move. Maybe we'll just have to convince everyone else to make the move over here too so that we don't have to keep doing that!
So what's happened since our last update?
Well, we've had two more lots of visitors. Firstly, and slightly impromptu, was our darling friend Suzanne. Lucky for her (and us) she had a last-minute excuse to visit Jetstar in Melbourne. Given that she was flying all that way, it seemed criminal not to spend 3.5 hours on a plane to visit us. So she duly did.
Cue many squeals of delight and feelings of incredulous surprise as we didn't think we'd see Suzanne again for a long, long time. we showed her some of the lovely sights such as Mount Vic lookout, Brooklyn wind turbine (the first wind turbine in NZ) and a walk along the ridgeline to take in the views. We watched dolphins frolick in Lyall Bay and enjoyed some quality time in the late summer sun.
It was joyous to see her and sad to see her go, but promises to visit again (and try hard to get another trip to visit Jetstar!!).
Next it was the turn of Annalie's parents. They seemed to cope really well with the jet lag and got into the Kiwi way quite quickly. There was some diving to be done for Colin. Some shopping and eating for Mum. Plenty of walking. A trip to the Wairarapa for some wine tasting and a cruise to the South Island to take a look at Picton.
Sadly we couldn't take any time off though. The holiday laws in NZ mean you don't actually receive any holiday until after 12 months of working somewhere, even though you're accruing it. So you're kind of given it retrospectively. But Ian's shifts saw him home a couple of days. And unlike the States, at least there's decent public transport here and you can walk to places! So they got independent and found their way around.
All too soon the two weeks was over and it was time for another goodbye. Now there's more uncertainty about when we'll see people again. In the US we had the knowledge that flights to the UK were affordable, or that Annalie would travel a lot through the UK, or that air miles would easily get us home, or that RR would pay. Now those trips are a lot harder, which probably makes the farewells harder too. Still, that's a consequence of the move. Maybe we'll just have to convince everyone else to make the move over here too so that we don't have to keep doing that!
Saturday, March 5, 2011
A lot has happened in the last month
Wow, has it really been a month since our last post? Sorry about that. Time really does slip away from you! Well, I guess a lot has happened, although maybe not to us directly.
Obviously you can tell by the fact that the blog is being updated that we're fine after the earthquake. Wellington is nowhere near Christchurch so we didn't suffer any direct impacts from the quake. However the effects are being felt around the country. The NZ $ has slipped and there's lots of dooma nd gloom about whether the country will be pushed into a double dip recession on the back of this. So much of the country's wealth relies on inbound tourism, and we're not quite certain how that will be impacted right now.
They're not certain if the city's Rugby World Cup games will go ahead - just after we'd spent $400 on ferry tickets to get to the England vs Argentina game! Oh well. The priority is to get the city back on its feet as quickly as possible. But whether the infrastructure, let alone the stadium, will be in any state to host thousands of fans is another matter and a lower priority.
Wellington has had a couple of its own rumbles this week though. First on Tuesday night there was a 4.5 quake centred about 20kms away. We missed this one because we were in the car. The second was in the early hours of Friday morning. Many people were woken by it, at 4.7 the biggest for a while in this area. We, however, slept right through. Some would say we've got off lightly!
But what we have learnt is that there are lots and lots of earthquakes that are constantly taking place in the region. Apparently there were 12 "quakes" of various sizes in the Wellington area in the week prior to the Christchurch tragedy. The following week there were 10. Just of different sizes. The fact is that we rarely feel these tremors and they're just a part of life in this country.
It's all part and parcel of moving into the Pacific Ring of Fire - and no, that's not the after effects of last night's curry either!
The tables have been turned on us lately as Ian has been "going away on business" instead of Annalie! The BP team at Auckland Airport are a bit short-staffed so he was asked to cover for a few days over a few weeks. He has mostly been away during the week but the one weekend he worked, Annalie headed up there to see some more of the city.
Plan A was to go and see Sarah, a uni friend we visited on our recce/holiday. However it turned out she, too, was away for the weekend. Plan B was to go to Rangitoto Island and walk around it. Upon our arrival the weather conspired against this idea though as it was sheeting it down. So Plan C was concocted on the hoof.
Being based out at the airport didn't make it easy to come up with something but Annalie decided to explore on the bus and get to the Auckland Museum.
Now here in Wellington we have the "national" museum - Te Papa - which is excellent. Auckland kind of pales in comparison, but she still learnt a few facts. Such as Auckland is sited around 48 volcanoes, which have been dormant for around 600 years. But if those beasts decide to wake up, the city will fare worse than Christchurch did on the 22nd February.
She also learnt about the battle of ANZAC and why we have a national holiday celebrating ANZAC Day. And she was humbled but the significant casualties that NZ sustained during the first and second World Wars on our behalves, which made up a large proportion of the men available of fighting age in the country at that time.
One of the beautiful things about travelling domestically in NZ is the lack of security. It is a far cry from the rigmarole and pain you have to go through in the US. And long may it stay that way!
We've also had our first visitors and it looks like March is going to be a busy time.
First there was Marius, a friend and ex-colleague from the States. He was visiting NZ with work and planning to stay on for the weekend to visit us. Only thing was, he landed in Christchurch on the morning of the quake. Needless to say, they didn't stay very long. Still, it did mean an impromptu night out for Annalie on the Wednesday as the team passed through Wellington on their way to Auckland.
The next week, we played host to Janina and Mike. Two ex-colleagues from RR in Derby. They have both taken early retirement within the last 18 months and have taken the opportunity to spend 5 weeks in a campervan driving around NZ. They both looked very relaxed by the time they got here! :-)
And we've got two more lots of visitors planned - not that we'll spoil it for you! ;-)
Obviously you can tell by the fact that the blog is being updated that we're fine after the earthquake. Wellington is nowhere near Christchurch so we didn't suffer any direct impacts from the quake. However the effects are being felt around the country. The NZ $ has slipped and there's lots of dooma nd gloom about whether the country will be pushed into a double dip recession on the back of this. So much of the country's wealth relies on inbound tourism, and we're not quite certain how that will be impacted right now.
They're not certain if the city's Rugby World Cup games will go ahead - just after we'd spent $400 on ferry tickets to get to the England vs Argentina game! Oh well. The priority is to get the city back on its feet as quickly as possible. But whether the infrastructure, let alone the stadium, will be in any state to host thousands of fans is another matter and a lower priority.
Wellington has had a couple of its own rumbles this week though. First on Tuesday night there was a 4.5 quake centred about 20kms away. We missed this one because we were in the car. The second was in the early hours of Friday morning. Many people were woken by it, at 4.7 the biggest for a while in this area. We, however, slept right through. Some would say we've got off lightly!
But what we have learnt is that there are lots and lots of earthquakes that are constantly taking place in the region. Apparently there were 12 "quakes" of various sizes in the Wellington area in the week prior to the Christchurch tragedy. The following week there were 10. Just of different sizes. The fact is that we rarely feel these tremors and they're just a part of life in this country.
It's all part and parcel of moving into the Pacific Ring of Fire - and no, that's not the after effects of last night's curry either!
The tables have been turned on us lately as Ian has been "going away on business" instead of Annalie! The BP team at Auckland Airport are a bit short-staffed so he was asked to cover for a few days over a few weeks. He has mostly been away during the week but the one weekend he worked, Annalie headed up there to see some more of the city.
Plan A was to go and see Sarah, a uni friend we visited on our recce/holiday. However it turned out she, too, was away for the weekend. Plan B was to go to Rangitoto Island and walk around it. Upon our arrival the weather conspired against this idea though as it was sheeting it down. So Plan C was concocted on the hoof.
Being based out at the airport didn't make it easy to come up with something but Annalie decided to explore on the bus and get to the Auckland Museum.
Now here in Wellington we have the "national" museum - Te Papa - which is excellent. Auckland kind of pales in comparison, but she still learnt a few facts. Such as Auckland is sited around 48 volcanoes, which have been dormant for around 600 years. But if those beasts decide to wake up, the city will fare worse than Christchurch did on the 22nd February.
She also learnt about the battle of ANZAC and why we have a national holiday celebrating ANZAC Day. And she was humbled but the significant casualties that NZ sustained during the first and second World Wars on our behalves, which made up a large proportion of the men available of fighting age in the country at that time.
One of the beautiful things about travelling domestically in NZ is the lack of security. It is a far cry from the rigmarole and pain you have to go through in the US. And long may it stay that way!
We've also had our first visitors and it looks like March is going to be a busy time.
First there was Marius, a friend and ex-colleague from the States. He was visiting NZ with work and planning to stay on for the weekend to visit us. Only thing was, he landed in Christchurch on the morning of the quake. Needless to say, they didn't stay very long. Still, it did mean an impromptu night out for Annalie on the Wednesday as the team passed through Wellington on their way to Auckland.
The next week, we played host to Janina and Mike. Two ex-colleagues from RR in Derby. They have both taken early retirement within the last 18 months and have taken the opportunity to spend 5 weeks in a campervan driving around NZ. They both looked very relaxed by the time they got here! :-)
And we've got two more lots of visitors planned - not that we'll spoil it for you! ;-)
Saturday, February 5, 2011
The annual Wellington fancy dress party!
Each year in Wellington, there is an occasion that sees the town invaded with all sorts of strange looking people, but it all seems incredibly normal somehow! It is possibly the biggest fancy dress party in the world. Otherwise known as the New Zealand Rugby 7s.
Tickets to the event sell out within minutes each year, and they'd already gone before we got here in September, so we were resigned to just observing from a distance. However, with a week to go, one of Annalie's colleagues got hold of a couple of weekend tickets and gave us first refusal on the Friday tickets. As these are often a rarity, we jumped at the chance.
And what a spectacle it is to behold!
First, some observations:
1) absolutely anything goes. Nothing is too tame or too outrageous. We would tell you some of the least tasteful outfits, but we might offend you!
2) there are some VERY brave people out there who will wear almost anything
3) there are also some very clever people out there with an incredible wit or sense of humour
4) the rugby is really just an excuse for the party - there almost seemed to be more people wandering around the concourse than inside the stadium.
Some examples of what we saw:
Tickets to the event sell out within minutes each year, and they'd already gone before we got here in September, so we were resigned to just observing from a distance. However, with a week to go, one of Annalie's colleagues got hold of a couple of weekend tickets and gave us first refusal on the Friday tickets. As these are often a rarity, we jumped at the chance.
And what a spectacle it is to behold!
First, some observations:
1) absolutely anything goes. Nothing is too tame or too outrageous. We would tell you some of the least tasteful outfits, but we might offend you!
2) there are some VERY brave people out there who will wear almost anything
3) there are also some very clever people out there with an incredible wit or sense of humour
4) the rugby is really just an excuse for the party - there almost seemed to be more people wandering around the concourse than inside the stadium.
Some examples of what we saw:
- railroad crossings - including flashing lights and sirens. Needless to say they had no trouble getting through the crowds!
- dolphin trainers - with inflatable dolphins and whisltes
- foosball players - including the metal pole between them
- floor lights
- pot plants
- Barbie - in the box as well!
- beekeepers
- the Smurfs
- Stabilo highlighter pens
- flamingoes
- Scousers!
- and Whoopee Cushions!!
Some of the best outfits we don't have photos of though. We saw a guy (or at least we assume it was a guy!) on a mobility scooter dressed as Stig! And someone else in a wheelchair dressed as a Dalek. Very clever!
And yes, we've got photographic evidence that you can see here! We would even go so far as to say don't even bother coming here for the Rugby World Cup (if you were planning to). Just aim for the Sevens weekend and you'll be guaranteed a laugh.
And that's the main point about the Sevens. No one cares what you look like and you can't feel stupid as we guarantee you, there will always be someone out there who will look even more ridiculous! We're sure there's an unofficial competition to see who's the most outrageous.
Oh, and by the way, England lost to NZ in the final. Just in case you were wondering if we noticed the rugby ;)
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Maddy finds her own bed
Despite providing a bed and her crate, when we leave Maddy in the garage, she's found her own sleeping spot.
We were wondering why a lot of Maddy hair had found its way onto a fleecy blanket, and then we came back one time and found out why! Seems she chooses her own comfy spot...
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Free Wellington!
Wellington has a wealth of free events on during the summer and Annalie sampled her first one last week. Concerts in the park are a daily event throughout January. She's got no idea who was on stage, but some friends invited her along as they wanted to meet Maddy. As it's an outdoor concert, that was easy, but Maddy wasn't on her best behaviour. The place was full of her two favourite things: people and food. So what did we expect really?!
Annalie has given away a free marketing suggestion to one of NZ's best companies for marketing! Air New Zealand has launched an online "superstar" as a marketing campaign for its new aircraft interiors. Rico has been a huge success and has acquired a huge following. When we were over here in 2009, we started "spotting" Explore More vans, as each van has a different name and it has "Explore More with..." and the name on each van. Annalie saw the marketing potential in an "Explore More with Rico" van so introduced the idea to both of them and a van has been made! Rico has toured NZ in the van and is running an online video series of his travels. Check out Annalie's van's "drive on" part at the start. Explore More has promised us a free rental at some point. And now Rico's not using it any more...
While we're enjoying summer (ish) here in NZ, our friends back in CT are being snowed in on a regular basis! Last winter we got virtually no snow. It was a huge disappointment. And we never even went skiing in New England. But this year has been mega! We're not sure if we miss it or not.
And talking of the old life, Annalie has completed her first work trip in her new job. Where previously her work took her to Singapore, Dubai, Beijing, Paris, Seattle and India, this week she went...wait for it...all the way to Taupo! Although there is the possibility of getting as far as Australia in the next couple of months. Woo hoo! Living the high life still!
What else have we been up to? Well, we scored free tickets to the local racing festival so had a day out at the gee gees. We had a great start on the betting and ended the day about $8 up. Then we had our first win on the lotto the same night! So that left us another $8 up. Hey, it's not going to make us millionaires, but at least we didn't lose!
We also went to the Penthouse Cinema in Brooklyn to watch Four Lions (very silly but very funny!). Wellington is full of little community cinemas that let you experience the cinema as it used to be. But they don't do popcorn! Much to Annalie's disappointment. It's a much more sophisticated experience! We walked into the cinema to be greeted by lots of people sat with coffee cups on their laps! Considering coffee is king in Wellington, this should come as no surprise. But you just don't expect people to be sat in the cinema with cups and saucers on their laps!
We have also been meeting up with friends for golf lessons (Ian teaching), housewarmings and Maddy meets. We've also been indulging in the Kiwi sport of attending open homes! Well, just the one. There's a house for sale on our street that has wonderful views over the bays. We're not looking to buy right now as we have our equity tied up in Derby, but it's good to know what we might be looking at. Ian kind of fell for the house we went to see and it's probably not hard to see why. A bit above our expected price range anyway, but when we're ready to buy, we'll be in a strong position as we'll effectively be first-time buyers and that will make us extremely attractive. We've just got to hope that another house like this one is on the market then.
Annalie has given away a free marketing suggestion to one of NZ's best companies for marketing! Air New Zealand has launched an online "superstar" as a marketing campaign for its new aircraft interiors. Rico has been a huge success and has acquired a huge following. When we were over here in 2009, we started "spotting" Explore More vans, as each van has a different name and it has "Explore More with..." and the name on each van. Annalie saw the marketing potential in an "Explore More with Rico" van so introduced the idea to both of them and a van has been made! Rico has toured NZ in the van and is running an online video series of his travels. Check out Annalie's van's "drive on" part at the start. Explore More has promised us a free rental at some point. And now Rico's not using it any more...
While we're enjoying summer (ish) here in NZ, our friends back in CT are being snowed in on a regular basis! Last winter we got virtually no snow. It was a huge disappointment. And we never even went skiing in New England. But this year has been mega! We're not sure if we miss it or not.
And talking of the old life, Annalie has completed her first work trip in her new job. Where previously her work took her to Singapore, Dubai, Beijing, Paris, Seattle and India, this week she went...wait for it...all the way to Taupo! Although there is the possibility of getting as far as Australia in the next couple of months. Woo hoo! Living the high life still!
What else have we been up to? Well, we scored free tickets to the local racing festival so had a day out at the gee gees. We had a great start on the betting and ended the day about $8 up. Then we had our first win on the lotto the same night! So that left us another $8 up. Hey, it's not going to make us millionaires, but at least we didn't lose!
We also went to the Penthouse Cinema in Brooklyn to watch Four Lions (very silly but very funny!). Wellington is full of little community cinemas that let you experience the cinema as it used to be. But they don't do popcorn! Much to Annalie's disappointment. It's a much more sophisticated experience! We walked into the cinema to be greeted by lots of people sat with coffee cups on their laps! Considering coffee is king in Wellington, this should come as no surprise. But you just don't expect people to be sat in the cinema with cups and saucers on their laps!
We have also been meeting up with friends for golf lessons (Ian teaching), housewarmings and Maddy meets. We've also been indulging in the Kiwi sport of attending open homes! Well, just the one. There's a house for sale on our street that has wonderful views over the bays. We're not looking to buy right now as we have our equity tied up in Derby, but it's good to know what we might be looking at. Ian kind of fell for the house we went to see and it's probably not hard to see why. A bit above our expected price range anyway, but when we're ready to buy, we'll be in a strong position as we'll effectively be first-time buyers and that will make us extremely attractive. We've just got to hope that another house like this one is on the market then.
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