3 months in...
Posted 07-10-2008 at 10:33 AM by Ginabridget
Wow I can't believe that we've been in NZ for three months already, the time has absolutely flown by. My hubby started work yesterday, he's secured a 12 month contract nearby, which will hopefully get his foot in the door to bigger and better jobs within the refinery. My daughter has been at her new nursery for 2 months and is really enjoying it, they've got a pony there called Kiwi that she adores. My son starts the same nursery tomorrow morning, he's only doing one morning a week, that's all I can bear. So I'm now a stay at home mum again.....same as before just on the other side of the world. I'm going to brave the local play centre next week and see if I can meet some other mums.
We had a holiday home (or bach) booked for when we first arrived, it was really drafty and cold, it didn't help that we arrived at the worst part of the winter just as the storms began. Only lasted 2 weeks in it before I found a house to rent in the local village, much warmer, no drafts and a lovely log burner to keep us warm.
We had a rental car for a week and then when back down to Auckland and bought an ex-lease car, it's a toyota corolla wagon (estate) which should accommodate all our crap. Because my hubby was starting work this week we went back down to Auckland last week and bought another car so that I wouldn't be stuck in the house while he was at work, we've ended up with a Honda Jazz, really really economical, although my hubby has snaffled that one cos he's doing more mileage then me.
Our rental house was furnished, but we've managed to buy all our own furniture and have moved the landlords stuff into the garage, all that's left to buy is some coffee tables and we're completely sorted. Oh and a book shelf, now that the shipping has arrived I actually have books again WAHOO.
We've been down to Rotorua to look at the stinky boiling mud, swim in some brilliant hot pools, the Polynesian Spa was awsome. Went to Waitomo to see the glow worms, did the boat trip into the cave, it was like being on a movie set. Went down to Taupo for a few days and came home via the Corromandel Peninsula, stayed in Papamoa and Whitianga, and have completely fallen in love with that area. If my hubby's job here doesn't come to anything then we'll definitely be moving down somewhere around the Hamilton or Tauranga area.
The only downside of being where we are (in Waipu, Northland) is that after spending 10 years in the UK I now apparently have an English accent, I say 'apparently' because in the UK my mates referred to me as their token foreigner, and I quite often had people trying to guess where I was from because I didn't have the Prestonian accent. We're staying in a little village where I grew up and it's grown a lot since I was here last, full of people that have moved here to raise their families. So what I'm trying to say is that I feel like I've come home to my home town and there are all these people here who class themselves as locals and I'm the one who is not only not a local but apparently I'm still 'the token foreigner'. It's pretty weird. At least all the 'locals' seem nice.
I'm not sure that this is the place for me, it's a bit 'back of beyond', the shopping is terrible, we've got a 90km round trip to get to a decent supermarket, the primary school is great but the secondary school definitely isn't....so not sure if I want to be here long term. If I didn't have family in the area then we would definitely be somewhere down south now.
But in the meantime I'm taking full advantage of being near the beach, doing a bit of fishing, have got a vege garden started and am spending quality time with family that I haven't seen for 10 years.
Am watching the credit crunch very carefully too, today I'm hoping that the UK is going to do the 100% guarantee for depositors, or whatever it's actually called, we've left our money in a term deposit in the UK, though we'd wait out the property market over here and wait to buy until 2010......meanwhile I'm falling in love with loads of differently properties that are completely unobtainable, especially holiday homes in the Corromandel.
I have know idea if any of that makes sense, but better get off and clean the bathroom to earn my keep.
We had a holiday home (or bach) booked for when we first arrived, it was really drafty and cold, it didn't help that we arrived at the worst part of the winter just as the storms began. Only lasted 2 weeks in it before I found a house to rent in the local village, much warmer, no drafts and a lovely log burner to keep us warm.
We had a rental car for a week and then when back down to Auckland and bought an ex-lease car, it's a toyota corolla wagon (estate) which should accommodate all our crap. Because my hubby was starting work this week we went back down to Auckland last week and bought another car so that I wouldn't be stuck in the house while he was at work, we've ended up with a Honda Jazz, really really economical, although my hubby has snaffled that one cos he's doing more mileage then me.
Our rental house was furnished, but we've managed to buy all our own furniture and have moved the landlords stuff into the garage, all that's left to buy is some coffee tables and we're completely sorted. Oh and a book shelf, now that the shipping has arrived I actually have books again WAHOO.
We've been down to Rotorua to look at the stinky boiling mud, swim in some brilliant hot pools, the Polynesian Spa was awsome. Went to Waitomo to see the glow worms, did the boat trip into the cave, it was like being on a movie set. Went down to Taupo for a few days and came home via the Corromandel Peninsula, stayed in Papamoa and Whitianga, and have completely fallen in love with that area. If my hubby's job here doesn't come to anything then we'll definitely be moving down somewhere around the Hamilton or Tauranga area.
The only downside of being where we are (in Waipu, Northland) is that after spending 10 years in the UK I now apparently have an English accent, I say 'apparently' because in the UK my mates referred to me as their token foreigner, and I quite often had people trying to guess where I was from because I didn't have the Prestonian accent. We're staying in a little village where I grew up and it's grown a lot since I was here last, full of people that have moved here to raise their families. So what I'm trying to say is that I feel like I've come home to my home town and there are all these people here who class themselves as locals and I'm the one who is not only not a local but apparently I'm still 'the token foreigner'. It's pretty weird. At least all the 'locals' seem nice.
I'm not sure that this is the place for me, it's a bit 'back of beyond', the shopping is terrible, we've got a 90km round trip to get to a decent supermarket, the primary school is great but the secondary school definitely isn't....so not sure if I want to be here long term. If I didn't have family in the area then we would definitely be somewhere down south now.
But in the meantime I'm taking full advantage of being near the beach, doing a bit of fishing, have got a vege garden started and am spending quality time with family that I haven't seen for 10 years.
Am watching the credit crunch very carefully too, today I'm hoping that the UK is going to do the 100% guarantee for depositors, or whatever it's actually called, we've left our money in a term deposit in the UK, though we'd wait out the property market over here and wait to buy until 2010......meanwhile I'm falling in love with loads of differently properties that are completely unobtainable, especially holiday homes in the Corromandel.
I have know idea if any of that makes sense, but better get off and clean the bathroom to earn my keep.
Total Comments 4
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Great blog, Gina, and good to hear all your news. I wonder how long it will be before you regain your true, unadulterated kiwi accent.
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Posted 07-10-2008 at 04:26 PM by MotherBear
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Lovely post Gina. Glad to hear you've settle dback into the Kiwi life well.
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Posted 07-10-2008 at 05:16 PM by ebianca
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I'm glad to hear that you're settling back in, Gina. Isn't Waipu the town with the big Scotsman sign on the highway? It does seem to be a bit remote. Is nearby Whangarei really devoid of decent shopping? We had a job possibility there that fell through, but we're still considering the area.
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Posted 20-10-2008 at 06:50 AM by selchie
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Yeah Waipu has the big Scotsman, we've also a strange tartan bull....not quite sure what the bull is about but Waipu is a Scottish settlement, full of McLeans and McLeods. The area is really beautiful, the beaches are lovely. I think it's just taking me a bit of time to get my head round being in the countryside again. I've got so used to living in the suburbs I take shops being there and them being open for granted. I think I just need to plan properly before I take a trip to town cos I've been caught twice now where I've gotten home and forgotten something and either had to do the whole trip over again, or wait a week until our next grocery trip. Although to combat the cost of all the trips into Whangarei we've bought a little Honda Jazz instead of the 4x4 we had planned. I'm finding the shopping in Whangarei pretty bad, although I'm still learning where to get the things I need, I had to get some clothes for my hubby to have an interview and had the choice of 2 shops to pick from..... We're in the process of looking for a permanent job at the moment and if we happen to find one in this area I think we'd probably move closer to Whangarei, still be in the countryside but had the amenities of the city a lot closer. Waipu is gorgeous, great for kids, great for retired people and also great if you don't need to commute for work, you can have a beautiful lifestyle block with sea views.....but I still want to have the option take-out delivered to me when I can't be bothered to cook. Although living here I do have the option of baby-sitters which is something we've never been lucky enough to have before.
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Posted 20-10-2008 at 09:55 AM by Ginabridget
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Recent Blog Entries by Ginabridget
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