Now where was I? … moving into the rental.

Transferring the electrical supply and telephone service into our names proved a little trying. We had a local tel.no. for electric but the recorded message would not take calls from mobile phones, so this job had to wait until we moved into the rental. Fortunately, the electric supply was on. We purchased a telephone and was told to plug this in our new home and dial 123 – this would put us in touch with telecom for a new connection. This did not work for some reason, the mobile did not work, so hubby had to go down the road and spend 25mins in a telephone box. It did not end there … they wanted to do a credit check and in the absence of a credit history wanted him to fax over a copy of his passport. It wasn’t until Friday evening that we got a telephone line.

Obviously our first priority once into this empty rental was to furnish it. We popped down to the local white goods merchants and after hubby's usual negotiating we were the proud owners of a good quality fridge/freezer, washing machine, dishwasher and TV – all to be delivered that afternoon. Cost – around $5,000 (– I know, sounds a lot ). Next it was off to the Warehouse where we filled up four trolleys (or trundlers, as they seem to call them here). I give approximate prices for the items below. For bedding we needed a dozen pillows ($8 each) and winter single duvets ($23 each). Now, the single duvets I saw were ‘king single’ and we found later that these are slightly bigger than UK single duvet covers – you can get them in but being a bit bigger they will not lay flush inside. We had a choice of airbeds ($20 each), fold up metal beds ($49 each) or fold up mattresses ($55 each); we went for the latter as probably being the most comfortable … and they are. We also bought one cheapie single bed and mattress ($130 and $50). Also on our checkout list was a vacuum cleaner ($112), 2 dinner sets ($25), stainless steel toaster ($40), stainless steel kettle ($46), set of 10 tumblers ($8), 3 heaters ($100), iron ($12), ironing board ($21), laundry basket ($8), and of course dozens of other little things. In all, just over $1,000 worth. For a table to dine on, we took someone’s advice given on this site (thank you!) and bought a large bench picnic table ($130) which will go outside when the container comes early August. The evening that day was spent stocking up in New World. Emigrating sure isn’t cheap.

We woke up Friday to the horrible news of the bombings in London. Like many people, we knew it would happen but hoped it wouldn’t. Now we knew why we couldn’t ring the UK on the mobile phone the evening before. We later learned because of the worry of NZers and Brits in NZ that all landline calls made to the UK made at this time would be free of charge - isn't that so thoughtful? Can't imagine that happening in the UK. It was a lovely day – got up to 19degreesC, but even the kids felt drawn to the news reports in between exploring the garden and picking mandarins. Much of the day was spent unpacking and getting organized. Hubby took the vacuum cleaner back to the Warehouse (it had no hose pipe). The cordless screwdriver (also from the Warehouse) worked for 10 seconds then packed up. Bit of a lottery, the Warehouse. During my unpacking, I found the electric nit comb which confirmed that my itchy scalp was not due to dandruff but some English stowaways!!! Subsequent combing found my 5yo also had a few and my daughter had a whole head of illegal immigrants!!! (Tip:- pack nit comb in luggage, not container!)

Was woken up early on Saturday morning by strange noises outside … a prowler, possums? Whilst investigating a mouse ran between my legs. Fortunately, my yelp only woke hubby and the next morning I put on my Sherlock Holmes hat and tracked down the mouse’s movements. It had been in the pantry (but not near the food, thank goodness), had been under the sink (goodness knows why), but worst of all is that it had been in my handbag! My 5yo had handed me an empty raisin box the day before and I put it into my handbag; mousie found it and obviously finds raisin-scented cardboard tasty as he nibbled at it and stank out my handbag in the process. Another trip to the Warehouse for mousetraps and a new handbag.

Nearly up to date with my ramblings.

That Sunday was a cold night (must have got down to 8 or 9 degreesC) and we had to put on the heaters for a couple of hours the next morning. This was the first time since moving in here. The house is spacious, which cuts down on condensation and most rooms face north which brings in a lot of warm heat and sunshine. Nice for winter but a big question mark over the summer months. I must say I think that those who live in unheated houses further south deserve a medal.

What about mousie? Well, the traps did not work for the simple reason that he was trapped in the rubbish bin. What a nice last night it had bingeing on our leftovers. I wondered what the neighbours thought when they saw us outside tipping our rubbish on the driveway and bashing at it with sticks (apologies to any animal lovers). We bumped into them later and they asked us round for tea – they proved to be very friendly salt of the earth people who thought nothing of their cat playing with another mouse (dead) on the mat in front of us (“She’s a good mouser” … glad to hear of it, actually!). They were so pleased we had moved to their country … why? … because it meant six less Asians moving here. Our first brush with kiwi racism, or patriotism depending on your views.

On Monday we spent a couple of hours in the computer shop sorting out a PC. We got a simple home package priced at $1,400 and bought a printer ($249) and a scanner ($120). There was quite a bit of confusion with getting internet access as they had to do it in the shop and needed our tel.no., tel.account no., an arranged e-mail address with and a plan sorted out. We arranged to have dial-up for a couple of days and broadband to be added on Wednesday – a chap comes round and installs it for us. The rest of the day was spent putting together a computer table and the computer bits and pieces themselves. Now, with nothing much else to do the kids (and their parents) fight over using the PC.

It is difficult giving our opinions on living in NZ as they have not yet been fully formed. We like it here. We feel at home here. We feel we will be OK. What do we miss? … nothing important, silly things like Tesco’s tiger loaf, Bisto granules (surprise, surprise ) and cereals and biscuits that do not taste as if they were made with powdered cardboard. On the subject of food, we must say that the meat, vegetables and fruit seem so much more tastier, the bakery foods OK, and the café/restaurant foods very good – that includes fish and chips (so much tastier and cheaper). We like the weather here in the Bay of Islands - you just cannot sit outside and soak up the sun in a UK winter. The BoI itself is a pleasant area of hilly countryside with a mixture of sub-tropical bush and pastureland. There are scenic areas, nice settlements but also not so nice settlements. Kerikeri itself is a very nice town, probably more affluent than most. Supposed to be quite a few poms here but have not met any yet. TV is not so good, we can only get three channels, so we will have to get Sky at some point as we want to see Dr. Who!!! Otherwise, it is too early to miss much else of the old country. Hopefully, we won’t miss much else.

Continue to Part 4