How the time has flown

Greetings from New Zealand, yes we are still here just taken a few months to update the blog.

I’m not too sure where to start as a lot has happened over the last 6 months (is it really that long) since I last updated the site. But consequently all is well here in Christchurch as we are about to embark our second winter here.

The last 6 months have flown by, I Tracey have got a new job, got a new house, still have the cats, still have Si and we have had our first Kiwi Xmas plus first lot of visitors from the UK in Feb and I’m also waiting to here on another career prospect,,,,,

So way back last year we had a v. quiet Xmas and went up to Nelson again (top of South Island) for a week to chill out. Had a great time, visiting different areas and seeing how Kiwi’s celebrate Xmas. Must admit it was a bit quiet with just the two of us. Xmas day was spent on the beach, having brunch and a bottle of champers (Asda cava I do believe!) and we just chilled out whilst there. Did make us remember home and sometimes felt quite sad being on our own out here.

So after a week we came back to the not so sunny Canterbury (believe it was raining) for the remainder of New Year and the holidays before I started my new job - oh yeah I quit the Personal Training at the end of November as I had had enough and was desperate to earn a decent wage.

The job hunting was fairly stressful, as I had probably picked the worst time in the year to look for a job, as when it approaches Xmas, NZ shuts down for about 3-4 weeks for the main summer holidays. After a couple of weeks temping (bored bored bored), I managed to get a permanent job with Solid Energy as the Information Services Administrator starting in January. Solid Energy are the biggest NZ coal company here, and I work in their IT dept doing all sorts of interesting things (said with tongue firmly in cheek) of procument/purchasing/PA duties and pretty easy stuff. Bit different to being in the military is all I can say.

But after landing the job on the Thursday end of December, the next day we put an offer in on a house. Thanks to Dave Ardern for explaining the house buying process over here, which is thankfully a lot easier than the UK. So the house was purchased, contracted signed with a move in date of 26 Jan 07 - yep my 37th birthday. The pressure was indeed on as Si’s mum and dad were about to land for a visit and there was no way in hell I was going to have them stopping at the military house in Burnham.

So moving day arrived, Si decided to disappear for the day looking for a plumbing part, so he did not have to help with the chaos of delivery and sorting out boxes and furniture. After a week, the house was ready for the in-laws arrival and inspection!