More fun and frivolity!

We've had a great week of fun with the Guyomars down here in Christchurch - pretty much drained the batteries and in need of a few days rest! Mike, Fiona and the girls have now headed back home to Wellington and a relative calm has descended upon Desmond Street.

After our skiing exploits at Mount Hutt on Tuesday, we stayed local for a couple of days.....

After a lazy start on Wednesday, we took the kids to a "Go-Ape"-type park, where they spent a few hours in the trees taking on the various obstacles. They all seemed to have good fun - despite a few tough moments - physically and psychologically - along the way. The adults made the mistake of sitting out the activity and consequently got rather chilled whilst watching/supervising. Next time, we'll be swinging from the trees ourselves!


Thursday's activities included a trip to the QEII complex and a couple of hours inside the "Aquatic Centre" with its wave machines, hydro-slides, pools and diving boards - great fun! The girls were also booked in for an hour and a half of trampolining in the adjacent Gymnastics Complex - which they enjoyed.

Having dined in at Desmond Street on previous evenings, we headed out to Simo's - a Moroccan Restaurant in the centre of town - which Mike had been keen to visit due to it having featured on a NZ cooking programme recently. Despite initial concerns that the menu didn't appear too child-friendly, we all had an enjoyable and filling meal.

Friday was to see our return to the slopes of Mount Hutt for another glorious day of skiing. This time with cars decked out in snow chains, the journey up to the fields did not feel quite so white knuckle!
After a cloudy start to the day, we were blessed with another sunny day in the Alps - with stunning views eastward across the Canterbury Plain to the sea and westward - from the top of Mount Hutt - over the snow-covered Southern Alpine peaks.


And the icing on the cake was the wonderfully warm and tasty mulled wine that glugged with our lunch - though it did make us slightly reluctant to return to the pistes for the afternoon exertions!

The weekend has been very lazy indeed. We brunched out on Saturday afternoon at Cafe C1 - a funky place that Matt and Lou had recommended - and that was about it for the day!

Sunday we strolled around the Botanical Gardens in the early afternoon sunshine before grabbing lunch at the Art Gallery.

2 weeks in

Well, it's now 2 weeks since we set down in our new homeland that is Godzone. It feels like we've been here a lot longer, to be honest.

We're settling in to our place here on Desmond Street - advertised in the local Real Estate Agents as the best street in Christchurch - and it's starting to feel like home. We've bought a car - a Subaru Forrester - and we've hosted our first guests.

Since the last posting, we've had a trip out - with Mike and Floss Guyomar - to the local Orana wildlife park which was good fun. The girls got to hand-feed a giraffe plus we got very close up to some Rhinos and Lions.



Fi and Izzy Guyomar arrived late Monday and yesterday (Tuesday) we all headed up to Mount Hutt for a days skiing and boarding. It was great fun. Conditions were fantastic - lots of fresh snow and plenty of sun. The drives up to and back down from the slopes were interesting to say the least - but our Forrester passed its first real test without the need for snow chains.

With the Guyomars around, it's definitely got a holiday feel. Plus, there's always plenty of wine on the go!

Life begins.....( a first comment from Chris )

It is now nearly 2 weeks into our new life in Kiwiland and the illusive Guyomar clan has arrived, well half of them until tomorrow. The weather is very pleasant considering it is the middle of winter, quite cold but when the sun comes out it can get quite hot!Chris has enrolled on 2 courses at the local polytechnic 'CPIT' and is waiting to see if he has gained a place on an Architecture course that starts in February. He has also passed his theory test and eager to get driving. He is also head chef at the mo, and often cooks us up hearty dinners...

Settling into Desmond Street

It's now Thursday 9th July. We've been in Christchurch for just over a week - it feels like a lot longer.

Desmond St was ready for us on Monday so we moved in a day earlier than was originally expected. It's a million times better than the temporary digs we had for the first week (slight exaggeration - but certainly a step change).

We are perched on the banks of the Avon - the house name is Avonbank - effectively with our own access for canoing, punting, etc! Across the river is Hagley Park - seemingly a Mecca for all things jogging from dawn to dusk. I've been out a few time already and we even had a "family jog" on Wednesday afternoon!

Maria has had 2 interviews for a job at Heinz Watties, the last one was this morning and included maths psychometric testing - so you can guess how she felt about that one! Fortunately she's not applied for the frozen-pea counting role and so is still hopeful of a positive result - we should get to hear in the next few days.

Chris has enrolled on a few short-term, part-time courses at the Polytechnic with a view to them helping him get a job before starting a full-time course in Feb 2010. One of the courses is as a trainee Barista - so anyone visiting us in the future should look forward to some top class coffee. He has decided on an diploma in Architecture for his full-time study - which sounds very positive. He's also chuffed with himself as he passed his NZ driving theory test today - so he's now mithering me to get him a car to learn to drive in!

We still haven't got round to buying a car yet - though we did go for a test drive in a Nissan X-trail yesterday. The verdict was not good, though - box on wheels was the general concensus! I think we may be sticking to a low-slung model (probably Jap!) but possibly with 4WD. A newer model of the Subaru Legacy we are currently borrowing from Matt and Lou would probably be ideal?

As it's Thursday, I'm off to the local pub with the neighbours! I've got in touch with Steve Frodsham - an old pal from my early days in RR who works at the P&W overhaul base here in Chch - only to discover he lives around the corner. So he's going to introduce me to a couple of watering holes in Merivale. We are creatures of habit, don't you know!

And the socialising will continue full-on over the next few days as we host Matt and Lou tomorrow for dinner and then welcome Mike, Fiona, Issy and Flos Guyomar for a weeks skiing, site-seeing, eating, drinking and general merry-making down here in the sunny south.

Oh, did I forget to mention that the weather has turned and it's absolutely gorgeous! Clear blue skies and sunny days. Feels like April in the UK and yet it's the middle of winter here.

Getting Used to the Cold!

The first few days have gone by in a flash - spent mostly trawling around the various shopping malls scattered around the city looking for sheepskin boots and warm fleeces!

We've had a look around the property at Desmond St - our "permanent" residence - and were happy with what we saw. Nice and spacey, plus it felt a lot warmer than the current digs.

We've also been round a couple of schools - Heaton Road Intermediate and Christchurch Girls High School - which Sarah is likely to be attending during the next year - and were suitably impressed. The long kilts worn by the girls are particularly fetching!!

Took a trip out to Sumner (the seaside) but it was blowing a "hooley" so we didn't really stop long to take in the views. That's for another day.

I think that we are starting to acclimatise to the weather as it doesn't feel quite as cold as upon our arrival - though sleep-wise we're still waking early and feeling tired by 9pm each evening.

We went downtown with Matt and Lou (and some of their pals) on Friday for a very enjoyable curry at the Himalayas restaurant - Chris just had to choose a vindaloo - though fortunately it wasn't Normanton Road strength.

Saturday we saw the sun for more or less the first time this week - and my is it warm when it does.


We had a wander around the Arts Centre and the Botanical Gardens - very nice indeed - I guess it will be fantastic in summer when all the flowers are in bloom.





Sunday we had a drive out in search of Heinz Watties - where Maria has a job interview tomorrow. Not the most scenic part of town - but I guess industrial areas aren't!

I headed over to the QEII staduim to watch a football match in the afternoon - Mainland XI vs Wellington Phoenix. A crowd of just over 4000 people watched the 2 teams play out a thrilling 0-0 draw in the freezing cold! Meanwhile, Maria and the kids headed downtown and took in the Art Gallery.

A New Dawn - 30th June 2009

Well, after all the planning and farewell partying, we finally set off on our epic adventure. A couple of sets of R-R engines powered us to the other side of the world where we were welcomed by a beautiful sun-rise over (the clouds of) New Zealand.





Once we had broken through the cover, we were treated to the wonderful sights of the snow-covered Southern Alps - whetting the appetite for future trips to the ski-slopes.

I had wondered how I would feel once we landed - indeed had committed some expected emotions to words on an affirmation card - but was not really expecting to deal with the comment from the immigration officer as we passed through passport control......
"Welcome home and good luck in your new life in New Zealand"!

We had been warned that it was cold - but the conditioning had not really prepared for the temperature drop that we experienced - around 20 degrees between the balmy London we left on Sunday and Christchurch this morning! Matt and Louise had kindly arranged to play taxi-drivers and move us to our digs across town although the place was all locked up on arrival and we had to wait around for the agent to arrive and open up.

Once inside we suddenly realised the difference that double glazing and central heating makes to a house in the depths of winter. In the UK, most people can't remember what it was like pre-CH/DG. Well, can I ask you all to dig deep into your sub-conscious and exercise that old dendrite so that you can sympathise with us! BRRRRRRRRR!! Still, it makes for good winter sports!

Anyway - we've arrived safely. Didn't lose any baggage en route and didn't get charged for being well over the limit! We're out setting up bank accounts and buying some mobile phones - plus a few extra layers for around the house! Jet-lag resulted in a 5.30am get-up this morning (Weds) so I think it's going to be another tiring day....

There'll be some pictures posted to this blog in due course - just watch this space.

Ready For Take Off

This blog will be updated in due course with pictures and stories of our last month's preparations before heading off to New Zealand - watch this space!