My first car!

After Nathan trawling the NZ version of ebay (aka trade me) and me getting funny about the need for a small car and a manual car we found this.... Ok so it is not a manual but I am getting used to the automatic but it is small.  Tiny in fact.  Only 660cc - vroooom vroooom!!  Oh people of Christchurch you are no longer safe as I whizz past you at top speed in my new Suzuki Alto!! 

We looked at about 6 cars in total - This one was the last we saw and after test driving it on the hills of Lyttleton, particularly our new house which has the steepest drive ever, we swiped it up right away...getting money out off all different accounts to get together the cash and ensure that the people who were test driving it moments after us did not get it!

Phew....

House

This is hopefully our new houe in Lyttelton... Just waiting for the estate agent to do their stuff.... a bit of quake damage to the house (cracks - nothing more than in a normal old UK house) - The drive up is steep though and the driveway a little bit cracked...! Great views and cosy enought to hopefully keep warm - a cold snap has settled....

small joy!

Oh the joy of a power point in the bathroom! So very sensible!  Bank visits, car shoppping and house hunting today...

A big cabbage and other things

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Its now been nearly a week since I left the UK and so thought would give you an update...

Most excitingly I must first report on the size of the cabbage purchased from my first supermarket run.  Here it is compared to a kiwi (-fruit that is).   Gigantic vegetables from the clean green land! I am mildly impressed!!

If giant veggies don't tempt you to visit perhaps the pictures of the NZ winter contrasted to the UK summer will tempt you over at some point....  Last week Nathan and I went out on the scooter (Nathan's newest boy toy!) around from Lyttelton where we are living at the moment over to Diamond Harbour which is about a 40 minute scoot at a leisurely pace not bad going for one of the coldest months of the year.   The scenery is really beautiful and quite dramatic too. 

The winter....

Summer in Bristol ....!

As for earthquakes, the circle of fire has been quite calm for a while but every now and then there is an after shock which rocks everything.  The noise is a bit like someone slamming your back door over and over again!

I've had to start learning about the way in which services run here - like the fact that you get to choose your own midwife (how's that for service!) rather than getting the one your doctor tells you to use.  Apparently interviewing various ones is the way forward but the first one I called were friendly and more importantly had space in their diaries at the time of delivery.   On top of all that their first visit to you is a house visit (yes! A visit in your home (!!!)) wow!  The head midwife of the team has also worked in Cambodia so we can always talk noodles and Khmer Rouge if baby talk fails!

One week 2 days

(at least we did the car boot sale to get rid of most of the stuff.... Now that is a true experience...)

With one week and two days to go I am looking forward to a break from packing and trying to battle with things on my list of "things to do" and going tomorrow for lunch to meet with friends and family to say goodbye for now.... Things seem to be on track at the moment. The shipping boxes which surround my bed (aka a lilo in the spare room) are full to the brim of things I don't really need but can't part with.   Next week is my last week at work...

Move out

Martin drives the precious historic (ahem!) family furniture from my old flat to the attic at Martin and Mum's house where it will live for the time being....

Empty house...

2 weeks 2 days

It is 2 weeks and 2 days until I take off and head towards Christchurch, New Zealand.  We will be living for a short time in a short term rental property while we find ourselves a permenant place to live in...Above are some pictures of our temporary home.... Apparently it was n NZ's Sunday magazine (not that I know anything about that) and you can hear goats from the garden (a much more interesting and exciting fact)...

It is in Lyttleton which is just outside Christchurch by NZ standards but by UK standards pretty much a suburb as it ia only about 12km to the centre of the city.