It has been a stressful couple of weeks between finding housing, a car, furniture, etc. here in Rotorua. But things are coming together. We found a cute little house in a great location, and we can move in Friday...2 days...hope we can make it! We are busting out of the seams here at this hotel. We also found a used car that is in good condition and we have been finding some good deals on furniture through the 'trade me' site, which is very similar to craig's list back home.
I'm finally getting comfortable with the whole driving on the left-side of the road thing (so odd), I've only driven on the wrong (right) side once (giving one poor driver a fright), thankfully that did not result in an accident..but now I seem to have it in my head to stay on the left.
I plan to get Lizzy into a kindy (preschool) here real soon. The kindy's are free (for the first 20 hrs) as funded by the government, and the kids can be there from 9-3pm M-F, but I think that's a bit much for Lizzy at this point. She really loved her preschool in Nashville, but that was just 2 days a week. I plan to start her a few days a week here and see how she does. They start kindergarten here (called 'entrance') the day they turn 5, and that is a good 6-6-1/2 hours a day, but we've got time to work her up to that.
As we settle in I'll post more. I sure hope our internet at home will be faster than here at the hotel, this has taken FOREVER!!! We love and miss you all! Our new address as of this Friday, the 31st, will be: 24b Devon Street, Glenholme, Rotorua, 3310 New Zealand. I'll post our new number in the next few days when we move in and have it set up.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
This is Lake Rotorua. The island in the distance is apparently a 'kiwi reserve'. They have destroyed any predators on that island and now there is only the native kiwi bird there. Maybe we'll take a trip out there at some point and visit the kiwi.
These black swans are beautiful but fierce! We were careful not to let the kids get too close, but of course Lizzy wanted to pet them, but they made a biting motion at her and she decided they were mean.
This was my sad attempt to capture the scenery on the drive from Auckland down to Rotorua. It really was majestic, but this pic does it no justice. Guess you'll just have to come for a visit to see what I'm talking about.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Kiwi Travels
Here's Jenny's account of the trip so far:
Dear friends and family,
Thought we’d post an update on our adventure of entering New Zealand thus far.
As far as the flight…well, let’s just say, it could have been worse, but not much! But we survived, after 12 hours of no leg room and kids screaming cause they were too uncomfortable to sleep. Although it was a lifesaver that they had individual t.v.’s with all kinds of kid shows on the back of each seat, so Lizzy was able to watch hours and hours of Dora!
Just when I thought the flight from hell would never end it did, and then the real fun started…customs! Boy, were we a sight to behold with our mountains of bags piled a mile high on these little carts that we probably only meant for 2 or 3 medium-sized bags. We each were pushing one of said carts and I had the stroller with our lovely, but screaming children….we definitely got some funny looks. It was like parting the red sea as we walked by with all our stuff and people literally stopped and stared. Then there was the business with the escalator and Lizzy…let’s just say that if she develops a life-long fear of them I will not be surprised…but she survived thanks to a lovely British woman who was in front of her on the escalator and was able to catch her as she soared mid-air off the first step. Then there was the business with the rental car. I have a bone or two to pick with whoever set that up from Rob’s new company. They grossly underestimated the about of room we would need for all our stuff and our own bodies. Once we were able to secure some things to the rack on top of the car we were fine, but we did not have that luxury on the way to the hotel. So heading there we once again resembled a circus with my arms and legs literally hanging out of the window so that we could fit all the luggage. Don’t worry, the kids were safe in their car seats, but if we had gotten in an accident, I think I would have been a goner! Um, it’s a good thing my parents are not on facebook yet, this would not go over well with them…but we made it to the hotel, (despite the underestimated trickiness of driving on the left side of the road) and after some much needed sleep, we are starting to feel human again, and the kids are running around happily. I am actually pretty amazed at how well they are doing with all the changes we’ve put them through in the last 36-48 hours. They really are great kids.
Later this morning (we are 16 hours ahead of mountain time) we head to Rotorua (three hours south of Auckland, where we are right now) where we will be staying in another hotel for two weeks while we look for housing.
It has been a bit of a crazy start here so far, but we are still very excited to be here. The people have been quite kind, and there is a charm to them that is hard to describe…it reminds me of the old movies I’ve seen with the lovely British (New Zealand accent is distinct from British but there is a lot of both here) accents and someone is always saying ‘would you like some tea and crumpets’? There’s a calm to them that I don’t see in a lot of Americans (including myself) because we do everything so quickly and are not very patient…things are done a little slower here, which can be frustrating at times, especially when I’m used to a rather face-paced lifestyle, but I’m sure I’ll get use to and learn to appreciate that aspect of the culture here.
So that’s it so far, I will post pictures in the next few days, after I can locate my camera amidst our mountain of baggage in the hotel. Please forgive me for not starting the blog yet, that will happen soon, and I will place the link on facebook as well as alerts to updates on it. We love you all and appreciate you being a part of our lives, even from so far. I’ll give another update soon, til then, cheers!
Dear friends and family,
Thought we’d post an update on our adventure of entering New Zealand thus far.
As far as the flight…well, let’s just say, it could have been worse, but not much! But we survived, after 12 hours of no leg room and kids screaming cause they were too uncomfortable to sleep. Although it was a lifesaver that they had individual t.v.’s with all kinds of kid shows on the back of each seat, so Lizzy was able to watch hours and hours of Dora!
Just when I thought the flight from hell would never end it did, and then the real fun started…customs! Boy, were we a sight to behold with our mountains of bags piled a mile high on these little carts that we probably only meant for 2 or 3 medium-sized bags. We each were pushing one of said carts and I had the stroller with our lovely, but screaming children….we definitely got some funny looks. It was like parting the red sea as we walked by with all our stuff and people literally stopped and stared. Then there was the business with the escalator and Lizzy…let’s just say that if she develops a life-long fear of them I will not be surprised…but she survived thanks to a lovely British woman who was in front of her on the escalator and was able to catch her as she soared mid-air off the first step. Then there was the business with the rental car. I have a bone or two to pick with whoever set that up from Rob’s new company. They grossly underestimated the about of room we would need for all our stuff and our own bodies. Once we were able to secure some things to the rack on top of the car we were fine, but we did not have that luxury on the way to the hotel. So heading there we once again resembled a circus with my arms and legs literally hanging out of the window so that we could fit all the luggage. Don’t worry, the kids were safe in their car seats, but if we had gotten in an accident, I think I would have been a goner! Um, it’s a good thing my parents are not on facebook yet, this would not go over well with them…but we made it to the hotel, (despite the underestimated trickiness of driving on the left side of the road) and after some much needed sleep, we are starting to feel human again, and the kids are running around happily. I am actually pretty amazed at how well they are doing with all the changes we’ve put them through in the last 36-48 hours. They really are great kids.
Later this morning (we are 16 hours ahead of mountain time) we head to Rotorua (three hours south of Auckland, where we are right now) where we will be staying in another hotel for two weeks while we look for housing.
It has been a bit of a crazy start here so far, but we are still very excited to be here. The people have been quite kind, and there is a charm to them that is hard to describe…it reminds me of the old movies I’ve seen with the lovely British (New Zealand accent is distinct from British but there is a lot of both here) accents and someone is always saying ‘would you like some tea and crumpets’? There’s a calm to them that I don’t see in a lot of Americans (including myself) because we do everything so quickly and are not very patient…things are done a little slower here, which can be frustrating at times, especially when I’m used to a rather face-paced lifestyle, but I’m sure I’ll get use to and learn to appreciate that aspect of the culture here.
So that’s it so far, I will post pictures in the next few days, after I can locate my camera amidst our mountain of baggage in the hotel. Please forgive me for not starting the blog yet, that will happen soon, and I will place the link on facebook as well as alerts to updates on it. We love you all and appreciate you being a part of our lives, even from so far. I’ll give another update soon, til then, cheers!
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