jubjub
1st June 2007, 03:11 PM
It occured to me that two years ago today, I landed on NZ soil to be reunited with hubby who I had not seen for 6 weeks. At the time I was just about 4 months pregnant. My first day was a busy one, met my obstetrician and had my first NZ scan. The next day was also busy with an early start to go fetch the mutt, and we were finally all back together! :cheers
So in two years what have we done? Bought a house (did that pretty quickly actually) we knew where we wanted to live so hubby had started searching before my arrival and managed to knock quite a few frogs off the list. We had the baby (boy), who is now 18 months old and a permanent whirlwind (as some of you may have noticed when you meet us!). Hubby has just started his third job in IT, first one was very low paid, so he stayed 6 months and moved on, next place stayed nearly 18 months, nice group of folks too. New job this week, no verdict yet although seems good.
First 6 months were the worst for me, as I had no-one to talk to most days, thats when I did majority of my nearly 2000 forum posts! Did make one friend before I had the baby (funnily enough from the forum). since the baby arrived, I am never in (see my signature!) I have several good friends, all with babies the same age, and to be honest, had it not been for little AJ I would probably only have one or two pals. It's pretty tough some days when we are sick and have no-one to help out, but in the UK we did not have any family round the corner anyway. Oh, and we never go out at night anymore due to lack of babysitters, so we go out separately when we get the chance. :p
Hubby has taken to mountainbiking like a duck to water (much to my surprise) and has so far only had minor scrapes, and has discovered a liking for poker, and has found a local league to play in (he occasionally comes home better off than when he left!). Just need to get myself a hobby now, although I am too darn tired after chasing the blonde tornado all day.
Things I really like here are the things like the zoo & Kelly tarltons, we have yearly tickets for both (cost about $140 each) and we can go whenever we like, its well worth the money to be able to pop in, see a few animals, and be under no pressure to have to do everything, have a coffee and go home again. We go at least once a month to both.
I do like Auckland, its big but does not feel overcrowded compared to UK cities I have lived in. I dont feel as if I live in a city to be honest.
Swimming is a big thing for littlies, nearly everyone I know takes babies to lessons, there are so many homes with pools and the beaches are everywhere, that its more of a safety issue here.
I would like to improve our house, or move to one with a bit more insulation and maybe an extra room, but thats a bit too pricey for now, and we need a new car (praying the worst one of the two lasts at least one more WOF!).
I have totally got into the spending $ mindset, for a while $100 did not seem that much, kept thinking ah its only the equivalent 30 quid, but once you have been here a while, $100 seems quite a lot, as you truly understand it all in relation to your current income, pretty scary for a while!
Dunno if we are here for the long term, wait and see as you dont know whats round the corner, but certainly not in any hurry to go "home", its not perfect here (as I think has been said on many occasions) but our little life here seems to be going well for now. Next year citizenship (we got PR before they changed it to 5 yrs) bub has a kiwi passport, so it makes sense for us to get them too.
Gawd thats a lot of waffle, I could go on, but naptime is nearly over, and I have probably sent some of you to sleep! Think that may be my longest ever post...
So in two years what have we done? Bought a house (did that pretty quickly actually) we knew where we wanted to live so hubby had started searching before my arrival and managed to knock quite a few frogs off the list. We had the baby (boy), who is now 18 months old and a permanent whirlwind (as some of you may have noticed when you meet us!). Hubby has just started his third job in IT, first one was very low paid, so he stayed 6 months and moved on, next place stayed nearly 18 months, nice group of folks too. New job this week, no verdict yet although seems good.
First 6 months were the worst for me, as I had no-one to talk to most days, thats when I did majority of my nearly 2000 forum posts! Did make one friend before I had the baby (funnily enough from the forum). since the baby arrived, I am never in (see my signature!) I have several good friends, all with babies the same age, and to be honest, had it not been for little AJ I would probably only have one or two pals. It's pretty tough some days when we are sick and have no-one to help out, but in the UK we did not have any family round the corner anyway. Oh, and we never go out at night anymore due to lack of babysitters, so we go out separately when we get the chance. :p
Hubby has taken to mountainbiking like a duck to water (much to my surprise) and has so far only had minor scrapes, and has discovered a liking for poker, and has found a local league to play in (he occasionally comes home better off than when he left!). Just need to get myself a hobby now, although I am too darn tired after chasing the blonde tornado all day.
Things I really like here are the things like the zoo & Kelly tarltons, we have yearly tickets for both (cost about $140 each) and we can go whenever we like, its well worth the money to be able to pop in, see a few animals, and be under no pressure to have to do everything, have a coffee and go home again. We go at least once a month to both.
I do like Auckland, its big but does not feel overcrowded compared to UK cities I have lived in. I dont feel as if I live in a city to be honest.
Swimming is a big thing for littlies, nearly everyone I know takes babies to lessons, there are so many homes with pools and the beaches are everywhere, that its more of a safety issue here.
I would like to improve our house, or move to one with a bit more insulation and maybe an extra room, but thats a bit too pricey for now, and we need a new car (praying the worst one of the two lasts at least one more WOF!).
I have totally got into the spending $ mindset, for a while $100 did not seem that much, kept thinking ah its only the equivalent 30 quid, but once you have been here a while, $100 seems quite a lot, as you truly understand it all in relation to your current income, pretty scary for a while!
Dunno if we are here for the long term, wait and see as you dont know whats round the corner, but certainly not in any hurry to go "home", its not perfect here (as I think has been said on many occasions) but our little life here seems to be going well for now. Next year citizenship (we got PR before they changed it to 5 yrs) bub has a kiwi passport, so it makes sense for us to get them too.
Gawd thats a lot of waffle, I could go on, but naptime is nearly over, and I have probably sent some of you to sleep! Think that may be my longest ever post...