Do you have a blog about your life in NZ?

jess

24th February 2006, 01:52 PM

I noticed Moorf's blog and then saw ShakerMike's. Thought it might be nice to have a list of blogs in one place to read up on how folks who are settled in NZ are doing in their new lives. Didn't see a list elsewhere here on the forum, so...

Do you have a blog with details of your new life in NZ that you wouldn't mind sharing? Link to it from here!:nice1

Thanks!
Jessica

Moorf

24th February 2006, 01:55 PM

What a great idea. There are some fantastic blogs out there, so well written too.. MB's, for instance, is excellent.

Can't wait to see some others. :nice1

24th February 2006, 03:26 PM

Aw thanks, Moorf. :o Likewise.

Link to ours is below.

Good thread. :nice1

markkellaway

24th February 2006, 09:51 PM

Hi,

Not so much a blog but I do update our Web site with some piccies and a bit about what we've been up to:

http://www.thekellaways.co.uk

Cheers,

Mark.

wilson182

24th February 2006, 10:26 PM

www.debspaul.blogspot.com

katandbob

24th February 2006, 11:33 PM

well most will have seen my link as its in my signature....have plans for update this weekend..

Kat :D

Simon & Emily

26th February 2006, 08:25 AM

This may be (another) stupid question, but what's the best way to start looking at setting up a blog? We've always said we'd do one once we go, but do not have a clue how do go about it.

Thanks,

Emily

Glenda

26th February 2006, 11:38 AM

Go on to http://www.blogger.com/start and follow the instructions!

:)

ShakerMike

27th February 2006, 06:07 PM

I've enjoyed doing this one - it's amused me when the going got tough

http://www.tikitour.blogspot.com

Smiler

27th February 2006, 09:27 PM

Shakermike

I've just started reading your blog and my sides hurt, it's awesome.:clap:clap

I'm off to read the rest.

driver

28th February 2006, 09:36 PM

Nice one shakermike, will read the others too. Makes me think we need to have one, as our rollercoaster seems to be on hyperspeed up then even faster down.
Its a daunting task this move, but reading all your accounts makes it look possible.

Debbie

1st March 2006, 12:44 AM

katandbob

2nd March 2006, 02:45 AM

Shakermike, You are an evil man! Now, not only are my kids neglected whilst i read this forum they also have to put up with the lack of parental care whilst I read the back editions of your blog. Very entertaining.
Debbie
same here debbie but just swap the kids for work tasks :laugh so its not too bad since my last day is in 30 days....can you tell I am counting down :nice1

Kat

shagen

4th March 2006, 08:59 PM

We have linked Helen's and Chris Ford's blog to ours. Would be a great idea to link all of ours to each other.

Will add the others mentioned here.

Ours is at http://wellyexp.blogspot.com/

Questor

4th March 2006, 11:50 PM

Ours is in my sig - although I've been so busy recently I haven't managed to update it!

Promise I'll try harder.... :)

katandbob

4th March 2006, 11:50 PM

We have linked Helen's and Chris Ford's blog to ours. Would be a great idea to link all of ours to each other.

Will add the others mentioned here.

Ours is at http://wellyexp.blogspot.com/

well thats 2 hrs gone....but I have finally figured out how to link other blogs etc to mine, and added a counter (thanks shagen :nice1 I got the idea after reading yours...that was another hour when I should have been scanning photos)

now I am off to go do what I am supposed to be doing...good job I have 2 mths to get rid of this baggage.....soon my life will be all digital!

Kat

shagen

5th March 2006, 09:36 AM

Glad to be of help Kat, PM us if you need any assistance.

Cheers,

Aydon

5th March 2006, 10:13 AM

I started one this morning - but has gone down hill since then ;)

http://web.mac.com/aydon/iWeb/Aydon/Blog/Blog.html

katandbob

5th March 2006, 11:37 PM

I started one this morning - but has gone down hill since then ;)

http://web.mac.com/aydon/iWeb/Aydon/Blog/Blog.html

Ok I'll bite...whats RSS???????? :confused:

Kat...PS like the paper background effect on the blog

Aydon

6th March 2006, 02:11 AM

RSS is a "live feed" system - if you have an RSS reader (Firefox does it) then you can subscribe to the page, and everytime it is updated your RSS reader updates itself and then you can see the content without having to load the page each time.

A handy utility used quite often (Sky News, BBC News, The Register, et al.)

The background is a template found in iWeb on the Mac.

K&CS

6th March 2006, 04:39 AM

katandbob

6th March 2006, 05:48 AM

Kat, am I reading this right? You're a grandmother? I'd read previous posts about you being a grandmother, but I assumed you must be about 60 or something. You're only 3 years older than me and I've just had a baby!!!! (although he's my third). You're making me feel very old!!

Good blog, anyway. Ours will get more interesting, promise. Where are you headed for in NZ?

Kate x

Yep granny I am.....Daughter is 19 1/2, I may be 40 in age....but I am 20 in my head!....Monday to Friday...feel 80! :laugh

But I have 4 weeks exactly till I finish work, then I have 8 weeks to get rid of all my worldly goods, and play Granny as much as possible....
Find some Good WEBCAMS!! and try to instill into my youngest Jason that he must STUDY! for his GCSE's! we fly out when he is in the middle of them!

Jordon the middle one is 17 and has found a replacement mum :wah in his new girlfriend (its luuuurvvvv!!) Emma .... hes still talking of staying till hes finished his ECITB Course!....I have said for him to come out with Jason as I dont want him travelling on his own...............I'll just lock him in the basement when he gets there :D

Kat (ps I had mine when I was 21,23 and 25)....but I now get to spend 2 mths as a teenager!! :raebanana

Jaideco

7th March 2006, 01:36 AM

Ok... well... I shall expose mine for all to see as well. Oo errr.

http://jaideconz.blogspot.com/

Lots more to go on there though.

Marie P

7th March 2006, 08:25 PM

Just sat and read all your blogs .....they are great :nice1

I have a forum ,full of photos and daily goings on ,We post and friends and family post on it too.

So I dont want to put the address on here ,but if anyone wants to take a peek ,send me a PM and I will give the address.

Marie x

Questor

7th March 2006, 08:51 PM

I'm more than happy for people to comment on our blog, in fact it's positively encouraged!

jim&alma

9th March 2006, 02:50 AM

:clap :clap :clap
It's been fun reading everyone's blogs. We don't have a NZ blog yet as we've put this dream on hold for the meantime (decided to enjoy where we are for the moment), but keep them coming guys! It's very encouraging for those of us who are still on the other side. :nice1

Moorf

4th April 2006, 03:11 PM

I finally got round to linking up all your sites!! Keep them coming!!

14th April 2006, 02:29 PM

Phew! we are now updating our blog (URL below) regularly again, if anyone is interested in visiting it.
We bought a different house after just a month or two in the previous one. We are now 45 mins. closer to Auckland, which will help as Vera is v.likely to be working there more and more. We did like Te Kuiti an awful lot, met some wonderful people and began to take part in the community, but a big factor in our decision was its distance from Auckland. And, as I 've said on the blog, moving house straight after you have just moved is actually quite practical: most things are still packed and there has not been time to settle.
We hope that we don't convey an air of making weird, impulsive decsiions! :laugh We really think this move makes sense for us, and we love our new cottage.

All the best, everyone, wherever you are in the NZ process! :nice1

Diny

14th April 2006, 03:53 PM

The new house looks great - very NZ !!!

Have you discovered how to pronounce Kihikihi yet? When we were up that way at Christmas we heard it referred to as 'Kiki'.

Hope to see you all again soon - did you get my card by the way?

Diny

14th April 2006, 04:55 PM

Thanks so much, Diny. We're very happy here. No, I'm afraid we haven't got the card yet. It'll probably get here soon. Was it an actual posted card, or a virtual one? Oh, and did you get our little package? :)

And, yes, we think it's most suitable to think of the pronunciation as "Kiki"... it might(??) be technically more accurate to put in a very slight little extra "-ee" sound after each syllable, but only very lightly and slightly. Anyway, 99% of people know where I mean when I say "Kiki".

By the way, folks, I'll put some links to other blogs on our site soon.

tee and dee

14th April 2006, 05:43 PM

So much to read - brilliant. A question for the Kellaways - Is wooden furniture expensive to buy over there ? We need a new dining suite and thought we ought to get it beofre we leave but having seen yours I want one !!
Thabks,
Tracey

katandbob

14th April 2006, 09:33 PM

Ours is in my sig - although I've been so busy recently I haven't managed to update it!

Promise I'll try harder.... :)

wow Jon, you looked a bit tired on the B&W photo on page 14, did you have a late nite...before, or was it relief that the photos were nearly over ;)

lovely photos, really, Red dress...Catie looked great! looked like you both had a fantastic day

Kat

Marie P

15th April 2006, 12:08 AM

WOW ...Love your wedding photos .....especially the last one ...WD on the job too :nice1

Marie x

Questor

15th April 2006, 12:54 PM

I assume that was meant for us - if so then thank you!

The last few shots are the ones we're most happy with, we think they look really gothic!

The one where I look tired, it's probably just one of those shots that catches you at just the wrong angle - that and the fact I was actually knackered!

katandbob

15th April 2006, 10:50 PM

Jon.... :D yes, weddings can make you Knackered! :D

but at least you have loads and loads of nice shots to remind you that you had a very special and wonderful day!

I didnt have a professional photographer (my dad took them) and my grandad Eric caligraphied an album that they put them in....I have scanned them all in recently, thats where the pics on my blog are from.

but it brought many fond memories of my grandad etc...most of the oldies have passed away now. I scanned it just incase it gets damaged on the trip over.

Kat (ooh feeling old now that I have admitted we've been married 20yrs!) :laugh

Hannah

22nd April 2006, 12:18 AM

ShakerMike, your blog is a hoot! Summed up NZ life so well. School principals in jandals and the rule being that there are no rules!!!!!
I agree with your comments about Hauraki radio - how do they get away with it. today in the car on the way to work I hear the following conversation.
Presenter 1: "Hey i hear that UK police are re-opening the Michael Barrymore body in the pool case? That's good isn't it"
Presenter 2: "Ah Yeah, that will be good, for the family I mean"
Presenter 1: "Ah no mate, i didn't mean good for the family, I meant good for us"
Presenter 2: "Why's that Bro?"
Presenter 1: "Well it means we get to tell that joke again, you know, the one that goes like this - WHY DOESN'T MICHAEL BARRYMORE HAVE ASHTRAYS AT HIS PARTIES? BECAUSE HE DOESN'T NEED THEM, HE JUST PUTS HIS FAGS OUT IN THE POOL"

Unreal eh - along with the regular morning slot featuring characters such as Shazbullahbudbud and Osama Wheelie Bin OverLaden!

Best advert on TV that i've seen is the subway ad - with they guy and his girlfriend walking along the counter smiling a fixed, fake grin for about 15 seconds without a single muscle in their face moving. Weird. My kids of course like the TSB piggy bank advert (thousands of piggie money boxes running away to TSB to make their money safe while enjoying a sauna, massage, swim etc.)

I'll shut up now, none of this is relevant to a blog posting (of which I don't have anything to say as i have no blog as that sort of stuff just scares me - i can just about access the internet!)

hannah

katandbob

22nd April 2006, 09:23 AM

well Hannah, I can say that I cant wait to hear NZ radio for myself...I will have to be careful that I dont crash when they say stuff like that tho... :laugh

Kat

Howie

30th April 2006, 10:35 PM

Here we are:
http://boreakiwi.blogspot.com/

Koen

28th May 2006, 10:13 PM

I'm Jalous !!!!! I want to be in New Zealand too.

Babette & Andy

7th August 2006, 12:16 AM

Ok so it's taken me 5 months to get my act together and put a blog out there about the Edwards-Maas family - it took some courage after reading through your fantastic sites (many of you should think about becoming professional writers, your wit should be shared with the world :yes )

Anyway, here it is:- http://balainnz.blogspot.com/
Still having some teething problems with uploading photo's (any advise please PM me).

Hope you enjoy it!!

Babette

pinkpiggy

7th August 2006, 04:16 AM

Hi, we're not in NZ yet but have started a blog which is intended to be about our journey to get there. It's very short at the mo as we're only in the early stages. See the link below if you're at all remotely interested .... :)

leosus

7th August 2006, 06:26 PM

Started one myself starting from my last moments here...to be continued in October.

Susan

Questor

10th August 2006, 01:34 AM

Updated ours today with some cool new piccies :)

Croft

24th August 2006, 05:39 AM

First blog, not quite first post on the forum!

http://nzmigrant.blogspot.com/

jonesey

2nd September 2006, 01:45 PM

Guilty of not posting enough, but will have more to say when we finally land 2nd time around back in Auckland hopefully Oct 06 if we have our BLUE STICKER by then......

Some great blogs....

http://www.go-kiwi.blogspot.com/

pinkpiggy

29th October 2006, 12:32 AM

For anyone that's interested our blog can now be found at the link below.

Aydon

29th October 2006, 06:34 PM

Ours is updated regularly but thought I'd pimp it again :D (In my sig).

willsken

20th November 2006, 05:15 AM

Just started doing a Blog. For my Mum really but I thought I'd add it. Only 2 entries so far but I will update it regularly. :roll

Trigirl

20th November 2006, 05:51 AM

For my Mum really but I thought I'd add it.

I think thats probably the same reason lots of us started them! By the way you seem to have the shippers arriving the same day as us? Or maybe the day before? Good luck with it anyway!

sarahw

20th November 2006, 09:30 AM

We don't have a blog, but we do have a website - not keen on posting it on here because it has all our home contact details on it :) but if anyone wants to take a look please feel free to PM me & I'll send the address...

jo-and-jeff

20th November 2006, 10:49 AM

We each have blogs, but they are "friends-locked".

One of my many hats is as an "expert" Internet researcher, and the things I run across that people are willing to let everyone (including prospective identity thieves and paedophiles) have access to (birthdates, full addresses, phone numbers, employer details, CVs, parents' and childrens' full names and schools) are truly amazing -- and frightening.

We once had our credit report illegally accessed by the owner of a house on which we had made an offer (at that time, the state required you to put your social security number on the offer contract, an egregious breach of privacy which they have since remedied), so we're pretty sensitive about not leaving our lives wide open for any stranger on the World Wide Web.

However, if you are interested in reading one or both of our blogs, p-m me to let me know and I'll give you instructions on how to access them.

Jo

Nienke

20th November 2006, 11:27 AM

Marie P

20th November 2006, 12:18 PM

jo-and-jeff

20th November 2006, 12:58 PM

I am careful in not posting full names, there are no addresses or phonenumbers on my blog but I am still aware that there's a lot of personal stuff on there. So how do you make a blog 'friends-locked' Jo? (I have a blog on blogger.com)
LiveJournal (http://www.livejournal.com) gives a blogger the ability to set up custom "Friends" lists, and then to make each post accessible by one or more of those lists of people (or by anyone [Public], or by no one [Private]).

In order to be designated on a Friends list, someone must have their own LiveJournal account. There is a Basic Free account type, and Premium account types which includes additional special features like photo hosting. You can get some additional features on a Free account if you agree to view their ads. You can read about the different account types here (http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=38).

So if you wanted to blog about both your life in NZ, and things relating to, say, your profession or one of your hobbies, you can set up a different Friends list for each of those, and only the people on the Friends list(s) you specify for a certain entry can see that entry. In addition, if you wanted to keep a private diary, you can mark all of those entries Private, and no one can see them.

Private or Friends-locked entries are not indexed by Google or other search engines, and are not generally accessible to the public.

Jo

Trigirl

20th November 2006, 01:07 PM

Nienke

20th November 2006, 01:42 PM

Thank you both! :nice1

wiki

22nd November 2006, 02:19 AM

Like Jo I have an LJ (and have done for about five years now!) but now we're getting closer to moving back I'm considering starting a new one purely on the move. I've encouraged OH to as well since it's bound to be a lot different from her eyes than it is from me.

I love LJ, but I've been reading through a lot of blogspot links on here and it seems the most popular method. Then again, I suppose it wouldn't be too hard to cut-and-paste from one to the other! Now I just have to find a way to write and be interesting enough to justify two platforms *g*

suzer

22nd November 2006, 03:18 AM

I cut and pasted all of my stuff from a previous blog onto blogspot. Bit of a pain, but worked out ok in the end. I just re-titled it 'Adventures Abroad# so that it can cover wherever I go, as for the past year+ it has been England, soon it will be Australia, then NZ, then Australia again.

Suzer

willsken

22nd November 2006, 09:38 AM

I think thats probably the same reason lots of us started them! By the way you seem to have the shippers arriving the same day as us? Or maybe the day before? Good luck with it anyway!

Our container is off in the morning! Are you feeling the stress too? We did a self pack so our own fault really!! (Although I am still glad we did, being a control freak :uhoh ) Off to clean the microwave... :exit

Trigirl

23rd November 2006, 01:51 AM

hi there - i guess your container is gone by now then. you are so brave doing a self-pack - i absolutely could not have faced it. I've had john masons here this morning and they have been SUPERB. obviously you can't comment on the whole service till everything gets to the other end. but seriously these lads turned up before 8am, worked like mad things, were polite, friendly and were very careful with all our stuff. whole house packed by midday. i'm now sat amongst boxes waiting for the container to turn up tomorrow (currently eating pizza with my fingers off the pizza box!)

http://static.flickr.com/109/303473016_1f766ff92a.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/mandysimpson/303473016/)

http://static.flickr.com/107/303473002_c5e9a082b9.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/mandysimpson/303473002/)

willsken

23rd November 2006, 10:37 PM

Yup, after a really frantic day the container has gone. We used JM as well. They subcontracted out to a firm in Barry, also Masons. What a great service they provided. We had 2 men loading the container and they worked so hard. They managed to get so much stuff on the container and fitted in more than I thought they would. :raebanana

:wah We now have a month of sitting on deckchairs and sleeping on blow up beds...oh well, we'll survive. You know what they say, "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger"!!

jubjub

23rd November 2006, 10:43 PM

Oh Trigirl & Nicola, I remember it well, and was wondering why I did not have pics... but I hubby came 6 weeks ahead and bought the camera with him, seemed more important as he was househunting!

It will be over soon, and the camping phase in UK means less camping phase in NZ! Good Luck for all the packing..

I dont have a blog, but lots of online pics if you want a nosey send a pm....

willsken

24th November 2006, 08:52 AM

nienke

if you are using blogger.com then you need to update your account to use "blogger beta" (you can do that from your "dashboard")

once you have done that you have complete access control to your blog and only people you invite can see it - or if you prefer you can keep it public
http://help.blogger.com/bin/answer.py?answer=42673&topic=9084

I have changed my Blogg to a private one so I can put pictures of the boys on without worry. If anyone wants to be added feel free to PM your email address. Not sure why you'd want to but if you do...... :roll :D

wilson182

24th November 2006, 02:01 PM

Ditto !

Marie x

Me too, if anyone wants to just pm me your details.....

suzer

25th November 2006, 12:21 AM

Cool blogs. Mine is all about my experiences in the UK for the past year, and will 'feature' Australia before heading on to NZ.

Trigirl

25th November 2006, 01:55 AM

the camping phase in UK means less camping phase in NZ

we've opted for camping in NZ! mostly because i don't start work till end of jan so we're going to find a rental then head off to south island to see a bit of nz before settling down.

our container has also now gone (finally). we had a pretty stressful time of it as the shipping co sent a container that had just been steam cleaned and had literally dripping water from the ceiling and running down the walls and pools of water gathering on the floor. obviously i wasn't happy so sent it away and they found us a different one a few hours later. stressful times though. such a relief to have it done now - i feel like a huge weight has lifted and i can finally look forward to going.

Caroline and Dave

31st December 2006, 05:37 AM

I am just making sure that my new settings are working. We have just added a blogspot. It is pretty bad at the moment but hope to work on it over the next few days

Happy New Year everyone

Dave and Caroline

Ana&Steve

31st December 2006, 09:01 AM

It works! Hey, substitute the US for the UK, and Bush for Blair, and we have nearly identical stories!
Ana

marcia

31st December 2006, 05:07 PM

Well i started doing a blog - and to be honest found the speed for uploading photos pretty rubbish - so decided to do a piczo website like the boys did - its a work in progress, so keep popping back to have a look - trying to keep it up to date from here - but also work backwards through old stuff - like pics of the rental and the shipping process etc.

http://www.the-smiths-in-nz.piczo.com/?cr=7&rfm=y

If you fancy a look at our boys websites too here are the links to them

http://www.i-like-ratchet-and-clanc.piczo.com/?cr=6&rfm=y

http://www.callmesmithers.piczo.com/?cr=5&rfm=y

pinkpiggy

2nd January 2007, 05:49 AM

Marcia, that's a super website with some really great photos. Was that Julie (Zardell)you spent Christmas Day with? You looked like you were all having a great time.

marcia

2nd January 2007, 09:50 AM

Yes paula - it was Julie and Syeve - they look a popped up in the photo but they weren't honest - have still captions to do for some photos - uploading more all the time so keep having a look!

zardell

2nd January 2007, 01:12 PM

Was that Julie (Zardell)you spent Christmas Day with? You looked like you were all having a great time.

Hey.......you talking 'bout me ?? !! ;)

Yep it was us on Christmas Day and we had a ball !!!

I will update with all our news soon - promise.

Theres loads to tell - some good, some not so good.

Lots of personal things have been going on in these last few weeks, but things are now finally beginning to settle down, so a looong post will soon be in the offing !!

Julie

xx