Louise and Daniel start at Lyttelton Main School
This morning I watched them in the playground for the first half hour as the whole of the school did “jump gym” – it started with a warm up and run round the playground and then they boogied to 5 or 6 songs with actions. It was great to watch them all lined up in their classes and expressing themselves. Louise got the hang of the moves quite quickly, Daniel looked a bit bemused by the whole thing but “likes to wiggle his bott” (his words not mine) so I’m sure he’ll get into it next time round.
Daniel is in the new entrants class. His teacher is Mrs Dann, she’s like a big cuddly grandma. He was very quiet on the first day but soon opened up when Mrs Dann took an interest in his books from Longcot. He came home very pleased with himself on the first day as he had gone up a level – they have a chart where they move up the colours if they do something special – he had helped the girl sitting next to him get their truck pictures right – when they get to the top colour they get to choose a present from the box. It’s a bit like the yellow chair in class one at Longcot. Louise came home with Q bear for the night yesterday and sat on the fish cushion – similar concept.
Louise is in year 2 but from Monday will move to year 3. The school is similar in size to Longcot with 100 pupils and they have mixed classes. On Monday they have a fifth teacher starting so are able to spread out the classes a bit – Daniel’s class will have fewer children (about 14 I think) and after much discussion between the head teacher Mr Thawley and the other staff, Louise will move into class 3. Louise’s teacher will be Mrs Rossie-Tong who has taught in the UK – she might even be English but we have not met her yet.
The kids are settling in well, I think Daniel will find it more tricky for the first couple of weeks as he misses the guidance of his big sister but he has two buddies which is really helping. Miss Harris and Miss Lister you did a great job with them, I am very proud of the way they have handled themselves this week (and through all the changes we have thrown at them recently).
We live up the hill and it is only a short walk to the school each morning – slightly longer walk up the hill (including a road called Stevenson’s Steep – which it is). The kids were thrilled to discover that they could take their scooters to school so we now whizz down the hill each day.
Photos of the house and school
Settling in
So we are now into our second week and it has been no less manic than the first and lots of fun too.
Ben started work at Insite last Tuesday after Easter. A week on and he is settling in really well, he comes home talking of manufacturing and systems, lots of similarities with RM PC Div but a few differences too that you get with a different scale. The company has about 25 employees and produces about 5000 units a year. They are growing fast, so no pressure Ben but Jan has high expectations!
We also moved into the house we are renting. Our container arrived without too much incident – one minor row with the removal company at this end as they wanted to charge us more (good try but picked the wrong people to mess with!!) – more importantly, it all got through customs ok and the kids were thrilled to get their toys back, their rooms were the first to get sorted.
I have finally got round to putting up some photos so take a look through the albums or follow the links below:
Our first two weeks – around Christchurch and LytteltonAlthough we are now in or on place, we became good friends with Shonagh and went ice skating with them last weekend. Christy likes his skiing too so when the winter has really set in we’ll probably take to the slopes together too. It was Shonagh’s birthday and Erin and Dave had a party at their place last weekend, the champagne came out and we toasted the new arrivals again (I wonder how long we can keep that one going for ?!)
It has been great get back to being able to talk to people back home again, we are slowly catching up and love hearing from you all. Keep those emails coming.
Our first week in New Zealand
Hi everyone, we disappeared into a bit of black hole for the past couple of weeks but are now sorted in a house and have communications up and running again. Here are our notes from our first week and we look forward to catching up with you all again over the next few days:
We arrived in New Zealand, exactly a week today. We’ve crammed a lot in and done well to sort out a house to rent, found a school for Louise and Daniel and put a deposit on two cars that we’ll pick up next week … but more on all of that later.
This time last week, we were just landing at Christchurch airport. Jan, Ben’s boss and pretty much the only person we know in New Zealand at least on the South Island, comes to meet us. It’s an emotional moment for everyone, all the planning over the last couple of months has now become reality.
We are staying in Lyttelton which is the working port in Christchurch. It is about 15 minutes from the city centre on the other side of the port hills. It is reached by going through a long tunnel, a journey which we are to make many times over the next week and indeed over the coming months as it looks like we will stay here for a while.
Our first thoughts about staying near the coast look to be pretty spot on. Hopefully these maps will give you an idea of the locations in relation to one another of the places we refer to:
(double click to get a bigger picture)
Our base for the first week or so until we find a house is a B&B (Dalcroy House) run by Shonagh O’Hagan and her son Christy. Shonagh and Christy moved here from Wellington about 8 years ago and have been doing the place up recently; it is full of character, very comfortable and has a great view overlooking the port.
Jan decides to throw an impromptu BBQ which is just a short but steep walk up the hill. We meet Helen and Mike, who kindly emailed us even before we got here and invited us to the Easter Egg Hunt that they organise each year, and Erin and Dave who it turns out we will rent a house from. Jan has three children – Eddy (10), Albi (7) and Lilly (5) and there are about 8 other kids there so it doesn’t take Louise and Daniel long to join them on the trampoline in the garden – we don’t see much of them all evening which is a good sign as it means they feel comfortable in their new surroundings. So within 4 hours of arriving we have all met new friends and are made to feel really welcome, we realise that we are very lucky and it will make a huge difference to how we settle here.
It is hard to sum up how we feel in our first week, right from the start we look at everything around us differently, this is not a holiday, it makes us consider things much more critically. The views around us are amazing and we are lucky to have met so many people already that want to help us. We knew it would happen but we still miss our family and friends like mad.
In the first few days we look at a number of houses, there is not much up for rent and the places that are available are generally pretty shabby. The school search goes better and we like both of the schools we see. Towards the end of the week, we hit a bit of good luck when it turns out that Erin and Dave have a house that they were planning to sell but haven’t had the offer they were looking for and so are willing to rent it to us. It is in Lyttelton, has four bedrooms so plenty of space for visitors, lovely deck area and garden plus new kitchen and bathroom. We have agreed to rent their house for 9 months and have also enrolled Louise and Daniel in the local school.
Louise and Daniel will start at Lyttelton Main School after the holidays in 10 days time. The school is about the same size as Longcot and Fernham and has mixed classes; Daniel is fairly straightforward as he will start in the new entrants class but Louise is a bit more tricky as the school year is 6 months displaced so it is not obvious which class she will end up. They don’t have a school uniform which I think will take some getting used to but we will be able to walk to and from school.
There is a street near the centre of the city called Moorhouse Avenue – it is full of garages and we spend many hours traipsing up and down looking for a car. We finally settle on a Toyota Previa, essentially a replacement of our well loved “bus” with 8 seats, again with a view to visitors. Our second car is a bit more fun; a Mitsubishi FTO, a sports car.
So now it’s the end of the week and we’ve done pretty well really to get as much sorted as we have. Over the weekend we get the chance to relax and become tourists again for a few days.
Good Friday is a sunny day so we take a drive down the Banks Peninsula to Le Bons Bay to meet up with Jan and Greg for the day. The drive is stunning, this peninsula has been carved out of old volcano and the result is interesting landscape and plenty of bays.
On Friday night, Louise has her first sleepover at Lauren’s house – she has a great time, apparently they are still giggling well into the night. Daniel finds it really strange not to have his sister sleeping in the same room and it really highlights how close they have become over the last couple of months. This is a big adventure for us all and just as Ben and I share our experiences so do Louise and Daniel in their own ways.
Saturday and we finally make it past Moorhouse avenue and into the city centre. It is more English than Oxford! We walk along the river bank – you can hire a boat and punt down the river … and yes it is the river Avon. On the way down to the Arts Centre we pass Worcester Street, Gloucester Street and Hereford Street. The kids enjoy their first sighting of the tram and we all enjoy wandering round the craft market.
Today, Easter Sunday. This morning we took a long walk and spent the morning on the beach at Corsair Bay. This afternoon we have been round at Helen and Mike’s house for the Easter Egg Hunt.
Ben starts work in two days time at Insite Technology as their Hardware Manager. We were able to go in a visit during the week, it is much smaller than RM but similar environment just on smaller scale so Ben should fit in pretty well.
Next on our list to sort out is moving into the house we have rented. Hopefully that will happen sometime later this week, our container has arrived and is now with customs so once they have cleared us, we’ll get sorted. Bear with us for the next week or so, broadband will be high on our list to get sorted and then we can get in touch properly with you all.
For now, Happy Easter, we hope Spring has started to kick in. Thanks for all your notes on our blog and the emails, it really does mean a lot to hear from you and how you are all getting on.
Brisbane
The last stop on our holiday is Brisbane. It is 19 years since Sharon was last here and saw Joyce, Noel, Lesley-Anne and Shelley. Shelley is in London at the moment but it is so fantastic to see everyone else again and introduce the rest of the Jenkins rabble. Joyce and Noel must have been working like mad before we arrive and it means we can spend the whole week together. It’s like we have never been away; Noel has the same dry sense of humour, cracking jokes the whole week – it’s fun to watch the kids as they don’t really get it all but their faces are a great picture and Ben gives him a good run for his money; Joyce hasn’t changed either and is so lovely, we are all thoroughly spoilt for the week. Lesley manages to make it over for a couple of evenings, we have the chance to catch up and she has a dog called Scooby Doo which goes down well with the kids.
We visit all the places we did when I was here last – we go into Brisbane itself, walk along the South Bank and swim in Parklands, we spend time on the beach at Redcliffe, head up the Sunshine Coast to Caloundra and Mooloolaba beach and also spend a day down on the Gold coast at Surfers Paradise.
In amongst all of this, we visit Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary where we are able to see koalas and get close to kangaroos and Sea World where the highlights are the dolphin show and wipeout water ski show.
Brisbane Pictures
Sydney
We arrive in Sydney at 7am local time, it’s 5pm in the UK but actually in our heads we have no idea what time it is! In order to minimise the jet lag we decide to try and stay awake through the day so we head straight for the beach.
We are staying with Caz and Dave – Caz used to work at RM and Dave works for Vodafone and has managed to get a two year stint out in Sydney. They have two children Ella and Jake who are two years older than Louise and Daniel respectively and we know from when we visited them in Dublin last year that they all get on great (yes Dave is jammy on the job front!).
The kids do a fantastic job of keeping awake all day, having a sudden burst of energy when Ella and Jake arrive back from school. When we finally crash out, Ben and I have been up for 33 hours. It does the trick, we wake up the next day ready to explore Sydney.
Photos from SydneyCaz and Dave live in the northern suburbs of Sydney in a place called Castle Cove, their house is up a hill overlooking the bay and there is a beautiful walk through the trees down to the waters edge.
On our first full day in Sydney, we take a train from the local station, Roseville, into the city. Daniel is interested by the double decker trains and granny and grandpa would definitely like the station because surrounding the platforms are lovely shrubs and flowers. We get the train so far and then take a ferry; it’s our first view of Sydney Harbour, the Bridge and of course the Opera House. It is a view we are to see many times over the next few days – of course loads of tourists like us look on at the same sights but it’s impressive all the same. We are on or way to meet up with Kim, a Canadian friend of Sharon’s that works on one of the cruise liners, the Pacific Sun. The ship is Sydney for changeover day so we get a tour of the ship – Louise tests out every dance floor – and we then go ashore for lunch. We laugh about the fact that we have had to come so far to meet up with one another and now we find ourselves having lunch overlooking the Sydney opera house. The following day we are back in the city where we go up the tower and look down over Sydney.
It’s now the weekend, Dave has gone to Melbourne – Vodafone sponsor some of the formula 1 racing so Dave is stuck with corporate entertaining and watching the grand prix. To compensate, we put a large dent in his wine collection! Ella and Jake are off school too so our two are happy. We go to Taronga Zoo on Saturday where the highlight (apart from the views) is the bird show – the birds swoop down right over our heads. On the Sunday, Ella and Jake’s granny B arrives from Christchurch having just finished a walking tour around NZ – we quiz her lots about what NZ might be like and enjoy looking at some photos. We take a boat trip around the harbour and do a bit of shopping in the market at the Rocks, it seems a fitting way to end our stay in Sydney.
