Gail Dickson .. my blog from Down Under

I have now accepted the job offer with Vodafone and will become a permanent member of staff on Monday. In preparation, I have ordered the Blackberry (Bobby is very pleased about that one!) and remote access etc. My new Programme Manager is discussing when I will transition to my role so not sure yet when that bit will happen, but I’m starting to look at the projects involved this week to get an idea of what’s going on in that space. I’m really looking forward to it!

On the house front, the people who came to view this house on Saturday have now signed a lease and move in on 12th October. This means that we’ve got a couple of weeks overlap on rent/mortgage however we are getting out of the lease a lot earlier than we could have so that‘s great! It‘s actually quite good timing as it gives us a couple of weeks to get everything moved up the road and even allows us to paint Kyle and Regan’s rooms before we move in. We need to start organising removals etc now that we have a firm date.

Managed to find accommodation in Taupo for the A1 GP in January so that’s booked. All we need now is for them to start selling tickets to A1GP …

Further motorway observations .. there are a lot of private number plates down here and it appears that it’s easier to get real words rather than having to try and make it look like words as you have to in the UK. They are also very kean on number plate advertising which then matches up with the registration number. It makes for interesting viewing when you’re sitting in a traffic jam however sometimes not a good thing as you really should be concentrating on the driving rather than reading everyone’s number plates!

Received a formal offer of employment from Vodafone today for the position of Senior Project Manager in the Web & Online area. Have now read through the contract etc and am about to pick up a pen to sign my life away! Have a meeting with my new Programme Manager tomorrow to give him my decision.

Now have to work with my current Programme Manager to determine the date that I can move over but hopefully it won’t be too long.

Went to the Auckland Home Show today … was expecting it to be like the Ideal Home Exhibition that comes to Scotland. Not so …. It was HUGE! There were around 15 halls full of “stuff”. We had gone to find out about heating etc and we’ve come away with so many brochures on heat pumps/solar panels/underfloor heating etc, we’ll be reading for months. Set up some quotation visits for when we move in to the house so we’ll see … Also found out about outdoor furniture, hot tubs, roofing etc etc etc. Will keep us going for years! Kyle was so tired out with all the walking that he fell asleep in the car on the way home and wouldn’t wake up when we got home. Put him straight to bed so he’ll probably be up at 3am wanting a cheese sandwich.

Starting to try and get organised for the move. We’ve contacted the rental agency to see whether they’ll let us out of the fixed lease early … they’ve said that so long as they can get the house rented that the owner has agreed to let us out of it. We had our first viewing on Saturday so hopefully someone will take on the lease soon so that we don’t have too much additional rent to pay when we move.

Kyle went to his first NZ birthday party on Saturday and had a great time. Very similar idea to UK parties … softplay then food. I didn’t actually make it to the party as I was tidying for the viewing but Bobby said he felt a bit awkward as the parents were all speaking in Afrikaans. It’s a standing joke in Auckland that Browns Bay is full of South Africans …. Maybe they are right! Anyway, he did the good daddy thing and swapped phone numbers with all the parents so that we can arrange play days with Kyle’s friends.

Regan and I sat out on the balcony in the sun while we waited for Bobby and Kyle to come back from the party and it was lovely. Regan was in her wheels and she was scooting about the deck watching herself in the windows. It’s beginning to warm up a bit now it’s spring … I didn’t even need my hot water bottle last night!!!

The weekend in Coromandel was good … the house sat up on a hill overlooking the bay and the view was great. Saturday was a lovely day and we had booked the Driving Creek Railway and Kyle seemed to really enjoy himself. The little trains went off into the forest which had signposts around a lot of the trees beside the track telling you what kind of native tree it was. I learned that two of the most common woods for furniture (rimu and kauri) are actually lovely trees as well so something to think about if we need any trees in our new garden.

Weather took a turn for the worst on the Sunday so didn’t actually make it to Hot Water Beach or Cathedral Cove as it was too wet to take the kids out. Will just have to go for another weekend there. Only issue with that is the extremely windy roads to get there which means it takes over 2 hours from Auckland to reach where we were. Maybe the next weekend away will be up north (Russell or Waitangi) and we’ll save Hot Water Beach until Lynne gets here in February.

This weekend is Kyle’s birthday party (not Kyle’s obviously .. You know what I mean) and then the Auckland Home Show on Sunday. Probably a good idea to see what is available down here for when we move into the house.

Regan is having a bit of a hard time of it just now as another 3 teeth have come through in the last week or so (makes 6 altogether now). We’ve also all got a bad cold so health wise not the best at the moment.

I always make a point of finding out about Kyle’s day on the way home in the car and I ask him what he’s been up to at pre-school 2 that day. The other day Bobby picked him up instead and he asked if daddy was going to ask him lots of questions just like mum! Do I talk too much, do you think?? Research has just been published in NZ that said talking to your child when they are young about how their day went stops depression/issues in children in later years. So if he complains then I’ve got that as an excuse!

On the job front, I’ve now filled out an application form for the job and they are going back to CVG for references. Still no final decision but it’s looking hopeful.

As the entry date for the house looms, we are having to move the money across. The rate has gone up (ie we’re getting more for our £ than a few months ago) so are trying to do this week. We have our pre-purchase inspection on the 27th and the entry date is the 28th. Can’t wait ….

New Zealand is rugby mad at the moment because of the world cup. I made a point of watching the opening ceremony the other night but then got bored when they started playing rugby!! Kyle is taking a strange liking to rugby and even asked for a rugby ball the other day. He’ll fit in well.

Talking of which I think I’ve figured out what Kyle’s Maori song is about … a mythical sea creature. Will have to find out the words and then publish them. He does all the actions to the song now … it’s soooooo cute!

The kiwis have a great saying “Sweet as …” which they use in a couple of circumstances. It’s used as a “no worries” type statement or as an “excellent”. It makes me smile whenever I hear it …

Not so sweet as …. as I said in last post, Regan got conjunctivitis at the weekend. Monday morning came and she still wasn’t right so decided to keep her off nursery. Kyle had been unwell all weekend so kept him at home too. Bobby stayed off with them as he was feeling a bit yuck too and by the time I came home that night, Regan was fine, Bobby was feeling terrible and Kyle was throwing up!!! Last night was not an easy night … Bobby was still feeling terrible today so he and Kyle stayed at home and Regan went to nursery. Tonight, all seem to be feeling better so hopefully everyone will go to their respective day jobs tomorrow.

All this illness gets a bit depressing but we’re hoping that it’ll stop when we’ve been here a few more months and we’ve all built up some immunity to the new bugs. I was speaking to someone at work today who spent x number of years in the UK and then came back and he said that it actually takes a lot out of you moving hemispheres … wasn’t aware of it before this but I guess he’s right.

No word from VF yet on the permanent job …

Managed to find accommodation in Hamilton (or nearby at least) for the V8 Supercars next year which is a relief … you could drive from Auckland each day if you needed to but it would add a lot to your day. Still searching for Taupo accommodation …

I’ve been doing a spot of people watching (especially while waiting for my latte in the mornings) and NZ women have a very individual dress sense. In the UK, everyone is very critical (admit it ladies!) of anyone who tries to dress a bit differently .. Not so down here. Some of the outfits I’ve seen would be seen as extremely weird (or worse) in the UK and would have the women whispering but down here it really is a matter of wearing what you want and no-one cares! It’s great …

You know me … indecision rules! Couldn’t make our minds up re V8 Supercars so have ended up buying tickets for it for next April … now can’t find any accommodation .. The whole of Hamilton is booked out. Also trying to find accommodation in Taupo for the A1 GP which is in January .. Tickets aren’t even on sale yet but there are no rooms left in town. We’ve always liked campervans since our trip round Oz in 1993-4, so have been looking at campervans this weekend to see if buying one was an option. Found a VW poptop - 1 year old from Kea (hire company in NZ) .. It was really nice inside and Kyle loved the idea of sleeping in the poptop bit but it was a bit too many $s considering we’re moving into the house soon. Also looked at a Toyota Hiace poptop (which is what we had back in 1993) but decided that they were too small (and a bit tatty as they are older). Decided not to bother …. So back to the drawing board re finding accommodation.

Managed a full week at work as the children were both okay however Kyle came down with a bad cold on Friday so have been nursing him through the weekend to make sure he is okay for tomorrow. Managed to get him though it and Regan has now got conjunctivitis!! Not sure what the rules are for conjunctivitis in New Zealand nurseries but I know Careshare wouldn’t let them back until they had antibiotic drops from the doctor and had been taking them for 24 hours … Got drops from the chemist so hopefully she’ll be a bit better for tomorrow. She seems okay apart from the eyes …

Kyle got invited to his first birthday party from nursery … I know it doesn’t mean that much but it makes me feel better as he’s now really fitting in. It’s in the local softplay the weekend after next.

I’ve mentioned Cherry Bytes (the mobile computer van at nursery) before but have never said how much he loves it. He’s started asking to play games on daddy’s computer so Bobby has now lost his PC (and anyone who knows Bobby will know this is a big thing). We’ve bought him some educational games and he sits for hours doing puzzles etc. Bobby has now given him an old laptop as his own so they are both happy. He amazes us sometimes with his capacity for learning …

On the job front … VF have now asked for referees so I guess that means that I didn’t make a complete mess of the second interview …. Don’t really want to be off in case I need to go for any more interviews. As I said before, the new Programme Manager is very family friendly and said at my first interview (with no prompting from me) that he doesn’t care where I work from so long as I do the work … Don’t want to get my hopes up too much though just in case it doesn’t happen.

Looking forward to our weekend in Coromandel next week.