3 weeks down

After 7 weeks of trouble from the NZ High Commission in SA we were finally able to fetch our visas and left the following day for Auckland. We're so glad that struggle is over and we're able to start settling in.

Its been busy from the day we landed - I started work immediately and Jay got working on finding us a home and a car.

We're renting a home in Glenfield on the North Shore and have bought a car so we're sorted on that front. Isabella is settling in beautifully and starts kindergarten twice a week on a half-day basis from Tuesday. Our furniture arrives in 3 weeks and until then we're renting a few things.

Auckland is fantastic and we are loving being here!

Long time no write

Sorry for leaving this hanging for so long...

We accepted a great job with a fantastic company in Auckland and are due to start work on 12 May. Great right?

Yeah, only if we hadnt been assigned the world's only living brain donor as a case officer to do our visas. As far as she is concerned a vitamin deficiency is a life-threatening, communicable disease that will be a drain on New Zealands welfare system... and apparently a 15 month old child is not proof of a 12 month or longer partnership. I'm guessing she subscribes to the wind pollination theory?

We've been fighting this battle for 3 weeks now and there is no end in sight.

On Thursday our furniture leaves and in 3 weeks we have to be out of our home.

Hold thumbs!!!

Disheartening day

Its been a disheartening day, again filled with interviews but no offers made. Things work differently here in Kiwiland - they like to do 3 or 4 interviews with a candidate, have them meet the whole team and then everyone has a say in the hire.

We aren't here for long enough on this trip to do more than 2 interviews with a company. So they're asking for more meetings that I can't make. Today I had a third interview with a company and there was mention of a fourth - can I curl up in a ball in the corner and have a good cry?

Only two more days to go and then its back to SA.

We went to two more areas on our list of suburbs we'd like to live in and saw a really nice house thats up for rent. It seems as though everywhere in Auckland is within easy walking distance of beaches and parks - such a beautiful city!

Keep holding thumbs for us!

7 down, 8 more to go

Still 8 more interviews to go.

We are now all sick and all cranky. I cant wait until we can settle down again but I think it'll be a long time. Apologies for the short blog posts but we just dont have the energy.

The only thing we've managed to sort out so far are bank accounts (and we dont have the cards yet). Still to be done: job, work visa, house, car, childcare. If we can just get the job sorted out before we leave then we can do the work visa from SA and the rest when we get back.

Missing everyone madly!

Hectic day!

Went from having no interviews to having 4 today. One was at the hospital because the interviewers wife just had a baby but he didnt want to cancel the interview.

Parking in Wellington is scarce and very expensive so we walk everywhere. I'm no longer walking, I'm shuffling. Slowly. Every bit of me hurts.

Tomorrow we head back to Auckland so the whole day will be spent in the car. Wish us luck that an offer comes through soon!

Wellington pics

Finally some Wellington pics. There are lots so I've put them in an album (p.s the people in the pics are Jax and her divine girls): http://s151.photobucket.com/albums/s141/Johnsont13/Wellington/

Still loving it here! Not managing to get any interviews here though. The agent I am with in Auckland is flying to Wellington tomorrow so I meet with him at 15h00 - wish me luck! Then one other meeting on Friday at 09h00 and we head back to Auckland on Saturday for a few days of back to back interviews.

Paranoia?

This morning we took Isabella to the medical centre because her temp was still high – the doctor pretty much told us we were paranoid. He says there’s nothing wrong with her that he can see. Eish.

Had an interview with a recruitment agency – I’d like to say it went really well, but the thing with Kiwi’s is you actually don’t know. They’re always very, very friendly. So I have no idea how well it went, guess we’ll have to wait and see.

After the interview we headed for the Te Papa museum - amazing! So many different interactive things there – Isabella loved pressing buttons to hear commentary on each piece, feeling the tremors of a small earthquake, and playing with huge penguin toys in the kids centre. In the earthquake section there is even a panel you can jump on and see where you measure on the Richter Scale.

I’ll post photos soon – the camera cables are all in the car and we’ve parked a way away from where we are staying and are walking everywhere we can instead of driving.