Six Weeks of NZ Life and All is Well..

We have now been here SIX weeks - it certainly doesn't feel that long.

Life is ticking along nicely and Warren has TWO interviews tomorrow - one found via Elan IT and one via an ad in The Press last Wednesday. I can honestly say there is nothing here that makes me even CONSIDER moving back to the UK. Even the homesickness hasn't reared its ugly head for a few weeks. The times when I do get emotional is when I see an amazing view and wish that my other family members could also see it.

Perhaps when we see what salary Warren receives we shall be complaining? I have read about what people perceive as a decent salary... that's a hard one.. we would like NZD60K to feel comfortable - we don't have kids and we won't have a big mortgage, but we do have a level of comfort that we are used to. I think that is why we kept one property in the UK (that we rent out).. it's our pension.

I've been trying to think of something negative to balance out our views on NZ life - i.e. "surely it can't be ALL good", but I really can't think of anything !! The only fly in the ointment right now is the exchange rate and the housing market which seems a little uncertain. However, we've decided that if we find the house we like and we can afford it we shall "go for it" despite the market as we anticpate the place we buy will be a long term home. We are still focussed on Diamond Harbour / Governors Bay. Went to a house auction the other day, just to see what it was like. Well, it wasn't very exciting - no bids and the auctioneer just kept bidding up the price to what we assume was the reserve!

Met the lovely Tara Sage and hubby last week when we were invited round for dinner... great to meet and chat with others in the same boat (well, not exactly the same boat - they're pretty much sorted with jobs). We all agreed that being here on the ground is soooo much different from anything you read in books / guides etc - you really do just need to GET here and you can make it work from there.

Joined the library.. now SURELY there must be something negative there... but NO - libraries here are FAB! And the online database of articles and magazines etc that you get access to via the internet (using your library card no. and PIN that they provide) is AMAZING!!!! You can get out up to 20 books at one time, you can order books in from other libraries around Christchurch and they arrive next day - you can drop off your books or borrow from any library in Chch! Oh... ok.. negative - 30 cents a day for late returns...

We've instructed New Zealand Immigration Services (NZIS) in the UK to pass over processing of our Expression Of Interest (EOI (for Residency)) to the Christchurch branch - it won't necessarily be quicker, it WILL be cheaper, and we'r'e hoping that a job offer will speed up the process.... so fingers crossed for Warrens Thursday interview-a-rama - he has TWO!