We made it!
Our first week in NZ is now a fact. We are staying in a nice cottage in Mangawhai (with the blue windows), overlooking some hills behind which the ocean is hiding. First light is at 5.30 am and birds start singing.
We have been quite busy getting organized after initial tiredness wore off. Jet lag wasn't too bad, but we were kind of exhausted from the past couple of months. Most time this week was spent on finding two suitable used cars. In the end we got them locally in Warkworth: a flashy red Volkswagen Golf (Rabbit for our US fans) for Bart to economically commute to Auckland if necessary and a nice silvery Toyota RAV4 for me to do all chores around here and go on holidays with. Funny thing is we got two almost matching license plates, as here you go to the post office and register the car and they hand out the license plates. They get them stocked up. So Bart is JPG100 and I am JPG104. Easy to remember!
I mentioned before that it was very surprising to be able to talk to a live person straight away when calling an organization (in this case AA). I wonder if that goes for every company, I doubt it though.
We had a nice BBQ at Bart's new employer's house in Auckland. Elizabeth has 3 boys and Skyler brought his Minecraft toys, so they immediately connected! He had a great time playing with them and had no problems communicating. He is not shy to speak English at all and a lot of his English knowledge comes from Minecraft.
On Friday Skyler went to Warkworth to take an art class. He was there without us all day and I think that was quite courageous, to be in a foreign country and not know anyone but still wanting to go. He made some lovely pieces. He is really enjoying the challenge and he is not scared to go out and do things. This coming week he is going to surf school everyday to learn the basics of surfing and being safe at sea.
So we are starting to unwind. All that is left for me to do is house hunting, which is fun. I am learning a lot! For instance that there is one dining set that appears in almost every living room that is listed on the real estate pages.... so you know that house is staged. And also that they use shorter beds when staging a house for sale, to make the rooms look bigger. And of course what I already learned during my October visit: that they sometimes Photoshop furniture into the pictures. Must be very aware of these things. There are probably more pitfalls, but I have yet to find them. That is why it is so important to go out and see the houses. In fact I am on my way to an Open Home in a minute. Cheerio!
Arrived at Auckland airport!
Our cottage in Mangawhai
VIew (almost) from our cottage
One of Skyler's artworks
View from Mangawhai Heads beach (aka Surfbeach)