Back on the horse

I'd not actually realised quite how long it's been since my last post. It's been a little strange, but I've been trying to get started again for a week or so, but for some reason haven't been able to crack it. I think it's got something to do with the volume of stuff that's going on at the moment; it's having a sort of 3 Stooges effect, where everything tries to get through the door at once but nothing can.

In a nutshell, since the last post, the following things have occurred, which most of you following Twitter and/or Facebook will already know, but here we go, in no particular order:

1. The Kiwi's got better
2. We've found a flat
3. We've bought a sofa, a fridge, a washing machine, a bed and a TV, along with a whole load of much less interesting stuff
4. The Kiwi's bought a car
5. We've each met with numerous recruiters, with varying degrees of success
6. We've planted some spinach and some spring onions - I'm drying some chillies to plant the seeds too
7. We've had another engagement party (any excuse)
8. We've eaten pies (multiple)
9. We've been to the beach (frequently)
10. I've got a New Zealand driver's license (looks a lot like the EU one)
    
11. I've been blogging a bit at http://www.eatingauckland.com
12. Our shipping arrived, with the only thing broken being a salad server, not bad out of 48 boxes
13. We've unpacked most of it
14. I've got back into Mario Kart and Guitar Hero
15. I've got hold of some English Marmite, but I'm not entirely sure it's quite the same...

You may notice the omission of the crucial 'we've found jobs' point, which is because we haven't yet, something that's soon to move from frustrating into problematic. The economic situation over here is pretty awful, it's true, but mostly due to lack of confidence and a bit of scaremongering. The exchange rate's not great (for New Zealanders), but realistically it's not as bad as the media would have you believe. Nonetheless, business in general is declining to commit to much expenditure, and some organisations are using the situation as an excuse for 'pro-active cost cutting', ie restructuring. The employment laws here are notoriously strict, so much like in the UK, it's hard to get rid of someone useless once you've employed them. The opportunity to make people redundant is apparently too much to resist for some.

So on the whole it's been very quiet on that front. At the moment I'm having a positive-looking conversation with a business that I'm quite keen to be involved with, so we'll see how that goes. More news as we get it.

Day 2, Kiwi on drugs

Our second day of reality in Auckland. Over the weekend, the Kiwi was bodysurfing at Pauanui (something she's irritatingly good at), and she apparently managed to damage some cartilage in her ribcage. Following a long walk this morning, the dull ache turned into agonising pain, so much so that she couldn't move at all without hurting. It got so bad today that I took her to a doctor, who diagnosed the problem, prescribed no fewer than three different painkillers to be taken together, and told her not to do anything energetic for at least two to three weeks, taking painkillers constantly, remembering to breathe and trying not to get pneumonia and so on.

Apparently unloading boxes and moving into a new home comes under the heading 'anything energetic', so getting our 48 boxes moved around might be interesting. Still, she's fully spaced out at the moment and experiencing the joys of prescribed chemicals, which is better than lying down in what looked like unbelievable pain, so she's on the mend, I think. My only real concern is that, true to form, she'll be unable to actually rest for longer than, ooh, 30 minutes at a time, so I'll be enforcing some serious 'do-nothing' rules for the coming three weeks. After which I'll be waited on hand and foot, oh yes.

On the job front, had a meeting with a (rubbish) recruiter this morning, which was good only in that it reminded me what wearing a suit was like again, and helped brush up my skills in talking about work things, which are a bit rusty at the moment after 5 or 6 weeks off. Interestingly, had a call from an old acquaintance which might prove profitable as well, taking me up to three opportunities about which I'm quite excited. Next week everyone here comes back from holiday, so I'm taking it reasonably easy this week and expecting more to happen as of the 12th. Which, by the way, I'll be starting a fair way before those of you in the UK. Ha.

Auckland - reality looms

And so finally, here we are. Just over a week ago, we arrived in Auckland, and stayed one night before heading off to a beachside apartment at Pauanui, on the Coromandel Peninsula. New Year's week featured sea swims, walks up Mount Pauanui, a fair bit of lying around in the sun and the attendant rounds of barbeques, beers and so on. Absolutely superb. Although it doesn't really do it justice, here's the view from our bedroom. The beach is just over that grassy patch. The Kiwi took loads of photos, so there'll be some coming up on Facebook or Flickr or wherever we end up putting them. My brother kindly sorted us out with a Flickr account for Christmas, so we'll give that a whirl I think.

I came back yesterday, in order to attend a stag do in Auckland (much fun), the Kiwi's back today attending the hen version. Tomorrow, we officially begin non-holiday life in New Zealand, starting with NZ mobile phones and graduating to things like flats, cars and jobs. Currently we're staying with friends, which is a bit of a godsend and very much appreciated, but we're both longing for a time when we can put clothes away without knowing we have to repack them in a week's time.

We've even been looking enviously at some pretty fine barbeques, too... but one step at a time, I think. This is where it gets interesting; the sooner we're both in paid employment, the sooner we can actually relax and get on with building our life together.

In other news, dinner out last night turned out to be quite good despite being a stag event, so I took the opportunity of kicking off my other blog, Eating Auckland. Best culinary find so far is a superb hot sauce by the name of Kaitaia Fire - powerfully hot but possessing a deep smoky, citrussy flavour all of its own. I can confidently say this will be the first thing in our new fridge, at such as time as we have one of our own.

Australia. Hot.

Another quick post, as I'm just about to get ready for dinner tonight and I'm using the Kiwi's mother's PC, to say that it's over 30C here and the scorching weather is somewhat at odds with the snow-encrusted Christmas decorations everywhere. It's a bit weird, but after spending most of the day reading Simon Sebag Montefiore's excellent 'Young Stalin' by the pool, I think I might be able to get used to it. It's a great book, incidentally, brings this fascinating figure to life in a very even-handed, accessible way. I might even be moved to read more about him at some point in the future. I've just got to the point where he uses the codename 'The Milkman'. Would our friendly local Milkman have any comment on that? Did I unwittingly work alongside a dyed-in-the-wool Bolshevik whilst at Virgin?

Anyway, the drama of recent days is mainly that whilst we arrived safe and sound at Brisbane on Wednesday morning, our baggage did not, remaining as it did at LAX, possibly the worst airport in the world. Whilst we were queueing up for our transfer to the Qantas terminal at a fire exit onto the tarmac I did suspect they might not be an entirely competent bunch, the no-show of our bags confirmed this. They arrived today (Friday), and the Qantas people had given us AU$100 each for the trouble, so we were able to buy some new clothes to tide us over. Still, it's a funny thing - on the way over I was ruminating on how despite having travelled a bit in my life I've yet to have my luggage lost. How ironic.

Irritatingly, our bags arrived via Melbourne, which puts me in the unenviable position of having a suitcase that's better travelled than I am.

End phase two...

Isn't technology weird? Here I am in Vancouver airport, happily connected to the gloriously free wi-fi they have here, whilst for some reason Vodafone seem unable to allow me to make or receive calls or text messages whilst I'm here. Bizarre.

Anyway, lack of mobile-ness aside (which hasn't really bothered me tbh), it's been a terrific week. When we arrived on Monday, the temperatures were somewhere around freezing in Whistler village, and we got a fair bit of snow through Tuesday to Friday, which meant that by and large the runs were gorgeous, with snow like icing sugar, tons of dry powder and only the odd bit of treacherously hard ice on the upper slopes. The Peak to Peak Gondola opened on Friday too, linking Whistler and Blackcomb mountains and reducing the time necessary to get from one peak to the other from over an hour to 11 minutes. More of an event for them (it's a big part of their 2010 Winter Olympics things) than for us, but a bit of a diversion nonetheless. After the opening ceremony, we headed across to Blackcomb, where I slid down most of a totally ice-covered run on my back and promptly decided it was time to call it a day.

By Saturday the temperatures were down at around -14C in the village and below -25C on the mountain (plus (or minus?) wind chill), so we managed one long-ish run before our feet froze and we couldn't control our boards properly. The wind made it a bit tricky too, every now and then practically stopping us in our tracks with its force.

Sunday morning we decided we were definitely not going back up, so we went to the pub instead.

My second week of snowboarding has seen me acquire a fresh new array of bruises, although not as many and varied as the first week, in Italy last year. This time it's mostly knees, elbows and arse, and I think that on the whole I fell over a bit less than last time, so who knows, I might be improving. The new board and boots help, definitely, very impressed with both. I managed to whack my head on a particularly hard bit of ice on Thursday too, which has made me think that perhaps a helmet might be in order next time.

The Kiwi also tells me that I've lost some of the deeper, darker lines under my eyes too, ones that apparently had been there for months, so something's going right, I think. I'm sure though, that the next 21 hours' travelling will put them right back there... 3.5 hours to LA, 3 hours in LA, 13 hours to Brisbane... with any luck we'll be able to sleep through most of the last leg.

Very quick post...

I've been meaning to post an update all week, but in between falling down mountains, eating and sleeping, there's not been much pooter time (and they make you pay for the wireless here, shocker). I will do at some point, but for now, here's a photo of what I've been up to this week, mainly. Give it a click to embiggen it. Thanks to the Kiwi for a tremendous photo...

Last night in the UK

This is weird. Very weird indeed. After a week in Manchester, where I grew up and still call home, I'm about to leave the UK. This is my last night as a resident of the United Kingdom, and for the first time in this whole process, I'm genuinely excited. Speaking to people up until now, everyone's said 'this must be so exciting', and my response has always been a dutiful 'yes, it is'. The truth, though, was always something different.

You see, the word isn't quite right. Excited is what you feel on your birthday morning. On Christmas Day. Unfettered positivity, happiness, joy etc. The feeling I've had isn't quite that - there's been lots of positive stuff, yes, about the future, the quality of life, the ability to finally settle, starting a very grown up life with the Kiwi, but along with all that was the sadness of leaving my family and friends here, of friendships that have just started and those that've lasted many years, and in particular putting distance in between me and my family, who mean so very much to me and on whom I depend probably more than they know.

This week has been one of saying goodbye to those people, and it's been painful in the worst way. Not the quick pain of whipping a plaster off, but a long, drawn-out ache, a week of catching people's eyes mid-conversation and both thinking the same thing, of last hugs that neither wants to end, of tears and the hope this isn't as final as it feels.

Tonight we're staying at Yoog's with his wife and son, as we have been for the past few nights. It's fantastic that we can spend this time having dinner with one of my oldest and closest friends, in such a calm, welcoming atmosphere, drinking brilliant wine and, from the smell of the cooking downstairs, soon to be eating excellent food. Tomorrow we drive to London, fly to Vancouver, and begin a phase of our lives we've talked about, dreamed about, and planned for for years.

Now I'm excited.