Moving!

Well, we have finally 'shifted' (kiwi language for moving house) and what a weekend that was! Tis Saturday morning now and you would never know it happened - apart from the odd box lying around!

Thank you very much to all those lovely friends that helped us each day:

Friday night - Sh family turned up (at just the right time) and helped us unload the 2nd truck load when poor old A, K and S were on their last legs. They also put our beds back together again - we'd have been on mattresses that night otherwise. (I finally left the other house at 11.10pm that night after cleaning - we had Hell's Pizza at around 11.30pm! - and for breakfast too!).

Saturday - all day - G, K and X helped with cleaning, unpacking the kitchen and putting up loads of shelves.

Sunday - R, L and B helped put in curtain hooks and hang the washed curtains back up again - LOADS of curtains! R also helped put in our new washing line and L and B picked the lemons from the lemon tree - they were dead old and needed chucking so new ones can grow - apparently citrus fruits don't drop - you have to pick them!

So - cheers once again everyone and I hope we can return the favour sometime soon (well - G, K and X are moving soon - so we will be!).

Whew - makes me tired just thinking back on it all!

The weather has been really lovely lately and summer is truly on its way! My classroom has been boiling due to it being of a portacabin type structure and like an oven.

Guess what! There have been icebergs floating from the Antarctic towards New Zealand - people have been standing on the coast of the South Island and watching them with their binoculars! There are also flights you can go on to view these beauties! They are truly magnificent - but the most stunning thing about them for me is the colour of the water on and around them - fabulous!

Here are two of them:

















Sorry the piccies are a bit small!

Back to the house - just remembered - we have not only a lemon tree- but a fig, lime, grape vines and a whole hedge of feijoas! Mmmmmmm! Not sure what I will do with all of this bounty of nature! However - will do my best you can be sure!

More car silliness has taken me over - such a dumbo sometimes....

Well - I was sat in traffic waiting for the lights (they take forever here to change - Kev thought I was getting impatient in my old age when I first cussed the lights after picking him up at the airport) when I thought I would wash my windscreen (due to being covered in a multitude of fly corpses and stuff).

After about 20 million flicks of the stick thingy off the steering wheel and no water hitting the screen - I came to the conclusion that I had run out of water - 'darn it' I thought.

However, upon looking up and flicking a couple more times for good measure - I realised that I was not flicking for water, but flashing my lights!

The water stick thingy is on the rhs as opposed to the lhs. I felt such a #$%^&!

The bloke in front was giving me quizzical looks and I wasn't sure what kind of signal to give back - I quickly ran through a few in my head:

• a jolly wave (therefore looking like a complete plonker)
• a shrug of the shoulders (see brackets above)
• hand signals trying to explain what I was doing (very dangerous)

Thank goodness the lights changed at that point and myself and my red face could scuttle off home asap......

Well on that note! Shall speak to use (spelling used by a child in my class!) anon!

Take care!

x Sue

Yayyyyyy!

Just a quickie!

We got our PR today which means we can live here indefinately - no more applying for work visas etc! Woohoooo.

It was also 24 degrees, sunny and hot today - luvverly.

x Sue

Have experienced lots of wind!

No - not that kind! I'm a laaady you know.

Hmmmmm.

Hello again - how ya's all doin?

Well - another busy week has whizzed past and I have finally finished my reports! Yayyyyyyyyy! and lots more yayyyyys!!! Whoohooo and whoopdedooo!

Just got to print them off, sign them and give them to the head.

Spent every night on them from dinner til bed for 3 nights to finish the last bits off! Absolutely cream crackered by Thursday and fell asleep about 8.30 pm. What a lovely feeling I have now - not a care in the world! ....... I wish!

Moving house next weekend - GULP!

However due to lovely hubby at home, he will be moving bits over and the major parts will take place by next weekend.

Have got lovely friends too who are going to help us - big THANK YOU to you all.

Our new rental has got a limmon tree in it! Shall have to make lots of limmon squish and limmon cayke etc etc - yum yum.

Oh yes! Thursday night was soooooo windy! Winds of up to 120 kmph apparently. The Sky Tower had to close down due to lots of swaying making people ill and the lift kept hitting the sides as it went down!

I arrived home from work to find a tree in our garden had been blown over by the blustery wind, also knocking down the garden fence! I watched another fence from our window and thought it was going to fly into the sky at one point along with it's close relative our roof and roof's friend the TV aerial....

But they didn't - whew!





















It knocked two fence panels down.




















The good news is - it has been chopped up today and our old landlord said we can have it, so it will be taken to our new rental where we have a log burner!

Went to Otara market with friend and friend's mum today - absolutely heaving with huge fruits and veggies - well some of them...

The cauliflowers (sp?) were ginormous as were some of the tomatoes - massive!

I bought some Chinese veg (have discovered I am crap at choosing Chinese veg - it was too old and sooo bitter!). Also got some sweet tofu - was very excited at my discovery and am looking forwards to trying it in a mo when I've finished nattering to you lot.

I asked for it in Chinese and got a smile in return (probably asked for something rude as I have done in the past - ha!).

Oh well.

Lots of packing to commence tomorrow and helping to move stuff each evening thereafter - yayyyyyyy. Gosh it will be nice to have more space though and a whole little room for me to put my stuff in and to work in. Exciting!

Taraaaaa and see yas all sooon.

Off to eat yummy scrummy sweet tofu. MMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmm.

x Sue