From spring to autumn March 18, 2006

It was only when I was on my second St Patrick’s Day Guinness that I realised why the date of the Paddy’s Day posters looked familiar – March 17th was the expiry date on the original visitor’s visa in my passport meant that we have been in New Zealand for exactly six months. I [...]

Clearing the first hurdle November 12, 2005

Unforeseen issues and last minute hold ups notwithstanding, come the
5th of December, I will be taking on a newly-created operations and
strategy role with a regional utility company in based Auckland. It
is a smaller company than my last but the role manages and oversees
three departments: the call centre, the dispute and complaints team
and the network [...]

Because it is there August 20, 2005

‘Because it is there’ was George Mallory’s now-famous response to the ‘Why climb Everest?’ questions that he endured before losing his life on his third attempt in 1924 – 29 years before it was finally accomplished by Aucklander Sir Edmund Hillary and Nepalese Sherpa Tenzing Norgay. We have a good friend, Elaine, who lives [...]

Joy and numbness August 19, 2005

A day of mixed emotions. Earlier today, the last major obstacle to our move abroad disappeared when we received a call to say that our solicitors had finally exchanged contracts on the sale of our flat. This means that, barring unforeseen circumstances, the shippers will pack and ship our entire home contents on the [...]

Not wanted on voyage August 18, 2005

The Sealand Michigan
Reading through the paperwork sent by our international movers this afternoon, I noticed that they have even specified which container vessel they will be shipping our worldly goods on. A swift search on Google produced a good few pictures showing the 75,000 tonne Sealand Michigan, like the one above. Seeing all those containers [...]

Pulled in all directions August 7, 2005

This time next month, we will either be sleeping fitfully or watching cable TV in hotel rooms somewhere in Los Angeles, en route to the Cook Islands and ultimately our new life in New Zealand. Actually, as things stand at present, it is far from certain that we’ll have even got that far on our [...]

Closer to the dream July 9, 2005

Six or so weeks on from my last post, there now appears to be very little that stands in the way of us moving to New Zealand…other than the fact that I have not been able to secure a job that will allow us to secure right of residency visas there. Whilst this is [...]

Sixty days May 23, 2005

Sixty days is a significant period of time. Wars are won, fortunes lost, regimes toppled and new hope raised in less time. All of which is my way of acknowledging that a lot of water has passed under the bridge since I last wrote here. In the intervening time, my attention has [...]

The supermodel in my bed March 20, 2005

In the week since I have returned home, I have woken in the night more than a few times, bidden by my bodyclock to be doing something other than sleep. The first few seconds of wakefulness have been typified by uncomprehending confusion for, no matter how familiar the surroundings of my bedroom might appear [...]

Vox pop March 15, 2005

Christchurch
Christchurch is often held to be the most English of New Zealand’s cities but I have to say that I really can’t see it. I’ll freely admit the River Avon, which runs a curling course through the city, has a certain Oxbridge flavour, but I’d venture that most folks wouldn’t make the the connection [...]