Six Months of Big Changes

If anyone out there in the world wide web is still reading this blog I feel I must apologise for the lack of posts in the last six months or so. I have been unbelievably busy and not had any time or energy to post anything online.

It has been a year of big changes and it feels like real life has just caught up with us down under. Work, school, money, kids and all the extra baggage that comes with being an adult has just been snowing us in as a family and I have had no time for life's luxury's. Like having five minutes to read the paper or an hour or so to mess about blogging on the net.

Anyway, half term is here and the kids have friends round, so are occupied pretending to be fairies and monsters. So I find myself with an hour to sit down and have a look at my long lost blog.

This blog was originally set up to inform people about what it is like relocating to New Zealand and to keep my family up to date with our day to day life. Well, we have now fully settled in and this place has now become home. I couldn't imagine living anywhere else at the moment. Both my girls have broad Kiwi accents (or "kay-weay eksent") and I spend most of my time trying to decipher what they are saying.

I have found a job which is just ten minutes down the road and seems (more or less) to fit in just right with family life. For those that have not read this blog before I am actually a teacher and have managed to get a job teaching in New Zealand. It seems that there are an awful lot of British teachers out here. In my school alone there are four. Clearly there is something about the Kiwi lifestyle that appeals to them. It certainly is not the pay as teachers in NZ are no better paid than they are in the UK! However I do love my new job and hope to be there for some time to come.

The girls are loving school and Kindergarten and enjoying the outdoor lifestyle. My youngest has now spent more than half her life in New Zealand and has no memory of the UK. Neither of them realise just how lucky they are to be living out here. I will be very interested to see what they make of the UK when we finally do make the visit back.

It is the middle of winter over here at the moment and we have woken up several times to a white out. Not snow (as that is almost unheard of in Wellington) but a very heavy frost. Since houses over here seem to have almost no insulation and double glazing is unheard of, this has meant is has been a chilly 7 degrees in our house some mornings. I am considering investing in thermal underwear. I am that desperate.

My other half has just brought me a very snazzy new camera which is another reason for me resurrecting my blog. So I thought I would post some pictures of a sunny winters day in Whitby.

One of the indicators that we are well and truly settled here is the new member of our family. Carrot arrived in February this year and is now considered to be just another Brunt sibling. Cats appear to be very popular pet in New Zealand despite the devastating impact they have on the local bird life. Carrot is proving to be very adept and catching the mice that live under our house and so far seems to be ignoring the local flying wildlife. Hopefully it will stay this way!

I am hoping that I can now get back into blogging regularly as I have missed keeping an online diary and my new camera will help me keep motivated.

One thing I love about this country is that even in the depths of winter you still get bright sunny days and it is always green.