Jaunts and jobs...22 April 2007

Ian has been working hard this week....and so have I, though in the house and job hunting kind of way. The update on which is after 5 hours of interviews I now have a job offer! Though Im kind of mulling it over and have Weds to decide whether to take it or not..... In the meantime I have another interview to keep me occupied....

Been quite cultured this week, Ian and I went to see Snowcake last night which was just great – Alan Rickman was brilliant – its pretty thought provoking, though there are bits that make you laugh and cry and jump. Its a recommended go see if you are into the GFT or the QFT for that matter. On Thurs when Ian was working late I took myself to the eccentric Wellington Poetry Society – I was probably the youngest by about 20 years and with my red glasses and fuzzy hair probably blended reasonably well with the characteurs who were also there – most were aging hippies. The guest speaker was a poet from Belfast which was really nice as he stirred up images of the area my granny lived in and of the Belfast city centre. The best poem I heard all night though was by a school teacher type who had struggles with the pleasure and pain of chocolate and her poem ended with the brilliant lines: “inside, outside, in my bed. I'll eat chocolate till Im dead!”


Im constantly impressed by what a pretty city Wellington is. I walked the skyline which is a ridge walk along to hilltops which surrounds the city, it starts just down the road from our house and takes about 5 hours to walk. The best part is being able to see the sea on both sides of you (the picture above is of our neighbourhood from the ridge) and the way the sunsets over the long grass in ripples. From the other perspective Ian and I took a boat out to Sommes Island yesterday which is about 30mins boat ride from Wellington city. The island was used to quarantine the new settlers in the early 1900s, and then as an internment camp during WW2. You can still see the old buildings there today but it is mostly known as being a wildlife sanctuary. It takes about an hour to walk around but we spend most of the afternoon with our sushi lunch watching the yacht race in the sunshine from the top of the hill (ohh ya!). Sat on the top deck of the boat as a kind of endurance chill test in order to enjoy the view coming back into Wellington.

Ongoing annoyance is not being able to get moved out of the house and into another as the property management is rubbish. On the other hand our stuff finally arrived! So I took a trip out to the warehouse and filled a taxi with as many suitcases as I could, as we want to have the main delivery of our stuff to the new house. So beaming happy as I opened the cases to find lots of my nice warm clothes, skirts and shoes, it then dawned on me to my horror that hardly any of Ians things were in the suitcases! So I had to suppress my delight somewhat though I did find a suit and a jumper and a few pairs of socks for Ian!



Here is a wee picture of the back of our house.

Karen x

The gathering of friends...

We have met up with lots of friends from the UK this week – its very strange to see people out of context, and on the other side of the world!

We met Joel and Marie on a beach at Castlepoint on the East Coast – a wild and windy headland with a lighthouse – seemed like the kind of place people meet on Hitchcock movies. We had an excellent weekend, staying in Greytown in the Wairarapa region (New Zealand's answer to France's Provence). Joel and Marie had to leave for the South Island ferry on the Sunday, it was sad to say goodbye but I knew they would have fun on their tour.

We were excited to see Jo from our church in Glasgow – who was on holiday and staying with her friend Jo, who emigrated from the UK last year. Not to be confused with 'researcher' Jo (see below)!!! Karen had a fun girls night out with the two Jo's and some others. I came along for the beginning of the evening because I was intrigued to find out what girls talk about – however I soon felt out of place when I tried to strike up a conversation about beer. So I left them to it, they had a nice meal and probably talked about the various inefficiencies of men.

Happy to see Alice from Northern Ireland again (she moved here three years ago). Alice was en-route to the Queen Charlotte Track and the Nelson Lakes. We had a great dinner and a general catch up on life in New Zealand.

Attended a NZ social research conference this week. I was impressed to hear Helen Clarke (the NZ prime minister) talk – she seems like a very determined and successful woman. A bit like Tony Blair - she has led Labour to three successive election victories. The conference had several Maori speakers, including a 1 hour opening ceremony involving the haka, tribal welcomes, singing and a 'hongi' - where everyone presses their noses against each other as a greeting. I did the hongi with a short lady beside me, so I had to bend over almost to 90 degrees! At one point I looked across and saw a researcher from Scotland that I recognised (called Jo). As far as I knew she was still working for the Scottish Executive – but as it turns out she and her husband moved here last year. We agreed to meet up for dinner, and the coincidences continued when I found out she lives round the corner from us in Karori.

Alongside the fun of meeting friends, its been a bit stressful looking for a new place to stay (our place is unsuitable because it has cat hairs embedded everywhere and Karen is allergic to them). We also need to find a tenant to move into our place so we can escape our existing contract. Karen has had three job interviews this week – and she has others lined up for next week. So all in all its been a bit of a AAAHH! week.

To relax we visited the Karori wildlife sanctuary today. It is a large sanctuary area surrounded by a predator proof fence – so that no possums or rats can get in and kill the protected birds such as Weka and Kiwi. These native birds evolved on their own in New Zealand over millennia and are hence rubbish at defending themselves against the rodents that humans brought with them. We also saw Tuatara - an ancient lizard that has lived on in NZ since dinosaur times – and cave Weta (a species of insect that is so repulsive it made me want to throw up!).

I think things should be a bit more settled next week..

IAN

Monday 9th April - Easter!

Karen: Considering we are really into Autumn here the weather has been lovely for the easter break. Ian and I hired a "cottage" in a place called Greytown where we stayed with a couple of Ians friends who were on the New Zealand leg of their round the world trip. Greytown is certainly not grey - its more like a village in the south of France with its wineries, delis, fancy shops and even a french baker. It is on the edge of the Tararua mountain range which provided a nice walk across the gorge on a rope bridge and up into the forested mountains. Im happy that such a nice area is only an hour or so away from Wellington. We also went to the beach at Castlepoint on Friday which has an imposing lighthouse and surfer beach where Ian went for a run along the beach then splashed around in the sea while Karen was really lazy and read her book. Walked the Martinborough wineries too and were completely amateur tasters though did enjoy sitting in the sun with a nice lunch. To top the weekend off Ian and I had a picnic at Rivendell on the way back (no gollum!) which is really a pretty bend in a river in a forest park. (must go back there for some proper walking someday....).
Other than our Easter weekend adventure Ian is looking for a football team to join and Karen is looking for work (got a second interview this week). Meeting up with friend Jo from church in Scotland tomorrow as she is on a New Zealand holiday - so that will be fun!