Awake in Auckland (with apologies to Sleepless In Seattle...)

What a week to leave my camera at home!
I took a walk up to SkyCity the other day to meet some peeps from twitter. It was great to meet people I’ve been tweeting with on and off since we moved here.
So there we were enjoying a fairly uninspired coffee, when the fire alarm went off. Everyone ignored it for a while, as you do, but the alarm continued followed by a disembodied voice announcing something indecipherable.
The unconcerned wait staff continued to serve meals and drinks, as the convenience store closed and the entire kitchen staff assembled outside - chef hats and all.
Five fire engines arrived, followed by burly firemen carrying hoses and other gear (give me a minute here ...sigh!)
Finally, we called a waitress over and asked if we were being evacuated.
“No not yet,” she said, before handing us the bill and suggesting we might like to pay it now, just in case we did have to make a run for it.
Er, yes, there might be a fire or bomb in the building; your kitchen staff have been told to leave; but yes, let's just make sure the punters pay for their coffees before they all DIE or something. Service FAIL!
Stupidly, I didn't have my camera, so I missed capturing the whole debacle for your pleasure.
We paid up anyway (humph), and left, and then @wendywings introduced me to another reason to visit Auckland, Giapo.
Giapo is the founder of Giapo Gelati, the yummiest icy treat in Auckland. He’s also a keen twitterer and uses social media in his marketing. You can even twitter in his shop, and of course, wi fi is de rigueur.
Anyway, the occasion was World Chocolate Day with every flavour of gelato involving chocolate of some kind. There was white chocolate and raspberry, strawberry chocolate, orange chocolate, black forest and more.
For $10 one could enjoy as many cups as one’s stomach could handle.I tried the giapo rocher and moccacino before giving up in a nod to my waistline. Mmmm, it was delicious though.
Finally, the kids and I arrived home from school this afternoon, to find a commercial being shot right outside our townhouse. In fact, the model was posing on the window sill outside our home office!
The kids hung around upstairs peering over the balcony with interest and watching the scene unfold, and occasionally calling out to the crew below. The crew were lovely and I even managed to get a quick snap before they left:

In other news, Husband has been away for work again.

I've managed to cope quite well, despite having two little bodies in bed with me most nights. Sadly, C. takes after his Mum, and is a very noisy sleeper, talking, moaning, sighing and generally throwing himself around the bed half the night. The second child spends the night at the bottom of the bed, cuddling ... my foot! (I know...)

For his part, Husband hasn't been sleeping well either, having to cope with a four-hour time difference as well as steamy weather and long hours. Then there was a red-eye flight, crammed into an economy Qantas seat next to a snoring guy who was twice the size of him.

I can't wait until he gets home - Husband, not the snoring guy - and things return to normal. And then maybe, we'll all get some sleep!

Our New Zealand anniversary!

This week, we realised we’d been living in Auckland for a year!
Yes, it has been 12 months since we were belched off a very unpleasant Qantas flight and into the Brave New World that is Auckland.
I still remember the drive to our temporary city apartment. C. was so exhausted he fell asleep, and Miss 6. was so excited she kept describing everything as ‘funny.’ Including my husband’s boss!
After a quick shower and change, we ventured into busy Queen Street, where C. almost stepped into a puddle of vomit, and then dramatically announced this had been the Worst Day Of His Life. And we wondered: Had we made a massive mistake?
But as the weeks passed in a blur of house-hunting, car-buying, setting up bank accounts and settling into schools, we soon began to enjoy our new home.
And 12 months on, we have no regrets. Kiwis have been marvellously warm and welcoming, and living overseas, even just across the ditch, has been enriching for us as a family. We’ve enjoyed learning about different cultures, trying new foods, and exploring this breathtakingly gorgeous country. We’d do it all over again in a heartbeat.
The worst thing about relocating a family overseas is missing your other family. We all miss our family and friends back home, and have our moments we feel homesick and sad. But we’ve been lucky enough to get home occasionally, and have really enjoyed getting visitors from time to time!
And of course, we hate not having pets – though regular readers will know we now have a kitty visitor who calls on us whenever she is hungry, thirsty, or in need of attention. So we get in a pet ‘fix’ every now and then with her.
Yes, moving a family overseas is huge – but it’s also exciting and fun. Here are some of the things we’ve learned:
· Get your kids into school/daycare as soon as possible. In NZ that’s tricky, because you need to live near your school before you can enrol! The minute our kids were in school, they settled down and relaxed. Okay, so it wasn’t quite what they were used to, but they were back into a routine and generally knew what was expected of them each day. That gave them an element of control over their lives, and gave us time to do the stuff we needed – like unpacking and dealing with red-tape - without stressing out the kids.
· Help make the move as ‘normal’ as possible. After arriving at our apartment, we immediately went out and bought soy milk, Milo, and a few other ‘comfort’ foods that we knew they would love.
· Stay in an apartment rather than a hotel while you find a permanent place to live. It’s not just about saving money (though that’s a help). After a couple of nights, eating out got boring, and the kids just wanted to chill out in front of the telly, like they would at home. Having a kitchen, meant we could cook up simple family meals like bangers and mash, instead of going out to eat every night. Not to mention, enjoying cereal and milk or toast in the mornings.
· Organise communication as soon as possible. It took us three weeks to get internet and phone at our new home, and I went slightly bonkers in the process!
· Reconsider a ‘relocation consultant’. They are expensive, and although my husband’s work kindly paid for one for us, to be honest, she wasn’t much help. She was a couple of days too late to take us on our tour of rental places (we found one ourselves in the meantime) and gave us horrendous advice about the best places for us to live. Worst of all, she didn’t tell us stuff we REALLY needed to know: Like registering for a doctor as soon as possible. (You need to be with a GP for at least 3 months before qualifying for reduced rates for visits and medication), and bringing in medication the family needs that is unavailable or hopelessly expensive here.
· Try to do most of the house-hunting legwork without the kids. Ours found it stressful and fairly boring being dragged from one place to another, but having just arrived, there were no family or friends to babysit, and we didn’t want to have them babysat by a stranger. Yes, they can still have a say if you like, but once you’ve narrowed it down.
· Obviously, your kids need to travel with any extra special toys, like teddies. Then, when the moving dudes arrive, make sure you set up their rooms first. The kids were at school during moving day, and when they got home, they got to add the finishing touches, and unpack their toys to their own satisfaction. .
· Bring photos, albums and pictures. We left many behind, thinking we wouldn’t have anywhere to put them. But the kids would have preferred to see familiar pictures in their own new rooms, and they constantly go through the photo albums we did bring.
· Let them have their home comforts. Miss 6 always has vegemite sandwiches for lunch, and Mr 8 likes his Tim Tams. It’s comforting for kids (or adults) to be surrounded by things/meals/drinks that they know. Luckily in NZ that’s easy, and their favourite things are readily available.
· Don’t trust the airline to deliver when it comes to food and entertainment. We were seated too close to the TV screens on Qantas for the kids to be able to watch the movie, and they ended up fidgeting and arguing for most of the flight. And the tiny pack of crayons and activities they were given was the same as they’d had on two previous domestic flights, so they lasted about, oh, all of five minutes. And don’t get me started on the food! Now, the kids always travel with a small backpack with DS games, activities, books and snacks. (Note: Not too many snacks, as you’ll have to bin any leftovers when you reach your destination). Usually forbidden treats like chewing gum works a treat. Also, I carry my laptop, and the kids watch movies and play games on that if they’re bored.

Has anyone else got any tips for relocating a family overseas?

Halloween mayhem!

H. with her haul ... She was a dinosaur witch for trick or treat night.

Our first Halloween was definitely a success.
Following the kids' dress-up day at school, we went trick or treating with a few of the neighbourhood kids that evening.
For once, Husband’s plane was early rather than late (Qantas, I may have misjudged you). The Friday night traffic was kind too, and so he arrived home, to squeals of delight, just in time to join us.
Never having celebrated Halloween before, I really wasn’t sure how many of the neighbours would participate and kept reminding the kids not to get their hopes up.
But the kids ended up with a huge haul of lollies, lollipops, soft-drink, muffins, biscuits and even money! Yes, a couple of people who had forgotten insisted on giving our little horrors money for their troubles. I was amazed at their generosity!
Wanting to do our part, Kyle quickly doubled back to ensure there were no disappointed ghouls and ghosts on our doorstep this year, while I continued on with the kids.
We were careful to ration how much sugar they ate, but even so, they bounced off the walls for a good hour after bedtime.
The next day we went to a Halloween party in the park at Essex Reserve. A pity they didn’t notice that some wag had removed an E and an S before the hoardes of kids arrived!

Sunday loomed warm and sunny, in time for the Auckland Marathon, which I ran in a personal best time of 2 hours, 45 minutes.
Oh, okay, I didn’t!

But I did take the kids across to the park to see the finish line and all the associated after-partying.

Finally, in the interests of keeping you all informed, you understand, and not because I particularly enjoy imbibing, I tried another New Zealand wine this week.

This one was K’s choice, and a cheeky little number it was too – just like him come to think of it!

(Crikey - it looks like I had a couple when I took this. I didn't - it was days later I swear!)