Hi All,
We have been in Wellington over 6 weeks now and are loving it.
The trip over was difficult with a 3 year old who didn't sleep until 5 minutes before the plan landed in Auckland, so we had a comatose 3 year old to drag through customs and through to the domestic terminal. Air New Zealand bless them gave us a helper, who got us to the front of all the lines, helped us with a bag and arranged a van to take us to the domestic airport. I will forever be grateful! The dogs and cats arrived in much better condition than us, probably because they got some sleep.
While our furniture was supposed to arrive a couple of days after us, it of course was delayed, and then got lost in Melbourne for 3 weeks. Apparently it was delivered to the wrong dock and no-one noticed. The car, coming separately, still isn't with us. It was delayed in Perth, then had a 3 week stopover in Melbourne and is in Wellington now being debugged etc by MAF.
While the furniture delay was annoying, with it not arriving until I had started work, in a way it was nice. In the 2 and a half weeks I had before I started work the family and I did touristy things and explored.
Wellington is an amazing place - compact, walkable but with all the cultural events you could want. Arriving so close to the world cup has been exciting too. We aren't at all interested in sport, however my son was given an All Blacks flag by the relatives within hours of arriving.
My son's asthma, which was terrible in Perth, and warranted him having inhaled steroids daily has all but disappeared. The ability to breathe has given him so much physical confidence and he has just blossomed.
My OH isn't working at the moment while we settle in, however my son was missing child care so we found a couple of days at wonderful centre. When centres found out we had just arrived, and because we could be flexible with days 2 centres offered us a place.
We have views of the sea and the airport. My son is extremely excited at being able to watch planes take off.
I bought something on Trade Me within 4 days of arriving, and we went to the Pak N Save in the 3rd day, so we must be Kiwis now!
I am missing friends in Perth, and racked up a big phone bill before the computer (and therefore Skype) arrived. We are however settling in well, and can't see us leaving any time soon. The clean fresh air, the sea and the friendliness is just too wonderful.