Arrived
Hello all! Patrick arrived 2 weeks ago in Hamilton and I arrived Saturday. Today is my first day "alone" and I must say it is a bit scary. We only have one car right now so I had to drop him off at work. It is only 12:40 here and I have managed to almost cause one accident and severely tick off 2 other drivers. Not bad for a first morning I suppose.Driving is dang hard! Wrong side of the car and on the wrong side of the road. I decided to head back to our room to give my nerves and the poor unsuspecting people of Hamilton a break.
I have set up banking and bought groceries so far today. I still need to find a few more things but I think I will wait until mid afternoon to head out again.
Our air freight is due to arrive next week and our shipping container is scheduled for September 2. We are VERY fortunate to have gotten our stuff shipped so fast. We were prepared for 3 months but it wont even be a month. Oh, any idea on times to clear customs? Our shippers told us 2 weeks which seemed really long to me. But since this is my first time I will go with whatever they say.
Speaking of shipping, the movers turned out to be quite the adventure. After reading the posts (full of wonderful advice) I decided to set aside a "do not touch room" in the house for items NOT to be packed by the movers. This worked quite well but I was the one that had problems. It is so much harder to have people come and pack you then one would expect. I knew in my mind what I wanted to happen but for some odd reason, the movers were not able to read it!I foolishly thought they would come in and pack one room at a time and I could follow behind and clean up after them. Not so it turns out. At one point I was cleaning the kitchen and had the filters for the range hood out on the counter to be reattached and the next thing I knew, the movers had packed them! UGHHH. Guess I will be shipping those back to the states.
In another thread people have discussed the different airlines. Having flown New Zealand Air this time and Qantas in April, I have to say I personally prefer Qantas. I found them to be much nicer, more friendly and by far better service. But others must disagree since NZ Air has won airline of the year. I am not sure if that is across the board or only in New Zealand though.
My husband asked me what I had noticed was different about living here so far last night. (before my adventures in driving) and I would have to say the oddest thing right off the bat would be remembering to turn the switch on when you plug in something.
The weather is nice and things will get easier as time goes on I am sure. It is odd to realize you do not know ANYTHING. I went out to buy a new hair straightener since my husband insists mine has blown the fuse in our plug in converter thing. (I think it was him) I realized I had absolutely no idea what store would carry either the converter or a new straightener. So I am choosing to look at all this as one great big adventure we will look back on and laugh about.
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Originally Posted by KelvinAng
