A quarter report...three months in!
Suddenly realised the date and decided on another update, basically because so much has happened since the last one.
I can’t quite believe all that has happened in the last month. It has been an awesome start to our new life. I think, at the two months in mark, I was just at the interview stage. Within days of the last post I was offered a job by the company out of the four whom I had decided was the one with which I felt most comfortable. It was brilliant as we had picked the boys up after school on Thursday and I was phoned by the agent whilst on the beach to tell me an offer was on the way. I went into the company on the Friday and started on the Monday! Fast work indeed as I had only been interviewed the previous week.
However between picking up the contract and starting work we lived through a hailstorm, and then an Earthquake. Screeds has been written about this. But I think I know that I am happy to be here as there was only a brief spell one night when I wished I was back in Scotland so I could sleep, as the aftershocks really wrecked the sleep pattern.
Three weeks into my new position I am starting to settle in, but am working quite long hours as my line manager is on holiday and the person I took over from is coming in on occasional nights and at weekends to help with my induction. It is good fun though and they are a great bunch of people to work with, though they were worried after seeing me on the Friday, and giving me the contract to take home to read and sign, that after the earthquake on the Saturday I would not show up to work on the Monday.The recruitment agent who placed me advises that he lost a few candidates in the week following the earthquake as people decided not to stay in Christchurch.
The main difference I notice in work is that it is more casual, and where in the UK you made tea for your colleagues, here everyone makes their own. Morning Teas are fantastic! Dress is more casual. I have been told to keep track of the extra hours I need to do at the moment to reclaim at a later point in time. In the UK unpaid overtime was expected.
The VW Touran was finally released by MAF and the garage the day before before I obtained my position. We are slowly getting to grips with Road User Charges and the shocked look on petrol pump attendants faces as we fill a car with diesel! I think though that it is still cheaper to run the diesel than the petrol car and curiously the NZ method of charging tax does not reward economic driving as taxing the fuel, rather than the mileage means that if you do low mpg you pay less tax per litre!
Cucumber prices are finally starting to drop, as we were told they would do. I can also afford to buy avocados here! We are learning which cheese will substitute for cheddar, although none taste quite the same. Insanely tinned strawberries and tinned pineapple here seems much cheaper than its UK equivalents.
Our travelling has been a little curtailed. We had intended heading to Lake Tekapo the day the earthquake struck. For some reason we didn’t get there, although by the following weekend we had a desperate desire to get out of Christchurch and we got as far as Geraldine. However this last weekend we drove to Tekapo, and then on to the Tasman Glacier. We want to spend longer in both places but it was a great whirlwind tour and made us both feel like we had been on a short holiday (although we can’t do car journeys that long too often for the boys). Due to our aging cat, who requires regular medication, it is quite difficult to just stay away overnight.
However I have to say that the countryside is spectacularly beautiful and is a real antidote to a week of work. There is a phenomenal quality about the countryside, a spirit, which we do occasionally feel at times, alive and moving beneath us.
So what will the next months bring....boys are happy at school, OH has a first interview on Friday and is also offering himself for volunteer work as well, summer is arriving with 25C recorded yesterday..we are looking forward to experiencing more in our new lives.
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Congratulations, and all good wishes to the whole family. 
