First 2 weeks in Wellington

[gingerdingo]

We left the UK on June 24th, flew with SIA and had a 7 hour layover in Singapore Airport .We pre booked the transit hotel for 6 hours and this turned out to be a godsend. We all managed to get approx 4 hours sleep , a nice shower, cup of tea , etc. The rooms were average however, they were very dark and quiet.

To break the journey we stopped off at the Gold Coast for 3 weeks , again, this worked out well.We had jet lag but without the pressure of looking for work, schools, cars etc. We did the tourist thing and just chilled and came to terms with living out of a suitcase for the next 3 months.

We flew into Welly airport on the 15th July , [], it was wet and cold .Apparently we had just missed the biggest storm in 30years and we were now experiencing the tail end of it.We got to our rental in Khandallah and put the gas fire on, HRV on and the heat pump on !

Next morning we caught the train into Welly and purchased thermals and puffer jackets for all the family - luckily everything was reduced in the winter sales. The NZ schools were on hols for 2 weeks which meant we had the kids in tow every where we went. By the end of our first week the weather had picked , we had come to terms with the heating in the house, we applied for our NZ tax numbers , used the train alot and found it nice, clean and on-time and we picked up our hire car from ACE.

The wife has started work at the Hospital and our kids started Wellington Girls College today. We were very apprehensive about the girls first day, thank fully they enjoyed it and have made a couple of mates each.

Over all we have been very impressed with Wellington and its people, they have all been polite and helpful in a no fuss no nonsense kind of way.Khandallah ticks alot of our boxes, closer enough to the city and Kapiti. We alll like the trains and the freedom they provide.The majority of our shopping has been done at Pak n Save & Khatmandu.

Now I have to find some work to round off a very enjoyable and productive 2 weeks. I was going to mention the quakes but I guess this is just part of the Kiwi lifestyle.
Sweet as' Bro'

It needs to be mentioned that our 'so far 'smooth transition in to the NZ frame of mind could not have been achieved without the help from this forum.Thank you