Leaving on a jet plane

Thanks first to Fernie for giving us a kick to write another post after too long.

We had a visit from Matt, out here looking around and having job interviews in preparation for making the move out here. He seemed to embrace the active lifestyle while he was here, although the surfing could use a little work fella ;-) Hope we made you welcome!

Finally got round to uploading some more photos, credit goes to Matt and Nana for the best ones, check them out at http://bollo.hoodee.co.uk/~malc/gallery/nz/

Biggest news is our trip home, can't wait to see you all when we get back. We fly out of NZ on May 2nd, and are heading down to Cornwall for our first week, then back to Suffolk until the end of May, with a trip to see the Brighton posse thrown in. Look forward to laughing at our middle-of-nowhere accents, and be prepared to listen to us moan about the British coffee. Really looking forward to some nice spring time weather, news of the early heat wave has made it all the way down here, so we have high expectations!

Not much news to report, so signing off for now. Will be in touch with you all to arrange meet ups, see you all soon!

Malc and Annie
xxx

Residence granted!

After what seems like an eternity of waiting, being prodded by doctors, police record scrutiny, mountains of form filling, digging through old photos for 'proof of partnership', nail biting and cheque writing we have finally been granted perminent residence in New Zealand. This simple stamp in our passports was pretty much the last potential bureucratic stumbling block for us here, so it's quite a weight off our minds. It also means that hopefully we will have our passports back before we return to England on holiday!

Whirlwind visitors

We have already had a set of visitors come and go since the last update. This time it was Katherine and Roy, on a 'reccie' trip to check out Christchurch as they are planning to make the move out here. Unfortunately, we had to work during their stay so didn't get to spend as much time with them as we'd like, but had a good weekend trip up to Hanmer and Kaikoura (in the rain (again)). We also took a really nice trip on a small catermaran boat around Lyttleton harbour and saw some Hectors Dolphins. K & R used the van to travel around to check out some possible areas to live. We hope they were suitably impressed.

Last weekend Christchurch hosted a round of the Hyundai Pro Longboard surfing contest. After starting the event in New Brighton, the organisers moved it up the coast to Waikuku Beach due to a lack of swell. We decided to cruise up and check it out, camping overnight at the beach side campsite. After breakfast Malc decided to join the pros warming up in the perfect 3ft waves. Taking the usual 'keep out of everyones way' philosophy, he found a spot occupied by only one other surfer and paddled out. On arrival it was apparent why there was only one other person there, as he was completely naked. Thankfully after a few minutes of eye averting, the mysterious nudie vanished. Thankfully, the 'backside air' did not feature in his bag of surf tricks.



As the requests have been trickling in for photographic evidence of Malc surfing, here's some proof of his ability to at least stand up. Click above for the full sequence, thanks to Richard who took the pics in New Brighton over the Christmas holidays during the Martin household invasion.

Keep in touch, and thanks for reading,

Malc and Annie

World Buskers Festival

Last week saw Christchurch pay host to its annual World Buskers Festival. This turned out to be a great laugh. There were several stages set up around the city centre, with acts taking it in turn to perform throughout the day. The festival organisers pay for accomadation and flights for the acts, who are picked from the best street performers around the world, but it's up to them to pass the hat as usual for their wages.

As Malc's company host the website we ended up with VIP tickets to one of the evening performances held in the outdoor courtyard of the arts centre, with food and wine thrown in. We spent most lunchtimes watching acts out in the street, as well as 'Buskers at Brighton' in our neck of the woods. Highlights include

• Gamarjobat - japanese silent acrobat / magician duo
• Scott Nery - Dry witted american pancake juggler
• Joel Salom - Australian juggler accompanied by Erik the robotic dog
• Nate Cooper - Skinny drunken pogo-ing juggler / 'strongman'
• Blackstreet Boyz - Jive talkin' hip-hop dancers / comedians from LA

The photo above shows one of the 'stages', and is also the view from Malcs office balcony.

Other exciting news this weeks is the long awaited purchase of a surfboard by Darren, so Malc finally has a surfing partner, and the impending arrival of Katherine and Roy on Sunday for a two week visit. Also, summer seems to be here at last! Hopefully we can rub it in a bit to all those who were gloating about the UK heatwave last summer while our socks were freezing up.

Take care and stay tuned,

Malc & Annie

Now the dust has settled from Chrimbo and New Year, it's time for an update. Quite a lot has happened, so here are the highlights.

We went away for a weekend with Carol and did a dolphin swim with the Dusky Dolphins in Kaikoura. Although the sea was a bit lumpy, it was really awesome. You have to make noises down your snorkel otherwise they don't pay you much attention, which was pretty comical in itself. I think we didn't give a very good representation of the human race, the dolphins are probably arguing right now about whether we are an intelligent species or not. It's really amazing when you get eye contact with one though, and they sometimes swim around you in a circle to see if you can keep up (you can't!).

Christmas saw the 'Invasion of the Martins'. Darrens brothers Rob, Dan and sister Suzie, plus partners Nat, Veronica and Richard came to stay in Christchurch for Christmas and New Year. Dan and Veronica stayed with us in the sleepout, with the rest staying with Darren and Nicole. So what seemed likely to be our first lonely Christmas was actually pretty busy, with 11 of us in total kicking around. Lots of eating out, surfing days for the lads, and a BBQ on Christmas day at Darrens. Annie and Nicole kept their pact to go in the sea on Christmas morning, and Darren and Carol joined them. Malc stayed back as official photographer, the water temperature is still 'bracing' to put it politely. Once up to waist depth, most people would express it a little less politely.

Which brings us on to the weather. Our dreams of our first Kiwi summer basking on the beach proved a little optimistic. What we got was the worst December in NZ for 70 years, and most definately the worst weather since we have been here. Thankfully, things seem to be picking up now, apparently February will be nice!

Other big news is Annie quitting her job. It's a long story, but basically things had been getting pretty stressfull and 2 days before Christmas she was asked to work over the whole of the holiday, so she 'stuck it to the man' and left. Will update with details of the new job when it turns up!

Also we have booked a trip back to the UK on May 2nd, hopefully for 3 weeks, as we had return tickets to get out here. We'll be visiting Suffolk, Old Brighton and Cornwall during our stay, so hope to catch up with all you loyal blog readers then! Until then, thanks for reading and hang loose. M & A xxx.

It's been a busy few weeks, with quite a lot going on compared to recent months. Biggest news is the arrival of 'Nana' aka Carol, Annies mum. Our new lodger has been mostly well behaved, and it seems that since she arrived the washing up and laundry fairies have started visiting during the day, which is great news! Nana's first impressions of NZ seem really good, even though the weather has taken a bit of a turn since her arrival, changeable being the word. Now, if only she'd tidy her room ...

We took a week off work and went on a 'tiki-tour' of the south of the South Island. The first two days were a bit of a washout, we had to look at the postcards at Lake Tekapo and imagine what the view of the lake and mountains would be like without a solid blanket of cloud 50 ft above our heads. From there things picked up, and by the time we reached Queenstown the weather was fantastic. We took a ride up the cable car, and Nana even ventured on to the chair lift and luge cart track at the top. Go Nana!! We then took the outrageously beautiful road up to Milford Sound, and a boat trip out onto the sound. We also lucked out with bottlenose dolphins coming up to check the boat out, a first for Annie and Malc. After Milford we travelled down to the wonderfully wild Catlins coast, where we saw lots of sea lions, seals and yellow-eyed penguins. We spent our last night on the Otago peninsula before chugging back up the coast to our humble abode.

Last weekend was Malc's work christmas do. This was a surprise trip on the 'Fox II', an old wooden sailing ketch. We chugged out of Lyttleton harbour, on the other side of the Port Hills from Christchurch, and then sailed over to Diamond harbour. The worlds campest captain then dropped anchor and fired up the BBQ. After that we did a bit more sailing around the harbour, where we were lucky enough to have some Hectors Dolphins come and check out the boat. These are the worlds smallest dolphin, only just over a metre long, and one of the rarest being endemic to the NZ coast. It was a real bonus to see them, we have been hoping to see some for ages. All in all it was a great evening, with much heaving-to, reefing of the mizzen and similar nautical shannanigans.

This weekend we're off to Hanmer and Kaikoura, will send news in the next update. Take care all, M, A & C.

All's quiet on the southern front. Things are settling into something like a normal pattern here now, no major news or adventure to report, just day to day stuff. We've been biking into work for a few weeks now, it's a pretty nice ride along the river bank for most of the way, avoiding the traffic. Malc's work is really well equipped for it, with a bike lockup just round the corner and a shower in the office.

The weather is behaving a bit like a typical English spring, with wild swings from boiling hot to pouring rain. One thing that is really starting to kick in is the infamous Canturbury 'Nor-wester' wind. This is a foehn wind, like the Chinook wind in the US. As the wind comes accross the Alps from the west it looses all it's moisture, and heats up as it descends down to Canterbury. It's hard to describe what its like, the wind is very strong and gusty but really warm and dry. We found ourselves sat outside in it at 9.30pm the other night with shorts and t-shirts on.

Last weekend was pretty good fun. We had a surprise visit from Dan and Clare on Sunday as they had decided to go on a last minute trip to LA to see Dan's mum. They flew from Nelson to Christchurch and then had all day to wait for their international flight, so we took them around a few of the sights and then dropped them back at the airport. Then Sunday night was the city fireworks display off the New Brighton pier. It was another of these surreal, out of season experiences, sitting on the beach in a t-shirt watching the fireworks. Pretty awesome display, and we were really gratefull to be locals and not have to sit in the traffic for 2 hours aftwerwards.

The arrival of Annies mum (or 'Nana-geddon' as it has become known) is on us this weekend, and the week after we are taking a week off to do some travelling, looking forward to being tourists again.

Thanks for reading, check back soon!

Spring has arrived, the clocks have gone forward, and right on cue the weathers turned to poo. 3 cloudy days in a row is a new record! Temperatures were supposedly a record high in September so I guess it's payback.

Weekend before last we took big Al for his first camping experience. Got a double mattress which just fits in the back, very cosy. We spent the night at Hanmer Springs, taking a night time dip in the hot pools which was pretty nice.

The next morning we pootled across Lewis Pass to the west coast, and up to Nelson to see Dan and Clare. They were both well, and pretty settled into their new pad (pictured), with nice views out across the hillside. All too soon we had to head back, this time going around the top of the island and back to Christchurch down the east coast. We were merrily bouncing along with about 120km left to go when Annie pointed out how the diesel was almost on empty. We turned around to go back to the last town (Cheviot) to fill up, but at 8pm on Sunday night the place was a ghost town, with everything shut. We decided not to risk driving the last stretch on fumes and settled down for the night in a layby, with a 7am rise to be outside the petrol station for opening time ready for the blast to Christchurch and straight into work. Not the best start to the week.

We had to have medicals (again) for our residency applications, as the ones we had for our work permits have expired. Annie asked the doctor if she should worry about her finger that has been wonky since falling over on the nutcracker lift at Hanmer ski-field. He booked her an x-ray, and it turns out she has 'mallet finger'. It is basically broken, and she has to wear an attractive plastic splint for 6 weeks. Not a happy bunny.

The ski season seems to be over, with many of the fields now shut for the season. So now it's surfing time. Malc has finally purchased a board and has been out a couple of times. The water is still only 10 degrees C, but pretty bearable in a wetsuit. It's an easy walk to the beach with the board, and with the clocks going forward last weekend, hopefully much evening floundering should ensue ...

This weeks top purchase was a second hand laz-e-boy rocking / reclining chair. After sitting on them at Dan and Clare's we decided we had to have one. In a nutshell ... it rocks!

Very exciting goings on over Canterbury yesterday afternoon. Just before 3pm, the whole office shook with what felt like an explosion. Everybody looked at each other, and I said 'what in heavens name was that?' ... or something similar. I questioned whether it could of been an earthquake, but this was instantly discounted (apparently I will *know* when it's an earthquake). A bit of discussion ensued, then news reports started coming in on the web about a 'huge explosion being heard over the east of the south island'.

As reports started to become more concrete, it turns out it was the shockwave from a meteorite exploding in the atmosphere. Annie heard it even louder as she was working at the shop with the door open, and it even looks like someone may have found a piece of it.

Now, all we need is an earthquake for comparison...

After what seems like an eternity, our 'effects' have arrived from the UK. Kind of like Christmas come early, opening all the boxes to see all the forgotten stuff inside. Malc can now start wrecking things now his tools have arrived.

We have decided on a 'shoes off' policy in the house, Hawaiian style, so I ordered a couple of painted tiles to go by the front and back doors for a little bit of aloha.

Annie was working last Saturday, but Malc took up the 7am offer from Darren of a lift up to Porter Heights for some boarding. Sadly, the snow looks like its on its way out, but theres still plenty of good riding to be had for a few weeks yet.

September 1st is NZ's official first day of spring. To celebrate, after boarding on Saturday, Malc went for his first surf on Sunday. Looking forward to walking down the road after work for a dip now the evenings are starting to get longer, keep an eye out for him on the New Brighton Surfcam
This weeks exciting household purchase .... a 'Nils Lofgren' hoover!