A couple of pictures

On the day we decided to take the sunset cruise on the Waipa Delta, we ambled around Memorial Park and although the agapanthus are not at their best anymore, the photo above gives a bit of an idea how spectacular they have been in and around Hamilton. We wandered around Hamilton Gardens one Sunday afternoon - the place is an amazing combination of huge open lawns and corners like the bridge shown above. The ducks in the water are nothing unusual - we have discovered that anything that resembles even a puddle will always have it's contingent of ducks! The picture on the top right hand corner is taken from the sink in our kitchen - note the lack of burglar bars - the window slides completely open and made us exceedingly nervous to begin with!

Just a picture of us with happy faces!

People!

Jo with Stephanie from next door who has been the Neighbour of the Year! and (above) with Cor on the day that we moved into our house and the two guys had been loading and lifting furniture so that we have the basics - the glasses are Coke Zero without even a smidgen of anything else - they were really thirsty!

On the top right hand corner you will see a New Zealand tin shack! - evidently, building your new home from corrugated sheets is the 'in thing' and very much something you consider if you have had your home designed by an architect! It's quite a status symbol and not something the average kiwi can possibly afford - we, being really schooled in the intricasies of shacks, were very taken with this house and made a special effort to pull off quite a big road so that we could take this photograph! The moral of the story is 'don't knock shacks until you've actually seen them'!

S'been awhile!

Our communication links to the Blog were seriously curtailed with the move from the motel to our house - we're hoping someone noticed! In the interim, things are a whole lot more settled even though for the most part we are to all intents and purposes, camping! The motel provided internet and so on just for 'sommer' and of course here in the house there was just an empty telephone jack point! We did manage to scrounge an old telephone instrument at one of the 'new immigrant garages' - it was pretty grubby and sad looking, but had the potential to work, so we did all the application moves and duly plugged the phone in. There was a day's waiting period, but when the 'switch on' time came, the phone remained dead - no dial tone, no beep, no buzzing just plain no nothing. As is always the case with such things, all this occurred late on Friday and then there was a weekend of 'no nothing' and 'no nobody' to call to attend to it!
Calls to Telecom here are free, gratis and for nothing which is a good thing since when you do call, they tend to need to talk to you for about half an hour. The friendliness and efficiency here with folks like Telecom is really startling - they chat away with you while they type in information and so on and sound genuinely interested in how you are liking NZ so far - there is no way you can pretend you are a local - the accent gives us away every time! Most kiwis are pretty good although we have been accused of being Zimbabwean - could any of you recognise a Zim accent? Is there a specific Zim accent? All the faults and things having been sorted yesterday meant that we could haul out the laptop and plug in all the cabling and install the Broadband package (which arrived by courier on Saturday morning at our front door) and Bob's your Uncle! (I did once hear of Bob's your Auntie Mary) So here we are on Tuesday morning with all the bells and whistles - I see that there are a couple of folks who have now mastered the whole 'comment' thing - we hear that there are folk who check the blog every day to see if there is news - we check the blog every day to see if there is a comment from someone! (it's also a way to get the e-mail addresses that we still don't have for you guys)

We are doing ok - having heard some of the horrendous stories of other folks who have come over here, we realise we are actually doing really well! I don't think we would have been brave enough to sell up everything in SA, use that money to buy a couple of one-way tickets and hop on a plane and fall into NZ to start looking for work - it seems that quite a few folks have done just that and although we think that is just plain daft, perhaps they were in a position where they felt they had no other choice.
We have a house, a car and enough in the way of 'camping gear' to keep us going for as long as we have to - crockery, cutlery, linen and furniture is all along the lines of the barest minimum required to sustain life - not too many things match or would take 'design of the year' prizes, but then who cares? The stove and dishwasher are part of the house so came along with it - we scrounged a kettle, a tumble dryer, a bed, two cane armchairs, a small portable TV, an iron and various pots, pans, cutlery, crockery and linen - the cutlery is a real hotch potch sans teaspoons! I am convinced that there is a teaspoon mecca somewhere where all self-respecting teaspoons aim to get to in the course of their lives on this earth - where do they disappear to?
We initially bought a packet of plastic teaspoons, but found they buckled in hot coffee, so on Saturday while I was exploring the 'two dollar shop' I managed to pick up 6 teaspoons for $2.00 which I thought was a real bargain!
Our biggest dilemma in the first few days was the fact that we had no fridge and no way of keeping things fresh - although I have a key for our neighbour's home and flit in and out there as if I have shares in the place, I didn't think padding over there in the middle of the night to get some milk out of their fridge to make a hot drink because we couldn't sleep, was going to quite cut it. As it turned out, we were invited to join them for a braai on Thursday evening and while we were there, Stephanie said we should check out Trade Me and see if we couldn't find a good second hand fridge for a song. We had toyed with the idea of finding a pawnshop, but were advised that these are few and far between and rarely have bargains - they tend to be really expensive so we shelved that idea.
Trade Me is along the lines of E-Bay and you can buy anything your mind can dream up for almost any price you can imagine and in any sort of condition. Obviously, in this case, you click on 'fridges' - 'upright' - under $100 - Waikato (our region) - 'go' and wait to see what comes up! Stephanie found one being auctioned at the time and bid on it for us - we set a limit of $105, and as she said she had to go 'over budget' to win the auction - by a whole dollar! So we now have a fridge which apart from needing a bit of a clean is in perfect working order and does the job brilliantly - no freezer section, so no ice for dop, but beggars can't be choosers! We collected the fridge on Friday evening, loading it into the 'new' car (the back seats fold flat along with the passenger seat, so the fridge fitted in easily) and handing over the dollars.
I did the last 'orientation' with the 'On Arrival' agent yesterday - not that I needed too much orienting - I have been navigating with a map on my lap since we got here - and used the opportunity to get all the forms from the nearest doctors so that we can register with them - that's how it works here, you register with a doctor and then he/she claims from the government for costs since everything in health care is free - also, apparently, everything really is linked, so if you have to go into a hospital or something for an emergency, you are already on the system and at the touch of a button all your little health secrets are up on the screen for everyone to see. I got all the forms from the agents for the house so that we can set up a stop order for payments weekly and also registered at the library. The libraries in Hamilton are all linked, so you can borrow from any one of them and return books, CD's, DVD's, sheet music, puzzles, magazines, talking books, and so on and so on and so on at any one of them, no matter where you borrowed them from. You are entitled to take out 20 items at a time and have 28 days in which to finish with them - all the renewals you want to do can be done on the internet and obviously, you can request things via the internet too, since they link your e-mail address to the credit card -like membership card which will be issued to me within 3 days.
There are quite a few new photo's which we have taken over the past little while and I will have a little look-see and post some more for you to see later - I'll publish this epistle now so that you at least know we are still in the land of the living!
Dis al!

So maak mens

Net toe ek mooi op my voete is, toe koop ek 'n kar, nou is ek weer van my voete af en op die kar sitplek. Ja dis reg ek het vandag 'n kar moes koop om by die huis te kom. Ons trek more in die huis in, sonder meubel en sonder potte en panne en messe en vurke. Ons het darem ons twee tasse met die klere wat ons saam gebring het en so aan, maar die hotelkamer druk ons bietjie vas en is darem baie duur. My resettlement pakket is net so groot, en hoe minder ons daarvan gebruik, hoe meer kan ons in kontant kry om iets anders mee te doen. Die huis is gehuur en die gehuurde kar gaan more terug. toe moes ek maar 'n karretjie gaan koop om mee te ry. My familie sal geskok wees om te verneem dis nie 'n Volkswagen nie. Dis, van alle dinge, 'n Mitsubishi Pajero. Die daai wille woeste goeters wat die ryk ouens ry nie, nee 'n 1998 2000cc stasiewa-dingetjie, 'n klein SUV'tjie, te pragtig met nogal 'n skuifdeur, amper soos Marike-hulle se Mazda. Eers het ek my oog gehad op 'n vroeer model van dieselfde soort karretjie, nogal met 'n spaar wiel op sy stert en kamma 'n leertjie waarmee jy op die dak kan klim en 'n "bulbar" en als. maar hy het bietjie baie gerook, ek vermoed sy ringe is effe pap, en toe bied hulle my die nuwer ene aan. Hy's nogal in 'n goeie toestand en toe vat ons hom maar. Die lening is gereel en alles afgehandel en ons kan hom more kry. As hy nog nie gereed en deur die toets en geregistreer en nuwe bande en so aan is nie, dan gee hulle ons 'n ander kar tot daai een gereed is, Dis heelwat goedkoper as die huur kar en ek hoef nie skuldig te voel as ek oor die naweek gaan rondry nie.

Ek het nou net met Phillip gepraat en dit lyk my daar's 'n paar mense wat dit nie reg kry om "comments" te maak op ons gebrabbel hier nie. Net toe ons begin dink almal het ons afgeskryf en niemand is meer lief vir ons nie, toe kom ons agter daar's 'n triek aan verbonde. Jy moet blykbaar eers vir jou 'n 'rekening' by of yahoo of google of msn oopmaak, dis vry, gratis en verniet, en dan gebruik jy daai naam wat jy by een van doei plekke oopgemaak het om in te klok hier by ons en dan is dit blykbaar heel eenvoudig. Ek het dit nog self nie probeer nie, want ek gat nie kommentaar lewer op my eie gebrabbel nie ,, Haloooeee!! Maar probeer dit gerus, wie weet miskien werk dit.

Vir die wat ook sukkel om vir ons eposse te stuur, hier is die adresse: jobo9691@yahoo.co.uk of diane04@live.co.za .

O ja en die huis wat ons gaan intrek is nie daai grend huise op die fotos nie dis die eenvoudige ene, die een met die dubbel garage na die straat se kant toe. By een van die fotos staan daar 'n Toyota Corolla, so witte, (dis nou die duur huur kar), voor die garagedeur.

Dankie vir almal wat die blog lees en probeer om terug te skryf. Ek hoop dit gaan nou makliker en dit werk darem ten minste...

Just some pictures you might like to see!

Waipa Delta Riverboat

The Waipa Delta Riverboat

We took a little drive out to the 'new house' on Saturday afternoon to see if we could manage a better photograph of the place for you to see - the one on Google Earth really doesn't do it justice and we were of course also curious as to whether the previous tenants had moved out or not! They had said the house was available from the 14th - we in our vast ingnorance assumed that we could move in on the 14th - evidently, it doesn't work like that at all. The agency which manages the property has to go in to assess, clean and so on (including the carpeting being professionally cleaned) before new tenants can take occupation. For all this, they need 'at least 4 days' which is why we can only get the keys on Wednesday morning.

While we were there, the lady from next door came bounding out with 'Haai julle - ek se toe vir Sam ek KEN hulle dan!' and lo and behold, we met our new neighbours two weeks ago at the ACK church - they are a SA couple a few years younger than us (their last child still at home). Evidently, they had got on really well with their previous neighbours and were hoping that the new tenants would be 'alright' - that, of course, will remain to be seen!

Standing around on the front lawn, Stephanie and Sam said that they were having a house full of friends over for a braai and refused to take no for an answer to the invitation that we join them. So there and then we got to meet a whole lot more people - it turns out, all ex- South Africans who each had their own story about coming over here. Things are all set up now for the move on Wednesday - once we see what we can scrounge in the way of furniture and appliances via Cor and Mariaan, whatever is still lacking, we will be able to rummage around at Sam and Stephanie's to see if they can spare it until our container arrives! I have also been promised the key to their house so that I can use their washing machine and dryer if needs be.

We attended the ACK service on Sunday morning and had a whole lot more people we could say hello to and then came back to the motel (where we have decided to remain until Wednesday after all). We were offered a 'double room' in Sarie and Dan du Toit's grand house - to rent at $50.00 a day but would have had to share a bathroom with a Korean student who has just moved in there. New Zealand has loads of Asian students who come here to improve their English - most of them are finished school and are planning on studying in English so need to hone their language skills - families who 'host' them are paid $190. a week for their keep and so it's a proposition for lots of people to have them. After the service, we loafed about at the motel for a while since we knew that we had booked to go on a sunset cruise on the Waikato river at 6 pm - we have seen the paddleboat moored on the river many times and recently there have been ads on the TV which have mentioned that the boat will be taken out of commission at the end of this summer. We thought it was something that we should do and booked on line on Friday, hoping that the weather would be good on the day! I have attached a couple of photos taken from the boat for you to see - an absolutely fabulous evening - live music ( an old hippy on a guitar with backtracks -our kind of music!) brilliant food - each plate with it's own hot rock for the personal cooking experience - and of course the amazing view of the riverbank from the boat. Evidently the paddleboat will be leaving the Waikato River at the end of March to move to Auckland harbour - so we are really glad that we did the trip before it was too late! The only complaint that we could possibly have about the trip was that it was only two hours long - we could have comfortably spent at least double that amount of time cruising up and down the river! I have discovered that New Zealand claims the pavlova as one of it's national desserts - of course we sampled pavlova for dessert on the paddleboat; a cooler box in this part of the world is referred to as a 'chilly bin' and the black caps (NZ cricket team lost the deciding one day game against Oz by ONE RUN - DAMN) Sorry to my Oz cousins and Aunt and Uncle - but when in NZ do as the kiwis do and support New Zealand -except of course against South Africa when we are full blooded South Africans with the loudest voices and biggest flags on the park!

Thanks to all who have responded to the e-mail address appeal - I am so glad to have heard from you and to be able to connect personally!

That's all!

General Update.

So today is Friday the 13th - not being at all superstitious ourselves about the date, we thought this morning about the people all over the world who really do spend the day in their beds and out of harms way, since they are so convinced that something dreadful is sure to happen to them.
Having been just over the 'ditch' from Australia for the past two weeks, we can't fail to be struck by the enormity of the devastation in that country with the incredible fires that have taken so many lives - I would imagine that Friday 13th means not a thing to them - there is just such outrage here too with the thought that there have been arsonists certainly involved in the fires - admittedly, nature burns the bush periodically and we all know that Australia kind of expects fires at this time of year, but the assistance of arsonists is just too incredible to fathom.
Evidently, there have been sporadic fires in the bush here in NZ as well and in the course of our travels over the weekend around the Coromandel region, we noticed that every little 'place' - be it a town, or just a small area where people live, has a big 'fire hazard' board up right by the main road. The markers on these boards were all around the 'dangerous 'zones, just beside the 'extreme' - meaning that the bush is very dry at the moment and the risk of fire is very high.
We have however, had a bit of rain these past couple of days which has calmed the kiwis down a bit as far as the 'enormous heat' is concerned - but of course they are all complaining about how humid it is! The temperatures are still making headline news here - yesterday evening's opening story on the main news bulletin was that the temperatures in Auckland reached a high of 32.4 degrees C in the course of the day and that this was the highest recorded temperature since 18 seventy something! I guess we should not be so surprised then that the kiwis are all a-fluster regarding the heat!
It is overcast again this morning and really quite pleasant outside - I think the forecast for Hamilton today is 27, so it looks like the 'heat wave' has passed for the moment.
We aren't too sure how the whole 'on arrival' thing works now that we have been here for two weeks - we suspect that the company pays our 'digs' for these two weeks and thereafter the bill should be to our account - that is a scary thought since we have just parted with a real fistful of dollars for the 'bond' on our house. Therein lies the dilemma - we can only collect the keys for our new place on Wednesday morning so we don't quite know what to do with ourselves between now and then without running up a serious bill.
We called in on Cor and Mariaan on Wednesday evening for a coffee and ended up being talked into staying for a braai - they have said that they will see if they can find us a spot for the interim days but if nothing is forthcoming, we should just move in with them. They apparently have a spare room and are only too happy to put us up - naturally, that is not at all what we want to do, considering it to be a huge imposition on them. In chatting about it last night, I said I thought that if we were in their position, with SA families arriving and having the wherewithall to help out, we would be quite hurt if they didn't take us up on the offer of accommodation for those couple of days. It appears that we should be out of the suite by 6am on the day of departure anyway, so that means that in the course of the day today, we should come up with somewhere else to hang our hats.
Evidently, the stadium just up the road from our Motel, is the Hamilton ground which plays host to the rugby games that the whole world will be watching - the whole world being SA and Oz and NZ - the first one of interest happens here in a couple of weeks - the Sharks against the Waikato Chiefs (our new 'home team') - Cor tells us that the entire South African Hamilton contingent goes to all the games where any South African team is involved - wives, kids the whole lot! We are really looking forward to being able to wave our Cheetahs flag - it just has to get here from SA! Cor's 13 year old daughter is quite disgusted that her dad has a Blou Bulle shirt! - that's quite weird to us since she left SA when she was about 9 so what does she know about the Blou Bulle? Interesting! She evidently supports the Stormers - also interesting since they moved over here from Kroonstad (of all places! - we realised that we were all in Kroonstad at the same time although we didn't know them then!) Cor is originally from Namibia and Mariaan from the Freestate where her family still farms - she says she has been working really hard on getting them to think about coming over here, but so far hasn't been able to convince them.
You will be interested to know Janet, that Cor and Mariaan's littlest daughter, (three in March) has just started at the Montessouri kindergarten in Hamilton and is, like Julia, impressing everyone with how she plays with something and then does the 'pack away' thing before tackling something else. It seems that the whole concept really is taught 'world wide'!
We are hoping to set up things like local bank accounts today and want to arrange to have a land line and broad band installed in our new place so that it is already there when we arrive on Wednesday. I have an idea where the local library is - (you don't generally cuddle up with a good 'laptop') and we have found out where the best butcher is - a South African who's business is called The Mad Butcher - I wonder what that refers to!
There are quite a few companies who hire out appliances and TV's and so on for the things that we aren't able to scrounge, so we will see what we have when we move into our place and then possibly hire the odd things that we are missing - like a fridge for example. Things obviously vary in price, but are hired out at a weekly rate - like everything else - it looks as though a fridge freezer will cost in the region of about 25 dollars a week - sounds really cheap! Do the sums - not so cheap!
Otherwise, not much news - all's well really - Jo's cold a whole lot better and he seems to be doing really well at work - he says the job he was doing in SA is handled here by about seven different guys!
Mail us people - we also look forward to hearing from you guys!
That's all!

'n Bietjie Afrikaans vir julle

Nou ja dis seker hoog tyd lat hierdie Engelsman 'n bietjie pluk in haar agterent kry en haar swaar opgetelde Afrikaans op hierdie blog beoefen! Ek weet rerig nie of ek nou 'n groot blaps gemaak het of nie - die masjien gee my die opsie om 'off line' te kan werk, ek het die regte knoppies alles gedruk om so te maak en ek gat nog aan, maar die kanse is redelik sterk lat ek nie hierdie gepubliseer gaan kry nie!
Die Saving blokkie hieronder, doen sy ding - flash vreeslik en lyk heel indrukwekkend, maar ek't al geleer al die liggies en kleurtjies en fieterasies beteken maar dikwels fopsoluut akkol en net toe jy dink 'daarsy hier gat ons' is daar net mooi niks op die skerm nie en die beste van als is dat al daardie tikwerk iewers in die ruimte van die aarde rondsweef vir ewigheid en g'n mens sal dit ooit weer met 'n oog sien nie! Ons vat maar die kans!
Dit gaan heel goed met ons twee - Jo is sterk in die werk ding in - ry rond, kyk paaie, praat met kollegas en kontrakteurs, koop nuwe staalpunt stewels, stuur e-pos ens ens. Die groot ding vir my is om te sien lat dit lyk asof hy dit alles (soos altyd) maklik gat handle en lat hy nie sommer net skrikkie.
Op hierdie stadium, stres ons ons bietjie ernstig oor daardie vloekwoord - geld, in die sin dat ons sukkel om mense te laat doen wat hulle belowe het om te doen - diegene in SA wat vir ons karrens moes betaal het byvoorbeeld, het seker maar gedink, ag wat, hulle is nou so 13,000km ver van hier af, ek sal maar later die dinge doen - minwetend lat ons ander met daardie selle geldjies moet betaal. Ons is net nie lus lat die 'kontainer' mense besluit hulle dons ons goeters in die see oorlat ons noggie kon betaal nie! Of nog beter, los die hele ding op die wal tot tyd en wyl - arme klaviere en mooi houd goeters.
Genoeg van elendes! Verder gaan dit baie goed dankie! Ek is besig om winkel dinge te leer - byvoorbeeld, jy moet rerig 'n 'rocket scientist' wees om 'n ou melkie te gat koep - ek jok nie vir julle nie - daar is 'n verskydenheid wat skrik vir niks en dan onder hierdie verskriklike verskydenheid is daar nog verdere katogorie van 'lae vet'. Nou mense, ek vra vir jou met trane in my oe - hoe moeilik kan dit wees om net 'n ding eenvoudig en maklik te maak eh? Ek het nou die dag my dood gesukkel om te besluit watter een van die 'lae vet' melk ek nou rerig wil koop - daar is 'trim', daar is 'lite' daar is 'low fat' daar is '99% fat free' daar is '98% fat free' en dan nog op daardie selfde movie af tot en met so 50%. Dankie tog lat ons nie volroom melk gesoek het nie - ek weet net ek sou uiteindelik opgegee het net om so iets in die hande te kon kry! Die lang en kort van die storie is die feit lat ek 'n melkie gekoop het wat heel oulik gelyk het, nie te skrikwekkend duur was nie en met die blaas van trompette dit hier by die motel aangebring het - toe ons dit oopmaak en probeer gebruik het, was dit nou rerig nie enigsins meer as flou, blou water! Nooit, ooit weer daardie's nie!
Ek het gister die dorp (of moet ek eerder se die stad) ingevaar om 'n apteek te loop soek - ons moet een of ander tyd uitvind of Jo se pille vir die ou bloeddruk hier beskikbaar is - ek het toe eventually 'n oulike apteek gekry en die dame daar was baie behulpsaam - basies is Jo se pille nie hier verkrygbaar nie, wel 'n soortgelyke maar swakker een wat ons in SA een keer moes drink vir 'n dag of wat toe ons apteker nie voorraad gehad het nie. Ons moet in elk geval by 'n dokter aansluit - hier sluit jy by 'n huis dokter aan voor jy siek is - en ons het noggie dit gedoen nie. Ons wil graag hoor by die ander wie hulle sal aanbeveel voor ons by 'n dokter Jekkyl of doktor Idioot aansluit. Dit sal mos baie makliker wees as die bogenoemde dokter reeds weet dat Jo se pille nie hier beskikbaar is nie, het die voubiljet van sy gewone medikasie in sy hand, en kan dan die regte ding sommer opslag voorskryf. Ek dink ons sal maar die dinge laat oorstaan tot ons in ons nuwe huisie volgende week is - ons het al die papiere geteken, die 'bond' (dis 'n deposit) betaal en kan die sleutels die oggend van die 18de loop haal. Ons is nogal opgewonde daaroor want die Motel is rerig baie oulik maar dis nou genoeg hoor!
Die temperature hier die afgelope paar dae het die gemiddelde kiwi in 'n totale 'tail spin' - hulle verstaan nie van 'n bietjie warm kry nie - gister was dit 30 grade en vandag 29 en dit maak die hoof nuus bulletien! Ag Fooi!
Ons gat te lekker aan - lekker gemaklik en lekker bederf met die lugreeling in ons kamer by die motel!
Ek sal miskien weer later moet ietsie op die blog skryf, maar gaan nou eers probeer publiseer en bid lat hierdie poging nie in 'cyberspace' forever gat sweef nie.
As julle 'n 'comment' wil skryf, moet julle of julle eie blog reeds he, OF kry vir julle 'n gratis 'Google account' dan gebruik jy daardie kodes om die 'comment' ding te kan doen. Nou toe, laat ons bietjie van julle almal hoor!
Dis al.

Please send us your e-mail addresses!

Having done a post on the blog this morning, I realise that there are a few things that are really only pertinent to certain of our 'people' - I could of course, just put everything into the blog and I also realise that some 'special people' don't have too much in the way of available time to faff about with blog replies and so on. BUT - the issue at the moment is that we don't have our computer from SA yet and probably won't for a good couple of months yet so PLEASE either add a comment to one of the posts and list your e-mail address, or send me a personal mail at diane04@live.co.za so that I can mail you directly - I have time at the moment to sit here and write to you guys and no way of sending mail to you since I have no addresses! Jo-anne - thanks for your contact - thrilled to have heard from both you and Rich - makes us feel just a little less far away! You wanted the street address of the possible house - so here it is for you to take a squizzy on Google - we looked at the place on Google and it looks quite crummy! much better in the 'flesh' - there have been some improvements since the thing was set up I gather. Take a little trip to Hamilton and go on to Flagstaff, 39 Bouverie Crescent.For now, that's all, except to tell Jan that there are hot cross buns available here with no fruit whatsoever - not a raisin(or anything else for that matter) in sight! Taste quite good - even almost like a real hot cross bun sans the fruit! Vir ons Afrikaanse maatjies - laat asseblief ons julle adresse op e-pos kry - ek wil so graag vir julle persoonlik boodskappies stuur maar het g'n adres vir g'n een van julle! Die adres wat julle hier in hierdie blog pos sien geld vir Afrikaans ook hoor, so daar is g'n verskoning van 'n dag oud nie! Groete daar - ons verlang na ons maatjies!

The Coromandel

Cabin fever (and a nasty head cold for Jo) got us thinking that it would be a really good idea to get out of Hamilton for the afternoon so we headed North East for the spectacular Coromandel Peninsula. Back in SA before we left, we had taken a little squizzy on Google Earth and seen that this part of NZ is really beautiful. It was also the last 'holiday' day before Jo reports for work on the morning of the 9th - as I sit here doing this entry, it is Monday morning and the week has begun here for us - sometimes we tend to forget that you guys in SA are 11 hours behind us, so right at this moment you are heading for bed on Sunday evening and so most of you will be asleep while I am sitting here at the laptop!

Once again we were struck by the fantastic condition of the roads - it seems that no matter where we go, the roads are dramatically better than any we are used to - no potholes, good surfaces and everything is very well signposted, so it's not too difficult to get to where you want to be! The other drivers on the roads also make for a pleasant journey for the most part - there are very few 'idiots' out there and most folks seem to stick to the rules and the speed limit. We also realised that the speed limit thing is not as dramatic as we thought at first - maximum speed of 100kph, sounds mega slow, but the roads are often so incredibly windy and often quite narrow, that you can't really drive much faster than that anyway.

It seems that the houses all over New Zealand are much of a muchness - mostly they are wooden constructions with 'other things' stuck on top so that they look like brick homes. Some, of course are clearly wooden slats, most of which are then painted. Outside our room here at the motel, the corners of the building have 'brick' edges - stuck on bits, if you know what I mean - a big one then a little then a big one and so on up the corner of the building - anyway - what's interesting about that (I hear you asking!) is that the 'brick' bits are polystyrene - I kid you not - about an inch thick polystyrene stuck onto the building edges and painted a pretty contrasting shade to the main building! Here and there, the corner has broken off leaving raw, white polystyrene showing through!

Back to the Sunday drive - spectacular views - incredible winding roads over passes - through basically thick green bush, up and over and suddenly amazing views of an azure blue, flat sea which goes on forever and pretty bays with holiday homes right up to the shore and lots of yachts at anchor. Clearly no work here for Mother Theresa - not a 'poorest of the poor' in sight. Some of the homes are obviously shack type dwellings for people who work the sea - but these are in the minority - plenty of palaces from every possible vantage point with spectacular views. The whole afternoon we were out, there was not a breath of wind anywhere - not in the mountains, not on the shores of the bays, not on the open road between mountains - nowhere! We don't know if we just hit a good day, or whether it is really always so incredibly calm. In our experience, when you get out of your car at a 'spectacular view lookout vantage point' at the top of a mountain overlooking the sea, the wind howls around you no matter what the weather elsewhere is like - not here yesterday - calm as could be everywhere. The number of utes passing us going the other way - after a weekend away we assume - towing boats, was quite amazing - the road along the coast is really very narrow and winding and right up to the very edge of the land! I obviously took loads of photos - some of which I will try to post onto the blog for you to see - I included one with Jo in it, just to prove that we really were there in person. The scenery is almost unbelievably beautiful and you could be excused for thinking that we are pulling a fast one on you guys!

On the practical front, we are hoping that we will be able to finalise our living quarters in the course of today - the present tenants indicated that the house would be available from the 14th, which means if all the paperwork goes according to plan, we could be in our own little place from next weekend. The motel has been great - but enough now! We attended the ACK church in Hamilton both last Sunday and this, so have made contact with ex-South Africans who have been falling over themselves to be welcoming and to offer any kind of help we could possibly need. Yesterday, Cor Bezuidenhout who is the liaison for 'new immigrants' (a high school teacher who coaches the rugby team) said he's got a whole bunch of stuff lined up for us in our new place and until our container arrives -beds,linen,diningtable,tumbledryer,microwave, crockery,cutlery and so on and so on! He just needs to know when we are moving in so that he can arrange the trailer and bring all the things over to the address we give him! It's good to know that we have an open invitation to call in at Cor and Mariaan anytime - they have been here for about four years, have three daughters, the last of which was born here, and still speak Afrikaans at home. It's incredible to hear the littlest one chatting away in Afrikaans and then switching to kiwi-english when English speaking kids are around! I have also noticed that the South Africans we have met so far, who are actually English speaking, haven't picked up too much of an accent - the Afrikaans speaking ones, (not all, but certainly some) have quite a kiwi accent when speaking English! Of course it also depends on how long they have been here!

I have some 'housework' to do - there is a 'ktching, ktching' money guzzling washing machine and dryer here at the motel which needs feeding, so will sign off, hopefully with a photo or two for you to see!

We think we have a house!

The main reason why there has been so little written on the blog over the past couple of days is the fact that we have been really buzzing around looking at houses to rent - when here at the Motel, we have been getting onto the Internet to see what has come up in the interim in the way of houses to rent!
Anyway - to cut a long story short, we think we have found a house to rent - not the most expensive we have seen, not the cheapest either. We actually saw the house a few days ago, from the kerb - according to the rules! We managed to get our 'On Arrival' agent to make an appointment for us and visited the house inside yesterday. It's a three bedroom standard sort of house with very nice open plan living, dining and kitchen areas - all opening out via sliding doors onto a paved area out the back. The house is open onto the street, but is in the sort of corner of a cul de sac - very little traffic - but a good area, fairly new but not so new as to be full of empty houses and builders' rubble which didn't grab us too much. The present tenants have been happy there we gather, telling us that the neighbours are quiet and nice! Apparently, diagonally behind this house is a family from Natal, SA so we will probably get to meet them in the not too distant future.
We have 'applied' for the house and have been told that we are approved - whatever that means! Evidently, just applying for a house, even first in the queue, doesn't necessarily mean you get to live in that house! The 'approved' is what matters - we now have an appointment for Monday to sign all the relevant documents and do the deposit thing which is called a bond - in any event, it does all look quite hopeful! To be very honest, the Motel is all very well especially since they have lasses who do the dishes and make up beds thing, but we are finding that we are affected by cabin fever so have taken a couple of 'day trip' type drives out of Hamilton to do a bit of exploring. We had heard that Raglan was lovely so headed out to check it out - the little town itself reminds you of a small coastal town in the Eastern Cape like Jefferies Bay for example! with a lagoon and lots of holiday type homes. The sea just seems so incredibly vast and when we were there, so calm and flat. The thing that was so different for us was the 'black' volcanic sand - a black beach is something we haven't seen before! Looking at the map, Raglan is on the West Coast of NZ so the sea was the blue bit between NZ and Australia. The beach parking area was full of camper vans and 4X4 vehicles and surfers - some of whom looked very much like forty something hippies with the whole flower power and long hair thing going on. We are hoping to get the photo thing up and running properly so that you can see how spectacular it is to look at the beach from so high up - the bay is surrounded by really big hills all of which have fantastic spots for picnics and things while looking out over the bay.
Today we decided that since it is a holiday here - Waitangi Day - meaning the national holiday which is celebrated in NZ in commemoration of the signing of the treaty with the Maoris in the 18 hundreds - everywhere has things happening - craft markets and funfairs for kids and so on, we would take a little trip up to Rotorua - South from Hamilton and a town that was initially on the cards when we first thought about coming here. I took loads of photos en-route so that you can see how beautiful the countryside is - a sort of a cross between the Tsitsikama Forest route down Eastern Cape way and the rural bits of England - plenty of green with sheep and or cows dotted about. We have been struck by how brilliant the roads are - Jo actually is beginning to wonder what he will be doing here - and the incredible number of really old established trees there seem to be everywhere - oaks that look at least 100 years old, just along the main highway routes. Of course the roads are really winding and have lots of ups and downs - just pretty and rural and although they are highways, since the speed limit is 100kph, nobody seems to be speeding or doing dumb things on the roads. We are hoping that the house thing is going to happen in the next week - it looks as though if all goes according to plan, we could be able to move into the house next weekend - sometime around the 14th. Furniture shouldn't be too much of an issue until the container arrives - we have made contact with some folks who assure us that they will be able to sort anything and everything out until our stuff gets here! I don't suppose I need to mention that these folks are ex-South Africans who have 'been there and done that'! Locals also have a reputation for making new folks welcome and helping out wherever they can - so we should be fine. We want to try to post some photos onto this blog for you to enjoy so will say cheers for now and tell you that we look every day hoping that there will be at least a comment or two which would prove that someone somewhere is actually reading all this! That's all!

Some other stuff!

I got to thinking that there were a whole lot of things that I omitted to mention in yesterday's blog - of course there is always the fact that Jo said lots of stuff that some people just don't understand - but on the other hand there is always the chance that nobody other than us is even reading our blog!

I did want to mention a couple of arb things that I know will interest specific people and I won't mention any names at this point, so take whatever interests you and toss the rest!

Our room number at the motel is 17 - Yes, yes I know that there are many of you who will ask, 'why tell us that and who cares?' - believe me it is important to some of my special people.

Nobody in New Zealand apparently carries any form of identity document - if anyone should ask for an identity document, which they won't, but if they SHOULD then the passport is more than adequate!

I was really dubious about the facts when we heard that 'landline' calls are free - well they really are! Cel phone calls are relatively expensive - to the tune of about $2.50 a minute - for those of you who's strong point is not sums - that works out to about R13.75 per minute! But on the other hand mobile phones are useful sometimes!

We have looked at houses to rent - it feels like a gazillion of them - some are really musty, old wooden structures that haven't seen a lick of paint in decades, but others are brand, spanking new - it seems like there has been an upswing in the economy here. The aforementioned upswing has done a disappearing act and so there are really loads of brand new houses standing around empty - this means there are quite a few to choose from if you want to live on the outskirts of town (which we are debating) - they are also not any more expensive than the houses nearer to town - ALL the housing is scary expensive - for those who didn't get through all of Jo's entry yesterday, average prices for rental houses (standard three bedroom, two bathroom and basic other things variety) is between 350 and 450 Dollars per WEEK. Yes, you read right - about $400. per week. (R2,200 per week!)

Anyway, what's cool is that we have a local lady driving us around - in spite of the hired car provided for us - and she is doing the crummy bits like making appointments to see inside places and so on - you are expected to drive by houses you could be interested in so that you can make sure you are really interested in them before you waste everybody's time thinking you want to see inside them when you really don't!

The main thing that I ommitted to mention yesterday in the blog entry, was that I no longer have my cel phone - it's a long story and although I told everyone I could be reached on 'roaming' for a month, this is no longer the case. What really is irritating is that I don't have contact numbers for anyone anymore and have managed to find only a couple of my numbers on Jo's phone - so if you didn't hear from us when you were really expecting to, sorry - it's not personal - please send me a mail on my international e-mail address - diane04@live.co.za and let me have all the stuff I need to get hold of you. Of course, once the container gets here and we are re-connected to everything, things will be a whole lot easier.

But we do have a local cel/mobile number now - 021 0657 824 - so if there are important things that we need to know about, and you are inclined to pay for an international cel call - there's the number!

That's all.

Hello up there since we are Down Under!

We really hope that you have been checking every now and again to see if we have been able to add to this blog - here you go!
After some faffing about finding our feet and sorting things out, we bought a second hand lap-top computer this morning from a shop in Hamilton (for a really good price) and are hence able to put some thoughts down for you to see.
But - back to the beginning - or at least back to where we last published a post.

The packing up and loading of all our worldly goods took a full four days in Wolmaransstad and the huge truck left on Friday afternoon for Bloemfontein - apparently, the container was packed there and then the whole caboodle gets trucked down to Durban harbour, from where it begins its long sea voyage to New Zealand.
Everything, and I really mean everything, has been double wrapped in cardboard and bubble wrap and both the motorbikes and both the pianos have duly been loaded.
One of our really big concerns have been for the two hounds - they have been installed on a farm outside Wolmaransstad! A huge relief to both of us and the two dogs bounded into the back of the bakkie en -route to the farm as if they knew they were also off on a big adventure! It wasn't so easy for the two of us to say goodbye to them, but we are glad that things did work out well in the end.
We spent a couple of days in a B and B in Wollies while we finalised the house things and cleared everything so that the new owners could move in - once that was done, we ambled our way up to Joburg to spend the last few days with family and got a chance to say cheers to everyone.
On Wednesday morning we dropped the Jetta off with the dealer in Joburg and Boetie and Barbara drove us to the airport.
The customs thing was straight forward and although the flight to Sydney was very full, the trip went quickly enough. A couple of hours at Sydney airport then on to Auckland - by the time we were through customs and declarations that we weren't carrying any biltong or plants of any kind, had our luggage and found the chap who had been sent to pick us up, it was 11pm on Thursday! In the course of the trip, we had of course gained 11 hours and so the jet lag has hit us quite hard!
For those of you who haven't experienced the delights of jet-lag - yes there is such a thing - this is what jet-lag does. You yawn your way through the afternoon, hit the sack not too early (cos you know what's going to happen) and then wake at 3am, starving hungry and wide awake with scratchy eyes - your tummy is convinced it's lunch time and the rest of the world is dead asleep since it's actually the dead of night.
Anyway - this was never meant to be a blow by blow account (how boring) so suffice it to say that we are safely installed in a Motel in Hamilton very close to the city centre with a supermarket just over the road for essentials like bread and milk.

First Impressions that might interest you!
New Zealand is very clean and green - both in vegetation and in the whole recycling thing.
Hamilton is a beautiful city set around the Waikato River which flows through the middle of the town.
Lots of huge old oak trees along the streets and banks of agapanthus beside lots of the bigger routes. Plenty of traffic circles (called roundabouts like in Scotland Jo and Allan) - most of which are planted with seas of marigolds and or petunias - all in full flower at the moment.
Speed limits in town are 50 kph for the most part, 80kph slightly outside town and 100kph on the open road. People keep to the limits and there are no taxis!
Roads are in very good nick - haven't come across one pothole yet - we're told that when it rains for days on end, potholes do actually happen.
Pretty well all the cars are in a road worthy condition - probably because they go through the tests every six months if they are not brand new cars.
There are plenty of 4X4 style vehicles - like the States, they are called 'utes' and today I saw a little label on the canopy of a ute parked outside our room which advertised the company as 'Beaut Utes' - accessories and so on for utes, I gather!
Volkswagen cars are known as " Vee dubs" and on that note, www. is known as dub dub dub - I would imagine of rub a dub dub fame!
The people we have come across that are not ex SA, are incredibly friendly and lots of them ask where we are from, but I have a sneaking suspicion that they are just checking if they are right when they guess that we are South African - one chap did think we might have been Zimbabwean but most recognise the accent.
We have taken to taking a calculator with us to the shops - doing the conversion to Rand at this stage is only for reference purposes - at the moment the dollar prices mean absolutely nothing - everything looks really cheap since there are 5.5 Rand to the Dollar at the moment - we have no frame of reference so we don't know if something is a bargain or not - for example $4.99 for 100g of Nescafe coffee means nothing until you do the math and figure the whole thing out. Hopefully, very soon we will know what is a bargain and what is not without having to do any conversions!
The 'funny money' is really quite weird - feels like stiff parachute fabric - plastic mixed with fabric - the notes have two small ' holes' in them - clear cellaphane with the denomination of note printed in one, and a silver fern in the other! On some of the notes, Her Majesty the Queen stares out at you with her usual stern and disapproving demeanour complete with sash and diamond tiara - I gather stamping her approval on the Kiwi notes!
On Fridays, we understand that everyone is 'casual' at work - shorts are acceptable - but frankly, most of the other days that we have thought to look, everyone looks pretty casual to us - Kiwi women as a rule are not apparently too concerned with things matching or fitting too well!
We ordered 'a coffee' at one of the shopping centres the other day - they don't know what filter coffee is! We found out that we wanted a 'flat white' coffee as opposed to a 'long black' - and that is not a tall Xhosa - obviously coffees like latte and cappuccino are pretty straight forward.
Once you have placed your order for flat white or whatever, you get your till slip (with colour advertisements on the back) along with a plastic disc with a number on it - we figured out that the disc is to place in the wire stand on the table that you choose to sit at and then the waitress emerging from the back of wherever with your order, finds where you have chosen to sit, by the number inserted into the wire stand - very clever - I guess keeps the boring job a little interesting since you don't know which table will be where on which day!
Here's Jo!

Nou wat moet ekkis nou se?? Blykbaar sal Alta nou nie die Ingels lees nie en sal ek seker nou maar moet vertel hoe en wat en waar en hoeffel en so aan. (vernaam die hoeffel!!)

Vandat ons hier aangekom het was ons oorval met vriendelikheid en gaafgeit en allerhande ander goeie geite. Die mens is vreeslik vriendelik en hulpvaardig en behulpsaam. Ons moet natuurlik iewers soek om te bly en iets soek om mee rond te beweeg. Die Motel en gehuurde kar is nou lekker en so aan maar net tot op 'n punt en dan wat?? Die huissoekery gaan fluks voort en ons het al na sowat 250 gaan kyk, (nee dit klink darem nou te erg, seker maar so 25, of is dit nou 2,5, maar dit voel soo baie). Die huise is almal van hout en sommiges is al redelik vrotterig en andere lyk soos baksteen huise totdat jy aan die mure klop en dan hoor hoe die planke antwoord. Duur is hulle beslis ook. Vir 'n gewone 3 slaapkamer huis met 'n dubbel garage kan die huur wissel tussen $300 to $450 PER WEEK, Ja dis reg. per week, moer!! As jy die somme maak werk dit uit op so R 1650 tot R 2700 PER WEEK, afhangend van die wisselkoers. Laas toe ek die som gemaak het was dit so R 12 000 per maand. (Magtag! nou klink dit eers erg) Miskien moet ons die Owerhede hier bekendstel aan 'n regte egte Suid-Afrikaanse Plakkerskamp. Miskien beweeg dit die Regering om die huishuurpryse te beheer of te subsidieer net om van die pondokkies ontslae te raak. (MMmm dalk glad nie so 'n slegte plan nie)

Anyway, ons het toe 'n paar oulike en "bekostigbare" huisies gaan kyk en laat blyk dat ons belangstel net om die antie se verbaasde gesig te sien toe die "bekostigbare" huis, erg uitmekaar wou val. Darem nou nie regtig nie, ons sal maar sien of ons een van die ouliker plekkies kan kry voordat ons goeters hier aankom en opdaag en nie in die straat hoef te loop staan nie. (O ja, dis nou seker hierdie 1974 Cabernet Sauvignon van Nedeburg, in die Goeie Ou Kaap, hier in my hand, by die supermark oorkant die straat gekoop, wat my so spitsvondig en skertsend laat skrywe, of is dit nou Pinotage en Coke?)

Die vlug was lankerig en ek vir twee dae met 'n heup geloop daana, maar ons is nou hier en dit gaan eintlik verbasend goed, behalwe vir die donner wat my nou wil dagvaar oor die huis se verkopery en hy dink hy's geregtig op 'n komissie vir die niks wat hy gedoen het en die liegery wat hy probeer. Verder gaan dit baie goed dankie. (Hierdie is nou vir Barbara se oogge)

Toe ons op die lughawe by Auckland land en deur die 'Customs' is, wag daar toe vir ons, een van die aanstaande kollegas en bring ons toe Hamilton toe met die baas se nuwe kar, en besorg ons hier by die motel, waar daar 'n lekker mandjie vol kossies en wyntjie en goedjietjies vir ons wag om te verorber, en ja 'n splinter nuwe, OK amper nuwe Toyota Corolla om mee rond te ry en die plek te verken. Dis nou jammer dis 'n automatic, maar met die heup, help dit toe darem.

Ons was Sondag hier in Hamilton by die erediens van die Afrikaanse Christelike Kerk in New Zealand en het die gaafste Klomp Afrikaanse mense ontmoet. Daar was seker so tussen 100 en 120 van die goed en almal praat gelyk en gesels en vra vrae en heet welkom en bied hulp aan en gee raad. Te lekker. Dadelik het ons beddens en stowe en mikrogolfoonde en goeters om te leen totdat ons 'container' hier opdaag. Lyk my hier gaan dit nog lekker word.

Ek moes toe maar gou vanoggend 'n komputer loop koop, sodat ek vir julle hierdie storie kan opdis, en my epos kon lees (dankie Sussa) en het toe maar die verskriklike bedrag van $ 350 (R1950, 'n bargen sou ek se vir 'n leptop) uit moes haal, maar nou kan ons darem weer gesels en ons voel darem nie heeltemal so ver nie.

Diane se: "dis nou maar dit" Of op Ingels "That's all"

Nouja die pantoffelregering is maar erg jong. (Kyk nou net hoe biewe ek van vrieeees)(hehehe)

Praat nou bietjie terug toe man. Ons wag vir die kommentare en kretiekke en op- en aanmerkings.

Ghoebaai for niow en cheers vir eers