Beaches, Parks and all things kiwi!

First impressions of NZ....amazing, beautiful, spacious and incredible for children. The jetlag wasn't too bad although Rosie and I both had bizarre floaty/vertiginous feelings for the first week. I'm not too sure about the children but they certainly seemed to cope better than we did!

It was amazing to be able to land and stay with Paul, Laura and Gracie without having to worry about food, water and a place to sleep for the first few weeks. They were also brilliant tour guides and showed us loads of the "must see" stuff in Auckland.

One of the first places that we visited was St Helier's, Kohi and Mission Bay. These are situated just next to downtown Auckland and are absolutely stunning. Perfect for children and adults alike. One of our favourite things to do is take the children's bikes and walk round from Kohi beach to St Helier's while the children cycle. We have been introduced to the Kahve experience at St Helier's and have often had fantastic "Full English or French toast" brunches. We obviously could justify this after a twenty minute walk!

During the first few weeks we were struck by how child centred New Zealand is. The parks are brilliant and not covered with cigarettes/graffiti/litter. The beaches and coastline are equally well looked after and respected. Here are just a few pictures of the fun!

The Arrival!

It seems a long time ago now but I thought I would give a bit of background to the adventure! It was October 2006 when we decided to plunge into lifting our family to the other side of the world. It has been an interesting journey with the usual ups and downs but the heart behind it has always been to try and live life to the full! It was fortunate that I managed to get a job in Auckland as a GP...more about that a bit later..but this confirmed our ability to move to New Zealand.

I can only describe the months before leaving as frantic. Saying goodbye was painful, especially to close friends and family, but thank God for the telephone and internet! We eventually managed to get some visas (one day before leaving!) to allow us to leave the UK and on the 31st Jan we set off on the Air New Zealand flight to Auckland via Hong Kong. It was a tearful departure as we said goodbye to Rosie's parents, Amy, Julia and my parents.

We arrived in New Zealand 24 hours later on 2nd Feb and greeted by Paul(Rosie's brother), Laura, Gracie, Rich, Kath and Amelie. Mixed emotions followed...one of relief that we had survived the flight (including Harry!!)..but also that of disbelief we had actually done it! However, the great welcome from friends and family has made the transition to a different culture far, far easier!

Welcome to New Zealand!

It has been a long time coming but we have eventually found our way on the web and a little space in blogspot history! This goes out to friends and family. It will hopefully journal the time we have in New Zealand (and maybe beyond!). We would like it to be funny, thoughtful, enjoyable and vaguely accurate! I apologise in advance for any typos etc. but life is too short to worry about things like that! So....here we are then...