So we finally made it!  The flight wasn't anywhere as bad as I expected.  We flew into Singapore and then hired a car, which embaressingly couldn't quite cope with all our luggage!  It was a Toyota Camry and it took two rental staff (and hubby!) to try and position all the stuff in the car.  It wasn't a pleasent drive to Malaysia.  Moons was really tired and miserable, mind you, her and Pip were squeezed in amongst a suitcase!! Poor things!  It was boiling hot, I as usual had the wrong attire on, thick black jumper and trousers!  Steve got lost on the way to our villa, so lots of irritable screams from me ensued!!  Poor bloke!  Weary and tired, we arrived at the resort and were told that check in wasn't until 4pm!!!  It was 2pm and we couldn't bear to wait any longer, so they put us in the first available villa, it wasn't the nicest, but we simply didn't care at that point!  It had a gorgeous big pool, so once the girls were settled and in bed, Steve and I jumped in.  All the hassle of the drive soaked away, it was wonderful.  The sun shone and the pool felt wonderful.  I felt very relaxed.  The bed was really comfy, so we had a good nights sleep and the girls only woke to eat, but otherwise wanted to sleep.  I would have liked to explore Malaysia a bit more, but it was nice to have some relaxing time to ourselves.  On the morning of my birthday (March 8) we woke at 3am to make the drive back to Singapore.  I didn't mind the early start at all, we were really excited about getting to Auckland and starting our new life.  The drive back was much easier and border patrol was really quiet, it was an easy drive.  Again, the final leg of the flight wasn't too bad.  Pip had difficulty sleeping and pood over herself twice!  But at least Moons slept most of the way.  When we arrived in Auckland in the early hours of the morning, I had been stressed about the immigration bit.  We bought an Aussie visa, an onward ticket and had planned our responses to any questions.  Instead my passport was just stamped!! No request for anything!!!  Typical!!  Last time we flew to NZ we didn't anticipate a problem because of Steve and Moons being Kiwis and I was treated like a common criminal for entering the country without relevant documentation!  Nightmare!  Anyway, as we walked out of the aiport the reality that our new life had started really hit.  We had made it.  All the worry and stresses from home were gone.  We had new exciting challenges to face.  It hit me that I wouldn't see my family and friends again for some time.  I can't really express the different emotions that I felt, but the key thing was that I know I didn't have any regrets.  Steve had contacted the car rental company from Malaysia and aked to upgrade our car in NZ because of the hassle with the car in Asia.  We were told that was OK and it would be done. When we arrived to the car it was the worst car I have ever seen!!  It was tiny, very, very old and just bloody awful!  One suitcase wouldn't have fit, let alone the two airport trolleys worth of stuff (plus puschair) that we had!  They'd even got the car seats wrong.  I was furious, I threw a diva fit in the middle of the car park.  It was an embaressing display, but its like all the emotions that were bubbling surfaced into a ball.  I screamed, 'I'M NOT GETTING IN THAT!!! GET ME A NEW CAR!'  Then I stood and cried like a complete weirdo!  People looked over at me, but I didn't care.  Moons kept looking up at me worrying, 'are you alright, Mummy?'  Steve knew there was no way this car would work for us, so he went back to the airport to rent another car with another company, that fortunatly, unlike this crappy car company, was open 24 hours.  The only thing left was a Ford Falcon, which Steve loves!  Anyway, we all managed to fit (just about!) and we drove to the apartment Steve had prebooked for the night.  It was a wonderful place to stay for the first night, it had everything we needed, so we decided not to unpack anything.  We'd sleep in our clothes and wear them the next day!  Moons just didn't want to sleep though, she was completely out of sorts and we were all hungry so we drove to the North Shore to a 24 hour restuarant.  Its pretty surreal to be eating fast food with a toddler and baby at 3am!  A few hours later we arrived at our short term rental.  I was really nervous about it, but its just perfect.  The people that own it (Brit expats) have put so much effort and care into the place.  They are really nice people, and really, really helpful.  They put a toddler bed in Moons room for us.  We have everything we need, so we didn't have to rush out buy all the stuff we expected.  We have a wonderful view of the countryside, its so peaceful and beautiful out here.  We sit on the deck and watch the sunset.  In the morning we enjoy fresh coffee out in the fresh air.  We've visited the beach, which Caitlin really, really enjoyed.  It was wonderful to see the ocean again.  We are all at peace and happy with our new life.  There are no regrets at all.  I realise that things will get stressful at times, but at the moment, we're just enjoying it.  We sleep so much better here, we wake up full of energy, ready to get on with the day.  Moons is really out of sorts, although happy during the day, she is very unsettled at night.  Its a bit of a nightmare, but its only temporary. 

Steve's been to interviews and the feedback has been really good, he's still doing his English job, so finances aren't an immediate concern, we can afford to take time with Steve's job and not be pushed to live somewhere that we're not entirely happy with.  I would prefer to be out of Auckland, maybe Tauranga, but I could live in the Rodney District.  Its just beautiful.  I guess we'll see what happens in the coming weeks.

The relief of being here and moving on in our lives is such a good feeling.  I'm looking forward to seeing where we'll be in the next few months.