British Expats - One year on.........

Hi, haven't posted on here for a while although I have kept an eye on other threads with interest. Well, today (29th November) we have been in NZ exactly one year.....and what a year it has been. We stayed with family in Murrays Bay until our container arrived mid February.

The house we have in Torbay is on a flat section with a large garden which needed quite a bit of work doing to it so the past nine months have been spent getting it back to how it should be, which been hard work but interesting, enjoyable - dealing with plants & trees I had not come across in the UK (daft as it sounds but we are really excited as we have some bananas doing very well on one of our trees) - didn't get to grow many bananas in the UK, he he!!! We also decorated the house throughout. The winter months were a bit of a shock to the system - found it really cold and damp but we then had a heat pump fitted which improved things considerably.

Amongst all this activity we bought ourselves a gorgeous, mischevious but adorable Beagle pup. She was 11 weeks old in March when got her so we had acquired ourselves a weeing, pooing, chewing, nipping and barking machine and well known 'escape artists'. A Beagle-proof fence was a must which we duly did. The thing is our dear little dog (now ten & a half months) has been a real blessing, taking her walking on the beach, we have met and made some great friends through dog-walking. It is a joy each day to take her to the beach (yes, we do go to a permitted beach) & look at that fabulous scenery, how lucky we are.

Wev'e both had our days of being homesick, missing family & friends and feeling down but we have supported each other over these periods. Getting used to the 'Kiwi' way of life - went to the Santa Parade on Sunday and the Saturday before went to see the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain, really enjoyed the show. As we are both retired, we were not able to make friends through employment so we had to look to make friends in other ways, coffee meet-ups etc.

I feel we have made the right choice in making this journey to NZ. Getting used to and enjoying the differences NZ has to offer.:thumbsup:

Cheers

Joan x