A Year today
Jan 10th 2013, 6:39 am
#1
MODERATOR
Thread Starter
Joined: Oct 2011
Location: Wellington - I miss Castles, the NHS & English school system
Posts: 9,077
A Year today
we finished the journey from the UK.
3 night at The Musuem Hotel in Wellington c/o MIL which turned into a god send as rental was not as clean as acceptable to me so a few days to get that sorted was very much appreciated.
It's been an odd year - hated the fact that the rental was poor, my shed back in UK was more water tight and warm than it and apparently it was the best one OH saw (he was here before myself and the kids), which is a real shame as it could so easily be a great place with a little updating, double glazing and some sort of heating installed. But the lease was luckily only 6mths.
2nd day at the rental a family we had made contact with via FB before moving over popped in and their kids took my kids out and the mum helped me out a bit round the rental. They have now become like family and we spent Christmas day together.
We finally got our PR on 14th February but as confirmation was recvd before school term started the kids were allowed to start at the beginning of term.
The kids settled in really well, the fact that had made some tentative connections here before we came seemed to help. The education system is so different from the UK. I can't really say if it is better or not. I do know that the kids I see in After School Care handwriting is much neater at an earlier stage than in the UK. My youngest being just 6 when he started has done really well, his writing, reading and story telling is much improved (but who's to say that wouldn't be the same in UK) My daughter 10 when she started here has found the system to her liking. Lots more emphasise on producing individual work rather than a set piece. Mind you I do get a bit annoyed about the amount of "create from tat....." type homework. And "I want to bake my homework this week." I'm surprised the teacher isn't obese with the amount of baked homework she gets
The husband of the family my husband had stayed with before we came over worked in the After School Care at school and put me forward to cover his shifts a few weeks after we got here, he was off to be an extra in the Hobbit. The shoot went on longer than thought and he got offer's of more extra work so I was offered his position as Assistant Supervisor.
A few weeks before Christmas the Head Supervisor handed in her notice and I was promoted to Head Supervisor and now run the club.
My red hair is something of a good thing, being in a small bay everyone knows I'm the newbie and lots came forward to offer help and generally chit chat. Even met MOSO at Battle Hill Farm as she sawon a post here I was going and luckily she had the nerve to come and ask if I was MrsFychan. Bless her, lovely lady and great family and always there with advice and a chat and one day we may end up as neighbours
I thought I had prepared myself for the 2-3mths without furniture and thought camping out in the rental would be fine. It wasn't, even though people had lent us kitchen stuff, kitchen table and chairs, we had bought mattresses to sleep on, the fact there was no settee to sit on got me really low, I spent a couple of days about 3 weeks before container arrival crying and really depressed - funny as I hated and still do the sofa I was so desperate to be delivered. If I had the hindsight I would of hired some more furniture and not just the washing machine.
For us the weather hasn't been that much of an improvement on the UK. but as earth itself seems to be having an odd blip at the moment I may have to hold judgement on that one for a while. I can say I absolutely hate the wind and initially coming to Wellington may not turn out to be a long term prospect.
We decided we wanted to buy rather than rent again, time will tell if that was a good decision, especially if the wind keeps up
. But least we can do things to the place we want to do and I must say I really do like the house and garden we have (even thinking of getting a pool installed in the garden - not something we could of achieved in the UK). Central heating is missed and as our Bay doesn't have piped gas not something we can get here.
Buying houses, for us seemed to be less stressful apart from the initial hour when our estate agent had to call interest on the property we wanted to offer on. then the frantic night and following morning negotiations on agreeing the price. then it was all just straight forward.
odd observations -
Kiwi plug sockets leave much to be desired and hoovering is so much more of a chore because the plug pops out of the socket with the slightest of tugs.
You don't have to have car insurance
If you get a paddling pool 16" deep it has to be fenced in.
You park on the side of the road as the traffic flows not against
kids sit in trees, like owls, chatting before, during and after school, actually makes me smile
The water goes the other way down the plug hole
The hills can sometimes look like their on fire with the sun setting and the clouds drifting over them
not so much odd -
You don't need permission to take the kids out of school for holidays/days off
Dogs have to be registered with the local council and they come and check the home
Furniture can be delivered within 3 days of purchasing
Meter readers come monthly, not sure if you phone in a reading if they still come.
You don't tip
Some roads need some fencing on them rather than just stopping at the cliff/seas edge
Lots of spiders and flies to get used to
The scenery is beautiful and my trip to supermarket although at least 20mins more a drive than the UK it is along a coast road either way I turn out of our road
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ups and downs but certainly more ups.
I feel very much that for us we have had some very good luck/timing to get where we are today and fortunate to have actually landed where we did and met some lovely people who have gone out of their way to help us.
3 night at The Musuem Hotel in Wellington c/o MIL which turned into a god send as rental was not as clean as acceptable to me so a few days to get that sorted was very much appreciated.
It's been an odd year - hated the fact that the rental was poor, my shed back in UK was more water tight and warm than it and apparently it was the best one OH saw (he was here before myself and the kids), which is a real shame as it could so easily be a great place with a little updating, double glazing and some sort of heating installed. But the lease was luckily only 6mths.
2nd day at the rental a family we had made contact with via FB before moving over popped in and their kids took my kids out and the mum helped me out a bit round the rental. They have now become like family and we spent Christmas day together.
We finally got our PR on 14th February but as confirmation was recvd before school term started the kids were allowed to start at the beginning of term.
The kids settled in really well, the fact that had made some tentative connections here before we came seemed to help. The education system is so different from the UK. I can't really say if it is better or not. I do know that the kids I see in After School Care handwriting is much neater at an earlier stage than in the UK. My youngest being just 6 when he started has done really well, his writing, reading and story telling is much improved (but who's to say that wouldn't be the same in UK) My daughter 10 when she started here has found the system to her liking. Lots more emphasise on producing individual work rather than a set piece. Mind you I do get a bit annoyed about the amount of "create from tat....." type homework. And "I want to bake my homework this week." I'm surprised the teacher isn't obese with the amount of baked homework she gets
The husband of the family my husband had stayed with before we came over worked in the After School Care at school and put me forward to cover his shifts a few weeks after we got here, he was off to be an extra in the Hobbit. The shoot went on longer than thought and he got offer's of more extra work so I was offered his position as Assistant Supervisor.
A few weeks before Christmas the Head Supervisor handed in her notice and I was promoted to Head Supervisor and now run the club.
My red hair is something of a good thing, being in a small bay everyone knows I'm the newbie and lots came forward to offer help and generally chit chat. Even met MOSO at Battle Hill Farm as she sawon a post here I was going and luckily she had the nerve to come and ask if I was MrsFychan. Bless her, lovely lady and great family and always there with advice and a chat and one day we may end up as neighbours
I thought I had prepared myself for the 2-3mths without furniture and thought camping out in the rental would be fine. It wasn't, even though people had lent us kitchen stuff, kitchen table and chairs, we had bought mattresses to sleep on, the fact there was no settee to sit on got me really low, I spent a couple of days about 3 weeks before container arrival crying and really depressed - funny as I hated and still do the sofa I was so desperate to be delivered. If I had the hindsight I would of hired some more furniture and not just the washing machine.
For us the weather hasn't been that much of an improvement on the UK. but as earth itself seems to be having an odd blip at the moment I may have to hold judgement on that one for a while. I can say I absolutely hate the wind and initially coming to Wellington may not turn out to be a long term prospect.
We decided we wanted to buy rather than rent again, time will tell if that was a good decision, especially if the wind keeps up
. But least we can do things to the place we want to do and I must say I really do like the house and garden we have (even thinking of getting a pool installed in the garden - not something we could of achieved in the UK). Central heating is missed and as our Bay doesn't have piped gas not something we can get here.Buying houses, for us seemed to be less stressful apart from the initial hour when our estate agent had to call interest on the property we wanted to offer on. then the frantic night and following morning negotiations on agreeing the price. then it was all just straight forward.
odd observations -
Kiwi plug sockets leave much to be desired and hoovering is so much more of a chore because the plug pops out of the socket with the slightest of tugs.
You don't have to have car insurance
If you get a paddling pool 16" deep it has to be fenced in.
You park on the side of the road as the traffic flows not against
kids sit in trees, like owls, chatting before, during and after school, actually makes me smile
The water goes the other way down the plug hole
The hills can sometimes look like their on fire with the sun setting and the clouds drifting over them
not so much odd -
You don't need permission to take the kids out of school for holidays/days off
Dogs have to be registered with the local council and they come and check the home
Furniture can be delivered within 3 days of purchasing
Meter readers come monthly, not sure if you phone in a reading if they still come.
You don't tip
Some roads need some fencing on them rather than just stopping at the cliff/seas edge
Lots of spiders and flies to get used to
The scenery is beautiful and my trip to supermarket although at least 20mins more a drive than the UK it is along a coast road either way I turn out of our road
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ups and downs but certainly more ups.
I feel very much that for us we have had some very good luck/timing to get where we are today and fortunate to have actually landed where we did and met some lovely people who have gone out of their way to help us.
Last edited by MrsFychan; Jan 10th 2013 at 6:48 am.
Jan 11th 2013, 12:09 pm
#2
221b Baker Street
Joined: Jun 2010
Location: Miles from anywhere, Victoria, Australia.
Posts: 14,125
Re: A Year today
Very nice to read and good luck to you. 
Jan 26th 2013, 6:14 am
#3
Forum Regular
Joined: Feb 2012
Location: North Island
Posts: 153
Re: A Year today
Loved the update.
I agree with you on the 'make do with camp furniture' thing. I really grew to hate the garden chairs we got as a stop-gap. We did buy second hand washing machine, fridge and tv; and our first major purchase (after the house) was a dining table (couldn't fit ours in the container). A new friend loaned us real plates until we got ours - it was an adventure at first but did get me down towards the end; thankfully our stuff arrived on time.
Kiwi plug sockets
and yes, its a good thing we aren't araconophobic!
Good to hear the little ones have settled well.
I agree with you on the 'make do with camp furniture' thing. I really grew to hate the garden chairs we got as a stop-gap. We did buy second hand washing machine, fridge and tv; and our first major purchase (after the house) was a dining table (couldn't fit ours in the container). A new friend loaned us real plates until we got ours - it was an adventure at first but did get me down towards the end; thankfully our stuff arrived on time.
Kiwi plug sockets
and yes, its a good thing we aren't araconophobic!Good to hear the little ones have settled well.
