Not much to report here, life's getting to be routine. I'm waiting to hear back about a few jobs i've applied for. Admittedly as they are exactly what i want to do i'm not being particularly proactive in looking for other stuff, although i did meet with a very keen recruiter who thought he could get me a job in anything.

What is up however, is that i'm a bit disturbed about earthquakes. I went to go see Bill Bryson do a signing today when i noticed the headline on one of the papers that was for sale outside--it mentioned Earthquakes. Now i find this significant because last night the wall was shaking. I thought i was crazy or maybe it just was a bit burst of wind, but no turns out it was a 4.5 magnatnitude earthquake. When we thought about living here i mentioned earthquakes but kind of as a joke. I've never been thru an earthquake in my life (at least neverwhere it was ever felt or reported). The east coast is a stable place. So's the UK. I guess because i've never been exposed to them or had earthquake drills as a kid i find it scary.

Aside from earthquake fears, as i mentioned, i met Bill Bryson. He was doing some signings here. Now i've been to a few signings before (mostly for Neil Gaiman) but never have i been to one that felt so rushed when there was NO queue. They weren't having him dedicate books (as in "to: lindsay enjoy, bill" kind of thing). That aside i talked to him for a minute. For some reason i imagined him to be a jolly, boisterous man but he seemed rather reserved. Not like it matters, i still love his books.

The weather is just divine here (again, earthquakes aside--sorry when i get fixed on something i'm fixed on it). It's only rained twice and it's just so warm, although it has been a bit humid lately which makes working out in the non-airconditioned or vented gym just unbearable.

We've got a large round of guests floating thru in the next month, Amy, Stu and Em, and another of Matt's friends from uni.

Well that's all for now i guess.

So 2 updates in one--how's that for progess. In any event Matt is now working and life is sort of settling in, although i'm home and bored. Saturday we went out to see Barb and Brian in Te Atatu--as they're heading off to travel for the next month or so we decided to go say hi. We had a delightful lunch at this old railway station converted restaurant and then went up to explore the Waikatere Ranges which are mountains which surround Auckland. Talk about beautiful there. We saw waterfalls, tui birds, and all sorts of stuff. Then Sunday we met up with Lynley and Neville, the strangers we'd shipped our boxes to. What lovely people--they were amazing. We had a great lunch with them and then they took us up to One tree hill (which used to have a tree on it...alas no more and is the tallest hill in Auckland) and also up to Mt. Eden (another beautiful view) and great crater. Then down along the waterfront out Tamaki drive out past all the Yacht clubs. We stopped and had a coffee--it was such a terrific day!

Not much else to say. Osh and Caitlin arrive on Thursday. We also get a phone line in Thurday too! Next step is the internet!

And finally...some pictures!

Hot!


Brian and Barb in the Casades with us!


In the cascades


even hotter!


Sullivans Bay


Matt and the Manakau harbour in the background


The view from One tree Hill


The crater at Mt Eden


Me in the cascades by the waterfall--pretty huh?

Well hello old blog. I know, i know i've not written here in about 2 months. But can you blame me? I travelled most of the western coast of Australia, went to a wedding where i camped outside the reception tent (literally), visited more wineries, canceled a trip to Fiji, went to San Francisco, New Jersey and Florida, got SCUBA certified and even went indoor rock climbing. Hardly time to update a blog. Forget the fact that i'm now in New Zealand. Which is where i've decided to pick up.

So Matt and i headed off to New Zealand, our new home on the 16th of Jan. Never before have i had such a poor start to our trip. We leave Newark and arrive only to discover that our flight was now 30 mintues earlier than previously listed (thankfully we were 2 hours early). Not like it mattered as our flight to LA was over an hour late. We arrived in LA and ran down to the Air Pacific counter to checkin for our flight to Fiji. As previously mentioned, we were supposed to go to Fiji but as they had a coup we decided better safe than sorry, that didn't however change our plans to get to Auckland via Fiji. We checked in and arrived at our gate just as boarding was starting. Well, no time for mucking about in LA. We got on the plane only to discover the TV's in front of our seats didn't work. Nor did the lights above our seats. Given that this was going to be an 11 hour flight, neither of us was too pleased.

We managed to sleep most of the way and arrived in Fiji. We had to check in once again and then discovered the stupid Continental chick didn't check our bags in straight thru to Auckland only just to Fiji. We were told not to worry and went and camped out in the airport for a few hours. Only to hear "Will Matt Kemp please come to the service counter" not long before we were due to leave for Auckland. Turns out our bags weren't in Fiji...they were still in LA! We got into Auckland and then found out we weren't going to have our bags for another 2 days as they'd only fly them out on an Air Pacific flight. Matt's family friend, Barb and her boyfriend picked us up and took us to Te Atatu (west of Auckland) to stay with them. After picking up some necessities for our next few days of being bag less) we crashed. Friday morning we headed into the city and met up with their friend Murray who showed us his city apartment to help us get an idea of what we might be looking for/at.

Aucklands sky tower:


We checked the net and scheduled several viewings for Saturday and headed back to Brians. Saturday we got up nice and early and went in to check our first apartment out. It was right in the center of downtown in brand new apartments called the Volt on Queen. We instantly fell in love with the apartment building although the apartment we looked at itself was a bit tiny for our tastes.

Well to make a long story short we wound up looking at the Volt apartments with 4 different agents and after looking at many different flats and offering different prices we wound up with one we loved. It's on the 15th floor, the building has a gym, a sauana and an indoor lap pool! Overall has the most stunning view of Auckland that you could ever imagine.

Here's some pics of our flat:
Our building--see us all the way almost at the top (there's 17 stories)


Kitchen


Living room


our gym


Inside the gym


Nice view huh?


Then it was onto the job hunt. We've been pretty strapped for cash (although we wouldn't have traded in our experiences travelling the last month for anything). Thankfully Matt got offered a job right after his second interview and is looking at a pretty nice salary. He went for a second interview but took the other job.

That leaves me at home and on the hunt. Thankfully because he is earning so well theres no immediate pressure for me to find a job (other than for my own sanity). So i'm trying a bit of everything trying to find something i'll really love.

We don't have the internet in our flat yet but will hopefully have a phone line in by next Friday which is the first step so..

I promise there's a post coming.

I'd even written one out and should be posting it on now...

But it's on my Lappy and not my USB stick.

D'oh.