Well, it’s now one year since we moved to New Zealand and it’s a lovely sunny day just like when we first landed.

We have had visitors from the UK (with more to come) and as you can see from the previous post we have just returned from a visit back to the the UK over Christmas.

We are starting to feel quite settled here now and NZ is a lovely place to live. The only thing we really miss about the UK is family and friends and we knew that would be a wrench when we left in the first place. However the ease of commuication now with cheaper phone calls, Internet and Webcams means that this is not as hard as it could have been.

We have a lovely house that we are just starting to get the way we want, it’s in a lovely location with all kinds of scenery and activities within easy reach. We have made a lot of friends and even though we still have to work for a living we are not unhappy with our jobs.

So wish us luck for the next year, and as in my previous post I hope you all have a good New Year as well.

More soon…

Best wishes for the New Year to all the people who are following along with the story of our move to New Zealand.

We are back home now after our trip to the UK and enjoying much warmer weather. It had been down to -5C in the UK and today here in Christchurch it is currently 31C.

We had a good, if a little exhausting time visiting friends and family over Christmas and we are really sorry we did not manage to see or call everyone but there is only so much you can do in a short timescale.

We (mostly) stayed in a lovely cottage in Stanbury called “Sarahs Cottage” that was perfect for what we needed as Julie and Andy stayed with us. It had wonderfull views across the valley. Christmas day was down at Woodmill and after seeing Fern and Esme open their presents I got on with cooking the Dinner.

Boxing Day and the day after we visited Karen’s Mum and Dad in Cleethorpes and the day after that we visited my Dad in Suffolk.

It was a good job we hired a car as we needed to do a fair bit of driving around while we were there though I must say it made me realise why I hated driving about in the UK. I’m glad to be back to the NZ roads which are much quieter.

We were going to have a day out to Hebden Bridge (after going to a Camping Shop to buy a sleeping bag) with Michelle and the girls but when we got there it was bitterly cold. so after Fish & Chips in a Cafe we went back to the cottage.

We spent New Year at the cottage with Julie, Michelle & Phil and Susan and John dropped in for a while.

The flights back were not too bad. We had a 13 hour break between flights at Singapore and we booked into a hotel at the airport for 7 hours and managed to get a decent bit of sleep. The hotel had a rooftop pool as well so we had a bit of a swim in the fresh air before getting on the plane for the final leg home.

Ben & Penny came to the airport to give us a lift home which was much appreciated.

Karen has got a bit homesick again after seeing the girls but hopefully when we get back into the normal routine and with the good weather we will soon pick up again.

The next big event is in Feb when Susan Szoll is coming to stay with us for four months. She will be working at the hospital with Karen and this will be her “Trip of a lifetime”.

More Soon…..