Where has November gone??!

I spent some of this week at my new school. On Tuesday I went in & met my HOD. She gave me a good tour of the place & I picked up a few resources. She suggested I come in on Thursday for a day of in-service training on the middle years programme for the IB course. I have no previous experience with this, so it was well worth it. She enquired as to whether I should also attend a training day on Friday, but was informed that actually, they would rather use me for a day of relief teaching. This was fine by me as I got to meet some of the girls, & also got paid for the day! I think I'm going to enjoy working at Queen Margaret, the kids seem great & the staff were very welcoming. I now feel like I know my way around the place a bit more, which will be very useful when I start at the end of January.

On Saturday night we went to see Dave Dobbyn play at the St James Theatre. It was my first time there, & it's a beautiful venue. Dave was great, he played 2 sets, the second of which was pretty much a 'greatest hits' of his 30 years in the business. All in all he played for over 2 & a half hours, & the crowd still couldn't get enough. Songs like 'Whaling' & 'Slice of Heaven' ended up being a mass sing-along. It was great value for a brilliant night of entertainment as he had only charged $19.79 per ticket, in honour of his first year in show biz.

Today was lovely so I decided to go for a walk to the zoo. I'm getting good value out of my years pass! The otters were being particularly cute today...
I've got to put a meerkat in for Richie Roe...
Every time I go I see something different, & today was the first time in my several visits to date that I actually saw the Malayan sun bear! He was well worth the wait...

Lastly, I happened to be passing the wild theatre when they were doing a presentation with Tahi the Kiwi. Poor old Tahi only has one leg (hence his name) as he lost the other in a trap. They built him a hi-tec carbon-fibre prosthetic, but he didn't like it, preferring to hop about on his one leg.

Tonight I had touch rugby. Since I don't (yet!) know enough people in Wellington to get a team together I put in an individual registration instead. The organiser managed to find me 3 teams to play for. One on a Thursday night, & two on a Tuesday night. It was a glorious summer evening tonight, & we won the mixed game 10-7. The mixed team then play in the mens' competition straight after. I didn't play much of this one as the team they were playing against were quite scary! It was my first night playing for them, so I was happy to spend a lot of it watching. It's nice to be playing touch back in NZ again, it's a much bigger deal over here & the reffing is of a higher standard.

One shot for glory...

On Saturday night we were off to the Cake Tin to watch the All-Whites take on Bahrain in the second leg of the world cup qualifier. They had drawn nil-all in the first leg in Bahrain, so the formula was very simple; win by any amount, & New Zealand would go through to the Football World Cup finals in South Africa next year. We had awesome seats, seven rows back from the front, right in front of the New Zealand dugout.
Mid-week, all the publicity was about creating a 'white out' in the sold out stadium, & by & large, this is what they got. I must confess that Will & I let the side down a bit... Only having a limited amount of clothing until we get our container out of storage, we didn't actually have any white items of clothing with us. We half considered making togas out of our landlords sheets, but thought better of it! Anyway, we would have frozen...

The match got under way & the atmosphere was electric. It was New Zealand's largest ever crowd for a football game, & the noise was deafening. Bahrain made the better start & looked dangerous for the first 5 to 10 minutes, but then the All-Whites got stuck into their work. When Rory Fallon headed in a Leo Bertos corner right before half-time, the crowd went ballistic!
Unfortunately the joy was short-lived as NZ gave away a penalty just 5 minutes after half-time. The crowd could hardly bear to watch as the Bahrainian player took the kick, but when keeper Mark Paston saved it against all odds, the crowd erupted once again. When Wellington Phoenix play at home, the die-hard fan club called Yellow Fever take off their shirts if their team is leading with 10 minutes to go. Yellow Fever had morphed into 'White Noise' for this game, & sure enough, with 10 minutes to go the shirts came off. Just in case you were wondering why a lot of the crowd in the above pic are topless on a cold & windy Wellington evening! Despite the odd nervous moment the team managed to hang on 1-0, making them only the second New Zealand Football team in history to qualify for the World Cup.

What a match, & what a night! Something I will remember for a long long time.

Kapiti Island

I am writing this while sitting out on the patio in glorious sunshine. The joys of a laptop & wireless technology... There's not even any wind (which makes a very nice change...). The weather the last few days has been exceptional, it really does feel like summer has arrived.

On Friday I had an adventure with Brendon & Keryn. I started by catching a very early train from Wellington Station to Waterloo (the Lower Hutt one, as opposed to the London one!). Brendon & Keryn picked me up from the station & we drove to Paraparaumu on the Kapiti Coast. We then got a ferry over to Kapiti Island. Kapiti Island is a nature reserve where they have, over time, eradicated all predators, making it a haven for birds, including several rare & endangered species. We were visiting Rangatira where the Department of Conservation only issues 50 permits each day. Before we boarded the boat we had to do a physical check for rodents in our bags. On arrival we had a short talk from a DOC ranger about the history of the island, & the types of birds we were likely to come across. We then set off for Tuteremoana, the island's high point at 521m. We decided to go up the Trig track, which is a steeper, more direct route to the summit, & come down via the Wilkinson track which is a bit gentler on the knees!It was a gloriously clear & sunny day, & from the top we got some stunning views. You can just make out the South Island in the distance in the above photos. At the top there were a couple of Wekas who had obviously learnt from experience that if they hung around the picnic tables they might get the odd crumb that was inadvertantly dropped!The whole time on the island you were aware of the birds in the form of constant birdsong, even if you couldn't always see them! Weka were the most common birds we saw, followed by the Tui. On both the Trig & Wilkinson tracks there was a feeding station set up with sugar water for the sake of the Stitchbird (Hihi) & the Bellbird. They needed the extra helping hand because in the wild the much bigger Tui dominated the natural nectar sources. The feeding stations were set up so that the entrances into them to access the sugar water were too small for the Tui. There were benches to sit & view the feeding stations, & the birds were a bit shy to feed when we first arrived, but after a spell of sitting quietly they would become brave enough . The star on the way down was a very photogenic Kaka who posed obligingly for us for quite a while. As well as the birds mentioned above, I also saw North Island Robin, Red-Crowned Parakeet and Wood Pigeon. Brendon also saw a Sadleback & a Whitehead. Once we got back down to the shore there were also numerous gulls & shags. All in all it was a fantastic day out. Below is the view looking back towards the Kapiti Coast.

We arrived back at the shore in good time for the ferry to take us back to the Mainland. Once there, Brendon & Keryn dropped me off at Paraparaumu train station so I could get a train back to Wellington. They were continuing down the coast for a night of camping.

Once back in Welly I caught the bus home to find dad had arrived. He had a meeting in Wellington that afternoon, so was staying the night with us before flying back to Hamilton Saturday afternoon. We walked down to the local Mediterranean Food Warehouse in Newtown for some superb pizza & gelati, washed down with a bottle of Prosecco to celebrate going unconditional on our new house. It was a very pleasant evening, & lovely being able to catch up with dad. He & mum are excited about the house purchase, as it means that come January they can clear their house of all the stuff I have stored there for nearly 8 years! It is quite a bit of stuff!!!

On Saturday we went for a drive. Will showed us his current office at the university (his permanent one is in the process of being refurbished) and then we went for a drive past our new house. We couldn't go in, but at least it gave dad an idea of where it was, & the surrounding area. We then had a very nice brunch at the Wadestown Kitchen Cafe, before dropping him off at the airport for his flight home.

It was a stunning day & after dropping dad off we continued on to the Miramar Peninsula & went for a stroll on a couple of the beaches. We were after a decent ice-cream shop, but didn't have much luck. We then tried Lyall Bay where we found what must be close to the biggest & best value ice-creams in wellington! We ate them while strolling the beach & watching the surf-lifesavers getting put through their paces in a training session (& being glad that it wasn't us!).

At Lyall Bay we were also entertained by a small dog who delighted in chasing a ridiculously big stick (more like a log) that his owner would throw into the water for him.

Today is equally gorgeous, & I have spent most of it sitting in the sunshine catching up with the weekend papers. Long may the glorious weather continue...

A House!

We are now the proud owners (to be!) of a lovely 4 bedroom home in Wilton, Wellington. We went through it as an open home on Sunday, & then went back for a private second viewing later that afternoon. On Monday we put in an offer, & we got a call at 9pm that night to say that our offer had been chosen out of the 4 that were presented to the vendors. We went unconditional on the property at 5pm on Friday, & the possession date is 8th January. It's all very exciting! Will can't quite believe how quickly things have happened...
The section is fantastic. It is large at 948 square metres, & has been planted up with numerous fruit trees. There is apple, pear, apricot, lemon, lime, grapefruit, tamarillo & walnut. The area near the house has been nicely paved & decked, & the bottom of the section has been terraced with concrete retaining walls. There is a shed at the bottom, & a couple of raised beds just waiting for our veges! Will has always liked pergolas, & this place has one covered in wisteria for him.

Below are some more pics. It was originally a 1940's cottage, & the current owners have added a master bedroom with walk-in wardrobe & ensuite on one end, & have extended the living areas on the other end. It has lovely views out over Otari-Wilton's Bush. It's hard to believe you are only a 10 minute drive from the CBD of a capital city!

So there you go. We are looking forward to 8th January, not only to move into the place, but also to be reunited with our 20 foot container full of belongings which is in storage at the docks!