We had our 12 week ultrasound last week, but I haven't scanned the images yet. Will post more when I get around to it.
I spent this weekend with Tom and my parents at Tom's fishing shack in Tasmania. It's located on Little Pine Dam on the central highlands, a venue not renowned for its weather. Or scenery. If you like fishing, it's heaven. If not... well, I described it as Jo's version of hell. She thought this was a bit harsh, so to summarise:
My flight was in a small, slow, bumpy, twin-prop 50-seater,
which was delayed by 1.5 hours...
The drive there was up a very twisty road (ending in about 10km of dirt road)
When we reached the shack it was about 6 degrees outside (not including wind chill)
The loo is outside (and the cistern doesn't work). No lights of course.
Central heating? - well, the place is small enough (2 rooms) that the pot-bellied stove does quite well actually.
The beds wouldn't rate as the comfiest I've slept in.
If you don't like fishing or brisk walks, the activities calendar is pretty sparse.
By now you're probably thinking I hated it, but that would be completely wrong. Sure, it's not my usual idea of a great place to get away, but it was the first time I've seen the whole family since our wedding (and as Anne commented, it was the first time we have all been in a car at the same time). I even had a swing of a fly rod for the first time in at least 20 years, with lessons from Tom. Fun! even though the whole tally for the weekend was just 1 fish. Apparently some call this sport.
Wednesday, 16 April 2008
Friday, 21 March 2008
Good things come in small (and big) packages
Most of our shipping was delivered the other day, which was highly anticipated.
So we now have our big TV back! But no power cables or remotes...
And the espresso machine is here! But no portafilters... (that's the handle thingy you put the coffee in, if you had to ask). Drat!
We lost the cat scratching pole to quarantine. We had an option of paying $95 to have it destroyed, or $500 to have it cleaned. Somehow they didn't seem to mind that we had also brought back a litter tray, blankets, couches and clothing which were all covered in cat hair. Not to mention the cats themselves...
Meanwhile I have found myself a job (with Leica Biosystems as a product support specialist) and will be starting in a week. Since an income is now on the cards, I have been looking for a car to buy, so test driving lots of MX-5s - the practical family choice! (When I get one I'll write more about it in the new page in the page in the links section to the right.)
Jo is doing well - lots of resting and sleeping mostly. We met our obstetrician yesterday and had a quick ultrasound scan - the little blob is taking shape! stubby little limbs and a big head. And a heartbeat! wow, it's really an amazing thing to see. Will be getting more scans in a couple of weeks, so we might be able to scan something then.
So we now have our big TV back! But no power cables or remotes...
And the espresso machine is here! But no portafilters... (that's the handle thingy you put the coffee in, if you had to ask). Drat!
We lost the cat scratching pole to quarantine. We had an option of paying $95 to have it destroyed, or $500 to have it cleaned. Somehow they didn't seem to mind that we had also brought back a litter tray, blankets, couches and clothing which were all covered in cat hair. Not to mention the cats themselves...
Meanwhile I have found myself a job (with Leica Biosystems as a product support specialist) and will be starting in a week. Since an income is now on the cards, I have been looking for a car to buy, so test driving lots of MX-5s - the practical family choice! (When I get one I'll write more about it in the new page in the page in the links section to the right.)
Jo is doing well - lots of resting and sleeping mostly. We met our obstetrician yesterday and had a quick ultrasound scan - the little blob is taking shape! stubby little limbs and a big head. And a heartbeat! wow, it's really an amazing thing to see. Will be getting more scans in a couple of weeks, so we might be able to scan something then.
Friday, 7 March 2008
It's the little things...
Well we're back and kind-of settled in to the house. It's all in good shape and has been well looked after by the tenants. The garden is a bit dry but not much you can do about that. The move was relatively painless, apart from the storage place holding our stuff threatening to deliver it at 6:30am the day after we arrived. Luckily Liz managed to sort things out and deliveries were made at a sensible hour, while I went to the airport to collect the excess baggage and the cats.
Australian shipping and customs is no more logical than New Zealand's was: go to agent's office, get forms, take forms to Customs, fill out another form, go to Quarantine, get a rubber stamp, go back to Customs for clearance, go back to agent's, then to the warehouse to collect the goods.
Then repeat for the cats... They were pretty stressed until they got back to the house, but have settled in very quickly and are enjoying time on the couch as much as Jo is.
I'm still getting used to being home. It's funny how all the small differenced throw you off and make you feel out of place. Like the way that I couldn't go to a cafe and pay by credit card because it was below their minimum transaction limit (an unheard-of concept in NZ). Or remembering who gives way to who when I turn left. That a 32 degree day doesn't feel any hotter than a 25 degree day in Auckland. And that the entire length of our street has been dug up, then repaved by blind, drunk carpenters*. The way Chadstone shopping centre is spreading like cancer. Or that I have to remember how my signature goes when I use a credit card (PIN everywhere in NZ) - but I did find you can use PIN at Safeway. And let's not get started with telemarketers! The phone hasn't stopped since we got back! Bloody parasites!
Speaking of small differences (and parasites for that matter), here's one... though depending on your perspective, it's going to be a pretty big change:
Woohoo!
*(carpenters not being renowned for their roadworks skills)
Australian shipping and customs is no more logical than New Zealand's was: go to agent's office, get forms, take forms to Customs, fill out another form, go to Quarantine, get a rubber stamp, go back to Customs for clearance, go back to agent's, then to the warehouse to collect the goods.
Then repeat for the cats... They were pretty stressed until they got back to the house, but have settled in very quickly and are enjoying time on the couch as much as Jo is.
I'm still getting used to being home. It's funny how all the small differenced throw you off and make you feel out of place. Like the way that I couldn't go to a cafe and pay by credit card because it was below their minimum transaction limit (an unheard-of concept in NZ). Or remembering who gives way to who when I turn left. That a 32 degree day doesn't feel any hotter than a 25 degree day in Auckland. And that the entire length of our street has been dug up, then repaved by blind, drunk carpenters*. The way Chadstone shopping centre is spreading like cancer. Or that I have to remember how my signature goes when I use a credit card (PIN everywhere in NZ) - but I did find you can use PIN at Safeway. And let's not get started with telemarketers! The phone hasn't stopped since we got back! Bloody parasites!
Speaking of small differences (and parasites for that matter), here's one... though depending on your perspective, it's going to be a pretty big change:
Woohoo!*(carpenters not being renowned for their roadworks skills)
Saturday, 23 February 2008
The Last Post
cue the bugle solo...
well, probably not the last post ever, but likely the last one from NZ. Only 5 more days til we fly out! It's a soggy weekend, the first time in a while. Perfect for sitting at home on the couch, watching Batman (the original campy 60's TV show) and catching up on some blogging.
Rodney was over in Auckland for work (ah the jetsetting lifestyle of a photography stylist!) and dropped by for an afternoon last weekend. Very nice to catch up with a good friend and get the latest gossip.
On Sunday Jo wasn't feeling well so I took the car up to Warkworth for cousin Tama's 5th birthday party. Lots of fun playing pass-the-parcel and pin the tail on the donkey with a bunch of youngsters, not to mention the lollies. I like lollies. Plus a fun drive there flogging the motorway overtaking lanes with an M3 up my tail. Fun.
We've parted with nearly everything we're selling. One of my work friends took the lawn mower last week after visiting for a coffee with his wife and baby. No more fridge for the next week, luckily one of Jo's colleagues has loaned us a plug-in chilly-bin (aka: esky to the Aussies) to keep the essentials cool. The washing machine is the last one standing, and that goes tomorrow (well, assuming the buyer turns up!). Noone wanted the car, so that will be coming home with us. We had ads on Trademe, Autotrader (website and magazine), and I took it to a car fair one week, but the one and only offer was about $10000 less than a reasonable one.
Meanwhile the garden continues to grow madly. The tomatoes are out of control. It's a fight between me and the caterpillars to see who eats them first. There must be at least 40 at different stages of growth, but none have ripened yet so the new owners of the house will have a feast.
Only 3 more days of work before I'm unemployed! I have one interview lined up for when we get home, and a few more people to chase, so hopefully something good can turn up soon! Paying the mortgage without an income is hard!
We're flying in to Melbourne on the 28th (evening), and will be back home in Burwood on the 29th (waiting for our stuff in storage and a new fridge to be delivered). I'm sure a welcome home function will be in order at some point, but I'll leave it to Jo to organise that one.
See you all soon!
well, probably not the last post ever, but likely the last one from NZ. Only 5 more days til we fly out! It's a soggy weekend, the first time in a while. Perfect for sitting at home on the couch, watching Batman (the original campy 60's TV show) and catching up on some blogging.
Rodney was over in Auckland for work (ah the jetsetting lifestyle of a photography stylist!) and dropped by for an afternoon last weekend. Very nice to catch up with a good friend and get the latest gossip.
On Sunday Jo wasn't feeling well so I took the car up to Warkworth for cousin Tama's 5th birthday party. Lots of fun playing pass-the-parcel and pin the tail on the donkey with a bunch of youngsters, not to mention the lollies. I like lollies. Plus a fun drive there flogging the motorway overtaking lanes with an M3 up my tail. Fun.
We've parted with nearly everything we're selling. One of my work friends took the lawn mower last week after visiting for a coffee with his wife and baby. No more fridge for the next week, luckily one of Jo's colleagues has loaned us a plug-in chilly-bin (aka: esky to the Aussies) to keep the essentials cool. The washing machine is the last one standing, and that goes tomorrow (well, assuming the buyer turns up!). Noone wanted the car, so that will be coming home with us. We had ads on Trademe, Autotrader (website and magazine), and I took it to a car fair one week, but the one and only offer was about $10000 less than a reasonable one.
Meanwhile the garden continues to grow madly. The tomatoes are out of control. It's a fight between me and the caterpillars to see who eats them first. There must be at least 40 at different stages of growth, but none have ripened yet so the new owners of the house will have a feast.
Only 3 more days of work before I'm unemployed! I have one interview lined up for when we get home, and a few more people to chase, so hopefully something good can turn up soon! Paying the mortgage without an income is hard!
We're flying in to Melbourne on the 28th (evening), and will be back home in Burwood on the 29th (waiting for our stuff in storage and a new fridge to be delivered). I'm sure a welcome home function will be in order at some point, but I'll leave it to Jo to organise that one.
See you all soon!
Sunday, 27 January 2008
vegie garden
Hi readers! Happy Australia Day to all. We're having a holiday on Monday too, it's coincidentally Auckland anniversary day. It's been fairly warm here lately, though I say that in local terms - 25-27 is about as hot as it gets. Nothing like Melbourne lately.
We finally have a decent microphone for the laptop, so we can talk clearly on Skype if you want to have a chat/video call. Search for "drjoking".
The sale process for the house here has begun, so we have had to tidy it up on the weekends and vacate for 45 minutes while people wander through. There seems to be a bit of interest so hopefully we won't have to do this for too many more weekends.
We spruced up the herb pots late last year (about November or so), planted some basil and tomato seeds. And after that I remembered to actually water it every day. So things went nuts growing quickly.
After the pots became overgrown, I replanted half of their contents to the empty patch in the garden of the house, and they took off again. Like I said, most of these were only seeds about two months ago:
And we have some little green tomatoes growing rapidly too! The biggest of these is maybe 4cm diameter now.
Hopefully they will be fully grown (and not eaten by bugs or birds) before we leave!
We finally have a decent microphone for the laptop, so we can talk clearly on Skype if you want to have a chat/video call. Search for "drjoking".
The sale process for the house here has begun, so we have had to tidy it up on the weekends and vacate for 45 minutes while people wander through. There seems to be a bit of interest so hopefully we won't have to do this for too many more weekends.
We spruced up the herb pots late last year (about November or so), planted some basil and tomato seeds. And after that I remembered to actually water it every day. So things went nuts growing quickly.
After the pots became overgrown, I replanted half of their contents to the empty patch in the garden of the house, and they took off again. Like I said, most of these were only seeds about two months ago:
And we have some little green tomatoes growing rapidly too! The biggest of these is maybe 4cm diameter now.
Hopefully they will be fully grown (and not eaten by bugs or birds) before we leave!
Monday, 7 January 2008
Movies
Something I was going to write in the last post, but forgot. (That doesn't sound anything like me does it?)
"I miss you more than Michael Bay missed the point
when he made 'Pearl Harbor'."
So was sung in a lament in 'Team America: World Police'. Sadly I now know what that means.
This 4-hour turd was squeezed out over two consecutive nights on TV here recently. The upside of this is that I completely missed the first night's screening, which meant when the bombing started in the first minutes of the second night's screening, I knew I had missed out on two hours of... well, probably nothing important. Apparently there was something about a love triangle in there that has nothing to do with the Japs, planes, ships and bombs which (call me simple) would appear to be the most important ingredients to this story.
"I need you like Ben Affleck needs acting school
he was terrible in that film."
Again, an accurate summary. The 'acting' consisted largely of Affleck grimacing and shouting. With Bay directing, I think actors are probably superfluous anyway (they get in the way of all the explosions - ref: Bad Boys, Armageddon, Transformers...).
The summary concluded that a high risk invasion revenge bombing raid on Tokyo was the "turning point" in the war, and the start of the ascendency of the US over Japan. Hmm.
Last night's movie made up for it - Pink Floyd The Wall. Though I still have no idea what it's about (should probably have paid a bit more attention).
I think I need to see this again in a theatre with a good sound system. Hmm, wonder when it's on at The Astor?
"I miss you more than Michael Bay missed the point
when he made 'Pearl Harbor'."
So was sung in a lament in 'Team America: World Police'. Sadly I now know what that means.
This 4-hour turd was squeezed out over two consecutive nights on TV here recently. The upside of this is that I completely missed the first night's screening, which meant when the bombing started in the first minutes of the second night's screening, I knew I had missed out on two hours of... well, probably nothing important. Apparently there was something about a love triangle in there that has nothing to do with the Japs, planes, ships and bombs which (call me simple) would appear to be the most important ingredients to this story.
"I need you like Ben Affleck needs acting school
he was terrible in that film."
Again, an accurate summary. The 'acting' consisted largely of Affleck grimacing and shouting. With Bay directing, I think actors are probably superfluous anyway (they get in the way of all the explosions - ref: Bad Boys, Armageddon, Transformers...).
The summary concluded that a high risk invasion revenge bombing raid on Tokyo was the "turning point" in the war, and the start of the ascendency of the US over Japan. Hmm.
Last night's movie made up for it - Pink Floyd The Wall. Though I still have no idea what it's about (should probably have paid a bit more attention).
I think I need to see this again in a theatre with a good sound system. Hmm, wonder when it's on at The Astor?
Saturday, 5 January 2008
Bay of Islands
The holidays are nearly over! Almost time to go back for work... Jo and I spent about 10 days up north staying in the town of Paihia.
Accommodation was a supposedly luxury hideaway self-contained apartment, but its proximity to the adventure park (next door) and the main road to the nearest large town, right where the 100 zone started, belied the serenity...
The weather was up and down - certainly never as hot as Melbourne has been thankfully, but a few wet days thrown in as well. We usually spent those days relaxing inside and reading.
On the drive up (about 3 hours) we stopped at the Winiana household, to say hi to the cousins (whilst avoiding the sick ones), and drop off some Christmas gifts.
Christmas day was one of the quietest on memory, for the first time I can remember we didn't have any family around. Which left more champagne for just the two of us.
On Boxing Day we went over to Waitangi, to the grounds where the treaty between Maori and pakeha was signed. Not a very exciting place, but nice enough.
We took some short trips on subsequent days, to Kerikeri for some shopping, and to Russell to check out the scenery. Russell is visible across the bay from Paihia (accessed by car ferry), but a world away in terms of vibe. While both are predominantly waterfront holiday towns, Paihia is filled with cheap motels, boat-trip package tours and backpackers, and Russell manages to maintain some sense of small-town style, particularly along the waterfront.
The 30th was of course our first wedding anniversary. We didn't do much for the day itself, but for dinner we took the car ferry across to a winery (Omata). Spectacular views and excellent food (and wine of course).
New Years Eve, and Jo's 31st birthday. We got up early (relatively speaking!) and rented a little motor boat to go explore the islands themselves. After a while of being screwed around by a dive shop (we'd arranged to rent some snorkelling gear, but they were late to open, then didn't have the gear there anyway), we finally launched and made our way out to the nearest island (Roberton). The views are impressive from the peak, and there's a shallow lagoon to swim in, where I managed to teach Jo to breathe through a snorkel long enough to see some fish. But the water was pretty cold, so we didn't last long.
We'd arrived at low tide, which meant that by the time we left, the boat was only accessible by swimming out to it. We should have left it stuck on the beach where it ended when we'd first arrived... gotta work on those boat piloting skills.
After an adventurous day we didn't even make it to midnight.
The trip back to Auckland was very slow - with a couple of sections of gridlock on the country's main highway, over 100km from Auckland. We first stopped at the Kawiti caves to see some glow worms hiding in the darkness, then at the Andersons (Jenny and Stuart) to catch up with more cousins.
Life otherwise has been fairly busy: lots of preparations for returning to Melbourne, trying to sell things (anyone want a car?), arranging shipping, kicking our tenants out, applying for jobs, and so on. It will be good to get home and back to a steady routine!
Love to all!
Accommodation was a supposedly luxury hideaway self-contained apartment, but its proximity to the adventure park (next door) and the main road to the nearest large town, right where the 100 zone started, belied the serenity...
The weather was up and down - certainly never as hot as Melbourne has been thankfully, but a few wet days thrown in as well. We usually spent those days relaxing inside and reading.
On the drive up (about 3 hours) we stopped at the Winiana household, to say hi to the cousins (whilst avoiding the sick ones), and drop off some Christmas gifts.
Christmas day was one of the quietest on memory, for the first time I can remember we didn't have any family around. Which left more champagne for just the two of us.
On Boxing Day we went over to Waitangi, to the grounds where the treaty between Maori and pakeha was signed. Not a very exciting place, but nice enough.
We took some short trips on subsequent days, to Kerikeri for some shopping, and to Russell to check out the scenery. Russell is visible across the bay from Paihia (accessed by car ferry), but a world away in terms of vibe. While both are predominantly waterfront holiday towns, Paihia is filled with cheap motels, boat-trip package tours and backpackers, and Russell manages to maintain some sense of small-town style, particularly along the waterfront.
The 30th was of course our first wedding anniversary. We didn't do much for the day itself, but for dinner we took the car ferry across to a winery (Omata). Spectacular views and excellent food (and wine of course).
New Years Eve, and Jo's 31st birthday. We got up early (relatively speaking!) and rented a little motor boat to go explore the islands themselves. After a while of being screwed around by a dive shop (we'd arranged to rent some snorkelling gear, but they were late to open, then didn't have the gear there anyway), we finally launched and made our way out to the nearest island (Roberton). The views are impressive from the peak, and there's a shallow lagoon to swim in, where I managed to teach Jo to breathe through a snorkel long enough to see some fish. But the water was pretty cold, so we didn't last long.
We'd arrived at low tide, which meant that by the time we left, the boat was only accessible by swimming out to it. We should have left it stuck on the beach where it ended when we'd first arrived... gotta work on those boat piloting skills.
After an adventurous day we didn't even make it to midnight.
The trip back to Auckland was very slow - with a couple of sections of gridlock on the country's main highway, over 100km from Auckland. We first stopped at the Kawiti caves to see some glow worms hiding in the darkness, then at the Andersons (Jenny and Stuart) to catch up with more cousins.
Life otherwise has been fairly busy: lots of preparations for returning to Melbourne, trying to sell things (anyone want a car?), arranging shipping, kicking our tenants out, applying for jobs, and so on. It will be good to get home and back to a steady routine!
Love to all!
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