Hello to a brave new world! We've arrived on South Island and it's as though we have arrived in a different world! Despite the fact that we had a few gorgeous sunny days before leaving Wellington, which meant that we did get to appreciate the city and its surrounds in its full glory, when we boarded our ferry to cross the Cook Strait, Wellington was covered in a dark grey low fog which meant that we lost sight of the city when only partway across the harbour. Sa...

Goodbye to North Island So it's goodbye to Wellington and goodbye to North Island for the time being. Our last week or so has been delightful, especially as we've had a few beautifully warm sunny days, blossom is now noticeable on the trees and the birds are singing. Yes we know that there will still be some bad weather to come, there is snow on the Tararua Ranges in Wellington and on a clear day you can see the snow glistening on the tips of the Marlborough Sou...

Woo Hoo! We've finished our 4-week stint as housekeepers, as despite all that previous stuff about being glad to finally find work, etc, etc, we're even happier to have finished! It's a demanding job physically, and we both faced difficulties, me with the management - I had a manager who didn't like explaining things, had a terrible attitude towards both customers and staff, somebody who thought it ok to leave me working alone over busy weekends, and who initiall...

Su & I have been in Wellington now for 3 weeks and it has been a bit of a rollercoaster of emotions for us. We started off very positively, absolutely certain that we would find work really quickly, be able to save loads due to our free accommodation and set about enjoying Wellington with all its cultural delights and excellent wildlife sanctuaries. But it didn't really work like that at first! Su applied to agencies to find healthcare assistant work, thinkin...

Wellington. We've actually been here two weeks now and again time seems to have flown. But before I start to fill you in on the last two weeks of our journey, we have two very important announcements & messages: firstly a big congratulations to Jon & Emma of Ash Ridge Vineyards who have just had their first child, a gorgeous, tiny baby boy called Jasper William; and secondly, congratulations also to Danie & Sam who have just had their first child, a b...