We decided to go back to Christchurch in order to have one final stab at getting a job for the future. After being signed onto many employment agencies and having no luck I decided to take things into my own hands and contacted all the engineers in Christchurch and try and sell myself to them. This paid off and since then I have been along for a couple of interviews where they liked what they saw and will be starting at the beginning of November as a Senior Technician helping Kirk Roberts set up their new Civil Engineering side of their business.

Katie's saga with the Nursing Council of New Zealand is still ongoing. She has been to two interviews and both have offered her work when she is registered. One will be working for the nursing bank at Christchurch hospital and the other is working for an agency. All we need now is her registration to be sorted and everything is tickerty-boo.

When we arrived back from our little road trip we booked into a hostel which allowed us to sleep in the van round the back and use all their facilities. It was here that we met a nice couple called Chris and Becky. They had been in NZ for two years working here there and everywhere and travelling round in their van. They had a few more weeks to go before heading off to Aus. We hit it off instantly with them and before we knew it we were involved in the local pub quiz team and were introduced to another couple called Tom and Rachel. Chris and Becky were heading up the coast to Kaikoura the following weekend for the Seafest. It wasn't too long before we all agreed to go and before we knew it Becky had contacted her friends in Kaikoura and said that we could stay in our van on their front lawn. Result!

Tom and Rachel would also be joining us with their new van so a big heavy weekend of drinking would be in order! The rest of our time spent in Christchurch before heading off to Kiakoura we spent doing the sort of things we would at home if we were off work. We went to the park on sunny days and mooched around the town. We did on one night head off to the AMI stadium to watch Canterbury beat Hawkes Bay in a match of rugby union. The Canterbury support (which the four of us were proud to be part off) well outnumbered the Hawkes bay lot as their team must have turned up with more players than supporters. It was a good night and on returning back to the hostel we huddled around a heater in the bar and swapped travelling stories with Chris and Becky until the early hours. Next stop Kiakoura….