The Weather

We tried to film today but the weather was against us. 80km gusts of wind yet in places it was calm and beautiful. New Zealand has this weird set of micro climates, it is very hard to predict or make decisions. SO basically we are a bit strapped for time now.

Yesterday we went to Taupo, the drive from Rotorua is lovely and Taupo has some really great rapids and rivers. When I get more time I'll go into more detail. I'm in love with forests at the moment. The smell the sound they are very peaceful places and have a great calming effect on the soul. More about the ones I've visited later this week.

Lake Tarawera

We had a luna eclipse in New Zealand today, as a child I remember the fascination at these great events of nature and the wonderful run of imaginations they prompted. Different alien worlds and creatures, momentous historical events or even just the marvel of nature and the universe. Filming at Lake Tarawera on the day of a luna eclipse takes on a new meaning because the lake one the the magical and mystical places of true beauty on earth. Dominated my Mount Tarawera the lake is calm and feels very remote. It is a quiet and peaceful place and the lush green bush is a fantastic mis of the kind of trees I'm used to from the UK and huge palms and subtropical fauna. If you are in central New Zealand you must visit. Unusually there is a cafe at the Tarawera jetty and I'm told the fish and chips is fantastic. A drive along Stanley Road is a must turn down any of the roads to the water for the most spectacular views. If I had a week to live in one of the holiday lets I would jump at the chance.

Rotorua

SO here I am in Rotorua, we are filming a series for Greek TV. It's a show that touchdown made for TV3 sometime ago and now we are doing it again. It was quite cold and very wet here and coming from huge bush fires and 40 degrees heat has been a shock I think.

For me leaving the kids is the hardest thing. They change almost hourly. Lucy is saying daddy quite clearly and said STAR yesterday, the twins have stars hanging above their cots. I miss Millie and our little chats and I really miss becca, she keeps me sane.

I flew up this morning it is a half hour flight but be warned, Auckland domestic terminal is a place to avoid at 6:30 am on a Monday, bedlam. The flight only takes half an hour and it's a turbo prop, quite bumpy but like real flying!!

I'm using a Vodem to connect to the intenet. $99 to buy and $49 per month to use for 1 gig of down load. It is very cool and I'm finding it works really well. Many posts suggest they dont work well, if my posting stops they could be right!

Hair

Today I had my Hair Cut at Servilles in Takapuna, it has been hard to find a place I like but I keep coming back to them and Becca sat next to the Prime minister having her hair done there once. this would normally prompt the comment is that and recommendation!
Just before that we went shopping for the Girls birthday presents. I cannot believe that they will turn 1 year old at the end of next month. They are at the cutest stage and have really discovered each other laughing and playing together, it is the greatest joy of my life watching them. What with that and Millie who now just puts her hand on my leg when we sit in cafes having "fluffys." Having led a solitary life for most of my adulthood, to find myself as the man in the life of 4 such lovely ladies is the greatest feeling.

As is the norm the world over a lovely week of weather turns cloudy on Saturday but I have more than enough sunshine in my life from my girls. All this and Millie has taken a firm interest in my robot collection, this morning we looked at clips together of Lost in Space and Forbidden Planet on you tube. She is a chip off the old block!

Queenstown

I hope to keep posting while I am away but the next few weeks look quite hectic. Queenstown is a lovely place it has changed so much since I was there 9 years ago. We were recording "Don't Try This at Home" a show for ITV with my wonderful chum Davina.



We had a great time and Paul Hendy came over too. It is the extreme spots capital of the world and there you can jump, swing, climb up down or over just about anything you can think of. Over the next weeks I'll write a bit more about the sorts of things we are doing.

Queenstown has changed. Lots more people, and cars but the view to the Remarkables is just breathtaking.



Unfortunately the web site is no real reflection of the character of the place. I'm going to write more e-mail about the places in New Zealand that I really like. I'm not entirely sure what people really want the hear about. Everyday life, my opinion. My experiences?

Drains

Drains like the weather in the UK are a great talking point.
So with my English hat on. It is a fantastic day, lovely sun and temperature. All is well.

With my Expat living in NZ hat, my drains were not working and by that I'm talking about the land drainage on my section, (Kiwi for plot). SO we had quotes for the work, the first was for $3,500, the second for $1,500 and the third for &750. Normally I'd take the middle but for a job I could do my self but for the time, I went for the $750. The company were certified with the council. Well I've just been out side to check and all is well. Land drainage is important here you probably wont be using and lawned area of you section during winter, it'll be a mud bath. But do get it drained so you can use it in the summer and so your home doesn't slip down the hill over the winter!
The photo is of the Viaduct Harbor, a great place in the CBD for lunch.

DNA

I don't normally write posts like this but this is my personal DNA! mouse over the colours to discover what I'm really like. And no I wouldn't have posted it if I didn't think it was ok!
Take the test your self it is fun.

The News -Emigration slowing

The net immigration to NZ is falling according to todays new paper. Because of skills shortage if you are thinking of coming keep and eye out on the NZ immigration site as the points system usually gets more relaxed.

It is such a concern to read the News coming out of the UK. I wonder if we get a true reflection of the feeling in the country. I think that things are so misrepresented in the mass media.
I am having to work even harder than usual at the moment which is a little inconvenient but I may have a trip overseas very soon, to Moscow a city that I really love.

I'm not sure if my change of domain name was the best idea. My page rank has gone down to zero where once it was 4. None of the link to my site register anymore, the old blogspot domain as do the links they just don't count for anything. Worst of All I still don't appear in any searches, I wonder if google sees my page as being a duplicate and thinks I'm double dipping.

None of which tells you about my day. We have some Greek TV people here at the moment. I was struck by how hard they find Auckland as tourists. They cant find decent restaurants or much night life. There is a lot but it happens on Friday and Saturday in summer. I also forget that Auckland shuts early during the week. People are in bed by 9:30 so it is hard for a European visitor from Greece used to eating much later. Auckland has much in common with Los Angeles, places are well hidden!

Jessica's eyes are getting better slowly. She has been very brave throughout. Thank you all for your good wishes.Sorry a bit of a Random post I'm tired and its late.

Visits

The visit of a close friend or relative from home is a roller coaster of emotions. Becca's Mum is coming out soon followed by my mum. We are both in our 40's so our parents are getting on too. The thing about a visit is that it's followed with a departure. Behind the joy of the arrival lounge the pain of the departure gate.

When you have young children or grand children and when people are older it seems very sad. Becca and I are denying our mums of closer contact with their Grandchildren. In my case I'm an only child, it must be very hard for my mum. Becca is very close to her mum and although she has a sister that lives close by in Saffron it doesn't stop the hurt.

Becca's father died just over a year ago and she couldn't return for the funeral and my mum is a widow twice over, my father died 12 hours before I was born and my step father also died while I was here.

The trouble with visits are that they are quantifiable, you can easily count and log them. If person can comes over twice a year for the next 5 years then we will see them just 10 times before... Goodness it sounds morbid but it is true.

On a positive note often in families we take each other forgranted, the rawness of the emotion when separated by such a distance often brings out a new refreshed emotional relationship. The decision to emigrate will effect many people, to make it a success confront your feelings and those of others early in your plans.

The tears I shed and the departure gate are the tears of a little boy saying good bye to his mum. I'm 48 and it is very hard.

Another Sunday

Today was a lovely day, the weather was just gorgeous and I spent some real quality time with Millie. Jessica however has viral conjunctivitis. It is miserable for her and there is no quick fix, it has to run its course. Her poor little eyes are half closed and water all the time. The doctor said she had seen many cases this year and they were the worst she had ever seen. Jessica is being quite stoic about it, she is a brave little thing. To see her flash her delightful smile through such discomfort breaks my heart.

I find that trips to the doctor in NZ are, on the whole, the best experience you could have when you really don't want to be there at all. Our Doctor in Mairangi bay is just great with the kids, she can remember all our names and always asks after anyone not in attendance. She has time for us and the service is probably the best I've had at a local surgery. If you come from London you will simply not believe it.

Today it has been my job to get Millie out of the house. We've done nothing great just chores and stuff. Even a trip to the supermarket is enjoyable. There is no crush, the wait at the checkout is only minimal, they always pack your bags and Millie just loves looking at all the food. In the book shop we just sat on the floor reading and sampling until we found the right book for this week, no one moved us on or said "this isn't a library" same story in the Toy Shop.

Millie is I remind you just 3 and a bit. Some time ago I told her that the man in the moon was called Neil, (after Neil Armstrong) on seeing a book with an astronaut on the front she exclaimed in a loud voice, "Daddy is that astronaut Neil Armstrong?" The look on the faces of the other customers in ear shot was priceless and yes I am a very proud father!!

New Domain

So it's worked I've taken advantage of Bloggers new ability to use a personal domain name rather than a sub domain of blogspot. so I'm now at the address of www.emigraningnz.com. The old link will still work forever!. I bought the name at godaddy. I use them for all my internet domains, never had any problems and they are very cheap. You can also email me at jg@emigraningnz.com and this e-mail account comes free with the godaddy domain.
I really did this because despite having a page rank of 4, which I'm given to understand is OK/good, searching for "emigrating to new zealand" in google never retrieved my page. I'm hoping to improve that situation with the change. If you do get time to punch the fav on technorati button I'd be greatfull as all the links to the site will not count with the new name.

If any one is interested in using their own domain name on blogger I'm happy to post a step by step account of what to do. The idiots guide to using an individual domain on blogger!
Technorati Profile

New domain name and sick children.

I'm sorry if you have tried to visit recently. I've got a new domain name www.emigratingnz.com. It's taking a while to set up the DNS changes!! Yes I have no idea what that means either! Added to this my family are all unwell. Last night all my girls had temperatures averaging 102. Lucy's was nearly 104. Jessica has awful conjunctivitis and is uncharacteristically miserable.

Isn't it awful when your children are ill, particularly babies, you can't explain that they will fell better eventually. And trying to put drops in her eyes is very distressing because she hates them so much. Lucy vomits on site of Pamol and poor mum is suffering tonsillitis and crys whenever Millie says, "Mummy are you alright"

Me I'm fine!!! Perhaps the above would explain my less than optimistic posts of late!! I'm sorry but it is time like this that you family really feel far away and the feelings that are kept under the surface a lot of the time come roaring to the fore!

New Zealand AA

I have all my insurance with New Zealand AA. For the uninitiated the AA are one of the premier autoclubs in the world. They provide roadside assistance during breakdowns and I cannot fault that service, they give priority to women and pregnant women. Becca has called them out on a couple of occasions and has nothing but praise for them. But you know what is coming, you can feel it in the sentence can't you? There is an however coming!
However, I think their insurance service is simply useless. It has taken them longer to process my insurance claim than if took to convict the person who stole my car in the first place. Today a supervisor tried to make me feel bad for complaining by telling me the problem was the recent floods because they had to help rehouse homeless families. I was at at pains to point out that if I had been told that at the time I would have been only too happy to wait. They did not, they didn't call be once, I always called them. I was told they would call back, they didn't not once. I was told that my car was going into the work shop on the 8th yet today I find that could not have been the case as the clearance was only given yesterday. I asked the lady at the AA if my premium was on hold while they had kept my car off the road and her answer was "No". I asked if I would receive and compensation for the time and money the inconvenience and was told no.
Both cars, our home and contents are with AA insurance, not for much longer. I will let you all know how I find the other major players in New Zealand.

Emigrating to New Zealand - second thoughts never far away!

Tomorrow I'm off to Queenstown for work so I'll report back about what I find there. We are once again going through a period of indecision. Do we stay or do we think about heading back. Emigrating to New Zealand or I guess anywhere, is fraught with these thoughts. I wonder if we are destined to feel unsettled for ever. I think age plays a huge factor in these feelings. We are too old! We'll always be English and I say that with a sense of pride. Then there's our children what an irony if they decide to head back too the UK when they are old enough leaving us here!

You never really understand the pros and cons and I believe even the most settled person has moments of missing home. I think humans are very adaptable and we forget the cons of everything, I'm assured if this wasn't the case there would be a lot more only children in the world, if our memories were not short I can't imagine going through childbirth a second time and I only watched!!

Its interesting to share these feeling, if the rest of my family and friends could come here it would be a different story.That's not to say the friends we have made here are not the same, they are all simply lovely. It is a dilemma. Emigrating to New Zealand is not always easy on the mind!

Madeleine McCann - 100 Days

We feel for the McCanns because we also have a 3 year old and younger twins. More than enough has been said and written about this awful case, I'm sure there are many less publicized missing children and I pray for them all.

I would have written this regardless of what I'm about to say, just to mark the occasion and some how express my support. Unfortunately the tone is going to be slightly different than I had intended because of one piece of totally unbelievable stupidity from the New Zealand Herald. I have to say the standard of this paper is lamentable at best, from the grammar to the actual journalism.
I've reproduced the photo of Madeleine's right eye because as we all know one of her most identifiable and unique features is the dark fleck in her iris. If she is indeed the victim of abduction and is at large somewhere in the world, I suppose this is the best case scenario at the moment, this feature could be crucial in an identification.
As I looked at the photo in todays Herald I was struck dumb by one remarkable act of stupidity. The photo had been "photoshoped", "touched up" to remove the fleck.
Words cannot express my anger at this act, for two reasons. The most obvious, it takes away the public awareness of a feature that could identify her and on an editorial note, this is a news paper not a beauty magazine. People should appear as they truly are, blemishes and all and for some silly picture editor to make a judgment that this fleck is so offensive it should be removed is a disgrace. It is what makes that lovely innocent face so individual, to remove it is desecration.

Rotorua Mk2

Well it was a great trip, we were scouting locations and partners for a TV show we are shooting for Greek TV. So I got to meet loads of people from the tourist industry and we visited all the most popular Rotorua tourist sites.

Offroad New Zealand Is a great place for big kids! You can Self Drive a 4WD around their course and it is the best fun. The luge will take you breath away. Run by professionals it is a great day out.





The Agrodome
This is a place I normally Drive past because I just don't get the name. However, I've been missing a gem. It is one of the best farm tours I've seen, the sheep sheering and sheep dog show is just great. They have a selection of small animals to pet. They also have a section with some great "experiences" for thrill seekers. Bungey, Free Fall in a wind tunnel, Jet Boats. Zorbing and it is realy well run.























Redwood Forest is 10 minutes out of the center of town(follow the link for more free stuff). It is a lovely place and the trees are amazing. Great walks and biking and a very peaceful place with enough room to find your own quiet spot for some thinking time.




Hells Gate is a very commercial geothermal reserve. there are about several in the area. I liked it though and this is the only one where you can touch the mud.

There is a lot to do in Rotorua, I've not even scratched the surface. One place due a special mention if the Caterpillar experience. This is the most extraordinary collection and without doubt the best presented I have ever seen. Caterpiller heavy machinery has played a very important part of literally shaping the landscape here. This is the largest private collection of Caterpillar dozers anywhere in the world. GO and see it I don't want to spoil the surprise of the place.

On another note Rotorua has had a deal of Bad publicity recently. A couple of very disturbing issues of child abuse and a very bad case from 20 years ago involving policemen taking advantage of their authority. I would like to say that I have never come across such a welcoming group of people. Yes they want to sell the place to me, the fact is they all did, with charm and great enthusiasm. I was very impressed and reccomend the place without reserve.

Rotorua

Tomorrow I'm of the the Central North Island the town of Rotorua. It is not so affectionately known as Roto Vegas to the Aucklanders. I know it well and I actually like the place not sure what it has n common with Vegas though. More to report on my return, I'm going on business and will be talking to most of the commercially run tourist experiences while I'm there.

Sylvia Park

When it Rains forever it Rains in your soul

Yes it has rained a lot recently. Sorry I know that the UK has really had it bad. And the daily rain fall here is an inconvenience but it can be rather trying after a whie particularly with stir crazy kids.



So we did one of the things we said we wouldn't do as much once we got to NZ, we went shopping, to the largest retail center in Auckland Sylvia Park.

Now it is very good, thats the first thing, but it isn't a "Bluewater"



Now I Don't mean that in a condescending British way it is just a fact that most in NZ would agree, the shopping here is not great, that why people go to Sydney for the weekend. Sylvia Park is a very pleasant surprise. Yes the food court is a disaster far too small during peak times. The road scheme is even more of a disaster. We arrived at 8:55 before it opened I wouldn't like to have been arriving with the crowd at 11 am when we were leaving.

The only reason I say it's no bluewater, because Marks and John Lewis are not going to appear like a sanctuary or oasis around the next corner!

A Few Things

The Cycle to work is becoming routine. I cant tell you how good it feels to breathe in the lovely fresh air on the way to work. Coming home its not so fresh, most Kiwis have wood burning stoves or solid fuel of some sort. All very rustic but it can get quite smoky. Its strange when so much of the uk has restrictions and smokeless zones.

Apparently bike riders live 10 years longer than non bike riders, I'm sure that an international statistic as the driving in NZ would suggest my life could be considerably shorter! The wearing of helmets is mandatory and interestingly bike riding declines in countries where this is the case. Popular thought is that is suggest biking is dangerous so people stop doing it!

It is also illegal to ride on the pavement, unless accompanying a 12 year old, although I do!

It actually isn't that bad cycling in the rain, it is so much warmer than the uk, the few degrees really makes a huge difference.

Any how the combination of Sure Slim and Cycling means I've lost 7kg's in 10 days.