KT Tunstall

Just a quick one.....

Last night we had the privilege of being able to walk 50 yards around the corner to catch an acoustic KT Tunstall gig - she is on her honeymoon at the moment, KT and her new hubbie have obviously decided that life away from music is a bit too boring so they played a short notice gig at Bodega in Welly.

And I must say it was blinkin great - I have obviously heard her most popular tunes before but had never seen her live but she was really impressive. Her put downs of some drunk Scots (not us) in the audience were also rather impressive.

I had my Scotland top on so quite a number of people came up to speak to us which was funny but KT Tunstall was too elusive and we couldn't be bothered hanging about to get a photo - who knows we will probably bump into her at a touristy place anyway somewhere in NZ.

Anyway, over and out - many thanks for all the congratulatory texts, comments and emails regarding the job!

Merry Christmas,

Steph

Wahey!

Thanks Katie that's v. nice of you to say ;o)

It is all pending approval from immigration however - although that's pretty much in the bag apparently.

Two days ago we were planning on eating dog food (or just the dog) for Christmas dinner, sleeping rough for three months and coming home in March due to lack of money but this job has appeared out of nowhere and it will give us extra credit to continue our adventure and see out the rest of the year - which we always planned to do - teach and live abroad for a year and come back next Christmas.

It is such a strange feeling because we just had no idea how easy or difficult this was going to be but we are pleased to have it sorted out before Christmas. The circumstances are a wee bit strange to be honest so let me fill you in -

1st of Dec - Arrive in Christchurch, spend day after day in the library sending off applications for jobs and requesting application packs for other ones. feeling like we are getting nowhere but realise only three days have passed and we shouldn't panic

7th of Dec - or should we? Schools close soon, do they recruit during summer, why haven;t I had any interviews, what's wrong with this country!!!

14th of December - get back in touch with an agency contact from a while ago who invites me to go and meet her.

18th of December - Meet Vicky from Education Personnel in Wellington and after chatting to me for a bit brings in a colleague who has a job description that has just landed on her desk for a school they know well. Mel then thinks phoning the Principal is a good idea. After speaking to him Vicky suggests she take me to the school. The principal is really nice and suggests I come back the next day for a formal interview.

19th of December - Have my interview and I am offered the job - which I accept pending work permit approval. Nuts!

So here's the deal - the job is Head of PE and Sport in Private Primary school. They were looking for someone to stay a while and I have agreed that I would consider longer than one year depnding on how things work out. Katie and I are open minded although we still have a firm eye on coming home - in case anyone is worried about us being away forever- we have a wedding to plan don't forget!!

That;s about it - I feel a bit torn about the job thing - it's great, a fantastic opportunity but at the same time the reality of spending so long away from home is starting to kick in. A bit scary but nothing we weren't hoping for all along so we are looking forward to making the most of it.

The good news is also that anyone who was planning to come out to see us can start looking into making their plans - I wouldn't buy the ticket yet until it is all 100% confirmed but see how much you can get a ticket to Wellington for - it's not cheap but you should be greatly impressed when you get here.

Exciting stuff - never a dull moment just now which is great although I think there may be a few dull moments tonight however when I persuade Katie to go along and watch Wellington Pheonix in their A-League soccer tie tonight against Godknowswho F.C.. Entertaining it may well not be - hopefully they will sell beer though which might make it bearable. ;o)

Another thing we didn't mention is that the other day we visited some more friends of a friend - Shona Schumacher and her fiancee Steve. Shona is a friend of Ewen C's sister and he dubbed her Schumacher after her amazing efforts in getting from Glasgow's South side to Milngavie in about 8 minutes. Shona is from Scotland and they are planning their wedding for July (?) in NZ, which is great - they are a really cool couple with an amazing house with a fantastic view. Hopefully we will catch up with them again soon - for some live music or something perhaps (more about that later)

All the best,

SB

Woo Hoo!

Well, you are now communicating with Mr S Brown, Head of PE and Sport for St Marks School, Wellington!!!! and Ms K Oman - title T.B.C. but seriously thinking about the kind of work she wants to do!!

We've been here for a grand total of 7 days and the work Steph has put in over the last few weeks and months has paid off. I am so proud of him as this is one of the things we/he set out to achieve this year and he has well and truly scored! It's all a bit scary, it now means that the free and easy travelling lifestyle will change but we are ready for the challenge and have vowed that work will remain secondary and that our whole aim of sampling a different lifestyle, exploring New Zealand and generally improving our health will be the number one priority. I'll let Steph fill you in on more of the detail of the job but lets just say - christmas is now back on!!!


We also visited our housesit/dogsit family last night. A lovely couple (both teachers, who by the way rated St Mark's very highly and have friends who work there) Their house is really beautiful and Jack the border collie is a lovely dog (perhaps with a few small issues?!) - We are looking forward to the dog walking and stability of lovely surroundings, but if you don't hear from us after the 2nd of Jan please call in the emergency services as he may have eaten one or both of us!!

I'm going to go now as I suspect another blog entry from my clever fiance will follow shortly......

Love K x

Mobile-tastic

Hello again, Kia ora and all that - we just wanted to let you know that we have hooked ourselves up with a mobile phone deal that has given us new sims and hopefully a new lease of life (released from all the frustration of payphones and multiple phone cards on the go)

Basically we can now call home cheaper than before and from wherever we like (underground probably won't work)which is great news. It is also a lot cheaper for us to text back home than it was so basically feel free to give us a call or send us a text but beware that you should probably check with your service provider (mobile or landline) as to how much it will cost you. It won't cost us a penny to hear from you but it may cost you a few bob.

We are on Vodafone NZ pay as you go (supapay deal) if you want to check out how much it would be - the important bit I suppose is giving you our new numbers so here goes:

Steph: 02 111 07449
Katie: 02 111 06875

I believe the following to be accurate but you may want to double check, I also think that you have to drop the 0 from 02 so to call Stephen it would be:

00 + 64 + 2 111 07449

to call Katie it would be:

00 + 64 + 2 111 06875

If this doesn't work then let us know, but hopefully this will help us a lot - especially calling home and around NZ.

Over and out

S&K

What the Dickens is the time?

I have a mystery for everyone to solve - not quite as crazy as the cockroach photo competition but I am trying to confirm the time - sounds odd doesn't it but it is driving me crazy.

As far as I can see the time here in NZ is 10.33am which is fine (although the computer I am at says 11.33am) - so here lies the problem. The time for NZ on my blog page says 11.33am so I think this is now wrong. The time for the Uk on my blog page says 22.37 so that's 13 hours behind right? (following me so far?)

Ok, so if the time here really is 10.33 as I suspect and if, as every website in the world tells me - and the blog, the time in the UK is currently 13 hours behind then why oh why does the BBC website tell me that the time is currently 11.33 AM????? I have just been to a website that tells world time and it tells me the time in the UK should be 9.33pm and the time in NZ should be 10.33am I don't get it - i may well be being thick but the BBC clock has really thrown me.

Please help.

Another one

Hi folks, yes another blog entry can you believe it? Don't get used to so many entries so close together, I don't think it will be like this for long. The reason for yet another one today is that the hostel has a great computer here for a reasonable price, it also conveniently lets you backup your photos on DVD for nothing! (I supply the DVD of course) But most places charge you for the pleasure so I am quite happy.

Anyway while I wait for that to happen - I have a few discs to burn I thought I would back track a little and give you a short list of the places we have seen in Australia and New Zealand so far and if I can I will give a comment on how it went.

1) First port of call Sydney - Sydney was great and it has the aesthetic that Edinburgh has, the big iconic tourist attraction kind of thing, like Paris too. We both love it although it would be difficult to imagine living in the city.

2) North Beaches of Sydney - Manly etc... These were great too although some were a bit quiet like Collaroy. Palm Beach was where they filmed Home and Away which was fun to see and Manly was the best place where we also met Mairi.

3) From here we went back to Sydney city for two nights and then flew out to Hervey Bay - There wasn't much in Hervey Bay although it was stunning and had nice beaches. We were really there just to do Fraser Island.

4) Fraser Island - biggest Sand bank in the world (and no sand castles in sight!) it's the place that made the "a dingo stole my baby" phrase famous. We enjoyed it but the constant driving in a 4x4 in sand made for quite a bumpy journey. Highlight was getting up for sunrise and seeing a dingo.

5) Next up was Sydney again but just the airport where we stayed all day then flew to Perth. First impression of Perth was that it was stil under construction but we grew to really like it. Tons of Irish and Scottish though so it didn't feel really that Australian. It was in Perth we visited Nicholas and Katherine Peach before picking up our camper van and heading South towards Margaret River.

6) Margaret River - this is big wine country - not big as in "big wine bottles" but big as is "the place to be". We spent time drinking free wine and eating cheese. It was cool and was out first introduction to camper van life. This is the only part of Western Australia that is green and lush, we really liked it - maybe that was just the effect of the wine though. We went as far as Augusta in the furthest south west corner of OZ. We left after a couple of days however as we had to start the journey north and had to get back to Perth for the Red Bull Air Race.

7) After the Air Race we sprinted up the coast to Cervantes and we stayed the night before visiting the Pinnacles.

8) We then went to Geraldton which was unexciting but the road trips were becoming very exciting with Kangaroos all over the place and all sorts of wildlife etc.

9) After Geraldton we headed off to Denholm and Monkey Mia. This was where we watched the dolphins getting fed and old people dropping their digital cameras into the sea.

10) Next up we headed up the coast to Coral Bay which was stunning - and the snorkelling adventures began. Scared at first we grew more confident and I got snorkellers sunburn - where just your back gets fried - nice.

11) Exmouth was the next stop where the heat really started to kick in - apparently it gets over 40 degrees regularly in summer. Exmouth is also the place where the Qantas jet recently had to make an emergency landing - they are now blaming this on the massive communications pylons that the Americans have there to listen in on Submarines (aye, and perhaps the Chinese??????). Then it was off to Cape Range National Park where we explored Ningaloo reef - snorkelling about like a couple of loonies. We camped rough with no facilities for three nights too so we looked like a couple of loonies as well.

11) After leaving Exmouth we headed back to Coral Bay for a couple of nights before making the long journey back towards Perth where we dumped the camper van, met Lewis Peach (the baby) and then headed on a plane to the home of Neighbours - Melbourne.

12)Melbourne - stayed with Vicky and Adrienne and went to Neighbours night, Stefan Dennis was there and it was all very funny. We visited Ramsay street and saw the sights. We borrowed Harold the camper and drove Great Ocean Road down to the 12 Apostles where we about turned and headed back to Mellie.

13) Leaving Mellie behind we flew to Christchurch where we began the hunt for jobs. We didn't get to do too much in C'church but I am sure we will be back at some point.

14) Picked up the hire car and Drove to Nelson from where I am now writing this list - which is probably as much for our benefit as it is yours.

15)......We are headed to Wellington on Saturday - we will try and keep adding to this as we go but probably not at the same pace of contribution as is happening right now.

Well, this has definitely helped me train my memory a wee bit and I hope it's been worthwhile writing it - I would be interested if anyone could total up all the kilometres we have travelled - I think that would be interesting. Glasgow-bangkok-chiang mai-bangkok-sydney and so forth - if anyone is up for it then please do send the results! Perhaps there will be a prize ;o)

There will also be a prize (maybe) if anyone can identify what we photographed in the photo at the top of the page - we saw it in Melbourne somewhere and had to photo it.

Happy Christmas shopping!!

SB

Lovely Nelson

Two posts in one day - a bit excessive but you've guessed it we've found an internet cafe at a reasonable price!

What a whirlwind 48 hours we've had, we returned from a long weekend in Akaroa where we went biking and walking (and ate the best fish and chips by the sea) 8 Orca Whales were sighted off the harbour (not by us unfortunately!) We met some new friends Tim and Nikki (and family) through my friend and colleague Charlie. Tim is Charlie's nephew who has now emigrated to NZ. They looked after us and gave us the lowdown on living and working in Christchurch. It was really nice to be spoilt and in a real house for the first time in ages! We then picked up the car that we didn't actually believe we were getting until the morning we were leaving because it seemed like such a good deal i.e. free! In between that Steph visited 2 schools in Christchurch to 'factfind' and we booked various modes of transport and accomodation for Nelson and Wellington!

The drive to Nelson was jaw dropping, my neck is still sore from looking left to right to left again (Steph was driving!) The countryside is so 'big' and green and yes like Scotland but all so new to us. We had lunch with the seals at kaikoura and then drove through Blenheim to get to beautiful Nelson. In the last 24 hours we have fallen in love with the place - we definitely think we could live here for a few months - maybe its just cos the sun is shining! It is so nice though that it will be difficult to get jobs so we're not holding out too much hope.

We're visiting schools tomorrow and SportTasman and the Cooncil for me, then we're heading to Wellie on Saturday.

Will write more soon - hope everyone is enjoying the run up to Christmas - don't work too hard!

Love K & S

The car we are relocating!

The car we are relocating!
Originally uploaded by katieandsteph88

One other thing whilst I have 5 minutes - just thought I would show you the Toyota Camry we are relocating from Christchurch to Nelson. All we pay is the petrol but it is a bit of a dice roll - if anything happens to it the excess amount isn't pretty. So safe driving is the order of the day - nothing new there then is there - Katie? ;o)

We are now in Nelson and it is really beautiful - and the drive here from Christchurch was as beautiful as we have seen beating perhaps Highway 1 in California and Great Ocean Road out of Melbourne.

Oh, and this is for my Mum - we passed the Oyster Bay Winery - didn't get a chance to stop in but we will next time we pass and get a photo (and of course a couple of bottles)

Ok, we are off out to see if there are any job opportunities arising.

Steph

Ryan Lumsden in Melbourne!!!!

Ryan Lumsden in Melbourne!!!!
Originally uploaded by katieandsteph88

We are only just getting round to this but would you believe we have uncovered another Jordanhiller out in this part of the world.

Well, to tell the truth he uncovered us by sneaking up on us and surprising us - He won't mind us saying that he looks a bit different from at Uni so we had to do a double take before going "oh my God, Ryan Lumsden!"

We should say two things here that are spooky 1) Ryan was on the same course as Mairi McLaren and 2) well isn't the first one spooky enough?

Anyway, got to go for now - if we find any more Scottish Sports scientists lurking about we will let you know.

Kia ora

Kia Ora everyone!

We are still here and although the blog stuff isn't happening as quickly and as recently as before we are still thinking of people back home lots so i have jumped onto the first computer I have seen in days to write a quick update for you all.

We've basically just spent a week in Christchurch sussing out jobs and trying to keep track of job applications, internet spending, places to go next, how many different email contacts we have for various different people (thanks to all those who supplied us with contacts - we will be round them all in no time!)

So, you are probably wondering where we are right now - well we are in a small (real small) town of Barry's Bay which is between Akaroa and Christchurch. We spent a night in Akaroa and then came here for two nights. There isn't a whole lot happening in Barry's Bay but the accomodation is really nice. It's called half moon cottage if you wanted to look it up. Nice old style house with big double rooms - bit of a change from all those bunk beds.

Talking of bunk beds though we are heading back off to Christchurch in about half an hour to go back to the YHA for a night. We are off out for dinner though, one of Katie's contacts back home has a nephew here who has very kindly invited us along for a barbecue tonight although the weather has went all Scottish on us all of a sudden so perhaps it will be more of an indoor meal.

Akaroa was nice by the way and one of the big things to do there is to swim with dolphins - we didn't cos it was expensive but we are planning to do it at some point - it was on the news last night though that one of the trips yesterday bumped into some killer whales which was apparently something that never happens so everyone is all excited about it. We are gutted we weren't there for it although if we had paid a fortune for the trip and then the very next day other tourists had seen killer whales for the same price, needl;ess to say we may have been even more gutted. ;o)

We've been chilling out here, saving money and taking bike rides up and down to various wee villages and things which has been a nice change of pace although the pace here (South island) it has to be said so far is pretty much the same all over - relaxed! (Get me to a city quickly!!)

Anyway, probably should go for now the internet here basically just switches off the monitor so if you haven't finished the next person will come along and finish it for you ;o) probably would be more entertaining that way if the germans finished off our blog entry for us.

Last thing - the plan is to go back to Christchurch - I am visiting some schools tomorrow - we are then picking up a car for free from hertz as we agreed to take it to Picton for them. (we pay the fuel and have three days to drive it the 500km - which is cool.) We are then heading to Nelson for three nights before getting the ferry to Wellington where we will be doing a whole manner of job hunting things and we will pretty much be there until we start our housesitting gig on the 23rd.

All the best everyone! Merry Christmas (it doesn't feel like Christmas here by the way - you can probably imagine)

SB and KO