You can take the girl out of Britain........

But unfortunately the black dog came too. Which is a b*gger. Don't get me wrong, I didn't expect to land here and everything be magically fixed, but every logical thought says - you're in a beautiful country - what have you got to be sad about? But unfortunately, as we know, that's not the way it works. I'm hoping that surfing will help me lose some of the weight I put on with my tablets, and that might help how I feel, but sometimes it just seems like an uphill struggle.

Anyway, you're all sat there saying "shut up whinging you silly cow, we're in the UK & it's raining", so I shall keep that side of things to myself.

Things I don't get about NZ:

• Biscuits - I have yet to see any that look/taste worth eating;
• Lack of central heating & insulation - on the news this morning was an item about insulation becoming mandatory in new houses - in 2007! - Yet they had broadband, credit/debit card systems and various other technological advances waaaaaay before we did. Bizzare.
• Beautiful beaches, sunny days - no people! Have seen about 10 people max each day on the beach since last weds - weird. I suppose that living here, it's not a novelty having nice whether, so they don't have to make the most of every ray of sunshine.
• Brand name stuff i.e heinz, but they also have stuff like Watties - which has all the same layout, log, colours etc, just the name is different.
• Confusing array of things British - but some essential things missing. British & American(current) music & tv progs are up to date, and there are English magazines/papers such as Womens weekly (!!!!), Now, The daily express etc - but no Heat magazine. That's just rude. If they're going to stock some British stuff the least they could do is stock my one allowance of trash reading. But apparently you can get it over here. They just don't stock in Gisborne. But I can order it in. which is sad, but I might just have to do it!
• Bed linen is ridiculously expensive. Everywhere. V strange.
• The lack of an argos-type store. Means having to go to about a gazillion different shops to compare prices.

I went in the sea today - unpacked my wetsuit, and went and bought a boogie board and had an hour or so of arsing around in the sea which was jolly good fun. I think if I'd been really brave I could have managed without my wetsuit. But I'm not, so I didn't.

Got to go to the other house (the one we were going to rent) to check if there's any mail - hoping that some of my CD's have arrived, and not got nicked by the owner! NZ post re-direction should have kicked in by now but you never know.

Oh, and if you come out here, you need some serious sun screen. And hats. Which is a bummer cause I hate hats - but they're a necessary evil.

Anyway, time's up, so I'll catch u later.

Zoe

Ow!

Owww, I hurt. Woke up yesterday morning and couldn't move my neck, which was slightly disconcerting. Most of you will know that especially since the second car accident, my back is not exactly the most well behaved part of my body, but I must admit that not being able to turn my head was a bit bl*ody scary!

So, a trip to the chiropractor ensued - luckily they could fit me in yesterday, so I am now well and truely battered this morning (it's tuesday morning here). Can turn my head a little bit now, so that's a bonus, and I have to go back for more abuse on Friday. Joy. Mind u, if it sorts my back out, then it'll be worth it. I wasn't planning on having to use NZ medical services quite so soon after arrival, but ho hum.

Sunday we went to the Mahia penninsula - about two hours drive from here. If you look at it on the map, it looks really close, but Jeez, you don't want to be going fast on those roads - they're lethal!

It's proper lord of the rings country - you look down and all you can see is trees and rivers, and - well I'll post piccys on here when we've got the broadband at home.

The penninsula iteself is beautiful, but God, it's isolated. I think we saw two dairies (corner shop type thing) in the whole journey - now that's living in the sticks! Very pretty tho.

Dave started work yesterday, which didn't go brilliantly by the sounds of things, I think they seriously need to invest in some more up to date surveying equipment.

I'm supposed to be "doing coffee" with one of the ladies from Fulton Hogan (dave's work) to speak to her about work and ask general questions - and just to get to know another person I guess.

I now have a NZ mobile, which is useful - number is 0064 (0)272 778481 - I got to choose the last bit of my phone number (after 0272) - wouldn't get that in the UK.

But they don't have central heating. Which, when the temperatures drops rapidly in the evenings as is it's wont in the spring, it gets bl*ody cold at night!

I spoken to a couple of people on messenger, which is nice, will be better when we've got the webcam and I can talk whenever I want, with no time limits.

Any hoo, I'm off to exersize my back with a walk on the beach - gotta make the most of it before I start work.

Catch u later folks.

Z

Bubble bursts

Well, today I received some very bad news about someone that has been a friend for a long time, those of you in Slannings will know who I'm talking about. What the hell has happened the last two and a half years or so? It's like everyone I give a damn about is destined to get poorly, have really bad stuff happen to them, or pass away. This sucks. I'm on the other side of the world and I can't do anything about it.

It's saturday lunchtime here, and I can't wait til 10th November as we'll have somewhere to live so I'll be able to go on the net whenever I want, and talk via webcams and stuff, rather than just web messenger, and being reliant on when web cafes are open.


We went for a walk on wainui beach yesterday - massive long beach about two and a bit miles long - perfect white sand, and about five people on the entire beach (and it was after school so the kids were out). It's the equivalent of our March here, and we paddled in the sea. And it was about the same temperature as the sea is in the middle of summer in the UK. Bonzer!

Well, the people here are really friendly (apart from the staff in Burger King, but apparently they're rude to everyone, so we didn't feel especially picked on!), everyone has asked us loads of questions, and told us loads of useful info, answering really stupid queries etc.

Last night we went out with two girls from the telecom shop that have been really helpful - so that was cool - one of them hasn't lived in Gisborne long, so they don't know many people either, so it was kind of nice to talk to someone else that's been thu it all - even tho she's a kiwi - it's still daunting finding out about a new place.

Dave is starting work on Monday, which is crap as he was supposed to have more time to settle in than that, but they have said that if we need time off when the house is ready that they will be flexible, so that's something. Just means that little old me will be rattling round a motel room on my own for the next ten days or so, so I think a lot of walks on the beach will be in order.

Miss my friends and family, miss being able to phone someone and say - u wanna come round for a meal, or go out, or jump in the car and whizz down the motorway and be in Bristol or Devon, or wherever in a couple of hours.

I probably sound like a completely ungrateful moo, but this is hard, really hard, and I miss everyone like mad and we haven't even been gone a week. How sad am I?!

Oh, and by the way, it rained over night and it's overcast today. Just to make you feel a bit better!

Adieu til next time, mes amis.

Z

Dear God, stop the world I want to get off!

Ye Gods, when people said to expect jet lag, I didn't realise that the world and I would be spinning on different axis' for the foreseeable future. God, I feel rough!

Well folks, we're here. LA was horrendous, you're treated like a criminal and we were only in the bloody transit area for an hour and a half whilst the plane refuelled - I had my finger prints digitally scanned, and my photo taken!!!!!! Not impressed. I didn't even have time to do my make up. Cheek of it, taking your photo after twelve hours on a plane. B*stards. No, in all seriousness, it was horrible, I will not be flying via LA again, even if I have to book three years in advance to get it for the same price by going thru KL, HK or Singapore.

The house that we had agreed to rent is crap, big, but needs so much work - and having just finished doing up one house, I'm not going to do up another one to make a landlord money!

Dave's area manager looked at the house before we agreed to rent it, and said it was fine. Needless to say I'm not best pleased. And have had b*gger all sleep for the last week - which means I am not a person to argue with (as you will be most surprised to learn!)

However, we have found somewhere nicer to live, which is one bed smaller (three bed instead of four - but as our stuff isn't going to be here for another couple of months, we're still going to be rattling around in it! It's brand new, never been lived in, and less money a week than the other place, and the landlord's nice.

Only bummer is that I sent a load of post to the Kaiti address, so I'm just hoping that we can get that relocated otherwise I won't have any tunes! Which would be sad. :(

New address as of 10th November will be 163a Roebuck Road, Gisborne, New Zealand.

Any hoo, enough waffle for now, but at least this gives you somewhere to gawp at when you wonder what I'm up to.

Ciao for now.
Zoe