Finally......

Woo hoo, we are in....  Finally after 5 months of living out of suitcases and turning my sister’s life and house upside down we are finally in our own place.  Okay, perhaps at this stage it is more the banks then ours but nonetheless we now have a place to call home.

All our stuff survived the boat trip out from the UK, all 202 boxes with nothing broken or damaged.  It is utterly amazing how much junk you accumulate and then pay to get shipped across the other side of the world!  Of course there has to be a reason why the broken laptop made its way out here!  Or why the movers thought we would want the broken door handles from our old kitchen or keys to the back door?  Then there are the heavy duty winter coats and boots we have.  Not really needed where the average winter temperature in this city is 11 degrees (Celsius).  We could make use of them and go skiing but since I have a pure hatred of snow brought on by the last five winters in London I don’t think that will be happening any time sort.  Mr P is yet to explain why he thought we would need the snow shovel and sled!

Also I am absolutely sure I cleaned everything before we left but apparently the yoghurt stains on the sofas (don’t worry they are leather) have proven me to be a lair.  The only thing that seems to be missing is a broom and feather duster but I can and have lived without them before.  The boys are ecstatic of course to have all their toys, not to mention their own bedrooms again.

Some things are a bit weird, like seeing all our furniture from London in totally new surroundings.  Going to redial a number on our phone and seeing all our London friends’ numbers or the number to our old local Chinese.  Where once I would be typing this and looking out at a magnolia tree in full spring bloom I am now looking out at palm trees and listening to the noisy sound of cicadas.  It may sound tropical but it is still suburbia... 

I still do not have the settled feeling and still have many decisions to make for myself but at least now I can do it knowing we have a place of our own and that the boys are happy. 

I still wish that we had settled back in Wellington not Auckland as that is where we are from but hey shit happens.  As they say “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth”, we were lucky enough to get out here as quick as we did with a job for Mr P. 

So chin chin, here’s to the next 10 or so years in Auckland.  Lets hope they are as good to us as the years in London were...