Two weeks in....

After all the farewells and the very long flight we are finally here....in the winter! Although the temperatures are above freezing the cold southerlies from the antarctic can make the wind chill quite severe.

After viewing many properties all over the city we have finally found a house in the hills overlooking Wellington Harbour to rent...sounds great but in reality with the topography of wellington 75% of the houses fall into this category :o)

We knew that the houses did not have heating, but we didn’t appreciate how cold the houses get....and as a result another layer of clothing is worn at all times with a fan heater in each room. Lets hope the reported high power bills are not that bad!

Everywhere we go, we are greeted with warm welcomes....the people hear are so generous and friendly. We have been given a TV, air bed, blankets and even a surfboard while we wait for our furniture which at the moment is somewhere in the Indian Ocean.

Theresa has started her student life well, finishing her homework on time and enjoying a 4 day week, while I am making some progress on the job front, while waiting for my application to be reviewed. In the meantime I have a new project of converting a Nissan Van into a Camper van which will keep me occupied for a little while :o)

We have started the Kiwi lifestyle by going for walks in the hills and joining a gym.....everywhere we go we see people running, cycling and walking. So plenty of motivation for us!!!
One of the walks is a “City to the Sea” finishing at a beach cafe near the surfing beach. The sign inside the cafe records that last time an Orca was sighted only a couple of months ago......I think I need to improve my surfing quickly to avoid being fish food.

So the summary for the first 2 weeks is:

- A big cafe culture
- Everyone is exercising, healthy and very friendly
- Houses are cold!!!

“The baggage allowance is what?!?!”

It finally came: the last day at work! After 3 months of wrapping up everything all that was required was the final farewell email to many friends and colleagues and the return of phone, laptop and security badge. Free phone calls are no longer after 8 years!!!

Rather than turning left out of the office gates, it was right turn to the airport to start a brief holiday in Spain before leaving for NZ....a nice start to unemployment ;o) En-route to the airport, I picked up my daughter in her birthday present; Rosie, a bright red Ford Ka car. She drove her first car for part of the way with her ‘L‘ plates attached. Slightly nervous with “Dad” in the passenger seat providing “guidance in her driving” we managed to get to the airport safe and sound only for Becca to hand the keys over to a parking attendant. I am sure she threatened him to look after Rosie while she was away.



Spain was a good opportunity to catch our breaths before the long flight to NZ a week later. All the planning and deadlines were now over, it was time to relax. It was great to do very little apart from sit in the sun, wine and dine. At 40 degrees in the shade on some days we are actually started to look forward to the 11 degrees in Wellington.

Now back in the UK for a brief moment we are now packing and repacking what feels like the whole house packed into two suitcases. The 43Kg baggage allowance seems very small! All I need to do is keep on eye on Theresa sneaking the heavy items into my suitcase and using my allowance. Lets just hope the bathroom scales were accurate!!!

All that is left to do is the farewell party....after saying goodbye to majority of the family earlier in the week it’s just the remaining family and friends at a small local venue. The following day and we are off.......cant wait

Although we will be missing Becca’s birthday, we have already started planning her month out in Wellington during August...Lets just hope our furniture gets there before she does :o)

“No worries mate”

Finally we have the visa! The final hurdle is now complete and all that is left is a small holiday in Spain to recuperate which was planned months before New Zealand but has turned out to be a timely break.

Even this final hurdle presented challenges.....British bureaucracy was in full swing when we paid £70 for the police check to be completed in 2 days, and then found out after we posted all the documents there is a backlog of over a week and they cant guarantee “2 days”. This, coupled with the bank informing us that they couldn’t print 3 months of bank statements because they don’t keep them electronically almost led us to despair when we started to realise that Spain trip with friends was in jeopardy.

In the end with 80% of the required documents in hand we tried our luck at the NZ embassy in London. After explaining our trials and tribulations in getting all the documents together, the response received was “No worries mate, if we need anything else we’ll give you a call, it normally takes two weeks but we should get it back to by next week”. Brilliant, what a refreshing change we thought and true to their word, one week later the visa was ready.

The only thing to do now is watch the money markets on the internet trying to choose the best rate to transfer money to our NZ Bank account. While it’s not the most exciting thing to do, every cent change in the rate is the equivalent to 2 weeks rent so timing is every thing.

So, for the next 2 weeks life is in a suitcase, living with very generous friends and family and starting the farewells...oh and Theresa’s birthday ;o)

What a week....

16th June

A little while since our last update, as you can imagine trying to do everything in such a short space of time certain level of prioritisation was required.

So, the process of obtaining a student visa is as follows:

Apply to the University
Get the offer a place
Complete a medical
Get a Police certificate
Pay the University fees
Get a receipt
Complete a Student Visa application form and hand in all of the above.

Straight forward you may think? Typically this process takes on average 3 months; we had to do it in 1 month, so everything parallel!!!

At each stage everyone wanted a document e.g. passport, that the other department wanted. So a lot of ping pong between organisations, calculations of deadlines etc…along with a certain bank deciding to give £3500 of our money to someone else and not the University and then denying any such thing. Tears and broken nails were a plenty! I never imagined that my Commando training would be brought into use in terms of nerves of steel….and no not scaring the life of the bank manager with my 1000 yard stare ;o)

There were a few smiles along the way though, one included a self diagnosis of a hole in the lung on the x-ray and not realising that it was the pelvis, biology was not a strong point at school :o)

We are now in the final stages with the light at the end of the tunnel with only the last hurdle to go…. the Visa!!!

Our lovely house is no longer ours, and we are people “with no fixed abode”
Our flights are booked and now we are starting our farewells to all….time is really passing very quickly now.

What is awaiting us ahead is Theresa’s first day at School with her new schoolbag, my first day of surfing at Lyall bay and a couple of weeks break; and the search for yet another new home.

On the horizon, is the Kiwi & Wallaby Rugby game in September at the Westpac stadium (affectionately known as the cake tin). My daughter’s month long holiday in Wellington on her first big solo trip around the world…..she will be covered in labels of “if found please return to xxx”


The next post will hopefully be “We got the Visa” fingers crossed….if not plan B go anyway as tourists until February’s University intake for me :o)

The first hurdle of many completed !

The first hurdle has now been achieved: we have received the first offer on our application, and with only a 2% chance of not getting a student visa all should be ok. It’s still a tight deadline with about a week’s flexibility so this will be an interesting couple of weeks of waiting for the emails and envelopes in the post and waiting.

Finally the surfboards are packed for the move…fragile stickers everywhere and while UK surfing is no more for me, I can’t help looking at the swell charts and web cams on a daily basis for a good wave www.magicseaweed.com. On a positive note, Lyall Bay is only 18 minutes away from the Universities in Wellington. Checking the swell charts in Wellington, they show the surf is 10 times bigger than in the UK ….. err I think a few more lessons maybe be required otherwise I feel I will expire before my visa!!!

The wife’s tin can has been sold…. a few tears were had as a dodgy car dealer drove off into the distance with an “Arthur Daley” grin on his face. That only leaves my beloved car to go :o(

Removals are now arranged….with all the rules and regulations we need to jet wash everything bikes, clean camping equipment, boots along with a good covering of strong detergent to kill any bacteria…I am sure that drinking our remaining bottles of wine will help; the tax on alcohol makes it too expensive to bring with us, what a shame ;o)

Next week we will technically homeless after selling the house, so for the next 6 weeks our life will be in 2 suitcases. As it is Winter in NZ tough choices will need to be made in clothing options for some – high heels or trainers, I know my preference ;o)

Working to a deadline....

Hi All

Our original plan was to move over before Christmas and start as international students in February 2010

Last week my wife found out there is an opportunity for her to start her studies in mid-July this year….Brilliant!! OK, so how do we do this in such a short space of time????

In short, we both would become international students and hope to find a job afterwards and eventually getting permanent residency.

Looking at all the checklists they all start out from 18 months…we have less than 2 months :o) We are in the process of planning and implementing as fast as we can.

So in 8 weeks we have to do….

• Sell House – done but technically homeless for a month…Good job we have really good friends and family.
• Plan removals
• Sell my beloved Audi TT and the wife’s Vauxhall Tigra (affectionately called the tin can)
• Apply to Universities
• Get Visa’s – oh such a minefield
• Sort out medicals
• Go on holiday to Spain on last working day (already planned)
• Pack suitcase with clothes for 8 weeks while waiting for shipping container….summer clothes for Spain and winter clothes for NZ….how much is the baggage allowance again???
• Book flights
• Transfer money to NZ bank account
• Find a place to live in NZ
• Sort out tax implications back in the UK etc
• And continuing working and handing over all the projects

• Say goodbye to all and enjoy the long journey ahead


So why New Zealand? .....

One year on...

New updates will follow so watch this space...New Zealand is on the horizon

From Chitwan Jungle to Kathmandu & home

So...after the new year we moved onto the Chitwan jungle riding elephant safari trying to look for the elusive Tigers. With only 200 breeding pairs and over 1000 square kilometres to hide we had no chance. What we did see were a number of black horned Rhinos.
After the serenity of the jungle and dug out canoes, we moved back to our final days of the hustle and bustle of Kathmandu and starting to say our farewells. One by one with people having different flight times, there were numerous leaving parties to be had :o)

One of the final days, we had a total relaxation day. Buddhist teachings and mediation, Yoga and massage all in one day.....needless to say we were all completly relaxed by the end.

For the final two, we had what was intending to be a nice mountain bike around the Kathmandu valley. The brief did not include the warning of a 45km epic horrendous uphills that went on for ever and ferrocious downhills. 6 hours later with nerves shattered and a few tears we arrived back in town to nurse our wounds. What a final day for an amazing holiday.

I summarised the holiday in my journal...it reads:
Great holiday with great people with so many funny episodes.
The Nepalese people are so welcoming...Nemaste heard across mountains and valleys.
The scenary: amazing, awesome, inspriring and beutiful!!!
The Rum Doodle bar, which has the signatures of all Everest summiteers on the wall, including the Late Ed Hillary (RIP). A place with great food, fantastic atmosphere and inspiring pictures, signatures and anecdotes littered everywhere.

I will be back to climb bigger mountains !!!!

Welcome 2008

New Years eve turned out to be pretty amazing in Pokhara; starting with a little bit of local dancing which then followed by some more up to date dancing by Myles "the moves" Wood who was originally the quiet one of our group.

The turn of the year was in a local bar frequented by many Europeans where a small group of English were singing the usual end of year of song.

Once sober we moved onto Bandipur which is a forgotten village in the hills, unfortunately, it still remains undiscovered as ecoli was a new guest in my room for the following 12 hours....mmmm happy new year!!!

Lucky enough there was a visiting Doctor from Kathmandu who quickly handed out tablets like sweeties. It quickly made you realise how isolated we were in the mountains and how lucky we are in the developed world. After Bandipur, we moved onto river rafting for three days; camping on the beaches overnight and where a toilet tent was erected and inspected on every occasion by Myles and myself.

Rafting was pretty good even in the dry season, the rapids were not fierce but the scenario was amazing as we slowly moved down the Seti River towards the Chitwan Jungle.

Only the Elephant rides and jungle visit to go now and then back to Kathmandu for our end of trip meal.

Happy New Year

Happy New year to all!!!

New Years eve in Pokhara is definately eventful, there is a 5 day festival where all the streets are closed and everyone is in a party mood....a little different from Trafalgar Square ;o)

Today is the end of our seven day trek which included so many different sights and activities. The first night was on Christmas day where we were served with a Nepali meal and red wine with view across the mountains...it felt a little bit like days of the Bristish Raj in India being looked after in all respects. Not my usual camping style. When we were at 3200m overlooking Annapurna 2 (7935m) we were provided with hot water bottles to warm up our sleeping bags :o)

Each campsite we reach after a long trek of over 6 hours there is always a local villager trekking up behind us with a crate of beer and bottles of rum at 200 ruppees each (about $2)

The solar powered battery charger is working a treat charging up the ipod each night after numerous games to drink the night through. One night included dancing with the locals and getting our faces painted....mmmmm not a tiger face though, just a Hindu blessing :o)

The final trek down was a challenge with a height drop over a 1000m through the jungle which culminated in what felt like a 3 hour footbal match with the local school children....It wasn't a premiership game as there were over 30 kids playing, you had to watch out for the 'mine fields' from the cows, the undulating ground and the soft tattered ball. The game had a crowd invasion with four cows meandering across the goal at a crucial point. I would like to say it was altitude sickness rather than age that got the better of me ;o) The nepalese kids now know the meaning of "over here son".

I have some great pictures to upload onto my website and blog so watch this space!!!!

Dont forget the parecetomol and a glass of water before you go out and have a great one what ever you are doing!!!!

Nemaste....

Well...here I am

A friend told me sit of the left handside of the plane as we fly into Kathmandu....unlike the Alps where you look down at the mountain range, here you look across to the Himalaya and at 37000ft they are directly aligned with the plane's height. Its hard to imagine that people standing on top of the mountains.

Coming into the airport was also an "interesting" experience, the house and apartments are built so close to the runway that there are a few anxious moments where you think the pilot is landing short into the town.

The city is an amazing!! The vibrant hustle of bustle of daily life with the continuous noise of cars, mopeds, tuk tuks and bikes....all with their array of horns which are in constant use.

More updates of Kathmandu will follow ;o)

Nepal...Here I come

Well, only 11 days to go before going to Nepal. I am spending 24 days in and around Katmandu and the surrrounding countryside.

I have the essentials...ipod, cameras and vaccinations.

Just taking one present away with me...a hip flask given to me by a good bootneck mate....cheers Royal. Looking forward to a nice wobbly coffee on Christmas morning ;o)

Next post will be from Katmandu...

Portugal Surfing

My first post

Hello there!!!

So why the Silver Surfer? It was a nick name given to me while on a great surfing holiday in Portugal.

Why the blog? I love travelling so I thought it would be great just to update my blog on my travels just so people can catch up with me where ever I am.

My travels so far this year: Finland (several times with work...Helsinki is such a amazing place), New York, Portugal and next Nepal over Christmas.

Short and sweet for the first one....

See you soon