Poohsticks

That formal job offer was the one thing standing in the way of actually getting started on the NZ part of the adventure, and a couple of weeks ago I actually received one. I start work in Mayfield Primary School, East Tamaki, on 13th October – hurrah! That's not far away when you think about it... especially in the light of what we've done in terms of actual things...

Right then. Things we have done:

• Submitted application for NZQA assessment of my qualifications and Teacher Registration
• Submitted an Expression Of Interest (EOI) for the purpose of applying for a permanent residence visa
• Almost contracted a removal firm for bringing our stuff over from Spain and uniting it with our stuff here to all go together to NZ

Things we haven't done:

• Booked flights
• Actually contracted a removal firm for bringing our stuff over from Spain and uniting it with our stuff here to all go together to NZ
• Booked flights to go to Spain to oversee removal of stuff from Spain and see everyone
• Anything else

er.... for so long we've been itching to get going with the process and now that we can, the inactivity is quite frightening really. I have found out some about the class I will be teaching (y4/5, 23 mixed Maori and Pacific Islands kids, can't wait really) and keep talking to the kids, (well, Elly) about what will happen. I'm sure she thinks we're going to get off the plane and fall into a ready made home complete with hamsters, guinea pigs, cats, dogs, goats, chooks and a vegetable patch! I'm trying to let her down gently :-)

The main reason we haven't done much about the fact that we are leaving the country in 5/6 weeks is that Mik's dad, Sid has been very ill in hospital and we are all quite worried about him. Anne, Mik's mum is incredible, I admire her strength; in the light of what he has been through over these past few weeks, our plans seem rather less urgent than they did. We're kind of organised, I keep thinking we ought to be doing something but can think of nothing immediate that needs to be done; I guess I need the pressure of dates and deadlines to get motivated!

Also, we are in full swing of the summer holidays and we're mostly having a wonderful time, despite the weather! The end of July was lovely, nice and sunny, nice bit fluffy cloud to entertain the eye and warm. Let me tell you, it didn't last and it's been a very wet August. Why am I surprised? Shame it didn't last, it really was nice to plan and have a picnic/bbq/trip to the park etc. I'm beginning to run out of wet weather activities!! Fortunately, Oscar is falling in love with his train set and Elly is right into The Wizard of Oz, and the library and the Baltic are free and the swimming baths are sick of the sight of us! It's not being the drag I thought it would be which is lovely. The flat is only now starting to feel claustrophobic and a bit too cosy - we can all hear every word spoken and are feeling a bit squashed. We had a really nice few days away in Surrey at my aunt and uncle's house, Mum came down on the train with Benji and the weather was good! We went to a farm and up a hill, to the park and to see my cousin's new house. It was great to see them all and we had a really good time.

Elly goes back to school on 4th September, and even though it's only for a few weeks and includes a wee trip to Spain she will go back, I think it's important to keep some continuity in her life, if only until we turn her world upside down, but she is also craving kiddie company. She and Oscar are beginning to play together properly in bits and it's dead lovely to watch. My dream has us living in a house with a garden and some kids nearby for E&O to play with. Not much to ask?! As we hurtle almost motionless towards September, the best we can do is go with the flow.

Up in the air and all at sea; it's (almost) decision time

Poor old blog, all neglected cos of those durned kids... not true, actually: they're full on of course but the real spare-time sponge is this NZ thing: the trivial formalities of finding work, applying for visas, sussing out flights, negotiating shipping rates and looking for somewhere to live. In that order. Kind of transcending this list is the vexing question of what things to buy before we go vs how much we want to pay to ship it over there. Basically, there's no Ikea in NZ. No really, I'm not kidding, apparently they've been banned for fear of them becoming too popular. Although there are conflicting rumours that they may have acquired a site somewhere near Auckland, we're not prepared to leave a house full of cheap plastic novelties and matchstick furniture to chance.

Then there's the flight thing. Price aside, it should be a simple case of choosing your stop-over destination, right? Wrong. If you Go West with Air New Zealand, they allow you a staggering 46kg per person baggage allowance, making it a no-brainer for us clutter-magnet migrants. Except your stop over is in the United States of Antipathy, who are so close to disappearing up their own collective arses it's possibly the scariest place in the world to be right now. We've heard some real horror stories about US immigration, including the right of customs officials to confiscate your laptop/iPod/cellphone without warning or pretext. Sod that, then, we'll go east and travel light. Ha. If we max out hand luggage and hold allowance we can still take around 140 kilos. That's almost an entire Ikea trip :) It's a shame, I was looking forward to visiting San Francisco for some pioneering-spirit inspiration, but if it means a compulsory visit to the bottom inspectors they can stick it.

Shipping's another thing that could be a nightmare if we don't work it right. One plan would be to move all our stuff from here back to Spain, reunite it with all the other stuff in Maria's garage and ship everything, ourselves included, from there (we go on the plane, of course, not in the container...) (leastways, that's the plan...) – if not, we have to ship from here as well, which we could do by combining our stuff with Anne's, except she probably won't be out until next year and all our UK stuff constitutes our "everyday" chattels we really can't do without for that long. More than 4 weeks without me big wok and I start to go a bit funny. The long shot is to go with the nice firm who shipped our stuff here from Spain, who are mad keen to quote us for shipping everything else in Spain out here first before dispatching the whole lot to Kiwiland. They're more nuts than we are.

We've only seen the tip of the iceberg as far as finding a place to rent is concerned. It's not too expensive and there's plenty to see online, but no way do we want to pick something before we get there and see it in person. Methinks the trailerpark beckons! A bit of camping could be fun and make up for the cancelled summer trip round Europe; it's just a pity we probably won't be able to move early enough to ride the school holidays out & straight into the wild blue yonder. Even though it sometimes feels like we need months to prepare everything, we would go tomorrow if we could. The fact that we don't have a formal job offer yet is neither here nor there...