Heaven

The last couple of days have been so very hot, yesterday saw us at the beach. The water was like a warm bath!  There had been no rain until today so it is a nice relief to have a cooler day.  


As we have no phone line as yet I am in town emailing leaving husband to the children.  Later today is lunch with the ladies that came over at the same time as we did.  This will be a nice chance to catch up and hear their adventures to date.


Answers to som of the questions I have recieved;

• Yes New Zealand money here although there is Cook Island coins and notes, even a 3 dollar note.
• The teachers all come and go on contracts from 1-3 years.  From what I understand if you are not good you have 8 weeks to improve or you are OUT.
• Bread is $5 a loaf for basic white and wholemeal and I have taken to making some by hand to so as we don't have to buy to much

We are certainly having an adventure Milly and George are loving the swimming as is Josh.  Also Josh has joined in a rugby team, he went skateboarding and found some friends who invited him to stay and play. Practice is 4 nights a week for about 2-2 1/2 hours after school.  He seems to enjoy school and after one miss understanding of getting off the bus to early he is happy to now come home on the public bus.

Well I must away, blogg again soon much love xox

Hospital rips

We had a busy end to the week with Georg off to hospital twice in as many days.  He had a bad reaction to a mozzi bite and ended up in big red welts all ovr his body. Then he though he could fly and as he yelled out 'watch me' allI saw was him nose diving into the side of the second bed!! eeh He is all ell and as we woke this morning looking out at coconut trees and vast green mountains all looks better in the light of day
much love to allxox

Moving Day

Monday 24^th saw me move into the new house.  It is lovely to have more space and with room to move safely outside too.  The move meant I had to pack up the little shoebox car with our five huge suitcases, very funny to see as it was bursting at the seams.  Turning up to the house the owners were still there putting in a curtain rail for the shower and a new fan.  It was funny as the lady landowner was cross at her husband because he was meant to have done the jobs on the weekend.  Instead he had umpired a fill day’s game of cricket! Ha-ha poor lady I feel her pain.

Fifty odd cartons turned up around midday.  Three rippled island boys turned up, one driving the truck, two on the back holding on to boxes!  When they finished unloading one lad came by and said, “we’ll be back with the second load”.  I then let out a couple of choice words and the same lad turned to me and said, “yeah you falla’s have the most stuff”!  Oh dear….

I set to unpacking and by the time Brendon and Josh arrived home I had managed to empty a fair amount of boxes.  One box of food had to be carefully cleaned and most thrown away as tins had corroded from their sea travel.  Brendon cooked that night which if you know Brendon means takeaways.  As we sat down for our meal I asked how his first day of work was? The following is his reply,

“It was good, we had a meeting at a café and I had a coffee, I got

so hot I was sweating.  It was tough”.

Tough, tough! 103 cartons, 30 degree heat, five hours and two small children, unpacking and entertaining and he had a coffee and it was tough!  He is still getting paid out for that comment!

Where we are staying is on the back road of the village Arorangi.  We look up to the hills at the back of the house and onto a sports ground.  The garden has a number of fruit trees and the deck is fully fenced. We have no telephone of T.V yet but with all but six boxes unpacked it is slowly becoming home. 

“Finally a Silver Lining”

Friday 21 January 2011

Well after a hellish night of no sleep last night the day turned out to be great!  Josh went down a bought a paper and there was an add for a house and teaching positions.  We took a drive by the house, which again was terribly unsuitable so we headed to the Ministry to collect an application for the advertised jobs and we were told of another house that we could look at.  As it turns out we had heard of the property two days before but another couple had snapped it up. The way things work here is bazar, the house was on for $220 and the owners then put it up to $300 so the couple had had to pull out of the rent deal.  All this was good news for us as we looked over the property and signed up!  We move in on Monday, yeah! Husband is back in the good books and tensions have eased. 

Today was a big shopping day: sim cards and a new cell phone for me, and a scooter for Brendon.  The scooter is an old island hire bike and they sell them on for $500 it is nothing fancy as the salt air corrodes vehicles so quickly.  I had my first ride on it today and I did not come off it like the couple Brendon saw while he was buying it. 

Josh and George both have new snorkel and mask sets and are enjoying the lagoon as much as possible.  Milly likes the water if she can wrap her arms tightly around your neck ha-ha. 

I must say I love the fruit choices, big sweet passion fruits $2.50 a bag, Mangoes, papaya and loads of star fruit, which we discovered, work as a laxative!  Shopping is funny as items in the ‘Pams’ range are readily available but they are not cheap.  I am glad I shopped up large and have a lot of stuff in our shipped goods.  The other thing I tried to do today was to use the Telecom Wi-Fi area and unfortunately it did not work so I was unable to put my written documents on to my blog but I am hoping to try again tomorrow.

So all in all the day ends well and on a much happier note! As I sit with a baby Gecko next to me on the couch and then off to explore the laptop bag I sign off from this entry.  Much love to all xox 

Raw...

Friday 21 January 2011

On Tuesday after a day of visiting houses we were kindly taken out by a mother-in-law of one of the other teachers that has moved out here too.  Janet drove us to three houses to rent, I quickly fell in love with the first one. With it’s tropical fruit trees, screens for the windows, large back yard and a sandpit for the kids and wonderful indoor-outdoor living.  Offered at $375 originally $390 it was on the more expensive side but in comparison to what we had seen it was beautiful and perfect for our needs.  We had the night to decide although I had accepted it then and there and was rather happy at the prospect of moving in at a later date, as it was not available till March 4^th.  Also provided in the interim was a lovely little place for the 6 weeks till we could move in. We did carry on and look at the next two properties and although nice the first super-seeded them and we passed the details onto another couple who where still looking at that time.  That couple took the second house we had looked at and they move in tomorrow.

Thinking the housing arrangements where under control Brendon went to work to deal with some paper work while the kids and myself waited for him in the car.  It is very hot and wet at the moment and time was dragging on the kids where getting ratty when I saw a mob of MOE staff milling around Brendon. On investigation it was announced to me that $375 is a big amount to pay and no one pays more then $300-$350 max.  There was talk and it was decide that someone would talk to the landowner on our behalf and they would get back to us.  Eventually we had a call to say she would think about $350 and we mow the lawns but she would get back to us the next day (Thursday).  That call never happened and when we finally did hear the owner had taken someone else on as tenants.  To say I am pissed off is very mild.  I would have happily have paid the asking price due to the comparisons of other places we had visited.  But the icing on the cake for me was, being taken to yet another house with the rental price of about $240 a week.  It backs onto the airport and supposedly “you get use to the planes after a week”, and to top it off is that it is next to the main road! It is much smaller and has no character about it.

It is now about 2am and I have been up since 12am dying for a cigarette!  I have finished yet another book due to insomnia, and I am willing to use ‘the force’ on anyone who tells me; “it will be ok you will look back on this and laugh” or “it will all work out in the end”.  This house-hunting thing is hard! There are no street names let alone house numbers so you have to go by land marks and then take a guess at what house it may be.

On the plus side we visited a school for Josh to attend and they informed him he needs a haircut! Ha-ha.  His uniform is not a nice shade of brown and relatively cheap at $18 a shirt.  Footwear is jandles and fees for the catholic school year are less then one term at Rosmini.  Josh has made a friend and has had a couple of sleepovers already although he does miss his dad and had a melt down today asking to go home.  Tensions are high at the moment and Wednesday night was made easier with a bottle of Moet and a game of Pictionary in which Josh won. 

George and Milly are good and although there is a lot of waiting on their part are coping under the circumstances.  George has been eaten alive by the mosquitoes even with spray.  He has taken to wanting to climb on every scooter we see and we have to be very carful not to turn our backs if there is one near him!  As there is no car seats needed and we are yet to get our one from the shipment we sent over Milly is enjoying the freedom the back seat of the car has to offer.  She has suffered form the heat with rashes and sleep she has found difficult on the hotter nights. 

Hopefully the newspaper will hold something house wise in the morning and the search will continue.  As many of the workers do not seem to have young children their needs are very different from ours when it comes to housing and safety is not a high priority on many of the properties. When you have a daredevil and a little follower I am conscious of the house and its surroundings. A new day tomorrow, fingers crossed that something good happens in the line of a house!

48 Hours in Rarotonga!

January 16, 2011

We landed and spent a nightmare two hours trying to get through customs and collecting our bags.  Standing and waiting I did manage to meet two other wives whose husbands are also starting work contracts here in the Cook Islands. 

We are staying in a two-bedroom unit that is not much to look at, but have the beach and a resort only a minute away.  Dinner was put on for all new staff and their families at another resort close by which was very nice but short due to the tiredness of children.  We retired to our accommodation and that is where the tides turned!

In bed I faced my husband and I whispered those famous three words… I hate you! It was whispered because Milly was between us and with temperature already sitting closer to 30 degrees it was made hotter due to having to share our bed.  It was the most horrid night I have had in a long time.  To top it off George fell out of bed and then joined us too! 

January 17, 2011

Today was the introductions and orientation for the ten new families working for the Ministry of Education.  There are three other mums of young children around similar ages to George and Milly.  It was lovely to discover they to had an equally challenging previous day and night. 

There has been a change of thought as to what I will die from.  As morbid as it is to talk about death, George and his desire to ride motorbikes will be what cause my heart to stop.  He spent a lot of time hanging around and looking at scooters during the introductions.  When a man came by and said he would take him for a ride.  Thinking it would be the distance of a meter max I said sure why not! Why not indeed, off they went George clasping on the mans back fingers barely reaching the middle of the mans waist.  Down and out of the car park and out onto the road my heart was beating faster, children where calling for their parents to look and then.... George started to wave.  All I heard from the balcony was many voices yelling, “George don’t wave, hold on!” It shall be a long time till I will be able to remove the memory of my son’s expression, a mixture of; fear, excitement and share delight. I am sure we are described as,  ‘…you know the couple, they are Georges’ parents’.

After the formalities, which is not that formal, lunch was provided before the wives and children were sent on their way to do the food shopping. Ha-ha it felt as if I had been sent back in time! Dismissed to allow the husband to work.  The grocery store was smaller but well stocked.  My biggest surprise was yoghurt, at $10.50 for a six pack and bread almost $5 for a loaf of white. Dinner was made easy as all I had to think of was how I was going to incorporate all the fresh tropical fruit; mangoes, papaya and star fruit salsa with Thai fish cakes YUM!  Although last night was rough we have had an easier night so far with the babies. Joshua has swum for a number of hours today, making full use of the resort next door and their pool!  With a beer in hand and milder night I am looking forward to tomorrow the search for our new house! xox

WTF have I done!!!

I have a entry that will come soon but the last few days have been very trying!I shall give datails and photos as soon as I have more computer time. Much love to all xox Blogg soon

Leaving Eve!

Ah the night before leaving has come!  We currently have five suitcases weighing 23 kg each sitting ready to go into the car.  

A carry on bag each full... we will very soon be living 'the dream'.  Reality finally hit for me today, but not until I fare welled 'Sewa' with George. Then again after dinner saying goodbye to Grandad, Shane and Marilyn has hit Josh and we now have tears and tantrums.  Currently he is slamming doors and demanding not to go; thankfully I have a mother! You don't want to mess with her!!! 

As hard as it is there is a buzz of excitement in the air we, I think are ready!  So the next blog I write will be from a small Pacific Island 22 hours behind New Zealand, wow! Much love to all friends and family and hope to see you visit. xox

Wow the 3rd of January already... 13 days to go. Friends are sending in helpful, handy tips thick and fast. After hearing bread is expensive I am now wondering how I will pack a bread maker into my suit case without husband seeing, hmmmm?! Tonight after work a 'quick' trip to the mall to find gumboots turned into a shopping marathon... summer is not the season to be shopping for gummies. Lucky I have great perseverance when it comes to shopping for shoes.


I started this post and got distracted! Now 4 days later and we now have our tickets and a 'flying' out date! But as always it would not be my life if there was not a few  hiccups along the way. Josh had an audition for an add, if he gets it they film on the 17th and 18th of January.  We fly out on the 17th! Sort that one out when and if he wins a place. The second little catastrophe is the incorrect names on Josh's and my tickets. That will teach me for not paying for another passport in my married name!  There is a silver lining to all of this though, we leave on the 17th, our wedding anniversary and arrive on the 16th... TWO wedding anniversary gifts??? 


I have had a chance to research bread makers though and now just have to convince husband that I can fit one into the luggage we already have! All the unknowns are creeping in and disturbing sleep now; If I do buy a bread maker how much is yeast? Is it easy to come by? Clothes go into the suitcase, then come out again, as I watch the weather reports those same clothes go back into the suitcase!!! arrgggh! Tension is high and all are looking forward to the impending departure. 
The count down is currently broken down to: 

• 2 days of work, 
• 1 day at the zoo,
• Fly to Sydney, 3 days there,
• Fly back to Auckland,
• Weekend here in Auckland before 'D' Day

10 Days to go!