Hi everyone we are here safe and sound after our 12hr flight from LA. Only snitch we arrived at the hostel at 6.30 and cant check in until 1!!Never mind, will update you all soon once we're settled.

Well we have been in Auckland now for just over a week and we have mainly been sorting ourselves out. Went to orientation and was a bit miffed that our 'Guaranteed job offer' was actually 'here are the websites go find yourself a job!' Never mind! Got the bank account and tax code sorted and sent our CV's off to loads of places and joined some recruitment agencies. Kate now has a job working as a Receptionist for a water company and Alex is a project administrator for the Police. Also got ourselves an apartment in town just near the Sky tower which we move into on Saturday. Very excited....no more bunk beds for a while!! Met some cool people, Rhiannon our welsh friend is really nice. Explored some Irish pubs with her and are going to the Rugby on the 21st July! All Blacks v's Oz, cant wait to see the Hakka!

Spent last weekend visiting Kate's family who live just outside Auckland near a place called Papakura, really nice to get out of the city and see some of the real New Zealand! Cathy and Reg treated us to a slap up meal and was fantastic to have a double bed each! Also went to Claire's house(Cathys daughter who is pregnant, baby due end of October), even further out into the country where we had lots of tea and cake plus a haircut! Claire has a lot of fields surrounding her house and we saw wild deer!

Nothing much else happening at the moment but pretty proud of ourselves for getting a flat and jobs in less than a week!! We have decided that we are going to work for the next 3 months and explore the rest of the North Island on weekends and then use our last month in NZ to go down to the South Island and go to Queenstown where we will probably be jumping off bridges and throwing ourselves out of planes!!

Also Kate had a mad dash shopping spree for work clothes and because Kate bless her is quite short her trousers were too long, so Alex has now added tailoring to her skills!

24/07/07

We've found our local which is always important, called O'Carrolls yes we know its Irish but there are loads of them here and they do lovely cider!!!Went to the cinema last weekend to see Harry Potter 5 and then had a surprise midweek when Ben a guy from the Moose trip in Canada arrived in Auckland and popped round for a cuppa!!! How random this is like the 3rd time we have bumped into him as he was also on the scary bus from Boston to Toronto!!! Was so funny Alex had an email from him and as she was replying he sat down opposite, talk about a small world! Friday night we had some drinks-see the pics!and kate had a slight accident where she fell down a pot hole flat on her bum!Some blokes were being lary over the balcony and as she turned around to shout something back she didnt see the big hole in the ground!!oops!

But the highlight so far is seeing the All Blacks v Oz on Saturday!Kate bought a Beanie especially and we wrapped up for the match, got the train to Eden Park and were there just a tad early-2 1/2 hours before kickoff!!!Had a pie to munch on and settled to get into the swing of things, you know singing songs etc etc.....er no absolutely no atmosphere whatsoever!!!Almost wanted to start Swing Low going but might off been bottled!Pre match entertainment started, some strange dance thing with people in lycra and then the heavens opened.

Never been so drenched or saturated in our entire lives it rained so hard it went through 3 layers including our lovely raincoats and then ended up with soggy pants.All this 5minutes before kick off so we spent the next 80mins miserable and damp but you have to laugh!At least they won wich was one bonus and hearing (not seeing due to the sea of umbrellas) the Hakka was really amazing. Kate also bought the final Harry Potter that day which she's still reading so no-one spoil it!!

Planning to go to Devonport next weekend and then a rainforest train ride the following weekend, will be nice to get out the city.

Sorry there's not too much to report and its not as entertaining a blog as usual but as soon as we have our little weekend adventures we'll let you know

18/08/07

Hello everyone!Thought we'd give you an update so since you last heard we had a trip over to Devonport on the Harbour ferry now since Kate doesnt like boats much pretty glad it was only a 10minute ride.Devonport is a lovely little fishing village that reminded us of somewhere in Cornwall had a nice time mooching around the shops and bought ourselves some handmade one of a kind only earrings in the local bead shop then we had fish and chips by the sea!!! Was really nice and even saw a pie shop called "Mrs Macs Pies" which made Kate think of her mummy!

Next weekend we had a trip to the rainforest with Kates work Watercare where we sat in the smallest train ever for a ride through the forest was really cool going through lots of tunnels if a bit chilly. Andy our train driver complete nutter of a Kiwi lent us her knee blankets!We looked like a couple of right old dears and to top it off there was a lady from Scarborough and one from Flaxton in the next carriage!!! Cant get away from our Yorkshire roots!!!! Stopped at the overflowing Dam and got some cool pics then headed home in our borrowed banger from Alex's mate Andrea! Was a cool little Toyota with a GB sticker on the back!Managed fine driving except the slight burning of rubber as Kate revved it up the hill and turning on the wipers instead of the indicators as they're on the wrong side!Still made it in one piece.

Following weekend we hired a car-Kate driving again as only one with a licence!We headed out to Wangamata on the Cormandal Peninsula for a couple of days at the beach house kindly hired to us cheaply by another one of Alex's work colleagues! Was really nice if a little difficult to see in the pitch black when we arrived and were trying to hunt around for the wind up torch! Had a lovely walk on the beach and wrote a message home to all saying "NZ 2007 Love and Miss you All" and on the way back someone had written "Miss you too!" So come on which one of you jumped on a plane over here and wrote it???????!!! Also had a lovely meal in the local (and only) restaurant in town and a saunter drive back on the Sunday-no speeding fines either!

Update on our health-all well considering no central heating and it blinking freezing BUT slight injury for Alex in the ankle department!!We have taken up jogging to get fit for the beach in Fiji and Alex is now awaiting an X-ray to see if she has a hairline fracture and an appointment for physio!!!!!Bad week all round as she was also involved in a car accident but dont worry she's alright!

 Kate however is clocking up the blonde moments....she was being good and doing the washing up and thought there was a slight blockage as the water wasnt going down...so she shouts to Alex "ere whats wrong with the sink?" turns out the plugs in!!!!!Bless her xxx