I left you last in the library (with professor plum and the lead piping!) having taken a phone call from a guy called Taz who phoned me having received my CV and wanted to offer me a job?  aahhhh!! So we met at the Yellow Rocket cafe in Cathedral Square (when in Rome drink coffee like the kiwis do, that's what I say!) 2 hours later and he offered me the post of Fundraising Administrator with his new organisation the Canterbury Business Association. And this was wearing trainers, cords and my hoodie top, why did I bother buying a power suit? CBA had been in existence for a week and he offered me minimum wage to do his fundraising for him!!! He was one of these dynamic 'we can make anything happen, and I'm sure I can speak to immigration and explain that I WOULD pay you more if I could', er, thanks but no. I slept on it, sent a few emails to my brains back in the UK and called him the next morning to turn him down, very nice to be asked but need something a bit more established and without the future of the entire organisation on my shoulders! Somehow, having turned down a job I felt quite deflated and went to the library again to start ploughing through the papers and websites and making contact with more agencies, generally casting the net as far as possible as quickly as possible. I actually wondered whether the whole caboodle was just too much hassle for the stress levels and contemplated going back home and then the phone rang. My new best friend called Leah from the Canstaff agency based in Timaru phone me?, how do I fancy working in Timaru? er, where is Timaru exactly, oh 2 hours south of chch on the coast. Ok, why not, what's the job? Leah and I then had a fab conversation about the job they were trying to fill, the content sounded fine (kind of admin manager), money sounded fine (would tick the immigration boxes), company sounded fine (high spec office furniture company). So she said how would I feel if the MD phoned me to have a chat?.ok I guess. 20 minutes later I'm discussing my potential emigration with the MD and that all went well.could you come down for an interview in 2 days time he asked? Of course, just let me know and we'll be there. The next morning my phone went at 8.30am and it was Richard the MD. Could I get down to Timaru for that afternoon for an interview at 4pm? Of course we can, we'll just bring the car hire forward and we'll be with you. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh. So we spent the next few hours ironing the interview outfit, putting a portfolio of past work together, rearranging the car and then we went to Timaru. We met Leah at 3pm, I changed in her office, and then me and Leah drove out to the industrial estate while Rich explored Timaru. The offices were nice (I suppose they had to be as their business was office furniture design and manufacture) and the Richard and the Sales Manager, Andy, seemed very nice too. The four of us chatted and they asked me stuff; it was very informal. Then Andy showed me round the factory area and I was asked to do a little test on excel, deep breath, that went well and then we chatted again with me asking a few questions. Then we left. We met up with Rich again at the Canstaff office and I quickly changed. Leah said she would give Richard the MD a ring in the morning. I felt it had gone really well, not sure what I could have done to add to it, and was just feeling really positive about the whole experience. At that point Rich and I agreed we were exhausted and decided to take a motel room for the night. We went out for a Chinese takeaway and retreated to our motel and collapsed. Unfortunately the buzz of the day didn't allow to sleep very well and I was extremely grateful for the time difference which allowed me to text my friend Ali in Norwich through the night! The next day we had a good look around Timaru. It has a beach and a bay called Caroline Bay. It's also a port, and in recent years a harbour wall was built for the ships to stop them getting caught on the rocks - this also allowed the bay to form. We went to see Leah to see if she had heard anything, and she hadn't, so we had a coffee and hit the road. The road between Timaru and chch is fairly direct but very dull and flat, so we took the inland scenic route and made a couple of stops looking at waterfalls and rivers. We were just driving over an amazing gorge on a one lane bridge when the phone went, it was Leah. Rich pulled in after the bridge and Leah said 'are you sitting down', 'CONGRATULATIONS, YOU'VE GOT THE JOB'! It's difficult to say what happened next as the next hour or so was a blur, needless to say all our hard work from the past year was now coming to a point where it had worked. We knew the next 6-9 months were going to be full of stress and upheaval but the job offer was what we came here for, and now this was achieved, we could get on with the job of the visas. I think it's safe to say we had huge smiles and started dreaming about living in Timaru and what kind of house we were going to have. So that was Friday.

We spent the evening relaxing with Andrea and Agustin our new Argentinian friends in the hostel - they had just heard they had got jobs too. They are both here on short term work visas which allow them to work for 3 months at a time and are now cleaners at the police station! We celebrated with some Argentinian mate.

�Saturday, bearing in mind my terrible attitude to clothes purchases and the appalling content of the work related wardrobe in my rucksack, we went clothes shopping. 5 hours and 2 malls later I had a skirt to go with my suit jacket, and 2 tops. My new employer is a far cry from my voluntary sector days of jeans and t-shirts - now I have to power suit it each day and will need to be smart etcetc. It's a small family owned company and I will be working for 3 guys; Richard, Andy and Grant, the sales manager. Having spoken to Leah again we knew the next thing we needed to do was go and see Matt, the Canstaff immigration specialist, who would guide us through the immigration minefield. In a nutshell, we now have enough points to make an application under the skilled migrant residency stream. This is a lengthy process which could take 3-6 months all in all. As no sound-minded employer would wait that long, there is a visa which I can now apply for called a General work visa; this allows me to start working as soon as it comes through and is an interim measure. I also need to go to the tax office and get an IRD number which is the tax reference and you can't work without one.�During the evening we had a text from my sister who was at a party - Tom had invited us over to watch the FA Cup final at 2am, did we want to go??.yes please!! It felt very illicit to turn up at their house at 2am, sneaking in so not to wake the rest of the house. We spent a very sleepy few hours watching a terrible game along with Joe, Sara and Ish. Sara snored through most of the game and we had to adjust the volume at several points. A good goal won a dire game, and at ten to five we drove the 10 minutes back to the hostel. �We had already arranged to drive over Arthur's Pass with Andrea and Agustin the next day, and in our infinite wisdom we had set 8am as the set off time. Once again bleary eyed we set off; the first bit was very flat across the Canterbury Plains. Once the road started to ascend the mountains, the weather closed in a bit which was a shame. However we managed to get out once or twice to say hello to some horses and take some snaps. We got to Arthur's Pass in horizontal rain; we had a coffee, screamed at the mouse which ran across the coffee shop (only to be told it was George the pet - these kiwis have strange senses of humour!) and ran across the road to look at the gift shop, before getting back in the car and heading back. We had some lunch and after driving a bit further we stumbled across Cave Steam Scenic Reserve. We spent quite sometime exploring the cave and the surrounding hills and rocks; Rich did a bit of puckering (clambering across rocks over water for those non-Willetts amongst you!) and we all had lots of fun. The weather lifted somewhat and we were able to see the scenery which had been hidden on the way out - we now need to come back here again I the summer to appreciate it fully. We got back to chch and opened the beer and cider bottles again. �Today, Monday, we've been professional tourists again and spent some time in the botanical gardens and the Arts centre here in chch. We're seeing Matt in the morning and also going to get our IRD numbers. We'll probably head down to Timaru on Thursday and Friday - once all the visas have been submitted there's no point hanging around in chch when we can start getting to know our new home. �

It's all very exciting and completely overwhelming as you can probably imagine. It's just wonderful that it's happening so quickly, when I think we got a job offer after 16 days and it's through a really supportive employment agency who can help with the immigration stuff as well as renting houses, cars and advising where the best bars are, it seems a win-win all round.

If anyone wants a look, Timaru can be seen on www.southisland.org.nz

Oh and before anyone asks about the skydive, it'll happen after the permanent residency visa goes in the passport!!!!