Our New Zealand Move - Week 1 Update

Well here we are in New Zealand starting our new lives and I have found time to do a quick update.

The trip over was all going well with a baby who slept for a lot of it and had no trouble with his ears from what we could tell until trying to land at Wellington airport.  Winds of 145 km per hour saw our first landing aborted and on our second attempt which was bumpier than the first Kingsley woke up and promptly vomited all over his father.  Thankfully it had been a little while since he had fed and it was not too dramatic.  But the second attempt at landing was also aborted and our plane was diverted to Christchurch.  On arrival in Christchurch we were advised that we could not be cleared by customs and quarantine and therefore had to spend the next 2.5 hours in the plane.  Thankfully it was a half full flight so it was not too claustrophobic and our ticket had included a meal just after take off from Brisbane.  We had also packed snacks and I had some bottles of expressed breast milk so none of us were left hungry.
After a few hours on the plane we took off again and this time landed in Wellington with not too many bumps along the way about 3 hours later than expected.  Thankfully our dog Jessie was not on our flight and was due to land a bit later so her flight was only slightly later than predicted.
By the time we passed through the airport, collected all of our bags, waited for Dad to pick us up, had dinner, picked up Jessie and did the 2.5 hr drive to Mum and Dads it was after midnight.  It was a long and exhausting day but it was done.

Since arriving we have been quite busy looking for a house to rent, Hubby has been looking for a job and has interviews lined up, we have been up to the farm and inspected our shed in person and are very happy with the result.  All the trees that we have planted over the years are growing well and bushing out nicely and our paddock grass was waiting for the hay makers to come and cut it which has now been done.  The weather has been quite changeable with showers, wind, sunny days and mild temperatures which is nice after the hot weather we left and what we have been told we left behind.



Jessie is really enjoying having lots of space to run around on again as mum and dad have 5 acres and we have been taking her up to our farm when ever we go.

Jessie sitting at the front of the open bay of our shed

Here are some obligatory baby photos of our little man.  He is a real talker and loves to talk and roll over.

He has been enjoying cuddles with Nanna and Poppa.

Having a laugh with Nanna

Watching TV with Poppa

We also took him to visit his Great Grandmother (my dads mum) who turns 90 this year.
We will be going to see his other Great Grandparents on the 30th and lots of other relatives that week too.

Since arriving at Mum and Dads we have been spending time out in the veggie garden picking strawberries by the kilo every few days and beans by the bucketful.  There has also been cucumbers, gherkins, plums, apricots, snow and sugar snap peas and beetroot to harvest and enjoy.  Rather than start a veggie garden of our own in pots at our rental or up at the farm straight away we are just sharing what Mum and Dad have grown (which is plenty for all of us) and we are planting out enough winter veggies for all of us.

Mum and I have also been preserving the harvest.  Beans have been blanched and frozen, chutney and pickles are being made, fruit stewed and bottled and I have got some gherkins fermenting.  Later this week Dad will be killing a sheep as well so having had to get rid of all our food before moving and start from scratch again it is nice to know we will have home grown meat and vegetables to reduce our food bill as we look to build up our pantry staples again.

Lacto fermented gherkins

I am hoping to catch up on some blog reading this week but we will see as I keep thinking I will and other things take priority.