A few little tidbits

It's been a while since the last update - so here's a glimpse of what's been happening.

I went to see a few companies, just to show my face, in Wellington.  The people are very accommodating and friendly, even if you don't have an appointment (which was the idea, btw.).

I obviously find the differences between South Africa and New Zealand quite interesting... but there are just too many to mention them all, so I will mention the ones I find particularly fascinating:

* No TV License fees.  Isn't that interesting... how can a country provide TV access (and something like 30 freeview channels) to 4.5 million viewers, and not need to charge TV licenses? (I'm just asking, I do NOT have the answer to this one...)
* Water is free, at least here in Wellington, and you can shower for as long as you like, or wash your car as often as you like... at no cost!  And no, before you say it, it doesn't rain here THAT often.
* The police service is truly incredible.  They handle all types of situations - from home disturbances to traffic violations, they do it all - and extremely efficiently as well, for instance if an accident happens on the highway, they will sort the problem out, have the road cleared and cleaned and traffic flowing - usually within half an hour to an hour.
* This place (all that I've seen so far) is CLEAN.  Virtually no rubbish lying around, people will pick up rubbish and throw it in the bin, even if it isn't theirs!  No hobos lying around and no vagrants either.

Anyway, I'll post a couple of pictures again, as usual.  Take a wild guess which one is me on the day of my 1st interview...?

The town of Mana - 5km from where I stay.

Mana 2

Mana 3

Mana 4 - might as well have been Jeffreys...

Me with Datacom and a couple of other buildings in the background

Yep, you guessed it.

OK, so that's it for now... I'll keep you posted on the progress of the interview!

Another day, another NZ$

Well, things are progressing... slowly.  I have submitted a few CVs and hopefully will be able to start going for interviews in the next week!

There are a couple of things that really stood out for me in the past week, and I will briefly list some of them (as they come to mind):
* No parking attendants!  You can park ANYWHERE you want without someone waiting for a handout and showing you how and where to park!! 
* You don't have to lock your car if you go into a shop...
* I haven't heard an ambulance or police siren since I got here
* No armed response guards... anywhere!
* Things around here get done as and when promised.  None of that "we'll be there tomorrow between 9am and 5pm" bullshit and then they never pitch up - I'm looking at you Telkom!  When the service delivery companies say they will be at your place at 10am then that is exactly when you can expect them.  Barring a major disaster, of course.
That's it for now... I'll update as and when I can

Oh yeah... the Pacific Islander placenames are very cool and truly weird... for instance, there is a place very close to Porirua (where I am) called Papakowhai, but it is pronounced Papakofai... every placename with a "wh" is pronounced as an "f"... which, like I said, is weird.  This only counts for the Maori and Pacific type names... 

Anyway, I had the opportunity to go for both a walk and a drive and took a few pictures, just to give you an idea of what this part of New Zealand looks like:

 

This is Aotea neighbourhood... where I am currently living

Kiddies playground in Aotea

Some more of Aotea

Photo one of Lake Tawa

Number two

And the last one... pretty eh?

Some of the fruit you can buy here... the usual oranges and mandarins, golden kiwis (very tasty), tamarillos (the red fruit), man sized bananas and then Japanese-man sized bananas on the right...

 That's it for now... catch you all later.

A very soft landing...

Okay, I am finally here after like a 100 hour flight... and I am J-E-T-L-A-G-G-E-D!!

But it was 1000*1000 times worth it!  This place is truly very nice.  Today (the 7th of September) I had a walk through Wellington and oh what a beautiful place it is.  I have so many things I can say about New Zealand, and  not a single one of it is negative... the people are so friendly and for the most part polite, the streets are beautifully clean, the buses are perfectly on time and completely safe, the air is clean and fresh, the government really looks after its people, etc. etc.

I will take this opportunity to make mention of the people (whom I will not name here) who were kind enough to take me in and allow me to find my feet here in New Zealand.  I can honestly say that in my lifetime I have never met anyone as completely selfless and helpful as these people - in fact if I did not meet and get to spend time with them I would simply not believe that people like them existed.  A rare and precious breed of human beings. My endless thanks to them for this incredible opportunity...

So, here are a couple of photos I took today... enjoy.

Riaan

Of course I will!

This is Cambridge Terrace... at around 12:10 in the afternoon... rush hour traffic!

This is the corner of Cambridge Terrace and Courtenay Place... a minute later

The view down Courtenay Place around 2 minutes later

Lambton Harbour... beautiful...

Some more of the harbour - a bit overcast

Yet another view of the harbour

And yet another one... with some fool standing in front of the camera!

Huge, gigantic, monster butterflies!

In my stomach, of course. 

It is just unreal how quickly the last few weeks have sped by, and now, the last full day in South Africa has finally started to slow down a bit.  This is not exactly how I planned on spending my last day here... had to go to the doctor with my son, had to find out that shipping a relatively small box weighing 20kgs will cost me a measly R5,000.00 to ship overseas... yeah right! For once the postal service came to the rescue and it is being shipped for just over R600!

So the day is winding down, I am packed and getting close to being finished and kicking back for a few hours before the mad rush starts again... early flight tomorrow!

Until later...

Welcome to my newest adventure...

On this blog I will try to capture the trials and tribulations of taking the plunge and emigrating, God willing, to another country.

You are more than welcome to follow my progress if you so choose, I will be posting tidbits of useful (at least for some...) information as well as photos and videos of my travels.  Of course this is all free and I will try to keep it interesting... so check back every now and then to see what's up (or down) on the other side of the world!

Initially this site will feature mostly me and my camera and then around December will include the arrival of my wife and kids!
I haven't even left South Africa yet and I am already missing them terribly!

Feel free to email me, or leave comments if you want to know more about anything whatsoever.

Cheers
Riaan