I am the opposite of front!

OK, I am back and the view above is what I am looking at whilst typing this entry on a barmy summer evening in Wellington. The sun has just set behind Mount Victoria, the wind is a mere breath on the harbour water and singing black birds are wafting through the air - so there you have it, a content NZ Kev - mmm, or at least I would be if I had at least one job offer on the table.

Before news on the job front, I shall give you a catch up of the last few days in the world of NZ Kev which were choc a bloc with fun, romance, food and changes.

The weekend - Well, it started with something I have become well versed in since being here, namely packing up and moving, only this time I had planned it and knew it would be final for a few months. So with a brisk mid-morning stroll from my city centre apartment to the car rental office, I collected a bright red Ford Focus and drove back to collect my ever increasing amount of stuff. Over 5 weeks ago was when I last got behind the wheel, and combining this with the Kiwi sense of driving - which is relaxed at best and bloody dangerous at worst - I was glad to reach my destination without much bother.

The only real driving differences over here are giving way to people turning across your path from the right, but this is only in certain situations it seems, and pedestrians having the right of way on side turnings by traffic lights. Apart from that and the use of kilometers, everything else is the same, oh, yes you should always park in the direction of travel - mmm, I guess there are a few differences after all.

So back to my move out and everything proceeded like clockwork so that by mid afternoon I had got all my stuff in the new place and was arranging to meet Charlotte. We had planned to visit lake Wairiapa which is just North East of Wellington, over the Rumataka range of hills, but as we left a bit late we changed this to a recommended eatery experience in the small provincial town of Greytown which is just a few km's further on.

If you have never been to New Zealand then you may not know what their small towns look like, but if you happen to look at one then you pretty much have seen them all. I suppose the same is true of towns in any part of the world, but in places like England you have a mix of Roman walled towns, 70's new towns and different era's in between. New Zealand demonstrates its newness by having the single style of a wide main street, lined with veranda covered shops of white wooden slatted buildings, and wide side streets coming off at right angles with single story houses of corrugated iron roofing - I say newness, but I guess most of these towns came about in the late 1880's/early 1900's - Greytown was one of the older ones dating from 1874 (if my memory serves me well).

Greytown's main street also had the delightful charm of being lined with at least five places to eat of an evening, and there were enough customers to ensure every place looked busy, but all had space to - you see there normally is no need to book ahead here, which adds to the relaxed New Zealand 'under crowed' feeling - the only problem we had now was deciding which place to choose.

After considering the Al-fresco charms of one restaurant, the bustle of another hotel bar area, and the air of sophistication offered by another, we settled on a very quaint and charming converted house which was called the Cuckoo Restaurant. The charm came from the use of old chairs, half stripped paintwork and the feeling of being in someones front room, which may sound a little rough to you, but combine this with candles, an unimposing Kiwi host and the best food I have tasted in New Zealand so far, then you are in for a magical evening - oh, well, it helps if you have fantastic company too ;)

Here are a couple of pictures of us relaxing inside and outside the restaurant after my meal of slow cooked beef with sweet potato and homemade bread, preceded with halumi cheese on bread, but as I was driving, topped off only with sparkling mineral water.

Mmm, looking at the picture on the left, I maybe should have only had the salad - but I now live on top of a very steep hill, so walking up this a few times over the coming months should help a little :)

Talking about hills, the Rumataka range is a bit of a bugger to drive over - there are enough tight corners and steep bits to make you sea sick and definitely endorse the zero alcohol thing.

Sunday was a very relaxing day but not much was actually done by me, apart from shopping, so it only gets a sentence on here - that one you just read in fact.

Monday, ah, well this was the day when Caroline arrived :) I was eager to make everything simple and hassle free for her so I had popped to Pak n Save the day before to stock up on stuff. All I will say about this shop is...'the packer smelt my limes'....and leave it at that rather cryptic point. Anyway, early Monday afternoon I popped into the city centre to check and quickly update my blog, grab a coffee and then go to the airport and collect Caroline. It was this experience which highlighted the compact and delightful nature of Wellington, i.e. apartment door, to coffee cafe, to airport, to apartment door was all completed within the hour and without ques or stress. I arrived at the airport as Caroline's plane was landing and by the time I had walked the 500 yards into the arrivals hall, she was there waiting and a few mins later so were her bags.

I think Caroline will be posting her own blog thing, so I will not recall her stories on here too much at present, other than to say her flights were fine and apart from a brief (in many ways) repack at Auckland airport, they were hassle free. Not sure if she sat next to royalty or TV stars, but I know she got exit seats!

The apartment has impressed her as well and being the kind of chap I am, I took the smaller bedroom so she has the on suite with Mt. Vic views.

Today (Tues) I dropped off the rental car with Caroline and then walked her back through the city to here. The first few days are bad for jet lag, which with the final steep hill climb to here, had a pretty major impact on her and me too...but they say after a month or so of Wellington you find muscles you never knew you had.

OK, I will finish off now by saying I have confirmation of a formal interview tomorrow afternoon - guess I will swat up tomorrow morning now I have the internet working here. I will leave you with picture of the beach I took a few mins earlier (well, I say mins, but it took me 6 of them to walk up the blumin' hill!). Thanks for reading this, and take care back there, please do not do anything silly as it will more than likely be raining here tomorrow... ;)