Maersk Damascus : Due in Auckland 28 April 2008
Well hopefully there will soon be land-ahoy for my little 40' container of household goods! It is amazing how many tracking and information pages are on the Internet about shipping. I have managed to download photos and maps with locations of all the ships around the world and in New Zealand waters of course.
The latest news is that the ship will arrive in Auckland tomorrow at 6am and the container will be off loaded and 'shipped' to Wellington a day or so later. I say 'shipped' as there is every indication it will arrive here via rail or even road. Also Carolines car is in another container on the same ship, but at the moment I have been unable to track it via the VIN - a portent or doom maybe?
Everything else, apart from my laptop, is going well here in Wellington. The sun is still in the sky and it remains in the mid 20's most days. I am settling in well at work and beginning to feel useful. Charlotte is still perfect and enjoying her job with NZ Tourism. Caroline is getting to grips with the New Zealand mental health act and her kiwi doctors.
If I had to pick downsides then I would say that the lack of comfortable, or any, furniture at home, combined with the general crap they put on TV here would be high on my list. OK, I have started the winging pom bit now, so I may as well continue....
a) TV - The five channels which are free to air here all have adverts and very little home grown TV. Most of it is American crap - I would be happy if it was the better American stuff like Simpsons or Family Guy etc - But oh no, for example I am typing this on Carolines Mac whilst Ugly Betty is in the background. Terrible at best, bloody annoying at worst. At least the almost constant advert breaks give me a chance to press mute!
b) Drivers - Mmmm, not sure what to say on this but essentially the local drivers range from slow meandering annoying ones, to fast erratic dangerous ones. Indicators are normally an after thought and lane discipline is bumper car style. For example my bus home last night had 2 near misses and 1 nasty side swipe with a stationary car.
c) Pronunciation - Essentially as a result of (a) above there is an increasing use of American pronunciation. It is not clear cut, but adding 'r' to the middle of Data and emphasising 'out' in router are classic examples I hear each day.
Well that is the end of the moans for now (at least), but I thought I should balance up the 'how great it is' on here.
OK, that is the end of this quick update. I will add more soon including my Charlotte home made birthday card and my birthday boat trip around the bay. All this and more will be here once my laptops new SATA drive arrives and a desk, chair, mouse......