Part 2 - My First Week

The Monday after I arrived was a Bank Holiday for the Queen's birthday. The funny thing was that in the UK everything says 'bank holiday sale' on a ban holiday (if there's a sale on obviously, otherwise that would be weird) but over here it it all stated 'Sale due to the Queen's Birthday' and on the radio it said 'Celebrate the Queen's birthday in style!' which is comical. I didn't even know when her birthday was when I lived in the UK!

So I used the Queens Birthday as an excuse to look for a nice winter coat. There a loads about for men - can I find one for women?! No! There must be one HUGE coat shop in the whole of NZ that holds all of the women's coats in one place, needless to say I haven't found it yet. I will continue the hunt.

  

We have been onto Oreti beach to watch the sunset (well, actually we just missed the sunset). Oreti beach is the beach from 'The World's Fastest Indian' film - another very very good film. It is so lovely and peaceful and the views are breathtaking (as you may have seen on FaceBook). Although it's a beach you can drive onto so there is the occasional handbrake turn happening which can provide some entertainment.

One thing I haven't yet pointed out is how different the homes are here from in the UK - not only are they all a bit Ramsey Street, but they're mainly built out of wood - or part wood / part stone. The main difference though is the radiators...or rather the lack of them. Basically what we have in our house is a heat pump (and not all houses even have these!). It sounds very technical and I was expecting literally a big pump in the garden or something but it's not like that at all. It's basically an air conditioning unit that pumps hot/cold air into the house. So you have a vent and you set the temperature up to 30 degrees. Very cosy - you may think - and yes it is...in one room. Because the heat pump is only located in one room (although we have seen houses with 2) it makes your lounge lovely and warm but the bedroom can be absolutely perishing! It reminds me of when I used to stay at my Nanny Green's house where the heat came from the log fire (and it still does) so you had to put the electric blanket on in your bed half an hour before you went up. It's the same here - the beds have electric blankets on them (so glad I shipped ours!) and most houses have a wood burner as well to heat up the lounge in a more economical way than using electric (I assume?!)

The OH (Other Half) works in the week so I am pretty much left to my own devices (albeit very minor devices with no car and a long long walk to the city). Riverton has a lovely little town that you can walk into and take a look around, it's got all the amenities (except for a much needed butcher) and I have yet to walk past someone who hasn't spoken to me; from a simple 'hello' to conversations about the weather. And no, it's not - as my mum asked - because I 'look foreign'. I do in fact look like any other New Zealand European believe it or not. I think they all talk to everyone, it's just a way of life. So this being left to amuse myself has amounted to the following:

• Popping into Riverton town
• Job hunting online
• Watching NZ tv - I have my favourites on TV3 in the afternoon: Dr Phil; Oprah; Queer Eye for the Straight Guy; Rachel Ray. Then it's tea cooking time.
• Playing Mahjong Titans on the laptop (seriously addictive, I wouldn't recommend that you start...if you insist then let me know your best time)
• Reading
• Doing some exercise in the house

There are some seriously bad days when I even resort to looking for things online, like Quorn and where I can buy it in NZ (answer: nowhere) - although I have found that NEXT and M&S both deliver to NZ so all is not lost.

The Quorn query brings me onto my next topic - food. Those of you who know me will know that I am a pescatarian and have been for many years. I'm not going into why I'm a vegetarian that eats fish, I just am - get over it. Now in the UK this was not problematic. Gone are the days when my mum used to use SosMix to make burgers / sausages / anything else we wanted (not sure why we changed the shape - it was exactly the same stuff...variety as they say is the spice of life) as Quorn and good ol' McCartney of the Linda variety sorted us out with their yummy (processed) goods. So now I find myself in a country which produces some of the finest food in the world, vegetables included, but does not cater greatly for the veggies among us. Thankfully I eat fish as otherwise I would be dead by now and you would not be reading this (Quorn has negated the need for me to ever learn how to actually cook 'vegetable' vegetarian dishes, phew!) but fish every day?! Don't get me wrong, if I could only live on fish this is the place I'd want to be, there are so many varieties you could have a different one every day. But it's still fish - and I'm trying not to sound ungrateful - and I am picky at the best of times but I've had to get over my one bone and I'm finished theory and stop eating with my eyes. I am even contemplating eating chicken just for some variety. I'm not a 'preach at you' type of vegetarian, I think everyone should eat what they want and so I am thinking that I might at least TRY some chicken and see what I think.

Well that's all for now. Stay safe all.