We're finally here

It's been a long time in the planning and execution, but we're finally in Rotorua. We really enjoyed our last Easter at St James in Lower Hutt and spent the week folllowing sorting and packing all our stuff. Final farewells were tough, as we knew they would be.... The packers arrived on Monday 16th and all our kit disappeared into a large truck, and reappeared the following day in our new house here in the beautiful Bay of Plenty. Daughter and I drove up on Monday and stayed the night with my aunt and uncle; hubby and cat came up the next day. Unfortunately for hubby, the cat doesn't like his box and cried literally the whole 7.5 hours from Wellington to Rotorua.... Fortunately cat and husband arrived alive although both were rather frazzled!

This week has been a bit insane, trying to find what boxes we stashed things in (mostly they were pretty logical, but it has taken us a week to find the toaster!), deciding what needs to be unpacked with some degree of urgency and what can wait a little longer, and beginning our explorations of the city we find ourselves in.

So far, we like it. It is definitely sunnier than Wellington (not hard, I hear you say!), and it is really lovely on the shores of Lake Rotorua - one of about 11 lakes around here. The city sits smack in the middle of the Rotorua caldera and is NZ's most active geothermal area. The city is famous for its geysers, boiling mud, hot pools, which I've blogged about before. So far, we've had a look at Kuirau Park, Waiotapu, the Buried Village, found the library (and joined it!), and discovered a reasonable fish and chip shop! We've also discovered that many of the attractions around here have a significant discount if you can prove you live here - a library card and a letter from a bank or phone company does the trick! Some of them are even free.... nice.

We like our new house too. It's a lot bigger than our house in Lower Hutt - it's older too, but so far it seems warm. The whole house, and especially the kitchen-dining-living area, is much bigger and a more practical layout than our one in the Hutt. We're still waiting for the sale of our house down there and praying that it will sell soon.

Next week: work. I start my new job on Monday, which I am really looking forward to. It's going to be different being in an operational role again, and especially one in heavy industry. Daughter starts school on Monday too, and now that we have internet again, hubby can get on with his assignments for his study.

We're also hoping that the cat will have settled enough to allow him outside next week, because he's currently driving us slightly insane inside. He's used to being able to go outside any time he likes; we've got a little harness and lead which we've been using to take him out into the garden so he gets a feel for what it's like out there, but he's not awfully keen on the harness! He does seem a lot happier in the house today though. On Wednesday he decided that he needed to mark his new territory inside - all over my pillows - and he marked enough so that it soaked through the "fancy" pillows we have on top, through my pillow underneath, and through three layers of sheets and mattress protector..... The stressful bit was that we had to jury-rig sheets because I was still catching up with the washing after the move! I was not best pleased....

However, we know that despite the little issues we're where we are meant to be. There have been lots of little signs pointing the way and we're trusting for the rest. The last one will be the sale of our house. We're hoping!

I'm sure there will be lots more bits coming from our new adventures in the beautiful Bay - including some new pictures from hubby (the camera is expected to get a good workout here - even more so than normal!). But for now, it's starting to feel a bit like bedtime.