Wednesday 23rd to Tuesday 29th May – Two months Anniversary and BIG Visa News

Wednesday 23^rd May

I awoke to torrential rain, so today’s tramping has been cancelled due to the weather. I’m going to need some help getting rid of that chocolate cake that I baked.

Thursday 24^th May

A productive day. I managed to do the gym, get a badly needed haircut and sort out pet insurance for Ralph online before doing some blogging.

But we’ve now been in New Zealand (this time) for two months…. Without being able to tell many people about it. I feel I’m getting cabin fever! I would love to talk to some more friends and family about our plans.  The Visa application process is dragging now and we’re both suffering from not having enough to do. The news when Simon last spoke to immigration on Wednesday was good in one respect – if they’ve taken your money then they have probably looked over your application and agreed it in principle so it just needs to go through the process….. Which is estimated to take approximately 58 days at the moment!! I hope that’s not 58 WORKING days?! That would be over 11 weeks…. Or nearly three months! Oh, crikey, it could be that long.  They only took the money for Simon’s application on 22^nd April, just over a month ago.  What if we’re not even half way?! Aaaagh! But there’s nothing we can do but be patient….. and keep waiting.

Whilst we wait, here are some observations about the difference between broadcasting laws in NZ and the UK.  Swearing. It appears that you can say pretty much what you like whenever you like here.  Any time of day you will hear casual swearwords on the radio (I don’t think it’s just the stations we’re listening to?!).  It’s not just the DJs, it’s the advertising too.  Would you hear a car dealership in the UK being described as ‘good bastards’? I think not!  My current favourite is an advert for Cactus Insurance which goes like this: ‘As a tradey (that’s Kiwi for Tradesperson), you know that insurance is a prick! Well, not at cactus… blaa blaa, small print, etc…. So, cover your arse with cactus (man in background sounds in pain and almost audibly says ‘F*%k’)… ‘not literally’ says voice-over man. Makes me smile every time!  Along with the windscreen repair company advert that ends with the singing of a jolly jingle…. ‘show us your craaaaack’!

Saturday 26^th – SPCA training

Nothing exciting unfortunately. I needed to attend a health and safety training session before I can get started on the good stuff. It was quite intensive and there was even a written test at the end! But, after an hour and a half, I was free to go and welcome to return for some more training in my chosen volunteer role in the call centre.

Norfolk Island Pine trees in Auckland Botanic Gardens

As I had driven north and it was such a lovely day, I took the opportunity to return to the Botanic gardens for a walk. I finally managed to identify these unique-looking trees that we had noticed during our travels earlier in the year. They are Norfolk Island Pine trees (left and above).

Monday 28^th May – Si gets his visa!!

This kingfisher likes to greet me at bird rescue every time

I had volunteered for an extra day’s work at the Bird Rescue centre to cover staff shortages.  When I checked my phone at break time and I had a missed call from Simon I knew that it had to be big news. Luckily, it was great news! Simon had finally received his Visa on an email.  It’s just in the form of a letter that he needs to carry with his passport. It doesn’t look much, but it means that he is allowed to stay in New Zealand until November 2020 AND it means that he can finally start work and get PAID!!

We had realised that it was time for another club night at the dive centre this evening (even though we haven’t had the opportunity to be able to go diving with them yet!). It would have been pointless for me to drive all the way home and later fight my way back into the city the same evening. So, instead, I went to the zoo for the afternoon!  Auckland Zoo has a very good reputation for its animal care and attention to providing animals with suitable enclosures with as much enrichment as possible. It reminded me more of a safari park than a zoo as you are invited into the habitats of the animals as much as possible by entering aviaries, for example, through double doorways.   

Sunbathing sealion

A little blue penguin and a dotterel

Auckland Green Gecko

The darkness inside the kiwi enclosure with glowworm replicating lights...

A blurry kiwi - they're fast!

I was especially delighted to be back in the company of my South Island favourites, Kea, and to see some more kiwis up close, even though capturing decent images of them was basically impossible (left)

A non-blurry kiwi (from behind!)

A beautiful Kea

A tui

Are you looking at me??!

Snoozing iguana

An Eastern snake-necked turtle

A Gouldian Finch

I was one of the last customers out of the zoo that night, but it worked out perfectly for me to pick Simon up from Britomart train station, after which we went for a celebratory dinner at Pescado on the Wharf. It may have been a bright day, but I had become chilled to the bone at the zoo, so really enjoyed my warming fish chowder.  

We headed around the corner from there to Global Dive for club night. Tonight’s presentation was by a lady from Wellington underwater club who is a keen cave-diver but is also involved in some marine science monitoring projects.  There may be the possibility of some official fish identification training in the future, so I must keep my beady eyes on their website. More importantly, I made a spontaneous purchase of a $1000 7mm wetsuit for only $300! I got the excellent discount because it was the last example of last year’s stock and I think they had nearly given up finding someone the right shape to fit it! Step forward me! So now I have a wetsuit that should be suitable for year-round diving AND I can use it when I get a call out from Project Jonah.

The day wasn’t over yet. It was time for Si to make calls to his brother and sister to tell them our BIG news!

Tuesday 29^th May – Back to Bird Rescue for more volunteering.

Now that Simon had been able to tell his family our news I was able to start taking some pictures for a collection that Lindi is putting together for her and Andrews’ anniversary without shocking them when they see photographs from us in New Zealand.

They say never work with children or animals. Well, here’s our attempts at trying to get Zambesi the rainbow lorikeet to stay in the sunlight and look at the camera!

 

 

I wasn’t happy enough with my efforts at the bird centre so I drove to some viewpoints on my way home to capture some more images: