I’ve mentioned before the kiwi ritual of morning tea. Well today this became all the more significant as my dear husband was due to host this morning’s office social event in honour of his birthday at this weekend. So, I find myself elbow deep in muffin recipes late into the night and then up for [...]

Plans are shaping up to be a permenant domestic-executive. I’ve had three attempts to get permanent work – I fell at the first hurdle on one (no interview), stumbled with another (long listed but not shortlisted) and finally made it to the tape on the third strike (interview – preferred candidate status). This whole recruitment [...]

No time for photo blogging this weekend it’s been full on practicing the dance of insight. No, this is not some new form of salsa but one of the many parts of becoming a professional coach. The whole learning experience was awesome and nothing quite like I’ve experienced before. After the usual first squirms of [...]

There’s been a massive brohaha with our kiwi foreign minister who disgraced himself whilst visiting the US this week. He kicked out the media from a meeting with Senator John McCain because the media misbehaved and asked too many questions! I think he embarrassed himself and showed what a small town New Zealand can be [...]

Life seems intense what with the strife in the Middle East, the heatwave in Europe and a busy week at work and home. It’s times like this that you need a safety valve to let off steam and a some milestones to keep you going. Monday and Friday are milestone days in the working week, [...]

Let’s just say that you use different muscles rambling the hillsides to swimming and there is an audible gasp everytime I try and move around. It’s been the cause of some amusement in the office, made only worse when they tried to tell me the lift is out of action and I had to walk [...]

This pic shows our first kiwi home – our studio apartment on Molesworth Street. We captured this view from our Northern Walkway stroll. This is a view of Molesworth Street looking right towards the Parliament and Beehive Building.

At last some blue sky and the possibility of a beautiful day. We thought we’d be adventurous and take a stroll into town. How hard could that be living on top of a hill and the prospect of a comfy bus ride home at the end. Not! We decided to follow one of Wellington’s defined [...]

At the end of my second week working I’m starting to appreciate more and more of the kiwi etiquette. Certainly the one that struck home most as a commuter is the fact that almost everyone yells “thanks driver” when they get off the bus. My Britishness still makes me slightly akward in this regard but [...]

#2 in the list of defining moments for NZ is the Nuclear Ships Ban. On 14 July 1984 the Labour Government came to power and introduced the first nuclear-free policy for weapons and reactors on ships that New Zealand had ever had. It also established NZ as the first ever, single-nation, nuclear weapons-free zone. NZ [...]