Still Waiting

I was kind of waiting for a couple of boys to make an appearance before writing another post but since they have flatly refused to do so I thought I would just get on with it. So we have settled into to life in Riddell Road pretty well, the house suits our needs and although it has been cold over the last month the house has warmed up a little bit and we no longer need extra blankets at night.  It is a little noisy as it is only single glazed and with two bus stops outside we have no need for alarm clocks as the 6:46am bus for Glendowie  does the job.

We have done lots of exploring and have found the best parks for Mimi, the Tahuna Torea Nature Reserve, with lots of ducks and pukeko, is a particular favourite, she loves the nature walk and the beach.


The local swings and slides are a short walk away, or a nice bike ride, and really quite importantly a couple of local take-aways, a fish & chips shop and a roast dinner take away (which are popular over here) are only a few doors up. I've found my local bike shop where I can buy all manner of useless bike stuff. If you ride a bike over here you have to have all the kit, and I mean all. Loud lycra top and tight shorts are mandatory.


So I guess the big news is that I accepted a job offer today. I'm going to be a GIS Consultant (so no change there) with Explorer Graphics Limited (EGL) who are the leading GIS consultancy in New Zealand. It all happened very quickly in the end, a chance meeting with a former boss at a GI conference that I attended led to an interview and job offer in short order, in that same week I also had a second interview with a company called Opus but the position was well below my level of experience and I pulled out of the process. I also had a first interview with the NZ Yellow Pages which was fun as they clearly hadn't thought about what the role included and I felt that most of the time I was leading them. In both cases I hope to sign them up as EGL clients. EGL are based in Wellington and don't have much of a presence in Auckland which sort of makes me their man in Auckland which is both exciting and a little worrying, but I like a challenge so I'm looking forward to it.

I have the option to work both at home and at a shared office in the city. The office is about 7.5 miles away well within cycling distance but I won't be able to do it every day and  since Ginny will be using the car more than me I have bought a second hand moped. It's only a 50cc but is quick off the mark and gives me another option to get into the city. I should pick it up either tomorrow or maybe Monday.


Ginny's wants me to tell you that her big news is that she left the house yesterday. As you can probably tell from this Gin is feeling a little stir crazy. She keeps on growing although clearly it is physically impossible for her to do so, however the boys can't be far off and I guess we are on tenterhooks. Most people tend to tell you that you should get some sleep before having kids, but honestly we are sleeping so badly at the moment it's more a case of getting the practice of being sleep deprived.


Right well its bed time so it's time to sign off and try and get some shut eye. Tomorrow if the boys haven't arrived we are off to Waiheke Island for a bit of a look see.