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Hello everyone!

We`ve finally managed to update our blog! Sorry for the very long delay in updates! Thank you eveyone for keeping in touch its been a trying last few weeks trying toset up home here in Christchurch, but its totally worth it. We really love reading our messages on here so keep them coming! Missing you all!!

So we have arrived in New Zealand and after a whirlwind introduction to Marks family in Timaru we headed to our new home place, Christchurch!!! We started as we meant to go on and managed to land ourselves fantastic jobs! Marks working for an aluminium company (the biggest on the south island!) as a fabricator joiner and he loves it, he was lucky enough to start a few weeks ago so thats got us on our feet. I start my new job in 2 weeks working in mental health in community integration which is fantastic work experience for me! So im excited to meet my new team and get stuck in! In the meantime we`ve bought a new car (well new to us!) a 2004 ford mondeo, you`ll be able to see the photos on our blog, and we move into our new appartment next weekend!!! Our new pad is really close to the city centre, its a complex full of young professionals with a big courtyard and bbq area, its very modern, on 2 floors with an open plan living, dining room with a small balcony and a tiolet room on the 1st floor and upstairs theres 2 double bedrooms (with amazing closets!!) for all our guests from home (!!!!!!!) and a beautiful bathroom (although no bath - but I can live with that for the time being!!) So its all happening for us!

We havent really had much time to explore much of NZ yet with us sorting our lives out, but we have done a few little trips - more recently to take the car for a spin! Our first weekend in Christchurch we were kindly taken to Akaroa for the day by Marks family. Its a little fishing village about an hour out of Christchurch. Its beautiful although we will be taking a trip back in Summer (November - February) as it was very quiet on the June (winter here) Sunday we went. We had a stunning lunch including green lipped mussels from NZ!!! We`ve heard in the summer months we can swim with dolphins in the sea...so watch this space!!

We`ve also taken advantage of the beautiful scenery surrounding Christchurch as you can see from the photos. The beach isn`t far from the centre of town so we`ve ventured to the seaside resorts of Sumner and New Brighton, Sumner being our favourite as the drive to the beach is stunning!! Even in winter im already loving taking a stroll on the beach. You can gaze at the ocean, with the sun shining and the snow covered mountains are in the distance, photos really dont do it justice.

Of course we have taken a few trips to visit Marks Nana and Aunties, Uncles and cousins in Timaru, who have taken me in like one of thier own (although it makes me miss my family lots) its great to have some home comforts and for Mark to catch up on the many years while he`s been in the UK (and on all his Nanas baking!). It was fantastic to be able to see Marks Dad and Auntie Donna again in June, although we wished it could have been under different circumstances. Timaru is really nice, I especially like Caroline Bay where again you can take a stroll on the beach and take in the beautiful NZ scenery, im told this is only the beginning, we havent seen anything yet!!

More recently, we took a little road trip for the day to Hamner Springs which was fantastic although it rained and rained. It wasnt too bad being in the hot pools but we`ve decided to head back there when the weather picks up and perhaps stay overnight and make good use of the amazing spa there. The hot pools would be stunning at night time as they look right onto the mountains again the drive up there is stunning!

We are loving NZ already and are planning a road trip for 3 weeks travelling around the south of the south island after Christmas as we get plenty of time off work then. We are also going away for my birthday at the end of October to go whale watching so we will keep you updated!! We are also going to see the All Blacks vs Auzzie rugby game on Saturday here in Christchurch so I`ll be adding more photos on here aswell as photos of our new pad!

Marks family have welcomed us with open arms both in Timaru and Christchurch making this stage of our travels even more unforgettable!!!

Monday 15th November

Hello again everyone - just another update from Christchurch. We`ve been really busy these last few weeks (after surviving the quakes!) so I thought I would get an update on here. Me and Mark had a day at the races in Christchurch, we went along to cup day so we had to get suited and booted (hat and all!). It was a really great day. We started as we meant to go on with a champers breakfast (full english of course) then jumped on a bus to the race course. There was a big group of us and the place was packed. We had a little dabble on the horses and Mark tells me we came out about even?? The day was beautiful only bright blue skies to be seen with a cool breeze keeping us cool. People have been telling us about the NZ sunshine and how strong it is but we didnt believe them - how wrong were we! I got terribly sunburnt and Mark had raging panda eyes by the time we got home. Lesson learnt!

We have just arrived back from a trip to see Marks family in Timaru. We stayed for the long weekend )had Friday off work) and took Marks Nana to a day market in a place called Geraldine just north of Timaru. We purchased a beautiful handmade mirror for our appartment and I picked up a few bits from a shop called Barkers which sell homemade jams and chutneys. We ended the day with a good old NZ BBQ at Marks dads best friends house which would have been really strange for him being all the way back in the UK and here we are boozing with his buddies (I think he was more worried about the stories they`d spill!) We had some good tucker (thats kiwi for food) seafood chowder with chunky bread, chillie prawns and hot roast pork and onion sandwhiches (all of which Mark ate too!) Our last day in Timaru was spent watching Marks uncle race his racecar. It was a great day and we took Marks Nana along for the ride too. We were even allowed to sit in the racecar and have our photos taken and I was even allowed to wear the helmet! However there was no way he was going to let us drive its his pride and joy! Although he did say one day he might take me out for a race as a passenger!! We loved cheering Kerry on at the side of the track. He always likes to start the race at the back and work his way up and everytime he got 3rd place which was really great!!

Our jobs are going really well and we`ve met some really nice people through work. We`ve got a few things organised leading up to Crimbo so we will keep you posted. Also recieved some great news about my little sister who will be joining us for a year next May so can`t wait for her to arrive. Aswell as that mum and dad and emma and tom are making a trip around the world to see us next October for my 25th birthday so we have decided to take our trip around the south island then and this Christmas we`ll be exploring the north island instead so we should have plenty to report then. So until next time.......