Daily life in a new world

I mentioned in a previous post that I got offered a temporary post in the School of Information Management at Victoria University.  It turns out to be a ‘bigger’ job than I anticipated!  I am course co-ordinator for a 2nd year module in e-commerce so as well as teaching I have a fair bit of admin.  Still, I am very happy to have this opportunity and am enjoying it so far though there is a lot to do, and I still feel a little like I am wading in treacle at times regarding how things work.  It is lovely to walk to work, though I am taking the bus home – am sure you would too if you saw the hill!

The walk to work  through an old cemetery

We also moved into our new house in Kelburn last Saturday.  I walked there as there wasn’t room in the car for the three of us and our stuff (and yes, do ask, how did we accumulate so much stuff in such a short time?).  I walked there and took the ‘down’ approach to the house from Upland Road through all the greenery, with cicadas and birds singing in the sun and heat.   It was quite a special experience to arrive at my new home surrounded by such special new smells, sights and sounds.

Anton waiting for the car to move to our new home

Our new home

On Sunday we went for a couple of walks, one along the waterfront where The Performance Arcade was installed.  This was a series of shipping containers given over to various artists to set up installations or events.  Here are a couple of the things we saw.

Tea cups dangling in the wind – a new take on the wind chime

Paper bags on heads

After buying some vegetables in the market, and grabbing a sausage sandwich for lunch, we headed back up towards home and went for a walk around the area. We also tried out The Village Pub in Kelburn http://www.kelburnvillagepub.co.nz/wordpress/ which turned out to be a really lovely place (and in fact co-owned by a Scotsman).  We returned there on Wednesday for their ‘Wednesday steak offer’, which proved to be a first class steak, chips and salad for the princely sum of 17 NZ dollars.

A walk in Kelburn

It is now Friday evening and we are looking forward to the weekend.  Our first few weeks in New Zealand have been amazing, so full of new tastes, sights, smells, sounds and experiences.  It is a really a very special place.