Still alive!

Well its December, the month of freezing temperatures, snow and ice, dark nights and 3 layers of clothes....but not for me!!
Its HOT HOT HOT here already. Although it is officially summer now its only just begun and its already hitting 25c most days, even the days when its not sunny.

Now Im far from complaining about the heat and the sun but it does make the whole Christmas thing a wee bit strange. Seeing people buying xmas trees and putting up lights while its sunny just isn't right somehow. But at least it doesnt seem like such a huge commercial money making scam over here. Yes there are xmas decs in the shops and there is the occasional xmas song being played while you buy your wrapping paper but its definitely not so in your face as Im used to in the UK.

Counting down the weeks now till my mum comes over to visit. The time seems to be flying by so she'll be here before I know it.

Still here...

I know, I know, I'm rubbish at updating this thing...but I'm here now so all's good!

So, I've been here about 2 months now but feels like so much longer. Work is good, settling in well and almost getting used to the differences in the maternity system, huge as they are. The house is now pretty much fully furnished, including a spare bed so if anyone wants to visit you'll have somewhere to sleep!

Gave in and bought a new car. My completely irrational hatred of my old Honda leg me to go buy a stereo for it, thinking that that would make it better. Well one trip to the car dealer later and not only do I have a new stereo but I'm getting it fitted in a new car! Well, not new, but new to me and its much better so I'm a much happier driver now.

Sadly the rubbish weather has continued, mostly rain and windy..even had hailstones today. BUT, the forecast for the next few days is sun sun sun so we'll see!

Now I'm planning my road trip for my November holiday. Got a week off and instead of sitting around moping on my own I've decided to get out and see some of the island, visiting friends along the way. Need to head North to Auckland and then South to Napier and onto Masterton so should be a good trip...lets hope the weather holds out for it!

Rubbishness....

Today has been a bit rubbish, some of you may have read this elsewhere so if you have, well, tough!
Got up with loads of plans to find it pouring with rain and blowing a gale..again, so that stuffed up pretty much all my plans.
So switched on my laptop to find my internet not working..again. Was buggered last weekend but was apparently fixed but it seems not. Sat on hold for 45mins to report the fault but wont get fixed till Friday. Luckily it started working again this afternoon so we'll see how long it holds out this time.
Returned my DVD player that I bought last week but didnt have the right connections for my TV for one that I can connect by HTMI. Got home connected it all up and it doesn't bloody work. Connected it another way and it does work so don't know if its my HTMI cable or the DVD player itself that doesn't work. But, doesn't really matter as the DVD remote doesn't work either so its going back tomorrow.
By this point I was a wee bit stressed so decided I needed to get out the house before I started to break things. Checked the internet and found a Zumba class on tonight just a few minutes away. Got ready and headed out to find the venue totally deserted. Hung about for 10 minutes, no one showed up so I turned round and headed home again.

Why cant things just work. I dont want them to do more than what they're made for, just the basics will do really, its really not asking for much...

Settling in..

Ok, so I blame my inability to remember to update this blog on my repeated problems to get a reliable Internet connection, nothing to do with my forgetting...no siree!!

Anyway its been nearly 4 weeks and life here is beginning to become normal. Started work although still on my 3 weeks orientation until the end of this week but getting up and going to work 5 days a week kinda forces you into reality.
The house is pretty much set, well I still have 2 empty bedroom but right now there's no one queueing up to use them so it isn't too much of a problem. Got Sky (NZ TV is dire, although NZ Sky isn't that much better) and hopefully now have reliable internet.

Havent done much more in the way of touristy sight seeing type things, mostly because of the torrential rain (just NZ's way of making me feel at home!) Everyone keeps telling me this is the wettest winter they've known for a long time, not much consolation when your wading to the car in the morning. But its now officially spring so it should start to get better from here, been hearing all the horror stories from other expats at work about how often they had sunstroke in their first few years so looking forward to that!

Ha vent been being too sociable as yet but been out for coffee a few times and out to the pub quiz with a few other expats. Hopefully from next week when I'm onto my 3 day week (3 long days just in case you think I'm a total slacker!)and with the weather hopefully picking up a bit I should be able to get out and about a bit more.

Off to do my 2 day cultural awareness course from tomorrow. The Maori culture is very evident around here so it'll be good to get a bit more of an understanding around it. Rotorua has about a 45% Maori population so its something I really need to know about so I'm hoping it'll be useful.

Off to consider dinner....

Eeek!!

Start work today!! Well, not really work, have to go in for my computer training which is only 1-5 (and possibly not even that if rumours are right) On sorientation for 3 weeks so I predicet a lot of mandatory (in general useless) training in my future.
Just hope I remember how all this midwifery lark goes after not working for 6 months..

One week done...

Well I've been here an week and what a week its been!

So I have a house, nice modern one in a wee complex so nice and safe for little old me on my lonesome! It has 3 bedrooms so bring on the visitors, although I only have one bed so a little but of notice would be good unless your bringing a bed with you! Get my keys tomorrow and 'the bed' plus my new sofas and TV get delivered (hopefully!) Had a trauma trying to get ID faxed to the phone company to get my phone and broadband sorted out. Tried to fax it from 3 different places and each time the end result was too blurry to be of any use, in the end I gave in and bought a $60 scanned/printer and did it myself, what I should have done in the first place probably! Because of that I probably wont have my phone or broadband connected till next week sometime, luckily I have my motel room all paid up till Wednesday so the free broadband here will be fully exercised till then!

I also have a car. Had a struggle to find something in my price range as I wanted to buy one outright and $3000 doesnt get you much car in NZ! But after being shown some right old rust buckets the lovely Ed at Cars and More (yes this is an ad for them as he really is lovely!) had a fairly decent '97 Honda Civic for just $2990 so its now sitting here outside my window! This of course allowed me to take my hired Micra back a day early, never been so glad to see the back of a car in my life...stinky, dirty, teeny wee box on wheels that it was!

Going to spend the next 3 days moving stuff into my house and getting ready to start work on Monday. Still dont know when I've to be there or what I'm actually doing but hey..Im sure I'll find out soon enough!!

2 days down...

Cant believe its only been 2 days since I touched down in kiwi land...seems like I've been here for ages already!

So in 2 days I've manage to;
- Sort out my bank account
- Apply for my IRD (tax) number
- Rent a car, was supposed to be borrowing a car from my boss but looks like it needs a bit of work before she can get it back on the road so I'm renting instead...a Micra of all things although here its a Nissan March!
- Visit my new hospital and sort out ID, uniforms (although they dont wear them) and a bit of a tour
- Do my first NZ food shop at Countdown..same brands different names is pretty much the way it goes I think
- Trail round rental agents to find that nice furnished rentals are pretty rare..ok, very rare! Off to look at one tomorrow thats about 25 mins from town but looks nice so we'll see how it goes (if I can find it that is!)

Other than that, well, its still raining but at least I'm not getting soaked so much now that I have a car, luckily its not cold although the locals keep telling me it is...they'd never survive a winter in Scotland!

I'm here!!!!

Well, arrived in Rotorua yesterday. Had a wee blip with accommodation as the first one pre-booked for me by the hospital was, well, minging..but now Im in a nice wee Motel so everythings fine.
Yesterday was wet and rainy but as I went to bed at 3pm and only just got up a few hours ago it didnt really matter, so far so good today as I've woken up to bright sunshine.

Todays plan is to wander into town and sort out my bank and tax stuff, and take some pics of course! Going to register with the real estate people and see what they have on offer that might be suitable. This motel is booked for 2 weeks but the sooner I can get my own place the better as I cant really unpack here so living out of suitcases which isnt all that much fun...

36 hours to go...

So in 36 hours I should be checking in for my first flight....eeekkkkk!!

Still to finish packing, thought I'd gotten pretty much all of it done to discover I had way too much stuff left over to fit into my final packing box and case so some unpacking of boxes and re-arranging of stuff had to be done today so that hopefully everything thats left will fit in my final case.
Just hope my cases are all under the weight limit, my bathroom scales say they are but as everyone knows those things aren't to be trusted!!

I can't believe how many boxes i've filled with, well, basically shit. This is what my life in boxes looks like...


Tommorow the last few bits and pieces get done and then hopefully I'll be ready to go...

8 days to go...

So, I've been very very bad at updating this blog, I would apologise but hey, Ive been busy!!

Well its 8 days till D Day. I'm kind of getting organised, most of the list is done although I now have an other list of last minute things that couldn't be done till this week. Two out of three suitcases are packed along with 6 packing boxes.
I have absolutely no idea how anyone manages with the meagre 1 case your allowed when traveling economy, I'm really struggling for space with 3 but then I have discovered that I own enough clothes to clothe a small village for several years!

So, this weeks plans;
- Finish packing the boxes and hopefully find out who'll be here for the collection guys so I can get that arranged.
- Call BMI to double confirm that they'll honour my NZ Air baggage allowance on my flight to London. I've already called them but I'm not entirely convince that the guy I spoke to actually knew his own name never mind the answer to my question so best to double check I think, not much I can do about it if they say no!
- Speak to the estate agents as my flat is still on the market with no sign of any interest, which pretty much sucks but again, nothing I can do about that either.

There's also LOADS of other stuff but really it s not that exciting, even to me so I'm sure no on else needs to read about it.

But, for today I've done all I'm doing (still recovering from my late night alst night!)
The packing etc starts in earnest tomorrow....

Lists Lists and more Lists....

So things are getting done...slowly but surely the lists are getting ticked off.

So far my list of lists include;

- things to do the house
- thing to do with the move
- people to inform
- things to buy

Not too bad really, mind you a few of those lists are several pages long but the majority of the stuff is ticked off on most of them so I'm definitely getting there.

Plus, my flat is now definitely on the market after a wee bit of hassle with the estate agents and a nice wee discount for their messing around its finally officially 'For Sale'. Lets just hope someone wants to buy it and soon.

Leaving on a Jet Plane...

Well, August 16th is the big day. Flights are booked leaving Glasgow at midday on the 16th and arriving in Rotorua at 9am on the 18th. The best bit being that, thanks to the generous relocation package from my new employers I'm flying Business Class..never flown BC in my life and probably never will again so I thought that I might as well take the chance while I could. Hopefully it'll make the 24hrs of flying a bit more bareable!

I'm so loving my new employers too. Along with the relocation package Im being met at the airport by one of my new managers and they have arranged (and are paying for) my first 2 weeks accommodation. Can you imagine a UK Trust doing that...I don't think so somehow.

Now I just need to get working on the rest of my list. Im still waiting for my flat to go on the market. Should be happening any day now according to the estate agent so we'll see.

Also started to plan my 'going away' parties. Having 2 seperate nights, one for family and one for friends. Leaving my mum to organise the family one (gives her something to do!) and the friends one will just be a meet up in the pub, just hoping people actually come along!

The man from Immigration....

he says Yes!!!

Work visa finally in hand, well at least my passport with my lovely blue stickers is! Finally I can actually start making solid plans. Looking to book my flights this week (how scary is that!) for an August moving date.

Now the fun begins with the HUGE list of things that I need to do in the next few weeks, firstly making the huge list to start with!!

Good news/Bad news

So, good news...the DIY is done!! The flat is show home pristine ready for pics tomorrow, hopefully I can keep it this way for the foreseeable future (not making any promises though!)

Bad news...I heard back from Immigration. They've requested an up to date report on an eye operation I had 11 years ago. yes I said ELEVEN YEARS AGO!
My medical described the op and the fact that since I was discharged in 1999 Ive had no further treatment and that there's no likely hood of it ever being an issue in the future but they still want more info.

So, luckily my surgeon is still working at the hospital I had my op in and I managed to get hold of his secretary on Friday who is very sympathetic and will try and get him to write me a very detailed letter this week, explaining that I will not be a drain on NZ's health system!

Hopefully the letter will suffice, if not my 'case' will have to go to Immigrations medical assessors, which in itself wont be a problem as they'll take one look and say its fine, the problem is the potential 12 week wait to get it assessed!

*sigh* so fingers crossed everyone....

Royal Mail suck...

So after posting my visa application off on the 28th May I waited patiently to hear something from Immigration about my visa..and I did, 7 days later to say that it had just arrived. 7 days to get a letter from Scotland to London by first class mail..ridiculous!!

Anyway, they have it now and a nice wee email told me to expect to hear something at the beginning of this week if they need anymore info so yet again the waiting game begins.
Keeping everything crossed that they have all they need and that they dont refer my medical.

Flat wise my DIY is almost done and my photos for the schedule are being taken on Monday along with a visit from the surveyor to get the stupid Home Report completed. After that it goes on the market and I cross everything again in the hope that it sells quickly...if anyone wants to buy a flat in Kilmarnock you know where I am!

Small things...

Woohoo, I finally have my Annual Practicing Certificate, (which in fact isn't a certificate but a wee plastic card!) so I can now officially work as a midwife in NZ!

Oh, and I also got my new passport last week which allowed me to fill in the last section of my visa paperwork so it got sent off on Friday. Now just have to wait and keep my fingers crossed that its all ok. According to the London branch of NZ Immigration their processing times for my type of visa is usually 10-14 days so shouldn't be too long till I hear something.

Only thing that might hold it up is if my medical is referred for assessment. Hopefully it wont be but in the past they did refer anyone who'd had any type of surgery even they have no continuing problems so my eye surgery 12 years ago might just be the fly in the ointment. Hopefully no though.

Tumbleweed......

Well, still not much happening really, just more waiting.
I've sent my passport away so waiting for it to come back so I can add the expiry date to my visa form and then I'll be finally able to send it away. I'm also waiting to hear back from my Annual Practicing Certificate application so I can actually work in NZ (which will be handy!)

Work on my flat DIY is ongoing, probably be another week at least till its done. Did get some crappy news from the local estate agents last week and looks like I'll need to sell for a lot less than I wanted but I need to sell so I guess any profit I make is better than nothing!

Pretty boring post really, hopefully I'll have something more exciting to post about soon...

waiting waiting waiting...

Well, not a lot happening just now really. Got my official job offer by email but still waiting for the hard copy (thanks volcano!) Looks like they're also offering me a nice relocation package that will either totally cover my flights or make it much easier for me to fly Business Class which would be nice!

I've also realised that I'll need to renew my passport before I can complete my visa form as its expiry date is too soon so thats another hold up. Added to that I need to use it to travel next weekend thanks to stupid Ryan Air only accepting passports as ID so it'll be a couple of weeks before I can actually send off for a new one then a couple of weeks after that before I'll have it back and be able to send my visa application off to immigration.

But, I'm still aiming for a July departure. Hoping to have all my DIY in my flat finished in next 2 weeks so I'll be able to get it on the market and done need it to be sold before I go although it would be nice.

Results are in...

So, 9am on a Saturday and I'm rudely awoken by the postie with a large special delivery envelope. Much quicker than I expected my medical results are in...and its all good!
No problems with bloods, thought I might be a bit anaemic but Hb is 13 so no issues there either.
It all still needs to go to immigration to be looked at, there's still a chance that they might refer it for medical assessment becasue I had an eye op 11 years ago (they sometimes get referred if you've had any operations, even ones that have no ongoing treatment isues) so i'll just need to wait and see.

Still waiting for my official job offer to come through from NZ though, hopefully it wont take too long and I can get going with my visa application...

Medical..done!

So went along for my medical today.
Wasn't too bad really, a bit of poking and prodding, loads of questions to answer and some bloods taken (after a bit of digging about for a vein...ouch!) Thought I might need some extra bloods as I was sure my waist measurement would be over the limit but I was 1cm below so no extra's needed.
After the medical I had to hop over to the nearest private hospital for my chest x-ray and I was done.
So, £340 later its all done, thats an hourly rate of about 300 quid an hour...Im definitely in the wrong profession!.
Now just need to wait for the results, hopefully it'll be all clear and they wont want any more info about anything and it wont have to go to the medical panel because that takes AGES it seems.

Big News...

OK so I admit it...Im totally rubbish at updating this blog. I write random rubbish and then forget to tell you the good stuff!
Firstly..had my interview last Wednesday night with Lakes DHB for a midwife job working between a teeny wee birth unit in Taupo and their larger referral unit in Rotorua (which is still pretty small compared to our standards) Interview went pretty well, everything sounded positive. They left it with a promise to call me either Monday or Tuesday night with a decision which was fine by me.
Fast forward to Friday lunch time (so midnight friday night in NZ) and I get a call from the midwifery manager at Rotorua...and I GOT THE JOB!! Full time, permanent contract, not quite the salary I was after (but actually what I should be due as far as their pay scales are concerned)but she said thats negotiable once Im over there so not too bothered at present.

They want me asap so its all go. Got the dreaded medical booked for Tuesday and then just need to wait for my official paperwork to arrive from NZ so I can apply for my Annual Practicing Certificate (need this to work in NZ) and get my visa application sent off.

Hopefully I could be heading over there June/July which is hugely scary but quite exciting...

update time..

Ok so Ive obviously been blatenty ignoring this blog for..well, ages but Ive been busy!

So, for reasons which really dont need any more public exposure my plans have slightly changed and I'm now off to NZ on my own. This makes the whole thing twice as hard and twice as scary but hey, who said good things come easy.

Things that have happened since my last post;

- I've spoken to the lovely H at Tonix recruitement and I'm well on my way to securing the elusive job offer.
- My location has changed slightly and it now looks like I may be heading Taupo way
- My visa choice has changed. I'm no longer going for permanent residence straight away. Im decided that the work visa option might be the best way at teh moment, gives me 2+ years to make a decision about whether Im staying or not. Its also much cheaper and much faster so all in all the best choice for now.

Thats pretty much it really. Now Im just waiting to hopefully interview with the bosses at Taupo and see if they like me!! Then its medicals, police reports and visa's to get through. It does look like I could be off in as little as 3 months though so busy busy busy....

Finally....

I am now officially registered with the Midwifery Council of New Zealand!!

Dont have my paperwork yet but had an email from the lovely Marilyn this morning to confirm my registration has been approved and that my paperwork will be in the post asap.

Now I just need a job offer. Having a bit of a quandry about where to apply to. Already made contact with Hawkes Bay hospital but dont want to make any hasty decisions so might wait until after the NZ Expo in March to see if there are any recruiters there to speak to.

Just so glad to have my registration sorted out...onwards and upwards (as they say!)

Tumbleweed.....

Ok, so still no news from NZ. Well thats not exactly true, got an email from the midwifery council to say they were still waiting for my uni transcript (GCal...organised as ever!) so I've chased that up but thats it.

Impatience is setting in already, in 6 months time I may have gone insane (not that anyone would notice the difference!)

*twiddles thumbs impatiently*