The first week in the southern hemisphere......the real story begins

Day 1 Arrive Auckland at 12.45pm. We moved quickly through immigration. The guy didn't say much as he checked our passports and visas, but then with a warm smile he said "welcome home". We smiled back at him walked on and then almost shed a tear, it was so nice. We had a quiet afternoon at our hotel and a walk around the area before an early dinner (early for us but normal for kiwis). We stayed awake until 7pm and then crashed asleep until.......
Day 2 4am wide awake. had a nice breakfast and headed off to the airport for our last leg of the journey.
Fog caused all Nelson-bound flights to be cancelled....except ours, so off we set. A couple of things I have noticed while people watching...walking trousers outnumber jeans and fake tans and fake blondes dont seem to exist! Touchdown at Nelson at 2pm. We were'home'. It was not quite the sunny Nelson we hear so much about, but it was warm and overcast.

We collected the hire car and went up the road to our rented property - Corru Gate.

Day 3 A very exciting day.......Bonnie due to arrive at Nelson airport, having travelled from london via LA. Her flight from Aukland was a bit late so we waited and watched for her plane. We saw a crate being unloaded and went down to 'cargo'. Nelson is a small airport where baggage reclaim is the pavement outside the building. Cargo is an area with a sign.

 She was so excited and very happy when she got out of the box at 'home'. She was too curious to sleep but every so often she would lie down, mid stride and fall asleep for 30 seconds!

Day 4, sat 7th May heavy rain most of the day. went to Nelson market and got chep veg. we can pick the fruit at the house. Everyone has been really friendly. Our landlord(Roger) lives in the adjoing house. He and Adele are very helpful. They put us in contact with a friend of theirs who had propert for sale. We have spoken to her on the phone and got invited over to lunch next week. Viewed a couple of houses in the area. Bonnie very settled, enjoying watching the  all new birds.

Day 5 Waken to bright sunshine, so go biking at Kaiteriteri mt bike park. A lovely  sunday morning with lots of people out doing things and/or drinking coffee. This is NZ.

In the afternoon we looked at another open house, then went for an icecream at our local village, Mapua.
Day6 Monday
Things to do....cycle in the morning from the house. Then went to the bank to set up our accounts. In the afternoon went and had a look at cars to buy.

Day 7
Things to do........go for a run. Went over to Judith's for lunch. a lovely kiwi who lives in the area. We viewed her land/property she has for sale. We dont think we will buy it but I think we have found a good friend. Spent the afternoon at the house. went to the cinema in Motueka. It is a cinema wth sofas!

Day 8
Things to do.... went for a cycle. Spent rest of day looking at houses. Lisa went to her business course in the evening. Heavy, heavy rain in afternoon and eve.