Monday, March 16, 2009

Back in Aotearoa

So maybe some of you are wondering what we have been up to?

Well the full blog posts of our recent exploits are on their way, but in the mean time heres the executive summary.

We had Xmas with Sue in Amsterdam, then flew to Geneva for New Years. We traveled with her through Switzerland, taking the glacier express through the Alps covered in foot deep snow. Continued through to Innsbruck in Austria and said goobye to Sue - she traveled onward to Thailand to trek into the hills!

We continued through to Salzburg, and then south to Venice in Italy. Wow - crazy city! From there we headed south to Florence and saw saw the statue of David, amongst the vast amount of art there. Next, down to Rome to see the sites, including the Vatican City, Colluseum etc.

Then we flew to London and saw a few mates. Stayed with Chambers, thanks! Finally a few days in Brighton with Toolmans' Grandma, then on to heathrow and homeward. We flew home via Osaka, Japan - an 8 hour layover so we looked around the city.

Landed in Auckland, and stayed with Princess' Dad for what ended up being around a month. The first few weeks were busy, as the family was planning and then celebrating a wedding! After lots of hard work, the wedding came together magically and Chris (Princess' Dad) and Gillie (Stepmum :P ) had an excellent day. Congrats, guys!

During that time, we went down to Otaki to pick up our stuff stored at Toolmans Mums'. Princess drove the car back, while Toolman drove a truck up, loaded with the big stuff.

We have just found our own (rental) place and have moved in. Now, after some trademe deals, we have pretty much got a fully furnished and operational flat. We have also got a sweet new car...

Princess has started her Vet study, and we have got a Chinchilla cage, so next on the list is: "Aquire Chinchilla".

Now that the house is organised and wired up, Toolman is preparing for employment. We are planning to come down to Wellington next month, so looking forward to seeing all the freinds and family that we haven't seen for a while..

So there you have it guys: back to NZ, and on to the next step.