Author: Rachel M

I took the kids on the bus into town today to the new waterfront development: Wynyard Quarter. Under normal circumstances I think it would be a great place to visit, but these are not normal circumstances for me. Before the earthquakes I used to wear rose-coloured glasses wherever I went in this amazing country but…

Everyday I am amazed by how well Daniel has taken to his new kindy. The drop-off in the mornings is easier than it has ever been. In Christchurch I always had to pair him up with a teacher and there was still noticeable anxiety. Here he’s always eager in the mornings and then happy to…

We have the worst dogs ever. They hate other dogs and Freud has declared war on all the cats in the Universe. The problem is that he’s going blind and anything from a distance at his eye level is a potential cat including children and witches’ hats so he barks uncontrollably and tries to strangle…

Whenever it snows in Christchurch I get depressed. I realise I’m no longer living in the climate I like best. I miss the cold frosty mornings, the views to snow-covered mountains, the crisp air and visible breath, the warm woolly hats and scarves, the warm fires, the proximity to ski-fields and ice-skating rinks, the deciduous…

We are in the midst of the “snow storm of the century” but the sun is shining here in Point Chevalier and Ben’s flight has not been cancelled. Will we wake up to a much desired winter wonderland tomorrow? Daniel and I hope so but I sadly doubt it. It’s possible snow will fall on…

People have asked me whether I’m going to change the name of my blog now that I’m in Auckland. I don’t think so. The thunderstorm the other night shows me how quake rattled I still am and probably will be for a long time. My Auckland friend met someone here who experienced the Edgecombe earthquake…

I didn’t sleep very well last night. I was woken just after midnight to the sound of thunder and I leapt out of bed thinking it was an earthquake. The deep vibrating rumble was not so unlike an earthquake and it made the glass doors in our bedroom rattle very slightly. My heart was thumping…

Elizabeth is generally not fussy about food and puts pretty much everything in her mouth including sand, dog food and dirt. This evening’s dinner was last night’s leftovers and she was unusually fussy and unenthusiastic. So she trotted over to the fridge, opened the door and reached up demanding “choc”. choc = chocolate. There was…

There’s some drama in the Point Chevalier community this week. I think I mentioned previously that there’s a population explosion of young families at present and that the local primary school is overflowing with pupils. The kindy is right next to the primary school and is actually leasing the land it occupies from the school.…

Daniel had a great first day at kindy today. He woke up this morning super-eager to go and there were no issues at all when we said goodbye. He’s decided that the new kindy is better than the Christchurch one which he now describes as “old”. It is a very good kindy. We’re lucky he’s been…

I am still battling the fleas. Zeki is a flea-bag at the moment and he wakes me up during the night with his scratching. It’s driving me insane so I can only imagine what it’s doing to him. I’m vacuuming the carpets everyday and also picking individual fleas off him and killing them. The fleas…

Lately the children have taken to playing in the hire car, which unfortunately has to be returned today. This afternoon Elizabeth fell out of it, head first onto the concrete driveway. She is fine but has some impressive grazing to her forehead. I have nothing in the way of first-aid here, not even a band…

I have good news: Ben is able to move up here in less than a month. Hooray! Point Chevalier is a lovely suburb. I have found a terrific playgroup just around the corner which runs three days per week. This is a relief because the kindy is full and can’t take Daniel until October. We…

We only have the hire car for a few more days so I thought I’d take the opportunity to look at some houses and areas in and around Auckland this weekend. We went to one open home and it was a lovely place….for storing shoes. A bit cramped for a house though. Afterwards I took…

There is much excitement in the house this morning as a package from my lovely Aunt arrived for the children. Elizabeth has some gorgeous girly clothes and was only to happy to model an outfit for the camera: She has been wearing some of Daniel’s old clothes and a woman recently called her “he”. That’ll…

Ben leaves us today. I’m going to send him back with our camera so that he can take some photos of our house in the snow since I’m never going to get to see it. Apparently Auckland ranked 4th on the Mercer quality of life index of world’s best places to live in 2010. I can’t…

Zeki has taken to scratching himself uncontrollably through the night so this morning I examined him for fleas. I found and killed 10 fleas in less than 10 minutes! This is not something I’ve seen since we lived in Brisbane more than 6 years ago. Damn you earthquakes! I was happy in Christchurch before you.…

Christchurch is beginning to look very post-apocalyptic. Source: http://yfrog.com/z/kk81yufj Collapsing buildings, deserted streets and now snow. A Hollywood movie-maker’s dream. I’m gutted to have missed the snow. Every winter I long for a winter wonderland and I’ve missed it by a few weeks. The poor old University of Canterbury has taken a battering this year. Countless…

You know you’re no longer living in a cold climate when you find ants having dinner on the kitchen bench and then eating dessert in the dog food bowl. This is something I never had to contend with living in Christchurch. I even saw a cockroach for the first time in many years. This is…

What a day! Ben is here, the dogs are here and the contract for sale on our house has gone unconditional, yippee! It has been a very stressful day for Ben which started with a 9am lecture this morning. He then had a meeting at 10am followed by a number of jobs to attend to…