Next stop is Hamilton. Not particularly a tourist destination, in fact it's main selling point seems to be the fact that it has good transport links and is near to other places (much like Birmingham) but it's not a bad place (unlike Birmingham)! Anyway the reason for being here is that this is where the agency who are (hopefully) going to find me work and help me with my visa / residency application etc are based. We're actually staying with the couple who own the business, in their own home, which is really nice. Anyone who knows me well will realise that something as huge as moving across the globe and starting a new job in a place where I don't know anyone, has the potential for causing me major stress and drama! However the whole process (so far) has been remarkably crisis-free. Christine and John have held my hand and guided me through the whole thing.
We still don't know where we're going to end up living. I'm waiting to hear where the jobs are and then we can go and visit places to see if we'd want to live there or not, and I can have interviews etc. I've said I don't want to start until late April anyway, so there's plenty of play-time left yet :0) Also, the good news is that it may be possible for me to get full residency (rather than just a work visa) within a year, which would be great. That would mean that I wouldn't be tied to one job, or even remaining in healthcare if I didn't want to. Also we'd be free to move somewhere for Ben to get a computing job if needs-be.
There's been paperwork to complete and I've had to have a medical. Much to my disgust (and Ben's amusement) it included having to give poo samples! And as a result of the poking and prodding I found out that I'm apparently two inches shorter than I always thought I was! The most devastating thing about that news is that it massively reduces my healthy weight range!! I had to have a breast exam too, and when I told Ben that the doctor had been poking at my boobs he asked me if he had done it with a stick (weirdo!).
We've both had our hair cut, which is just as well as Ben's had become like a big, blond helmet! He said it felt like Lego hair that you should just be able to pick up and take off in one solid piece! I did get a bit scared when I was having my haircut on the other side of the salon and I couldn't see Ben but heard the clippers come buzzing on, I was convinced I'd find him with a shaved head (fortunately it looks pretty good).
We spent an evening with John and Christine at the races. It's not like horse-racing at home though (not that I know anything about horse-racing at home). Instead of jockeys riding the horses they sit in little carts behind them and the races are called the trots (I think that's right!). It's a big family event and you all sit on the grass with a picnic and occasionally bet a dollar or two on the races. Needless to say we didn't win any money! But it was certainly a fairly different way to spend the evening.
Our plan for a while has been to buy a campervan to travel around New Zealand in, but it looked at one point that it just wasn't going to happen. We even got laughed out of one place when we said how much money we wanted to spend! But just when all hope was lost... We found Margery (that's what we've named her. To be honest Ben's not totally committed to the whole naming thing but I think he'll be won over!). She's a little two birth campervan with a fridge and sink and stuff and a table and chairs that folds down Into a double bed (we're not actually sure yet if Ben fits on it though!). She's not exactly a spring chicken though, in fact she'll be celebrating her 21st birthday this year! Plus she's done almost 350 000 kms and there's a bit of a knack to closing the door, but she goes, and at the bargain price of less then two thousand pounds it would have been rude not to! So we've spent a lot of time cleaning her, kitting her out, getting advice from campervan owning neighbours and preparing for life on the open road (this preparation includes us singing a song with the line "Long distance Benji" repeated over and over!).
Ben:
More photos are here
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