Little happy dance!

Well, thank you everyone for your good luck wishes - they meant so much :-)

I had a bit of a rush in the morning - on top of it being an evilly early start (well, given that we are used to waking up at 7 and then dozing till 9, having to be out of the house at 7.45 was nasty!), the train then ended up running about five minutes late, and, as it was packed with commuters, it took me five minutes to get out of the station. Unfortunately, as I'd only left 15 minutes to get to the interview, I therefore only had 5 minutes, and it was exactly 5 minutes walk away! So I was a bit out of breath when I got in; fortunately, they weren't waiting for me, and I was able to sit and chat a bit with the receptionist to regain my composure (she lives up the line from us, so I was able to get a bit of information about the train services).

The interview itself went ok - nothing "zingy" - I was able to answer all of the questions, using examples from my previous job (which is the way they like doing things here). I liked the two interviewers, Kerry, who is doing both this role and the managerial one, and Dion, who is one of the key internal customers of the role - we were able to chat as well as be more formal. However, I didn't really walk away with the feeling that the job was in the bag. It also didn't help that I wasn't coming from a government background, and, early on in the interview, they said that Kerry's position was also being replaced, and the person that they'd got in came from a similar background to me; a private IT position, rather than within government. As the position includes providing advice and support around procurement policies and practice, I didn't think that they would want two people who didn't have that much internal knowledge of the policies!

As I left, I was told that they had a number of other people to see that day, and they would let me know on Monday (Kerry was going to South Island for a long weekend on Thursday morning).

So, I wasn't overly hopeful. I did perk up when I got to the station, and popped into the supermarket there to find that they are doing instant coffee at about half the price of our local supermarket. As we were down to our last cup, I picked up a packet of very good Espresso!

We were going out in the evening to our next Sci-fi meeting, so I made us a cooked lunch, rather waiting for an evening meal, and generally bimbled round the afternoon. (Scrabble on Facebook is a very good way of passing time, particularly if you are playing with someone in the same room as you...)

Then, just as we were thinking of having a little something for tea (we picked up a *very* nice coffee and walnut cake at the farmers' market this week), the phone rang.

It was Kerry, and as I wasn't anticipating being called before Monday, I presumed that it was bad news.

However...

They have decided to offer me the job! Apparently I gave them the confidence that I could do the job, and I also learnt the value of being friendly to everyone - they had asked the receptionist to do an informal opinion on the candidates - and she liked me, too!

It's not a formal job offer yet, as I have to do an online psychometric test and they have to talk to my references first, which won't happen until Kerry gets back from holiday. However, all being well, I will start work as a Contracts Adviser for a government ministry at the beginning of February. The pay is good, and will cover our outgoings with a little bit left over for fun stuff. And, even better, they get paid fortnightly, which means that I will get paid before the money runs out (well, until I'd have to organise the next transfer over from the UK). Just. (we will have less than $400 in the bank - we'd run out 4 days later!)

The Sci-fi meeting was therefore especially good - we were at a new pub for a "what I did on my holidays" chat, and I've found a *very* nice brand of cider!

And to make the week even better, our belongings have now arrived in New Zealand, and have been checked by MAF, with nothing needing to be cleaned. So all we have to do is wait for Customs to clear them, and then we will have all of our stuff to play with, too!

So huge smiles all round - it really takes away the stress. We still have to be careful financially until I get paid, but once that has happened, we can really relax and enjoy our new home!

Fingers crossed, please...

Well, the offices are slowly coming back after the Christmas holidays, and I had a phone call today from a government ministry who would like me to go in for an interview at O Dark o'clock on Wednesday. (I didn't think that government departments opened before 9!!) It's for a job that I'd love to do - essentially working on the "other side of the fence" to the role that I had in the UK, assisting with the creation of tenders and contracts within the Ministry, and then monitoring the suppliers once they have won the contract. I know that I can do it, and do it well - the trick is now to convince the interviewers!

So, please keep your fingers crossed very tightly for me at 7.30pm GMT on Tuesday (8.30 am Wednesday New Zealand time) - now I need to go and actually read what I put on my CV and application form! ;-)

In other news, we have had a great couple of days with Judy and Scott who came down from Auckland for a Wellington visit. They came over for Sunday lunch - my first bit of formal entertaining in the new house, and, even with a couple of minor issues (the stuffed chicken breasts took an hour to cook instead of 20 minutes - lesson learned that they shouldn't be piled on top of each other, and we had mismatching cutlery and crockery (particularly glasses and pudding dishes - I had my pudding on a pyrex lid!), I think it all went very well - we had a really great time. Then John and I went into Wellington today to meet up with them, and we spent the day strolling round the Te Papa museum, and chatting a lot more! (Scott and John didn't get much of a word in edgeways with Judy and me chattering away :-) ) We also went up the Cable car and had a little bit of a wander in the Botanical Gardens, with a very friendly young sparrow, who had obviously only just been pushed out of the nest - he came up to us whilst we were on a bench, hopped to our feet and opened his mouth! Unfortunately, by the time I could slip past and get some seeds from the grass to feed him, he had flown away and only came back to bother some other tourists. I'm sure he will do very well if he learns to target the workers when they are out eating their sandwiches!

Hayward Scenic Reserve (warning - photo heavy)

There are also a couple of photos of an itty bitty pretty spider further down - just warning those of my readers who don't particularly like spiders...

Well, it was a glorious day today, after a window rattling storm last night, and I decided to take another trip out to the reserve. This time I remembered what the name was! (well, I took a photo of it as an aide memoire...)



I timed it this time, and it is actually a whole 25 minutes walk from our door to the stile

(see what I mean about the steps up?)

The woodlands were as quiet as they were on New Year's Day, just me, birdsong and insects, including dragonflies:


The ground was a little wet underfoot from the rain of the night before



There was a real "jungle" feel to the bush.





And I wasn't kidding about the tree roots being used as steps:


The path was very steep at times


and after about half an hour of climbing, I came out to the same fire break that I had been walking in on New Year's Day (so, phew, I wasn't trespassing!)


The dusty ground was covered in insects (memo to self, next time take repellent!) Fortunately, none of them seemed to be biting (at least, I haven't come up in lumps yet...), and I discovered the reason just the other side of the sign post:


The view here was magnificent

and I played the "I can see our house from here" game. (unfortunately, I have better eyes than the camera - the best that I can give you is that it is just above the grey patch to the right of the white blob (which is Waterloo Station), just above the right edge of the track)

But there was still quite a way to go


and as I got higher, the views got even better!





The hills and the fire break path stretched off to the horizon


The hill was really rather steep, and there was always one more peak once I crested each hill, and I was very grateful to the man who passed me as he was heading down and told me that there really wasn't any further to go once I got to the top of this climb. "Unless, of course, you want to go to the radio and telephone mast. But this is the top of this ridge."

See what I mean about the steep hill?


On the other side of the ridge was Arakura



The fire break, being bare of any real vegetation, had a very interesting layered rock structure

Unfortunately, slightly crumbly underfoot, particularly when trying to go downhill!

I then took a look over to see how far the masts were that the man had mentioned.

It didn't look that far...

At the top of the next hill

It doesn't look too steep!

However, I hadn't learned my lessons from the climb before. Yes, it was that steep!


But this really was the last one


There was the occasional splash of colour amongst the green bush


Just the other side of the masts, there was a look out giving a magnificent view of Wellington


I then spent quite a while paparazzing a Tui until it got bored of hiding from the camera and flew away:






and decided to take a different route back to the one that I came up (and I did not fancy heading straight back down the fire break - too much of a potential to fall and break my ankle, and I didn't fancy being part of a mountain rescue!


I loved the way the different tracks were given names


As I got to a break in the bush, I could see the road that ended in the Reserve entrance - whilst I was high up, it couldn't be that far to go, could it?


I was glad that the track had been marked, as it was squishy underfoot and, at times, it seemed like I was actually walking down a stream rather than a path (fortunately, I only slipped once, and managed to keep myself from going over completely)



I kept on seeing this plant with orange berries. It was obvious that they weren't poisonous to birds (as I could also tell where the birds perched after eating them!), but I wasn't going to take a chance and see what they tasted like!

(a bit of Googling later, and I suspect it might be a Coprosma robusta karamu, and therefore not poisonous. I think I might have to get myself a book of edible NZ plants for next time I go out...)

As I headed downwards, the track changed name, and I wasn't sure whether I trusted the new one...

I could cope with the 'zig zag', but if I was actually walking down a creek, then, given the dampness of the path further up, I could easily find myself wading...

Round the bend I startled a Kereru (more prosaically known as a Wood pigeon, but I prefer the Maori name!)


Feeling a tickle on my hand, I looked down and saw this little fellow. S/he was absolutely tiny - as a guide to scale, the links on my watch are 9mm long...



(and, ooops, the time on my watch was the time I'd said to John that I'd be home... Fortunately, I had the phone on me, so I was able to give him a call and say that I'd be a weeny bit longer!)

Once more, I was glad for the sign that had confirmed that this was actually a track when I had to jump across a crevice in the ground.

I crossed the stream that ran through that crevice a further four times whilst zig-zagging down the hill - fortunately, that was the only jump.

Whilst most of the bush was varying colours of green with ferns and trees (very little grass), there was the occasional colourful plant.



I got to an interesting intersection - a T-junction where the options were down:

or up:

Neither looked particularly promising! And, whilst pondering, I did end up having the Zaphod / Lift argument from HitchHiker's Guide to the Galaxy
"We'd like to go Up, please."
"Have you considered all the possibilities that Down has to offer?"
"Like what?"
"Well, the basement, the heating system, the microfiles. It may not sound like much, but it is an alternative."
I decided to go Up...

Then I got distracted by a Piwikawaka (boring name: Fantail). This little bird must be collecting the agonised screams of twitchers - it landed on a branch almost directly in front of me, called a bit and fluffed out its tail to make sure that I'd seen it, then waited for the little whir of my camera focussing, held his pose, then took off as the shutter clicked. And landed on another branch close by! I got quite a few photos of undergrowth and trees before I got a couple which actually had him in it...



Fortunately, Up was the right decision, and I emerged back onto the main track about five minutes later. Another five minutes down the hill, and I came to where Down would probably have emerged from, so I think I would have been ok going that way, too. But as it was close to quarter to six, and John had expected me home at five, I decided that I would have to return to explore that path another day...

I got home just after five past six - three hours after I'd set out - I think I've avoided sunburn (thank you factor 30) and had a brilliant time!