Becoming Accustomed

OK so after nearly being here two years you start to get used to the kiwi food.

Now I am not complaining. NZ has some of the most amazing cuisine, Maori being one of the most fascinating. With us just acquiring a fantastic recipe for some 'Maori Bread' from one of Michael's work mates, I am looking forward to giving it a go this weekend. Michael was kindly given some to bring home for his family (thanks Olive!) and it was just brilliant.

Yet sadly, I must say the quality of other Ethnic food here is appalling!

If you are thinking of moving here please do not think that you will be able to get the same Indian, Chinese or Turkish food that you are used to. I am confused a little where it all went wrong - or who is right. Which country has the right style of cooking?? Or are non of them right??

We have yet to find a decent Indian or Chinese place. The meals are so very different and that changes from place to place. Ingredients are different, names are different and taste is very VERY different. Kiwi's are known for liking things mild and will easily run a mile at the sight of a chili, and so maybe this is why it has ended up like it has.

Chinese food is all the same, bland and full of veggies like Broccoli and Cauliflower. If you go to an Indian here in Wellington its a joke amongst expats to make a point of asking for your food 'English Hot'...

So why am I talking about food?? Well of course first off it is my thing, I don't look like I do from living on lettuce you know! Mainly it's because for the first time ever I took a trip to the Cool Britannia shop the other day and decided I would chose one item that would remind me of my life in England.

There was heaps of rubbish in there, it puzzles me as to how they stay in business - do people purposely go in and spend $10 on a packet of crisps??

And so the challenge was on...what did I like to eat?? What was the snack that invaded my work desk? The snack I would sneak when I needed 'something'?

Is it possible to go from NZ cuisine to Pot Noodle in one post?

Maybe not. But I can honestly say it was one of the most horrible meals I have ever had!! So much for the memories!!

A simple thing like a Pot Noodle made me smile, it made me laugh, but most of all it made me appreciate that the Kiwi cuisine really isn't THAT bad after all.

Are Wii Fit?!

Michael surprised me tonight with a present...well he actually said it was for me but described it as 'something for us all'!

Wii Fit arrived at our home and we have never stopped laughing since.

You get a little balance board that you pop down on the floor and to start with it measures your weight, height and fitness level. Bethany had a go first and came out with a perfect rate for her age, but when Michael and I got on it we were greeted with 'obese' and some fat mii's were born!!

I personally was treated to a fitness age of 37!!!! (and for those of you who don't know thats a +9 years!). Michael however was that little bit closer -thank you F3 for making my hubby fit!

So far we have been enjoying the fun of the balancing games which include tightrope walking, skiing, and football!

Also Michael has just tested out the Yoga and is a pro already. As I type this he is doing the jogging part of it with the Wii remote in his pocket!!

I can see this is going to either kill us laughing or kill us physically.

For the oldies lets all say together - 'eee back in our day' as there was non of this 'technology' stuff. And for those of us today lets embrace the beauty and become wiii-ly fit!

A Mixed Bag Weekend

Well it's been a quiet weekend, with Denver still not allowed out for another 5 weeks our big plans to head off for mammoth walks have been dashed.

Luckily for us Denver doesn't really know what a 'decent' walk are so he is happy just spending time with us. He does however love chasing the Fantails in the garden, and as there are many it keeps him busy!

Bored of the dog photos yet? Awww too bad - many more to come yet!

Saturday I went to a Nutrimetics party at Kaela's house. I had never heard of Nutrimetics, but apparently it's something well known to the Kiwi's for 40 years now. It was actually really good fun and we got to hear about and test the various products. We were also lured into a deep state of consciousness at the Relaxation Stage of the party which was surprising. After a wine I ended up spending some of our hard earned dollars on some beautiful products. I'm always the sucker for stuff like this.

Later in the day we met with our gorgeous friends Dawn and Darren at Murphys Law Irish Bar in Petone. It's been a while since we caught up so it was lovely to enjoy a drink and some food together. On the way there we caught sight of the most stunning rainbow which danced along the highway with us.

Sunday was lazy like a Sunday should be - well except for the grocery shopping!

Wellington has some lovely supermarkets, they range from Pak'nSave (the same as Aldi in the UK) to Woolworths (which is like Sainsbury's in the UK) but all have some exceptional produce. In between that lot is Countdown which we feel has the lowest prices (and they pack your bags for you too!).

We like to take Denver with us and he now travels like a super star in the car (minus the champers) and although he doesn't look it here he is a happy little soul!

So here we are shopping at Countdown, doing the important stuff.

What was our purpose for this shopping trip?! (Notice the healthy stuff in there too!).

And Bethany doing what she does best at the Supermarket (or Subermarket as she calls it!).

And of course anyone shopping that day must have took home some of this yummy looking produce. Anyone for a bag of Ass Ole Pieces?! Nice.

Shopping: $389

Last minute lollipop: 89c

Leaving the supermarket with a smile on our faces: Priceless.

Thanks to whoever deliberately put the 'special' sticker on that day!

Wellington Parking Problems

I always thought that although parking in Wellington can be some-what limited, it was never over priced enough to start a violent campaign against the council. Someone else however decided that parking up on The Terrace, Wellington was either too expensive or too stressful!

Driving lessons anyone?

Going Walkies

The car had to go in the garage today for it's WOF (MOT to those of you in the UK!) and so we had to use good old fashioned leg power to get us around.

Denver and I dropped Bethany off at Kindy and then we dropped the car off at the garage and walked home. Then we had to walk back to Kindy to pick up Bethany and then walk home again, and THEN we had to walk back to get the car. Anyone who knows me knows I don't do exercise and well when a usual 10 minute journey takes 45 minutes each time because of Denver-the-stop-every-second-to-smell-something-dog, I was about beside myself!

Anyway on the last journey to get the car I took the trusty camera. Bethany walked Denver, we met Trixie our neighbours older SPCA rescue and then Bethany took charge of the camera.

Here are some of the photos Bethany took:

A simple walked turned into laughter at being tied up in a lead numerous times, reflective interest of what photo Bethany could take next, and major annoyance for every 'break' along the way.

But I must admit, it was the best walk I have had so far and can't wait for some more with my two kids.

Just Beachy

Denver went and had his 2nd jab last week and his stitches taken out, that all went well and he was really well behaved considering the massive prodding and poking he had to endure. I did however find out that he was still due another jab and that it will be another 6 weeks before he is allowed out for a proper walk!

It's all due to the risk of Parvovirus, a deadly disease which can kill unvaccinated dogs. I did discuss this however with our vet and she advised he would be OK to mix with other puppies and he would be able to walk on beaches where the land is cleared by the ocean...sooo this is what we did today!!

Today was Denver's first trip to the beach! We decided to go to Houghton Bay as that has a 'woof woof' area and he had a fantastic time.

Jo, Sammy and Davey joined us (as they live just over the road from the beach) and the kids took turns playing with him, making sandcastles which he would just walk all over and playing chase - it was fantastic. Jo even brought a cup of tea down for me!!

For now though he still isn't allowed to mix with adult dogs or into areas which has had much doggy use. He is getting bigger by the day though and lucky for us he is enjoying the sunshine and loving having free reign of the garden so spends time outside.

Mixed blessings though I think, its wonderful having Denver in our lives, he has already brought so much joy and laughter to our home, yet I didn't realise to what extent it would be like having a baby in the house all over again!

Bouncing Back

Denver is settling in well to our family and it's crazy that it feels like he has always been here.

Bethany however took some adjusting to the new addition. To her it was like someone else had come in and taken all the glory, taken all the love and taken all the laughs, and she found that hard despite us not actually changing anything we did with her!

So it was time to get out our back up plan to making her feel better - and it worked. They say money cant buy love but it can certainly buy the happiness and contentment of a 4 year old!

We have had a magical weekend with some of the most hilarious moments, long live the dry sunny days so we can enjoy many more harmonious family weekends!

The Dream Is Over

The summer commute to work was awesome. Hot bright summer mornings, leaving home at 6.30am to blast along State Highway 2 on the motorbike, not sitting in the queues at traffic lights but filtering to the front.

The stark reality is that for the coming months, the train is likely to be the method of commute as the winter mornings are going to be cold.

It's not yet officially winter, and here's the weather station reporting the outdoor and indoor temperature at 6.15am when I managed to drag myself out of bed the other morning! Heading out into 1.3C isn't how I like to start my day!

Puppy School

Sheesh, I am shattered.

I have just returned from Denver's first night at Puppy Training School. Lets just say it was VERY interesting!!

Arrival was set up by Denver being sick in the car, then once inside the huge grass area where there must have been more than 100 dogs he just went wild. He wanted to be with every dog and nearly choked himself to death trying to achieve it.

Once our names were called we headed into a separate area where there were 7 other puppies, all ranging from 3 - 8 months and all different breeds from the tiny Shi Tzu (who by the way the lady proudly told others she paid $3500 for!) to the huge Alsatian. Denver was not at all fazed by any dogs regardless of it's size!

The lesson started and after 10 minutes I just sunk back and sat with Denver on the grass. Deflated really at the fact all the other dogs seemed to respond to what was going on, but all Denver could do was pull and pull and pull and choke and choke and choke. He is a big puppy and he is really strong too - exhausting work.

The trainer running the class came over to see what was going on, I asked if the other puppies had been coming a while as they were so good - I didn't want the answer that it was only their second week!

After some encouragement we joined in with some sitting, laying and walking exercises, still hard work as all Denver wanted to do was run and jump at everything. I was starting to feel a little fed up with the whole thing when the trainer came over and changed Denver's collar to a harness, from there things started to pick up. He sat much better on demand, seemed a lot easier to walk and despite being worked up horrendously he was much calmer.

Anyway despite a good old runny number 2 (sorry but I had to mention it!) right in the middle of the class so people had to step round me whilst I tried to clear it up - it all went rather well.

I hung around afterwards to talk to the trainers and ended up having a really good chat to all 3 in the office afterwards. I got some fantastic encouragement and some brilliant advice which I can now put into effect this week.

I do need extra help with him and I wasn't afraid to ask. We have only had him a week and there are some things I already don't know how to control and what the right way is to approach it. Denver has grown up in a pen with 10 other puppies and he has been allowed to play, fight and poo wherever he wanted to, so it's all going to take time.

I am sooo looking forward to the challenge, he is going to be a big dog and we want him to be the sweetest dog anyone can ever have, with the right direction I can see that's going to be easier than I thought.

Right now I'm enjoying a well deserved wine whilst Denver snores asleep on his bed. A good result and I am pleased, looking forward to next week now!

Mr Earthquake

(picture: GeoNet website)

So we are sitting here tonight and again I say 'what was that' and Michael, aka Mr Earthquake turns to me and says 'it was an earthquake baby'.

Of course not wanting to disbelieve my hubby I constantly hit refresh on the GeoNet website till it brings up the proof. Yep a 3.6 hits Upper Hutt.

Awww, our first Upper Hutt earthquake!

That Dog Smell

Yep, it's official our home smells of nothing but dog - and we love it!!

Denver is settling in fantastically well, we were worried the nights would be hard and we would be up with him for some reason, but the last two nights have been perfect, with him settling down wonderfully and only rising at 7am.

The next week is just going to be full of blog posts on him as we can't go anywhere with him yet! He needs to have his second puppy jab and his stitches taken out before he can socialise which isn't till next Friday, we are however lucky to have a big garden and we are enjoying our adventures with him around there.

Thank you to everyone who welcomed Denver and commented on the last post, we have also had some lovely emails - thank you. I did however notice no-one mentioned anything about his breed....you know - about him being a 'dangerous dog'...?

My reason for mentioning this is something that has been on my mind for a while - when we decided to adopt Denver we started telling people we were getting a puppy and people were pleased for us, then when they asked what breed he was and I said 'a Bullmastiff and Staffordshire Bull Terrier cross' their reactions changed. Faces would curl up or they would flinch, and some even proceeded to advise me on how dangerous these types of dogs are, and that I was irresponsible for bringing one into my home when I have a small child (yes someone actually said that to me!!).

I don't really have much to say on this as I am not wasting my time on these people, but I have been shocked by the response - I didn't realise people could be so silly and small minded.

Anyway, Denver the rescue pup is fantastic, we are having so much fun and he is the most gentle caring puppy I have ever met. He has warmed to us, sleeps on our knees and wants to be involved with everything we do, he plays carefully with Bethany and is already responding to our routines without any fuss.

Consider the fact that Denver is now blowing raspberries at all you small minded people!!

Denver Dawes - The Rescue Pup

On Sunday we decided that was the day. That was the day we were going to add to our family and finally become a 4, that was the day we found Denver.

We headed to the SPCA in Newtown to view the puppies they had there. We went along the line, the puppies were as you can imagine gorgeous, each with their own individual characteristics, all with there little sad puppy eyes and all just wanting a home. At the end of the line Michael and I looked at each other and said at the same time 'can we see that black one'.

He was named by the SPCA as Ozzy, we were put into a pen with him and spent 15 minutes getting to know him. Then and there we decided we wanted him. We had to complete some Adoption Forms and were told we would need to buy a kennel as that's part of the law of having a dog here, so off we trundled to get one. On Tuesday I called in to the SPCA to see him and give him a cuddle before he was to go for his snipping and chipping (he was getting neutered and micro-chipped).

Yesterday the SPCA called to say he came out of his operation well and they were just waiting on a house inspection before letting him go. Luckily later that day we had a visit and all was signed off and here we are!!

I went down today at 1pm and collected him, he came home in his little jersey which he has grown up with and the SPCA staff were so happy to see him find a home yet so sad to see him go, it was heartwarming to see the devotion of the SPCA staff.

So you want to meet him? Well here he is, three months old and just gorgeous - meet Denver.

Coming home:

Enjoying the first night with his new family: Exhaused from all the fun:

Denver Dawes - with a name like that he can be nothing but amazing!