Seeing the sights and the arrival of Mum and Dad!

Ive been able to be a bit of a tourist over the last week.  On one day I went out for a walk from Rachel's place, walked off to Hyde park and to Kensington palace and wandered around Hyde park, the Royal Albert Hall, the Princess Diana memorial fountain, Hyde Park Corner - and got to see lots of squirrels along the way.  I got to about 6.30pm in the evening, realised that I hadn't eaten all day as I had been too busy walking, and my legs were really sore.. so I hoped on the underground and made my way home. It was a good day.

   

Ive made a trip out to Sutton in Surrey where Rachel works, and spent an afternoon there.  There aren't too many sights to see so I got to have a lazy afternoon at the movies.  We did however have a yum pub lunch.

On Wednesday, Mum and Dad arrived in London :) Rachel went out to Heathrow to meet them.

So the last couple of days have been spent with Mum, Dad and me doing the hop on hop off tour - we spent two mornings going around the tours and listening to to the guides and then the afternoon seeing the sights by feet.  We also got to do a river cruise.

And today, we are off to Morocco! :)

Barbies on the rooftop!

More beautiful weather, in fact today was a scorcher. Rachel and I went for a run to Hyde park this morning and then had a lie on the grass by the lake to do some other exercises, I almost died... I would like to just blame the heat and jet lag but I won't make excuses, I'm just unfit at the moment - Rachel was a good motivator though so I will be sore tomorrow!

Tonight we had barbeques on the roof of Rachel and Steve's flat.  We picked up some little instant barbeques from Poundland for one pound (funny that aye), climbed onto the roof through the window and enjoyed our barbequed meat with salad and a yummy desert.  A great evening!

Rach climbing through the window (from that look, I don't think she wanted me to take a photo)

Personal bbqs

Manning the bbq - note that meat wasn't only for me!

Stevo looking pretty stoked

Rach, Stevo, their flatmates and me

Rach with her bbq on the roof

First week in London

My first weekend in London was a great one... Saturday morning, Rachel and I went to Kiwi house and I got to meet a couple of her friends.  We got to watch a bit of the kiwis in action, have some kiwi beer and ciders and we got to meet Sarah Walker the NZ BMXer that won silver here in London.  After that Rachel, Shauna and I wandered around London, saw a few of the sites, enjoyed ice cream and waffles, had a look at another couple of the international houses for the olympics and then went to a terrace bar to enjoy a wine in the sun.  The weather has been amazing, sun and warmth which is nice after the weather we have had in NZ and the lack of sun over our past summer.  We ended up at a bar called the Walkabout which is an Australasian bar and took in more of the olympic action on the big screens. 

Kiwis at Kiwi house

Silver medal

Kim, Sarah Walker and Rach

 

Sisters

Lunch - Wild boar and venison!

Kim, Rach and Shauna

Sunday was a bit of a quieter day with Rachel and I doing some more planning and booking for our upcoming travels and then we went and did a bit of a shop with Stevo and had a nice pizza lunch out followed by a Roast dinner - lots of home comforts!

During the week I attended a couple of appointments and got all my bank accounts sorted.  My UK registration with the HPC came through so that's all paid and I'm registered so am now allowed to work as an occupational therapist over here which I am stoked about - it's been about 3-4 months of waiting for that to come through so I'm happy I've got it.

I went and explored the science museum and have done a fair bit of wandereing around and exploring.  Wednesday I got to spend the day with my good friend Nikki who I met working with Becky, and Nikki lives over here so that was good. We went to go see the show 'Wicked' which I thoroughly enjoyed.  

Nikki - because I promised I would post this pic! :)

M&M world in London

I got to see another show on Friday when I went with Rachel, Steve and a bunch of their mates to see 'Blood Brothers' another good show!  


Last night we went round to a birthday party for a flatmate of Shauna's and had a fun night of croquet and cherades and a barbeque dinner in the wonderful English summer... got to make the most of this as I know the days of sun are going to be limited.

The traveling continues

So I boarded my plane and departed Brisbane about 12.30pm heading for Auckland.  An uneventful flight, we didn’t crash which is always a good thing and I was met at the airport by my mama and papa.  The reason for flying back to Auckland was due to the pricing, for me to fly from either Brisbane or Sydney at the time I booked was significantly more expensive than flying back to Auckland and then Auckland to London, so that was what I did.  Mum and Dad came up from Hamilton to meet me at the airport when I arrived about 5pm and we went out of the airport, did a bit of shopping and had dinner before heading back to the airport for me to check in again.  My next flight departed Auckland at 11.50pm.

So really the next day or so was spent flying or at the airports.  I flew from Auckland to Singapore and had a couple of hours at Changi airport before boarding again and traveling Singapore to London.  It was a lot of traveling and unfortunately on all three flights I think I got a total of no more than an hour and a half sleep.  I watched lots of movies and TV though and finished the book I was reading.  I arrived in London and had no concerns getting through, I entered on my British Passport so for the second time in my life I am a Brit.  I am always slightly concerned going through as my British Passport has only ever been used for me to enter England in 2008, travel around Europe and then leave England again, therefore I have absolutely no stamps in it – I am always expecting to be asked why am I returning to England on a British passport that doesn’t show that I have actually been in any other country. But then I again had no issues and sped through customs – it feels too easy!

Rachel met me at the airport – I have had several countdowns on my phone since earlier in the year and one of them was counting down till I got to hug Rachel again. So good to see her and to know that we are living in the same country again.

So here I am, in London and now living in London.  I am currently staying with Rachel and Steve, sleeping on their couch.  Mum and Dad arrive in London on 22nd August and a few days after that we head off to do some travelling.  Very excited about all that.  The next few months in addition to the travelling is going to be sorting out bank accounts, National Insurance numbers of which I have to have a meeting regarding proof of identify for, and doing some trainings that I need to do to work as an Occupational Therapist over here.  I have applied to work through a recruitment agency over here and have filled out all their forms, read all the handbooks and completed a few tests so far as part of the process, so hopefully when October comes I will be all ready to start doing some work.

A week to remember – Good friends and good times

I had a good trip over to Brisbane and was met at the airport by my good friend Kirstie (who I met at Uni during my first year of occupational therapy) and her two little girls – Abigail who is two turning three end of September and Sarah who is one turning two beginning of December.  Last time I caught up with Kirstie, her husband Jonathan and their girls was in February when we spent a few nights together in Wellington and I always love catching up with them.  

So I arrived on the Wednesday, and Thursday morning we had a nice relaxing morning as we packed up to go camping.  We headed to Murphy’s Creek which is near Toowoomba about an hour and a half from Brisbane.    We set up tent and explored our surroundings a bit.  We spent two nights sleeping in the tent.  During the day we spent our time playing, exploring Toowoomba, did a bit of geocaching which I have recently introduced to Kirstie and Jonathan and they have really taken to, playing pole tennis, throwing Frisbees, reading books, walks around the creek by the campsite and walks to the facilities and to collect water from the drinking water taps.  We had a campfire every morning and night and they were a great source of light and warmth.  In the evenings we had some awesome meals cooked by Kirstie on the camp stove and we toasted marshmallows on the campfire.  Abigail loved toasting the marshmallows and loved eating them as well which was awesome.  Once the girls were in bed us big kids kept our selves entertained by playing Rummikub, reading and playing Super Stickman Golf on the ipad and ipods.   

We packed up camp on Saturday and returned to Brisbane.  I cleaned the car with the help of the girls – bubbles and scrubbing the wheels with toothbrushes had Abigail engaged for wee while.  Sunday after church we went for a meal at Sizzlers and I have to say I do love that place – all you can eat salad bar but the salad bar has all sorts including nachos and seafood, and lots of desert :).  We all did the all you can eat justice and after that it was home for a well-earned nap.  Monday we went and played some pitch and putt golf, congrats to Jono who won that, Kirstie and I came a tied close second (well maybe not so close) and then it was off to explore another playground in Brisbane – They live in Underwood and I have to say I was extremely impressed by the playgrounds that we found and played on while I was there, something for all ages including us big kids.   

Tuesday I went with Kirstie and the girls to Kirstie’s appointment at the hospital and helped keep the girls entertained while we were waiting.

I had a great week in Brisbane; it is always good to catch up with Kirstie, Jono and the girls.  I love spending time with Kirstie; she is a real inspiration as a woman, as a wife and as a mother to her beautiful girls.  I love spending time talking gadgets and technology with Jonathan.  And the girls – well, I am proud to be ‘Auntie’ to them.  I love spending time with them and watching them as they grow up, getting to play with them and explore and learn new things, I love being woken up in the morning by them both and love my morning cuddles with Abigail when she hops into bed with me just to lie there, they are both well behaved and polite little girls and so much fun to be around.

Wednesday morning Kirstie and the girls took me to the airport for me to start my next journey.  It was hard saying goodbye as I love spending time with them and they are going to grow so much while I am gone.  They like talking to me on Skype though so I take comfort knowing I will continue to get my ‘fix’ of Abigail and Sarah (and the new addition due late December) via Skype and through our letters we exchange.

 

Story time with Auntie Kim

Playing in the dirt

More stories while camp is being setup

Jonathan and Kirstie

Abigail

Kookabura sits on the old man's head (not that I'm calling you old Jono!)

Girl's time

Doing a bit of caching

Checking out the horsey after church

I want to fly high!

Flying - I think she likes it!

Pitch and Putt

Sarah enjoying the slide

Playground fun

Messy play - playing with shaving cream (or eating it)