New Country, New Chapter!!

A lot has happened since our last blog in a space of a couple of weeks. Firstly we left Los Angeles to Nadi in Fiji , we flew with Fiji airlines which has now become one of my favourite airlines as for the first time ever the plane food was lovely. I usually hate plane food and go hungry as I can't eat what has been served to me but we were served fresh chicken curry, fruit salad, brownies and a mini twix, yummy! When we arrived in Fiji we had already flown through the time zone so instead of being eight hours behind UK we were now eleven hours in front so we had basically lost a whole day which  was really hard to get my head around.

Fiji Islands.. 

We had a few hours to kill in Nadi before we had to board our next plane to Auckland we were given the option of whether or not we wanted to go through customs or stay in airport. Of course it was a no brainer for us , so through customs we went and off we went to explore. Even though it was only six am and an overcast day the temperature was still fairly high. It turned out the airport is in the middle of no where, just a tiny rural town close by. The locals we in countered were all really friendly with not a single one passing us without smiling or saying 'Bula' which is hello in Fijian. One other thing we noticed whilst we were there is how cheap Fiji is the British Pound practically triples there as this is going off airport food prices. So even though it was a very short visit we both were impressed and hope to go back to spend some more time there and hopefully do some island hopping.

Auckland Sky Tower..

We got into Auckland around tea time that evening we headed towards border control we got to our desk and got asked what our purpose of our visit was where we replied that we were on a working holiday visa she scanned our passports and said we were all set. I naively asked her where did we have to go for our working visa to be authorised to which she replied I have seen them online your all set to go! In my defence in Canada we had to go into a separate room for our visas! We next went to catch our bus Paul had managed to book us a hostel that was right next to one of the bus stops which was handy as he hadn't realised this when booking. When we got on to the bus I noticed there was free local SIM cards so we picked two up as we had already decided that this time around we were going to get New Zealand Numbers to make life easier for us. It was dark and raining when we got off the bus we got to our hostel to check in they had no record of us turned out there was two hostels from the same company , my heart dropped but was quickly lifted again once they said our hostel was just a few doors down on the same street, phew! So we finally got checked in had some free cottage pie courtesy of our hostel and off to bed we went.

The next morning we woke up and headed out to apply for our IRD numbers which is New Zealand  UK's national insurance number, we also activated our new sims and topped them up, with your first
top up you got a free five minute international call this was great as it was my mum birthday so I was able to surprise her with a phone call, it was really strange to speak on my mobile as I hadn't done that the whole time in Canada. What had already been in my eyes a productive day turned out even more so that evening when we got an email off a website we had joined aimed at finding places to live in Queenstown (where we were heading in a couple of days to try and set roots) asking if we're still looking for a place. After a few text exchanges and a picture of the view from the properties balcony which was a stunning lake view. We had secured a place to stay for when we would arrive we will be sharing with Kat who is from the Czech Republic and turns out had been in Canada just
before she had came out to New Zealand and had been living in Canmore! What a crazy small world this is.

Queenstown from one of our mountain runs! 

We genuinely couldn't believe our luck a job for Paul and a place to live all before we had even set foot in Queenstown. We were able to enjoy Auckland for the remaining amount of Stay with so much already achieved . We visited parks and markets and were lucky enough to get up the Sky Tower on our last evening there as we finally had a clear day( the rest of the time we had been greeted by rain). I was also reunited with a good friend from school who I hadn't seen in Six years Cat and her husband Rupert as they had also just arrived a few days before us on a year working visa , it also turned out were heading to Queenstown to set up Camp for a while, again it really is a small world we live in!
It was time to say goodbye to Auckland and the North island and board our final plane for a while to the South Island and Queenstown . We arrived mid afternoon and headed straight for town to drop off our bags with our new housemate who had kindly offered us a lift to where we would be calling home for the near future once she had finished work. Once we had our first face to face contact with Kat we left her to finish work and went exploring Paul went to say Hello to his new work colleagues and have a look around the shop.

Queenstown towards the bottom of South Island NZ.

Within a few hours we were in love with Queenstown and were really happy with our new home. Paul had noticed a trail path right next to the lake whilst on the bus from the airport turns out the path can be taken all the way to Queenstown it's just over 5k from our house to heart of Queenstown but with our stunning surroundings it really doesn't feel that long. So it was now down to searching for a job for myself to complete the puzzle. I had my heart set on trying to get back into the outdoor industry out here don't get me wrong I met some lovely people during my time in Canada but I wanted to get back to what I was really passionate about.  I noticed most places weren't hiring yet as it was shoulder season but I found an outdoor shop that had a hiring sign and it was none other than Macpac which is one of New Zealand premium brands turns out they were wanting someone straight away (I thought this is going to be too good to be true) but as luck would have it I got the job !

So far Queenstown as become a dream come true for us both it has just been under two weeks since moving here but we have already settled into a routine of walking and running to and from work and are both enjoying our jobs. We have started exploring the trails in our free time but there is still so much to explore I don't think we are going to get bored!  We have also entered the world famous 'Tarawera 100k' which is in March next year and has just been announced as being part of the 'Ultra Trail World Tour' so hopefully get to meet some more of idols!

Can't wait to race here! 

Thanks for reading
Gemma & Paul x