First Week

I arrived last wednesday here in Wellington, New Zealand, to start a new job at company MMC. At the airport I was collected by a so called runner who drove me to The Duxton, my hotel in down town Wellington. I was wide awake so I walked through town for a number of hours and felt that things were very friendly and civilized indeed. The weather was cool and a bit windy, so much different than the LA heat :-)

On Thursday I was driven to a bank where they opened an account for me (I even got a credit card, something one normally get after a 6 month waiting period, it appeared that a letter from MMC was sufficient). Contrary to the States, there are fees for every little transaction. Then on to the MMC company where I had an orientation i.e. an explanation of how things work over there. Got a driving lesson afterwards, turning on the wind screen wipers every time I indicated my intended left or right direction which is at least better than ending up on the wrong side of the road. Anyway, later in the afternoon I tagged along with another new comer who was looking for a place to live in down town Wellington... which made me realize that I want to live further out of town. Afterwards I went back to MMC to meet my new colleagues and to say hi to my desk and chair. I think my new noise canceling head phones will come very handy indeed.

On Friday my runner Mat collected me at 10:30 in the morning to see a one bed room apartment in the harbour area, very nice place with a very nice rent as well. Good to have seen the place though, the name of the game for now is to see a few places and see what my money can buy.

Saturday... drove to Seatoun (pronounced Sea-toon), a small water front community on the same pennincula as Miramar. I walked around and made some pictures. It felt very much the same as Avalon Beach in Australia and it might be the place to go for (in terms of housing, which of course is not cheap considering the water front views)

Sunday already... I set up my computer in my hotel room (a colleague was so kind to lend me a LCD screen) and I am back on the internet. There is a web site that is called "TradeMe" which is useful for finding apartments, cars, and what not. I also drove to "Island Bay" which is another water front neighborhood that was recommended to me. On the way back to the hotel I dropped off my time sheet at MMC, handed in the car keys at the hotel reception and had dinner at a Asian restaurant around the corner. Tomorrow is Queens day, a public holiday over here.