Mr President ?

Arriving in new country is always a bit strange. I remember landing in Canada with Damon a few years ago and we had no idea at all where to go or stay. We did eventually sort a hotel and worked out how to get there from the airport.

Landing in New Zealand was a whole different ball game!!

I had a window seat on the small plane that took me from Sydney to Wellington. An amazing flight was had chatting with the old lady next to me and looking out the window at the amazing landscape as we flew over New Zealand.

From the Air the land is green like the UK. But its rugged mountains and coastline take your breath away. As you bank round to line up for Wellington you fly over the islands at the north tip of the north Island. Put it this way, when Jo arrives we are going there for sure!!!

My flight arrived at 2.30pm and i knew a representative from my new work would be there to meet me. I collected my bags and was quickly through customs after being told that although i was good of me to declare my Jar of Marmite i really didn't need to !
Matty from Weta was there with a warm smile and a firm handshake. We sorted the hire car and he drove me to the hotel.
My friend Pete had told me about the Duxton Hotel. He had nodded in appreciation and said
"ummm.... you'll like it there!"

How right he was !

I was warmly greeted at the 5 star hotels rececption and told i was in room 801.
"They sure are looking after you aren't they Mr Phillips?" said the guy behind the desk.
I smiled wondering how he knew that up to now i hadn't paid for a thing as ALL bills were going to Weta..
"801 is the Presidential Suite Sir!" he continued..
i looked at Matty who raised his eyebrows and smiled.

We headed up in the lift and reached the 8th floor. Directly in front of the lift door is a big board telling you which way certain room numbers are.
There in Big bold Letters..

Presidential Suite .... right...

At the very end of the corridor was a door. Unlike all the others it had a door bell.
In hindsight this should have given me some indication on the size of the rooms (plural!!!) that i was about to enter !
Card in door ... open and in we go ...

"Holy SH*T !" were Matty's first words!

The place was HUGE !
A massive living room, 2 sofas and two arm chairs. Dining table for 6. A bar! Two bathrooms, one with huge shower and jacuzzi bath. A big bedroom and the widest bed i have ever seen!

All in all i was wondering why they had put me in there on my own?
Its been great staying there for two weeks and they really look after you. They park the car, give you a paper every morning. Serve you amazing breakfasts in the 9th floor Club lounge.!

On my last weekend i went away for a couple of days with my mate Tim.(More on that mission Later!) On leaving the hotel i thought i'd let them know that i wouldn't be there for a couple of nights. It was like telling your parents that you are heading off for the weekend!
When i came back it was like i was coming home. Very strange!

So for two weeks i WAS Mr President. Ok , so i got some odd looks from people in the other rooms who would see me coming in and out and probably thought i was robbing the place !
One guy in particular had a huge shock when i opened the door with my crazy morning haircut and in my pj's to get my neatly wrapped newspaper. I m sure he thought someone older and more important looking should be in that room! Very funny.

I have resigned my duties now and have moved into more homely surroundings . The spare room at Tims place.

Island Bay

Wellington is a great place to be.The pace is slower than London. A lot slower !
The air is cleaner. I'm sure on my return to London that will be one thing that i really notice.
Its a clean city and has a North American feel to the place with the cars , road signs and $$'s. The people are friendly and welcoming. When you walk into a shop , bar or restaurant its all really friendly.
The banks are the most friendly.! I'm sure the magic "Weta" word brings out extra helping hands but whatever it is its re-freshing.
Having the sea close by is great.It just makes you feel alive each morning to drive round three or four bays to work with the sun out, the winds blowing and no traffic. !! Yes that's right ... a drive that takes ten minutes ALWAYS takes ten minutes! Whether in rush hour or in the middle of the day its the same. I love that about this place.!



Do i miss the tube and the chaos of getting to Soho?
not a bit !

The city is surrounded by mountains. Not snow capped ones but mountains none-the-less. There are allot of steep hills that's for sure but the architecture is so varied. No two houses are the same and it creates a feeling of individuality. Some are on the beach. Some up on the cliffs, balanced on the edge with their own private cable car that takes the owners to their front door!
Some are in the lower lying areas. Out of the wind and having all day sun(when its not raining!!)

There are so many lovely areas of Wellington it took a while for me to work out where i wanted to live aswell as where i could afford. Jopsy (my friend from London who has also been here before) lived at a Place called Karaka Bay. Lovely place but well out of my price range !! Pete if you are reading this you really should have bought that pad mate ! then i wouldn't have to have gone through all this house hunting crap!!

After looking at several areas i decided that Island bay was the winner for me. Its out of town, on the beach, good shops nearby and a nice little community. Its quiet which is good for the cat (as well as me!) and the drive to work is all along the sea front! Perfect!
Renting here is not cheap. There are no one bed flats. Everything out of town is a house. A three or four bedroom house. After viewing loads of properties with various degrees of living standards i found a gem of a place just up from the sea that was fully furnished.
I went and viewed it and took it there and then. The views are to die for and the house itself is very well decorated. There is also a garage which strangely enough might just fit a VW beetle in it !!

Endless Airtime

Ive done the Australia flight a couple of times and its always been OK. This time i was really nervous. More with anticipation of the whole adventure than just the flight i think.
Mum, Dad, Joanna and my sister Lisa all arrived at Heathrow with loads of time before my flight. Did the usual check in and managed to get my seat changed to a window seat ! Result... or so i thought. the seat of regret i think it should be called!
Flying on your own is always an odd experience. Admittedly it was really nice to stop and do nothing as i had been running around non-stop for the past few weeks but you always hope that you are sat next to someone who you are going to be able to tolerate for the next 21 hours.
21 hours in a chair anywhere is a long time.
21 hours in a chair next to someone bending your ear about everything thats ever happened in their life could be life threatening.
Boarding the plane I am always nervous about my possible future flight partner. With a window seat you will always need them to get up to let you out so you hope that they haven't loaded themselves up with Valium and as a result are comatosed forthe entire flight rendering you trapped.
As i headed up the plane I'm counting the seats. Trying to work out in advance where i am. For a moment I think that I'm on the exit seats ..... leg room for even the tallest of men , no asking every time you need to go to the loo. No chance ! I'm in the seat behind.
Next to me is a gent in his sixties , slim build and looks the quiet type. By the isle is his wife. a larger lady with her hands clasped on her lap reminding me of Les Dawson !~

They seems nice enough but as the hours went on i realized that the odors that i thought were coming from being so close to the kitchen were in fact from my new flight friends!!
I wont go into details but i had two toilet trips in 21 hours of flying!
I just couldn't handle the senses overload that occurred as they vacated their seats!!
The last two hours i actually had to hold my nose!

No wonder the seat was free!

The rest of the flight was fine. Its a long time sat down with crappy films but it was OK. With a stop off in the new Bangkok airport (above) and in Sydney, i felt like i had been flying for three days by the time I landed in Windy Wellington.

Leaving it all....

Im never good with flying. Or with goodbyes. Having both at the same time is just a bit too much .
It had been a very hectic few weeks of constant organisation. Add the 7 days a week work that i was trying to do after a summer of relaxing and it was becoming a logistical nightmare!
"Deligate!" were the words of a wise man. So i did.

There was so much to do but i was well aware of everything that needed to be done and the order in which to do them all. The only mistake i think that i made was to have a Wisdom tooth removed if those last couple of weeks! It needed doing but to say it hurt is an understatment!!

The flat had to be re-funished and i had decided to do alot of re-painting on the outside of the property. All alot of work but well worth it in the end.
THe flat then needed to be rented out and after some sound advice and some thorough investigations a company Called Purple Property took it off my hands and found me the nicest Italian couple to live in my flat and look after it for me.

All of my stuff went into storage. Decks, records, skateboards, snowboard, BMX's (yes , more than one!!) Leaving me with one bag of belongings.
If you have ever had to do a similar thing you will know that you quickly realise how much crap you have accumilated over time and how much of it you never even look at .
That describes nearly all my things!

The beetle ( ahh poor Bella!) got a new winter jacket and a new guardian. Thanks Damon!
The Puck got a home just accross the road from the Bug and has some bikes and furniture for company.

With the teeth fixed and the bags packed we were quickly approaching leaving day. I knew saying goodbye to Joanna would be tough but saying farewell to Mum would be even harder.
Mum has had a really tough year. She's such a trooper its untrue! January last year Mum had a tumour removed from her head. The procedure itself went really well and she recovered quickly. Unfortunatley she had a set back whilst still in hospital as a sezure took hold due to her salt levels being so low. It was a scary time for us all. Mum doesn't remember anything and its probably better that way. Dad found it hard im sure but as soon as he knew she was on the mend and no perminant damage had been done he found his feet and was a rock for us all.
Mum left hospital after a week or so. All was going well until the summer when she had another seziure. This time she was at home. Dad was woken up by her kicking and thrashing. Holding her down, he called and then waited for an ambulance .for 45 minutes he waited with no knowledge at all of what was happening and what was going on.
I still can't quite get my head around how horrible that must have been.