Waitangi Day

Tomorrow is Waitangi Day in New Zealand - a celebration of the signing of the treaty with the Maori in 1840 - so it's a bank holiday and we all get a long weekend. This is great as it means that I get longer to visit some of the places on my list of to do's while I am here. The car will make that easier too.

This week has been very quiet still at work - I hope it doesn't keep on like that or it will get very boring. As the deadline for completion of the Long Term Council Commity Plans (LTCCP) gets closer though I expect it will get quite hectic.

On Tuesday evening I went to a yoga class for the first time ever! I found it quite difficult as I am not very flexible and have lousy balance! Still I do intend to go back again, and to some other classes to get back into good fitness habits.

After work yesterday the social club put on a barbeque to say farewell to a couple of interns who go back to University next week and to welcome me and Mike who has emigrated from UK with his family and is an Audit Manager now. Used to be head of finance for Durham Police force so has changed sides! I think we must have put the british barbeque jinx on it though because it was cloudy all day and started raining just as we lit the barbeque! They use gas ones here though not charcoal!

Having bought the car I had to investigate insurance. It is not compulsory to have car insurance here but advisable to have at least 3rd party. Unfortunately, because I am only here for a short time I can't insure through the usual annual policies so have had to go to the only company who do short term insurance. They only offer 3rd party, no fire & theft etc, and the premium is based solely on the age of the youngest person who will be driving the car. Because the majority of people who need this type of policy are young backpackers they are high risk groups so the premium is high. It has cost me over half as much for 3 months 3rd party as for TPF&T for a year on a regular policy. The other down side is that they only do 3 month blocks so I am now about 5 days short of the time I will have the car. It was either that or pay for 6 months insurance! Still couldn't risk having to pay for damage to someone else's car!

So no update for the next few days as I will be luxuriating in mud baths and spa pools in Rotorua! That's where I need the peg! Oh yes - photo at the top of this post is a bird which lives in the park on the Square - not sure what it is - looks like a cross between a duck and a turkey - but I think it must be the same one which Neil took a photo of last November.