We’ve been in Auckland for a few days now and nothing much to report. We’ve been looking at job sites (well, ahem, some more than others, and I’m not to be praised on that front), but we have set up bank accounts, applied for tax numbers, looked at housesits, help exchanges, transferred a bunch of cash to NZ, and just had a wee look at cars and vans for sale. We’ve seen a really nice Mazda Bongo like the van we’ve left at home but it’s a bit outside what we wanted to pay for a van but it is oh so tempting……we wish we could instantly ship ours over here now.
But there is one thing that cheers one of us up no end – the constant selection of gluten free goodies in Auckland, so here’s a selection :
Yes, from sausages to crisps, loafs to bagels and sauces it’s all here in the delis and supermarkets….even some menus such as the curry takeaway above and a mexican place have ‘all our courses are gluten free’ – it’s like a dream come true for some after navigating through the ‘Stans then ‘soya and oyster sauce in everything’ China….and of course it makes my life easier too ;-) Ruth – there may be some inspiring ideas for us to drop you for Mophia’s Gluten Free Bakery – Ireland’s best Gluten Free Bakery. 😉
But apart from dropping a couple of hundred dollars every few days for accommodation which is starting to kill us, the rain has been quite regular as well : Like proper Asian torrential style rain – just that it’s cold too!
Anyway, we’ve seen some cool help exchange places (work for free accommodation) that we’re going to maybe follow up for the future. We’d like to do one just now but it doesn’t bring the money in – just stops us spending it. My head doesn’t seem to be getting in the right place for IT jobs although I saw a cracking travel related one (but it was permie)…but cash is calling.
Meanwhile we’ve moved to a more chilled hostel in one of the central Auckland suburbs to get away from the massive central one. It’s the same price, but there’s free wifi which in theory frees us up a bit more during the day, rather than heading to the office of the visa company to use theirs…..we had great plans to go indoor climbing and go for a wander today but the rain put stop to some of that (the wander). I’ve signed up for an Auckland photwalk that I hope to go to tomorrow (even though we had kindof erm planned to take the boat across the bay! – oops).
And that’s about it! More soon….