Back to reality in Christchurch

So here we are, travelling done (for now!) and ready to face real life. Here's what we need to do:

• get jobs
• get a mortgage
• find a house that can accommodate all our stuff
• get Pickfords to deliver everything that has been shipped over

I'm working on the job front - I had an interview with one place yesterday (a follow-up to a telephone interview I did for them a couple of weeks ago) and was offered a job as a Senior Analyst there and then, which was nice. I don't have full details of salary etc. yet, so I haven't accepted it yet and am interviewing somewhere else on Wednesday, but it's certainly nice to feel wanted.

Hopefully once we're both gainfully employed it won't be too hard to get a mortgage and house sorted out. Phil and Lou have been fantastic, letting us stay with them for so long, but I know they'd love their privacy back, and we'd love to have somewhere big enough to unpack our things too. I miss my Le Creuset saucepans! The ship with our container arrived in Lyttleton this morning, so we can get our stuff as soon as we have somewhere to put it. In the meantime, we have to pay some hefty fees for storage (about $300 for a one-off storage fee, plus $50/week after that, and GST on top of those fees too which will bump it up another bit), so there's an extra incentive to find a good house as soon as possible.