Well I wrote the below 3 weeks ago (but didn't put it up on the website) and not much has changed, we've been to another wedding, they'll have some original photos as the fire brigade were called out at the start of dinner, continued our wanders around london including a trip to London Museum but we're still in the lengthy process of house buying and I'm still looking for work.

Day to day life is speeding by for Robbie at work but he comes home to three caged tigers (his words). My usual distractions are just not working or are still in boxes which are now in storage but we don't have access to them. Even my enjoyment of cooking for friends was marred slightly by the frustration of trying to figure out what I could cook with limited kitchen utensils and without my usual process of spending hours scanning through my cook books.

I can't wait to get into a home, rather than just somewhere we're staying. For some of you, there's probably no difference but for me its not just the things that are missing but all the uncertainty and a lack of somewhere you can call home and start building a life around. If we do another move, which I'm sure we will at some point, I think we'll revert back to having a 3 month holiday while our stuff arrives and hopefully next time it won't be so difficult. That said, looking back it was more difficult though for different reasons. When we moved to NZ it was for two years, but even after that time it had felt like we'd only just got settled and that we needed more time to get a feel for NZ life - I really hope it doesn't take that long this time round.

27th July

Its official, we are just hopeless at updating our website. As for our current excuses... um err, how about enjoying summer and trying to figure out what the hell life's meant to look like.

Robbie's now in his fourth week of a new job, doing pretty much the same as he did in NZ (bad luck for all of you who were hoping to find out what he actually does) and is beginning to realise how much more difficult getting things done can be in a large, global organisation.

Nicola is still looking for work, everything has slowed down significantly and she's beginning to reconcile herself to the fact that it may take a few more months (large sigh) even if she compromises so that she isn't as picky about which jobs she actually applies for.

We moved down to London mid June and are currently staying in a flat in Aldgate (for the NZers - its very central only 20mins walk to the city and Robbie manages a 25min commute to work in Canary Wharf). After figuring out the high street banks won't lend to us (combination of Robbie a foreigner, neither of us having been resident in the UK over the last few years and Nicola being unemployed), we managed to get a referral to Barclays international arm (also hoping to use the benefit of Robbie working there - though not sure this has helped). We managed to get positive comments so we started house hunting in Greenwich. After seeing a few places, we began to get a feel for what was around and eventually put an offer in on a house which has been accepted, we're now going through the long UK process of mortgage application, conveyancing and surveys. We've got our fingers crossed things go smoothly.

So what else have we been up to, aside from a few drinks and dinners the following stand out:

• Robbie managed to watch almost every game in the world cup, and as we have no TV in the flat, had the unfortunate experience of having to go the pub to watch them
• We got last minute tickets to Centre Court on Day 3 of Wimbledon - Nicola's first visit, despite growing up only a few miles away
• Visiting friends new houses and trying not to think about how long their house purchase process took
• Nicola's aunts 50th birthday party with a 70s theme
• hours in london traffic to go a stupidly small number of miles
• Enjoying the sunshine at Castle Acre, deferring a trip to ikea to explore Tilbury fort, looking over the docks where our ship is due to arrive on 29 July, games of backgammon on the patio in aldgate and croquet on the lawn in Norfolk
• Enjoying the not so nice English summer with CJ's birthday on a very wet day at Duxford (CJs choice) and a cold day in great yarmouth and searching for a roman fort
• Enjoying London's music - pizza express jazz cafe for Nicola's bday and free events at the scoop and canada square
• Refamiliarising ourselves with london's streets and pubs

The feeling of limbo is still present, though definitely not as strong as previously and Nicola probably feels it more than Robbie, where her days are filled with the housewifely duties of cooking, cleaning and doing all the reading and research for the house purchase. Some days bring positive news, which makes for a good day, but other days nothing seems to work - but thats life. Our patterns and routines are developing, but hopefully are all about to change....

We spent our last two nights in NZ staying with Robbie’s parents. On the Friday we had a last dinner in our house the same way we had our first, sitting on the floor, in an almost completely empty house, eating take away pizza and drinking champagne. Saturday was bit more classy, eating at Nicola’s favourite restaurant (the White House) overlooking Wellington harbour.

After an early start on Sunday morning, we started the flight to Singapore. The thrill of a new city to explore and the start of a new life was marred with exhaustion and the sadness of what we’d left behind. Not to mention the threat of a looming volcanic ash cloud. That said we both enjoyed the city. Details (and photos of our time in Singapore can be found here

The flight to London was thankfully uneventful (apart from the vague excitement of it being our first time in the airbus A380). We’ve now been here just over two weeks and during this time we:

• had our new car delivered (day 2)
• sorted out car insurance, opened a bank account and got new phones (a massive headache – customer service can’t really handle non standard anymore, an example: for his bank account Robbie had to say he was a house husband as any other response meant he didn't qualify and it only took 3 visits to the bank and 4 hours to figure this out).
• Have been to a wedding (day 4), a good introduction back to our old friends though we got very tired and were asleep on our feet by 10 (Photos can be seen here). Unfortunately the hotel heating was going full blast so had an uncomfortable night’s sleep lying on top of the bed with all the windows open.
• Visited friends and family – with more to come
• Endured recruitment agent questions, read what seems like endless unsuitable roles and even been offered a job (turned down)
• Been suit shopping in Norwich twice – having bought one suit for the wedding only to discover the trousers needed hemming, we went and bought another. Only to find that the shirts we’d bought were the wrong size.

Needless to say things aren’t quite normal yet, and the thought of the routine to come is a little daunting though will probably be very needed and somewhat relaxing after all the unsettledness.

We've now uploaded photos of Samoa. The below is something I wrote while on holiday to remind us of our half day tour to Apia.

While the intention was always to have a relaxing holiday not doing much of anything, we thought we should at least make a bit of an effort to see some of a country where neither of us had been before.

Not knowing quite what to expect, as the information in our room said one thing, the resort activity board another, and the staff not saying much at all, we booked a half day tour to Apia. As it turned out we were the only people who’d booked, so having met our guide somewhere around 10am, and after a brief delay to grab a snorkel and mask, we headed out of the resort and towards the cross island road.

The day was cloudy so as we ascended over the island, we couldn’t make out much of the view. We drove past houses and rainforest and, unlike the drive from the airport to Sinalei (the resort), not many animals slowed our way.

After a brief stop at PapapapaiTai Falls, the tallest waterfall on the island, we made our way to the village of Vailima and the once home of Robert Louis Stevenson. What would have once been a spectacular view was now a nice view, with a glimpse of the ocean from a lovely garden beside a large hill where RLS is now buried. As we waited for our guide, we sat on the veranda of Villa Vailima (although it has a different meaning to the village and the local beer) and enjoyed a rare breeze on a hot stuffy day.

Our guide imparted his knowledge with a smile and gave us an insight to what seemed a lovely home of a man that sought Samoa’s climate for his health and helped the locals in their struggle for independence. The opulence of the redwood house contrasted against the effort of the locals on RLS' death to fulfil his wish of being buried on the top of the nearby hill.

From the house, we went to Palolo Deep National Marine Reserve, where I’m sure with a guide knowing where to look and maybe a boat to get there, the marine life would have been there. As it was we snorkelled around the shallows not seeing much but dead hard corals and a few fish, starfish and sea cucumbers. All this was done without the assistance of fins, (apparently they had washed away in the tsunami), so when we caught in the rain storm for the day, we dashed not so quickly for the shore not wanting to be out of sight, though safe in the knowledge that although we were some 300-400m offshore we hadn’t gone past waist depth.

Wondering what the time was but deciding that was the guide’s problem, we headed for Papaseea Sliding Rocks. A brief look down the NZ funded steps, thankfully with an Aussie funded hand rail, told us we’d be heading down into a valley. As we descended, the sound of childish screams of delight reached our ears and as we approached the bottom of the steps a series of pools and waterfalls appeared.

The choice was then upon us, do we have a go? The locals quite happily slid, jumped and surfed down the falls, or alternatively jumped from the valley walls. After much consideration and a belief that I’d regret it if I didn’t, out guide showed me where to sit and advised me to hold my nose. A short pause followed where I tried to figure out where the bravery (or was it foolishness) of my previous adventurous spirit had done, before shuffling to the edge. Suddenly I was in the cools pool below. Glad I’d done it, we watched the locals for a little longer before heading back up the step steps to our van.

Little did we know but it was now gone 2pm and with our stomachs rumbling we welcomed the suggestion by our guide for lunch at a local eatery. My bravery at the sliding rocks did not quite extend to inspire me to sample any of the local dishes on display reverting instead to chicken and chips.

We arrived back at the resort around 3.30pm after another journey on the cross island road, which this time afforded better views of the coast. So much for a half day tour.

Today we sold our car and it was emotional. Not that we're particularly attached to the car, though it has been a good car, but its the first part of our move that has really been tangible. Our house is a tip, but that could be any day we've decided to have a clean out, and yes we've been very busy and very stressed trying to make sure we've thought of everything and made all the right phone calls, but its the car that really hit home, or questioned what a home is.

The whole concept of moving is undeniably stressful and significantly more so than the weddings last year. The comfort of our current home is currently being slowly ripped apart, every little thing sparks a memory and every little difficulty becomes an argument. That said, the excitement of another adventure and another phase of life every so often catches us unawares and the thought of being amongst our friends and family in the UK counters the fears of leaving those here. Needless to say wherever we are we'll be in touch, all that changes is the frequency and type of contact we have.

Ok, so not sure where I'm going with the above. So will drastically stop and change tack.

Yes we're moving to the UK, we arrive back home (or second home depending on your viewpoint) on 12 May at some horrible hour of the morning, not that it matters as we'll be jetlagged despite spending a couple of days in Singapore on our way over. Then who knows, it'll sort itself out....

...Well, it won't but we've got enough to do here without figuring out any more at this stage. The house will be packed for us and the cats sent to the breeder before they join us in July (we didn't realise the process for them is a lot longer than for us, even without quarantine).

We've also managed a few days on the south island with Angus and Helen at the end of their trip. Robbie and I managed a plane, a train, an automobile, a boat and two bicycles, as well as a little time on our own two feet. Joining Angus and Helen in Nelson, we travelled to Renwick (and spent a gruelling afternoon riding 25km around the Vineyards, thankful to collapse at the wonderful little vineyard where we stayed at the end of the day - Korohi Vineyard, which we thoroughly recommend), and then travelled down to Kaikoura where we left them to continue to ChCh.

Our own journey took us back on the TranzScenic railway to Picton, then ferry through the Sounds back to Wellington. We basked in the wonderful weather, with the exception of our day in Kaikoura, where thankfully it didn't matter.

We put a selection of photos from March and April pre Samoa which you can see from the insightfully named March-April section of the menu bar (go to Photos, 2010)

Well we have been busy bunnies, Robbie is no longer working and Nicola now has three weeks to go to she joins the land of the unemployed (we are going with those who like to lunch). Robbie has a visa allowing him to live in the UK and we have now booked one way flights to the UK landing on the 12th of May. So times are busy for us, we have a list that any Virgo would be proud of but (knock on wood) we have made the big decisions and now its just about getting things done right.

So what entertaining things have we been doing? In February we went to the Wellington sevens, for those that don't know this is an occasion where about 60% of the patrons dress up in as imaginative costumes as possible and stagger drunkenly inside the stadium taking photos of each other while the more serious sober people (i.e. us) sit and watch some sevens.

The big highlight however was that we went to the zoo and did the 'Cheetah experience' that Nicola's family gave her for her birthday, Nicola's memory is...

We were welcomed with a little meow of a greeting as the cheetahs paced along the fence welcoming their keepers. As the keepers went to get the two brothers (Charlie and Delta) ready, we sat waiting quietly and I began to realise that I was a little nervous.

The cats walked out and after a little prompting with some treats jumped onto their massage table. Suddenly they looked a lot bigger than they did a few moments ago… from the other side of the fence.

We were warned to stay away from the ‘sharp and pointy’ side and make sure we respected their personal head space before being asked to approach from the back as their keepers held onto the harness.

We patted away to a continuous rumble, as the cats purred to what essentially was a half hour back rub as we asked their keepers about them, every so often they’d react to a noise and fidget. Delta a bit more so than Charlie who just seemed to lie and occasionally twitched his ears.

So what did we learn? Cheetahs

• Are one of two big cats that purr and don’t growl (the other is the puma)
• Have non retractable claws, only one of which is sharp – more like a dog than a cat
• Strangle their prey
• have fur that is quite coarse and the black spots are longer than the rest of the fur, creating a more distorted outline as they run
• Have a very poor sense of smell, the nostrils are wider to let in lots of air to their oversized lungs so that they can run fast
• See in greyscale
• The females are solitary but its not unusual for two brothers to stay together and act as a coalition
• Are very inbred as its believed their numbers reduced to a few hundred some 10,000 years ago. Now around 14,000 African and a few hundred Asian. They’re very difficult to breed (apparently quite picky) and suffer from lots of infections (prone to dog and cat infections and cub mortality)
• 10% of the cost goes towards a conservation programme in Africa training guard dogs that live with the sheep and goats to scare away the cheetahs that hunt them. This stops the African farmers shooting the cheetahs. Originally a Turkish breed, there is now a dog called Wellington that lives on an African farm and only lost two sheep to cheetahs last year (before the dogs farmers would lose 30-40 sheep a year)
• They’re essentially big cats - they sleep a lot and seem to enjoy the pat! When we saw them back in their enclosure they were wandering around, in what looked to be checking to see if anything had changed and re-marking their territory

March has been a busy month so far as we try to enjoy seeing people and going to arts festival shows. This coming weekend has also sneaked up on us as we will be celebrating our first wedding anniversary and its amazing its been a whole year since we got married. It looks like April will also be busy with us going to Samoa for a holiday and also spending a few days in the South Island with Angus and Helen.

Finally I (Robbie) thought I would record what it has been like being a lady who lunches for the last two months for my memories sake. When I finished work I had grand dreams of achieving a large number of goals and doing lots of things. The first thing I realised when I was at home was that the certain very difficult characters I had worked with had left me feeling quite burnt out and all I wanted to do was catch up on sleep and get back to normal life. On my last day of work I had happily surrendered my blackberry and I loved not having to watch and worry about that little lodestone, in fact I don't think I turned on my mobile phone or checked my email in the first week as I enjoyed the freedom of not being permanently on call. I developed a nice routine of having lunch with people, running and pottering around during the day and then seeing Nicola once she had finished her working day, all very pleasant.

So a new year (and new decade) is here but the question on everyone’s lips is what will we call it and is it twenty ten or two thousand and ten? Who knows and it’ll probably only be determined in about fifty years when we actually need to refer to the decade as a period in history, but then it could just be an era. The noughties will probably be remembered for the asset bubbles, the ‘crash’ in 2000 and 2008/9 will be merged into one and no doubt some better phrase will be coined (the Aussies are pushing hard for the GFC – Global Financial Crisis – but what do you expect from a country who’s prime minister is called Kevin?)

Anyway, what have we been up to? Well, since returning from the UK in October, we blinked and suddenly it was Xmas. Well that’s how it seemed anyway. I guess we have been busy doing the day job and don’t have any exciting adventures to report. Robbie has been loading all our CD’s into mp3 format which seems to have taken a ridiculous amount of time, we have both been trying (in vain) to get fit and lose some weight and we have been waiting for the summer sun to arrive.

This year, Xmas has been split between Waikanae and Taupo and unfortunately its not been the greatest weather for playing on the beach or in the lake. We’re hoping for a late summer which hopefully Robbie can enjoy since he has now resigned and ends work on 22nd Jan.

It’s been a hectic Xmas, Nicola (along with Steph) cooked for Xmas day, not only catering two Xmas dinners (one for the veggies and a traditional Xmas turkey), but also a huge xmas lunch where the brothers Anderson manned a seafood BBQ. It generally meant Nicola spent two days cooking and after working more than full time over the last couple of months was thoroughly exhausted.

Xmas week was spent with family, we even braved taking the twins and Ollie out to Lindale petting farm without the parents as a Xmas treat – though we’re still not sure whether the treat was for the kids or the parents. The last few days have been much more relaxing with just us and Robbie’s parents it’s a lot more peaceful and even the weather’s improved. Although Robbie’s technically been working through, its only been a couple of hours a day, so we’ve managed to go kayaking on the lake and relax and enjoy our books.

Looking back at 2009 the focus has been a combination of planning and then having two weddings and a rather hard year of work. We had a lovely holiday after each wedding but the volume of leave this used left us little time to do anything else. I think it is fair to say we finished the year exhausted.

Looking forward to 2010 is a little more exciting (and also quite scary). Robbie now has 10 more days of work (in honour of this I have scattered the BNZ pigs across the post) before a break of at least 6 months as he tries to sort out everything we need to do before moving back to the UK. The thought of being a kept man, although pleasant, is tempered by the thought of dwindling bank balances. Nicola is planning to work on to Easter and then we will have a brief holiday before heading to the UK in early May. Once we arrive it will be find a flat, find a job, find a house, pick up the cats (yes we are bringing them over) and get back to UK life, friends and family.