1. Hamilton

Kevin with mum at Garden Place

Christine, Eugene and I, first landed in Auckland, New Zealand on 19th October 1995. It was a condition for permanent residents to land in the country to satisfy immigration requirements for all applicants. Pearl did not come until 1996. She was sitting for her form 5 exams in Miri. Rose was staying at our house for 2 weeks to keep her company.

Kevin first arrived alone in NZ as an overseas student. As soon as he finished his form 5 exams in November 1994, I put him on a plane for Christchurch. He was enrolled at the polytechnic doing an intensive course in English. Keith Yong, an immigration consultant in Miri helped me to make all the arrangements for this  short English course and also the enrolment at Cambridge High for Kevin to study form 7 in January 1995.

3.Christchurch

Eugene and mum

Christine, Eugene and I landed at Christchurch in the evening. By the time we checked into a hotel it was getting dark. It was still a little too cold for the new arrivals from the tropics. We went to a store, Canterbury, to buy woollen jumpers for the trip to Queenstown. A tourist coach will be picking us up from the hotel the next day.

5. Milford Sound

Milford Sound

Milford Sound is one of the must-see tourist attractions in NZ. I don't have any regrets now because it is such a long way to drive there from Hamilton in my own car. Coach tours  targeted for tourists are very expensive. For these reasons, I have not been back since this first visit. I remember that it was very cold, even though it was October. I put on all my woollens and I was still shivering on the boat and could not stay on the deck outside for too long.

7. Dunedin

We arrived in Dunedin by train. It has been an interesting tour of the South Island. We would be taking a plane to Auckland the next day. Christine and Eugene would be flying back to Miri and I would stay on for another 12 days to look for a school for Pearl in Auckland. I went to Howick to see a friend of Rose who would help me to enrol Pearl at Howick High the following January. I was not successful because the principal asked for proof of residency in Howick. He asked me for a telephone bill and a power bill to show that I was staying in Howick. I did not have any of those; but I now got a good idea how to enrol Pearl into a school in Hamilton!

Dunedin

I was staying at the YMCA, Auckland while I explored enrolment possibilities for Pearl for the 1996 school year. Every night I walked down Queen Street looking for my dinner. There was this caravan parked at a small side road, near Custom Street, selling hamburgers at night. I tried one. It was the real thing (not McDonald) and it was very juicy and delicious. I also tried the Chinese food in Auckland. It was not very good; but the portions were large.

I checked out of the YMCA after a few days, rented a car and drove to Hamilton where I checked into a backpacker, near the top end of Victoria Street. First thing I did was to rent a three bedroom house. Then I bought a car and some furniture, connected the power and telephone for the house. I now had utility bills which I can use for enrolling Pearl into Hilcrest High next year. The house was just 5 minutes walk from both the uni and Pearl's school. I invited Kevin to join me for dinner in the house. He was not so happy because it meant that he would be expected to stay at "home" and not at the university residential colleges as he has planned earlier.

When Kevin has finished his form 7 exams at the end of November 1995, I travelled home with him to Miri on the same flight. I still have a car (Isuzu Trooper) to sell before I come back to NZ. I could not get rid of all my sailing dinghies. It would have to wait for a few more years. In 1999, Eugene went back to Miri for holidays. The cheque I sent to him bounced for some reason. He was quite desperate for money then. He managed to sell all my boats for $1,200. That was enough money for him and a win-win.

looking for Albatross

steepest road in the world

In Dunedin, Baldwin Street is reputed to be the steepest road in the world at 19 degrees (1:2.86)

10. New house, car and boat

8, Ben Lomond Place

As soon as Kevin finished his management degree, I sold the house at Hamilton East and bought another one at Nawton. We have visited at least 20 open homes all over Hamilton before we decided on this one. It has a double garage and space on the front lawn for my boat. The back lawn is huge (836 square meters) and has room for Christine's roses, fruit trees and vegetables.

This house has 2 bathrooms, 4 bed rooms and 3 electric storage heaters. The most attractive feature is the open-plan kitchen which looks large due to the attached family room and dining area. The western side is almost completely glass and so the house is very bright.

back garden

Most of the land scaping has been done by the previous owner. He planted Kawhai, Manuka and Flakes. Christine added a Rose garden and planted a few fruit trees over the years. We added a deck behind the house for use in the summer months. There is also space for practising my pitching wedge, chipping.

Soon after moving into the new house, I sold the 17 ft. Kestrel, bought a Noelex 22, traded the Mercedes for a 1988 model Volvo 760GLE. I quit my full time job at Inghams and started playing golf full time. I was finally taking time off to smell the flowers. Life has never been better.  Since then, I spent so much time on the golf course that my golf handicap came down to 14 at one time. Now I am playing off a handicap index of 14.8  (course h'cap 16).