More than a week ago, Søren and the kids arrived at 5am in the morning. The flights went pretty well, even the final stretch of 16 hours from Doha – they even managed to sleep a bit! After a nap of a few hours in a proper bed (for the kids at least), we already had to get out and about, because Linus had the enrolment interview at Takapuna Grammar School, the school that has said ‘no’ several times but has now accepted him anyway. We are very happy with this because it’s a fantastic school – check out the virtual tour on their website – and it’s close by and we don’t have to pay 6.000 NZD for three months. All is well that ends well…

Two hours wait and nothing to show for it

The next day it was Birk’s school we had to go to, to pick up the school uniform for physical education. It was the first day the shop was open, and only from 8-10. With jetlag it was hard enough to be there around 9.30, and we were not the only ones… Since we were new to all of it, we decided to stick it out – all two hours of wait time (happily she didn’t close the shop at 10.00 though, telling us to come back another day!). It was not very well organized, there was only one person to help each family, and every child needed to fit the clothes to decide on sizes. That’s why it took so long. And when it was our turn, it took even longer because none of our six (!) cards worked to pay for the uniform! In the end, we left with nothing, and had to order online instead. But at least we knew the sizes, and the queue was a great way to meet some other parents and get some good info on NZ schools (‘don’t expect anything from this Intermediate School, they basically don’t do anything for two years’) and swimming in the water (when beaches are open and how to deal with sandflies).

More uniform shopping

Last week Friday we went down to the Devonport city centre, which is closest to us, to shop for the rest of Birk’s uniform. That went really fast – we even got Birkenstock sandals for both kids (one of the sandal options that is allowed in their schools, the alternative is a standard black shoe). We even managed to pay, though Søren’s cards were all rejected and my Dankort worked for the first purchase but not for the second (really strange). And guess who we met when Birk was trying out his uniform? Another Dane :D. She had lived there for 16 years, married to a Kiwi, and had a daughter at Takapuna and one at Belmont. And we heard that Belmont (Birk’s school) has a Danish music teacher, and another Danish boy attends Takapuna. I have also been contacted by a Dutch family who will be in the area for 6 weeks and their daughter will be in the class next to Birk.

Swimming pool anyone?

Then this Tuesday we had an appointment for Linus’ school uniform, so that was very easy and fast (and our cards did work!). We had a look around the school and Linus was very happy to see the swimming pool – he chose physical education as one of his six courses and they tend to dive in frequently, also to cool down after having done other sports. So he is looking forward to doing that 4 times a week! Both schools are next to each other and have some really nice sports facilities (beach volleyball and cricket!). So that was everything arranged for the schools!

Getting around

We soon realized that the NZ society is geared towards cars. The nearest two supermarkets are each a 30 minutes walk, in the opposite direction. So, we’ve done a lot of walking, have figured out the bus and the ferry to Auckland (for Auckland Day, an extra free day last Monday), and how to order groceries (free delivery if over 100NZD!). We were already planning on buying a car, and on the way back from Birk’s school, we passed a second-hand car dealer, had a look, and it all sounded very good and easy (they will buy it back from us when we leave). So we went back on Saturday, tried two cars, and bought one. That was nice! It’s now being serviced, and we’ll probably pick it up tomorrow. We’ll just not use it very much, other than for weekend trips, because to get anywhere we need to use Lake Road, which is ‘one of Auckland’s worst roads’ with more than 39.000 vehicle movements a day, and the only way in and out of this peninsula. The road is frequently blocked up because of some road works, and we’ve been faster walking to the school than we would have been taking a car (or a bus, for that matter).

Slowly we are settling in and getting ready for normal life to start!