Hello, we are the Rays, Craig, Rachel and Myles our son. In September 2007
we started out on a trip / holiday of discovery to travel through New
Zealand in order to find out more about the country, the people and
its culture. After spending all our lives in the UK we are eager to
find out if our lives could be better in another country? Is New Zealand
somewhere we could emigrate to - we will endeavor to find this out
along the way, and will record our thoughts and feelings of New Zealand and
what we think it has to offer.
In the process of putting this blog together we have decided also to try and bring together lots of information on the different regions, towns and cities of New Zealand. Information on immigration, travel, places to stay etc. We also plan to produce a weekly podcast featuring some of the people we meet on our travels.
All of this, in the hope that this site will become a valuable resource for others to find out more about New Zealand.
We booked our flights - made the trip of a lifetime and gathered our thoughts,
feelings, photos and videos. Feel free to travel along with us!
What precious and fun memories to hold on tight to till the next time. Can't believe you captured all that on film! It was lovely to meet your Mum whilst she was here and so pleased you got to share so many special moments together."
- Sarah
I need to get Craig round to give Dan some lessons! Awesome work on the planter box, which is no doubt over flowing with goodies by now - yummy!"
- Sarah
One of your best Craig! Anna and Myles are gorgeous together and look to be very good friends. What a fabulous piece of footage, to beautiful music and that view is always breathtaking."
- Sarah
Hiya Jude - Awww great to hear your news, we are loving NZ so much and hope this blog will let people know what we are up to! - Time flies so fast - hope your all well over there too - Rx"
- Rach
Congrats on the move abroad. Thought you might like to hear my news - I've got a little girl 16 months old (not much younger than Mike's)"
- Jude
Loved the video matey....Very Hendrix! Myles is a cool dude. Everyone looks so happy and chilled. Liked the old guy in the hat towards the end too! Keep up the good work x"
- Liam & Tracey
Hiya Lys
Awww...thx for lovely comments and congrats to u matey - we'll see you all next June hey! - Rx"
- Rach
Gorgeous, gorgeous filming Craig....you make life down there look idyllic. Sooo frustrating to watch them though as our broadband is soooo slow. Serves us right for living in the middle of nowhere. When is the best time for me to ring you??? and what's your number...not sure our skype will cope."
- Lys
Useful things we travel with...
Chariot Carrier
Myles's chariot! What a fantastic piece of kit. Bought this in the US after seeing it in Canada. It's a stroller, an off road buggy with suspension, a cycle trailer and you can even put skis on it! Wouldn't go anywhere without it - You can find out more and see it in action here
Our Travel Insurance
Used World Nomads for our annual policy for quite a while - They were recommended by Lonely Planet and Rob (Our global travelling friend!) also uses them - Good enough for him then it's good enough for us! Not sure if they are the cheapest but you do get what you pay for.
Get a quote online
Canon Camera
We use a Canon Ixus camera for all the photos and videos on the site. The size and quality is unbeatable - a great travelling stills and video camera in one! We got ours from Amazon because of their good returns policy and the online reviews from other users-Amazon reviews on this camera
Car Hire Worldwide
We've used loads of car hire companies over the years and we keep on coming back to auto-europe. They are usually the cheapest worldwide and the price includes all insurance / CDW etc,
www.auto-europe.com
Leatherman Wave
Brilliant multi-tool. Built like a tank and small enough to fit anywhere. Wouldn't leave home without it - Got us out of a few 'sticky' situations.
We got ours from Ready To leave.com
254 Entries found for the date period of: Monday, February 01, 2010 to Monday, March 01, 2010
Monday, 11 Jan 2010
Kindy's out n the summer hols roll
We're just into week 2 of school/kindy for M's summer hols at the moment, at the family Ray we have been super busy and me n M have been up to our usual Blue Peter specials - maybe all that TV watching and 4 years at Art & Design school may not have been in vane after all! And how can we not go for a free pottery lesson at our fave haunt Te Papa too to start off our second week of creativity!
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After mom and Marj successfully arriving and an early night, I thought it only proper to take them to Scorching Bay for a day of rest and relaxation on this beautiful beach on an apt scorcher of a day too. Little did they know that Myles had an itinerary of games in store! One of which mom christened 'basket chair rugby!' This consisted of Myles playing catch with them and his throws becoming a little more challenging to catch with each turn! Needless to say it wasn't before long when my mom attempting for the all important catch for her turn leaned a little too far over and ended up collapsed in a heap to fits of side splitting giggles all around! As an antidote to this energetic fun Myles next activity was a genteel paddle followed by some epic sandcastle building. Thank you soooo much mom and Marj for making the trip to see us and this was the first day of many fun and laughter filled days to come - perfect you might say :))
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After being together forever and always knowing that Craig played the piano so beautifully it seemed only fitting that as a first anniversary present (that being 1 year in NZ) we finally had a piano in our home. It is just wonderful to hear and watch him play and it seems he's passed on his talents to Myles who is happy to join in and also to 'tinkle the ivories' himself from time to time. It feels like a reward in some sense for being brave and mad enough to put ourselves on the other side of the planet and kind of start again in a way. And has become a real focal point for us all and yet another creative outlet for Craig to wow us with - is there no end to this man's talents!!! We do love him so :)
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As we've only got a back yard in our current house we thought it'd be a great idea to grow some veges and so Craig being the DIY expert set about with constructing a planter for us to grow our own. As you can see Myles also has inherited the DIY gene and so the work began. More pics to follow no doubt on it's progress and said vegies! ,/br>
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Just before our venture out to check out the amazing fire works of Wellington we invited our neighbours over for a bbq and a few sparklers to celebrate bonfire night. A bit different to our UK ones where it's winter and normally chilly - we were able to enjoy the outdoors without the cold and a few sparklers rounded off the evening nicely. John, Kay and their children Tara and Sammy have made us feel really welcome and are the kind of neighbours you hope you will have whereever you move to!
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Anna and Myles enjoying Mount Victoria lookout, great views also of the city - we live 'straight down' from where the two of them were sitting admiring the view! and our house is just on the edge of the town belt bush (forested area) which you can see that encircles this area.
On Labour Weekend Pete and his daughter Anna came down to see us for the weekend. For those who don't know we met Pete, Sara and Anna on our first flight to Auckland via Hong Kong and they are one of our closest friends in New Zealand. Here is a beautiful video to enjoy of Myles and Anna dancing in the moment - enjoy!
I just have to do this for Craig - since purchasing our new Panasonic GH1 camera his talents for recording our adventures on film have been just amazing, I am not biased at all! Anyways for those of you who'd like to see all the videos in one go here's a link to Vimeo for ya - enjoy :))
Yep that's his name according to Myles - what else can you do when it's torrential rain outside anyway - we do love a good homemade robot in the Ray house just a shame it can't do the housework!
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Sunday was the reopening of the City Gallery in Wellington, as the queues were large the council put on some bands to entertain us. So we just chilled out and listened to a band Little Bushman who we think are awesome or Choice as they like to say here :)) enjoy
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Dawes in NZ www.dawes.co.nz
Virtual friends we are yet to meet in person!- Michael, Marrisa & Bethany Dawes. A family of 3 from the UK who emigrated to NZ in September 2006. Their blog.
Emigration Services http://migrate.dawes.co.nz/
Our good friends about also have a company helping people relocate to New Zealand - Everything from house hunting to providing support, advice on all aspects of moving to New Zealand
Chez Lee http://www.chezlee.co.nz/
I met Dan, Sarah and their daughters the last time I was in Wellington. They've been living in New Zealand for many years and their blog is a wonderful read
Help Exchange www.helpx.net
A great way to experience real life in New Zealand with Kiwi families across the country. You can help them out for a few hours each day with whatever jobs need doing about their homes and in exchange they provide free accommodation and meals. It's a brilliant cultural exchange for international visitors to meet locals and visa versa.
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