Timaru, Day 1

Today was a very enjoyable and busy day. Slept wonderfully, then did a little unpacking in the first part of the morning, then we all went out to the front where someone was moving house. Now this I mean in the literal sense; they had sawed the house in half, loaded one half on a trailer and were transporting it to a new spot. You'd have to see it to believe it! Apparently it's not too unusual to relocate in this manner - some timber houses can be uprooted like this. Around 10 am, John and Joan came by to take us out and show us Timaru. We all piled into their little car which seated the six of us comfortably as it has a little fold-away seat in the front. We drove around the Timaru Bluestone factory, then to Joan and John’s place, then to the hospital to drop John off for a check-up. The five of us left him there and went to the botanical gardens - a truly beautiful spot with no entry fee. Ducks and seagulls came running for the bread Joan had cleverly bought for the purpose. We spent some time there before driving through the main town area and Caroline Bay. The town is so very pretty, with trees and flowers in abundance thanks to the ladies of the Timaru Beautification Society. Town is where the main shopping area is, and although it's not classified as a mall, it is essentially one - a collection of many shops up and down the streets. Joan took the boys for a frozen yoghurt while Nick and I went to one of the banks to open an account, but had to make an appointment for later in the day. We also bought a British to NZ adapter as the plugs here look different to ours - the holes are smaller, closer together and at different angles. This was getting toward lunchtime now, so we collected John from the hospital (he is well) then they took us to Subways for a sandwich - Nick and I shared a grilled footlong sub with roast beef, cheese, tomato, lettuce, onion, avo, green pepper and dill - quite a thing. Very tasty and a lovely spot to eat at, quite reasonably priced. I've been multiplying everything by 5 to get some sort of Rands price bearing which is helpful until I get a feel for how far a $ stretches. After lunch we were dropped back at home but didn't tarry long as we had to get back to town for our bank appt. Got there slightly late because we had some trouble navigating around town (using a map to find places) and then a spot of problem parking. No matter though as they still couldn't help us anyway due to their systems being down. Had a look around some of the shops - quite amazed at the HUGE department stores like Farmers, which is like a cross between Edgars and Boardmans. Looked at furniture and linens and stuff for a while, then found a real estate place in town so got some info on rentals. Drove around to four rental places around Timaru but weren't overly impressed with any of them. Will try that again on Monday too, at different estate agents. Got home around4.30 in time for half a snooze before Grant came by, saying he had some people who wanted to meet us. Turns out the people were Richard and Bernie Roodt, who we know from CPBC, who had come down to South Island especially for Nick’s induction and the FRBCNZ meeting tomorrow! We were thrilled to see them, and had a short catch up before they left for Grant's place where we would meet up again a little later. Did a bit more suitcase unpacking and at about 5.30 we left again for Grant's place; Nick and Grant met up with John at the church and I chatted to Petru and Bernie and Richard. It was so great to be able to quiz them on all sorts of things about NZ and Bernie especially is full of help and tips. That was a really good visit, and then we came home at 8. Supper was ready for us; the boys bathed after supper and got into bed around 9 pm again. Another couple arrived from Christchurch while we were having supper (sorry, must refer to that as “tea” – henceforth I will call meals by their NZ names), also here for the meeting and induction tomorrow. It's a big event.