New Beginnings

Hello again, Mark here as Mary-Ellen and I settle down after a long day. Much has happened since ME landed on Saturday and it has certainly been a whirlwind tour so far. The biggest piece of news aside from her arriving is that we now have a place to live permanently, in a slice of Auckland known as Mt. Eden. We wandered around a bit until we were able to go visit the property and ME was basically sold after a quick look. We picked up the keys on Monday and are now the proud renters of a small one bedroom flat down a quaint little drive. More pictures are to come, but to describe it, I would call it a cottage-esque garden home with a little fenced in area, porch out the front and back, and a very mellow-yellow interior.

As far as decorating goes, we have only recently acquired the necessities to live their permanent, most importantly a bed. Our first night there was less than comfortable, camping on the very stiff floor!

As far as exploring goes, we have focused on getting our place organized so that we can just sit back and enjoy it, as well as getting ME over her jetlag. So far though, we have spent the last two nights in Leigh, a sleepy spot for a sleepy person (I think I am going to regret saying that), as I have a few things to wrap up before the Christmas holiday. The only other site seeing has been a trip down Auckland's Queen street, a place I have shown you before with the numerous shops and old buildings.

One of the park areas was especially geared up for the holiday season, including these trees made of recycled drinking bottles. We should be doing more exploring and more updates on our house as we continue to assemble it over the next couple days. Until then, I will leave you with ME's Christmas tree she put up. Happy holidays and you will be hearing from us again soon!