New Zealand!

After spending the month in Melbourne, I decided that I wanted to travel to New Zealand. I has no luck finding a job and I felt like a change of scenery would do me some good. At this point, Mike and I decided to go our seperate ways on good terms. He continued on back to Canada while I went to New Zealand. I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Aus and I felt the month in Melbourne exploring the city culture was a great way to end this adventure. 

I landed in Christchurch to be greeted by my dad's facebook friend, Louise's, lovely mother. She had to wait a little while for me since I had some trouble getting through customs. In New Zealand, an electronic visa that is registered to your passport still needs a paper copy.... So I had to wait for immigration to approve my entry to the country. After that I had to have my shoes checked for soil and then finally I was able to leave the airport. She gave me a quick tour around the city, sharing with me stories about the earthquakes and damaged that had been done. Afterwards, we went to her house for tea and biscuits while I waited for Louise to finish work. It was exciting to finally meet her after becoming her facebook friend through my dad. Louise was a gracious hostess and let me stay with her for a few weeks while I figured out my plan. I had no idea what I wanted to do in New Zealand but it was great to have a few weeks exploring the city, relaxing in their lovely home and learning about the country.

I fell in love with New Zealand instantly. I felt a strong connection to the land which was very beautiful. I often found myself staring in awe at the ocean, the rolling hills and the rocky areas. It had such a peaceful, grounded feeling and was very different to the feel of Australia. I really felt that New Zealand helps the answers to my unanswered and driving questions.

The people were amazingly friendly and helpful. The bus driver and other passengers were able to help me find places to get a cell phone, set up a bank account and find the tax building to get a tax number. I was extremely grateful for how eager everyone was to help. It made my transition into the new country and travelling alone much easier.

Christchurch was pretty amazing to see. Being able to see the damage from the earthquakes and hear personal stories solidified the reality of what had happened. There was a great exhibit at the musuem that included picturs of 38 people telling their experience of the earthquakes in 38 words. Having never experienced anything like that before, it was very eye opening. I did really appreciate the effort thar people of the community put in to try and heal the wounds caused by the disaster. There was a lot of art put on fences around building sites an "pop up" places like cafes and such to provide services again to the city. There was really a lot of creativity put into places like the shopping mall made of shipping containers and the cardboard cathedral. 

I knew I needed to find work so I started applying for jobs and looking online. I ended up coming across an agency called Au Pair Link. I applied to them to work as an au pair (live in nanny) for a family in New Zealand. It was quite an application process with a 10 page form, many references, police check and a Skype interview. I ended up being accepted right away and placed with a family that had 3 kids in Oamaru. It was only about 4 hours from Christchurch and Louise offered to drive me there which was awesome.