Well, we're here. We survived China. Just (Bruce decided he'd try sleeping one night in the People's Hospital of Yangshuo... more on that later).

What is Project Koru? The code name of our “great escape” from our adopted home in the UK to spend a year living and working in New Zealand. You can find an introduction to the project here together with an explanation of why we chose the koru as the symbol for our journey.

Meeting the parents

We arrived in Wellington at 2 pm on Saturday 7 October. Mum and Dad met us at the airport in Wellington, which put on a typically blustery day with unseasonable cool temperatures. We were tired from the flight so arriving at an unheated apartment was something of a thermal challenge after 30 degrees in Hong Kong. By prior arrangement Mum & Dad had obtained access to the apartment that morning and had done some basic shopping. It makes a big difference when you can unpack and/or crash out without having to run around like headless chickens trying to obtain supplies. Simone had her special request for spaghetti bolognese fulfilled that evening for dinner; 3 weeks of Chinese food was quite enough for both of us!

Our temporary apartment

We rented a modern two-bedroom apartment in an art-deco era building (1934) on Wellington's Lambton Quay.

The building containing our apartment

This was arranged before leaving the UK, via the Internet, to ensure we had a convenient base of operations for the first month. Not cheap, and not as clean as we would have expected at that price level. But it is (with multiple omissions) "fully" furnished and serviced (weekly laundry change)—again making for a hassle-free start.

First tasks

On Sunday morning our first port of call was the waterfront, with views to Mount Victoria and Oriental Bay across the calm sunlit harbour.

Wellington's waterfront

We visited Tourist Information to obtain a city centre street map, which we used to explore the city centre (central Wellington is very compact) and got some information about where to obtain German bread from the German employee. Our to-do list included the following essentials:

• NZ prepay SIM cards;
• Groceries;
• Hanging shelves for the wardrobe (the apartment has no drawers);
• Internet access;
• Multi-function printer;
• Telephone;
• Locate the New Zealand Medical Council.

Unfulfilled objectives included a small computer table so we can continue to eat at the dining table, and a clothes horse for the things we dare not tumble-dry; all-in-all we feel we got off to a good start. We're having a few telecommunications issues as the wireless broadband + phone solution we picked is rather more complex than plugging in a cable.

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