So now there's lots of room for visitors with even space for your luggage too! And you could have a bath and maybe home-grown vegetables (though we're not promising!). 

...and these!!! 

...but one of these... 

...or these light switches... 

So, no more of this wallpaper... 

New House

So this is our new home! Two storey - how exciting! We moved on Monday with very little drama, largely due to the wonderful help and support we received; from shifting furniture and boxes, to cleaning, to several offers to feed us throughout the day!
At first we just dumped stuff because we had no idea how our relatively small amount of furniture was going to fit into this much larger house. But having been in it a few days we're slowly figuring it out.
It's right next door to church which is a bit bizarre but there are two pathways and one (where the garage is) is off the main street so if we come in from that way it's nothing to do with work!
The house is a real blessing and has everything that we were asking God for (and more). 

Emma on 'Sam', her carousel horse! 

Traction Engine Rally

Last weekend an international traction engine rally came to Rangiora - isn't that exciting?! Not the usual way I'd choose to spend Sunday afternoon (and Neil and Dan could not be persuaded) but the church was running the cafe there and I had helped make a copious number of sandwiches before the event and Emma was on duty at the barbecues making up gourmet burgers so I thought I'd go along. The cafe was professionaly run (due largely to the co-ordination of a lady who owns her own cafe), hugely popular and, as a result, successfully made lots of money.
The engines were impressive; both in the number of them and the high standard to which they had been maintained. Apparantly the smoke generated over the weekend was the equivalent to four years worth of chimney emissions - so that will be doing us the world of good then!
The highlight for Emma and I (and the main draw of the event) was the galloper/carousel which was great fun but played Abba covers on the usual fairground music machine - very bizarre! 

Arthur's Pass

This amazing picture was taken by my older brother. For those who haven't been to NZ, look what scenery you are missing!!! 

Week 33

On Monday, we took advantage of the warm weather and went to the beach - good timing as it's been a bit cold and wet and autumnal ever since.
We are finally driving legally in NZ. You can drive on your UK license for 12 months and then you need to take a theory test to get a NZ license. It wasn't to tricky and we both got full marks; the main difference here is giving way to right turning traffic. Getting your head around right of way at unmarked intersections is also a bit of a task (especially if you are pregnant with a mushy brain) but fortunately these intersections are being phased out and now most have stop or give-way signs.
Moving house on Monday - photos to follow soon. The biggest excitement is the log burner and stairs!!! 

Raspberry Cafe

Last Saturday, the Shepherds and the Andrews spent the afternoon at the Raspberry Cafe enjoying the glorious late summer weather and very delectable desserts - you should have seen the amount of chocolate cake consumed!

This week we attended our first ante-natal class (Neil calls them 'fatty-classes' - to explain I couldn't remember the words!) with an interesting mix of people. The most amusing comment was from a farmer who's only point of reference with regards to birth was his experience of delivering calves- he was banned from mentioning cows again!!!!! It's a whole different world out here.