2 go to the 7s dressed to the 9s

And so now we are both working full time. Luckily for you this should not impact the content of the blog as Roger's been busily planning and filling up each weekend with exciting activities to make the most of the summer.

Not a bad view from the Meridian office!

Apart from my new friendly, funny and generally excellent colleagues (just in case any find this blog), the most interesting part of starting at Meridian has been the building. It's New Zealand's first purpose-built 5 Green Star rated office (i.e. super duper eco friendly) and has a mind of its own. The blinds go up, down and twizzle when they think too much sun is coming in, windows open and close of their own accord, and the toilets all use collected rain water. We are also on rollers for earthquakes, are issued with whistles in case the rollers aren't enough to stop the building collapsing, and have a civil defence cupboards to last three days. I know where I'll be when the zombie apocalypse hits!

Note the jumpers - it's actually freezing because of
the wind chill! Apparently 'typical Welly weather'.

Roger is also lucky enough to have some excellent colleagues, and whilst his building isn't as good as the Meridian Office he's managed to sit next to a floor-to-ceiling window with views of the famous Beehive building. Both of us are starting and finishing earlier than in the UK, and with a 9 minute commute into work it's difficult to blame any lateness on 'the Tube'!

On Saturday we braved the famously debauched Wellington Sevens in brightly coloured sombreros and drawn-on moustaches. Fortunately (or perhaps unfortunately) the event has decreased in popularity over the past couple of years and been re-marketed as a family friendly day out. Despite the stadium beer being 2% alcohol (deliberately) we still had to dodge a fair number of drunken mermaids, geishas, cave people, lobsters, watermelons, etc. Highlights of the day included teams warming up right in front of our seats, including Fiji and England; dancing to the interval music (sober, 2%!) in the stands in the evening sunlight; and watching New Zealand beat South Africa at the very last moment, and Fiji beat everyone with flair. 

Nursing some through-the-cloud sunburn on Sunday we walked up Mount Victoria (in Wellington) for the 360 degree views. We marvelled at the reclaimed land that much of Te Aro sits on; the info board had old photos showing the advancing shoreline. On the way back down we scoped out some mountain bike trails and walked back past the swimming beach at Oriental Bay - so tempting!