8/25/01

 To all our family and friends:

 Yes……..more from the Matleys.  This week has proven to be busy, but fruitful.  We have found a house and we are looking for a car.  Please check our website at www.matley.com for photos of our house and our new address.  Interestingly, it took us two days to get our address correct.  We asked the rental agent, the landlord, the neighbor and each gave us different answers.  So we finally called our postie (our postman) directly and got our address.  We live in Red Beach (I am so glad it is so easy to say—some of the other Maori names are big tongue twisters for me). 

 I am learning more about the Kiwis—there really is a difference (very slight) between the Australian and New Zealander’s accents.  New Zealanders are just a bit softer people.  Aussie are just a bit rough around the edges and seem to like to live life to the fullest.  Kiwis are just a bit quieter and a little more subtle.  I have noticed there is more of a blend of ethnic backgrounds here too.  A lot of Asians (which is true in Australia too), South Africans, Americans and of course Maoris.  New Zealanders in this area have shops that are open on Sunday.  And they work regular hours.  Although most shops close at 5 or 6 pm and that is it for retail—no 24 hour services. 

 Here in NZ they don’t say “no worries” as much, they say “cheers”.  They say “cheers” for ok, or thank you, no problem, or good day.  They also say “Tah” for thank you.  What fun we are having with our new slang words.

 We are still looking into schools for the kids.  We have an elementary school up the street which has a very good reputation.  There is also a private Christian school about a ½ mile away where Cailyn and Cole could go to school together (it is kindergarten to high school).  I have not had much luck finding a home school in this district.  We met with the principal at the elementary school yesterday and we really liked it.  Nicholas has decided he would like to go there (mostly because they are relaxed about wearing uniforms.  In other words, he can wear street clothes and that makes him happy). Cailyn and I have an appointment at the Christian school this Wednesday—the soonest they would see us.  We shall see how it goes.  The local high school (they call it college) does not have a good reputation, so we are not even touring it for now.

 Well… I think I will let the rest of the family say a few words.  If I forgot to mention anything—please send your questions to my emails (catherine@matley.com or robin@matley.com)   

CAILYN’S COMMENTS:

 Hey!  We are having a blast.  It is so fun and different here.  The food isn’t great, but we are learning.  For a start the peanut butter tastes like rancid peanuts.  The soups (Campbell’s brand at that —but made in Australia) taste really bad—not like the soups in the USA.  And we are on the search for some decent pickles.  The so-called dill pickles here are sweet and soggy.  I don’t know how Cole is going to survive without his pickles.  He lives on them.   Really that is the only downside of our whole adventure.  But as Grammy says, maybe we will all lose weight.   Too bad Cole and Corbin don’t need to.  I love the house we are living in!!!  It is right by some great schools, an awesome park, and the best beach in New Zealand is our backyard.  Besides checking out our new community, all I have been doing is hanging out and relaxing before school starts for me.   I miss my friends in the states and they have asked if I am ready to come home yet.  My reply is, “ I miss you terribly, but I am not ready to come home just yet—I am having way too much fun.”  Write to me if you have any questions, my email is cailyn@matley.com.  I would love to hear from you.  CHEERS!  

Nicholas-

 Just for your information, instead of pickles I am living on chocolate cake.  I have been having a lot lately.  This is some things I have been doing.  Playing my Play Station II, walking on the beach, looking for a school, eating, sleeping, and that’s pretty much it.  We have a park across the street and it has a rope course called a “flying fox”.  You sit on a round seat connected to a cable and jump off a wooden thing-a-ma-bob and slide down the cable across a field really fast.  I am having a lot of fun.

     Corbin says, “What are we going to do next mom?………  And then after that?”  (I guess he has this adventure thing down pretty well.  We are on the go……….)

   Robin’s input is:

 The wine sucks—The Kiwis mostly make Sauvignon Bancs, dry Rieslings and light bodied reds.  I’m having to spend way too much time looking for the large chocolate-cherry - rich fruit, flavorful, full bodied California reds that I’ve become accustomed to and love.  I have to turn to Australia for the full-bodied red wines and I haven’t found a California wine on the shelf yet.  I find that I have acquired a prejudice to drinking most of the wine on the local market shelves, especially the 2000 and 2001 vintage.  I’m still stuck on the fact that the 2001 vintage hasn’t even been picked yet in the States.  I’m sure that the California wines are going to be too expensive anyway.  The US dollar to NZ dollar exchange rate has been around .44 cents.  That’s about NZ$ 2.27 for one American dollar.

 We have found Kiwis are very friendly and we have had fun talking to people.  Most people think that we must be really bored here in New Zealand.  A lot of Kiwis think that Americans live wild and hectic lives 20 hours a day.  We do acknowledge that life in New Zealand is a little quieter than in the States.

 I’m looking forward to finding a company to work with.  We’ve been busy looking for and getting settled into the new house for the last two weeks that I haven’t had much time to work on the job thing.  As the locals say, “no worries.”  There are several companies that I approached when I was here in May that wanted to talk to me once I was settled in New Zealand. I figure we’re now settled in New Zealand and it’s now time to negotiate.  I’m hoping to make a decision this week on which company I will go with.

We are enjoying our adventure and learning a lot about new ways of doing things, like driving on the left hand side of the road.  Food, shopping convenience and some customs are certainly different.  We are having fun trying to adjust to our new way of life and look forward to many more new experiences.

 Hope you are all doing well.  We think of you all and miss you greatly. 

Love,

 The R. Matleys