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Place 49 – Day 361: Auckland – Wednesday Night Vietnamese Coffee

Curtis’ Day;

Curtis got to the clirnt around thr same time as previously and someone arrived shorty after to let him in.

In the morning, Curtis got something completed from yesterday and another completed from scratch, also.

At 10:30, Curtis had it planned to see someone and get their PC sorted, but they were not there, so he was unable to get that done until around 11:30. Unfortunately, this one took ages to configure itself, so it wasn’t done until 15:00.

After this, Curtis started another but then left around 16:00. Curtis’ colleague got one completed also so there are only a couple remaining to complete, which means it should be completed this week!

Curtis drove home, with little traffic.

Both of us;

We had dinner shortly after we were both home. Dinner was just leftovers from yesterday, but we added more BBQ sauce to the pork, which made it even more delicous!

After dinner, we sat and watched Blue Planet 2 but we both became tired around 19:00 which is too early, so we decided to go out. We drove to Takapuna, parked up and walk to Tok Tok, where we just wanted a Vietnamese coffee!

The restaurant was very busy, but we got a seat briefly and enjoyed our coffee.

We had some people sit next to us and we briefly chatted with them. They realised we were British so asked if we’ve enjoyed our time here and we chatted about it for a bit.

After our delicious coffee, we went back to the car but taking the long route so we could have a bit of a walk.

Once we got back home, we watched a bit more TV and then went to sleep!

This time last year!

Poroporoaki!

– Mr & Mrs Hale

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Place 49 – Day 360: Auckland – Pre Travel Sort Out & Christmas Decorations!

Curtis’ Day;

Curtis left an unwell Kim at home and headed to the client.

Kim was home all day today as she wasn’t feeling well at all. We think she may have what Curtis had on Saturday!

Curtis had already done a lot by 09:30, which was very positive and motivating.

Curtis went on to get another few machines migrated and by the time he left, he had completed another 6 machines…A huge chunk completed! He plans to have a similar day tomorrow, but we’ll see.

Curtis’ drive home was slow, but he stopped at the supermarket on the way home for some essentials.

Kim’s Day;

Kim spent the majority of the day in bed, but did get progressively better throughout.

When it came to late afternoon, Kim was feeling much better and even put on some pork belly in the slow cooker for dinner.

Both of us;

Once Curtis got home, we spent a good chunk of the evening sorting what to keep and what to get rid of for when we go traveling next. This was very, very successful though we were very tired afterwards!

We finished off dinner and had pulled pork and coleslaw buns with a side salad and kumara wedges.

We finished dinner and watched some TV, including Blue Planet 2.

After watching TV, Kim went and spoke with Nicola and then managed to start doing some Christmas decorating…Kim and Nicola made a Christmas tree on the wall, put up some decals and painted some candy canes to add to the homemade tree!

After this, we went to bed as we both have busy days ahead of us tomorrow.

This time last year!

Poroporoaki!

– Mr & Mrs Hale

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Place 49 – Day 359: Auckland – Steady Progress

Curtis’ Day;

Curtis got to the client and his colleague was not there, but Curtis did get it around 07:20 which was earlier than usual for this client.

The day started with Curtis needing to finish a machine from Friday, which took roughly 2 hours to finish and then a few more minutes deliver to and train the user.

Curtis had the odd thing to do here and there after this until around 12:00 when he went to get a coffee and had a bit of a walk.

After this, Curtis was pretty full on until 15:00, but then he had a few things to help people with and, before he knew it, it was 16:20…so much for leaving at a decent time!

There wasn’t much traffic for Curtis on the way home. When he got back, he did the ironing and collected the laundry.

Both of us;

Kim got back and it was so hot that we needed some fresh air, so we went for a 30 minute walk. We used this time to chat about our days with each other.

We got home and were lazy so had pizza for dinner, with a side salad.

We watched some TV and that was the end of the day for us.

This time last year!

Poroporoaki!

– Mr & Mrs Hale

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Place 49 – Day 358: Auckland – Brunch & A Chinese Takeaway

We woke up a little later today, but still with enough time for Kim to get ready and then go for brunch with Tabitha.

For brunch, they went to Honey Cafe, which Kim had never been to before. The food was excellent! Kim had french toast with bacon, banana & strawberries.

Kim left brunch with Tabitha and they then went up to Albany, which they went to for a bit of shopping. Well, mostly window shopping!

After a good few hours, Kim came home and when she got home, Curtis had just finished watching the Leafs game, so that was perfect timing!

We caught up and chilled out for a bit and then went out to get a chinese takeaway. We can’t think of the last time we got a Chinese takeaway.

We shared chicken curry and sweet & sour rice.

It was adequate, but still not great in comparison to the UK!

We watched A Murder on The Orient Express with dinner, which again, was adequate but not excellent.

Kim spoke with her family briefly, and then it was bedtime. Curtis is back at the client tomorrow and more than likely for the next week.

This time last year!

Poroporoaki!

– Mr & Mrs Hale

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Place 49 – Day 357: Auckland – A Sleep In, Another BBQ & A Random Sickness

We woke up at around 11:30, which was a lovely lay in!

We had some breakfast in bed, watching a few videos and delaying starting the day.

The weather was scorching today, so we opened all the windows to get a good breeze going.

We got some laundry done and then drove to the shop to get a few things for the week, as well as a coffee.

Once we got home, it was almost time for us to go out again! We had a small BBQ to go to at around 17:30, so we stopped to pickup Kelsey & Hugh, Kim’s work friend and her fiancé, and then drove to the BBQ at another work colleague’s apartment.

We had a few chats and then a great BBQ and listened to some tunes!

Curtis started to feel quite unwell, so we came home and relaxed for a bit before Kim went out to the elephant wrestler, which is a pub in Takapuna, where she met some other work friends to celebrate a birthday.

That was our Saturday…nothing crazy but still nice (minus Curtis feeling unwell!).

This time last year!

Poroporoaki!

– Mr & Mrs Hale

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Place 49 – Day 356: Auckland – Work Unofficial Xmas Party

Curtis’ Day;

Again, Curtis got to the client early, but once he got let in, he got right into working!

Curtis setup a PC fairly quickly, before he went to sort out something for people he helped yesterday, only to get no answer at that door (which is across the street) so he went back and started with something else instead.

He started with a PC but was then told that he didn’t need to do it, so he gave it back and worked on another PC. Curtis had to go and see someone about their setup and files and then sort their PC.

After an hour or so, Curtis went back over the road to the other building and ended up being there for a couple of hours, trying to get emails to migrate!

Eventually, Curtis got back to the server room where everything is located and did a bit more work before driving home.

The traffic on the way home was awful! It took around 40 minutes to get home.

Both of us;

Curtis took Kim to a party once she got home. This was an ‘unofficial’ christmas party, just organised by some colleagues.

Kim had a great time! This is one of the last times she’ll hang out with her colleagues. Whilst she was tired, Kim spent a while at the party and Curtis picked her up at 00:00, luckily it was just down the road.

This time last year!

Poroporoaki!

– Mr & Mrs Hale

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Place 49 – Day 355: Auckland – Exciting Development!

Curtis’ Day;

Curtis drove to the client directly from home this morning, getting there at around 07:20.

Curtis had to wait briefly for someone to let him and his colleague in, but eventually they were let in and got started on the work. There was a laptop to finish up from yesterday which took a couple of hours and then once that was done, the next PC was started.

The next PC was very slow so everything took a while, and then once it was almost done, one of the required files had corrupted, so Curtis gave up on that and decided to continue it tomorrow.

Curtis had to go back and see someone to show them some stuff and then he popped out to get a coffee.

After getting the coffee, Curtis had some admin to do and then he went to see someone else briefly to setup a time to meet with her tomorrow.

Curtis drove home and the traffic was quite good, so it didn’t take long.

Both of us;

The first thing on the agenda when we got home was to see if the application period for the visa for our next place was open… and it was! We quickly applied for that and then had our leftover spaghetti bolognese.

Kim went for a brief walk after dinner and then we watched The Apprentice before bed.

It’s exciting to have the visa application submitted!

This time last year!

Poroporoaki!

– Mr & Mrs Hale

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Place 49 – Day 354: Auckland – Crazy Rays

Curtis’ Day;

Curtis was incredibly tired when he got to the office this morning, so coffee was the first thing on the agenda.

Once Curtis was a bit more awake, he went through his emails, replied to the ones he needed to and then he realised he’d given most of his work away as he was expecting to be onsite from today.

Curtis took back a case he had given away to do that before he went onsite.

At 11:10, Curtis ate his small lunch quickly and then left to go to the client.

For today and the next few days, Curtis is assisting with the migration, similar to the trips he did all around the country.

Curtis was at the client all afternoon and felt that it was fairly successful. He did a scoping of the site to get a bit familiar with it as well as then migrating a couple of users.

Curtis left the client and drove home, which only took about 25 minutes or so.

Both of us;

Kim made a delicious spaghetti bolognese for dinner, along with a side salad and garlic bread.

After dinner, we went for a short walk in the Domain, where the clouds and sun combined for a terrific photo!

we watched two episodes of SAS: Who Dares Wins and then hit the hay!

This time last year!

Poroporoaki!

– Mr & Mrs Hale

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Place 49 – Day 353: Auckland – A Quick Fix

Curtis’ Day;

Curtis got to work and had an onsite planned for 09:30.

The weather was absolutely awful today! It was raining, thundering and there was even lightning! Along with this, it was very dark and gloomy in the office.

It was good for Curtis to get out of the gloomy office and out into the rain. He drove for around 10 minutes to the client and had to park a little down the street.

Curtis managed to refrain from getting too wet and was able to get started around 09:30 with the client.

The fix was very quick and really only took about 30 minutes, not including checking each machine, so that was a result!

After getting back to the office, Curtis was told he was going to be taking over a few cases from a colleague, but this then changed when he was informed he would give those back and might possibly be going to help another colleague onsite over the next couple of days.

Despite leaving the office later then he would usually, the traffic was almost none existent onn the way home, so Curtis was home fast.

Both of us;

We sorted the laundry as quickly as possible when we got home and Curtis did the ironing.

Once we were done with that, it was dinner time, which meant Curtis had to make his excellent rice again! We had leftovers from yesterday with our rice.

Once we finished with dinner, Kim jumped in the shower whilst Curtis made lunch. Curtis’ lunch is rather scarce for the next could of days as he is unsure if he’ll even get time for a lunch break, so he doesn’t want to have items that would easily go off in his bag all day.

Kim fancied a walk, so she went and did that briefly then it waa TV followed by sleep.

This time last year!

Poroporoaki!

– Mr & Mrs Hale

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Place 49 – Day 352: Auckland – Successfully Busy!

Curtis’ Day;

Curtis had a few admin tasks to do when he got to the office, such as his monthly productivity checker, in which he has to tally up lots of different information to ‘prove’ his productivity scores etc.

Curtis got that done and then was right back into doing work.

Curtis didn’t start the day with too much to do, but he did have the odd case to complete.

As Curtis was wrapping up the morning’s cases, he had an email from the client he was dealing with last week.

A lot of the issues he was looking at last week were resolved and there were only a couple left!

That being said, these couple still took up most of the afternoon, around helping colleagues with work.

It got to the end of the day and it seemed like a successful day!

Curtis had to visit a client tomorrow morning, which should be an interesting few hours work.

Both of us;

Kim had a chat with Nicola after getting home as she was away for thr weekend so Kim had a catch up.

We eventually made teriyaki chciken with rice and vegetables to eat for dinner.

After dinner, we watched The Russell Howard Hour.

This time last year!

Poroporoaki!

– Mr & Mrs Hale