I won’t have time for a carefully crafted story this week as I’m buried under an avalanche of administrative tasks to complete. I received amazing feedback about my application essay for the journalism program– supportive comments, constructive criticism, detailed emails, grammar corrections, suggestions… Thank you all so much for that! I took note of every comment and will work on the final version over the week-end.
I also finally got my residence visa granted by the New Zealand immigration offices. Yay! Nick and I had to send a heavy stack of official documents, proof of our relationship, and medical reports. The immigration officials from London were surprisingly helpful and worked much faster than we had expected. When we started attacking the millions of tiny tasks moving overseas would involve, it seemed daunting. But day by day, signature by signature, one document after the other, we’re crossing the items from the to-do list. We’re getting closer and closer- how exciting (and terrifying)!
To take a break from the admisnistration-induced stress, I picked my favorite photos from my first visit to New Zealand. My wish in sharing them here is of course to make all my friends and family want to visit.
The view from Nick’s parents’ deck
Wellington. Can you tell I like to pose?
New Zealand’s Christmas tree
Nick in his favorite place- his parents’ bach in Arthur’s Pass
Enjoying the sound of silence after a long hike
Kayaking in Abel Tasman
Our shadows on the beach
Impossible not to include this photo…
On a hike. Yes I can hike in a dress (luckily you can’t see my shoes)
A ‘historic’ building on lake Tekapo- approximately 150 years old
Have you ever been to new Zealand? Do you want to go now?
Trying to be Conscious 
Superbes photos!! :)
Je n’y suis jamais allée mais cela donne envie…
PS: tu arrives vraiment à randonner en robe?? Elégante en toutes circonstances, j’admire!! :)
En fait c’est une robe que j’ai achetée dans un magasin de sport. La matière se porte donc bien à la rando- voilà le secret!
C’est quand même super classe, je reste épatée! :)
Stunning images and i love the sound of silence place :)
Thanks! I love this place too, I often remembering when I need to find some peace of mind.
Everyone will remember this place, when it comes to peace :)
I found your blog from that expat site as I’m going on a school exchange to Switzerland next year (and so looking it up) and then going to your blog, I see a post about New Zealand and recognise that Wellington beach and I’m like woah what a conicidence! Because I live in wellington, NZ and am going to Switzerland, you are living in Switzerland and coming to live in NZ! I found that an intersting coincidence! Anyway I enjoy your posts :) and will be reading this to find out more about your life in Switzerland!
Pretty interesting that we’re both moving to the other side of the world…
Where in Switzerland will you live? If you have any questions about Switzerland, I’d love to help :-)
Yeah! I haven’t got placed yet but it’ll be in the German speaking area. Well… What kind of food is normal to eat? Do you know anyone who speaks Romansch? How can do tell when you’ve gone over a language region border (like are all the street signs suddenly in a different language)? Do the lakes have beaches? Just a few questions… :) don’t feel like you have to answer them all! Oh and I hope you like NZ, I think it’s a good place to live. (Which part are you going to live in?)
– The Swiss eat a lot of cheese, potato, and chocolate. Other than that, the food won’t be dramatically different from what you eat in NZ. Just less fish and fresh seafood.
– I don’t know anyone who speaks Romansch and most of the ones who do also speak Swiss-German I think.
– You can tell you’ve crossed a border because of the names of places and street signs and people all in a different language :-)
– The lakes and even the rivers have beaches, it’s very agreeable to sunbathe and swim there in summer.
– I’ll live in Christchurch to begin with :-)
For some reason it won’t let me reply to your reply, maybe it is too many replies? But thank you for answering my questions! I love cheese, potatoes and chocolate so that’s good :). Ahh interesting. We pretty much only speak English in NZ so I think being in a country with 4 national languages will be different! Oh that’s good also, I was a bit worried about the lack of coastline but if there are good beaches at the lakes that will be okay. Oh the “garden city”! I haven’t been there much but it seems very nice. Just hope there aren’t any more big earthquakes! I hope you like it there :)
Beautiful photos, Cecile! I got the opportunity to spend five days in New Zealand after a semester studying abroad in Sydney. I only visited the north island, and stayed in a little surfing community called Raglan with some friends of friends. We drove around all weekend in a beat-up van, listening to “Vampire Weekend” and pretending to be surf bums like our friends. It was simply the best. NZ is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been!
Thanks Jorie. Your hippyish trip on the North Island sounds like tons of fun, I want to pretend I’m a surf bum too ;-)
Of course your pictures have sold NZ to me. :) It looks like a sunnier version of Scotland! The fact that you’ve visited the place already should make it that bit easier to settle in. Fantastic news about the visa, I’m sure the rest of the paperwork will just take care of itself now.
Now get off the blog and go back to writing that essay!
Thanks for your support, Claire. I wish I had time to visit Scotland before moving to the other side of the world… Oh well, it will be yet another excuse to come back :)
Who knows, maybe you’ll end up travelling so far around the world you’ll come back to where you started!
Je crois que tu as atteint ton objectif, ces photos donnent effectivement très envie de découvrir la Nouvelle-Zélande :-)
Merci Aurélie, j’espère te voir là bas :-)
Love the photos! What an amazing adventure… Keep us posted!
Thanks Susie, I love the feeling of having blogger friend following my adventures :-)
Same here!
I’ve never visited, but I’d really really love to. It looks so beautiful! Amazing photos.. :)
Thank you Mythreyi, hope you’ll get the chance someday.
Been to NZ! loved it! would definitely go back! loved your pics! hope it enticed lots of friends and family to follow you to the other side of the planet! a thing they won’t regret doing! Cheers!
Thanks Juls, if the photos aren’t convincing enough, I’ll show the comments about NZ ;-)
definitely!! ;-)
Cécile, I am so thriled that you get to go on such an amazing adventure. New Zealand looks absolutely breathtaking and it’s definitely on my travel bucket list. Good luck with the essay revision and I’m sure we’ll all be reading about you acceptance into the program very soon! xoxo
Thank you Jessica, I hope to post about my acceptance soon as well.
You’ve got a pretty exciting trip coming up already and after we meet you’ll have one more reason to come and visit New Zealand!
Well, you had me at the first picture. I do want to visit someday.
And the two of you seem wonderful together. That has to make it an even more beautiful place!
Scott
Thank you Scott, I hope you’ll get a chance to visit someday :-)
:-)
Love the pictures! They make me want to go back even more! I definitely want to visit… ;-)
Thanks Jen. You’ll be welcome anytime… Especially if you manage to bring Andrew ;-)
I’m working on it… ;-)
So many familiar places in those photos! The picture of Wellington is at my favorite beach – I love going there when I lived in Welly. You are going to have such an amazing time!
I hope so! My first visit there ended up being my favourite holiday ever… How could it go wrong in such a beautiful place?
Magnificent colors and landscapes, Cécile! Bien fait.
Merci Tricia :-)
Love these pictures and you are adorable. I’m so happy for you and wish you luck on your new adventure together! :)
Thank you for your good wishes :)
Wow, NZ looks beautiful! My boyfriend’s sister and her then boyfriend (now husband) travelled there for a year after they graduated from uni and they’ve always raved about it, but your photos are just gorgeous. I definitely want to go now :) All the best with your essay!
NZ is definitely worth a visit, i’m glad I convinced you :)
I’m coming to visit! Well not really, but I would like to! New Zealand reminds me a lot of Montana :) with the exception of the beach! I am so excited for you and your new adventure and can’t wait to see more photos and posts about it.
I didn’t get a chance to read all of your essay, but I wish you the best and sincerely hope that you make it into the school. I have also just applied for grad-school (in mental health counseling) and it’s unnerving to have to sit around and wait to see if I got in! Good thoughts to you :) xoxo
Yes, I can’t wait to just know what I’m going to do next year instead of waiting for an answer… You’re going back to grad-school as well, exciting! Good thoughts to you too :-)
Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. The colors in these photos are amazing–great eye, Cécile. We so weren’t joking when we said we’d like to visit you in NZ. This just makes me more excited about the prospect! Good luck with your essay revision. I know you’re going to rock it!
Merci Rian. I’m glad my photos made you want to visit even more :) How great would it be to meet again in NZ?!
Never been but sure would like to go! The photos are great!
Thank you, June!