The weary travellers return.

Craig and I arrived back in Wellington at Midday on Sunday. After a 12 hour overnight flight during which we collectively achieved around 4 hours sleep and a 3 hour stopover in Christchurch. We were vaguely delirious with the exhaustion and so we decided, ever so sensibly, that Sunday afternoon would be the best time to move ourselves from our cozy abode (aka a little room in my Parents' house) in to the large and empty house we will be living in until further notice.
At the time? it seemed like a good idea. At 8pm on Sunday it seemed like the worst idea in the world.
We spent the first night rattling around the big house like Kendra (a simile suggested by my baby sister and I'm gonna run with it) with little more than a fridge, a tv, and a bed. But without the stripper pole in the living room.
And Monday, Craig feeling jet-lagged and off work, we moved the rest of our life into the big house, and spent too too too much money getting the ephemera one needs to outfit a house. By 7pm we were mainly finished* though the internet is still not connected (sob).

I told you all of that by way of explaining the lack of photographic evidence of our time in Japan and the lack of yet another 365 update**.

Also! The internet and my disinclination to research (crazy, I know) led to the following items being USELESS in Japan:

1 pair of jeans. 2 turned out to be sufficient
My scarf, hat, and gloves
My hairdryer. My straighteners could deal with the voltage difference but my hairdryer was ridiculously underpowered.
1 pair of shoes. I made do with my boots on days we had to travel, and 1 pair of plimsolls. Fancy flats were superfluous.

It turns out that in Japan, the autumn/beginning of winter temperatures are somwhere in the range of 17-24 degrees celsius. In New Zealand we call that SUMMER.
It was, however, hilarious seeing everyone else wearing long sleeves & jackets & scarves while Craig swanned around in a t-shirt. I am eternally grateful that I included my blazer as a last minute addition to my bag, I could not have survived wearing my winter coat.

So. In short? we are home. Japan was amazing. Lovely. Incredible. We had a great time. Photos will be forthcoming. Maybe.


* We haven't even started on moving my books though. That's a weekend size chore.
** I forgot one day! Agony! I was going so so well. It was the day we flew to Japan where we left our Auckland accommodation (chez in-laws) at about 6am, spent the day on the plane, arrived in Japan and felt overwhelmed by it all, then went out with our friend & host-in-Japan, Tim, for dinner and drinking before crashing into bed just after midnight. Sigh.