March 2014 - Ammie's Visit

This is the giant post/photo upload which has caused me falling so far behind with blogging in recent weeks and months.

So, on March 3rd Ammie landed.

And in as chronological an order as I can manage ...

Took her to the beach to meet the neighbours.

We had an afternoon our with one of the Natural Learners groups at one of the DOC parks.

We went to the waterfront and watched some Dragon Boat racing and hired out one of the four person cycle car things.

We road tripped up to Taupo.

With a fair few stops en route, especially as Harry was with us.

Lake Taupo is one of the major holiday destinations for Kiwis, and is a very active volcanic region.  The lake (which is the size of Singapore) is an old volcano crater and there are three main volcanic peaks in close proximity.

Went to Huka Falls.

Visited the 'Craters of the Moon'.

Ate!

Watched the sun set over the lake.

Took a dip in a volcanically heated natural spa pool.

Took a drive up Mount Ruapehu, and saw what will become the ski field in a few months time.

Stopped in Bulls.  You see what they did there!?

And stopped at the same beach (Foxton) on the way home.

We took Ammie to Wellington Zoo.

Had an spur of the moment lunch on the beach.

Made Tash a cake.

Took Ammie to the snorkelling trail at Island bay.

And found her a plate of Oysters at Chocolate Fish Cafe.

And before she left we made her have the kids for a couple of hours so I could take Tash fishing.

There was also lots of food eaten, drinks drunk, beaches visited, shops shopped, viewpoints viewed, museums visited and I suspect much more.

All three hundred and something photos can be found here

Adios England!

So the weeks of non stop craziness just continued till the end.

Our shipping company spent Thursday and Friday packing and then our container ends up arriving on the back of the wrong truck, meaning we can't get it off the truck meaning its useless.

We get promised the right container at 8am on Sat (7th Sept) and so everyone disappears.  Only for us to receive a call a few hours later saying they can't get a crew together and it will have to be Monday morning.  Basically leaving us high and dry,  without any solution,  and in a house unsafe for kids.  And so late on Friday the kids were run down to Tash's parents and we ended up with Olive's baptism and our farewell BBQ taking place on Sunday surrounded by billions of boxes.  We got through it though, and massive thanks to all who came and especially those who helped clear our barn and loft space!

On Monday we filled the road with a container,  loaded the container (shit the bed, these boys were good! ) cleaned and tidied (again, thanks to those who helped!) took Harry to hia four month foster home, and finally at 8pm disappeared for Tash's parents.

On Tuesday I sorted all the jobs I was intending to have done Monday and admitted my day of relaxing was never going to happen before we leave.  Those shippers really fucked us up.

And then we caught a plane. 10pm from Heathrow to Singapore, a 12 hour flight.  Kids were great.  Alfie fell asleep on take off.  Esme shouted.  The airline was amazing, staff did everything they could for us, and of course everything was on the house.  I have erased check in from my memory, but lets say Esme hit 6pm over-tired meltdown right as we reached the front of the queue with us juggling 10 items to check in!  My Dad, Dawn and Dale saw us off which was lovely.  And then this shit got real!

We had a few hours at Singapore airport followed by a 7 hour flight to Brisbane, Aus.  I had prepared for a 10 hour flight so this was a right bonus.  Again we were with Singapore airways, and again Alfie fell asleep on take off and Esme shouted the place down.  Thankfully they had given us a middle row of four seats to ourselves on these flights, god only knows how we'd have managed in just our purchased three!

Again this ended up being an evening takeoff, and once more the kids were ace.  And when Alfie woke 'early' an on demand entertainment system meant he could watch Room On The Broom 8 times back to back whilst Tash sipped Singapore Slings!

And finally came a few hours at Brisbane and then a 3 hour flight to Welly.  Back onto proper cattle class small planes like those we're used to when flying to Gib.  And that wasn't the end of the Gib similarities as our landing, and more specifically the approach,  brought many heart in mouth moments from the huge gusts blowing across the bay.  We were squeezed into three seats, really missed our A380 luxury, but the journey had killed the kids so bad they both slept pretty much the whole way - Alfie falling asleep on take off,  something I'm sure he has now done on every single flight he has been on in his young life.

We squeezed into two cabs, took a five minute cab ride and arrived at our 10 week home in Miramar.  It's a lovely house, and will be perfect for us.  Although only two bed, the open plan layout gives us more space for the kids to run about in than we had in the UK.

Our NZ adventure begins here!...

4 - 3 - 2 - 1 Weeks To Go!!

I did honestly start this post four weeks ago.  It was meant to be a weekly update.  The fact I'm now finishing it four weeks later shows how ridiculously busy I've been of late!

Sunday (4th Aug), got my Grandads old pocket watch back from Seth who had repaired, serviced and cleaned it.  Looks amazing, I am so happy with it!  Just need a nice chain for it now.

On Thursday (7th Aug) we caught up with Abi, and her twins Zach and Sofia.  We went for a play over Rowney Warren and found the COOLEST Geocache!

Friday (8th Aug) was a date with Knebworth and the dinosaurs with Helen, Claudia and Amy.  Love that place, especially the drop slide ... which Alfie event went down.  On his own.  Which, according to the sign is strictly for kids aged 6 and up!

The following week was all Gathering prep.  We were down at Prescott on Wednesday 14th through to Monday 19th Aug.  The show went well, it killed me as ever, but the feedback has been awesome.  All of a sudden our little show isn't such a little show anymore and we have an awesome venue I hope we can call home for many many years.

That week of 19th-25th Aug was my post show recovery week.  I don't really remember what we got up to.  For me it was full of needles though.  Tuesday was my date with the Doc to get 'the snip' (which after a weekend of running yourself ragged, being given sedatives before the op had me on a wonderful fluffy cloud).

And then into Camden on Thursday (22nd Aug) for another day of ink to finish me off before we leave.  I had managed to get Tootall to stripe a 'Tattoo Removal' saw at the Gathering which I presented to Jeff before we set to work.  Photos are rubbish, but to untrained and unknowing eye everything looks complete now.

And we managed to squeeze in a final 'boys' fishing trip.  On Friday (23rd Aug) Alfie and I made an early start to Brightlingsea for a days worm drowning.  And that's literally all it was.  I cannot believe how rubbish we were, it was literally like someone had stolen all the fish from the sea.  Alfie was awesome all day though, I was amazed he wasn't bored out of his mind!

Last week was a crazy one, which included a trip to Tashas Mum on Weds (28th Aug) to make macarons in prep for the weekend, then a visit to Silverstone with Lewis and my Dad to see MotoGP practice on Friday (30th Aug).  We got in the stand at Becketts which was an awesome place to view, but a little breezy ... and so Tash and Alfie ended up with Tech 3 team tops to keep warm.  The noise and excitement of MotoGP was a little too much for Alfie and in the end he had to give in the to need for a little nap.

And then Claire and Jody's absolutely amazing wedding on Saturday.  Quite definitely the best wedding I've been to!  Massive congrats to you both, we all love you both so much!

Amongst all this I've been fighting the Benz.  A snapped front spring has wasted many hours, but now after buying replacement spring from America and driving to Daventry (from the wedding the wrong side of Bournemouth) to collect a set of coil spring compressors ... the third set I've tried on it!  Anyway, the Benz sold tonight on ebay and its a massive weight on my mind.  Now I can focus on packing our container Thurs/Fri and catching a flight in just 8 days!

CatchUp - 5 Weeks To Go!

Live is crazy mad at the moment, and blogging numerous times during the week is impossible.  I think I'm just going to try and do weekly updates until we touch down in Welly - we'll see how that goes.

The Gathering is two weeks away, and our flights to NZ are in a just over five weeks.  I think the phrase is burning the candle at both ends.

So what have we been up to?

Well we've accepted an offer on the house, so have been sorting details with estate agents and instructing solicitors.  I've been trying to get our shipping quote down, which is near as damn it seven grand, and the giant headache has been dealing with Harry.  Turns out he needs a rabies jab before he flies which he hadn't had.  And then he can't fly for 6 months after then!  He had the jab as soon as I found out, and so we need to find a home for our pooch for 4 1/2 months.  We are hopeful we might have a willing foster parent for him though.  And so I've been sorting quotes for flying a dog, and then quarantine, and the nightmare that is the order and schedule of his required jabs.  It seems it will cost more to take the dog to NZ than its cost for all of our flights!

Away from organising the worlds most awesome car show and our emigration we've even got out the house once!  A lovely trip to Rowney Warren with Helen, Clauds and Amy.

 

 

And yesterday Bill came to visit to lend a hand with getting El Nino ready for the container.  NZ are so strict with biosecurity that everything has to go super clean (from dirt not grease) and then pass various safety tests.  I have had it confirmed that, being a racecar, Nino just needs to get through the bio examination.  

We got loads done, and its a rolling chassis again, ready to go in a container now.  My automotive 'to do' list is still ridiculous though.  I am waiting for new front springs to arrive from America for the Benz so that I can sell it, Nana needs going over if she is going to make the crate, and the Ducati needs a thorough going over.  I just dunno how its all going to get done, and in truth something might have to give.

Thanks to Tasha's parents I had managed to get the chassis rubbed back and two coats of chassis black painted and dry before the weekend arrived.  In a day Bill and I managed to get the gearbox and rear end together, front suspension and steering reassembled and the shell in place.  I have also learnt that, when landscaping your garden, it is wise to make sure you can get your racecar shell out again!