#52Ancestors, Favourite Photo

When this topic has come up in the past I have chosen a family group photo to discuss.  

This time though I have chosen a landscape - actually three. 

I have hundreds, thousands of photos; landscapes, sunsets, flowers, trees, people, buildings, holiday memories, instagram gold.

I love these though because they are timeless. 

It is the view I savoured (and photographed) just six years ago. It is exactly the same view that my great great grandparents and their children saw, and will have remembered, every day in the years leading up to their departure from England for their fresh start in New Zealand. Although there were probably more apple trees planted in the orchard in the foreground then.

It is the same view that the original inhabitants of the house and farm would have seen hundreds of years before them.

And this, from the gate at the top of Churchill looking down to St Michael's Raddington. 

Unchanged. 

The Manor House, Kingston, at the foot of the hill where my great great grandfather lived with his elder brother, their mother, stepfather and half siblings. Where their father and grandfather had likely lived before them. St Michael's where his grandfather's brother had been the minister until 1783 and his grandmother's great grandfather or his brother was church warden in 1675.

It is where I feel at home, although I never lived there. Being there feels grounding, walking in the footprints of my ancestors. It’s in my DNA.

Move In Day

Moving Day

What is worse ? Packing or unpacking ?

I had collected the keys on Friday afternoon having taken the day off to deal with any last minute unforeseen catastrophes. There were a couple, but nothing major and just like that we were homeowners.

During the day I had tried to reorganise the storage unit to make it easier for the moving guys the next morning. Some things were coming to the storage unit, others were to be removed to go to the new address. While doing that I had loaded the car with some boxes, which we intended to take over after Lauren finished work; and to make several more trips.

That done, and takeaways for dinner we went to bed, planning to be up bright and early to dismantle beds. We are pretty whizzy with allan keys these days.

With the car loaded and the truck packed we were off to the storage unit to supervise the “what goes to storage and what comes out” manoeuvre, and then meet them at our new home for the unloading.

All done before lunch ! Well the big stuff anyway – the endless trips to bring other stuff in the car seemed to go on forever. By the end of the day we had had enough and left the last couple for the next morning when we needed to go back to meet the cleaners anyway.

During the afternoon, we had reassembled beds and begun emptying boxes. Somewhere to sleep and knowing whereabouts of the kettle, cups and tea and coffee doings are priorities we have come to appreciate in this recent gypsy life.

We got a delicious takeaway locally – healthy too – and then carried on for a few more loads. While we were at the old place, the sky burst with an amazing display of fireworks. They marked the end of school fair in the park just over the road. We felt it was a fitting farewell from the neighbourhood to us !

We fell into bed and next morning made the last two trips while the cleaners did an amazing job on the rental. Still not good enough for the real estate though. We have never had so much trouble getting bond back at the end of a lease as we have in Australia this time. The property was 100% cleaner than it had been when we moved in, but they still disputed it.

If we had opted to clean the rental ourselves and then apply the same, if not more, elbow grease to clean the new place properly we would have been even more annoyed. If only the same fastidiousness applied to vacating homeowners. YUK.

But it was done. From now on there are just decisions to make, where to hang art, where to put furniture.

Home Sweet Home.

#52Stories, Week 30, If it is true that “home is where the heart is”, what are the barest essentials you would need to make any place a home ?

Well this is a bit timely. When this was meant to be written life was a bit chaotic. Filled with downsizing and decluttering. Now, living is very minimal while we wait impatiently for what was left after the decluttering, to make its way across the sea.

So what are the barest essentials ?

·         A bed and fresh linen.

·         A light to read by.

·         A chair to sit in. Maybe not the one which I have right now, but the one I wanted, that you could curl up in and relax with a book or watch a movie. Why can’t you just buy “off the floor” and why does everything take 6 weeks ?

·         Something to read

·         Unlimited data

·         Laptop & phone

·         Flowers, fresh from the market or wherever else you can get them fresh

·         Somewhere to cook or bake – and the ingredients. Even just flour, salt, baking powder butter and milk is enough to satisfy that basic urge to bake (scones, pikelets – comfort food)

·         A great shower – not one that just trickles and wets you.

·         A fridge

·         A nearby laundromat or a washing machine.

Although we have most of these things right now, or the ability to have them, there are a few other things I will be pleased to see again once they arrive ! - like a couch to stretch out on. 

Settling in

So just to catch people up. Lauren found a place to call home and we have moved in.

Since most of our belongings are in a container waiting to leave New Zealand we have had a bit of a spending spree. Beds, mattresses, fridge and washing machine were the most costly - but not actually, all things considered. Something to sit on, crockery, cutlery, cooking vessels - you know the things I mean. 

We are slowly getting some of the essentials in to the pantry as well.

It has been a week now and there are the makings of a home.

We took back the rental car last Sunday as well, so there has been lots of walking about to get things done. Just as well Bendigo is a walkable place.

Turns out a few of the great coffee places we have been frequenting are just 10-15 minutes walk away. Bonus.

We have almost all of the admin things sorted - medicare, myki cards, (like Snapper, HOP, Oyster and Opal), library cards, bank accounts, electoral rolls, tax numbers so things are feeling pretty organised. Just the job front to conquer for me.

In the meantime I am still enjoying my studying using pocket wifi (thanks Vodafone) while we wait for our NBN internet connection to get sorted.

We have a bunch of DVDs to watch because TV is pretty rubbish - but at least you don't need to buy an additional set top box or sign up to pay tv just to watch the free channels. You just buy a TV (dont forget the cable) take it home, plug it all in and BINGO - TV is all sorted. Anyway, TV will have to do - and the DVD's until we have internet because I think we would use all our data up watching Netflix if we tried it now.

 Flatpack furniture - or some of it

 Book exchange on the footpath !!

 ...one day

 All of the above in Chancery Lane

Bendigo channelling Santa Monica

#52Stories, Week 16, How many different homes or apartments have you lived in throughout your life ? How many different cities ? What have you gained (or lost) in each of those moves ?

Ellicott Road, Frankton, Hamilton

Tramway Road, Enderley, Hamilton

Cortina Avenue, Johnsonville, Wellington

Orpington Street, Ashfield, Sydney, New South Wales

Cleland Road, Artarmon, Sydney, New South Wales

Eighth Avenue, Campsie, Sydney, New South Wales

Smiths Avenue, Hurstville, Sydney, New South Wales

cnr Single & Poole Streets, Werris Creek, New South Wales

McIntosh Street, Forster, New South Wales (I think)

Monomeeth Street, Bexley, Sydney, New South Wales

Woronora Parade, Oatley, Sydney, New South Wales

Hornibrook Esplanade, Clontarf, Queensland

Joseph Street, Margate, Queensland

Madras Street, Khandallah, Wellington

Connolly Street, Melling, Lower Hutt

Tennant Street, Torrens Park, Adelaide, South Australia

Ella Street, Parkside, Adelaide, South Australia

Norton Street, Ashfield, Sydney, New South Wales

Beamish Street, Campsie, Sydney, New South Wales

Madras Street, Khandallah, Wellington
Pulham Crescent, Queenwood, Hamilton

Oakley Avenue, Claudelands, Hamilton

Pringle Place, Rotokauri Park, Hamilton

Madras Street, Khandallah, Wellington

Madras Street, Khandallah, Wellington (different house)

Adams Lane, Springlands, Blenheim
McBeath Avenue, Hoon Hay, Christchurch
Adams Lane, Springlands, Blenheim

Ruawai Road, Mt Wellington, Auckland

...Birkenhead, Auckland

?

What have I gained ?
Friends, stuff, great memories, the chance to explore new places, the ability to pack...

What have I lost ?
Some friends, some stuff (right now some linen that I haven't found since Wellington), a bit of money...

#52Stories, Week 15, Where did you go the very first time you moved out of your parents' home ? Did you have roommates ? Did you live alone ? Did you get married right away ? Tell the story.

Sydney.

August 1979. Back when you didn't need a passport to jump the ditch.

I went with a friend - well she went first and I joined her later. Long story. We shared a unit with her sisters who had been in Sydney for a couple of years.

It didn't last. She went back to New Zealand about three weeks after I arrived. Her escape plan failed - or maybe it was her plan all along, there was a baby on the way !

But I stayed, I continued to share with her sisters, who I knew vaguely from Wellington. It was tough, but I'm not a quitter, and it made sense. They had a three bedroom unit, there were three of us. Ashfield, inner west, close to transport, close-ish to the city, good shopping. We fell into a comfortable sort of routine, sharing the shopping, cooking, housework etc. 

We would each buy the paper on the way home from work and see who could complete the crossword first and get the most words in the TARGET puzzle. Watch the Young Doctors, Cop Shop, Skyways, Dallas, Countdown - listen to Bob Dylan, Bob Seger, Cold Chisel, Dragon, Boomtown Rats, Little River Band, Doobie Brothers. The lady downstairs didn't like Bob Seger's Katmandu. She used to bang on her ceiling (our floor) with a broom or something until we turned it down.

On Fridays we would meet after work at Wynyard, have ravioli or canneloni for dinner at an Italian "restaurant" in the arcade then hit the bars. There were a few in the station complex, part of the Menzies I think. One was style like a plane long and narrow with fake windows  - a bit different. I learned pretty quickly to change how I ordered my drinks. 

"Vodka and Raro" 
"What ? Bloody Kiwis !" 
"Ooops, I meant Vodka and Orchy" or 

"Southern Comfort and Paeroa" 
"Huh ?" 
"Oh, I meant Coke"

Mostly we would end up at a couple of wine bars somewhere around Angel Place before making our way home in a cab or on a late train.

On Saturday nights we'd go back into town, running to the station in our heels to catch the train, catch a movie, have a wine or three, check out a live band at a pub, go to a party in Bondi, Paddington...or go to a Leagues club or RSA. 

Sundays sometimes we'd do a bit of shopping or sightseeing. See how far we could get on the trains without paying a fare, and if we got caught without a ticket we'd say we'd got on at the last station. Best deal ? A day out to Gosford to the Wildlife Park (where the bats had us scrambling, almost on the floor from one end of the nocturnal enclosure to the exit door, in fright) for just a 30 cent train fare- return ! Score.

After about six months we moved to the North Shore and lived in Artarmon, close to Chatswood in a great apartment. Eventually though, they decided to return to New Zealand so the partnership broke up and I went off on my own. 

In a new direction. Making new friends.

Lost day

The dateline between New Zealand and the USA meant that we arrived in the US at the beginning of our holiday earlier than we left NZ.

We had gone from being 19 hours ahead of the US, to being 19 hours behind NZ. So it was inevitable that the "time travel" to return home would have some catches.

For us that meant we lost an entire day. We left LA on Thursday night, flew for 12 hours and arrived in New Zealand on Saturday morning. No Friday for us at all. It is quite an odd experience.

The flight was okay, I slept more than I had thought I would and was feeling not as rubbish as I thought I might. Still pretty rubbish, but mostly tired. We had a straightforward process at customs and were soon outside in the chilly damp winter air. Brrr.

Once we got to the car we piled in the luggage and set off for home. Initially the car did not want to co-operate about starting. Two weeks of sitting in the outside air were obviously not appreciated. However, it did eventually start with no added intervention. 

H.O.M.E

And because I have this extra post which sort of covers two days depending on which hemisphere you are in, I thought it was the best place to finally share the pics of the kitties from Best Friends who we spent a quiet afternoon with a week or so ago.

Settling In

Well, it has been about three weeks now since the move north, to the other side of the harbour. I'm enjoying it. For the first two weeks my commute was 10 minutes each way ! Quite a difference to 45-90 minutes each way. School holidays made a difference, but even so most days last week were less than 20 minutes each way.

The boxes are slowly being dealt with and it is looking more like home. This weekend I spent an afternoon picking my way through the boxes that had got wet and started disintegrating at the old place. Dry basement indeed ! The movers had done such a wonderful job packing initially that most things just needed to be placed into a new box. Some things needed to be re-wrapped before packing though. Some things mostly wooden bowls were pretty gross, so they have been washed in water so hot it was hard to keep my hands in it, or put through the dishwasher. I'll keep them inside for a bit to make sure they are all well dried out before going back into boxes.

I also discovered all the linen we hadn't seen since Christchurch and some of mine which had been packed around bits and pieces in Wellington. So that has all been washed and aired. Some of it will go back into boxes over the next few weeks. I'm still looking for duvet covers and blankets though - who knows where they got put in Wellington ! 

The weather is still not very autumn-ish so I cant see that I will be needing blankets anytime soon anyway. But if I do, there is the one I had to buy last winter in Christchurch and a couple of others which could be put to use. BUT I really would like to know where my nice woollen Onkaparinga blanket is.

Then, today was Mothers' Day. I had the yummiest breakfast home made for me. Waffles with fresh SUMMER berries, edible flowers and maple syrup. Who would have thought summer berries would still be in the shops in May !! Very spoilt, despite having given strict instructions not to buy me anything - rather save the money and buy me something while we are on holiday. Terribly disobedient ! But much appreciated at the same time.

In other news - we have a pretty good spot to check out sunsets at our new home too.
 

October is almost over

It has been a month, since we moved into a new home for "now". This house is not as great as our Christchurch home. In fact the owners seem to be like chalk and cheese. Where our Christchurch landlords loved and cherished their former home, and were quick to address any problems, this one seems to be a moneymaking scheme and no pride is taken in it's appearance. For less rent than we were paying in Christchurch this one has been a bit of a disappointment so far.

Still, we are comfortable enough - even though the kitchen is a nightmare (ONE power outlet and a rubbish oven), and the water pressure in the bathroom is pretty much a joke. I just don't get landlords who spend nothing on their property. Don't they realise it would increase resale value, and maybe even get better tenants in the future ?

Psst, been here a month and only just realised we can see this from where we park the cars. Doh !

Also have noticed a few other things about life up here in the big smoke:

• The traffic isn't as bad as what everyone tells you
• There are amazing parks - everywhere !
• Public transport is pretty good, so far
• Farro is like Moore Wilson but there are more of them
• There is an ACTUAL Park and Ride (at the airport) - like a real one as in "they are everywhere in the UK"
• The dawn chorus is really noisy - it is ages since we've been woken by such chatty avians
• There are birds everywhere, I'd forgotten how noisy Mynahs are since there are none in Wellington or the South Island
• It rains - we've had more precipitation in a month than we had in the whole year we were in Christchurch. Mostly only drizzly showers, but a few proper heavy downpours. I've missed that.

I would just like to say as well, that job searching is not my favourite thing.

Another Adventure Begins - No Regrets

So, It's been a while. Mostly for the last month I have been alternating between wallowing in misery about making such a snap decision to end the dream, enjoying being home and seeing family and contemplating the fact that actually we are in almost the same state here as we were in the UK.

Still, we have made progress. I have accepted that I made a stupid decision. I am working on accepting that we had a great three months. I have set a goal to return and give it another go - once I have replenished my savings.

We decided to give Christchurch a go on our return. It is a city rebuilding after monumental upheaval, so it seemed a fitting place for us to begin to rebuild our lives too. It is almost four weeks since we arrived back into spring with blossoms on trees and new leaves and cute baby lambs frolicking in fields. I am missing autumn, and not really looking forward to summer, but spring is helping with the transition. The occasional wintery day breaks the monotony of blue sky and sunshine days and reminds us again that we have to wait six more long months to get to wear warm snuggly clothes. 

We have a car - a Rover which has been named "the moon buggy" to get us around the place. It will do for now, it doesn't have a CD player or an AUX outlet so that will have to be remedied soon and it has no drink holders which we didn't discover until we visited the US Embassy for Food the other day. Hmmm. 

The rental market in Christchurch is pretty fierce but we're a pretty determined couple of ladies and we have found a wonderful house to rent. It has an amazing garden with lemons, black currants, apples, strawberries, cherries, feijoas and veges so we won't be starving. It is also only 5 minutes from Lauren's new job. So just me to organise now. We move in this weekend and the truck will arrive from Wellington with boxes of belongings and furniture to unpack at the beginning of the week.

Apple Blossoms down the street

 Matai River Nelson

 Reject export peonies from the peony farm where Anne works

 A rose and an azalea in Mum and Dad's garden

And so it begins

So all the packing has been done and anything we forgot to keep to one side is now in a box until who knows when. The cleaning too. Which is the worst part about moving ? The packing or the cleaning ? I think both.

All of this squished into the poor wee car and we spent one last night in a motel in the city before catching up quickly with a couple of people before heading on down to the ferry. What an awesome last few days you turned on for us Welly. Trying to melt the resolve about leaving the crap weather and incessant wind, huh ?

But actually the weather is only part of it, and leaving just has to be done regardless of how attached we might feel. There are some things I have absolutely loved about living in Wellington and others I have abhorred with a vengeance. It was never intentionally my choice to live there.

We moved when I was still at school, maybe 13. Part of the machinations of Government. A promotion for Dad - "You have been transferred to Head Office". It never really felt like home, particularly in those first years when every opportunity to go back north to visit family and friends was captured. But over time it changed. It was where Mum and Dad where when I lived in Australia and so visits back became "visiting home" - but home as also someplace else. The place I lived when I wasn't "visiting home". Then after I moved back permanently and had settled in the Waikato I needed to decide where the next "home" was going to be. Where there was employment, schooling and assistance as I started out on the next phase of my life. Wellington was the obvious choice again.

But no more. It is time to find a new home. It is a tad unsettling since all the well worn routines have been thrown into disarray, but it will get better I'm sure.

For now though, we are visiting with Mum and Dad who have made a new home which looks and feels like their home, albeit it not where we have always known it to be. There is still some work to do - creating a garden. We will be able to visualise what they are doing though, and how it might change, once we are no longer close enough to see for ourselves.

It's pretty quiet here. Good for recharging our batteries, but quite alien to the lives we normally lead. Time enough though to sort out how we are going to manage to make what possessions we have with us, stay within the allowed baggage weight when the time comes to leave.

I'm going on an Adventure

 

I began this year being lost in a sea of belongings and "keep-me's" and spent many days and nights and weekends working though my possessions and redistributing them. I've become a big poster on freecycle in a quest to make sure the belongings I was discarding were going to people who actually wanted them. It's all free and feels quite cathartic saying goodbye to things as they leave with their new owners. BBQ, storage bins, christmas decorations, old vhs videos, recycleable shopping bags, painting equipment, gardening items and masses of craft supplies.

And to what end ? Well it's all so that I can have an adventure. 

I listed my house for sale, and it sold. It would have been great to have been almost mortgage free - like I should have been, had I not made other financial decisions - but I'll be okay. It was with some trepidation though that I actually took that step. I actually quite enjoyed living in the pristine order of show home world. But, I was quite an emotional wreck when the moment came to actually agree to an offer of sale - I'd spent more than 20 years living in this house. My daughter was just at primary school, and now she is an educated determined young woman with her dreams within her reach. I love that house, but it was time for a change for us both.

As I was dealing with all the emotions of the property market, I learned that my role at work was to be disestablished. What a long drawn out process that has been. I decided that it was a sign, that maybe it was reaffirming the other changes I was making, but that didn't make it any easier to deal with. The last four weeks have been the worst, I felt quite disenfranchised by the process, but finally the decision was made.

Now it does feel like the universe is aligned. House sale is settled on the same day I finish work, and then next step can begin.

This weekend I have had my possessions all packed up and put in storage until I decide where I want them to go next. Not everything is packed though, there is still a bit of a mess to sort out and tidy up. What clothes do I need ? What sentimental pieces to remind me of home ? And of course there is cleaning ! We really should clean behind our stoves, fridges and washing machine much more frequently - gross, to say the least.

And so the adventure ? I'm going to move to the UK. Pretty scary, but exciting at the same time. I've always wanted to do it, but life sort of got in the way. I don't know if it will be for 6 months or 1 year or 5, but I want to give it a go. I'm going to miss lots, people, family, the harbour in the morning on a calm day with the sun lighting the hills so that each layer has it's own dimension, tuis and other birdlife in my garden waking me each morning  and talking to me throughout the day.

But, life is full of experiences and I'm going to go and make new memories and experience new things; live on the edge for a bit and hopefully make a new life in a new place. And if it doesn't work out, I can always just come home and bring all my new memories with me.

And the best thing about this adventure ? I get to do it with an amazing young woman who wants to experience the same things that I do. My daughter. How lucky am I ?

Now back to the sorting...