London Eye
Our weekend with Ben's sister Charlotte and Louise and Daniel's cousins, Kayla and Yasmin
For us country folk, this is a real treat! Even on the way in we admire the massive wind turbine from the M4 and as we approach Heathrow, we count the planes overhead, crossing every two minutes. Not much fun for the residents that live under the flight path but it keeps us amused.
We get to Kayla and Yasmin's, they have made a cake for us coming which is delicious. Then it is straight down to the tube station and across London to visit the Queen. Well not exactly but the kids enjoy standing outside Buckingham Palace - no luck making the guards laugh this time though. On to Hamleys for a bit of shopping and when we are all played out we get back on the tube, ready to meet up with David and Chrissie for dinner. It's 10pm by the time we get back to Charlotte's and we all crash out pretty quickly.
On Sunday we are all up early - we are booked on the London Eye and a Ducktour. The views are great from the Eye and we enjoy a splash in the Thames. In between, we have time for a hot chocolate by the river and have a go trying to make the statues laugh ... no luck here either!
Thanks Charlotte, Kayla and Yasmin for a great weekend.
London Photo Album
Shipping
Our 20ft container should be in Southampton by now. On a ship, destination Christchurch. It's a six week journey across the seas so should arrive at just about the same time as we do.
We arrive back from Finland on Sunday, the packers arrive on Monday morning. A hard working bunch they made short work of packing up the house. We keep the guys going with strong sweet coffee ... the kettle objects and develops a leak.
Josie and Ann pitch up to keep me company. Josie comes armed with curtains and furniture to help make the place looked lived in.
Two days later it's all packed, loaded and ready to go. Louise and Daniel arrive back from school just in time to wave goodbye to the container.
We are now living at home with the bare essentials .. thanks to Josie for providing curtains, matresses and a futon for in the living room. It's luxury camping from this point on.
Our holiday in Finland (Lapland) with Helen, Mike, Isaac and Theo.
When we arrive, it's -6 deg C and the scenery is stunning. We are staying in a log cabin called Lomaset in Petsukkalampi near the resort of Levi. It's great for the kids, there is plenty of time for chilling out. By the end of te week the temperatures have dropped to -22 deg C.
Finland Photo AlbumWe head for the ski slopes. A few wipe outs later (including one with the instructor), Ben and Mike are well acquainted with the snow and head to the top of the mountain. Louise, Daniel and Isaac have great fun whizzing down the slopes at kids land and by the end of the week they are all confident, have mastered "snow blow" and are still fast but with enough control to stop at the bottom (rather than just sitting down). I am pleased that after ten years I can remember how to stay upright. We spend the last day on the slopes together - Helen is tempted too and Theo is happy to watch and laugh from the comfort of a sledge at the bottom of the slope.
In between all the skiing, we fit in snow mobiles, husky and reindeer rides. The kids (with some help from Ben) build an igloo outside the cabin and we all have loads of fun sledging.
It's not all cold though ... we enjoy our stops for hot chocolate and here we are after the husky ride enjoying sausages freshy cooked on the open fire.
A fantastic week is had by all. We are already thinking about skiing again when we get to New Zealand and as we arrve in autumn it won't be too long before we get to see snow again.
When we arrive back in Birmingham, we say goodbye to Helen, Mike, Isaac and Theo. Helen and I find it difficult even though we are already planning for the Woods family to come nd visit us in NZ. There are going to be quite a few of these over the next few weeks.
Cleaning and Packing
We decide to ship a 20ft container. With careful packing it should fit most of our stuff.
The pressure washer comes in very handy! Bikes and golf clubs soon look sparkling clean.
We start to fill up the garage ... we discover just how many toys the kids have collected.
First thoughts
It started with a chance email to Insite NZ back in November. The decisiveness and courage of Jan leads to a job offer less than a month later, then follows the frustration of the long visa application process including a dawn raid on the post office (a story for a later date). We finally get the call to say that the visas have been approved .... fantastic, uneblievable, the adventure really does start here.
Louise and Daniel are very excited. Daniel calls it topsy turvy amused by the thought that day time is night time and his birthday will be in the summer whilst Louise is looking forward to Christmas on the beach and having her birthday in Winter.
For Ben and I, we have a real mixture of feelings from massive excitement, a bit of terror and some sadness. We have the chance to keep challenging what life holds and trying new experiences, just because we can but at the same time in order to follow our dream we know that we have devastated the people we love the most. We hope in time that you'll understand.
We get to Kayla and Yasmin's, they have made a cake for us coming which is delicious. Then it is straight down to the tube station and across London to visit the Queen. Well not exactly but the kids enjoy standing outside Buckingham Palace - no luck making the guards laugh this time though. On to Hamleys for a bit of shopping and when we are all played out we get back on the tube, ready to meet up with David and Chrissie for dinner. It's 10pm by the time we get back to Charlotte's and we all crash out pretty quickly.
