Winter is officially here. The days seem shorter, everything is always wet either from rain or from dew, and the mornings will soon be getting frosty and even colder. YIPPEE! I have been waiting for this for a long time it seems; looking forward to the winter rains, the snowy peaks and the moods Mother Nature goes through to produce this fine landscape all around me.
In less than 2 weeks, we are heading south to the South Island for a few weeks of camping and adventure. Camping in winter I hear you shriek with surprise? We have all the right equipment and look forward to the company of nature and weather along our journey. We will be fine…..hmmm.
My next journey beyond that will be back to Australia in September for the second of my residential schools for University. This time I will be spending a week out at Mt Lawson Nature Park, between Albury and Corryong, where I will be trapping and monitoring all types of flora and fauna. Much better than sitting in a classroom.
My family recently came for a visit which was great. My sister, brother in law and two nieces hired a motor home and trekked off around the North Island, while Mum came to stay with us for a week. Everyone spent the last few days here at our house before flying back to Australia again. I hope they enjoyed it as much as we did.
Other than that, all is well on the home range. Work continues to take up much of my time, so lucky I have a pretty good job. We try to get out and do walks or go camping or other interesting things on our days off. This helps keep that ‘holiday’ feeling I experienced when we first arrived in New Zealand. As they say, all work and no play………..

It’s always been satisfying to go home to see my family and friends. I love my family and adore my friends and think myself blessed beyond worthiness of their presence in my life. For much of my life though, home has been a great distance from where I find myself travelling and working. I used to be concerned that I was missing out on sharing the special occasions because I was somewhere else, other than home. I would worry that I was in some small way letting everyone else down with my absence, and was creating gulfs between myself and home and all of its entities. Worried that friendships would wither and family bonds would fade. Except when I do return home, I realise that it has all been my insecurities which have allowed these thoughts to creep in to existence. For when I go home, there is no evidence of resentment, shame or guilt. No questions about my reasons for being elsewhere, for not being home more often. All I get is love and warmth and hugs and smiles, everything that makes me feel centred and calm and the very reason why I still call it home.
So to all the family and friends whose company I enjoyed last week, thanks for the great times. I truly relive the moments every day and feel warm and restful. For all my family and friends including the ones I rarely see and the ones who live on the other side of the globe, thanks for being part of my life. It is because of you all that I continue to live and laugh and grow. Together, you are the water in the river of my life, carrying me gently to the ocean of eternal bliss.
My mother used to say that there are no strangers, only friends you haven't met yet. She's now in a maximum security twilight home in Australia. Dame Edna Everage (1934- )

Mum's visit

There's nothing like the family to make things real. A recent visit by mother was what made this adventure in New Zealand become confirmed to my senses that this is now where I live and work. Showing her around as a proud local helped me feel that I do live here and I do relate to new environment in a familiar and comfortable way. My mum and cousin ,Shirley, spent almost two weeks with us and we tried to get out and look around as much as we could despite both Phil and I working for much of the time. We saw the local area as well as making the pilgrimage down to Waitomo Caves to see the glow worms. Overall, it was nice but brief time. I am hoping to be making regular future visits to Auckland airport to meet my mum and enjoy the warmth of my family.
We cannot destroy kindred: our chains stretch a little sometimes, but they never break. (Marquise de Sévigné)

Some years ago I left Australia with an international air ticket in hand and just $38 dollars to my name. Somehow I managed to work and travel my way around the globe for the most part of a year. As my oldest friends will tell you, for much of my adult life it was a case of now you see him, now you don’t. Moving across the country on the spur of the moment, calling to let people know what I am doing after I have done it. So why is this move to New Zealand, a small hop across the ocean, providing so much more emotion for me? I lay awake most mornings before I get up thinking about this, not worrying but thinking deeply about what lays before me. I believe there is no answer to my question. Just let it be and enjoy the experience.

I am on holidays again and have continued to slowly pack up the house. Slowly I say, because I am finding it difficult to pick up an item and not remember where it came from, who gave it to me/us and what memories are associated with it. Then I have to decide whether to pack it into storage, give it away, throw it out or keep it to take to New Zealand. At the moment, that is what my life feels like – I am choosing the memories I want to keep and the ones I want to dispose of. It’s a bit surreal but at the same time liberating. This move is a great opportunity to clear out the clutter and material possessions which somehow have become so integral in my existence. Never have I spent so much of my adult life in one place – almost 8 years.

On the planning front, this is the latest. My dear mother and nieces came to stay for a few days and helped do some serious cleaning. Mum will be back in a few weeks again, when most of the furniture has been moved and we will get cleaning again. The emus went to their new home on the weekend and the last of my peafowl, pigeons and turkeys will be going this morning. This will leave us with a few chooks and the two dogs. It is so quiet around here now. We have been catching up with as many people as possible along the way and there are still more to see. I can only hope that we see everyone we want to before we depart.

Overall, while there are negatives, everything is outweighed by a renewed spirit of adventure. This journey is turning out to be much better than the original exchange we had planned. I will never thank the two NZ keepers, but I am glad they pulled out of the deal now. They were the worst part of this whole plan to go to NZ. We now have so much more flexibility with our adventure – where to live, car to drive, pets to have etc. We will be going over on our own terms and not bound by the association of others.

To sum up my situation at the moment, there is a piece by Michael Leunig which I have long cherished.

Overlooking my life so far
"In my life I had accumulated many things in my head - too many things. Memories, tunes, facts, fears, visions, loves, etc., etc. As many as possible. In a fertile mind, such things will interbreed. Mongrel visions are born; hybrid memories; inbred memories, idiot love. It gets very confusing.
I decided it was time for a good clean-up, so I emptied all this out of my head and pushed it into a big heap to sort it out. There is was - everything that was me, all in a big jumbled heap. I walked around it. What a mess!
Then suddenly I saw it in silhouette and realised what it was. It was a heap. A simple heap. You don't sort it out, you climb it. You climb it because it is there. Excitedly I clambered to the summit and raised a flag. I was now looking beyond everything that I knew. The view was simply…….magnificent!."