Some pictures

Here's a few visuals from our recent trip down the North Island. We are in Wellington at the moment and will be taking the ferry across to the South Island tomorrow. We'll have more to post shortly.....

Out of Auckland

After some dreary, tedious days of business in Auckland we have shoved all of our belongings into our NEW CAR! Yes that's right it's a luxorious 2002 Honda Stream purchased in 24 hours and doing a plum job thus far. We motored our way south on the Highway 1 (or the one highway if you like) and have made our way to the lovely town of Taupo and have taken a day to see some thermal wonders and feed the swans and otherwise relax. Everyone is well and in better spirits since we have left the big city behind. Photos hopefully to come. Stay tuned.

Arrived!

Just a quick post to say that we have made it to Auckland, more or less in one piece. The flight from San Fran was a relative breeze. Even getting through security in the States was relatively painless. Air New Zealand proved to be a fantastic airline with excellent, friendly help from the gate at SFO to the terminal in Auckland. It was a trip to bypass the looooong line for visitors at immigration and enter the "NZ passport holders- NZ residents" line instead. We are really, truly official NZ residents now. Cool, eh?

Dare I say it but really the trip was relatively snafu-free. The exceptions were Mr W's 2+hour meltdown on the plane (but met with many smiles and friendly "it's okay! This happens!" from the flight crew) and the logistics of hauling our massive amount of luggage, especially when we picked it up in Auckland. We really needed to grow a few more arms for this part of our adventure.

Once we reached NZ customs, we also had a bit of problem with our fly fishing gear as they have recently banned any felt-soled fishing boots and we obviously weren't aware (so any fly fisherpeople visiting NZ, take note!). We had three pairs of boots/shoes which had to either be fumigated and mailed to us at our expense (and not used while here in NZ) or we had to just toss the suckers in the garbage. So bye bye boots. Mikey was not happy. Being the honest folk we are also meant that we had to search through various bags to find a pair of hiking boots that have not been on a hike in 3 years but nevertheless have to be inspected. This diligence on the part of the agriculture ministry is to insure that no foreign organisms threaten the native flora and fauna here in NZ .

After a few more tantrums and crying fits for a lack of sleep (both kids and parents!), we arrived at our hotel which graciously let us into our room at about 7 am NZ time. Off to nap and decompress.....more later!

Expect the Unexpected..

We are less than two days away from liftoff and we just need to get out of here. Our computer decided to fill up with data two days ago and we have been scrambling to get a new hard drive and then configure all the resulting crap nuggets that go along with such a dramatic tech move. Today Miss M. decided to tap into the mother lode of all tantrums. It wasn't that bad actually, after two and a half hours of spitting, screaming and hurling insults at any living creature she was finally able to pull it together and insult the meal we prepared for her. I love her with all my heart. So tomorrow we are off to San Francisco to walk the Golden Gate Bridge and hopefully we'll make it to the other side. And Sunday we fly out at 9pm, just in time for a nice twelve hour nap and voila, touchdown in Auckland. We'll talk to you all once we arrive.

We are really doing this, aren't we?!

Panic, excitement, joy, sadness, with a hint of sheer terror....that about sums up our emotions at the moment. The kids are sensing the big change ahead and not sleeping well and being clingy. Mike and I pretty much hate each other at the moment. Oh the joys of preparing for a move abroad.

Meanwhile, boxes delivered yesterday to a warehouse in Portland, bound for a ship that will arrive in New Zealand in about 6 weeks time. Lovely bon voyage party last weekend. More goodbyes in the last few days. Now on to packing the bags that we will take on the plane, the plane that is taking us to New Zealand. Okay, breathe......

We are off to Corvallis tomorrow for my 20th reunion and time with family, then on Tuesday we will be road tripping down to California to see my sister and spend our last few days in the States.

17 days and counting

Headless chicken mode continues, as you all might have suspected. Per our previous post, we have decided to ship some stuff to the Land of the Long White Cloud. As we pack boxes with toys, books, clothes, art supplies and other random items, I find myself wondering what it will be like to open those boxes filled with the remnants of our life in Portland. Will we be happy with the stuff we have sent on a boat across the Pacific Ocean? Or will it be more of a "what the hell were we thinking" kind of moment? George Carlin's routine on "Stuff" comes to mind. One thing I know we will be happy to see is our new bike trailer. Our plan all along has been to become a family of bikers. Funny to think that it takes moving to the other side of the world (from one of the most bike friendly cities) for us to "get our bike on".

Miss M is a bit panicked about her beloved books, wooden kitchen and doll house disappearing into a cardboard box. Mr W doesn't seem to notice or care and proceeds to poop his pants.

There are still many things to wrap up here- canceling utilities, address changes, selling our car, transferring money, opening a kiwi bank account, setting up accommodations, burning CDs on to our I-pod. And there is the packing, some more packing...and ....did I mention that we need to pack?

Otherwise, we are savouring (note the use of the NZ spelling! Gotta start practising!) time spent with friends and family as much as we can. I wish I had more time for more hugs and well wishes with those who I haven't seen in a while but we will soon be on that plane and headed to our new life in New Zealand.