So 12 weeks ago we arrived in New Zealand, 13 weeks since we left Devon and nearly 19 weeks since we left Cumbria.
New Zealand has not disappointed us so far, summer is on its way and the weather is slowly getting better. Here is what we've been doing for the last few months....
On the 29th June we said goodbye to all my family and friends, which was pretty horrible and plenty of tears were cried (mostly by me) but it had to be done. I don't think I have yet come to terms with the fact I won't be seeing my lovely family for a while. One thing I have learnt in the last 10 weeks is to keep telling yourself you'll see your family soon, and then eventually soon really will be soon instead of in a couple of years.
We then drove down to Devon which is where we would stay until Rich's visa turned up. After much (6 weeks) bribing, bartering and general persuasion with NZ immigration they decided Rich was allowed in to the country as he knew more about cows than they originally thought. So finally the flights were booked and the goodbyes to all of Rich's Devon family and friends began. Even though it was longer than expected we had an amazing 6 weeks holiday in Devon with all of Rich's friends. It was so nice for me to meet everyone and get to see all of Devon in the amazing summer we had, which meant a lot of time was spent on the beach actually sunbathing, which I think is a first for me in the UK!
The 10th of August rolled around and we set off on our long journey to the airport, spending 2 days with Rich's uni friends Owen and Claire and then on to Joe and Becky Delves' for a night before we ditched Rich's car in Joe's capable ebay selling hands. Joe kindly dropped us at the airport on Tuesday 13th August and then it was time to fly. So off we went via Dubai, Sydney, Christchurch and finally on Thursday we arrived at Invercargill airport where boss man Chris picked us up.
We stayed at Chris and Sue’s house for the first week while our house was being sorted out. The first couple of days were really difficult trying to get over jetlag as Rich was straight into work on the farm, I however spent most of the days sleeping. On Saturday morning I received the awful news that my Grandad had passed away just a day after we arrived. After speaking to all my family I made the heartbreaking decision not to go home for the funeral. Grandad had been glad to hear that we had finally arrived in NZ and I know the decision I made was what Grandad would have wanted. Gran told me on the phone “I will not be happy if you come all the way back” and not wanting to suffer the wrath of Gran I decided to stay in NZ. Thankfully I was able to write some words and they were read out in the service, so I was able to say bye to Grandad in my own way.
Southland. The View from the top of the farm |
Devils Highway. On the road to QT |
Canterbury |
Let me in it's raining |
Due to our severe lack of anything running related while we have been here both me and Rich decided we need to enter a race to have some motivation to go out and run. We then stupidly decided to enter Challenge Wanaka half ironman and we have no idea why. So in January we will be swimming 1.9km, cycling 90km and then running a half marathon, why? I have no idea. The race is on. Training has started very slowly but with my road bike being sent over in the next couple of weeks we are both looking forward to getting out and exploring Southland on bikes.
Walking the dog has its perks |
McLean Falls |
Sealions |