Wheels

We now have a car! So meet the wheels. Sean is now MONDEO MAN...

I’m sure there is some kind of post ironic sort of comedy statement that can be made. But we wont sink that low. It was this or a Subaru.

We bought locally from a lovely couple called Guy and Jane on Trade Me. It was really simple to get on the road, just filled in a change of ownership took it the post office, the kind lady checked the forms and sent them off. Insurance was easy too. Out here it’s not compulsory to have insurance but advisable. And it’s the vehicle that is insured not the driver, so when we have visitors they can drive any of our vehicles on a UK drivers license, how neat is that!

On a more serious note, this is a country in which you can’t function without personal transport of some kind. And the Kiwis like big beefy 2.7 litre plus monsters in the back country (mostly Subaru’s if www.trademe.co.nz is anything to go by). This one is a diddy 2 litre 2002 Station Wagon with 240,000 kms on the clock. Practical, loads of boot space for a couple of weeks worth of shopping, some sheep, a dog and the camping gear. Though not at the same time. That would be silly. And need a trailer. Which we don’t have. Does that mean we need to buy a trailer now?
Jack is made up, and has nagged us enough to make us go into town to the AA to pick up the forms for him to get a license to drive. He has to pass a written test first. Sean has taken him for a couple of lessons already so watch this space.

Say hello to Night Kiwi

Say hi to the latest addition to the Monahan family - Barneys first pet which he has called Night Kiwi. Its a frizzle and has the lovliest brown eyes and the curliest brown feathers - if a chicken can have lovely brown eyes. Shes the smallest of the flock. Everybody say ahh.

The Tenth Day

Can’t quite believe it’s been nearly two weeks since day zero. We have been having a long slow wind down. You always forget how much fun it is being in a new place. The mundane day to day stuff like going to the supermarket or filling up with fuel is shiny and new and full of wonder. And much of our time has been spent on dull stuff like the Library and our IRD (tax) numbers. The locals have been so friendly and none of our stupid questions have been too dumb.

The weather has been just glorious. Day times have been up to the 20’s. So maybe we haven’t been cheated of our summer after all. We have been making the most of it – some great short walks in the foothills.


Stand out walk so far has been the Rakia Walk way, following the Rakai Gorge up past an old mining site.



Sean didn’t get to go on that one as he was out to work for a couple of days with Steve (the brother in law).

Obtaining wheels is becoming a priority. We have been using up the families bank of goodwill because we haven’t got wheels yet. And this is a country in which wheels are essential – no public transport to speak of where we are. Though rumour has it that there is a bus service of some sorts that connects the towns together with Christchurch. Sean and Jenn commissioned the families old bikes and cycled in to town to see what the journey was like. 32 kms. On Raleigh ish mountain bikes. In under two hours return. Head wind out, wind with us home. Jenns bum is still feeling the burn. She refuses to do it again until our own bikes arrive.

We were in the post office waiting to sort out the documentation when a guy behind us says “you guys from Norwich then?”. We turned around to see this chap stood there in his Swaffham rugby shirt resplendent in its Waitrose sponsorship logos. And as Jenn writes this Mike Burrows from Norwich is on the BBC world service – hello Norwich! Not such a long way away after all.

Transit to the other side

We made it. The plane didn’t crash, no body broke anything, and all the luggage made it through to the other side. The Singapore Airlines experience was excellent. It made an otherwise intolerable journey tolerable. They use metal cutlery and proper glass glasses. Not only nicer to use but reusable. Note out to other airlines that we could have used for the same trip. These are the small things that make the biggest difference!

We had fun in Changi airport – never thought I would use the words fun and airport in a sentence together – ever – giggling like demented children playing with the foot massager. Egging each other on to see who could take Mach 3 for the longest. Jack didn’t have a go. When you are 15 and wearing your carefully scuffed red converse all stars that take like forever to lace up there is no way you are going to reduce yourself to taking them off to stick your feet in a large plastic vice with barely concealed nobbly bits and laugh like a hyena till you cry for mercy. I guess that’s a special skill that comes with age.

Another Changi hi light was the butterfly garden and the carp pond. At 9am and 4pm the Carp feeding specialist ( I kid you not) comes along with his box of special carp feed and you can have a go. Jenn and Barney had a go. It was like being snogged on the hand by a soft vacuum cleaner with accompanying slurpy sucky noises. Jenn screamed like a girl, dropped the pellets and pulled her hand with an impressive reflex and at a speed never before seen.

And don’t expect to sleep. Sean didn’t. Not once. Not in 30 hours of travelling. He arrived looking like a muttony middle aged party fiend after a week end Red Bull and speed fuelled bender.

Arriving more tired than can be thought possible we were welcomed by passport control and got our passports stamped which makes us bonifide for the next two years. Was it us or were the border control people actually smiling. Wow, so not Heathrow. We all got our contraband given the go ahead by Biosecurity – Jack had to have his boots cleaned by the nice man – and passed through xray with no additional bother. Unlike most of the Chinese. Border control seemed to be having a field day with them.

Fell out into arrivals into the arms of Jenns family. Got to hold baby Daniel for the first time. A blurr of the girls, and hugs and smiles. And sleep. Lots and lots and lots of sleep.

Flight Day

Well, we are Heathrow terminal 3 awaiting Singapore Airlines SQ397 18.30 to Singapore Changi to open its gates to receive us. We don’t know what will happen on the other side. Oh my God! We have no jobs, we have no home, we are both no longer young, we are playing fast and loose with our children’s future. What are we thinking?! Breath in, breath out. Feel the panic lose its edge. Slightly.

Jenns Aunt and Uncle have put us up for the last two nights in Cheam. They are smashing people and made us very welcome and showed us the sites. Never realised there was so much history still there in hidden Cheam. We loved the Buddhist Temple in Wimbledon. They were preparing for Thai New Year and the Camellias and magnolias were in bloom. Just such a beautiful, tranquil place. Remembering it is calming. Which is good, because right now I think my heart is about to pound its way out of its cavity. Sean doesn’t look to lively either. The boys are untouched by any of this fear and are shiny eyed and chatty with excitement.

The call has just gone out. This is it. Time to jump.

The Monahans have left the building.

P45's, packing and parties

It’s been a long two weeks but we are at the end now, flying tomorrow. Jenn got her P45 and redundancy, a funny feeling packing up and leaving the University for the last time. It’s been such a big part of our lives since 2001. With both of us more or less finishing work on the Friday, waking up on the Monday and knowing that the whole working thing was all over for the time being was the best feeling.

The team from Pickfords came and then left us with an empty home. We stayed in it, camping out in our empty shell, we were glad we did it made it easier to come to terms with leaving it. Then off for a last camping party at Whitwell on Easter Bank Holiday weekend. The sun shone and we had a perfect camp using borrowed stuff and leaving much of our stuff behind for everyone else to use. Hope the kettle makes it through the season without melting even more.

The past two weeks have seen many parties and goodbyes, many tears and much sadness. We hadn’t anticipated the profound sadness at saying goodbye to so many good friends, or maybe it was realizing that we value, and are valued by, so many good people. The feeling is one of selfishness, this is probably the most selfish thing we have ever done. We have asked ourselves again if this is really what we want to do. The answer is still yes. We have loved our life in Norwich, it was a good one but still not the right one. Saying goodbye was made all the more poignant by the funeral of Pat and what that means. With all the extended family our children our now almost grown, Chris and Pat are both gone, their home, the place where we all used to congregate on those high days and holidays, is now to be sold. It feels very much like the closing of a chapter as we all move forward and take over the reigns of the older generation.