Wednesday 26 April 2017

Morning at Pukekura Park

I figured out how to get some photos off my camera!  There's still a large number I've already taken that I won't be able to access until our computer arrives but at least the ones I take from now on are accessible.

Let's start with a random selection from around our property...

Autumn colour seeping into the ginkgo

It wouldn't be a blog post without a photo of the mountain

Digger with a view - preparation for some yards which will mean we can get some stock on the place

Finally allowed outside in the last few days and very pleased

View to the house from down by the back fence

Ol' curly top



Ok, so clearly my nighttime photography needs some work.  I took the below photo by balancing the camera on the roof of my car and using an exposure of about 4-5 seconds.  I should have made notes but I think I also turned the ISO way up too.  The result is pretty awful, but once my tripod and other lenses turn up, look out!


We've been having the most beautiful sunny and mild autumn weather, and yesterday morning we decided to take the girls and meet B's mum at Pukekura Park in town.  If you've been paying attention you'll recall that it's one of my favourite places in New Plymouth.

























It was a great way to spend the morning and watching J bouncing along, talking a mile a minute, hand-in-hand with Nan was pure joy to behold.

There's lots of work going on at home.  B is finishing up a post and rail fence around the house and then next week the big project is getting some yards built.  Once we have the yards we can get some stock in which is badly needed as the land is quite neglected and the pasture full of weeds.

I was driving down our road this morning after doing a load of washing at my mother-in-law's house (one of the downsides to having all our earthly goods stuck on a container ship), with J in the back seat pointing at "Cows!  Mummy, cows!" and "Tractor!  Bwoo tractor!".  I felt very very happy.

Luckily, baby A was there too screaming her head off.  Just to keep my feet on the ground.

Saturday 22 April 2017

We're here!

I'm writing this sitting at the dining table in our new house in Taranaki.  The morning sun is shining on my back.  There's a log smouldering in the wood burner.  

Looking out the window to my left I can see the sunshine catching the leaves in our huge ginkgo tree which is just starting to turn its brilliant autumn yellow.  There are blackbirds digging in the dirt and (less thrilling) bunnies living in the hedge.

WE ARE HERE.  We live here!

I took the below photo of the Perth sky on our last day before we flew out that evening.  But it turns out that, so far, the sun has shone here every day.  It has rained too, but for now the weather is being kind.


I haven't been able to get the photos off my camera yet for various boring technical reasons, and may not be able to get them until our computer arrives in a month's time which is torture considering how many photos I have already taken.  But we all may have to put up with iPhone photos on here for a few weeks yet.

So just to catch you up...

We flew out of Perth the evening of Good Friday, and arrived in New Plymouth about 12 hours later feeling pretty depleted, to say the least.  The travel was hard with the girls, as we'd expected it to be, but I also found myself in a very low mood, questioning the whole move, which I struggled to shake for a couple of days.  Combine that with a raging cold for me and the girls (I'm only just getting my voice back now) and those first few days were rough.

We stayed with B's dad and stepmother who were amazing hosts considering that we brought our germs and screaming chaos into their beautiful home.  They've also filled our freezer here so I have about a year's worth of delicious meat at my fingertips.

New front yard
Our first night in the new house was Tuesday.  The house is fantastic - better than the photos - and now that we've got the fire going it's cosy and homely and perfect for our little family.

Licheny!
The cat arrived on Wednesday and although he is seriously peeved about not being allowed to go outside yet, he's pretty happy basking in front of the fire and watching the birds out the window.  There's a very busy 100kph road out the front which gives me the horrors so I hope he just heads out the back where there's lots of grass and trees and never addresses the road.

J is in her element in her brand new gumboots and her raincoat (not really required at the moment but try telling her that) following Daddy and Poppa around.  She's got doting grandparents coming out of her ears and lots of things to point at.  We have had some tantrums which is totally unheard of for her usually... but then I think she is two, and there's a good chance she would have been throwing tantrums in Perth anyway.  But there's a lot more "Mummy cawwy [carry]!" as well, which is what makes me think that my little muffin is a bit thrown by all this change.



Baby A is doing well - still sleeping poorly but that's nothing new.  Still grizzling/screaming a lot of the time but that's nothing new either.  She's able to sit up fairly reliably now (just turned 7 months) which has seen a slight improvement in her mood.  At least she's willing to be on the floor for short periods of time now.


I'm sure the novelty will wear off eventually but I am LOVING the fire.  The girls come straight from the shower each night and lie in front of it to get their pyjamas on.  The cat stretches himself out as flat as he can get and if it weren't for J terrorising him (any tips on how to get a two year old to LEAVE. THE. CAT. ALONE??) I'm sure he'd spent his whole life there.

Massive ginkgo.  I'm especially thrilled with this one as it was actually on my list of trees that I wanted to plant

Very angry about not being allowed outside

Mount Taranaki as seen from our driveway.  I will never tire of this view

That camellia on the right is covered in buds and I can't wait to see them all burst open.  Another plant that was on my list which is already here!


New post and rail fence. Perfect for ponies! As I keep telling B


Just out my kitchen window.  The view I have always dreamed of!
Last night, for the first time in six months, B and I got to go out to dinner just the two of us.  B's mum came to sit with the girls who were in bed.  Last time we went out for dinner was our wedding anniversary last October when A was about two weeks old and my mum came to stay with us in Perth.

It was so nice to finally get that time to have an uninterrupted adult conversation, a glass of wine, just be ourselves again.  Hopefully it might even become a regular thing in the future.  Imagine that!

Wednesday 12 April 2017

In transit

Not sure how this is going to come out as I'm posting from my phone. And my Blogger app keeps crashing.

So, we are officially moved out of our house.  We're staying in a great little Air BnB until we leave in a couple of days' time.

At this point, I am already sick of the upheaval and the temporary everything.  I'm ready to be settled in our house, with all our stuff, back into the normal daily routine without the rushing to and fro, the general disruption to every facet of our day.  And of course you can multiply that by about fifty when you add little kids into the mix.  Even though our accommodation is great, I'm tired of not knowing where anything is, where even getting the girls' breakfast is a mission.


The movers arrived at our house on Monday at 7.30am on the dot and boy do they move.  GET IT!!  Move.

Ok, moving on.  Alright I really will stop now.

I had thought we were super organised and ready and had even had a private little fantasy that the movers would come in and say, "Wow, you people are so organised!".  Well, no.  That was not to be.  Turns out we weren't even a little bit as ready as we should have been and consequently things have been packed that we didn't want to be packed, and so things that we wanted to have packed had to be left behind.

Next time (HA!! There will be no next time) I will be way more ready.  Although it did give me lots of opportunities to say I TOLD YOU SOOO to B who had been pooh-poohing my cleaning/sorting/throwing out efforts that began a couple of months ago.  Maybe I wasn't ready.  But B really wasn't ready.

That first day was total chaos and I thanked my lucky stars that my little baby A is still young enough and un-sleep-trained enough that she was willing and able to fall asleep in the pram as I required her to do.  J went off to daycare which was also an absolute blessing.

Speaking of the girls, they are still both coughing like pack a day smokers so I took J off the to doctor to ensure that she'd be ok to fly.  Turns out she needs a course of antibiotics.  GREAT.  Considering that she literally hasn't been sick in six months, the timing here is truly a marvel.  And now I have to take A back to the doctor to see if she too needs the drugs.


So the movers were done with the house by Tuesday lunchtime.  And none of them even sat down in the driveway crying once, which is what I probably would have done at least once if I'd had to pack that house.  It is expensive but it is definitely THE way to move.  And apparently they unpack it all for us at the other end!!  I know.



While all that's been going on, I've been hanging out at the accommodation with the baby which sounds pretty sweet except she can't sit up by herself.  This means she requires to be held constantly, which takes my productivity levels dangerously close to zero, or I have to put her on the floor.  You'd think that's a reasonable thing to do with a baby - I do give her toys to play with after all - but oh sweet baby cheeses the screaming.  And I mean SCREAMING.  Ear ringing, I-swear-I-am-not-murdering-this-baby, piercing screaming.  Because I laid her on a flat surface.  Girlfriend better learn to sit up REAL soon.

See that nice soft grass with the waving palms?  Looks like a nice place to lie doesn't it?  INCORRECT.  Baby A does not care for grass, or for a rug on the grass, or for any of your ridiculous ideas about where babies should spend their time.
Oh look, here's some evidence that I have taken a wee feet-up break for myself.  You're damn right I did.


Biggie Smalls, while extremely furious about not being allowed outside, seems to be coping pretty ok.  He's found a suitable sun-drenched snoozing location and has assumed the position.  He will be taken away tomorrow to board over Easter weekend and then fly to NZ next week.  Poor little mite.  He probably won't be looking quite so relaxed by then.

In other, more alarming, Biggie Smalls news, he did actually get himself outside the other night.  Turns out there is a cat flap on one of the windows and he was able to jump out.  Unfortunately he was unable to get back in.  LUCKILY he is Biggie Smalls and immediately commenced scratching frantically at the cat flap trying to get back inside, which woke us up with a start and we were able to let him back in.  Another cat might have shrugged its shoulders (or, you know what I mean), and disappeared into the night.  Thank goodness that's not who he is.   It would have been several thousand dollars in transportation costs down the drain, for a start.

You're a good boy pusscat.  A very good boy.
So that's where we are at the moment.  Tired, dusty, a bit stressed, with a smattering of stress-excema on our faces and hands (ok that's just me), but also REALLY excited and pumped to get to our destination.

We're so close!!

Just think, next time I write, we will be LIVING IN NEW ZEALAND.