At last the big organisings have started. The Visas have been approved just before Christmas and we have subsequently booked the flight for 28 Jan 2009. We will be arriving in NZ (the land of the long white cloud ) on 29 Jan and then will begin our adventure. It is quite a relief to know for sure that we will be going after all and that we can stop worrying about whether or not to start the Big Organise. Selling our house and cars will be the major objective but we certainly do not have much time for this. Any takers? The cars are going cheap for the condition they are in.
We have just returned from the first leg of the big Good Bye and went to see Alta and Sarel in J-bay, Jan and Dennis and of course JULIA in Knysna, (Oh yes Granny Pat was also there, full of aches and pains after her fall) and also Rich and Pipps in Cape Town. As a bonus we ran into Nigel and Lynn Ireland, and old colleague from Randburg days, who incidentally are also going to New Zealand, and had a good old chin-wag about days gone past, and also shared their experiences or their recent visits to NZ.
Next will be to get our 100 year's worth of gatherings, shipped over to NZ and get ourselves over there as well (this is the easy part)
Diane can fill in the blanks now...
I don't know so much about filling in any blanks but I think in the future we are going to have to have some of the blog in English and some in Afrikaans - and for that I do really think that those of us who are really brilliant at the Afrikaans bit, (in this case me!?) can do that part so that those of you who prefer to read all about adventures in the local lingo have it all there for you.
I am also hoping that we become really good at this whole blogging thing and will be able to post all the stunning photos that we plan on taking here as well. At this stage, we have a good few pictures which we took in the course of our first farewell travels and so can put those up (once I find out how to do it)
For any of you out there who find yourselves in the vicinity of Plett - do yourselves a favour and call in on Jan and Dennis at the Eagle Encounters - just outside Plett at "The Heath". Time it so that you can see Dennis and his amazing birds in action - 2pm and 4pm every day - the cost is minimal and it is worth every penny. Those of you who really strike it lucky will get a glimpse of Julia (the most beautiful child in the whole world) - you can't miss the red curls and stunning smile!
We had a skype chat with Ands and Claire while we were visiting with Rich and Pips and discover that we are missing them by a few days since they are visiting NZ just before we get there - as Ands would say "damn" - but hopefully this will not be the one and only time they call in and next time, we should be able to welcome them personally and offer them a cheap place to stay!!! one would also asume that we will be able to show them around a bit too!
I guess that now we have a blog we should tell people where to find it, so that they can keep up with where we are and what we are doing even before we are really sorted with phones and skype and all that other amazing technology that is going to make it so easy to stay in touch - I have been so frustrated with the dial up scenario in our half horse town that I am not going to know myself once I can use better things!
Until I can think of a better sign off tag, I am going to temporarily steal Andrew's which says it so well - "that's all"
