The ship has landed

The last few days have been bliss.  Family  time, finally!  We truly cruised on the interislander after booking a cabin on the Kaitaki for some much needed peace and quiet (highly recommended for $40). 

 

 

Cruisin' was followed by a a lovely drive down with chilled out kids with a parent each to themselves.  Everybody was happy.  The girls car had a no talking rule unless Mum said so.  The boys car was a non-stop geography lesson in anticipation of Kaikoura Tunnels, exploding volcanoes, salt works and more chocolate.  I must say  that I felt so proud to call the South Island home again.  The light, the emptiness, the vinyards,  the wide open roads, mountains everywhere, braided rivers, cute churches, and expansive rolling hills.  A real trip down memory lane in terms of all the outdoor adventure had at spots along the way.  Keen to share these experiences with the kids one day. Even stopped at Kaikoura for crayfish, fish and chips accompanied by a good bake in the sun (as never experienced in Wellington)! 

 

 

 

That evening we marked out our site in terms of where all the bits and piece had to go over the next few days which was a bit surreal.  And THEN we had an awesome dinner at Lincoln's pub: the Famous Grouse Hotel, newly rebuilt post earthquake with staff just abuzz with the newness of it all.  So nice to see these fresh shoots coming up again in the city after all the negativity and heartbreak.  I can see Lincoln being quite a hub for us given that it has a supermarket, it is my old stomping ground, and it has cranberry, brie and chicken pies courtesy of Hillyers.  Steve still had to work the first couple of days after we moved down so the kids and I were in charge of getting the site organised for the build of 'Clip Clop Stables'. The height of the grass is ridiculous!  Canterbury is full on in hay making mode.  Shame they missed our place.

 

The Famous Grouse

 

Of course nothing has turned up when it was supposed to and there have been mad drives out to the section and / or panicked phone calls with random instructions of where to dump kitset sheds and containers and broken down factories that can now not deliver our water tank until Saturday.  The kids have had a great time exploring up the road on our bikes while we were waiting.  Our 'road' is just a mud track.  Perfect for perfecting the mountain biking skills. 

 

 

 

We visited our new school with the Steiner-esque playground, I was pleasantly impressed with the head of the lower school and her instructions to let the kids just have a jolly good holiday. Nice.  Surveying the other kids at school we made the call to buy the school uniform after all.  While not compulsory, generally the kids are wearing it and it is comfortable and practical.  It keeps things simple, so off to Postie Plus we went.

While waiting for the containers filled with our worldy possessions, the kids sifted through the edge of the newly formed hardfill driveway and founds bit of old Christchurch CBD.  Marble, polished granite, bricks, timber....  Not stuff you'd find in a house but more in the foyers of large buildings of a different era and it gave me a bit of a start when I realised what I was looking at.  So we're going to gather them up and make a mosaic shrine to all that was.  Kind of fitting.  The whole reason for us being here is the Christchurch earthquake and here it is, its rubble is making our new driveway and creating the foundations of our new house.

And  the grand finale: the arrival of our beloved overheated  horses (26 degrees today).  I called out to Frankie and got a 'Mum get me out of here NOW' sort of response while the door was still up.   He was so pleased to see me.  Gave him a good hose down which he just lapped up and Steve did the same for Millie.  A hello to their new family member Lady Gee Gee rounded up the experience.  No dramas in terms of the introductions.  Millie is just keen to keep Gee Gee away from her man and finds a way to be between Frankie and Gee Gee ALL THE TIME.

 

Tomorrow we begin building our new home.  We are full of excitement and anticipation despite the weather forecast.  Steve is on holiday now so what could possibly go wrong?