FYI - marked red flag!

It seems I got a little carried away in my post about heading home to New Zealand. After numerous emails and personal follow ups I can now see that I clearly didn't state that we were going back to New Zealand for a NINE DAY HOLIDAY.

We have had a rough year and moving across the ditch is just the beginning of it and it seems that as I began to write about heading back to New Zealand to see my family, I got a little caught up in the emotion of it all and mislead quite a few people.

• We have not moved back to New Zealand

• We are safely back in little rural New South Wales, Australia.

I humbly apologise for anyone who got overly excited and started planning our homecoming parties! {You may return the cases our champagne that were purchased...}

I also am sorry for any distress or unneeded sleepless nights I have caused anyone thinking they would lose us from our tiny place in New South Wales. {I promise I wasn't packing my bags and doing a midnight runner!}

With that all cleared I hope you may go about and enjoy your weekend. We have lots planned. December 1st means Christmas decorating in our house...
What are you going to be doing this weekend?
Only a twenty five days until Christmas!

I'm coming home NZ!

This time next week we will be on a plane on our way back to New Zealand. I have mixed feeling about this and it is hard to put into words. I have come to love our little rural New South Wales town as home and have really found a natural groove over here.
But... it's not where my heart is and as the saying goes 'home is where the heart is'.

We have made some amazing friends and met fabulous people here in Australia but nothing equals the tidal pull of your family. With some big family events and hard times also on the horizon the need to be near family strengthens more.

Talking with friends the other day about how they have decided to make the move back {after five year in this land of the lucky} makes you realise that even time doesn't numb the need for home.
We have had a reasonably hard year with my health and having no family or close family friends has been incredibly difficult. There have been plenty of days where I wished I could have had someone take the kids for a weekend, or cook us a meal, or come and do the housework.

There are so many things happening in New Zealand that we have missed. There are upcoming weddings, babies, graduations, Grandparents getting older, and the likes yet to come. Some days I wonder what we were thinking moving over here to do it all ourselves start a better life.
I have coped by being an emotional bottler. I don't let myself get worked up or lost in the emotion of loss and missing people. I don't write letters, emails, texts or make phone calls. I'm sure I come across cold and heartless but its a coping mechanism to keep myself from feeling the pain of reality.

I am looking forward to next Saturday, walking off that plane and seeing the people who I sometimes try to forget. I can feel the pain of having missed them in the comfort of their presence. I am looking forward to catching up on everything I have missed and slipping back in to the spot that I know they can't fill without me.

Look out New Zealand these five crazy ditch hoppers have had some sense knocked into them and are coming home!

Goody, Goody, Gumdrops icecream

Tip top ice creams

Toffeepops

Eskimo Lollies

Krispie Biscuits (plain and choc coated)

ETA chips

Krispa Chicken Corn Chips

Reduced Cream Onion Dip

Mallowpuffs

Cameo cremes (mint)

Griffins biscuits in general

Export Gold

Tui

And so much more...

{Hmmmm Round 4 12WBT is going to need to kick my bum! I do not need this food, I do not need this food!)

BUT Sydney we will see you again........

A week later!

The Farm

A few weeks ago we left our five bedroom, 3 bathroom, study and two living spaces to move to a 3 bedroom house.
Why? Because:

1. The landlords put the house on the market without us being notified until months later when first we saw it advertised and then second a for sale sign was banged out front.
2. The house was in need of some TLC and the landlords weren't prepared to come and do it. Whether they were too busy or it wasn't a priority I'm not sure but it didn't help us.
3. It was cold! Seriously it was colder inside than it was outside. Great in summer, not great in winter.
4. My health has been under some serious testing these last few months. Constant migraines and absolutely no energy are just the tip of the symptom iceberg and I just couldn't cope with up keeping a house of the size any more.

So we have down sized and country lifestyles instead. We now have a far more manageable house size and around 3 acres of land - which is so in my dream world of sheep, chickens, pigs, cows, ducks, dogs etc, etc.

I am totally smitten by peace and quite and fresh air. I said to Bubba the other day that life is just to great here to go back to city. I actually don't think I could handle it anymore. I was so made and designed for the country lifestyle. I can't wait to get our animals and gardens happening and enjoy the fruit of our hard work out here.

I have been through numerous tests and am ongoing multiple testing for my health at the moment. I have had upteen blood tests to test for everything under the sun and have started down the path of CT and MRI scans to rule out, or find, anything that is affecting my brain.

My CT came back clear which is a relief but my doctor is amazing and is doing everything he can to get to the bottom of my health concerns so that I can get back to enjoying a normal life. I am still awaiting my MRI results as I have only just been to the John Hunter hospital to have these done.

It is so nice to sit out in the sun and enjoy our new views as I try and escape what has become my normal for now. I try to do every day with as much smile and as much energy as my body will permit me as there is no point sitting around crying and feeling sorry for myself.

Most people wont even know the load I deal with daily as I'm not one to moan about my circumstances when I know there are others out there dealing with their own stuff and often much more.

The rural church that is in front of our property.

We are blessed with an abundance of fruit trees at the farm. We have oranges, lemons, limes, apple, apricots, grapes and passionfruit that I can so far identify. We are looking forward to getting our own vegetable and herb gardens up and running and enjoying the freshness of home grown.

Another biggy that I am trying out at the farm is to eliminate as many chemicals from our lives as possible. One of the reasons I am having so many tests right now is to rule out any serious illness or life threaten diseases before we move onto the path of environmental.

After doing a lot of research, thanks to a good friend over here who dealt with very similar symptoms and lack of enjoyable life, we are looking at a possibility of Multiple Chemical Sensitivity which will usually lead to Chronic Fatigue. There is a very good reason to believe that all the hype around the Paritutu Dioxin Dump in New Plymouth, New Zealand, is a little more true than the so called "government research" would say ( You can read more here and here to get a better picture). This would account for a Mutliple Chemical Sensitivity and why I never had migraines, among other symptoms, until the last three to four years when I moved into a property in this area.

We are very glad to have found somewhere that we can be chemical free and have found an amazing doctor who is open to working with an environment specialist to work through this, providing that the can't find any other medical reason for my symptoms.

So for now we will keep working on why I have the symptoms I do and hope to get to the bottom of it but we are doing everything in our power to try and eliminate the stress that my mind and body are under.
So welcome to our farm and we hope to be a little more chemical free and self sufficient everyday that we are learning more about how to go about it. 

The Newbies

So we arrived to Australia a few weeks ago now. Since then we have managed to see a few things and do a few things in the first week that we were here. We had hired rental cars while Mum, Kev and Mosie were here. But for the last week and a bit we have been a little more home bound as we just haven't found the perfect vehicle for us to purchase yet.

We are living in Regional NSW, just out of Muswellbrook. It is a lovely town with a school straight across the road and the main street is two blocks over.

This is our house from the front - I plan on doing a proper house blog once of shipment arrives and I have some stuff to fill the space!

We have an awesome long driveway which is perfect for bikes, scooters, skateboards etc. I was a little worried at first about the property not being fenced at the front but the kids are doing surprisingly well. Apart from one incident while minding my friends children while she was in hospital. I tell you losing your own kids is terrifying but thinking about having to make the call to let someone else know you have lost one of there's - serious meltdown material!

Our backyard is bigger than the front and is perfect for games of cricket, football and rugby. I am lucky enough to have 5 decent size bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 2 living areas, dining room and an office (which I'm plan on claiming as my craft space). The only down side is cleaning a house this big, I think I am beginning to imagine I work in a hotel or something!

The local Public School is straight across the road. It couldn't be more handy!

Found out this morning this is Quacks classroom.

We also have a Catholic church (not that we are Catholic), an RSL, a zebra crossing, a war monument and a playground all on our street, so it's a pretty happening place.

The kids love this playground.

And then 2 streets over we are in the main street. Our main street boasts numerous cafe, an IGA, a hardware store, post office, 2 pubs, a library, a craft shop, a lawyers, an emergency department, a takeaways, a gift shop, a general store, a lottery shop, a saddlery, a vets, a second hand clothing store, a petrol station and dvd store, a pet grooming place, a hairdressers, a reality office - I know I have forgotten a few too.

Wow! Its huge for such a small place!

I love the look of this shop. I haven't let myself go in yet as I am afraid to fall in love with everything.

The town hall that now houses the hairdresser and beauty shop

A quaint looking Cafe

Not todays petrol pump - just a historic one in the street

The emergency rooms

So even being stuck here without a vehicle isn't so bad. we are pretty well serviced. The thing that isn't so fun is being the newbies. Everyone here is pretty friendly and its seems like a great place to live. It is just hard not having friends and family to call around on or to have come for coffee. As the kids start school - Quack today and Jaybug on Wednesday - I hope to meet some other Mums, over time. There is also a Monday morning library playgroup for Squeak. But all in all its pretty scary having to put yourself out there and start from scratch.
I mean what if no one actually does coffee groups here? Or people are friendly in the street, the shops or the school yard but what if it never goes beyond that? What if people don't like the kids? Or me?

It really is hard being the newbies in town but this is also a new country too. There are lots of new words and normals for us to get used to. I'm sure the kids will pick up on things a lot quicker being in school. We went to the takeaways store the other night and trying to find a hotdog was a nightmare. Bubba ended up explaining that we were new here and the lady just laughed at us and said "and? so am I?". She isn't in my list of nice people I have encountered here. Then we asked for hotdogs and her and the other lady started giggling and asked us if we meant sausage in pastry? I thought it was batter but ok we will go with pastry.
Turns out they are called Pluto Pups? Strange huh! But seriously no need to laugh at us for not knowing people.

I am worried about things that the kids may say and be laughed at for. Things like jandals, slides, water fountains, felt pens and togs all have different names here. I guess slowly people will get used to these strange Kiwi's that have hopped the ditch but for now it is a heck of a nerve wrecking time.

Goodbye New Zealand - 12th & 13th Jan 2012

The time quickly rolled around to the 12th January 2012 - a day we will forever remember; our last day in New Zealand. We aren't sure at this stage how long this Aussie tour may be for but for now we know it is where we are to be.

So once again we were faced with the dreaded goodbyes. It was hard saying goodbye to my Grandparents. My sisters and I have been lucky enough to have them in most of our lives. They have lived usually where Mum was or she has followed them. So to know that the kids and I will see them less is very sad and will be a huge adjustment.

We soon discovered that we had a bit of a mission on our hands when all the bags were packed. We had 5 large suitcases (all mine and kids) and 1 smaller one (Mum, Kev and Mosie's allowance), 7 carry on bags, 1 camera, 1 laptop, 3 car seats and 1 mountain buggy. All to be carried by four adults, with three children to also keep in line. Hmmmm I see a problem! Unfortunately I didn't get a photo of the piles upon piles of stuff but I'm sure you can imagine it.

We ended up having to take 2 vehicles due to the amount of baggage. Once we finally packed Mum's van we celebrated. We were on the way to the beginning of our next adventure.

We were smart enough to tie red ribbon to all of our bags so the could be quickly identified.

So next was off to Auckland.
We met one of my lovely friends who caught the New Plymouth bus as her husband and her bought our Honda.
Then off to the mall for lunch which was super bus due to it still being school holidays.
My wonderful cousin Van then invited us to hang with her and the girls for dinner and until we had to be at the airport at 3am.

Short version of this story is I had a bit of a meltdown about leaving NZ and the nerves were ramped up. Thank you to my wonderful Mummy and sister who managed to get me on the plane!

I have a lack of pictures of our trip as there was so much happening. We got split on the plane, even though we booked our tickets together. So there was the three children and I at the beginning of one section and then Mum, Kev and Mosie down the very back of the section. I thank God for an amazing young man who got sat beside Quack. He was truly a Godsend. He chatted to the kids, helped them with their headphones, t.v's, food, let them play on his brand new computer he had just purchased before boarding. He was so incredibly helpful.

Mum ended up with Squeak and somehow managed to get him to sleep. I cannot sleep while traveling, whether it be plane, car or train. So I was a little tired and grumpy but somehow we survived. Our plane was over half an hour late leaving so I was getting a little anxious.

We flew with LAN (even though we booked Qantas) which was a South American airway and everything was first announced in Spanish, then English. Jaybug and Quack told the lovely young man beside them that they knew Spanish thanks to Dora! Haha kids are awesome. I soon decided that if there was an emergancy I would have to take note of the Spanish speaking people and there reactions and actions as there may not be time for the English translation!

We arrived in Sydney and had a bit of a hassle collecting all our luggage and then had a foot it to the other end of the baggage collection to pick up the car seats and buggy. We were starting to sweat for time to reach the connecting train as we had to be there half an hour before departure to check our bags.

We got through customs and silly me had insisted on bringing a block of chocolate that I hadn't eaten from Christmas and Mum was sent through the lines to have her bag check. Only she didn't just have her bag she had about 6 of ours as well. This took quite some time and the panic that we were going to miss our train was becoming very real. There is only one train a day up the Hunter line with Countrylink and we were looking at missing it and losing the $170 AUSD that it had cost. Mum finally got through and we headed toward the arrival exit, bags beginning to wobble, eyes red with tiredness and stress and hands numb trying to carry far too much load.

We headed out and standing there was my Great Aunt and Uncle. They hugged us, said hello and then took over with directions and help of bags. It too was evident that someone upstairs was looking out for us. My Aunt and Uncle had come two hours up to Sydney to meet us and help. We wouldn't have done it without them and I am so truly grateful.
My Aunt directed us to the airport train and managed to help us get all our luggage on as we weren't allowed to take trolleys through.

We were all packed into a small carriage with bags spilling everywhere! There was much apology to anyone who tried to enter our carriage at other stops. One thing though people were super helpful - I don't know whether it was the worried looks on our faces or the shock of all our gear but they told us how to get around the Central train station, when our stop was coming, helped us get our bags off and even one man picked up the buggy and got it off without saying a word and just walked off once it was placed down. Thank you Thank you I was calling after him.

The Countrylink train departed at 10.05am and we arrived at 10am! Talk about stressful! Once again though we were helped with our bags, the kids were put on the train for us and everyone was super friendly and didn't give us any lectures about the fact we were to be there no later than 15 minutes before the train left. We had only got everything loaded and we were off. My Aunt and Uncle got stuck on the train and a red alert had to be called to release the doors to let them off. I didn't even get to say thank you or goodbye. Without them there is no way we would have possibly made our train. I am looking forward to going and catching up with them once we have settled in and bought ourselves a vehicle.

The train ride was pretty good. There was landscape and towns to look at and a food carriage which had decent food. Apart from the fact that everyone around us sounded Australian it sort of didn't feel real that we were here. It was just about a four hour train journey which felt like forever when we knew that there was someone excitedly waiting for us at our destination.

So tired Quack fell asleep eating!

  

We were met off the train by someone who has been waiting 10 weeks for us to arrive. Everyone was so excited I forgot to get out my camera. The rest of the day is a bit of a blur of tiredness and grump. We had to go pick up rental cars, drive the 20 minutes to our new abode (which is huge! more on this later), shopping at Big W for some essentials for the house and then rounded off with an amazing dinner at the Denman pub - seriously if you come and visit I am taking you here!

Eventually we all fell into our beds - yes my husband is amazing enough to have got us all beds to sleep on including the 3 extras. 

So it is real, we are here, even though it doesn't feel like it.

My Crazy December

With only 8 sleeps left in New Zealand things have been pretty hectic around here - hence the lack of blog action. I thought I would sum up the last month with a collection of photo's I have managed to grab in a few quieter moments.

1. Visiting the Kauri Forrest was a day trip that My sister Mosie and I decided to do. We bundled three children into the van and off we went.
We went bush walking at Trounson Kauri Park

 

My camera then decided to run out of batteries so no pics with Tane Mahuta. We then came over a rise and found this view (which I drove into town for batteries and came back and captured)

OMAPERE

 

It had clouded over a little by my camera batter mission return but it truly was like driving into paradise when we came over the brow. I had never seen anything like it.

We then tiki toured through to Paihia where we found an amazing dress shop in the alley (my Christmas day dress, Jaybug couldn't resist and had hers on immediately as pictured) and then ice cream

Mr O didn't like the "bits" (hokey pokey) in his ice cream and pulled them all out

2.  My spree of new glasses. I got my eyes checked and ended up getting some really nice FCUK (written down the side and given a lot of funny looks over. Have had to explain French Connection United Kingdom a lot) frames in purple, but also in the same week found clearly contacts that is a super cheap NZ glasses and contact site and brought a red pair and a brown pair too.

 3. I learned to make Pav. My mission was to learn to make a pavlova like my Mum so that when the Australians try to claim pavlova as their creation I have a good come back of my own. Here are my first 3 attempts as practice makes perfect.

1st Attempt - Mum never told me she doubled her recipe

Round 2 helpers

This was delicious and I was pretty amazed that I MADE THIS!

Practice makes perfect - mixed berries in the middle covered in choc flake and strawberries outside.

Bubba has now been informed that a Kitchenaid or I will settle for a Kenwood mixer is required for my new kitchen. I do have the secret recipe if anyone is interested - its really simple and taste amazing.

4. Family photos for Daddy (Bubba) while he is in Australia with the right amount of proper and silliness.

5. Things that restore my faith in Christmas - the Fire brigade in Kaiwaka set this up to raise money for child cancer. It was amazing.

6. Attempting to sell our Honda Stream before I head to Australia (awesome 7 seater if anyone is looking for one!)

7. My adorable wee man Squeak is too cute - he lightens my days when things get hard

That's Ribbon in hair, bare bum and Gumboots!

8. My challenge from my Auntie to make a gingerbread house!

Some crazy tired elves at 1am Christmas morning - working hard to impress

And I think I leave the Christmas post for tomorrow otherwise I am going to photo everyone out. I am looking forward to some quieter moments sometime soon so I can catch up on my favourite blogs....