I've started our new 'bus' blog'. It's a work in progress, as I'm currently trying to fill in the back story from when we started this adventure to where we are now.
But I'd love to know what you think of it, so please wander over for a look.
One thing I know you'll agree on - the design is gorgeous. Done especially for us by the wonderful Kate. Thanks Kate, we love it.
So - here it is.
On happy ground.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Sunday, July 25, 2010
The end is nigh!
Sitting here early on Sunday morning, it seems hard to believe there are just five days of work left.
I expected to be approaching this time with mixed feelings, but, with the exception of rare and brief moments of blind panic, I can only see this as such an incredibly positive move.
It might be different if we didn't have such exciting plans in store for the next few months. But even without those plans I can see that leaving my job is a great move for me. I've done the high pressure thing for long enough - my heart's just not in it any longer. I've loved my work for years, but it's time for a change.
And what a lot of change my life has seen in the last five years. I've seen my wonderful boy grow through the last years of his teens and start off on his own path. I've changed my physical health so much. I've recognised my relationship of 15 years just wasn't right. I've met and fallen in love with the most wonderful man. And now we're going to embark on the most wonderful adventure.
And more change is coming - the end of this blog is pretty much nigh itself! But not the end of blogging for me. Stay tuned - new blog adventures will be announced soon!
I expected to be approaching this time with mixed feelings, but, with the exception of rare and brief moments of blind panic, I can only see this as such an incredibly positive move.
It might be different if we didn't have such exciting plans in store for the next few months. But even without those plans I can see that leaving my job is a great move for me. I've done the high pressure thing for long enough - my heart's just not in it any longer. I've loved my work for years, but it's time for a change.
And what a lot of change my life has seen in the last five years. I've seen my wonderful boy grow through the last years of his teens and start off on his own path. I've changed my physical health so much. I've recognised my relationship of 15 years just wasn't right. I've met and fallen in love with the most wonderful man. And now we're going to embark on the most wonderful adventure.
And more change is coming - the end of this blog is pretty much nigh itself! But not the end of blogging for me. Stay tuned - new blog adventures will be announced soon!
Monday, July 19, 2010
Summarising last week's insight
When it comes to food intake, I need to think a bit more about what I do. It is most often the 'mindless' eating and drinking that causes me problems.
I need a mental checklist along the lines of:
Why am I looking in the fridge/pantry?
I am actually hungry?
If I am, is this the right thing to eat?
If I'm not, why do I feel like eating?
But I also need to do a bit of retrospective thinking. This works something like - if my poor choices are always made around 5pm, why? Is it because I don't eat enough lunch? Or do I need a more substantial afternoon snack? Or is it boredom/frustration/loneliness/habit? And so on to cover other problem areas (like weekends).
I need to be particularly mindful of this as my life is about to change so much. I have two weeks left at work; I don't want to wake up a month later and realise I've put on five kilos.
But I don't want to have to be completely rigid about eating. I want to enjoy food and the circumstances that surround it - the planning, the shopping, the preparing, the eating. It is a social activity and I won't let it be turned into some kind of purgatory.
Thought. Balance. Living.
I need a mental checklist along the lines of:
Why am I looking in the fridge/pantry?
I am actually hungry?
If I am, is this the right thing to eat?
If I'm not, why do I feel like eating?
But I also need to do a bit of retrospective thinking. This works something like - if my poor choices are always made around 5pm, why? Is it because I don't eat enough lunch? Or do I need a more substantial afternoon snack? Or is it boredom/frustration/loneliness/habit? And so on to cover other problem areas (like weekends).
I need to be particularly mindful of this as my life is about to change so much. I have two weeks left at work; I don't want to wake up a month later and realise I've put on five kilos.
But I don't want to have to be completely rigid about eating. I want to enjoy food and the circumstances that surround it - the planning, the shopping, the preparing, the eating. It is a social activity and I won't let it be turned into some kind of purgatory.
Thought. Balance. Living.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Today's insight part 2
But I have to remember that deprivation can be as destructive as over-indulgence.
Finding the balance - that's such a big challenge but really seems to be the key.
Finding the balance - that's such a big challenge but really seems to be the key.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Today's insight
I need to decide what is more important to me:
how great that food (or drink) will taste now, or how I want to look and feel for the rest of my life.
how great that food (or drink) will taste now, or how I want to look and feel for the rest of my life.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
At least we'll be clean!
We're at that really frustrating stage of the bus build - forking out lots of money and seeing naff-all progress!
In fact the bus is probably now worth even less than when we bought it - it's got lots of holes in the floor and the sides.
But we do have - an outside shower. Not that there's any water connected to it.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
This week a year ago...
We were at Outward Bound. By this stage of our adventure we had already:
Saturday afternoon - sailed from the Picton Ferry to the isolated lodge we were staying at in an open cutter, which I swam ashore from after we'd anchored it. I guess someone had to!
Sunday - sailed into Anikiwa. And rowed the last few miles as there was no wind. There were ten of us, but those old wooden cutters are bloody heavy things to row. Been introduced to the school and our watch-house, done some PT and gone for a run in the rain.
Monday - our day on the high ropes. 10 or more metres up in the air, on wires strung between some beautiful old kahikateas. No way down but to get to the end, over some amazingly challenging obstacles. I really lost it at one stage on this one. Trained for kayaking, including learning how to wet exit if we capsized. Yep, more time getting wet in mid-winter! Then after dinner it was off to kayak camp - sleeping in an old shed with no glass in the windows.
Tuesday - kayaking down the river. Learned how to maneuver by playing bullrush and canoe polo. Then down some easy rapids, followed by a couple of sets of really hard ones. I went down one lot backwards, and Craig clearly thought he was more suited to being a keel - went down all the rapids under his boat instead of on top of it! Back to Anikiwa for dinner, only to be told after that we were off on solo that night! At least we got to spend our first night of solo as a couple.
Still to come was
Wednesday - still out in the bush on solo. We were split up during the day and spent that night on our own as true solo.
Thursday - back to camp and then spent the afternoon doing things like blind soccer and running through the mudflats - not just running, actually rolling in the mud as well. Got all packed up for our big hike the next day.
Friday - there had been too much rain during the week for us to climb the mountain we were supposed to conquer, so we did about 14km of the Queen Charlotte Track instead. It was glorious, although the start was tough - no dropping us off on the track, we had to hike 40 minutes up a firebreak to get to the track.
Saturday - we were leaving at midday, so figured they couldn't cram too much in for us. Wrong. Dropped us off by boat 12km from school and we got to run home along the QC track.
This doesn't even start to cover how much we did, experienced and learned during that week. It was one of the most challenging things either of us had ever done - and I wouldn't have missed it for the world.
Saturday afternoon - sailed from the Picton Ferry to the isolated lodge we were staying at in an open cutter, which I swam ashore from after we'd anchored it. I guess someone had to!
Sunday - sailed into Anikiwa. And rowed the last few miles as there was no wind. There were ten of us, but those old wooden cutters are bloody heavy things to row. Been introduced to the school and our watch-house, done some PT and gone for a run in the rain.
Monday - our day on the high ropes. 10 or more metres up in the air, on wires strung between some beautiful old kahikateas. No way down but to get to the end, over some amazingly challenging obstacles. I really lost it at one stage on this one. Trained for kayaking, including learning how to wet exit if we capsized. Yep, more time getting wet in mid-winter! Then after dinner it was off to kayak camp - sleeping in an old shed with no glass in the windows.
Tuesday - kayaking down the river. Learned how to maneuver by playing bullrush and canoe polo. Then down some easy rapids, followed by a couple of sets of really hard ones. I went down one lot backwards, and Craig clearly thought he was more suited to being a keel - went down all the rapids under his boat instead of on top of it! Back to Anikiwa for dinner, only to be told after that we were off on solo that night! At least we got to spend our first night of solo as a couple.
Still to come was
Wednesday - still out in the bush on solo. We were split up during the day and spent that night on our own as true solo.
Thursday - back to camp and then spent the afternoon doing things like blind soccer and running through the mudflats - not just running, actually rolling in the mud as well. Got all packed up for our big hike the next day.
Friday - there had been too much rain during the week for us to climb the mountain we were supposed to conquer, so we did about 14km of the Queen Charlotte Track instead. It was glorious, although the start was tough - no dropping us off on the track, we had to hike 40 minutes up a firebreak to get to the track.
Saturday - we were leaving at midday, so figured they couldn't cram too much in for us. Wrong. Dropped us off by boat 12km from school and we got to run home along the QC track.
This doesn't even start to cover how much we did, experienced and learned during that week. It was one of the most challenging things either of us had ever done - and I wouldn't have missed it for the world.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Kind of a sad day
The people who bought our caravan are coming to pick it up today. I know this is just another step on our exciting new adventure - but some of our best memories are from the times spent in the caravan.
Not much actual progress on the bus (and no, we're NOT going to name it). It's getting some mechanical stuff done before the conversion start. But we have made lots of progress on layouts and materials. We did warn these guys we're both project managers...not sure they realised quite how much pressure that could put them under!
Not much actual progress on the bus (and no, we're NOT going to name it). It's getting some mechanical stuff done before the conversion start. But we have made lots of progress on layouts and materials. We did warn these guys we're both project managers...not sure they realised quite how much pressure that could put them under!
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Look what we bought!
Here's our bus.
Do you get the feeling Craig is wondering what the hell we've let ourselves in for?
Like all new additions to the family, we think it's beautiful - but others might think a bit differently!
Do you get the feeling Craig is wondering what the hell we've let ourselves in for?
Friday, April 30, 2010
How to live on the road
Lynda was asking how we are going to manage this sort of lifestyle, so here's a bit of info.
The bus will be set up for freedom camping. We will have tanks for about 300 litres each of fresh and grey (from the sink, shower, etc) water, and for 80 litres of black water (the toilet flushes into this). We should be able to go four or five days without having to empty the two waste tanks and fill up with fresh water.
Our power will be supplied by an impressive array of solar panels and gel batteries (which will also charge off the bus engine). Most things like the lights, TV and fridge will be 12 volt so will run straight off the batteries, but there will also be an inverter to run the 240 volt stuff - like the microwave, the printer and such. We're putting a fair bit of money into the electrical system - much more so than if we were just setting up a bus for weekends and holidays - so that we can be completely independent. The sun would have to not shine at all for several days for the solar panels not to keep up with our power demands - and then we can always just go for a drive to charge the batteries.
We don't intend to stay in camping grounds at all. At a cost of between $26 and $40 a night that is just too expensive. The exception to this will be DOC sites - we can get an annual pass to use any of these for $150. In most parts of NZ there are plenty of places to freedom camp - the exception being the Coromandel which has outlawed it. When freedom camping you can only stay at most places two days and have to be fully self-contained. There is also a network of members of the caravan association who make their land available for parking for a small fee.
There has been quite a lot of negative publicity about freedom campers lately - basically some of them are behaving like complete pigs and leaving all sorts of mess behind them. We will not be behaving like this and will certainly speak to anyone we see doing it. The caravan association has very strong policies about it too.
This week I have managed to buy an old-fashioned wringer off TradeMe - one you have to turn the handle on to get the water out of your clothes. That way we can do all our own washing as well, without having to pay for laundromats. Apparently a good trick is to fill a big bucket (with a tight-fitting lid!) with your washing and the water and detergent, put it in the shower and go for a drive. The movement of the bus does the 'agitating' for you. Sounds like a plan!
It's taken me a bit to get my head around the idea of things like doing washing by hand. It will take so long! But, of course, time is something we will have plenty of - I'll have to get into the habit of spending time, not money.
The bus will be set up for freedom camping. We will have tanks for about 300 litres each of fresh and grey (from the sink, shower, etc) water, and for 80 litres of black water (the toilet flushes into this). We should be able to go four or five days without having to empty the two waste tanks and fill up with fresh water.
Our power will be supplied by an impressive array of solar panels and gel batteries (which will also charge off the bus engine). Most things like the lights, TV and fridge will be 12 volt so will run straight off the batteries, but there will also be an inverter to run the 240 volt stuff - like the microwave, the printer and such. We're putting a fair bit of money into the electrical system - much more so than if we were just setting up a bus for weekends and holidays - so that we can be completely independent. The sun would have to not shine at all for several days for the solar panels not to keep up with our power demands - and then we can always just go for a drive to charge the batteries.
We don't intend to stay in camping grounds at all. At a cost of between $26 and $40 a night that is just too expensive. The exception to this will be DOC sites - we can get an annual pass to use any of these for $150. In most parts of NZ there are plenty of places to freedom camp - the exception being the Coromandel which has outlawed it. When freedom camping you can only stay at most places two days and have to be fully self-contained. There is also a network of members of the caravan association who make their land available for parking for a small fee.
There has been quite a lot of negative publicity about freedom campers lately - basically some of them are behaving like complete pigs and leaving all sorts of mess behind them. We will not be behaving like this and will certainly speak to anyone we see doing it. The caravan association has very strong policies about it too.
This week I have managed to buy an old-fashioned wringer off TradeMe - one you have to turn the handle on to get the water out of your clothes. That way we can do all our own washing as well, without having to pay for laundromats. Apparently a good trick is to fill a big bucket (with a tight-fitting lid!) with your washing and the water and detergent, put it in the shower and go for a drive. The movement of the bus does the 'agitating' for you. Sounds like a plan!
It's taken me a bit to get my head around the idea of things like doing washing by hand. It will take so long! But, of course, time is something we will have plenty of - I'll have to get into the habit of spending time, not money.
Friday, April 23, 2010
Move that bus! Part 2!
Yep, just got the heading up yesterday and then the powercut brought us all to a grinding halt...
Anyway, Tracy got it pretty well spot on after my last post.
I might be letting the cat out of the bag too soon here, but hopefully no-one from work still reads my blog!
We are going to rent out the house and travel New Zealand in a bus. It's SO exciting.
We've been tossing around lots of options on how to do this, and have travelled around a fair bit in the last few weeks looking at different possibilities. We even drove to Whangarei over Easter to look at a bus.
We have now decided to have a 9m bus converted to a motorhome. It works out a bit more expensive than buying an existing one, but it means we get exactly what we want.
The conversion is being done by The Bus Boy Company in Taupo. They are really energetic and positive - not once have they said 'No' or 'Can't be done' to anything we've asked. A couple of initial layouts have been done, now we just have to find the chassis to convert - and we've got one we're pretty keen on.
We're hoping to be on the road before December (Craig hasn't told work about this yet).
I finish work at the end of July, then I'm going to do a bit of study to brush up on some of my old skills. I'm hoping to do freelance proofreading and a bit of copy writing - something I can do from anywhere so long as I have a computer.
Craig will stop work a month or two before the bus is finished - there's a fair bit of tidying up to do on the house before we rent it out.
Then we'll be gypsies!
Anyway, Tracy got it pretty well spot on after my last post.
I might be letting the cat out of the bag too soon here, but hopefully no-one from work still reads my blog!
We are going to rent out the house and travel New Zealand in a bus. It's SO exciting.
We've been tossing around lots of options on how to do this, and have travelled around a fair bit in the last few weeks looking at different possibilities. We even drove to Whangarei over Easter to look at a bus.
We have now decided to have a 9m bus converted to a motorhome. It works out a bit more expensive than buying an existing one, but it means we get exactly what we want.
The conversion is being done by The Bus Boy Company in Taupo. They are really energetic and positive - not once have they said 'No' or 'Can't be done' to anything we've asked. A couple of initial layouts have been done, now we just have to find the chassis to convert - and we've got one we're pretty keen on.
We're hoping to be on the road before December (Craig hasn't told work about this yet).
I finish work at the end of July, then I'm going to do a bit of study to brush up on some of my old skills. I'm hoping to do freelance proofreading and a bit of copy writing - something I can do from anywhere so long as I have a computer.
Craig will stop work a month or two before the bus is finished - there's a fair bit of tidying up to do on the house before we rent it out.
Then we'll be gypsies!
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Thursday, April 15, 2010
First part dealt with
We are dealing with a lot of change at the moment - in fact we're basically embarking on something which will change every part of our lives! While this is very exciting, it is also pretty scary - not to mention tiring and very hard on the brain and emotions.
But, as always, the best way to to get through something really big is to break it down to a series of small steps and decisions.
The first step is dealt with.
I have resigned from my job.
Actually, that's not a small step at all. It's pretty damn huge, actually. I have worked for various parts of this business, in various roles, for 15 years. My resignation has taken a lot of people by surprise, although not those who actually know me well.
I don't finish until the end of July and then I will take a really good break. After that I have some plans for a small home business I can work at part time. I have no desire to continue working 50/60/70 hours a week as I have in this job.
It is time for a change.
There are still more steps and decisions to be made. I will share these with you as we take them.
In the meantime, a lovely photo of Craig and me at my sister's party in Adelaide a couple of weeks ago.
But, as always, the best way to to get through something really big is to break it down to a series of small steps and decisions.
The first step is dealt with.
I have resigned from my job.
Actually, that's not a small step at all. It's pretty damn huge, actually. I have worked for various parts of this business, in various roles, for 15 years. My resignation has taken a lot of people by surprise, although not those who actually know me well.
I don't finish until the end of July and then I will take a really good break. After that I have some plans for a small home business I can work at part time. I have no desire to continue working 50/60/70 hours a week as I have in this job.
It is time for a change.
There are still more steps and decisions to be made. I will share these with you as we take them.
In the meantime, a lovely photo of Craig and me at my sister's party in Adelaide a couple of weeks ago.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Turmoil
That's the best way to describe our life at the moment. But it's all in a good way and I will post again as soon as I can say some things a bit more publicly.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Rush
Hi all. Have been flat out and been in Auckland every week as well. Had a great weekend at home (which made a nice change) and checked out some very cool buses.
Flying to Auckland tonight, then to Adelaide tomorrow. My sister there is having her 50th party this weekend.
Update with pics after that!
Flying to Auckland tonight, then to Adelaide tomorrow. My sister there is having her 50th party this weekend.
Update with pics after that!
Friday, March 12, 2010
Can I get some applause over here?
Oh yeah, great first four weeks with the new trainer. Not only do I feel sooooo much better, I've lost 3.4kg and 24cm. The measurement thing is new to me - but boy does it make you feel good about your progress!
Just don't tell Craig about the 2cm gone off my boobs.
Fairly big weekend planned - drive to Taupo tonight, off to the caravan show in Hamilton on Saturday, Saturday night in Rotorua and then home on Sunday.
Phew.
Work continues to be a fairly major source of stress. I reckon this is the busiest start I've had to a year for the last 10 years. And it looks like staying pretty much this way until the end of May! At least I now have a new person starting in Auckland next week to replace the one who finishes today.
Still, this isn't like the old days - I don't just live to work anymore, I work to live.
Just don't tell Craig about the 2cm gone off my boobs.
Fairly big weekend planned - drive to Taupo tonight, off to the caravan show in Hamilton on Saturday, Saturday night in Rotorua and then home on Sunday.
Phew.
Work continues to be a fairly major source of stress. I reckon this is the busiest start I've had to a year for the last 10 years. And it looks like staying pretty much this way until the end of May! At least I now have a new person starting in Auckland next week to replace the one who finishes today.
Still, this isn't like the old days - I don't just live to work anymore, I work to live.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Parties and tsunamis
We've had another lovely weekend.
Went to the caravan on Friday night and woke up to a glorious day on Saturday. Walked for a couple of hours in Queen Elizabeth Park - trails we normally mountain bike. Craig is learning to use the walking poles I bought him for his birthday. We are planning to do the Tongariro Crossing at Easter, so I think they will be a great help to him.
Then Saturday afternoon we hitched up the caravan and went to Levin for a 60th. How cool to be able to take our own accommodation with us and park it on the lawn!
Woke up to a text from Mum on Sunday morning, worried about where we were - our house in Petone is only 100m from the sea, so she needed to know we were well away from any tsunami effects.
Back into the city Sunday afternoon to go to Apollo 13:Mission Control - one of the Festival of the Arts shows. It was lots of fun!
And now it is my 45th birthday and I am at home with the flu! A birthday present from my body?
Went to the caravan on Friday night and woke up to a glorious day on Saturday. Walked for a couple of hours in Queen Elizabeth Park - trails we normally mountain bike. Craig is learning to use the walking poles I bought him for his birthday. We are planning to do the Tongariro Crossing at Easter, so I think they will be a great help to him.
Then Saturday afternoon we hitched up the caravan and went to Levin for a 60th. How cool to be able to take our own accommodation with us and park it on the lawn!
Woke up to a text from Mum on Sunday morning, worried about where we were - our house in Petone is only 100m from the sea, so she needed to know we were well away from any tsunami effects.
Back into the city Sunday afternoon to go to Apollo 13:Mission Control - one of the Festival of the Arts shows. It was lots of fun!
And now it is my 45th birthday and I am at home with the flu! A birthday present from my body?
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Now that it is finally here...
...summer just seems to be flying by!
It's really noticeable how much darker it is in the morning now - especially if you're a sad-arse like me who gets up around 5!
As always at this time of year, the weekends are really busy. We were actually home last weekend, which makes a change, but still didn't seem to have any spare time. The Petone Fair was on Saturday (300+ stalls). They close off the main street, which is just around the corner from us. We went nice and early, before it too manic - and then got the hell out of Petone for the rest of the day! Nothing interesting, just got all the shopping done, picked more building supplies and then had a slow leisurely lunch at the pub in Eastbourne.
Stopped to get fish at Lowry Bay on the way back - one of the fishing boats sells straight off the boat there on Saturdays. It's great value for whole fish (like butterfish at $12 a kilo) and they only charge $3 a fish if you want it filleted. It's worth the money just to watch them do it! They just chat away, hardly even looking at what they're doing with those incredibly sharp knives.
Sunday we had (almost) all the kids round for BBQ brunch to celebrate Craig's birthday. Not as big a crowd as usual - none of Craig's kids' partners came, and neither did Jake. He was too busy warming up for the big afternoon at the stadium (the Phoenix in the A-league playoffs).
I'm already feeling a lot fitter after my first two weeks with Hamish - and more than a couple of kilos have disappeared as well.
It's really noticeable how much darker it is in the morning now - especially if you're a sad-arse like me who gets up around 5!
As always at this time of year, the weekends are really busy. We were actually home last weekend, which makes a change, but still didn't seem to have any spare time. The Petone Fair was on Saturday (300+ stalls). They close off the main street, which is just around the corner from us. We went nice and early, before it too manic - and then got the hell out of Petone for the rest of the day! Nothing interesting, just got all the shopping done, picked more building supplies and then had a slow leisurely lunch at the pub in Eastbourne.
Stopped to get fish at Lowry Bay on the way back - one of the fishing boats sells straight off the boat there on Saturdays. It's great value for whole fish (like butterfish at $12 a kilo) and they only charge $3 a fish if you want it filleted. It's worth the money just to watch them do it! They just chat away, hardly even looking at what they're doing with those incredibly sharp knives.
Sunday we had (almost) all the kids round for BBQ brunch to celebrate Craig's birthday. Not as big a crowd as usual - none of Craig's kids' partners came, and neither did Jake. He was too busy warming up for the big afternoon at the stadium (the Phoenix in the A-league playoffs).
I'm already feeling a lot fitter after my first two weeks with Hamish - and more than a couple of kilos have disappeared as well.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Mind you, it is quite appealing
Could I just have a few days of living in a vacuum please - just a few days without work, plane flights, phone calls, emails and needy people? Oh, and stupid people.
But apart from that, life is great!
But apart from that, life is great!
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