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!

Move that bus!

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.

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.

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!

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.

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?