The man is golfing, the children are playing, I am trying to get my mind around how best to manage this day.  Packing must begin in earnest if we are to be on the start of a grand adventure in January.  Having done three rounds of de-clutter, it is time to start packing for storage.  Instead, sitting at the kitchen table, admiring this gorgeous day, drinking a great cup of coffee is where I am.

Actually I am wrong about the adventure beginning in January.  It has really already started.  In all honesty it started two years ago when Adrian and I began conversations about going to New Zealand.  We talked first about holiday there.  Then as we talked more about our future as a family, as individuals in our careers and what we wanted at the end of it all, it turned into more than a holiday.  He contacted a staffing firm and expressed an interest in working in New Zealand.  In due time they responded with a job offer.  So...

The children are enrolled in Russell Street school in Palmerston North.  We have a modest, furnished home awaiting our arrival. We have travel visas and airline tickets.  We have driven around the town - via street view on google earth - many times.  There is a flower shop and a "dairy" across the street from our house.  I can imagine that I will become friends with the proprietors of these shops.  We will be two blocks from the hospital and two blocks from the school.  Street view shows that both routes are a nice walk/bike ride.  We are close to the center of town and the library looks very nice.

There is a great museum - Te Manawa and a rugby museum.  There are lots of places for Indian takeaway and fish and chips.  There are loads of things to do outdoors.  We leave the winter to arrive in summer in New Zealand.  That is worth the 13 hour flight!   http://www.pncc.govt.nz/

As you can tell, sleep time is less and research time is more...

I should really get going with the boxes I have saved and the stack of newspapers for packing rather than reading.  So here I go with great excitement - I love an adventure! and with some reservation at being away from our home, family and friends for any period of time...

http://www.palmy.net.nz/aboutpn/