Well, that really was an adventure of a lifetime.
It was one I had been both looking forward to, yet dreading! I knew once it was over, we were one step closer to living in Australia, but I knew the journey was a marathon one. I first did the drive to south island from Rotorua to Christchurch in 1996. I vowed I would never ever do it again as long as I lived.
My eldest son was just 7 years old at the time, who would have thought 12 years later I would be driving with him down there as a student teen about to embark on a zoology degree!!
So the dreaded night came, Monday night 10.45pm as he said his goodbyes to his friends here in Hamilton and us of course, we set off on the mammoth journey.
We landed in Wellington after 7 hours at 5.30am, had a quick look around the almost deserted streets of Wellington. It was the first time our eldest had seen Wellington city. We then turned back around to line up for the 8.25am ferry to Picton.
I hate sailing, and boy the sea was rough for quite a while! We stayed on deck in the fresh air to keep us awake and enjoy the scenery.
Landed at Picton and finally disembarked the ferry at 12 noon. Now I knew the next bit of the journey was........horrendous! I was secretly hoping that NZ had built a motorway to Dunedin, but no, not that lucky. It was the same old roads we had travelled along 12 years before, through mountains, twisty, winding roads I hate so much.
Kaikora was nice though, for anyone visiting NZ, this is a fantastic coastline, reminds me of Cyprus in a way, and you get to see dolphins, whales, seals etc along the way. It really is the most stunning part of NZ.
We reached Christchurch and stopped to eat...KFC...Ohh....not good for the figure...who cares?
The next part of the journey, I knew to be reasonably okay, fairly straight roads, so not too bad, the worst bit was over, it's just a pity the worst bit has some of the most gorgeous scenery you will ever see.
By 10.30pm after a 23 and a half hour journey, we finally saw DUNEDIN!! Yeh....we both cheered. At last, the journey over, we could now relax.
We found the house with a help from a few text messages from Matt the map reader back home in Hamilton. LOL Thanks Matt.
Then we saw it.........Oh Heck....Psycho sprang to mind. I swear it was the same creepy house used in the film....but worse, this 'allocated' parking space didn't exist. In fact the house had no parking space, you couldn't even access it by vehicle. It was right at the very top of the hill with a maze of concrete steps to reach it. We had parked to the rear of the house but even that was quite a walk to the door from the car.........and we had a huge load to carry in.
Inside was even worse than the outside, I thought I had been through a time capsule and gone back to the 1800's.
"Oh no" I thought, "surely my 'educated' (*cough) son could not have arranged to live here?
His friend who had flown down the week before had arranged it, he had said it was "Cool"...
It had 3 fridges and 3 microwaves, so I guess that made it "Cool".....it was really like something out of the 1800's with 2 tine plug in electric oil radiators that was supposed to heat a 100+ year old villa with the ceiling that must have been 60ft high! The windows hadn't been cleaned since the house was built, so couldn't really see the views.
We had no option but to crash out for the night, I don't know who was most upset, me or my son!
The thought of him paying a ridiculous $180 pw (each) for that hovel was just too much for me to take in, then when he mentioned going back to Hamilton, I nearly died on the spot!
No way, was I driving back to Hamilton, I had arranged a flight back for Thursday night and I was sticking to it!
Next morning we had to go to Uni to register, that was a mission in itself but finally it was all sorted, then Studylink to ensure his student loan was approved, so that was done.
Next job? Find a new home. Trouble was, we needed 2 rooms as his friend wanted to stay with him, but most adverts were for one room only.
By chance, luck or fate, we found one, 2 rooms available $85pw each plus about $25 for electric. Much better, nice house, nice people already in.
One student was from Tonga, but his Mum was from Blackpool..ha...had to laugh, that's where Matt was from! He was studying to be a lawyer and was such a sweet lad I wanted to adopt him there and then!
They took both rooms, relieved they had a nice house with nice people already in. Smiles came back on both the lads faces, but I think the biggest smile was mine!
I would never have been able to fly back to Hamilton, let alone Australia in just over 2 weeks time, if I had to leave him in the 'Psycho' house!
In just 1.5 days, we had new address, everything registered at Uni, Studylink sorted, and all his gear in his new home....and believe me he had LOTS of gear!
Meanwhile Matt had kept the house tidy after a hard day at work! Mind you, I think he really treated the kids to KFC and they did it all!
Youngest had a bath last night and first time ever he asked where the cleaning stuff was to clean the bath...Mmmm......gives the game away a bit there Matt. Still, they should pull their weight when we are both so busy. Matt does a 12 hour day as a QS, they have a cosy day at school, and I was non stop in Dunedin with no time to eat or drink hardly.
I came home and was sure they only wanted to carry my small suitcase at the airport because they knew it contained Walkers crisps!
In Dunedin they have a Scottish shop, (Dunedin is very Scottish) and I knew I could not come back to Hamilton without the Walkers crisps (we are so deprived here lol) I threw in some haggis and some Edinburgh rock. Well Matt is a half Scot, so he thrives off these things.
All in all, it was a hectic trip, I was hoping to play the 'tourist' one last time before we depart these shores...but no time for tourism!
Now the next part of the journey begins, most of our gear is boxed up and ready to ship for a new life in Canberra. We had planned for years to go to Australia, but had to wait till now till eldest was independant and on his own. That time has now come. We always had Brisbane/Gold Coast as a destination, but a huge firm that Matt has been offered work with before in London heard we were moving to Australia and offered him a salary and package he couldn't refuse.....but it was in Canberra? Canberra we thought??? Canberra! We knew nothing about Canberra other than it was the Capital city!
Okay....Canberra here we come.
Looking forward to our next adventure in life.....so long as they don't have any 'psycho style' homes there......we should be okay!
Our first 'home' will be a serviced apartment within walking distance to Matt's new job...mmmm...might get to like having a serviced apartment! LOL
Pity company are only offering to pay for it for first month..damn!
Still don't know which area in Canberra we will settle so suppose we have a month to look around and secure something.
I just know its going to be a hectic few months ahead!
Take care everyone.