One day to go ...

... and we'll be on board 'AREandARE' - so exciting!  We're not sure at the moment how much will be left on board by the previous owners, fingers crossed they've been kind to us so we don't have to buy too much before our boxes arrive from New Zealand.

We hired a car through Enterprise, an on-line booking, and they phoned yesterday to confirm.  Then at just before 12 midday today, they phoned to say they couldn't find a car for us - hilarious!  No point in getting stressed, poor girls sounded beside herself.  She said they were still frantically trying to find one, and she'd phone back at 1pm.  So in the meantime I phoned their office in Worcester and explained the situation and asked if they'd have one if Kidderminster let us down - yes they said they did, and they could collect me from my parents house instead of me catching the bus for the Kidderminster one.

One o'clock came, and sure enough they didn't have a car.  Solution found, Worcester office will collect me between 5 and 6pm, and take me to sort out the paperwork ...

So we'll be loading the car up this evening, in readiness to leave around 9am (if we can get up in time!) and head to Crick Marina, and then to Yelvertoft Marina where our new boat is moored.  They have negotiated a week's mooring there, so we can sit and pontificate if we choose to, but I think it's more likely that once we've sorted out what we need to obtain to make the boat habitable, we'll be off.  My guess, knowing Barry, is that we'll move by Saturday, but we'll see.

In the meantime, here's the last of Barry's stunning photos to date, all from around Bowness-on-Windermere in The Lake District ...

The next post will be from our new home for the next who knows how long, so many adventures and experiences to look forward to, and so many wonderful people to meet and catch up with.  Oh happy days.

Barry's images - take two

The money's been transferred today for AREandARE, so it's all on for taking over ownership from Thursday.  We're still obtaining insurance quotes, and importantly reading their small print!  It's amazing how much is in there, and the differences in approach to contents covered.

We're hiring a car for a couple of days from Wednesday, to take our belongings from my parents house to the boat, and then check what's on board and what we may need to purchase in order to live before our boxes arrive - in about ten weeks time.

Here's the next ten of Barry's images ...

The first six are around Ambleside Wharf ...

Walking around Lake Windermere and to Windermere ...

Ray, Sandra, Viv, Dave and Pete - all togged up against the cold

Many babbling brooks along the route

More to come over the next day or two ...

Barry's photography is back - the first ten ...

Well it's taken a while, we've not posted any of Barry's images of UK for almost twelve months, you've just had to read my ramblings instead!

With time to spare, living currently with my elderly parents, he's just sent me thirty amazing shots of our time here so far, so I thought I'd post ten a day rather than overwhelm you all at once ...

Paddington Basin, Barry's walkabout while we waited for the train to Worcester on our first day back

Little Venice - the delightful boat cafe 

Little Venice - incredible reflections on a crisp spring day

Barry gets his wish for snow, in Lichfield

Sandra, Kath (Sandra's sister), and Pete (Kath's partner), at The Bull in Shenstone

Bowness-on-Windermere, in Worsworth's Lake District - the view from the window of the house we rented for the week - picture perfect

One of the public Lake Windermere cruisers

Ray (my sister Viv's fiancé), and David (my sister Linda's husband), all wrapped up on top of the boat!

Hire boats looking magnificent

Ambleside wharf - looking remarkably similar to Queenstown in New Zealand!

It's wonderful to be able to post Barry's work again - hope you enjoy them and look forward to many more over the coming days, weeks, months and hopefully years!

Any suggestions - which narrowboat insurance?

The contracts arrived in the post today for AREandARE, along with the offer of one year's IWA membership (free) and either two months free RCR (river canal rescue) or three months if we purchase twelve months cover.  ABNB have been an excellent brokerage to work with, and Barry (from ABNB!) collected Barry from the train station the first time he went to see the boat, and then us both the second time - great service!

We have two small challenges now.  One is transferring the money from my Barclays Bank account in time to clear two days before Thursday - I have a limit of £10,000 per day!  I'll give my branch a call on Monday, there's bound to be a way around this ...

The other challenge is narrowboat insurance.  ABNB recommended GJW - but having just looked at their  policy wording, they insist on there always being two 'competent' crew members on board when the vessel is moving if it is over 24 feet in length.  This would mean Barry or I could never move the boat without us both on board?!

We were insured with Haven Knox-Johnston when we owned Northern Pride, but recall having to state a mooring initially (we used the marina where we bought her), and trying to get an on-line quote from them today they're again asking for one.  As we intend to be 'continuous cruisers' (apart from possibly staying in a marina over the winter months), we obviously can't state a permanent mooring.

We'd be very grateful for any suggestions of ways around this, or which insurance company people would recommend ...

Boat bought at last!

Things are beginning to fall into place now after two weeks and two days in the UK.  It was a bit of a mad rush arriving on the Wednesday then going away for a week on the Saturday.  Needless to say we didn't manage to get a lot sorted out until this week.

We did, however, have an amazing and magical time with my three sisters, their respective partners, and my parents (who celebrated 80 and 93 years of age that week), in the awe inspiring Lake District. Many people in the party were concerned about travelling in the wintry conditions, but all was well with clear roads all the way - and the scenery was spectacularly beautiful.  Barry was well pleased - he'd been asking for snow!  It's been mostly sunny, and we've not had a drop of rain since we arrived, though admittedly it's cold outside - especially compared to the temperatures we'd been used to in Gisborne over the past six months!  However, they're now coming into autumn, as we approach spring (I know, I know, it should be here already - but the daffodils and crocuses are beginning to bloom) ...

My mum's 80th birthday celebration - left to right Kath, Sandra, Don, Irene, Linda and Viv

At the top of 'Brantfell', overlooking Lake Windermere - with the scenery looking remarkably similar to Queenstown in the South Island of New Zealand

This week we've managed to get UK phones and internet access sorted out, and with our two mobile phones and a dongle, we now have coverage for Three, T-Mobile (which we're told includes Vodafone), and TalkTalk (which we're told includes Orange).  So hopefully we'll have some sort of signal for most of the waterways network!  It's amazing how cut off we felt for just under two weeks without good internet access - whatever was life like without it?  For us both though, it's crucial to how we earn a living now, so it's imperative to have.

On Wednesday we went to have a trial run of 'AREandARE'.  The 'in-water' survey had been carried out while we were away, and the surveyor had highlighted to us a possible challenge with the current engine configuration.  I'm not going to bore you with the details, mainly because I don't really understand them (it's a blue job as my dear friend Rivka would say!), but Barry wanted to see how she performed.  After much deliberation, and advice from many engine 'experts', and fellow bloggers (many thanks for your input Tom and Doug & James), we've negotiated a slight price reduction which will enable us to get the engine configured differently.  We do realise there are hundreds of boats 'out there' for sale, but this boat is the only one Barry's found which ticks the majority of the specific boxes of our requirements.

So today, we've agreed the purchase, with a take over date of Thursday 11th April.  We'll probably then be travelling up the Grand Union to Loughborough, take a left turn onto the Trent and Mersey, moving towards Fradley Junction in time for our boxes to arrive from NZ at my sister's house in Lichfield.  Well that's the tentative plan so far ...

Barry back on the waterways and in his element!

Barry and 'AREandARE"

Thank you to Tom, John and Sue for your comments on our recent post regarding suggestions for the blog.  We've yet to decide what we'll do, but your thoughts and advice have been most helpful.

So not long now and we'll be back 'on the cut'!  How exciting is that?!

Almost back on the waterways ...

We arrived safely back in UK on Wednesday morning after a very emotional farewell for now at Gisborne airport where many people came to wish us well.  The gorgeous Jade sang a waiata (Maori song) and Haka to us at the airport, and had everyone in tears - we were so honoured, what a brave young woman.

The farewell committee at Gisborne airport - Jade is next to Barry

There are so many things I'll miss about living in New Zealand (Gisborne especially), and I intend to write something around that in the near future ...

Yesterday Barry got the train to Rugby where the lovely Barry from the boatyard collected him and took him to see 'AREandARE' - he's been a little anxious about sighting the engine and just wanted to be sure that it's the boat we want - and luckily he loved it!  So subject to a satisfactory in-water survey on Monday, we'll go ahead with the purchase and be narrowboat owners again - hurrah!  We're not sure as yet when we'll actually take possession or be on board, but it's likely to be in the next couple of weeks I would imagine.  Barry didn't take any photos of the boat surprisingly, he said he wanted to savour the time talking to her current owner and looking around - there's enough lovely pictures on the ABNB website.

Waiting for the train, all wrapped up against the cold ...

Will the blog name change people have asked?  I hope so, we just have to work out how that happens and if we can keep the blogs we've written to date as nbnorthernpride, and just re-direct people - does anyone know how we do that?  Any information gratefully received.

The temperature change from Monday last week of around 29 degrees C, to today of around 0 degrees C has its challenges, but nothing we weren't expecting, and Barry is loving seeing the snow!  We're off to the Lake District today with my three sisters and their partners, and my parents for my mum's 80th birthday tomorrow and my dad's 93rd on 30th March. 

From this ...

... to this 

It's all coming together, saving the best till last ...

"I think there is something more important than believing: Action! The world is full of dreamers. There aren’t enough who will move ahead and begin to take concrete steps to actualize their vision." 

W. Clement Stone

Well we're definitely taking concrete steps and our vision is becoming a reality!  The elephant that has been seeming so large over the past few months, weeks and days, now appears to be shrinking - we've been eating it piece by piece.

I'm almost finished packing up the boxes that we'll be shipping - how on earth we still have so much stuff after we've let go and sold so much is beyond me!  It's taking a lot of willpower to keep reducing our belongings down to the absolute (honest Barry!) essentials.  The remainder of our furniture will be taken this week - so by Friday we'll have very little left, apart from items the new owners have bought.  We're so lucky to have lovely people coming to live in our house and Suki, our cat, is staying too.

We had an awesome leaving party at the Hospital Social Club last Friday night arranged by some friends ...

The hall was decked out in red, white and blue with a few All Blacks flags too - what amazing friends we have, we're very lucky.

Next weekend I am flying to Auckland for my Diploma in Holistic Life Coaching Graduation which is awesome - it's been a long journey to achieve this, in time, money and commitment, but it's been so worthwhile.  I have two more clients to get to complete my 100 hours of case studies, but I'm waiting until we get to UK for that or it will be too disjointed.

And the very best news is WE'VE BOUGHT A BOAT!  Well, we've put a deposit down subject to survey.  Barry came home last Friday with the details and said it's the closet he's seen to the boat we've been searching for - and after some deliberation and the fantastic Captain Ahab taking the time to visit her in person and report back to us, we decided to go for it!  

She's called 'AREandARE', which we pronounced in a variety of ways, until we discovered it actually says R and R!  So apt, we're very pleased.

We'll be seeing many of you in the very near future ...

So close, yet so far away ...

“The Unknown is scary, the Unknown can also be exciting. Your life could change in an instant anytime. But sometimes, that change is the best thing that will ever happen to you. Maybe I don’t have to know what my fate is to know that everything will be okay. Maybe the not knowing is how we move forward. Wherever I’m headed, I know it’s exactly where I’m supposed to be.” ~ Susane Colasanti

Well it's less than three weeks to go now before we fly to England for the next exciting chapter in our lives!  Lots of things are moving, one is stubbornly staying the same ...

Selling ezimade seemed like it was going to be easy from the moment Barry opened the shop. He had a list of people who came in saying how amazing it was and how much they'd considered doing just what he had but not quite had the courage/got round to it, and would be interested in buying the business once he was ready to sell.

A few of these people have been in and talked about buying, but to date no-one has made an offer or made any sort of commitment. Why not?  It's such a great business, and is growing daily, I can't figure out where the blockage is. Barry has now listed it on Trade Me - so check it out and if you know anyone interested get them to call him asap! He did call a Real Estate Agent last week and met up with him - but was unconvinced that they would be committed enough or work hard enough to earn the ridiculous sum of money in commission they charge for selling a business.

It's OK, we have someone who will manage the shop once we leave if it's not sold, so we're not panicking, but it would be so much better to be able to let it go and move forward. However, Barry has to return to NZ in August anyway to apply for his visa, so maybe he's meant to come back and sell it then?

In the meantime, we've had another garage/yard sale:

So much 'stuff'!

This one wasn't quite as successful as the first one, but a lot of the same people came. Additionally, during the afternoon I discovered that someone had 'walked away' with a set of golf clubs that had been at the back of the house - Barry's mum's. I was initially angry that someone would do such a thing, then realised that it wouldn't help anything by giving my energy to that, and turning it around saw that whoever took them must be pretty desperate to have to steal from someone else, so it actually made me feel very lucky - so thank you thief!

The weekend before this, we had the auction for Barry's photography. It was such a fun afternoon, and all but I think two of his pictures sold to the people that came, and a few telephone bidders. Since then so many people who didn't manage to come for a variety of reasons have said how much they wish they had, and those who bought his pictures keep saying how much they love them. So it's all good, Barry will be remembered in Gisborne for a long time to come - and he saw how much people value his work as it was converted into cash.

Lee and Alice get Barry's most prized and treasured shot - a country lane near to West Felton, UK, taken in 2007

Sally buys so many photos - and adores them!

Gavin the amazingly audacious auctioneer - what a star!

Jeremy, Jim and Kerri - some of the beautiful people who bidded (I know, it's not a proper word!) and bought!

Our furniture is slowly moving out of the house, bit by bit, and with the photos gone too it's starting to look empty and we are 'letting go' of it, feeling grateful we've lived somewhere so amazing even for a short time, and looking forward so much to travelling to UK and buying another narrowboat. That's what keeps us going, knowing that we WILL get where we want to be, despite the challenges, and then there will be other lovely journeys to plan and look forward to.

Barry has taken some things to his daughter Jamie in Hamilton and will take some to Tom in Wellington in a couple of weeks. He isn't saying goodbye for ages to them yet, because he knows he'll be back in August and be here until he gets his UK visa. Leaving his mum will be something else to challenge us both though - but we can call her and hopefully Skype her with the help of Barry's brother Ray ...

Of course it's through our struggles that we most grow - if life was simple and easy all the time it would be boring don't you think?

Five weeks and counting ...

'Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.' ~ Andre Gide

Well courage is definitely something Barry and I are needing in abundance at the moment as we navigate the massive changes we're sailing through to de-clutter and let go of people, places and things.  I've been through this process previously when I immigrated to New Zealand in early 2005, but it's still challenging.

It is however, also very cathartic.  The amount of 'stuff' we 've collected between us is staggering - much of it was stored under the house.  We managed to sell almost all our furniture within four days in January - though a lot of it is still with us until a week or so before we leave.  One or two things that are precious will be stored here by people - personal photographs and memories of Barry's for instance, and a recycled Rimu coffee table that I made at woodwork classes here before I met Barry - priceless but far too big and heavy to ship back to UK.  Some friends who have just built an eco friendly home will care for it lovingly, and even though I may never have it with me again, I'll always know it's 'mine'.

The garage sale was a huge success and we made around $500 - there's still a heap of 'stuff' left, and discovered following the sale after further sorting, so we're having another one on 23rd February.  Following that it'll be Trade-Me (New Zealand's answer to Ebay), the local buy and sell publication 'The Trader', charity 'Op' shops, Second Hand Sunday on 3rd March, or the council dump/tip!

One of our cars has been sold and taken, and a couple of people are interested in the other one.  The bike is sold - but we need to hold onto that until just before we go so we each have a mode of transport apart from walking.

This Sunday, 17th February, we're having an auction of Barry's superb photography collection.  Lots of people had been asking me if they could buy one of his pieces before we left, so to make it fair we decided we'd ask a friend who's a trained auctioneer, if he'd help us out.  It promises to be a fun afternoon and hopefully we'll make some more funds towards our future water gypsy lifestyle!  If anyone wants a catalogue of what's available, email Sandra or Barry.  We can ship overseas, but obviously you'd need to pay the postage.

A leaving party has been arranged by some friends for us, to be held on Friday 8th March.  It'll be fabulous to have around 100 people to come and say a fond fare-thee-well-for-now, though I know it'll be tinged with sadness too, especially for me, as I don't know if or when I'll return to Gisborne or New Zealand.  Barry will be back in August to apply for his UK visa.

Barry's business 'ezimade' hasn't sold as yet, but there's a few people who've expressed an interest.  We have a contingency plan if it doesn't sell before we go - which will stop people who may be waiting until they think we're 'desperate' and then putting in a silly offer!  It's such a great little business that Barry has put his heart and soul into, and has a large, dedicated, enthusiastic and growing customer database - once someone buys a still or a beer making kit, there's a high chance they'll be back for more supplies!  Everyone who comes into the shop says how amazing it is - especially people from out of town who don't have anything with so much variety.  We're just waiting for the right person to come and make us an acceptable offer - any day now ...

The information needed for Barry's visa is being collated, and the required money is in the bank in UK - so six months from 5th February will be D-Day, depending on when Barry re-enters New Zealand.  We've put together lots of evidence of our relationship and marriage that will need to be sent off - though I think all they really need to do would be to read this blog?!  What more proof would you need of our commitment to each other and returning to UK to live on the waterways?

Last Sunday at a friend's beach wedding 

Feeling the pressure of moving hemispheres ...

So it's just seven weeks and five days before we fly away from Gisborne to the sunny (!) northern hemisphere - Barry always brings the sun with him so you can count on there being some gorgeous weather in UK from 21st March.

We always knew that sorting the vast amount of 'stuff' we have would be a challenge, and we aren't disappointed so far - in fact there's more than we ever imagined.  That's the drawback of having a decent sized house with a humongous amount of storage space underneath it.  

I sent round an initial list of belongings to a long email list of contacts, and so far we've sold one of our cars, our bike, and tons of other stuff, so it bodes well for keeping on top of it.

On Saturday we've arranged a 'garage/garden/yard' sale at our house - here's a photo of some of the stuff in our spare bedroom ready for this ...

I've already taken three large bags of clothes to the Salvation Army, and two visits to the rubbish dump with unwanted paperwork.

One of the other things we'll be doing is cataloguing and selling some of Barry's photographs - they are, as you all know, incredible works of art and deserve to have homes where people appreciate their beauty.

Coming back from a five night midwifery locum stint at Te Puia on Tuesday, Barry and I suddenly became overwhelmed at the enormity of what we're undertaking and started to panic a little.  Too late to turn back now of course - the house is sold with the settlement date of 31st January.  Those blog readers who have undertaken similar journeys to us, will recognise I'm sure, the pressure that such a big change puts on you, even when it's something you have been dreaming of for a long period of time.

This evening I came across an inspiring video which 'spoke to me', and reminded me to let go and just allow ourselves to freak out from time-to-time about the move.  We've been planning it for over two years now, and we're both sure it's what we want, but the change in the UK visa requirements have meant we must commit to five and a half years to get Barry's 'Indefinite Leave to Remain' in UK, with only limited time back in NZ to see family and friends, if we can afford to return for visits.  'The Power of Vulnerability' is a TED talk by Brene Brown - if you have about 20 minutes to spare, and want to feel more 'wholehearted', I would totally recommend you watch and absorb the wisdom she's gained through many years of research.

Once we've received the house sale money next week, we'll put the necessary funds into an account, and they have to stay there for six months before Barry can even apply for his UK visa.  Then it must be there again two and half years after when he updates/reapplies.  We've now engaged the lovely Colin at 'ivisas' to navigate us through the process, and feel confident all will happen - so long as we gather all the documentation.

Our biggest mission now is to sell Barry's business - he has a few people interested, so by the power of the law of attraction, I'm putting it out there we WILL sell it in the next couple of weeks.

Watch this space - and I'm sending it out too that one day soon we WILL be announcing we've bought a narrowboat ...

We'll be in UK in nine weeks - Happy 2013 everyone!

In exactly nine weeks (0525hrs on 20th March), we'll arrive at London Heathrow.  We've been planning this journey for so long now, the inception was sometime in 2010, and it's amazing it's coming to fruition.  There's still so much to do, and of course you know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men ...

I returned to NZ on 10th January after an amazing three-weeks in Indonesia with my beautiful daughter Kimberley.  How special to have that time, just the two of us - and while we were having quality time together and with many exciting (and some not so thrilling!) adventures, Barry had his children Jamie and Tom at home for the festive season.  So we were both blessed with family memories to treasure.

Kim and I ready for a cocktail or two

Kim's 30th birthday surprise

Now I'm back and it's time to get all of our belongings sorted to either sell, give away, store, package to send or pack.  I always find it incredible how much 'stuff' we can accumulate, and when you look at it you wonder why on earth you have it and how you can so easily live without it!  We totally understand how challenging space is on a narrowboat, and are both looking forward to downsizing and getting rid of so much clutter - it's going to feel so liberating.

On Saturday we joined our friends to camp at the beach for the night - I think it may've been hotter in Gisborne than it was in Bali and Lombok.  A sweltering 39 degrees I believe was recorded ...

Barry cooks the barbecue breakfast for the masses

Walking on the beach with Barry, we came across a penguin - so cute!

We're just waiting to hear from our agent about the paperwork we'll need to collate ready for Barry's visa, and he's checking out flights for early to mid August when he'll be returning to NZ to apply.  Our house settlement date is 31st January, so as soon as we can transfer sufficient funds to my UK bank account, we can commence the six-month countdown.

Finances will be very tight, so we'll be budgeting strictly - I suspect visitors will be requested to provide their own provisions!  It'll be a great lesson for Barry and I, and of course means the required amount of cash must be available for five years in order to get 'indefinite leave to remain'.

Do check out my Holistic Life Coaching Facebook page and website/blog, and tell all your friends!  Barry won't be able to work until he has his UK visa, so Life Coaching is likely to be be our only source of income.  I have no intention of working as a midwife after Tuesday 5th March 2013, almost 26 years after commencing my training on 2nd May 1987.  I'm extremely proud of the difference I've made during that time - improve the birthing experience of women and their families, the quality of maternity services and provide guidance and inspiration to colleagues and students.  

It's now time to use my skills to support people to live their lives more fully and move towards a limit-less life ...

We're so looking forward to being back with my family and reconnecting with our friends in UK and on the waterways - as well as meeting new people (thank you to everyone who emails, it's always lovely to hear from you)!