Barry's back on board the whare waka, brewing all sorts of concoctions and plans ...

Barry's been back in the UK for a week now, having managed to talk the customs officer into letting him in - seriously, even WITH a legitimate UK visa in his passport, they still quizzed him on arrival! Luckily I was waiting in arrivals, so if there'd been serious concerns about whether he really is married to a British Citizen, I could've spoken up. The small issue of me forgetting to take my own passport along is immaterial ...

The UK visa in his passport - hurrah!

I'm very disappointed in my country of birth I have to say. Not only did Barry not receive a hearty 'haere mai' last week, even when he received his visa in the post, it came solely with the paperwork we'd submitted as evidence of our marriage and finances returned. Not a single word of 'WELCOME' to the UK! I distinctly recall when I emigrated to NZ in 2005, the visa came with lots of information on living in NZ, and I had a friendly contact not far from Gisborne to contact at any time. And each time we return to NZ, they welcome me back. Shame on you UK. Ah well, there was someone in arrivals who was very happy to see him, and I'm sure lots of other people here in UK, so we won't allow the lack of positivity to affect us ...

Just before Barry returned, our second article was published in the Gisborne Herald Weekender. Click on the link to read - it won't be on their website for long! The third in the series will obviously be about our 'indefinite' return. I'm comforted though that if our efforts to make this lifestyle sustainable are not successful, I and Barry, will be WELCOMED back to NZ! Only time will tell ..

Of course we're very determined to make it work. Barry has another five years to get 'Indefinite Leave to Remain', and a few more hurdles to jump through to acquire such 'privilege'. And there's heaps of things we DO love about UK, being close to my family, catching up with friends, oh and of course the Inland Waterways - just not the negativity that seems to abound in many bureaucracies here. 

 Back on board and look who else is very happy to see Barry 

As the autumn weather and darkness descends on UK, I recognise other stark contrasts between the northern and southern hemispheres. Halloween, Bonfire Night, and Xmas, are all celebrated much more energetically and enthusiastically here due to the differing seasons. It'll be my first British winter for nine years - it's going to be interesting how we cope with it!

Yum! Pumpkin soup

Spooky face at the front of the boat brightening up the wet weather

So now our focus is on making this lifestyle sustainable. We've manifested our dream, and feel suitably proud whilst being aware of the challenges that lie ahead! Living on board such a confined space whilst 'working from home' has its moments, and already Barry has decided to set up his 'space' in the Boatman's Cabin at the rear of the boat. He's not silly - that's where the stove/heater is! Next year we hope to have one at the front of the boat too ...

Barry the Boatman (just for you Trish!)

There's going to be lots brewing in the coming days, weeks and months, so watch this space!

(For those with no knowledge of Maori, here's a translation from the post: Haere Mai = welcome

Whare waka = house boat)

We have a date - let the new life begin!

It took a bit of working around, but after a phone call to Malaysia Airlines, I managed to move 1,000 air miles to Barry's 'Enrich' account so he could book a return flight. With the taxes and surcharges, it cost around NZ$500 - still less than half the price it would normally cost for a one-way ticket from Auckland to Heathrow. He arrives in London early on Friday 25th October, just two months and twelve days after leaving UK on 13th August.

We'd like to 'publicly' acknowledge the amazing work Colin Bonos, from 'ivisas' in New Zealand, has carried out on our behalf; and for all his skilful knowledge, friendly and informative support and advice along the complex journey of gaining Barry's initial 'spousal sponsored visa'. There's another two stages to 'pass through' before he reaches the destination of 'Indefinite Leave to Remain' in UK, but we'll cross those bridges when the time comes.

On 21st September, the first of our articles, 'A Life Changing Journey', was published in the Gisborne Herald Weekender supplement. Well done Amy from NB Willow for picking up a glaring error. Can anyone else spot it (no cheating friends and family and looking at Facebook!)? The second part winged its way to Gisborne earlier today, and just needs Barry to drop into the offices (in person I suspect) some stunning photography to complement it.

Next week I'm off to Belfast for a 'More Clients, More Leads, More Sales' conference by Bernadette Doyle, a go-getting entrepreneur who I bought an online marketing package from last year and the ticket was part of the deal. So I'm taking up the opportunity of attending my first ever Life Coaching related conference/event, and staying with a beautiful friend I haven't seen for 25 years! How exciting! 

Great news on the visa front - and we had a red light!

I had an early birthday present on Friday when all the crossing of body parts paid off - Barry's UK visa application has been successful! Hurrah! Just under six weeks since the paperwork was sent to the sorting office, Barry received it all back, along with a visa stamp in his passport. Sadly he can't return until after 21st October, which is the date we recorded expecting he'd need time to sell his NZ business and get everything sorted there. Now he just has to complete the sale of 'ezimade' and find an available flight - we've enough points with Malaysian Airlines to fund a one way ticket.

My younger sister Viv, and her fiancee Ray, arrived on board Friday afternoon and we had a bit of a celebration of the wonderful news with their generous offering of Gin and Tonic in the evening. It's been a while since I've partaken of any spirits (of the liquid variety), and was a little worse for wear when we called Barry via Skype just after midnight. A bit of a reversal of roles, lol!

We still managed to haul ourselves out of bed at a fairly decent time on Saturday morning, my birthday, and after Lisa, Kim (who was up for the weekend) and our grandson visited the boat, we headed into Chester to walk the wall. The route passes the racecourse, and fortuitously it was the last 'Race Day' of the year. The huge crowd was blessed with a glorious sunny day - a good job as many of the women seemed to be dressed sparsely in expectation of summer, rather than early autumn. Our wanderings were interrupted for a good hour or more, as we gazed and gawped at the occasionally stunning but often incredibly skimpy and skin-tight outfits, watching the women tottering precariously on unbelievably high heels. Good fun though, and we hung around long enough to see one of the races sweep by ...

The second race of the day at 1430hrs

Age Maturity caught up with us in the early evening, and we succumbed to a little 'power nap' before getting dressed up and walking along the unlit country road to Tattenhall for a very tasty meal  in 'Thai at the Bear'.

 Lisa, Kim, Viv, Ray and Sandra

Yesterday, Sunday, we paid a visit to Beeston Castle, a few miles away from the marina. The castle itself is in ruins, but it's still magnificent. The grounds are expansive, so a great place for children to run and climb with all their excess energy. I decided to invest in joint annual membership of English Heritage so we can visit again when Barry returns, and go to Chester Castle and all sorts of places for 'free', with other attractions around UK at a good discount. Last time we had membership in 2010, we didn't get the benefit in the six months, but we'll ensure we do this time!

Quite a walk up to the castle itself, but spectacular 360 degree views from inside the castle walls

The view from the top, it's said you can see eight counties on such a clear day - Tattenhall Marina is just to the right of the centre

Another steep ascent to enter the castle

Finally we had a red light showing at the pump-out panel on Sunday morning - how timely to wait until after my birthday, and while Ray and Viv were on board. Ray said "How hard can it be?". That's the spirit! However, rather than rush to get there and back before our castle visit with Lisa and Kim, I chose to be a little more relaxed about it and do it in the afternoon. There was not a drop of wind in the morning, but guess what? When we returned to the marina things had changed! Apprehensively I got everything ready, tried to remember how to start the engine, unplugged the hook-up and switched to 'generator', put the steering pole on (always helpful!), took a very deep breath, untied the ropes and just went for it.

And do you know what? It wasn't hard at all! Not a problem, despite having to reverse to the pump-out point (for those of you who aren't familiar with narrowboats, there's no steering in reverse gear). There, pumped out and back to base within twenty minutes, or at least that's how it felt! 

Like most things in life, it's the thoughts we build up about anything that cause them to seem frightening due to our recollection of previous events, and we expect the same (or worse!) to happen. Most of the time, if we choose to take a risk and go for it, life supports us and all goes well.

Phew! 

A wonderfully wild weekend - and a stroke of luck

I returned to AreandAre yesterday afternoon after an uneventful journey from Hove, Brighton, back to Tattenhall - by train, underground, and bus. When it works well, the British public transportation system is fabulous - especially when you have the time to shop around for bargains!

Sadly, the pansies I'd bought from my visit at my parents and didn't make time to plant in pots, didn't survive - mainly due to the gorgeous dry weather we've had since I left the boat in the rain last Thursday! Mustn't complain though, it meant our camping weekend wasn't waterlogged.

And what a wonderful 'Into the Wild' weekend it turned out to be. I felt very 'at home' with the down-to-earth and unpretentious people who populate such fun festivals, and will definitely be doing it again while we're living here in UK - with or without Barry (I strongly suspect the latter!). I met some fascinating people, and experienced many mind shifts and awakenings, in a spiritual and soulful way. If only everyone in the world knew how to live so simply, there would be far less struggle, unhappiness and discontent.

A great happening (though I wasn't so sure at the time!) was my iPhone decided to completely 'lock' itself on the Friday evening, shortly after I took the one and only photo of the two days. Normally the battery life runs out fairly swiftly, but on this occasion it didn't until Monday lunchtime! One would imagine you could just take the battery out and re-set it - not so on an iPhone (unless there's something I don't know?); you need a special device that only phone shop people have, to do so. I was therefore forced to let go of any need for contact with anyone apart from those present at the festival - and not able to take photos but just BE there. The universe works in mysterious ways - and I was surprisingly grateful to it.

Kim expertly sets up our camping area for the weekend at dusk

I danced and sang, meditated in silence and with chanting, walked and sat by the camp fire in the woods while those around me made up songs and played a variety of instruments (until 0400hrs on Sunday morning!), went to a creative poetry and words workshop, a dying well workshop (seriously, there's ways of doing this and it's a current fascination of mine), and had an introduction to Shamanism and my 'power animals', to name just a few of the highlights (don't knock it until you've tried it!). Oh yes, and I had my face painted! It was rather amusing really. One of the entertainers had some face paints, and we'd seen lots of lovely designs on people, so Kim suggested we get ours done for some fun. He looked at Kim's face and was in awe of her beauty and said he didn't want to spoil it, just enhance it. He painted it very delicately. Then he looked at my face and said he was going to paint my wisdom. I couldn't see what he was doing, but I felt a decent amount of paint being put on. I was smiling inwardly, imagining what he'd said to Kim and how he seemed to now be almost covering my face up!

What do you think? The wise crone (almost!) and the stunning maiden :-)

It's a good job I have a sense of humour ...

Moving swiftly on, some good news! I received an email a few weeks ago informing me I'd won £500. Naturally I was a little disbelieving, but clicked on the 'accept' button as it was from a recognised source - the Avon Customer Panel, which I knew I'd done a few surveys with (one of the ways I've been spending my time to try and earn a small income). In the feedback box, I said how wonderful, so long as it wasn't a scam. I received a reply saying it was definitely NOT a scam, and I'd receive the cheque in a few weeks.  Informing Barry, I could tell from his response he didn't believe it for one second, but humoured me. So I waited until the cheque arrived, took a photo, and emailed it to him! And below is the extra proof - how about that for luck aye? You've got to be in it to win it I say - yippee! Bring it on, I'm open and ready to receive ...

I spoke with Barry this morning - no news yet about the visa. It'll be six weeks next week since it was posted, so fingers crossed. Can you all please cross something too, and the energy may just shift the application a few places in the queue.

There's almost news on the sale of the business, but nothing signed or sealed yet so I'll keep you in suspense for now.

This weekend I celebrate my birth - and I shall be surrounded by members of my family which will be lovely. My sister is driving up from Exeter, along with her partner Ray, and Kim's coming up to stay with Lisa for the weekend, so I'll get to see them and my grandson and son-in-law too.

I haven't had to move the boat to the pump-out yet, but I plan to do so in the next couple of days, rather than as a birthday treat!

Playing the waiting game ...

Two weeks have passed since my last post - and there's not a lot of progress to report! I've chatted to Barry via Skype, and apart from having a nasty cold, he's working in the shop and doing a stocktake in readiness for a possible sale (nothing definite, so watch this space), and catching up with friends and family whilst waiting to hear about his UK visa application - which has now been 'sitting' in the queue in Manilla for four weeks. The guesstimate is six to twelve weeks, so we're unlikely to hear anything for at least another two weeks in the best case scenario!

Meanwhile I'm continuing to keep myself occupied, rather than pining alone on AreandAre. I've just returned from four days supporting, and enjoying the company of, my parents in Worcestershire. Prior to that I had another lovely day with my eldest daughter and grandson. I even had a night out at the opera! Well there was an operatic medley at the medieval St Oswald's Church in Malpas, with the most beautifully melodic and powerful voices echoing through the building - such a treat, and one Barry would've hated. The only time he went to the opera was in Sydney, and he loves to regale people with the tale of how we felt he 'should' experience an opera, but before the halfway point decided he could bear it no longer and attempted to escape. Finding the exit, he was told in no uncertain terms that if he left he wouldn't be allowed back in. To which he replied "Good!", and dashed quick-smart to join his brother Peter in the pub!

So in actual fact, I'm making the most of Barry's absence and doing the things I love doing that he wouldn't. Tomorrow I'm hopping on the train in Chester and heading to Brighton to see my younger daughter Kim.  On Friday we're travelling a short distance to Lewes, and setting up camp for two nights of music, workshops, wild crafts, delicious food, talks, debate, wild walks, forages, bush crafts, yoga, dancing, meditation song and other such soulful and wild uplifting experiences at 'Into the Wild'. I've never camped at a festival before, so it's going to be such fun! The forecast seems to be fine and dry, but whatever the weather I have no doubt we'll have a magical time.

When I return next Tuesday afternoon, I'll have a few 'life coaching' days, then I have my birthday weekend to celebrate with my daughters, two of my sisters and future brother-in-law. 

I have a sneaking suspicion by the end of next week, if not before, I'm going to have to work out a way to move AreandAre to the pump-out point which could make for an exciting story in the next post !

A hot-air balloon lands at the marina last week - this is the view to the pump-out opposite our mooring (on the right of the picture). A short distance, but for me a rather scary prospect to reach!

In opposite hemispheres - but for how long?

Well this is strange, Barry and I are in different hemispheres for the first time since 2009, when he left UK to visit his dad in NZ.  We've been apart numerous times since, when I've been working away from home for a week or two, or when I've been on holiday - but not this far.

We have no idea how long it'll be for.  It could be as little as two months, or as long as six! Yikes! I'm hanging out for the minimum and visualising the UK visa successfully gained within six weeks of application, and the shop selling in around the same time. Then Barry just needs to find a flight back to UK - we have enough air points with Malaysia Airlines between us for a one way ticket, but he'll just need to secure and book a seat.

Barry waiting for the first leg of his five (three trains and two planes!) to New Zealand

Areandare is safely ensconced at Tattenhall Marina now until 1st March - I'm with my parents until next Thursday helping out with a few bits and pieces, so I've not had a lot of 'spare'-time to miss Barry yet. I've decided it's better to be 'excited' about the fact that we've got this far, all the paperwork for the visa is with Colin from 'ivisas' now, and all will go to plan.

AreandAre about halfway along the pontoon in the middle

We only had one night aboard with a hook up - what a luxury that is! And we had a couple of drinks at Scott's Bar in the marina - met a few fellow moorers, but only temporary ones. I'm sure there'll be plenty of time to meet others over the coming months.

Barry's last week in UK for a while ...

We haven't moved far since our last blog post - as we haven't far to go!

Mooring in Middlewich on Friday, my daughter Lisa collected us on Saturday for a weekend with her, our son-in-law and gorgeous grandson. We visited the Cheshire Ice Cream Farm, a fabulous fun place for young children, and just a five minute walk from Tattenhall Marina where we'll be mooring until 1st March from this Sunday. So of course we went for a look and we're very happy with our choice and looking forward to 'settling in'. Well at least I will be - Barry will get to see it on Sunday night and then we have a hire car from Enterprise collecting us on Monday morning. I'll spend a week with my parents, then return to the boat alone which is going to take some adjustment but will be fine.

We have almost everything in place now for applying for Barry's UK residency visa, and our man in NZ, Colin from 'ivisas', has begun the form filling and booked Barry's biometric testing in Auckland for next Thursday, a few hours after he arrives there.  His eyes may be a little red after all the travelling!

We have an appointment in Chester for Thursday with a Notary Public to verify I am who I say I am, and for that we pay about sixty pounds!  We should have all the bank statements ready at my parents house next week as evidence we've had the amount needed in our account for six months, then all that's left is Barry's two passport sized photos.

I'm handing over to Barry once he's left - let's hope he succeeds in his application (which will cost NZ$1,745  for the application, plus NZ$1,000 to employ ivisas to ensure we get it right first time, plus Barry's flight there and back, plus all the paperwork and time) and returns soon.  Colin did inform us we could 'fast track' his application in ten days - if we want to pay another NZ$500! Er, no thanks! Anyway, Barry still has to sell the shop and catch up with his nearest and dearest who are all very much looking forward to seeing him again.

Today we're moving just a few miles and two locks to Bardbridge, which we expected to take us less than two hours. We bought Northern Pride from the boatyard at Barbridge in April 2009, so it'll be good to see the canal there again. We started out at 12, it's now almost 5pm, and we have yet to go through the second lock! Admittedly we just stopped for diesel, gas, a pump out and a water fill-up, but we've never experienced queues like there are here on the Middlewich Arm, nor as many hopeless hire boaters taking an age to negotiate the locks.

About ten boats ahead of us

In the lock at last - following a hire boat driven (badly) in and out of the lock by a young girl of about 12, while her father walked the towpath - incredible!

We're meeting up with Tom and Jan in Barbridge this evening, and splashing out on a couple of drinks at the local pub - to swap visa tales and traumas! He was fortunate to get in before they changed the rules to five years.  Reading their blog post from yesterday, we can sympathise with the complexity of the UK visa process he and Jan are also experiencing.

It's very challenging to understand why it's so difficult to get Barry a UK residency visa.  We've been together seven and a half years, his father and grandfather both fought FOR ENGLAND, in Europe, having travelled all the way from NZ, in the first and second world wars respectively. Oh yes! And New Zealand is still a British Commonwealth country.  If anyone can enlighten us why we have to jump through so many hoops, we'd be most grateful. 

However, it is what it is, and we know it's bigger than us so we're just ticking the boxes and spending an awful lot of money in the process.

We're hoping nothing happens to my dad while he's away, as, without the visa, he can't return for six months ...