The First Year Over already

Sunset at Raglan

Well as of the 22nd of April 2005, we will have been living in New Zealand for one year!! It doesn't seem possible that at the time of writing this post, one year ago, we were sitting on an aeroplane heading for a whole new life down under. Scary and exciting all at once, but certainly the right thing to do. As the first year draws to a close I have been thinking about the way our lives have changed and the people that have made our transition so much easier to becoming part of the community here. "Community" that's what is so great about being here, the way the people have opened their arms, homes and lives to us, making us feel so very welcome. For that we thank them, from the bottom of our hearts. Thanks also must go to all our family and friends that have supported us in our decision to come here, we know that is wasn't easy letting us take Michael away.

In this post, I would like to reflect upon some of the events and moments of the past year. Although I am posting many of my photo's online, I want to share some of them here with you, just like a photo diary. Hope you enjoy it.

April 2004

We arrived at Auckland airport on Thursday 22nd April, a lovely sunny day, hired a car and headed for Hamilton. Everywhere looked so lush and green. We stayed in a motel right by Waikato Stadium until we found a place to rent. Once we had done that we had to get Michael into a school, we opted for Rotokauri school, minutes from the section of land we had bought during our visit in February. Michael joined the school soccer team and came away with the Player of the day award after his first game!

Michael with his trophy

We took a trip to Kawerau and visited Joe's family, he went out on a sea fishing trip and came back very happy!!

Joe with just one of the fish he caught

May 2004

On Monday 3rd of May, Joe started his new job and Michael his new school. That same week we took a drive back up to Auckland airport and collected Huey & Luey, our two cats that we just couldn't bear to leave behind.

The furniture arrives

On the 14th our furniture arrived, then began the fun & games unpacking it all, luckily out of everything that we brought, there was only one casualty, a standard lamp.
That weekend we took a drive to Raglan, and had fun on the beach.

Michael boogie boarding

June 2004

Michael has his first birthday in NZ and had some of his new friends around, they played on the playstation and the garage was converted into a games room where they could play snooker, darts and table football.
This month we began looking at house plans to build on the section we bought during our visit in February.

July 2004

We are all settling into our new life, Joe's job is going well and Michael has a two week break from school, NZ has their summer break at the end of December and I have starting walking and feeling a lot better for the exercise. Still looking at house plans but nothing seems just right yet.

August 2004

Michael continues to do well at school, it's very different here, they still have a curriculum to follow, but a lot of importance is placed on the practical, doing research, dealing with the community and fundraising. All good exercises in getting the student to think for themselves and develop confidence. They have a morning out once a fortnight to do 'Tech' at another school, this includes cooking, textiles, woodworking etc, these facilites are not available in Rotokauri School.
At last! this month the sale of our house in the UK finally completes, what a relief, it was beginning to get us down and Joe nearly hopped on a plane back. But thankfully he didn't have to. Buying and selling here is so much easier and a lot less stressful. We even think we have found the perfect house design, we ask for plans to be drawn up.

September 2004

More events at Rotokauri School, this month a fishing competiton at Hamilton Lake, where I walk regularly. Sadly Michael didn't catch anything but his school came second. Michael's soccer season is coming to an end and maybe even his involvement in it, he wants to try rugby next year!!
Joe & Michael go skiing at Ruapehu with friends and have a great time and it's only 3 hours away!
Big changes on the home front, a property comes up for sale not far from our section, this house is built, it has 6 paddocks all fenced, water supplied to all with troughs, a mature garden and many more plants and trees...it's perfect. The price comes back for building and there really is no comparison, we make an offer and it's accepted, and the rest is history as they say!!
I had an interview at Hamilton Zoo for the position of voluntary Zoo host, and looked forward to starting in October.

October 2004

Moving house this month, I've been packing boxes, luckily I didn't unpack everything! But our plans nearly take a nose dive, Joe ends up in Waikato hospital with a serious infection in his knee and they can't seem to stop it from spreading!! At last the anti-biotics kicked in and all was well, it didnt help that Joe is allergic to penicillin so it took longer for the treatment to work.
On the 22nd we moved in to our 51/2 acre lifestyle block, 6 months to the day that we arrived here. For weeks after we would just look at each other and grin, we couldn't believe our luck finding this place.
I started at the Zoo and love meeting people and talking away to my hearts content! The big bonus is I get to see the animals for free!!

November 2004

Lots of events on this month, a garden ramble to raise funds for Michael's school, and it was great visiting people's beautiful homes and gardens.
I went to a craft fair and bought some cross stich packs, never tried it before but always wanted to try, so now was my chance.
There was a Small Block Expo and that was good, it was aimed at Lifestyle Blocker's, like us.
The Zoo held a BBQ for all of the hosts and their families, we made some new friends.

Michael & Bonnie leaving the City pound

We also added to our family, we adopted "Bonnie" a huntaway cross from the City pound.

New animals this month include 4 boer doe kids, Emerald, Sapphire, Pearl & Ruby.

December 2004

My sister Sandra & my nieces Zoe & Emily

Lots happening again this month, we had our first holiday since arriving and meet up with my sister and her family in Perth, Australia, they were visiting Cahal's sister who has lived there for 16 years. It was great to see everyone but it was HOT! Back here in NZ it hadn't stopped raining for a month! Michael finished for the summer break, he was ready for a rest and we got our second dog, Clyde a border collie pup.

Michael & Clyde

Christmas Day, Thomas, Michael & Matthew

Out friends Janette & Ian with their 2 boys Matthew & Thomas, stayed with us for Christmas, they were here touring NZ. It was great seeing them all and certainly an alternative Christmas, we spent the morning at Raglan beach and the boys were body boarding in the sea. After dinner we sat outside and had a drink or two then walked throught the paddocks to our friends and neighbours for the evening, a perfect end to a lovely day and it had stopped raining.

Enjoying a drink with Janette & Ian

January 2005

A Happy New Year saw us fast asleep in our beds before midnight!! Not our usual pursuit for New Year! Oh well. It was still raining until Mum & Dad arrived for their 8 week holiday, then the sun shone & shone & shone, summer had finally arrived! And it did get very hot. They toured around and became quite adventurous, they took off in their hire car and stayed in Motels and saw more of New Zealand than I have yet!

Dad & Mum at Bowentown

Michael was enjoying his long break, he had missed out on the summer break in the UK, so it must have felt like a long time since having a holiday.

Making hay while the sun shines

With the sun shining it was time to make hay! and we cut just under 4 paddocks which gave us 222 bales of hay, which are stored in the barn. We sold some and will sell some more when winter comes.

Maggie the Kunekune

New animals this month included, 5 chickens, Maggie the Kune Kune pig & Squidge the kitten

Squidge -cool cat

February 2005

Joe worked away for 2 weeks at an oil refinery up North and Mum & Dad continued to explore, I had my 42nd birthday and got a bread maker, and I gotta say what a great gadjet, fresh bread everyday and only takes 5 mins to get it going, piece of cake....or should I say bread!

Michael took part in a team event in the Weet-bix Tryathlon, they all did well and Hamish Carter presented the medals.

Michael is the cyclist in the team event

Michael went back to school and is in his last year at Rotokauri, he moves on to high school next year. He took part in the School Tryathlon and did really well coming 7th, so pleased with that.
New animals this month included, 3 goats & 2 pigs

Purdy, Emily & Zoe

March 2005

Mum and Dad returned home to the UK with over 300 photo's and life carried on here.

We submited our residency application after all having medicals. So now the wait begins, if we are successful then we can live here permanently, fingers crossed.

New animals this month included, 8 chickens: 3 shavers, 3 shaver pullets(not laying yet) 2 spangled hamburgs(something fancy) and 2 ducks (Joe's whim)

April 2005 (1 year on)

Back to Zoo hosting this month as I hadn't committed myself whist Mum & Dad where here. The temperatures are cooler too and easier to walk around in. The weather has been very dry and we haven't really seen much rain since the beginning of January. But a downpour fills up one of the tanks......we can be extravagant and have a bath!

Another addition, meet Tiger

Tiger looking for the mouse!

Michael has taken up rugby this season and Joe alongside another Dad, is coaching. Their first game is on 14th May, just when I start understanding the rules of football he changes to rugby!!

First day at rugby training

There was a sad moment when Huey was put to sleep after his health got progressively worse, he will be missed and he never quite made the full year here!

Huey's final resting place

New animals this month include, 6 sheep: 5 ewes in lamb, we hope and 1 hogget, young female sheep. 2 bulls now steers, they had a vasectomy!! 4 more chickens this time 4 Plymouth 'barred' rocks

22nd April (1 year today)

We woke to a frost today, Joe went out and the ground was crunchy underfoot. There was a low lying mist as is quite common in the Waikato. Bit different to the lovely hot weather we arrived to. But an hour later as I type this the mist has lifted, the sun is shining and it looks like it going to be another beautiful day in paradise. I even debated putting the heater on, then thought better of it. Today I'll go out and see all of the animals and maybe do some gardening, then later we might have a nice glass of wine to celebrate. Cheers...here's to the next year!!

PS We are looking forward to the Lions Tour and we have tickets for the Lion's V NZ Maori in Hamilton on June the 115th. If you watch it on TV look out for us we will be holding a banner with V.M.R.U.F.C on it!!

Keep looking!! and sign the guest book with your thoughts of our move

from Sue xx

View our photo's online

Right, here we go, hopefully, after a lot of trial and error I think I have finally got it sorted. Use this link to view our photo albums online. Look and enjoy, more to come, so keep looking, and don't forget to sign the guestbook. If there's something that you would like to see, then let us know, we aim to please.

http://community.webshots.com/user/jsmwebber

Sad day for us today - Monday 11th April 2005

Huey, Duey & Luey

It is a sad day for us today, Huey our 15 year old cat was put to sleep after having problems since Christmas, which sadly for him never showed any signs of improving.

He leaves this world in the same month he came to us as a tiny kitten. He was a rescue cat and came with his brother Luey and sister Duey,(she died 12 years ago), they were bundles of fun and always up to mischief and Huey always seemed to be the one that always needed rescuing from one thing or another. So now we have Luey, but he's not alone, we have recently adopted 2 new additions, Squidge & Tiger, more black cats!!

I wrote a poem for Huey.

Goodbye Old Friend

For fifteen years you lived in our house,

You caught some birds and many a mouse.

Your coat was sleek, shiny and black,

And you loved a good stroke right down your back.

You were one out of three,

Huey, Luey & Duey.

Since Christmas you haven't been right,

We must let you go, we decided last night.

Huey we didn't want you to die,

But today was the day that we said goodbye.

You were peaceful and quiet, soon came the end,

How I'll miss you Huey, my dear old friend

Rest in peace Huedie Wuedie!!

XXXXXXXXXX

Added at 17.35pm

I was sent this today, it made me cry, but so lovely, and I dedicate it to anyone that has ever lost a much loved pet.

Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge.

When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge. There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together. There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.

All the animals that had been ill and old are restored to health and vigour. Those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by. The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.

They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent. His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.

You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.

Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together....

Author Unknown

After I had posted this, I went to the window and this was outside!!

Getting to grips with our new blogspot

Joe fishing at Raglan

Slowly trying to get the hang of this blogspot thingy!! So bear with me while I try to figure out how to place photos on here. It doesn't appear to be simple these things never are!!

(I''ve since edited this post and as you can see, I can do photo's now!)
News today! The sun is shining and Joe is already outside doing the last, he hopes! improvements to all the fences. When we bought this place everything was in place and fantastic, the previous owner kept cows and the fences kept them contained but not our goats!! and we regularly found out early on Saturday mornings for some reason!! I'm off out later to a place called Te Kuiti to meet some about a chook!!! well four actually, to add to our ever growing population of chickens! Well if we want free range eggs for breakfast you gotta have chickens!!
At the moment we have a billy goat on his holidays here and his favourite pastime is playing leapfrog with four of our goats, Purdy, Zoe, Emily and Pikelet. They are the older girls of the eight goat we have, the younger girls wont be ready to breed from until next year. If I breed them too young it may stunt their growth and I want to show them, so can't have that. But hopefully we shall have some babies running around the place in a few months time.
We are loving the lifestyle here, it is a great place to live. We love our home and the land with it. It is busy some times and we have had to learn so much about keeping animals healthy and happy, our family has grown with the addition of all of the cats and dogs etc, but it's great.
Here is a little poem I wrote on a particularly challenging day!!

January 2005



The Good Life

We moved to New Zealand, for a quieter life.

But this week on the farm has been nothing but strife!

It all started well, this life on the 'Block',

We planted some veggies and added some stock.

First came the goats, 4 beautiful boers,

"It's a hobby," said Joe, "for 'er indoors.

"The two dogs arrived, named Bonnie and Clyde,

Who like to eat 'muck' in the paddocks outside!

Soon came a kitten, takes the cats up to three,

The old ones get jealous when he shoots up the tree.

We got 4 chickens, but one is a Cock!

We know, cos he crows in the morning at 6 o'clock!!

Maggie was rescued from the SPCA

The first twenty four hours were quite a day!

She is big, she is beautiful, with fantastic ears.

But she got stuck in a fence and reduced me to tears.

She cried and she struggled, but got out in the end,

and I'm happy to say that she's still my friend.

But! "What's wrong with that?" I hear you all say!

WELL! Let me just tell you about yesterday!

No more animals allowed, that Joe can't eat.

So two more pigs arrived...Oh what a treat!

They stood there with Maggie and looked round the sty.

"There's a gap in the fence...we're off. Bye-bye."

Ten minutes it took them to work that one out.

"Well! That's just great!!" I said with a shout.

A few phone calls later, people rallied around.

Neighbours are great in a crisis, I've found.

The night proved a long one, the pigs are still free.

They were next door this morning, asleep under a tree!

What to do next?......I really can't say.

They might come back sometime today.

Joe isn't here...he's missing the fun!!

He's off a job that has to be done.

Somewhere up North at the refinery,

I'm off to get drunk at the nearest winery!!!!!Phew!!!

You'll be pleased to know that the pigs were caught and have settled well with Maggie the Kunekune.
Well that's it for today, the worker needs his breakfast. I will have to keep working on the photothing. (It's done!! More to come)
bye for now

Living the Goodlife - written in February 2005 (1st post)

Our Home
dated February 2005
Introduction
by Sue Webber

April 2004 saw big changes in our lives, we left the UK and all of our families and friends, in fact everything we had ever known, to begin a new life down under in New Zealand. As hard as it was leaving everyone and everything, we had got to a stage in our lives where if we did'nt make changes now then we never would. We didn't want to say to each other ten years down the road, "Oh I wish we had done it back then."
Joe's work seemed to have no future, things were changing in industry in the UK and not for the better. Joe having gained much experience in spindle maintenance in the engineering industry, decided that his skills may be needed elsewhere. New Zealand at this time were looking for skilled workers, Joe had relatives here, they speak English and drive on the same side of the road!!
I had a successful pre-school with a great team, and between us we had worked hard to get an excellent Ofsted inspection that ultimately resulted in becoming among one of the first pre-schools in Luton, Bedfordshire to be Accredited by the Pre-school Learning Alliance, we successfully applied for a New Opportunities Fund and we were able to provide extra care for our children around our normal hours, but I had taken it as far as I wanted to and was ready for a change.
Michael was the one we were more concerned about, would he be able to adapt to a new life here. He had his friends, as we all did, but as a child it's hard for them to start all over again. He was 11 years old probably a good age to do it, not too old and wrapped up in exams etc, and not too young to not understand. All our worries were unfounded and he settled into 'Kiwi' life quicker than us!! He started Rotokauri school the week after we arrived, he went to soccer practice and played for the school team, helping them to a 5-1 win, all before he was officially a pupil!! First day at school - Super Hero!! Not bad hey?
This web page is for all those people we left behind, a way of staying in touch and keeping you all part of our lives. You were all in it for so long we're not about to lose you all forever. I've never done anything like this before and it might just turn out to be a complete shambles. My aim is to keep you updated with newsletters and photos of the events in our lives. If you like what you see, then come and stay with us and explore this beautiful country.
We've already had visitors, our good friends Janette, Ian and their 2 sons, Matthew and Thomas, for our first Christmas in New Zealand. It was an experience, going to Raglan beach in the morning watching the boys in the surf and coming home for Christmas dinner, it should have been a BBQ, but the weather hadn't been up to much, but we still managed a drink on the patio in the afternoon. We heard some of you had snow!!!!
My mum and dad visited for most of January, all of February and returned home on the 9th of March. They brought the good weather with them and experienced a very hot summer, with hardly any rain at all! Dad has taken a multitude of photos, some of which I hope to publish on this site. If you want to see anymore you can always contact him, I'm sure he'll copy you a disc. Last count 300 pictures plus!!!!
I'll show you our home and the 5 and a half acres with it, known as a lifestyle block, small in comparison to many New Zealand farms, but it's just fine for us. We're growing our own vegetables and there are plans to plant a small orchard, I already have my own lemon tree.....perfect for the Gin and Tonics! We have some animals, the cats came with us of course, there are 2 dogs, another 2 cats, 8 goats, 3 pigs and lots of chickens!!! I'll introduce you to them later on. Joe's aim is to be as self sufficient as possible. I know some of you are already calling us 'Tom and Barbara'.

Well here it is.....................................The Good Life!!