Finally booked!

It's been a bit embarrassing to admit that we didn't even know exactly when we were leaving, so it's great to have finally paid for the tickets today so no further changes possible! With several complications coming up in the last few weeks we have had to do some lateral thinking to work around everyone's needs and here's the final itinerary:

Bronwen, Liam, Breanna leaving 22 August 2007 for London
Rob leaving 4 September
Chris and James leaving 23 September

We all head to Amsterdam on 30 September to pick up the campervan on 1 October, then fly out of Amsterdam on 17 January 2008 to Singapore, where we will spend a week with friends before coming back to Melbourne on 26 January (arriving 27 January) just in time for school starting on 29 January.

So we are "dribbling" into the UK a few at a time - should reduce the impact a little! I'm staying with my brother in Manchester for a week or so, then Rob and I will spend three weeks with only the 2 younger children (it will seem so easy!) before picking up the boys and facing the prospect of 6 people in a campervan.

Good to finally not be "in limbo" and to know exactly what dates we are targetting. Now just need to get through that long list of things to do (better make the list first!).

Blenheim and Christchurch

After a great afternoon celebrating my niece's 8th birthday, and then a relaxing evening with my Aunt and Uncle and cousins in Blenheim, managed to get down to Christchurch in time to catch up with my sister, brother-in-law and nephew for a day before heading back to Melbourne. The bus ride down was memorable for the snow nearly down to road level and the huge number of seals near Kaikoura. On Sunday, the weather was superb - glorious sunshine, albeit pretty cold - -2degrees on our drive to the airport at 4 am Monday morning - a noble effort from my sister and nephew to get up that early to see us off.

We spent a very pleasant afternoon at the Christchurch Gondola - even bought the "been there done that" photo in spite of it not quite being a perfect shot of my beautiful daughter who only got half into the shot due to the gondola taking off a little too quickly for the photographer. The views from the top were magnificent over Banks Peninsula and back toward Christchurch and the Alps, and it was all set off nicely with the many parapenters drifting gently down to land almost perfectly on target in the park below the Gondola carpark.

Also managed a little retail therapy and stocked up on merino/possum socks (sorry to my Australian friends for the possum bit, but at 90million, New Zealand just has too many of them to get too sentimental!). Couldn't get enough, but bought the entire stock (all seven pairs) available, as well as a few polypropylene socks in anticipation of the cold in Europe - am wearing them now, and they are great!

All in all, a great trip and so good to see everyone.

New Zealand

Okay, I know New Zealand seems like a strange first destination when talking about a Europe trip, but decided to zip over to see my folks before disappearing over to the other side of the world. I've brought the two younger children, who are having a great time playing with their cousins, while I utilise the opportunity to do a bit of work interviewing project managers while I am here, as well as pick my Aunt and Uncle's brains on the Europe adventure, since they travelled for a year with their three children at much the same age as ours.

It's great to see everyone - my Mum and Dad (who were able to pick us up from Christchurch for the drive to Nelson, since Mum had just got back from Singapore - wonder where I get the travel bug from!), my younger sister, her husband and son, my older sister Jan and her husband and two girls, my Aunt and Uncle and two of their three children. I haven't been to New Zealand for 2.5 yrs, so this is long overdue. Fortunately we had seen all of the family at various stages in the last couple of years when they visited Australia, but it is good to be back in New Zealand.

Had a great day yesterday out in the rain playing tennis and learning to rollerblade - Breanna did really well and did a whole circuit of the track at Hira school all by herself, after a few rounds with Mum's and Auntie Jan's helping hand.

Well, back to getting some work done - this mobile world means I can work anywhere!