Well, we have now been home a week and we are just about got ourselves sorted from this epic trip. All bar one of the cases are now back in the loft (the other was damaged, but we didn’t notice until we had arrived home. Gatwick Baggage Services are collecting next week to see if it can be repaired or replaced. Sod’s law says that was the brand new case we only bought 4 months ago, but it seems to have been handled efficiently so far). The house and our routines are settling back to normal.
Our sleep patterns are now returning slowly. Not that we have had a normal week, with Karen’s birthday, Neil’s birthday and Valentines Day all to celebrate in 4 days). Karen loved the wine I managed to get delivered from the winery we visited in Waipari Springs.
Credit Card bills are being paid and we have exchanged the little currency we had left over to Euro’s for our next trip.
After lots of deliberation we have changed our ‘summer’ holiday in July/August to a drive across the Rocky Mountains in Canada.
The first few days back did seem strange and for some reason it felt like an extension from Christmas. Almost as if we had never left. The kids being off school certainly added to that feeling. The difference in temperature has been hard to adjust to and we have both been feeling the cold.
It was lovely to catch up with the boys even if one of them was quite grumpy as usual even on his birthday!
So would we do it all again – in a heartbeat. Hindsight is great so there would be a few minor improvements.
We cannot wait to go back to New Zealand though. What a country and what lovely people. It still doesn’t feel real that we have just been to all those places. We still pinch ourselves to think did we really do all that and to think how lucky and fortunate we are.
I had thought about writing a list of highs and lows but thought that if anyone has actually been reading this dribble then they would have already read that.
As I write this there are 44 days until our next trip to Madeira. Karen has already been booked all of next week for some Supply work at a small village school. And of course there is the best football match of the season taking place tomorrow with the local derby with our Suffolk neighbours (cannot bring myself to mention their name in this blog). So life goes on.
So far I have I had some lovely feedback regarding this blog and I am really pleased I made the effort. I actually enjoyed writing it and hopefully it will give me confidence to write the book I am ‘committed’ to doing. Confidence and time is my issue with that at the moment. I think once I get started I will be fine.
I will now look for a better platform to do this blogging on. So until then and our next trip, thats probably all for now.
Adios and all that.
