3 days to go

We had a big day today.  We didn't mess around over breakfast - I wanted to get a load of washing on before heading off and there were quite a few things I needed to remember to put in the car. 

First stop for the day was at our old house.  I thoroughly enjoyed a walk around the garden with Tracey.  Spring is the best time and it's like the whole garden is waking up after a sleep.  Tracey has started getting into the gardening so that was lovely to see. The one thing I miss about that place is the vegetable garden.  One day we'll have one again.

Meanwhile Mick went to collect the mail and to call in on the tenants in "the house up the road".  I wonder if I'll ever stop thinking of it that way! 

We drove separately to Bendigo - me having a coffee with Tracey first and Mick taking his truck to Kevin and Bernice's house where it will stay while we're away. We all met at a nearby pub for lunch which was very enjoyable.  We'll miss Kevin and Bernice! 

Next I took Mick to meet a friend of his for a few beers at another pub and I went to mum's.  I took my laptop and a box of receipts to type them up ready for doing Mick's 2013 tax.  We discussed how to use the breadmaker (darn, we forgot to pack it in the boxes we sent!) as mum decided she'd like to give it a try while we're gone.

Just before dinner time I collected Mick and we headed home to our caravan.  Tired, excited and a little apprehensive.

On the planning front we've booked in dinner with Lynne for next Saturday, we've arranged a couple of days of boat handling training - firstly from the marina and 10 days later at the Anderton boat lift so we can learn about handling the boat on a river.  At the end of the week after next we'll have a couple of days at Windermere which I'm looking forward to as well.

Only 3 more sleeps...

4 days - to do list - for the last time

The list is over... we really only have a few hours left to get these things done over the next 3 days.

 Last night we had dinner at the home of Mick's workmate and his wife.  I had my last day at work today and it was an amazing feeling leaving the office for the last time.  My friend Tammy came by this afternoon to say farewell.  The next time I see her she'll be married!

I'm having coffee tomorrow morning with Tracey, the lovely lady who bought our house.  We're having lunch in Bendigo with the friends who will take care of Mick's truck while we are gone.  From then on we'll have only mum's old Russell for transport.  Tomorrow afternoon Mick is catching up with a mate in Bendigo and I'll go to my mum's and later pick him up to come home.  I've decided I'll have to take the 2013 tax work to do while I'm there or I'll simply run out of time.  Sorry mum!

Sunday my brother, sister in law and stepmum are coming up for lunch at the local cafe.  Before and after we'll have a few hours to start packing away the things we've been using while living here at the shed - paperwork, sewing, books, magazines, laundry stuff.  Plus, we're in the midst of washing clothes, sheets, towels etc ready to be packed away. 

I'm hoping we'll have most of it done before Monday.  I have yoga in the morning and it would be nice if we weren't rushing around in the afternoon.  Fingers crossed.


So for the last time :

Buy a cheaper house - done

Sorting and packing up belongings for garage sale - done

Apply for Elly's Finnish passport- done

Sell our house - done

Arrange insurance for stored belongings - done

Open a UK bank account - done

Send remaining chickens to their new home- done

Suspend private health insurance - done

Arrange for our mail to be dealt with at home - done
Order new key for mailbox - done

Arrange for mail in the UK - done

Book airfares - done

Rent out our new house - done

Arrange for someone to have the pot plants- done

Pack up our belongings and store - done

Ship belongings to UK - done 
Sell Elly’s car - done

Get chips in car windscreen repaired - done

Get roadworthy for car - done

Complete car transfer paperwork - done

Book accomodation in UK - done

Transfer money to UK account - done

Work out what to do with our mobile phone numbers - done
Buy a caravan for temporary home - done
Set up bathroom for temporary home - done
Correspondence to arrive by email rather than post where possible - done
Return all borrowed items to their rightful owners - done
Type up list of stored belongings by box number - done
Cancel Mick's GST registration - done
Do our 2012 tax returns - done 
Prepare paperwork for 2013 tax (will be due while we're away) - must be done this weekend!
Do tax returns for my mum and her partner - done
Do tax returns for my brother and sister in law - done
Set up my laptop with software to work from UK - done
Change bills and bank statements to come by email where possible - done
Partition off area in shed to be rented out for storage - done
Find tenant for shed storage area - no longer our problem!
Make sure all our favourite recipes are on my blog - in progres, Leanne might need to help!
Catch up with friends and family before we go - very nearly done
Go to New Zealand to see Mick's mum before we go - done
Make a list of what we need to buy on arrival in UK - done
Buy a narrowboat - done, yes it is!
Boat survey - done
Boat insurance - done
Pay for narrowboat - done
Arrange for boat blacking - done
Book into a marina for Winter - done
Book hotel at airport for arrival - done
Book UK hire car - done
Book NZ hotels - done
Book NZ hire car - done
Make optometrist appointment for Elli - done
Make optometrist appointment for Mick - done
Ring HSBC to update address and sort out internet banking - done
Ring real estate agent in case tenants move out while we're away - done
Book table for 9th Sept catchup with Melbourne friends - done
Arrange dinner with our favourite neighbours - done
Arrange dinner with our Bendigo friends - done
Book boat handling course - done
Change mobiles to prepaid - Monday
Cancel internet - Monday
Take Mick's truck to be cared for while we're away - tomorrow
Scan important documents - done
Backup all documents and photos onto a portable hard drive - this weekend
Give copy of important documents to my brother - done
Change address on HSBC UK account so we get a statement with a UK address - Monday
Go through list of boxes shipped and work out what additional clothing we need to pack - done
Order some UK cash - hmmmm.... we'll have to just get some at the airport
Arrange someone to receive World Vision correspondence - done
Pack our suitcases - in progress  
Pack away the last of the belongings we're still using - this weekend
Empty pantry - done
Clean out fridge - in progress 
Book accomodation at Ormskirk - done
Book accomodation at Windermere - done
Print and laminate a map of UK counties - done

6 days to go

We've been doing lots of "lasts".  Last trip to Melbourne, last night staying at my brother's and sister in law's, last supper with them, my last day at the Melbourne job, Mick's last day of work...

I had a dreadful sleep Monday night, having woken at 2am and being totally unable to clear my mind of the million things running through it.  I tossed and turned, not wanting to get up and wake the rest of the house and trying not to wake Mick with my tossing and turning.  Hopefully that will be the last of the sleepless nights.  We seem to be feeling a bit better about things now.

I must thank those who emailed or left comments of support last weekend when I mentioned us having a difficult time.  In particular Jennifer who sent an email that made us feel immeasurably more positive.  To think someone we've never met could understand how we felt so well.

I bailed out of a catch up with my friend Vicki for today and instead came home from Melbourne this morning to spend the day working on "the list".  Mum came over to have lunch and went home with the car loaded with stuff from the fridge and other bits and pieces.

Sorry mum but I have to tell.... my poor mum was quite upset to have her "new" car damaged while she was parked at the shopping centre.  There's scratches across the corner of the bumper.  Bound to happen sometime but particularly upsetting when it's the very first week.  I think she thought I was going to be upset!

We are looking forward to a quiet evening at home tonight after the hectic pace of the city.  I said to Mick we should try and unwind in the next few days so that we head off feeling relaxed.  We'll try anyway.

World Vision

I've previously mentioned that we sponsor a child through World Vision.  With the Chile program finished we were advised we'd get a new child to sponsor.

We received a package with details of a new little girl - this one lives in Bangladesh.  I took the paperwork with me on Sunday to talk to my niece about it.  She's quite enthusiastic about writing to the little girl so hopefully they'll both enjoy their correspondence. 

I won't be seeing my three nieces for a year now so it's nice that Minka's old enough to type an email!

2nd last week

What a week it's been. To Melbourne on Monday after a hurried morning tidying up.  We hate coming back from a few days away to mess but that's becoming increasingly difficult!  It was getting more and more chaotic in the caravan.  I finally got to use the gold class movie tickets that were very kindly sent to me for recommending an IT company we used many years ago at the office I used to work at.

Tuesday was my second last day at my Melbourne job.  I filed every last document I had lying around.  We took my brother and sister in law out for dinner Tuesday night. They have had me as a house guest most weeks for the last 3 years.  It's been so much nicer than staying at a hotel!  Especially since my mum moved to Bendigo....

Wednesday was farewell to my little nephew and new niece (she'll be up and running by the time I see her next).  I spent a couple of hours on the internet changing addresses, looking for accomodation and catching up up on long overdue emails. I'd promised my mum I'd bring her my car Wednesday afternoon so she could have it for a couple of weeks before driving us to the airport.  The weather was absolutely horrific that afternoon driving home from Melbourne.  It was the windiest I can ever remember driving in. 

Car washing hasn't exactly been a priority so I stopped at a car wash half way home.  Oh my goodness, I went around the car three times with the wind whipping that ridiculous pink foam back at me.  Weeks of road grime weren't going to give up easily.  The car wash guy even came and did one round (number 4) and I had one more go after that.  I was soaked to the skin from the spray and wind and my shoes were covered in pink foam but it really needed something stronger to remove the stuck on insects - the brush was just too soft. I gave up and as it was now getting well on in the afternoon I decided it was better to keep driving than tackle the vacuum which was also outside in the wind and rain.  The little roof over it was useless with it being so windy.  I had visions of mum rolling her eyes at me handing over the car in less than pristine condition and I'm sure she had a whinge to her sister who visited this week. (I apologise Mum if I'm wrong about that!).  I did see mum's sister on Sunday and kept waiting for her to make a comment about it but there wasn't a word.

I was by now running much later than I planned and the going was slow.  An hour from home I rang mum and suggested they come to me and swap cars as it would save me another hours driving.  Of course it rained dusty rain all over the car as well as the wind blowing sticks and leaves furiously across the road.  There were trees down too.  Definitely not a relaxing drive.

Thursday and Friday were back at my accounting job.  I tried to squeeze a few chores in before work each morning which left me rushing out the door to not be late.  I'm usually at the office 15 minutes before starting time!  We were busy at the office setting up the last necessary things on my laptop and me sorting out stuff at my desk.

Friday night we had dinner with our favourite neighbours.  It will be our last monthly dinner for quite some time.  We tried Mason's in Bendigo - a tapas style menu.  It was nice for something different.

I had intended to visit my mum Saturday but Mick and I decided to both stay home and knock some items of our list.  I finally got my tax return finished, Mick labelled the remaining boxes in storage and I typed up the last of them too.  I took photos of my antique quilts which are going to be cared for at our local quilt store.  We churned out washing which is getting harder to keep up with.  I even went through all the stuff in the pantry and boxed it up to give to my mum and sister in law.  Oh, and I went through the bathroom cupboard and packed up some of that for mum too.

Sunday I got up relatively early.  I had bought a couple of pairs of shoes online and one needed exchanging for a smaller size.  I had discovered that the shoe shop in the city was also open Sunday morning so decided to go there first before heading to lunch with some friends and family members near where we used to live in Melbourne.  I was a little earlier arriving at lunch as it hadn't taken too long at the shoe shop.  I sent a text to my old school friend Vicki saying I'd be early and of course she arrived, 3 kids in tow, well before anyone else. That's what I love about her - there's no nonsense, no drama - she just puts the kids in the car and gets on with it.  I was thinking about her on my way home and thought sometimes you find a friend who you know will always be there and you're it Vic! 

I had a lovely day catching up with everyone and was so glad I'd ended up arranging a group get together.  There's just no way I could have squeezed them all in separately.

So now there's just a week to go.....

An attack of nerves

I think there's a bit of a crisis going on in our house at the moment... actually, it's not a house at all but still....

Every time I see a photo of nb Parisien Star my stomach does a little flip flop.  We have a photo taped to the back of the living room door, I have one as the background on both my work pc and my laptop.  We even have a row of photos taped to the underside of the caravan bedroom over-cupboard so we can gaze at them when we wake up in the morning.  With all these photos around, my stomach does an awful lot of somersaults.  It's getting harder going to work with my mind on everything but the task at hand.

Mick's been like a bear with a sore head snapping about every little thing.  I'm thinking we'll need to change the name of the boat to "Grumpy Git" (a previous pick of the week).  He's definitely getting anxious about the thought of being away from his beloved shed.  It won't be helping that he's home on his own a few days a week while I'm at work.  He's sorted out all the tasks he wanted to get done before we leave and is no help with any paperwork or computer related jobs.

We've started saying farewell to people and that's making reality hit home.  We had a lovely dinner this evening with our old neighbours.  They are keen travellers and always good for a pep talk.

I've even said farewell to my car.  My mum has bought it and we've done all the paperwork.  She'll be driving us to the airport so has taken it now to have a practice before heading into the city for the airport.  Now I'm driving mum's old Ford Festiva which she calls Russell.

Tonight we've been watching Escape to the Country and one of the houses they showed was in Market Harborough.  We were so excited when they showed the canals I thought I was going to start crying!  Despite our nerves and anxiety I'm sure we're just going to love living on that boat.

The quilt's coming too

I've not been too good when it comes to updating about my 10 year quilt project (the Hexagon Star).  Actually, I've not been too good at working on it at all lately!  There's been too much else happening.

The girls at sewing gave me a lovely bundle of fabric to be used in my mega project.  Alison, my partner in crime, even chose a "difficult" fabric with instructions for it to be fussy cut.

I've washed all the fabric, including a pile of background fabrics I bought at the quilt show recently and I'll be packing it to come to England with us.  I have a plastic tub of sewing essentials on a ship heading to the UK so I'll have plenty of sewing to keep me occupied while we're away.  I even packed a cross stitch - something I haven't done for many years.  It was my favourite sewing project before I discovered patchwork and quilting.

I'm quite looking forward to looking for quilt shops as we cruise around.

The green fabric at right is my NZ choice from Katipatch, those to the left of that were from the girls at sewing.  The brown stripey one is from Alison - a fussy cutting challenge!

 

Recipe - Baked Apricot Rice Custard

I rarely make desserts or cakes, but when I stay at my brother and sister in law's place I'm sometimes treated to one from the Symply Too Good To Be True Books.  I like this one so thought I'd blog it so I can remember it when we're away.  I might even make it one day!

INGREDIENTS

¼ cup Basmati rice

3 tsp sugar

400g can apricots

2 eggs

2 egg whites

4 tbsp sugar

¾ tsp vanilla

2 ½ cups milk

Nutmeg

METHOD

Boil rice with sugar then rinse and drain well.

Spread rice over base of casserole dish.

Drain apricots and place on top of rice.

Add eggs, egg white, sugar, essence and milk into a bowl and beat well.

Pour over apricots.

Sprinkle with nutmeg.

Place dish into a tray 1/3 filled with water.

Bake 1hr or firm to touch in centre.

To do list again

We won't need this list for much longer.  We'll either get them all done or we'll just run out of time.

Buy a cheaper house - done

Sorting and packing up belongings for garage sale - done

Apply for Elly's Finnish passport- done

Sell our house - done

Arrange insurance for stored belongings - done

Open a UK bank account - done

Send remaining chickens to their new home- done

Suspend private health insurance - done

Arrange for our mail to be dealt with at home - done
Order new key for mailbox - done

Arrange for mail in the UK - done

Book airfares - done

Rent out our new house - done

Arrange for someone to have the pot plants- done

Pack up our belongings and store - done

Ship belongings to UK - done 
Sell Elly’s car - done

Get chips in car windscreen repaired - done

Get roadworthy for car - done

Complete car transfer paperwork - done

Book accomodation in UK - done

Transfer money to UK account - done

Work out what to do with our mobile phone numbers - done
Buy a caravan for temporary home - done
Set up bathroom for temporary home - done
Correspondence to arrive by email rather than post where possible - done
Return all borrowed items to their rightful owners - done
Type up list of stored belongings by box number - 80% complete
Cancel Mick's GST registration - done
Do our 2012 tax returns - Mick's is done, mine almost  
Prepare paperwork and receipts for 2013 tax (will be due while we're away) - 
Do tax returns for my mum and her partner - done
Do tax returns for my brother and sister in law - done
Set up my laptop with software to work from UK - done
Change bills and bank statements to come by email where possible - done
Partition off area in shed to be rented out for storage - done
Find tenant for shed storage area - the ad is in the paper
Make sure all our favourite recipes are on my blog - in progress
Catch up with friends and family before we go - in progress
Go to New Zealand to see Mick's mum before we go - done
Make a list of what we need to buy on arrival in UK - done
Buy a narrowboat - done, yes it is!
Boat survey - done
Boat insurance - done
Pay for narrowboat - done
Arrange for boat blacking - done
Book into a marina for Winter - done
Book hotel at airport for arrival - done
Book UK hire car - done
Book NZ hotels - done
Book NZ hire car - done
Make optometrist appointment for Mick - done
Ring HSBC to update address and sort out internet banking - done
Ring real estate agent in case tenants move out while we're away - done
Book table for 9th Sept catchup with Melbourne friends - done
Arrange dinner with our favourite neighbours - done
Arrange dinner with our Bendigo friends - 
Book helmsman's course -
Book engine maintenance course for Mick -
Change mobiles to prepaid -
Cancel internet -
Take Mick's truck to be cared for while we're away - 
Scan important documents - 
Backup all documents and photos onto a portable hard drive -
Give copy of important documents to my brother - 
Change address on HSBC UK account so we get a statement with a UK address -
Go through list of boxes shipped and work out what additional clothing we need to pack - done
Order some UK cash -
Arrange someone to receive World Vision correspondence (and send birthday/xmas cards) -
Pack our suitcases - in progress  
Pack away the last of the belongings we're still using - last job

Stoppages and route planning

We've been spending some time trying to sort out what we'll do the first few weeks afloat.  We have a couple of months before reaching Fettler's Wharf Marina where we've booked in for Winter.  We're rather disappointed about the very lengthy works proposed at Burscough.  They will prevent us cruising from the marina to visit Mick's half brother who lives at Scarisbrick.  We also have a friend, Lynne, who lives the other side of Ormskirk so it would have been nice to meet at a canalside pub for lunch or dinner. Such a shame as we were looking forward to doing that over Winter.  But, we'll be near enough that we can take a train to Ormskirk from Rufford station.  Or, they'll have to come and visit us. Not quite the same though is it!

We'll be starting near Nantwich about 11/12 October so we could do the loop down the Shropshire Union Canal to Wolverhampton and then back up the Trent and Mersey via Stoke, then the Macclesfield canal to get to Marple by 12th November (to get past the stoppage there).  We'd have to fill in about 5 weeks between 12th November and 21st December as there's also a lock being repaired just the wrong side of the marina at Rufford.  Hopefully it will all go smoothly with the repairs so we can be in the marina by Christmas.

We could instead head to Llangollen first (it's on our list of places we want to visit by boat), then head towards the Anderton boat lift then skirting Manchester towards Wigan.  There doesn't appear to be any stoppages that would hinder our progress in that direction during November and December.

My brain is getting addled with all the adding up of estimated cruising times.  We don't want to head off on a plan that will see us rushing to get where we need to be.  We are conscious that the weather may be increasingly unpleasant as we wait for the lock repairs at Rufford to be completed.  Hopefully the weather will be kind to us.

I guess I should check that the stoppage proposals on the map I have are still current.  I think I read somewhere that they don't get finalized until September.