No, I don’t think we are completely crazy

Friday, 7 December

Photograph: Liam, Doug and Colin - Akaroa, 2005

Warning: This entry is a long-winded, rambling trip through my convoluted mind. Feel sorry for Doug who has gone through this whole thought process with me more than once, usually when he's trying to sleep.

No we aren’t crazy. This is a dream that we’ve had since 1990. Back then it was nebulous. We knew we wanted to travel and see the world together. Doug even applied for a scholarship to do a post baccalaureate year studying in Eastern Europe, which we ended up not doing. Then jobs, my masters program, Doug’s first masters, and his second masters preoccupied our time and thoughts. Two babies preoccupied our thoughts even more. We became comfortably settled in Denver.

Only occasionally would I have nightmares that this was my life permanently. I would wake up thinking, is this it? I want to see the world. Maybe I was a late bloomer and didn’t get into enough trouble or maybe because I didn’t spend a semester of college backpacking through Europe, I feel I still have exploring to do. Actually I have always liked exploring, now I am able to explore more globally. The amazing thing is I get to share these adventures with Doug, Liam and Colin by doing them at this stage.

Four years ago, my parents offered to babysit Liam and Colin so Doug and I could take a trip together, alone for ten days. We jumped at the opportunity. We decided to visit some place that we would be less likely to take Liam and Colin. We chose Patagonia, Chile. While trying to figure out our itinerary, we were frustrated with how much travel time was needed to reach our destination. Doug joked we could get to New Zealand faster. Actually we could. We realized we could get all the way to New Zealand with less travel time which meant more hang out and exploration time. So we headed for New Zealand and the trip was more amazing than we ever imagined. We rode horses along Golden Bay at the top of the South Island. We skied at Treble Cone outside of Wanaka. Kiwis that we met were laid back and interesting. We also met lots of people from around the world, some just passing through and others decades long residents. Doug and I both thought now here’s a place we could live, all of our favorite activities and fun people. We enjoyed it so much that we brought the boys back the next August. Watching the boys tumbling down the hillside of the Lake Hawea Station, we started to think seriously about immigrating to New Zealand. I realized I wanted my boys to grow up rough and tumble out-of-doors, in a culture that cherishes the outdoors. We then began to think seriously. We had talked often about wanting the boys to see another perspective beyond the US. Immigrating to New Zealand, combined our goal to give Liam and Colin the opportunity to live outside the US with an truly incredible natural environment. We found the New Zealand Immigration website and realized we could actually immigrate under the skilled migrant category because Doug and I are both engineers.

At this point we began to move from dreams to action. I returned for a third visit to New Zealand. I went by myself because Doug had more limited vacation time and flying one of us was also cheaper. I visited many communities from Queenstown on the South Island to Kerikeri on the North Island, driving much of the country in between. I had left the US with a shortlist of towns to consider. I met interesting, friendly people. I was invited to dine in Kiwis' homes. I made many new friends and contacts. So we actually do know a few people in New Zealand. I asked an endless flood of questions of each person I met. I found traveling alone made meeting people easier. Sitting by myself at a restaurant, I would just start up a conversation with some unsuspecting victim. One night I traded an unfinished pizza for a glass of beer with a group of college students working a tour boat in Akaroa. Next thing I knew we had maps collected from their cars spread out on our table and they marked a route for me to travel across the North Island. I noted with amusement that each of them recommended for me to visit their own hometown as the perfect place to raise my boys. I flew to Wellington and began to follow their suggested itinerary. Along the way I even helped teach a math class, when visiting one school in Raumati South. One of my favorite communities was Katikati in the Bay of Plenty, south of Auckland. There was a fabulous independent school there, the Matahui Road School. I could easily picture the boys there and I was ready to jump right in myself in whatever capacity I could. I showed up at the school on a Sunday afternoon to see if it looked like a place I’d want to visit on Monday morning with school in session. When I arrived a campus workday was underway with parents, students and staff building a new patio. I hung out for a while and then headed into town to find a place to stay. Within an hour there was a knock on my hotel door. One of the families, actually the chair of the school board, had tracked me down and invited me to dinner. They were a wonderful family with three boys. Over the next couple of days exploring the area, they taught me a bit about kiwi fruit farming and Kauri trees. Doug and I looked them up on our next visit to Katikati the following March. They came close to convincing us that Katikati was the place for us to settle. We hope they will visit us in Queenstown someday. These encounters were not isolated, but examples of the warm, friendly people we met. I knew that New Zealand was where we should make our home. I just couldn’t narrow down where without Doug’s help! As I traveled I would find a place to stay with internet service. In the evenings I’d surfed the web to see what towns and communities were on the road ahead of me. I’d make a list of numbers and addresses of schools, realtors, and interesting sites. Each morning before I took off for the day I video-conferenced with Doug and the boys to report my findings from the day before and let them know in which direction I planned to travel. Then, I would head out for another day of discovery. Doug was a tad frustrated when I returned home to the States with a longer shortlist. I hadn’t ruled out any towns and added one, Katikati, during my travels.

We returned together March/April 2007 and did a more focused tour of New Zealand. However, Doug too had trouble narrowing the possibilities. The trip started in Katikati, which he loved like me. The people were just as interesting, eccentric and friendly as my last visit. We stayed at The Point Vinestay. Our hosts, Anne and Kerry Guy, were incredible. They drove us around the area, planned outings for horseback riding, and scheduled appointments with realtors. We barely had time to sleep. We definitely made time to eat because John and Ann were also incredible cooks. We discovered our new favorite fruit, feijoas. Yum. I won’t spoil the surprise by describing them, just go get some and enjoy. It is by far my favorite place that I have stayed in New Zealand. An amazing setting on the bay, but John and Ann are exactly what you dream hosts will be. John had Doug and I in hysterics one day. He drove us around to look at some houses that he thought would interest us and as he put it, “weren’t quite on the market yet.” We arrived at the first house and rang the doorbell. No one answered so we headed on in the house. Then out comes a guy in his robe with a thick accent and he bellows, “John, you never call before you drop by.” He then gives a big laugh and leads us on a tour of his home and property. He is Croatian, so we also spent a long time asking about his home country, a place both Doug and I want to visit. The rest of the real estate tour with John proceeded in much the same manner and lasted most of the day. Doug was also impressed with the Matahui Road School and could envision Colin and Liam there.

We ended our trip in Queenstown and Wanaka on the South Island. This region captured our imagination four years ago. It still enthralled us. I truly felt panicked the first time we flew back to the States from Queenstown. At the time I thought, I might never return and it felt like it should be our home. I had this weird hollow pit in my stomach, the same feeling I have whenever I leave Ojai.

So I rehash our journey and the whole thought process in my mind again and again to remember why we have literally moved around the world to a place where we don’t know anyone. Thus far, I have always reached the same conclusion; this is an experience of a lifetime for all four of us even though each of us will have a few rough, lonely patches as we adjust. And, we are not completely crazy. We were just looking for a wee adventure. We wanted Colin and Liam to see another perspective of everything.