It seems like only months ago we ended our Mediterranean cruise but it has been well over a year!
At the end of 2023 I joined with other Ulysses members to ride the length of New Zealand raising funds to help those who continue to suffer from the effects of Cyclone Gabriele. It was a great journey and I met lots of new friends. In the months to come we went to Napier and also Wairoa to help in the cleanup of houses there.
In February we had the carpet replaced in our home. Seems like a wonderful easy thing to happen but gosh what a huge job it is! It surely makes you fully aware of all the stuff you have stored everywhere. It of course allows you to sort and to get rid of things but fitting it all back in!!! Lol what a job!
Over Easter we got together with our children and grandchildren and had a wonderful time together. Hopefully this will be the beginning of a yearly event.
Later in the year I travelled to Australia to a friends home for a couple of weeks and did my best to help them as they prepare their property for sale. I really enjoyed it working on the land. Each day we cut trees, fixed fences, tidied the land, I loved it, missed my calling I think.
As soon as I arrived back in NZ I flew to Hawaii, my sisters grandchild Sloane (4 years old) was in hospital there suffering many issues. When I arrived she had already spent 8 weeks in the Intensive Care Unit. Her mum stayed with her during the week swapping places with her dad over the weekend. I was privileged to be able to help by looking after Sloane's sister and two brothers at home while dad continued with his work. It was a wonderful time. Culturally we had a lot of differences as to home life and what we eat but it all went really well, we enjoyed each others company and had lots of fun. Although I live on an island and this, Oahu, is also an island we live very differently especially because of the temperature and weather being so constantly pleasant here. My sister Dawn finished her job and moved with her husband Alan into a different apartment too, so many changes, it was great to be able to be of help and especially to spend lots of time with them. My nephew, Sloane's dad, is a hoot and it was great getting to know him, he loves the sea and of course it's always just a hop, skip and a jump away and so warm.
I was there about a month so had a bit of adjustment when finally arriving home. I'm so grateful to have a partner who doesn't mind going without me for periods of time.
The silly season has passed with quite a bit of sadness with losing a particular friend to cancer, she lived an amazing life, was a very strong woman and an absolute example of happiness and non-judgement to all she met. We lost her on January 5th.
At the beginning of February eight members of my family went on a trip to Tasmania to look up our mothers forebears who were exported there from England. It was a most excellent trip and we got to know our ancestors a little better and saw parts of their present still in our present in the buildings they had built. We also got to know each other better and really enjoyed each others company for the week.
On arriving back in NZ Dawn and Alan (Hawaii) and I drove down the East Coast and went across by ferry to the South Island and went by train from Greymouth to Christchurch and again by train from there to Picton, back over on the ferry and to home for me and Auckland for them. Our father was a train driver and drove on these very tracks we travelled on. Another awesome journey busy every day, seeing new things, revisiting old places. It was a continuation really of the Tasmanian trip in that we revisited family sites, the graveyard of those who came from Tasmania to live here and the places our parents lived whilst raising seven children.
Whilst here Dawn and Alan gave us a gift of an Aura photoframe, we are busy loading digital pictures onto it so it will roll through them and remind us of our adventures. What an excellent gift! Dawn is also helping with the upload from Hawaii, how neat is that. We are up to 1000 pics loaded and thousands to go.
Two weekends in a row after returning from down south I have had bike rides to go to, one with Kent and one all women riders. I'm back home now for a couple of weeks then off again down to the South Island but this time on my bike with a woman friend.
Another adventure looms :)
