Andi's Blog
well, it's been kinda busy for the last month and suddenly we find ourselves almost at the end of Nov! Hope this finds you all well and surviving the cold (for those of you in the Northern hemisphere) and enjoying the warmth (for the Southern hemisphere dwellers)! We've finished all the painting that we wanted to do - had a mammoth weekend doing our lounge/dining/kitchen - which is one big room, all open plan and last Tuesday, our container arrived, so we've been re-acquainted with all our belongings! Andi's parents have been in Auckland for the last 2 weeks and luckily (for us, not so much for them!) their stay coincided with our container delivery and it was great to have an extra two pairs of hands to help with the unpacking. We're sorted now and it's fab to have all our things around us again. For those who keep up with Andi's facebook, you will know that unfortunately the respiratory specialist came back and recommended that he doesn't dive again....he's gutted but is being sensible about it all and working on getting rid of temptation by selling off all his kit at the moment....he's going to focus on his kayaking and his photography instead. We go to see Mike (oncologist) again next week for another follow up, so will let you know how we go with that. Anyway, now that we're all unpacked, we'll try to be in touch a bit more regularly and it would be great to hear from you all when you get the chance. Take Care - Bye for now W & A xx (0 Comments)
Sorry, it's been a while since we've been in touch - we've done heaps since we moved house! Since we don't have much unpacking to do (until our shipment arrives) we've done lots of other jobs - arranged for a log burner to be installed (just waiting for the council to grant us our permit first); had our 1st firewood delivery (and moved it all into our wood shed!); bought some outdoor furniture and painted our bedroom & ensuite! We've also had some visitors - Michelle has been round for dinner, as have Martin & Jill when they were down in Auckland the other week and Lezel has been over to catch up with us too. We went back to see Mike (the oncologist) a few weeks ago and he was really pleased with Andi's progress. We are due to go back & see him again in December and he will then do another CT scan in March (which will be a year after Andi finished chemo!) We have also been to see Dr Christmas, a respiratory specialist to talk about whether Andi can go diving again - the radiotherapy has affected Andi's lungs and they are now not as elastic as they were - Andi has had some lung function tests and we're waiting on another appointment to discuss the results. This weekend, we're meeting the 'Fiji gang' for lunch on Sunday and then next weekend, we're doing more painting: this time, the living room, dining & kitchen! Andi has been out buying some more toys too: he went out to buy another kayak (play boat) and ended up coming home with BOTH a play boat and a sea kayak!! We went down to Cockle Bay beach last Sunday and Andi had a go in his new sea kayak! It's yellow to match his car & bike! Anyway, be good to hear from you with your news too :-) Bye for now W & A x (0 Comments)
Well, we're now in our new home! The move went well - Thanks so much to Nat & Gav and Steve & Chris for all their help - couldn't have done it without you guys!! Much appreciated!! We moved most things yesterday and today, I've been back to the apartment to clean before we hand the keys back tomorrow morning. Feels really good already to be in a new space - just need our shipment to arrive now, so we can do some more unpacking! We're living very minimalist til then! Anyway, broadband & phone are both connected and our re-direction seems to have kicked in, so we're still contactable. Will be in touch again soon - Bye for now W & A xx (0 Comments)
Hi all Since this week is probably gonna be kinda crazy with work & moving, I thought I'd make quick contact now.. Hopefully everyone has our new address & phone number now. Our e-mails stay the same and we should have broadband connected next Friday, fingers crossed... Will be in touch again once we're all moved in - hope you are all well Bye for now Wendy & Andi x (0 Comments)
Well I won't go on too much about the wonderful weather, the beautiful beaches, the yummy food, the great company and all the relaxing......we had a fantastic time!! Shelley & Damon's wedding was a fabulous day and a great time was had by all! We've off to see the oncologist again tomorrow, so will let you know how we get on. Bye for now Wendy & Andi x (0 Comments)
Hello again Thought it was about time I got back in touch again. Things have been really busy lately, so haven't had much time for blogging! We had a great weekend away with our friends, Sveta, Wayne & their 2 boys, at Lake Tarawera. Unfortunately, Andi had no luck catching any trout but we all enjoyed our time away. Last week, I was down in Dunedin for work and Andi also had one night away, staying at the coast (one of the wild, west coast beaches) for a management conference. Last weekend, I chilled out with some reflexology and Andi & I enjoyed lunch out in the city. We caught up with some friends for a Thai takeaway Saturday night, then Sunday, we took advantage of some sunshine (!) to stroll over to Botany for some tea & cake! Later on this week, we're off to Fiji! Our friends, Shelley & Damon are getting married there on Saturday and we're looking forward to joining them for their wedding and having some relaxing time in the sun! Once we're back, we're off to Taupo for Andi to join his cousin, Stephen & his cousin-in-law, John for a 12 hour mountain bike race! Andi has assured me (and informed competitive John) that he will only be doing a few laps and will take it easy doing them! After that, its just a week or so until we move house, so we'll be busy packing! Phew, we should be able to have a rest once we're in our new place - need to wait for our shipment of furniture to arrive from England before we have to do too much unpacking! Will be in touch again when I get the chance - Bye for now! W & A x (0 Comments)
Yes, we're once again home-owners! We had already looked at a few properties and then last Tuesday, we found one we both loved, put an offer in, had it accepted by the vendors that night, got a building inspection survey done, got a LIM report (similar to land searches in the UK), sorted out a mortgage, transferred our £'s into $'s and went unconditional (similar to exchange of contracts) last night!! All very exciting! The house is in Howick, about 10 mins further out to the coast, compared to where we are living now. It's also only 6 years old, has an easy-care garden and is immaculate inside, so we can just move on in! And that will happen on 25th September!! They certainly don't hang around with house purchasing over here! Adding to the excitement is that we've arranged Pickfords to ship all our things over - will be fab to finally have everything here - after 3 and a half years in storage! Anyway, things are really busy at work for me at the moment - this week, we have our annual food safety audits for 3 days in Auckland, then for 2 days in Dunedin next week and this weekend, we're off to Lake Tarawera with some friends for a chill out weekend - but I will do my best to get back in touch again soon. Bye for now W x (0 Comments)
As promised, I'm getting back in touch to let you know what we got upto on our hols! We had a fantastic time - sunny weather, plenty of exploring, chilling out & seeing family & friends. We left Auckland on Sunday 20th July and flew into San Franciso, then upto Seattle - very cleverly arriving before we left!! We checked into the Hotel Andra in Seattle - a great little Boutique hotel in Belltown, one of the central areas of Seattle. We had dinner in the hotel restuarant which is a Spanish style Tapas restaurant, then headed to bed for some much needed zzzzz's. Monday, we had a lazy morning, enjoyed breakfast at the hotel, then walked to REI which is a huge outdoor supplies shop, complete with mountain bike trails and a climbing wall! Andi was in heaven but I finally managed to extract him from the shop and we walked to the main shopping area of Seattle for some more, you've guessed it, shopping! That night, we went to a fab pizza restaurant called Special Pie where we shared a yummy pizza, followed by yummy dessert! Tuesday, we had another leisurely morning and then walked about 4 blocks down to the waterfront and then to Pike Place Market, a huge undercover market with heaps of fresh fruit, veges & fish, along with arts & crafts - now I was in heaven! Having made a few purchases, we then walked further along to Pioneer Square - the original part of Seattle and went to a great bookstore, where we enjoyed both lunch in their cafe and a mooch round all the books. By the time we had walked back to Pike Place Market, along the waterfront, we needed a coffee (& cookie!) stop! That night, we went to a restuarant called 'The Cheesecake Factory' where we had huge plates of food, followed by cheesecake - mmmmm! Wednesday, we had breakfast, then walked to the Seattle Centre - this was built in the 60s and has exhibition halls, museums, the space needle and a little mono-rail which takes you back into the city. Our reason for going there was to go to the Experience Music Project (EMP) which was set up by Bill Gates' other half in Microsoft and has heaps of memorobilia all about the bands from the Pacific NorthWest, including Nirvana and Jimi Hendrix. Andi was in his element but eventually he was persuaded to take the mono-rail and find some lunch. We then did a bit more shopping, before heading back to the hotel and going to a lovely Italian restaurant next door to the hotel for a gorgeous meal, on our last night in Seattle. Thursday, we got packed up and then picked up our hire car and headed out of Seattle to drive South through Washington state to get to Astoria, which is on the Columbia river. We stayed at a hotel right under the Astoria Bridge (which is the world's longest continuous truss bridge) and spans the Columbia river between Washington & Oregon. We found a little diner place for dinner and then had a stroll back to the hotel beside the river. Friday, we set off for the next half of our journey, down the Oregon coast to Waldport, which was the nearest little town to the farm where Rob & Misha were getting married. We arrived there about 3pm and found the vacation home we had rented which was right on the beach, with amazing views (unfortunately we had no time to take photos at that point and for the next few days, there was sea fret which meant no more photo opportunities). We got changed, then drove further into Waldport to the vaction house, Rob & Misha had rented and (eventually - some of the party got a bit lost!) met up with the rest of the wedding party - Rob's best man, groomsmen and Misha's bridesmaids, plus Misha's Mum, Misha's Dad, my Mum and her friend Gill and our family friend, Keyna & her partner, Jon. Misha's Mum made a great meal for us all and we enjoyed some wine and got to know everyone a bit. Saturday was Rob & Misha's wedding day and Mum and Gill headed out to the farm in the morning to do the flowers (Gill did a beautiful bouquet for Misha, aided by my Mum as her assistant!). Andi & I drove out ready for the ceremony at 3pm. The ceremony was in one part of the farm and then in another area was the bar, the dance floor and the dining tables all set out, under the trees. The ceremony was lovely - Rob & Misha wrote their own vows which were very moving and the ceremony was carried out by their friend, Bill which made it very personal. After the ceremony, there were lots of photos taken and then we all headed back to enjoy appetisers, a great vegan dinner, followed by wedding cupcakes! Misha made a speech, then Jon, Rob's best man did a great speech, then two of Misha's bridesmaids also made speeches, which were all very amusing. Everyone was very interested in Andi wearing his kilt and the the American guests all kept asking him if he was going to play the bagpipes!! Then the happy couple had their first dance and then everyone boogied on the dancefloor under the stars! It was a fantastic day - everything was lovely and Rob & Misha are so happy together. We were so glad we could be there to share it with them. Sunday, we headed back out to the farm to enjoy blueberry pancakes for breakfast and to help with clearing up and packing things away. Then Mum, Gill, Andi & I chilled out in our hot tub, overlooking the ocean, before Keyna & Jon joined us for dinner. Later that night, we went back round to Rob & Misha's vacation house to watch them open all their cards & pressies. Monday found us all packing up and making our way to Eugene, where Rob & Misha live. We drove down the coast, which gave us glimpses of beautiful views but unfortunately was quite misty to start with. We stopped in Florence for lunch, then arrived in Eugene and found our next vacation home which was in North Eugene and turned out to be a huge 3 bedroom house with a massive deck and hot tub! We all met up at Rob & Misha's house that evening and got introduced to Peanut & Willy, the cows and Horsey, before having dinner together. Tuesday, we all had a tour of Bike Friday, where Rob works - its amazing how much they manage to do in a relatively small place - and it was good to see where Rob spends a fair amount of his time. There was time to try out lots of the bikes, before we headed back to our vacation home and the others cycled over to join us for dinner - bringing left-overs for dinner in the trailer pulled by Jon & Becca on the tandem! Wednesday, we had to say goodbye to Mum & Gill as they flew back to Vancouver and then back to Blighty Andi & I had a pootle round Eugene, then chilled out back at our house in the hot tub! Thursday, was our last day and so we went to a nearby lake, with Rob & Misha & Joe (all the other guests had already continued on their travels or gone home by this point) and enjoyed the sunshine and a swim in the lake before a Thai meal back in Eugene, followed by delicious cakes from a fabulous local patisserie! Then all too soon, it was Friday morning and we had to pack up, leave the house and drive out to Eugene airport. Rob & Misha cycled out on their tandem to say goodbye, then we were off on our journey home - 3 flights and 24 hours later we were back in Auckland. We were both really sad to come home as we had such a fabulous time! It's now a question of getting over the jet lag and keeping warm, since we're back into Kiwi Winter after 2 weeks of American Summer! (0 Comments)
Hi all Just thought we'd post another blog before we head off on our hols - not long now til we fly to the US of A for my brother Rob's wedding to Misha! We're both really excited about our trip - can't wait to have a holiday, not to mention seeing everyone again and seeing some sunshine! Last time I spoke to Rob it was 35 degrees - far better than the 10 or 12 we've been managing here! Andi is doing really well - he's just completed his 5th week back at work (part time) so that's great. Work is really busy for me at the moment, so I'm looking forward to our break. Anyway, we'll be in touch again when we get home. Bye for now W & A xx (0 Comments)
We're doing well - finally feels like we're moving forward now.....just slowly but thats OK. Andi has been back at work 2 weeks now - he's just doing Tuesdays, Wednesdays & Thursdays at the moment, he started off 10am - 1pm, then last week did 10am - 3pm. He finally has a focus back and is back to interacting with others in a normal kind of way and he has really picked up in terms of being happier & smilier. He is also back on his bike!! Initially it was just on the trainer in the spare room (partly due to the awful weather we have been having lately) but today, he got out on his new bike & enjoyed some rare sunshine! Have had a quiet couple of weekends since our last blog - just chilling out & trying to keep warm really! For the last 10 days or so, it has rained, hailed, we've had thunder & lightening and its been howling a gale! We managed to catch up with some friends for a takeaway on Saturday evening, then I met up with my fellow bookclubbers on Sunday afternoon for a mid-Winter Christmas bookclub with mulled wine & mince pies!! Otherwise, we're now on countdown for our trip to the States for my brother, Rob's wedding to Misha! Only 20 more sleeps til we fly out! It's been great to hear from some of you recently and catch up on your news - some of you have been a tad quiet, so do drop us a line and let us know how you're doing. Bye for now W & A xx (0 Comments) |