Our flights on the 30th April, from Jacksonville, Florida to Chicago (good sushi to be had in the airport, there), to San Francisco (where we took advantage of our one time United Club Cards) and then an overnight flight to NZ (12 hours) found us arriving at 5.30am on the 2nd May. You always lose a day on this flight.
We picked up a rental car (a cute little Toyota Corolla, this time) in the early hours and headed to our favorite breakfast place. We had to sit in the parking lot of the Albany Mall and wait for the Hollywood Bakery to open so that we could indulge ourselves in some good kiwi kai (food). NZ lattes are THE best in the world...no joking! The foam on the top is silky and smooth, and I think the milk is the best anywhere...not being too biased, of course:)
Breakfast consists...for Waz...of a steak and cheese pie, and a cinnamon apple muffin. At Hollywood bakery you get a free muffin with a med/large hot drink.
You know that spacey feeling you have when you have been sitting in an aircraft for too long? Yes, we had that in spades, even though we each managed a good number of sleep hours.
I have to admit to taking drugs for my night time flights, and they work wonders. It sure helps when you have to hit the ground running, like we did.
After breakfast we did a quick food shop, and headed out to visit the mother Unit.
She is always our first stop (not too early these days, as at 90, she needs a little more time to get up!) and there is nothing quite like Mother Hugs, no matter how old you are! We cherish all the hugs we can get from her these days. She is in good health mostly, but memory issues drive her nuts! She has always been so 'onto it' and I know this is very frustrating for her, now.
She was up and breakfasted and waiting for us. Lovely to spend a little time with her before we ventured forth to check on the state of the Storage Unit. Opening the door has been something we have done each time we returned home, usually shutting it again soon after. This time we opened and evaluated how we were going to 'attack' the task ( a little daunting, I have to admit) of removing, inventorying and readying all our left over belongings to be shipped to France.
We were especially interested to find out how our lovely leather sofa's have survived almost 6 years in storage. We didnt wrap them when we put them in the locker, and we hoped this was a good choice. They are in fact not too moldy, and we purchased some product to help us get rid of that when we take them out.
We weren't able to enter the Airbnb rural cottage until 3pm, we were told. We had communicated our needs to the owner, but received no reply. It turned out that there was no internet from the property due to horrid storms the previous week. We didnt know this at the time, and were not pleased that we could have been here a whole lot earlier than 3pm! sigh!
Anyhoo...We were also not pleased to find the place dirty, the owner making excuses for the state of the place, and arguing with me about the state of it. The advertisement said he provides breakfast, but we have not seen that to date. I have a long list of no -show items for the property and we will be having a discussion with the owner about how much time I have spent cleaning his cottage! Not happy about arriving to this after spending so many hours on planes. He has been conspicuous by his absence! Not a bad thing as it turns out.
We are spending our days repacking some things, packing those things that never got packed in the first place, taking inventory (today) and translating that for the required documentation, just as we did in Florida.
Visiting with Family and friends is lovely always, and we are hoping to spend more time with the mother and youngest son units.
We have some travel to do once the unit is empty and on it's way, in the couple of days we have left in NZ.
Finding homes for some of our items hasn't been too hard. We have had to make some executive decisions about what to take out of NZ, especially items that should stay in the family. We dont want them to get lost in France.
Because our home in France is already furnished, we are making some tough decisions about items that aren't so precious that might just stay here. The Women's Shelter have benefitted from some of them, and we are happy if they brighten someone else's day.
We seem to have an inordinate amount of clothing, but then we did run a business and have to 'dress' appropriately each day. I dont know if we will wear some of it again, but I guess there are charities in our nearby towns in France that would benefit from those we dont want. We dont have the time to weed through everything while we are here. We have just one week to get everything sorted for shipping.
The Shipping agent has been to investigate and tells us we need a 40ft container. We wont fill it, but we also wont fit everything into a smaller 20ft container. Such is life!
We are so enjoying the good food in NZ. It is pricey and we get sticker shock each time we bring our cards out of the wallet, but the quality is certainly excellent. Tonight we enjoyed such a flavorful steak (just under $10 for the two pieces) that we will have to find another couple of pieces of while we are here. With fresh fish in the freezer, mushrooms that are dark and musty when cooked, just as mushrooms should be, crisp carrots that snap and are so sweet you can eat them raw (something we didn't do in Florida), sweet crisp broccoli and apples that actually taste like apples, we enjoy the freshness that isnt familiar to us in Florida, strangely.
Sorry, no photos...I know, I could have at least photographed the dinner, right! :)
Next time!
Time for bed...oh...didnt I tell you about the ice-cream for dessert?? shame!
Kapiti Gingernut ice-cream is THE best! WOW! We also have a passionfruit cheesecake ice-cream to 'compliment' the other...well, you know how it goes when you are faced with such a wonderful choice of gorgeous flavors!
Ok..time for bed. Ciao...or should I say...Au Revoir!
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