Nearly away...

We last left you on the 23rd of December, and now have one week remaining 'til we fly to Santiago for 53 days in Chile and Argentina. We fly with three friends to Santiago on the 27th, down to Puerto Natales on the 2nd of March, tramp the Torres del Paine 'W' trek 4-9 March, then head to El Calafate for some water sport and tramping, and settle into El Chaltén for rock climbing and a rest after that. We will say goodbye to two friends there, and probably will further explore Patagonia. We make our way up for a week in Santiago and Valparaiso at the end of March, meeting a locally living acquaintance there. Crossing over into Argentina, we will then meander through Mendoza at the end of the wine harvest, and settle in Córdoba on the third of April. We meet my father for 10 days in Buenos Aires on the 9th of April, arriving in NZ on the 21st of April, ready for shifting out of our home on the 24th, but primarily for a very important wedding on the 27th! I will update on our travels as often as I can :-) 

In the lead up to this adventure, our growing sense of agency over life has led to a lot of action. And a lot of fluffing around deciding what to do. We are slowly learning how to adult ;-) There's been a fair whack of stuff to organise, and we hope we've thought of everything we need to...! We've learned so much, and it's been a challenge to get the most out of each week, especially with me being away in Dunedin. The big achievements are that we finished renovating and sold the house PP (O! How much went into that small sentence. All I can say is YAY!), we organised storage & a moving company, sold the horse float & piano, organised homes for all the animals, got all of those pesky administrative jobs ticked off, and I got word that I passed my Masters thesis and will graduate with a Master of Veterinary Medicine in May! We've also incorporated an equity partnership, and are now company directors and on the prowl for investments...

Roy's Peak (centre) and surrounds

The house feels a bit empty without all of our animals, but we're also feeling liberated, and have taken the opportunity to prepare some for our trip - we've done two weekend trips the last couple of weeks, including a hike up Roy's Peak (5/5 stars for a half day walk), one up Isthmus Peak (4/5 stars for a half day walk), and three days' rock climbing in Wanaka. We've also prioritised spending time with our local family, friends, and colleagues before we go. It's been a socialising spree since about Christmas!!! Saturday is your last chance, please everybody pop round anytime on the 24th :-) 

View of Lake Hawea from Isthmus Peak Track

In the challenge of leaving our lives behind, we've learned for ourselves some old adages. It's funny how wisdom sometimes doesn't entirely flesh out until you experience and learn the meaning for yourself. 
- Choose what you want from life, go get it, and bugger convention (and reconsider ideas of your younger self). There will be bonuses you didn't predict, whatever happens.
- Life is rarely convenient. Waiting to feel like doing something before taking action is a recipe for getting buffeted by circumstance - your future self doesn't have access to any more motivation to "get around to it" than your present self does! Schedule it, and get on with it.
- Selling small items on TradeMe is not worth the effort!!!

Oh yeah, wallpapering - a normally peaceful and meditative activity for me (well suited to a perfectionist!) - when you are hung over and tired out during and following four days of NY celebrations: SUCKS. A LOT. With the aid of some anti-inflammatories and grit (ha! #firstworldproblems), Bevan and I did finish the renos.

For more photos of the home and property as they are now, see here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/U2AATGZxrVAfiqeh2
For more photos of the gradual transformation of the place over the years, see here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/cnrPzprdTls9i61F3

Before, during, and after photos - just assume the transformation was similar for the rest of the rooms!

At this point in time, we are in the throes of waterproofing all of our gear, ensuring we have everything we need, dusting off some Spanish, and getting the house ready for our much anticipated house cooling on Saturday. I'm also (possibly in vain) attempting to get my thesis to submit to a manuscript (should that read differently? no?) for the NZ Vet Journal before we go away, but I'm just now contemplating how sensible a goal it really is. I might just prioritise my reading list for South America and enjoy the build up!!! :-)

And lastly, a bit of a prequel. Mainly for my own record, the weekend following NY was the busiest, craziest, most bizarre weekend I've ever ever had in practice. I won't be the same again, and will have a MUCH bigger yardstick for 'busy'. Kudos boss and helpers (x2!) for helping out and sticking around! Thankfully, this madness was immediately remedied by flying far away to a mad place of a wholly jollier kind - to visit my Mum and her hubby in Nelson. Into the breaking of the drought. Lots of movies were watched, and cocoa drank. In a rare dry spell, we met a delightful wee boy in the playground there one afternoon; 

    Boy: "Is your mummy [that's me] bigger than you?" 
Bevan: "That's my wife, and she's smaller than me." 
    Boy: "Oh. How big are yooou then?" 
Bevan: "6'2" 
    Boy: "Oh."

Following a long pause, he says,

"You know, if I was 100 feet tall I would be bigger than you ... I would be BIGGER than a GIANT!"


Cluck. 



So ends, in slightly unorthodox fashion, what will probably be the last update before we head away. Please please please tell us if you have any must sees or must dos in Chile and Argentina, and we look forward to seeing many of you on Saturday and keeping in touch with the rest of you over the ether!!! :-) 

Christmas this year featured such delights as 'bisexual' Christmas roulette gifts (these, of course, intended to be 'unisex'), gallons of delicious, healthy food, and the convincing of small children that their sturdy new leather gloves were, in fact, for swimming. 

New Year Celebrations 29 December 2017- 2 January 2018: We laughed together 'til our bellies ached and our faces were stiff, and sang and played 'til well into the New Year!