It’s All Good….

Very exciting news this post, Rich has had his first visa approved! A lot of work and money to get, but this gives us so many more options. This one is for 2 years and in the meantime he goes for residency ,(which he has already applied for), it takes about a year , so all going to plan he should have that one before his other expires.

We continue to look at properties most weekends, getting a feel for the market and what we want to buy, or more accurately what we can afford to buy :).

In the meantime we are enjoying our day to day very much. I was talking with friends in Costa Rica this last week, they have kids much younger than Luca, she can work remotely and as they come up to the end of their first year, they are trying to decide whether to stay on, or go back to the US. Going back she thinks will mean going straight back into their old life, but staying has its challenges too.

Balance is so hard to find anywhere, it requires constant monitoring. Rich is far better than me at this, I have a tendency to get too busy and then I get stressed and caught up in things that don’t matter in the greater scheme of things.

The conversation with our friend reinforced to me how important it is to hang firmly onto what we are striving for here, and why we started this journey in the first place.

I have been putting together a collage of photos for our wall and this has made us nostalgic, we have been reminiscing a lot!!! Treasuring every moment is so hard to do when you are in the midst of it all, but before you know it years have gone by. We want to stop the clock but of course can’t….

……………so instead we focus on making more memories 🙂

The weather has been really wonderful of late, today we went to a couple beaches, that we have heard so much about, but not made it to yet.

The first was Tunnel Beach, it has many stories surrounding it and you can see why, it is incredible.

On the beach, close enough to touch, was a seal hanging out, camouflaged by the rocks, he was easy to miss…

Then it was off to Brighton Beach for a swim….

It has been a good day, the end of a good week. Luca started riding lessons yesterday. He has been wanting to for ages and I found a stable just around the corner from us. He is learning not just to ride, but how to care for a horse, its tack and generally how much commitment a horse requires.

The farm is incredible. Bought in 1975 for $26 000. Oliver the owner said they had to take out 3 mortgages to afford it, and interest rates were at 25%, times were tough but they hung in there, of course today it is worth well over a million. This is the view from where Luca was having his lesson, that is Port Chalmers with the big cruise ship in dock

Here are a few pics from the lesson, we will drop him off for them normally but wanted to be there for the first one. Oliver used to be a school teacher so really good with kids, his approach to horses is wonderful, totally focused on empathy. Luca is desperate for a horse but I want to give it another year or so , a horse is a HUGE commitment. I grew up on horses and would love Luca to have the connection I do to them, but want to make sure this is not just a “phase”.

Rich came too, he is a little nervous of horses as never really been exposed to them. This one tried very hard to be friends and kept nudging Rich for a pat 🙂

The weeks are flying by and we will soon be in Fall (Autumn, here), but the summer seems to be hanging on which we are pretty happy about. Rich and I have done some more great hikes…

This one is also used for abseiling, the rock cliff is really great for it. Kids here are taught to abseil and rock climb in school, so Luca will be coming to one of these in time as it is close to his school.

Long Beach is a very popular beach just over the hill from us, again abseiling is done here on the cliffs surrounding it and the beach itself is really lovely.

We also love Parakaunui, close to Long Beach, it is one of our favorite discoveries so far. A little village set in a cove right on the ocean

On one of our walks around we saw the older grades from Luca’s school out sailing, this will be Luca next year once he learns what he needs to this year….

Speaking of school, Luca still very much enjoying it, some things more than others, learning the times table a nightly dinner time “joy” 🙂

Reading is another priority for the school, luckily Luca loves reading. He has apparently volunteered to be a librarian at school and he is going to start at “Book Club” at the local library this coming week. All over Dunedin and several around the Port Chalmers area are “Lilliput Libraries” I mentioned them in a previous post in another town we visited. Little boxes filled with books that are free for everyone, you put them in or take them out at will, they are very well used and they boxes well maintained, it is lovely seeing a community really embracing this.

Rich and Luca have also entered a local Sea to Stadium run. They had a wee practice yesterday running around Luca’s school, I timed them…

So that is what we have been up to lately, oh and I have a job. The last couple of weeks has been a lot of HR things, this week I have to do occupational health requirements and some modules in preparation for the floor, which starts on the 11th. The job is going to be quite the challenge!!!! I am looking forward to getting back in there, although VERY nervous it will be good for me, and of course money coming in is helpful! Though like we discovered in Costa Rica it is surprising how much you can survive on when you put your mind to it. We are very much committed to spending money on what is important to us and keeping “things” limited and this includes clothing, how much clothing do you really need anyway?! This is Rich and my combined wardrobe, all our clothes, (except underwear and socks), and shoes.

I am interested as time goes on how much we gather in terms of stuff despite ourselves, time will tell, as I said before balance is a constant challenge… 🙂