This year both Philip and Mary turned 65, and started
to draw NZ pensions. We made several trips away in our campervan, including a
longish road trip to Taupo, Napier, the East Cape and Tauranga. We also did
several shorter trips away in the ‘van. Now that the campervan has had solar
panels and improved batteries put in, we are able to “freedom camp” and use
much cheaper conservation campsites for our travels around NZ. We also visited
Mary’s aunt and uncle who live outside Port Macquarie, Australia. On that trip
we hired a car from Brisbane, and drove slowly down to Sydney. Of course we also travelled down to
Wellington for grandson Owen’s birthday party.
A major project
in terms of money and time, was the redevelopment of our back garden, to make
space for a vegetable garden and fruit trees. In April, Estelle and Aaron left
us to return to Wellington, where they are now living. This year, we have had a break from taking
homestays, but we will probably start up again in the second half of 2013. At
the end of last year we traded in our trusty but aging Ford Telstar, for a much
more modern Mazda Premacy, mini people mover. Grandkids love the fold out trays
on the seat backs. We have joined a home exchange website, and hope to be able
to exchange homes in 2013, in London, France and maybe other places within
Europe. In later years, we are open to offers!
Philip
Philip had
some work this year outside the house at AUT’s research office, doing editorial
work. This paid for the upgrading of two computers, and the installation of
solar power cells on the campervan. Again he did quite a lot of photography,
including the annual calendar project, which will be a bit more widely
distributed
this year
(maybe 30 copies as against 5 or 6 last year)!
As he turned 65 this year he is now officially a pensioner. Like Mary,
he has purchased a “Kindle”, and is joining the e-book revolution. In the
mid-year he attended a very interesting and inspiring university course on art
& photography.
Mary
.Mary
continued to work at Whitireia in Queen Street this year. Again she has Mondays off in exchange for
rather longer days Tuesday to Friday. She is finalising the autobiography for
Dorothy, and this should be ready by this Christmas. Like Philip, she is now a
pensioner, but one with a fulltime job. But she can travel home from work for
free with her “Super Gold card”. With
Philip, she attended a short continuing education course on Roman ruins in
France and Italy. This gave us many ideas for places to visit on stopovers!
.
.Dominic
Dominic
continued in his job at NTT Europe in London. This year he completed his
final paper for his honours degree in information technology, and expects to graduate
in 2013. He is joining us for Christmas in NZ this year.
Estelle
and Aaron
Estelle and Aaron returned to Wellington
this Easter, after living with us for about 8 months. They have bought a house in the Miramar area,
and should be moving in just before Christmas. Aaron continues to work as a
freelance IT consultant, and Estelle marks assignments for Massey University as
well as being a full-time mum.
Roselle and Stan
Roselle
is still working at UCL in London while making progress on her PhD. Work this
year has taken her to Paris and Tokyo, among other places. With Stan, she has
participated in two marathons, one in Cheltenham, and the second in Amsterdam.
They will also join us in NZ for Christmas. Before that they are planning to
walk the Milford Track. We declined their kind request to accompany them.
Dorothy
Philip’s
mother Dorothy is well settled at Northbridge retirement home, just around the
corner from us, so we see her most days. She sometimes goes out with us for
lunch or dinner. She enjoys relating her
life history for the book. The first part, her life in Cornwall to the end of
WW2, should be finished by Christmas.
Gilletts
Motoko
and Brent have settled into Brown’s Bay. Brent always seems to have several
ambitious renovation projects on the go, but he still manages to find time to
help us out with our home improvements. Motoko is involved in the local playcentre. Rio
is enjoying school and making good progress. Noah is talking now (in a mixture
of Japanese and English!), with a vocabulary that is growing by the day. We
join the Gilletts quite often for picnics, BBQs and family events
We see Alice (an ex homestay guest), Csanad and daughter
Lillian quite often, as they live about 15 minutes’ drive from here.
Plans for 2013
In 2013, we plan to see Dominic graduate, in London,
around Easter time. We hope to arrange house exchange(s) in the London area,
and maybe in Europe, especially in Italy or France. We will be away for up to 3
months or so. Mary will probably continue to work at Whitireia on a full-time
basis, although going part-time is an option.
We hope to get the fruit and vegetable gardens into a fully productive state.
Perhaps we will start a long South Island tour in the campervan late in the
year or early in 2014.
