Well dear readers, since I seem to have brought myself to a standstill for almost a year by trying to write the perfect series of blog posts, I’m going to quit stalling and just post little items of interest as we travel instead.
To explain the situation so far… in the previous post, Blogging and the Fear of Failure, we were about to sell our house after long and exhausting renovations, and were uncertain if our massive gamble would work out. Short answer – yes and no. The house did sell, and for a fair price – just not as much as we’d hoped for so at the time it felt like a huge failure. Our wild dreams had to be trimmed back, but once we started to move ahead the heartbreak of the house auction soon faded.
We flew to Canada where my husband has family in Ontario with the plan of buying a cruiser to travel the Trent-Severn waterway from Lake Ontario to Lake Huron – something we’ve been hoping to do since our honeymoon in 1981. Yes, it has taken a while! It took two months to buy a boat and we spent two months travelling the waterways before the season ended and we stored the boat for winter halfway along the canal. The plan is to return in May 2017 and complete the journey.
So back in New Zealand in October with nowhere to live, we bought a motorhome (RV) so we had a base to explore other options for property-buying, income opportunities etc. As I write we are in the process of buying a house and cottage in the Mount Ruapehu ski area which will earn maximum rental in the winter while we’re away. Ohakune is a delightful ski town in the middle of the North Island and while we had no intention of moving there, it doesn’t seem a bad place to have as a base. We’ll let you know how that works out!
To explain the situation so far… in the previous post, Blogging and the Fear of Failure, we were about to sell our house after long and exhausting renovations, and were uncertain if our massive gamble would work out. Short answer – yes and no. The house did sell, and for a fair price – just not as much as we’d hoped for so at the time it felt like a huge failure. Our wild dreams had to be trimmed back, but once we started to move ahead the heartbreak of the house auction soon faded.
We flew to Canada where my husband has family in Ontario with the plan of buying a cruiser to travel the Trent-Severn waterway from Lake Ontario to Lake Huron – something we’ve been hoping to do since our honeymoon in 1981. Yes, it has taken a while! It took two months to buy a boat and we spent two months travelling the waterways before the season ended and we stored the boat for winter halfway along the canal. The plan is to return in May 2017 and complete the journey.
So back in New Zealand in October with nowhere to live, we bought a motorhome (RV) so we had a base to explore other options for property-buying, income opportunities etc. As I write we are in the process of buying a house and cottage in the Mount Ruapehu ski area which will earn maximum rental in the winter while we’re away. Ohakune is a delightful ski town in the middle of the North Island and while we had no intention of moving there, it doesn’t seem a bad place to have as a base. We’ll let you know how that works out!
Here’s the motor home up Mount Ruapehu – in summer.
In the meantime we’re touring in the motorhome and exploring parts of the country we’ve not seen for decades or at all, learning how to live in an even more confined space than the boat and trying out ways to earn enough income to sustain the peripatetic lifestyle.
So – the next few posts will be about motor home life, NZ destinations, and general observations on the pitfalls and problems of living the dream! There’ll be another book – one day.
In the meantime we’re touring in the motorhome and exploring parts of the country we’ve not seen for decades or at all, learning how to live in an even more confined space than the boat and trying out ways to earn enough income to sustain the peripatetic lifestyle.
So – the next few posts will be about motor home life, NZ destinations, and general observations on the pitfalls and problems of living the dream! There’ll be another book – one day.
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