I still have posts about our time in Rarotonga I want to write.
I still have posts about settling in I want to write.
But for some reason my brain is fighting against following a logical sequence of writing it all down so I figure I better just write what I can when I can or I can see it simply won't ever get written at all!
We arrived back from our tropical holiday in Rarotonga on Tuesday 2nd June to cold winter temperatures and a house waiting to be packed up and cleaned from top to bottom in just 2 days. We also still both had a day of work each to finish when we got back as well.
When we arrived back, the first thing we had to do was drive out to Lower Hutt to pick up the car we'd bought a few weeks back. To cut a long story short, we realised it had a fault when we bought it and we had to get the car company we bought it from to fix while we were away, but we then had to pick it up straight after we got back from holiday so we could have the car for all the to-ing and fro-ing needed over the course of the next few days as well as the long trip we had to make north.
The house movers came to start packing up the house on Wednesday morning and they sure didn't muck around. By the time we got home on Wednesday, it was three quarters packed and it proved hilarious trying to find things we needed to use around the house - like plates to eat with, cutlery and plastic bags to put all the random collection of cleaning products and various 'things' we found around the house that couldn't go into the removal truck (or that didn't make it in time).
Someone didn't seem too perturbed about all the packing up around him - so long as some 'technology' was found for him to play on - the Nintendo DS came in handy as literally EVERYTHING else - books and games included - was in a box by then!
And another little someone sat in the packing paper as if to say 'please don't forget about me'!
It was a little challenging getting all the holiday washing from Rarotonga dry and ready for packing within 24 hours but we got there in the end.
We set aside one room (Mylo's) below to keep all the things we needed to take in our cars separately so they didn't get packed up. At one stage there I was wondering how on earth we would fit it all in.
The kids spent a day and a half at school on the Wednesday and Thursday. On the Wednesday, both their classes had a pyjama day and a shared farewell lunch for them and Noah also got to hang out with his best buddy from school one last time after school as well.
Then on Thursday, they went on a pretty big adventure after school, flying north to Hamilton as unaccompanied minors ahead of us, met by Poppa at the other end. Apparently the air stewardess said they were 'the best little unaccompanied minors' they'd had - a great accolade!
On Thursday morning I went to work one last time to finish off my handover and was surprised by my work mates with a lovely morning tea and a digital photo frame as a farewell gift.
Then it was home to clean, clean clean.
And clean I did. Starting in the kitchen, cleaning every cupboard and drawer while still trying to keep out of the way of the movers who were by then starting to load up the big truck. After an hour I moved onto the 2 bathrooms - and Mark was by this stage out at the airport with the 2 boys waiting to board their flight. By 4pm, the entire house was empty and I waved farewell to our whole house which was now on the back of the truck - we would see it again at the other end on Monday morning, but it still felt weird to think our entire worldly possessions fitted in such a small space when they'd just come from filling a 4 bedroom house!
The Wellington crew at Allied Pickfords were a great bunch to work with and made the whole process of packing up a very smooth and straight forward one for us which helped hugely when we were on such a short time frame!
As I hoovered my way through the house, I found myself getting most emotional as I went through Noah's empty room. He was only 6 months old when we moved to Zetland Street and eight years of his growing life had been spent here. As I vacuumed, memories came flooding back of having to rock him to sleep in those early months (and the fact he proved to be challenging to get to sleep for a couple more years!). For him more than anyone else, this house felt like it had been a coming of age from a baby to a growing young boy and I really felt the weight of the time span as I stood in his empty room. I guess if I had to have a 'moment' somewhere, it felt right that it was there in that room.
After allowing myself time to weep a little over the years gone by - both the good times and the sad times, Mark arrived home and helped and after finally knocking off the cleaning at around 6pm, we left Murphy behind with enough bikkies and his basket in the almost empty house and headed out for one last night on the town farewelling our lovely city with a decadent night out at the Museum Hotel.
Which turned out to be an incredible treat after such a full on day!
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