It’s been a month since I last wrote, because we were busy with Sandy still visiting, there were a lot of photos to get in order from our tour south, we’ve been busy getting ready to return to the States, trying to fit in a last couple trips, and oh yes – working full time and trying to get things wrapped-up there (though I will be returning late September to finally finish up).
The first couple weeks of Sandy’s visit was our big tour south. The last couple weeks was spent closer to home, since Max was back in school and I was back at work. We did a couple weekend day trips to the beaches, first to the black sands of Muriwai beach, then another to beautiful Anchor Bay at Tawharanui Regional Park, and up to Pakiri Beach.
We also introduced Sandy to our typical Sunday morning in New Zealand, hanging out at Dida’s cafe during Max’s Japanese sword (iaido) class.
It took me quite a while to get the photos from the tour south sorted – 500 photos trimmed down to only 250, labeled, tagged, tweaked, and uploaded to Flickr.
And of course we’ve been busy getting ready for our move back to the States. Our exit strategy primarily revolves around our “stuff”: What will fit on the plane, what to keep for my return, shipping options, selling furniture and household goods on TradeMe (New Zealand’s eBay), garage sale, and ultimately Salvation Army and garbage. There are a million-and-one things to consider, and every step of the way has options and questions – for airline baggage, What are the travel allowances? Which ones apply? – International, code share, domestic? Does a bicycle count as one piece? How much for extra? Kilograms versus pounds? And shipping options – shipping containers or excess baggage? Opportunities for sharing container space? Best tradeoffs? How about for books or my kayak?
Cindy and I have been very busy on TradeMe, selling off everything from bookshelves to appliances to Christmas decorations. Cindy keeps checking to see if there are bids on items, or how much they’ve gone up! Some things go for much more than you would think – a set of wicker furniture that we bought at a garage sale for $100 sold for $190, and $10 garage sale bookshelves went for $140!
Of course others didn’t sell for much, but on balance we probably broke even on what we spent buying the things in the first place, be it retail or garage sale.