[debnjohn]

Only one more day for the Woodrows in the UK now, after all those long periods waiting for the various stages to complete (EOI, ITA, house sale etc) I suddenly feel like everything has gone into FastForward!
We moved out of our house 2 weeks ago; the shippers moved everything out on 22nd & 23rd August . Our furniture doesn't leave Southampton until next Friday and so is not expected at Littleton until 17th October !
We eventually got completion on 26th - what a milestone that was! :clap

Last weekend was one to remember - saying goodbye to our family & friends in Plymouth :( On a positive note though, my sisters both confirmed they would DEFINATELY visit us, and I spoke to my brother for the first time in over 20 years. Debbies dad is already checking out flight prices !

Yesterday was my last day at work; I had been there nearly 7 years and had made some very good friends - sad again.

Today had been suitcase-weighing day. Debbie has had to hijack some of our boys' space to save going over 32 kg in her case! Jack is out getting a final fix of his pastime - skateboarding - before dismantling his deck. Joe is chilling out with some mates. Deb & me are just sat here feeling a bit numb - that sort of feeling you get when it goes quiet before a storm (impending doom ? :D )

Tomorrow night we fly from Heathrow, and land in Christchurch Tuesday morning. We're spending he first 10 days in Deans Bush Motel at Riccarton, and I guess we will be very busy trying to find somewhere to rent before I start work on 19th.

Looking forward to seeing some familiar faces in Chrischurch, and hopefully plenty of new ones!

Cheers all,
John, Debbie Jack & Joe.

[Marie P]

Good luck and safe journey to you all .
:exit

Marie x

[Smiler]

Once you're on the plane, the storm clouds will roll away and a new day will dawn.

Oh gawd I've gone all poetic.
Some of this :cheers on the plane will help the numb feeling too.
All the best to you. Have a safe journey.

Deborah

[Kim39]

John/Deb,

Good luck with your new life and i wish you a safe journey. Nice to read that you have contacted your brother after such a long time, sounds as if your relationship could start afresh with him along with your fresh start in life.:nice1

Look forward to some postings from the otherside:clap

Kim

[gil]

All the very best for a safe journey and a wonderful new life :raebanana :raebanana
Gil

[jo b]

Deb n John

What a lovely but a tad sad post saying all those goodbyes. It's isn't something I am looking forward too. Someone described it very aptly to me that it's like being pregnant. You know labour day will come, and it will be bad and that you will never imagine how bad that pain will be until you physically experience it, but you block it out of your mind until the time comes because once it's over you have something precious but in this case it's a new life a fresh start.

Hope your journey is smoooth and you find a nice rental quickly.

Take care

Jo

xx

[jan]

Good luck to you all. Enjoy every part of the journey.

This is were it all begins.

Jo, very very apt. Spot on. :clap

[kiwidebs]

John, Debbie and Family - safe travels guys, I really look forward to hearing about the next phase in your lives.

Jo - well said. Very apt.

Debs

[Singel]

John, Debbie, Jack and Joe..........have a bon voyage :nice1

................you are starting a new chapter in your life :raebanana

Good Luck with your transition to Christchurch :cheers

[Simon & Emily]

John and Debbie,

I can't believe that you're going already!!! It seems like only yesterday we all met up for the first time.

Good luck with the travelling, hope it all goes well, and please get in touch soon.

All the best for the job too.

Take care,

Emily and Simon

[Tara Sage]

Good luck with the flights and remember to get in touch when you arrive John would be good to meet up again.

Have a good flight

[Tanya]

Good Luck - enjoy the flight!! and see you on the "right" side of the world :clap :clap :nice1

Tanya

[nessie]

Good luck to you all - looking forward to your first post from the other side! :clap

[Moorf]

What? Back so soon? :D

See you on the other side :cheers

Moorf & Woz

[markkellaway]

Hi Guys,

Good luck with the travels, I hope the trip goes well. Hopefully Anne will see you at the airport when you land! Looking forward to meeting up again, and maybe we'll finally get to see the rest of the "Christchurch crew" as well, we missed the last meet due to the jet lag!!!

Take care,

Mark. :P

[Tanya]

Deb John & Boys

WELCOME - good to see you. Have a great rest and enjoy the first few days in Christchurch. Call us if you need us. :nice1

Tanya

[debnjohn]

Well we're all here - jetlagged & rough but here none-the-less.
A REALLY REALLY nice suprise (and totally unexpected) was being met at Christchurch airport by not one, not two but THREE different friends we have made on this forum. Between us, with the three cars, we managed to shift the 8 suitcases and 7 items of hand luggage (198 kilos of baggage)!!!
Tanya, Veronica & Anne, you're all stars. It made such a huge impact to be met by friendly faces, especially after Debbie had such an emotional time on the flight. Thankyou all so much. Anne, the flowers are beautiful, thankyou.

Thanks to everyone for all their good wishes.
For those on their way, don't be fooled, time flies!
Cheers,
John, Debbie, Jack & Joe.

PS So whens the next CHC meet, eh ?

[Avalon]

Welcome to New Zealand.

Hope you enjoy your new life!

[Singel]

A new chapter in life starting today for your family, Congrats :clap
Look forward to your update soon :cheers

[Miffy]

To John, Debbie Jack and Joe

Welcome home!

Glad you made it over okay :cheers

[Simon & Emily]

Debbie and John - great to hear you all got there safe and sound.

Enjoy yourselves,

Emily and Simon

[Timbo]

What a welcome eh guys. That just goes to show the power of this little corner of cyber space.
Welcome to your new life.

[Diny]

Welcome to New Zealand !!!!!

Good to know you were met by some friendly faces - it makes all the difference eh.

Keep us posted regarding your progress.

Diny

[debnjohn]

Well, we're found furnished accomodation (from this weekend) until our furniture arrives (leaving UK sometime later today).

I'll post some photos when we get there - the place is FABULOUS. Paying a little more than we wanted, but need that 'feel-good' factor to get us over this initial 'OMG what have we done' relocation shock!

John

[debnjohn]

As promised, here's some pictures of our rented accomodation taken last night. Thanks everyone for coming along


http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y228/debnjohn/Our%20pad/IMG_2197.jpg
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y228/debnjohn/Our%20pad/IMG_2198.jpg
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y228/debnjohn/Our%20pad/IMG_2199.jpg
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y228/debnjohn/Our%20pad/IMG_2203.jpg

[debnjohn]

and some more (limited to 4 pictures a time?)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y228/debnjohn/Our%20pad/IMG_2200.jpg
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y228/debnjohn/Our%20pad/IMG_2205.jpg
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y228/debnjohn/Our%20pad/IMG_2202.jpg
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y228/debnjohn/Our%20pad/IMG_2209.jpg

[debnjohn]

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y228/debnjohn/Our%20pad/IMG_2215.jpg
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y228/debnjohn/Our%20pad/IMG_2213.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y228/debnjohn/Our%20pad/IMG_2216.jpg

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y228/debnjohn/Our%20pad/IMG_2207.jpg

[Tanya]

Deb & John

Thank you for a lovely evening. We all really enjoyed it. Love your new "pad" - landed on your feet there. :clap

Good luck with your first day at work tomorrow John! :raebanana

Tanya, Richard & little'uns

[Moorf]

Yeppers, was a great night out (I'm sure Woz will remember once he sees the pics :D ), ab fab pad :nice1 and great company too :cheers

But John, where's the pic of Deb's laid out on the fur on the baby grand!!! ;)

Moorf & Woz

[Smiler]

Wow FAB place!! May I ask what the rent is on this Palace, please?

DebnJon, I appreciate you may feel a little worse for wear this am but any chance of you (or anyone else in the know) putting some names to the pics. I'd love to know who'swho please? :D

I've had a stab at guessing and matching up some avatars but I'm stuck now.;)

Deborah

[debnjohn]

But John, where's the pic of Deb's laid out on the fur on the baby grand!!! ;)

Moorf & Woz
Debbie's impersonation of Susie Diamond (Fabulous Baker Boys). I presumed you wanted to see the innocent version of "Deb's laid out on the fur "?
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y228/debnjohn/babygrand.jpg

[Moorf]

There it is!! http://users.pandora.be/eforum/emoticons4u/happy/060.gif

(glad it's the clean one! :o )

[katandbob]

Hi all, seems you all had a good time, yep names please cause then all us stuck here in dreary blighty can put names to faces.

back to work tomorrow ;-(

[Singel]

Wow............ looks like a great party.

John, your rental is fab, look posh :nice1

Good Luck with your new job :cheers

[Moorf]

For I.D purposes - any female wearing all black is either me (short hair) or Tanya (long hair)! :D

Woz is wearing an orange t-shirt, Richard is wearing a red top with black jacket. John (of John & Debs) is wearing a bright orange shirt (and, as photographyer has escaped being in any of the pics!), his wife Debs is the blonde in the halterneck, Veronica is the lady smiling at camera in the pic with three of them, the guy on the left is Mark Kellaway and the guy behind Veronica (blue shirt) is her hubby Pete. Anne Kellaway is in various pics wearing a red jacket. That's as much as I can do without annotating the photo's!

Somewhere else in the pics are Tanya's 2 kids Rebecca and Luke, the little lad at the piano with me is Anne and Mark's littley who impressed us all with his Haka :yes (sorry, name escapes me as do many memories of that night!), Paul Goddard (that's him swapping tel.no's with me in one pic :uhoh ), Nick (?) in the Crusaders top, and Jack and Joe (John and Debs boys) can be seen in the bedroom shot with Veronica (ooerr missus!)

If I remember correctly I did snap some pics at the end of the night so I "may" have captured John in full swing!!

Hope that helps you identify the mob!

Moorf

[Moorf]

I think I feel a caption competition coming on.... :D

[Singel]

Aha..........John, finally got to see you :D

[Tanya]

For I.D purposes - any female wearing all black is either me (short hair) or Tanya (long hair)! :D
Moorf


Ha Ha - that'll fool them - I had my hair up!! (Fortunately, I kept my eye on John and his camera and he only managed to get me in one shot :nice1

Tanya

[Moorf]

Just wait until next time.... :D

[Smiler]

Thank you :raebanana

I got 8/10 :nice1

D

blimie 2 hours sleep OOOOPS

[gil]

Thank you guys for the pics AND the names. I love pages 3 and 4 of this thread!! And Debnjohn, your place looks fantastic!!

Gil

[katandbob]

yep Moorf thanks, ps like your new avatar! oh well better go get ready for work :-(

[debnjohn]

Ha Ha - that'll fool them - I had my hair up!! (Fortunately, I kept my eye on John and his camera and he only managed to get me in one shot

Tanya
Aha Tanya,
just taken another look at the photos, and you were indeed camera shy (sneaky). But you are in more than one shot...

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y228/debnjohn/Our%20pad/tanya2.jpg
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y228/debnjohn/Our%20pad/tanya3.jpg
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y228/debnjohn/Our%20pad/tanya4.jpg
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y228/debnjohn/Our%20pad/tanya5.jpg

[debnjohn]

Wow FAB place!! May I ask what the rent is on this Palace, please?

Deborah
We have managed to get a deal with our wonderful landlady, and are paying well under the odds at $500 a week (all bills inclusive, including Sky & wireless Broadband).

John.

[Tanya]

John

Now you can change your location on the forum!!

How was your first day at work??

Tanya

[Tanya]

Aha Tanya,
just taken another look at the photos, and you were indeed camera shy (sneaky). But you are in more than one shot...



Damm -didn't notice - thanks for that!! Should have kept quiet on it shouldn't I :no

Tanya

[Tanya]

Hang on John

They weren't the original photos you posted! :no

Cheeky...

Tanya

[Simon & Emily]

Looks like you all had a great party :cheers

Fabulous place John and Debbie - you can help us to find a rental when we arrive :nice1

Glad you all had a good time, and hope the job's going well.

Emily and Simon.

[Stu]

That place really is a palace..., still, $500 a week, that sounds like a lot to me, I mean, a lot for a house, but perfectly reasonable for a palace like that!
Geeez, wish I could afford to have a $500 a week house, You guys always have all the flash houses. Wish I could have a flash house, 's'not fair... (whine whine whine...)

Are you looking to buy a similar sort of place to that down there, or is this a bit of luxury to settle into, and then probably go for something a little more restrained when you buy your own place?
cheers, Stu.