Gripes and the governments!

Gripes and the governments!

Gripes and the governments!

Well, it's been awhile since my last update and reasons are: 1. Shiftwork and 2. I really didn't want to discuss the recent events. ie. Land and governments.
  So far I've discovered loopholes in the 'Treaty of Waitangi' from the letter to Governor Hobson, back in the day from the Colonial Secretary Lord Normanby...

All dealings with the Aborigines for their Lands must be conducted on the same principles of sincerity, justice, and good faith as must govern your transactions with them for the recognition of Her Majesty's Sovereignty in the Islands. Nor is this all.
They must not be permitted to enter into any Contracts in which they might be the ignorant and unintentional authors of injuries to themselves. You will not, for example, purchase from them any Territory the retention of which by them would be essential, or highly conducive, to their own comfort, safety or subsistence. The acquisition of Land by the Crown for the future Settlement of British Subjects must be confined to such Districts as the Natives can alienate without distress or serious inconvenience to themselves. To secure the observance of this rule will be one of the first duties of their official protector.’

Mm hmm.., okaaaay ;-[

Quality control.

  I woke from my slumber and my darling says, "I've got you a present", as I stumbled, half asleep to the toilet.... Slightly more awake, I was presented with a beautiful sterling silver ring  with a bloodstone! "Thank you my darling, thank you!"
I was (and AM) stoked!!
   The gemstone is a deep green with droplets of red through it to represent the blood of Jesus. The stone can be found in India, China, Brazil, US and Australia and now on my finger *smiles*.

As we go through life and make our plans it's truly God that determines our path. Better He than me , I reckon. I tried so many times to conduct my life the way I wanted and how I thought it should be and every time i hit a brick wall or should i say, the wall smashed me. Don't get me wrong, I had a good time doing it but what a come down.

Joyce Meyers TV evangelist, once said, "You have to go through to get through and get a breakthrough." I agree, especially when we continue to choose the 'hard' way. There are two paths or choices we can make, the easy way AND the hard way.  Funnily enough I seemed to choose the hard way.

Now, I just want to hand it over to God and let Him lead. Seeing as how He IS the designer, the manufacturer AND the quality control! So far it's proven to be a huge benefit. But He DOES still put challenges there and we have to use wisdom, patience and virtue to realise, it's for our growth and progress on this journey we call life.

Alas, now i I FEEL married, thanks to my gorgeous wife finding me "the ring" :)

Australia and other things like wedding rings.

Years ago, after Zanny and I got d.i.v.o.r.c.e'd :P I thought that was it, all over!  So off I toddled to the local Cash converters and yes, you guessed it, HOCKED MY RING! heheh Only got about 25 bucks for it :P  You see, I've never been a material kinda person....(unfortunately) here today, gone tomorrow attitude.
  
 Anyway, today Zanny and I went looking for a replacement. Just a cheapy (my choice). So Goldmark had a special on and a ring caught my eye. It was  silver and onyx with silver eagle inset. 25 BUCKS!!! What a bargain! My kind of price tag!  But...... too small :P

"Is there another that you would like to try sir?"
"Hmm ok, how 'bout that one?"
 Too small again...and again...and again. Pfffft! A pox on it! I thought

 "Sorry sir but we can get it sent away for resizing. It'll take about a week:)". "A week?? I had to get it resized 6 sizes!! 
"Err... no thanks . We'll come back:)".

Suzanne and I went to another store and then another. Then to another shopping centre!
Same thing! Too small! GrrrrrRR

 heheh Finally a GUY assistant at the last store said, "Oh i know, that's the regular sizes across ALL the stores!"
"Thanks mate."

Don't worry Zanny. I know at the Belmont markets on Sunday, there's heaps of 'adult' rings:-)

I was actually thinking about this great country, Australia. As harsh as it is and as hostile an environment as you can get. It is one beautiful place on the Earth. I thought, it's hats off to the aborigines who have dwelt in this country for the last 40,000 years or however long. All without woolies and Maccas! As Slim Dusty sang, It's a hard, hard country. It's a hard, hard land and to live in it you've gotta be a hard, hard man :P
  
We are spoilt in NZ with the native food sources in abundance, green grass, creeks and waterfalls, moderate summers and everything's so close!
Not to mention no snakes or poisonous spiders!
  

Take the funnel web in NSW. Fiercest spider I've ever seen! Meeeean as. Then you got Taipans, King browns, Tigers, Sharks and.....well, when I first got to Oz I was bitten by a Green ant on the ass!! Ouchy! Lol

In saying all of that, it's been one great adventure in this land where the other half of the ANZACS come from. Wouldn't change a thing.
Thanks Australia. Onya:)

Friends forever :-)

The time will fly by with only two months to go and as I reflect on the journey ahead (not just to NZ), many other thoughts come to mind. Memories in Oz, good and bad, the experiences of the outback, really, really great friends I have been blessed to meet over the years and from all walks and nationalities. These memories will remain with me for ALL time.
   I have mates that have been like brothers to me and girls who have been like sisters to me and ladies who have been like mothers to me. As for dads, well other than God, I've only ever had one and that's Peter, the only real dad I've ever known.
   
 So looking forward to all this eventuating and when we get to NZ, the journey will have only just begun. Gladly, I was able to come across even cheaper flights!!! Seems now we're going to fly to Sydney via Virgin blue at $158 x 4 = $638, then after a stopover/stayover at my brother Paulys Whare (house) for a week, it's off to NZ on our final leg via Jetstar at $139 x 4 =$556. A total of $1188! From Perth x 4!! In peak season!! Awesome!
 
This week we're going to get the lowdown on the travel expenses for Bon Bon, our kuri. Exciting stuff BUT as I said earlier, I WILL miss alot of GREAT friends. So, invitations for holidays will be aplenty. I feel they owe me that much, seeing as how I have 'visited' their country for the last 28 years! Does that make me a Maussie? :-)
  

Working, working, saving, saving :)

Well, we are well and truly on our way to NZ. Thank God!! So many hurdles gone but tere are a few more yet. First of all is our Kuri (dog) that we have to organise for the flight. So far we've found it's alot cheaper AND easier (of course) if she was on the same flight as our family. Duh!! One thing of note is the quarantine laws have changed in that upon arrival in NZ, she only has to go to her place of abode and remain there for 30 days before we can take her on a tour of duty around NZ. Lets just hope she lives for quite sometime after we arrive. The poor old girl :)

Garage sales! Passports and the Australian government.

Another weekend of garage sales down. More like being paid for socialising! Early they came (a bit too early actually:) and kept coming all day! Talk about a great way to make some extra cash AND we're going to need it as it's going to be rather expensive to acquire Australian passports for my wife and kids! First thought was, "RIP OFF!"

Gone are the days of adding your kids to your Australian passport! Now they need (from BIRTH) their own individual passports???

Now you're required to fork over $204 for an ordinary adult passport and $104 for a child!!  The Australian childs passport is more expensive than a New Zealand adults one!  RIPPED OFF I say!
All that is, is a money grab! Paid $90 for my NZ one. Ah well, we gotta do what we gotta do.... at least the Government can't take taxes out of our garage sales!
 Shhhhhhhhhhhhh! Before they try to figure out a way to do it!

General speak

Well, life is not without surprises and today we consider whether it's best to drive over to Sydney from Perth (which seems to be the cheapest way out) and not to forget Bonnie (our dog), it'll be ALOT cheaper!

Sometimes when things start to get on top of us, we just have to cling together even more. As the clock ticks over and life passes by each day, we can easily be destracted by the pressures of life and the often challenging times as a family (everybody has them).

All ahead is vague and uncertain but pressing on towards the goal is a reward worth striving for and that goal should be the pursuit of happiness and satisfaction of the very soul.

I dont know why I'm rambling on about this... Well, it's because it's my blog and I can. God bless you.

Time to get serious about the BIG MOVE :)

We'll we're organising plane tickets well ahead of schedule for preps sake at least as we've still got to organise Bonnie (our dog) and get her all cleared to fly to NZ and paid for. 10 weeks to go and thats not really a long time and it'll fly by but we're enjoying the challenge of "We're moving countries!"  Sheesh, remembering we only decided to do this a couple of weeks ago! lol

I'll fill you in on the prequel because at the moment we're in the beginning stages of the sequel! That's one of the reasons we, including our sons are excited at the future as a 'family'.

3 months and counting.

Well, this is our first post with three months to go and my wife, sons and I are excited! So far we haven't booked our tickets (yet), we havent organised our pet dog Bonnie to fly (yet), and we haven't got the money to do it (yet)! So our first priority is to get the funds to do it and we have a few options that are available to us.

This Sunday, we're holding a garage sale where we have quite a few items up for sale that'll go towards our trip and set up when we get to NZ. The boys are excited about selling some of their stuff (toys etc) to make a profit and buy new stuff when they get there. Yes, thats right, their stuff, their profit :)

Me, I'm going to work as many hours as I can to fund the trip and days off will mostly be spent clocking up more hours in other industries and ventures with a 'what ever it takes' attitude. Here we go with short notice (actually none) and we know we can do it!
Faith is the substance of things hoped for. The evidence of things not seen yet.