The big move

September 9, 2004

We arrived in Rotterdam on Sunday 1st August completely exhausted after an agonising journey with the lads and a huge amount of things to do before we could leave. P&O Nedloyd had decided that six weeks notice was plenty of time to prepare for relocation half way around the world, away from friends, family and everything that we have established for ourselves.

We left New Zealand in July this year for a three-year European relocation. Stuart accepted a secondment, which means we are now living in Rotterdam, well at least for the next 12 months. At the end of this particular job, a 12-month contract, we may stay in Holland or go to UK but will make that decision when we come to it.

The preparation
There was so much to do. One week after accepting the job, Stuart was off for 17 days to take up his new position and prepare for our arrival. This left me at home to sort the other side of our relocation, preparing to leave New Zealand. There was a lot of stuff in the house to be sorted through and thrown out, odd jobs to finish, compliance to get on the renovation and finally, to get the house rented.

There was also the beachhouse that we had bought earlier this year, we had been working on it and had made the decision before the secondment to put in a new bathroom. In spite of the short time frame we had, I wanted to get it installed and functioning before we left. I wanted it finished so that friends could use the house while we were away and we had a functioning place to use when we came back for holidays. I persuaded mum to come up to the beach with me for a few days to look after the boys while I managed the bathroom installation. I managed it but it took a lot out of me and only the boys were quite unsettled at night.

I think that this stay finally proved to mum just how hard it is looking after the twins, she had been in total denial pretty much since they were born I think. After telling me (since they were born) that I should cook a proper meal and eat well, she turned to me and said she was surprised that we didn’t have takeout every night – she was exhausted after just 2 days.

Back in Wellington, there was a lot to do but most of it could only happen at the last minute. Les came to help me sort out and throw-out, Benjamin and Oliver were very eager helpers so Les was put through her paces. I couldn’t have done any of it without her help. After all the sorting was done we just had to wait for Stuart to come home and then for the packers to arrive.

We managed to organise the packing coy relatively easily. Stuart called them on Monday morning (after getting home the day before) and they came at 3 that afternoon. They were very organised and it wasn’t really a bother. The deal was that they, including arrival in Rotterdam, would do all the packing, cleaning and arranging. They will unpack here also and take all the cartons away.

That same day (Monday) we started taking pictures down, filling holes etc and got a phonecall from Your Home and Garden wanting to photograph the inside of the house for their next issue (renovation of the month). I had to laugh and couldn’t bring myself to refuse – what an opportunity! I said that it had to happen between Wed and Frid as the packers were coming on the Monday following. So, a journalist was arranged to come and interview me on Tuesday and the photographer was organised for the Friday. The interview went well, although I hate to see myself in print, I felt I had to be so careful what I said in case it turned up in the article and I sounded like a pretentious idiot. So many of the things we have around the house have been bought on travels and holidays – it sounded a bit tossy really.

Friday was such a surreal day in hindsight it was probably the best time to do it as all the crap had already been cleaned out, so the house was ‘magazine friendly’. I had done all I needed to do to prepare for Monday, so I just enjoyed the day. The boys were in crèche for the morning thankfully, so I had plenty of time to puddle around.

Paul made it all very easy for me and I just puddled around each room and moved things out of the way to prepare for his shots. He was an interesting fellow and we had much in common to talk about. He even knew some of the lecturers I had at Design School, we were able to have a good laugh about them. It was the first time in ages I could have a long chat about things that interested me with another person who knew what I was talking about. I haven’t seen the spread yet as it was held up a month due to our relocation.
I am disappointed that there wont be any before shots with the pictures. Kim the journalist had given me a number of questions and info to supply her with for the article, I ran out of time to do much about photos and thought would send digital ones from Holland. The digital ones however, were too low resolution to be suitable for the mag and our print ones were in the container. They didn’t want to delay the article any more so have gone ahead without photos.