And we are off!

Written on Thursday, and only posted on Sunday morning - what a slack-arse I am!

We are currently parked in the shade of the trees beside the Eltham TSB Swimming Pool complex - David is having a post prandial snooze and I am waiting for him to wake so we can carry on with the journey.

Over the last few weeks while David has been busy on Weaving Memories stuff, I have been getting things sorted for and in the motorhome - the saving of $40,000 has involved doing a lot of the things for ourselves that would have been taken care of by an importing dealer. However, the hourly rate for that $40k saving would be pretty extreme! So we are happy to have undertaken the following tasks:

• having a Fiat dealer check the vehicle to enact the World Wide Fiat warranty
  
  
  
  
• the gas pigtail fittings changed and the gas system checked, 
• smell traps fitted to the three drain pipes (sink, vanity, shower) and a check by the plumber of other fittings,  (then my covering said smell traps with foam rubber - I slit a tube to wrap around the bottom surface and attached them with cable ties to prevent them being damaged by stones - I believe every woman should be equipped with cable ties, as they have LOTS of uses both legitimate and nefarious)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• sourcing and arranging the fitting of the replacement power sockets (UK to NZ) so we can achieve an Electrical Warrant of Fitness
• and getting the self containment certificate once the plumbing work was completed.

The last thing to be done is to complete the NZ registration of the vehicle - it passed the Vehicle Testing NZ check in Manukau on the day we picked the motorhome up from the importers. But NZ Transport Agency's processes are a bit slow in registering the VIN number in their system to enable registration (and issuing of new number plates). However the young man at NZTA assured me that we are able to drive for a year on the UK plates, so we are not deterred from having our holidays!

Getting ready to head away was a mission! It reminded me of getting Waka Huia sorted for our first cruise back in 2014 - all the bits and pieces that need to be purchased, and places found for them in cupboards and lockers. The boat though has two advantages over the motorhome:

• more cupboards and lockers
• it is far less prone to rattles and movement of carelessly stacked items.

So packing and storing has been quite a job and I have used a far amount of the non-slip rubbery stuff in drawers/cupboards, around cutlery, between plates ...

And I have created, in the interests of economy (no fainting, please, Mick and Julia!) my own versions of wineglass/tumbler and mug holders. You would be proud of me - as would my dad and mum, no doubt, because both of them were in the habit of make do and mend, as well as 'now, what do I have that I could use to make this for nothing? ...' The wine glasses and tumblers are in boxes (free with other purchases) with foam linings and buffers.

 

Well, I did pay $1 for the foam rubber, so not quite free... The blue mugs are the ones I bought from John next door (see below), as I do like a big mug for my tea. The others were purchased aeons ago in Bourton on the Water - as we have about 24 mugs in the cupboards at home, I thought it was wasteful spendthrift to buy any more.

Of course, I have shopped - well, come on!! And I have bought:

• from John the neighbour
• 6 melamine dinner plates and 6 side plates for $2 each (in the shops they retail for about $8 - $12 each - even at Briscoes which ALWAYS has sales!)
• 6 glass tumblers for 50c each
• 3 melamine platters for $2 each (usual retail prices more than above)
• 2 large fine china mugs (full price of $12 each)
• from The Plastic Box - fabulous shop!! 
• 3 clear plastic boxes for the fridge to hold things and stop them moving while in transit
• a collapsible dishdrainer - I'm getting one for the boat too - it's great
• several containers to put on shelves and allow things to be stood up instead of having to lie down (toothpaste, other tubes, bottles, packets, etc)
• a collapsible basin for the sink so rinsing water can be put out on the parched ground instead of down into the grey water tank (a public service during this extremely hot dry weather, so no growling, OK?)
• a bin with clip-on lid for the grey water drainpipe to be stored in, and last but not least
• a five drawer stack for in the wardrobe to hold kitchen stuff - it's a bit of an anomaly to me that there is more space for clothing (3 cupboards over the bed plus a full depth wardrobe) than for food and kitchen equipment. Maybe, even tho there is a good sized stove and four ring burner, the Swift Group think people will eat out more than cook, and therefore need more good clothes for so doing ...
  
• from Briscoes:
•  a mattress topper pad for the spare bed - had to buy a queen-sized and cut it down, but cheaper than buying the double sized one that was not on sale
• from John's Hardware:
• a fire extinguisher and fire blanket

There must be other stuff, but I cannot remember what ...

And then there was the packing: food from the pantry, the fridge and the freezer; kitchen equipment - a big saucepan for cooking corned beef, what spices will I need?, what sandwich spreads?, how much butter?, shall I take all the cheese from the home fridge? (yes), bedding for Kirsty, first aid stuff, the Weber Baby Q plus pigtail for attaching it to the motorhome gas supply, a 2 ring gas burner and small gas bottle for Tim to borrow on their holiday around the North Island, the christmas presents ...

Who knows how I fitted it all in! And best of all: there is a wine cellar under the table - it's the coolest place in the motorhome apart from the fridge, so it is full. Of course, to stop any movement, either no bottles can be removed, or they need to be immediately replaced. So guess which strategy got the go ahead ...