Busy busy busy!

Location: Christchurch, New Zealand

Life has been busy. We have spent the last few weeks madly sorting our stuff. Everything we own gets put into one of three categories: throw it out as rubbish, sell it or keep it. We had a reasonably succesful garage sale a week ago. We managed to get rid of most of the bigger things (and net a small, but respectable amount of cash). All the stuff that didn't sell (mostly junk) is either being thrown out or given to a charity running 'white elephant' fundraisers. We are also giving a huge box of old clothes to the salvation army. A couple of the more valuable things I have been selling on TradeMe.

I only have a week left in Christchurch, and yet there is so much stuff to do! While most of my posessions have been sorted, I haven't actually started packing the things I am keeping. More importantly, there is a huge amount of paperwork that needs dealing with. I need to cancel my different insurance policies (medical, car, contents insurance), sort out my company super-annuation fund, divert all paperwork to my parents address. Cancel the phone and electricity accounts, get my bond back from the land agents etc etc. You don't realise how complicated just having a 'life' can be, until you try and cancel it.

There is even a whole bunch of things I still need to organise for my trip like travel insurance and travellers cheques. I have a week and a bit with my parents in Auckland, and plan to use this time to sort out these final pieces of 'travel administration'. I will also do a bit of shopping in this time to get a few of the travelling essentials (international plug adaptor pack, money pouch etc). My dad is hassling me to sort out all my visas, but I don't need to bother for most of the countries I am going to. The only tricky countries will be China and Russia (and to some extent mongolia), but I just plan to get them on route. It all comes back to not having any plan, and just doing things as they come up.

We have been also trying to catch up with various people and say good bye to them before we leave. Although we have been so busy, we haven't really had a good chance. We are having a big party the weekend before we leave christchurch, and will use this to see everyone for the last time. Then its one day to be hung-over and recover, one day to pack the car, and then we leave christchurch and start the long drive to Auckland.

One thing I have sorted is a new camera for the trip, a FujiFilm 9600. I figure if I am making a 'trip of a lifetime', I should take some good photos (and while my old digital camera was quite good, this one is better!). I have already been taking a few photos with it, and am very happy with it. I particularly like the manual zoom ring and its fast memory write times. Its not the most compact of cameras, so I'll just take less clothes or something.




4 days, 5 hours 54 minutes till I finish work.
20 days, 13 hours, 48 minutes left in New Zealand.