Updates – and what’s comes next

Sue Dunlop and Jacqui Gilvray - 20th May 2010

A lot has happened since my last blog.  The biggest and saddest event was the death of my oldest friend, Sue Dunlop, in July 2010.  We had been just the best of friends since we met at kindergarten when we were both aged 3.  She was a wonderful ‘fairy’ god mother to Jacqui and gave me unconditional love over all the years.  This is a photo of Sue taken in May.  She died on 12th July.  She was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and then died within a week,  with the most incredible bravery and acceptance.  We had a lovely celebration for her at The Pines here in Wellington, with lots of music, stories and photos. I still miss her lots but I am doing my absolute best to follow the instructions she gave in her ‘living will’ – “Raise a glass, have a laugh and get on with it.”  Inspirational!

There have been lots of other things happening too.  Jacqui and Matt are enjoying the little townhouse they bought in Stokes Valley and she is doing great in her job at ACC.   Melissa has had an excellent year at university and graduated in December.   She has returned to Vic to do her Honours year and Jamie is doing great at his job at Star-Mart by the airport.  Emma had a great final year at Queen Margaret’s College and is settling into Vic and her student flat on The Terrace.

I visit my mother, Mary, in Napier regularly.  She has infarction dementia and is increasingly happier to be close to her lovely services apartment at Princess Alexandra Retirement Village in Napier.  They look after her so well.  It is very comforting and reassuring to know she is so well looked after.

We had a good year at The Johnson Group in 2010. We were all so glad 2009 was behind us and in retrospect we did okay. Campbell Hepburn has joined us as a shareholding director and is doing a great job running the business.  I got out of his way and moved to part-time hours in September.   I have been allocated ‘special projects’ which includes working on getting our operations manuals into order and training new staff.

I have enjoyed this and the chance to relax a little – after ten years of working 50/60 hours per week.  My health is much improved in readiness for our big OE.  Grant and I really enjoy our Pilates exercise routines and we are both in the best shape we have been in for years.

On 12^th April we are off!  We fly to Santiago, Chile for a week. From there we fly to Caracus, Venezuela.  After that we have no set itinerary but do know that we want to travel up through the Caribbean islands, visit Jamaica and Cuba before flying to Mexico. From there we will head south through Central America – Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama etc.  We have a return ticket from Quito, Equador on 15^th October.

We have planned and worked towards this adventure for three years and it is very hard to believe it is finally going to happen.  I know we will miss all our family and friends, and they will miss us.  I am very grateful for all the support we have received towards achieving this dream.  We are very lucky that we have the opportunity, and are fit enough, to do our ‘intrepid journey’.  I am sure it is going to challenge us and we will come home with a fresh outlook on the world.

Watch this space for more posts from our travels!