As an artist I keep creative diaries. Often they are full of lists of things to do, plus little sketches of things I like or works in progress. I have a whole stack of them and one day my children or grandchildren (if our progeny want to go down that path) will have them to pour over or biff in the skip. I hope it's not the latter. Nearly 12 years ago I started a new one at the beginning of our great adventure. We decided throw our cards in the air and see where they landed and go off to my birthplace and live and work. Our O.E. But with kids in tow. So no Oktoberfest and combie vans for us, but we did hope to see something of Europe. Our parents were slightly horrified that we'd go with no jobs and subject our children to British schools (both sets are Poms). After all, THEY escaped to New Zealand. But they didn't try and talk us out of it, only hoped we'd get sufficiently homesick to come back on our NZ not UK passports.
I kept an almost daily, then weekly visual diary which I am going to share with you all on a weekly basis. I will not apologise for illegible handwriting- you'll just have to squint. Sometimes there will be long tracts of self pity and whingeing, but that's life. Warts, drawings and all, this is not a travel log of a family on an expensive holiday. I learned much about myself and my family over the 22 months we were away. And it starts here on our last day in Wellington...
