Kia Ora! - (That's Maori for "hi", listed as one of 100 words New Zealanders should know)

And welcome to our blog. So many of our friends and family have asked us to keep in touch and send photos, so we have started this blog so that you may follow along on our adventure. We will try to post regularly. Bear in mind that it may take us a little while before we get settled, have reliable internet access, and get better acquainted with the blogging process.

T-minus 7 days until we will depart from Seattle AND 18 days until we depart for Wellington, New Zealand! That is assuming that everything goes smoothly.

What fun is an adventure that goes smoothly?

So to start off the craziness, we had a very successful 2-day garage sale, where we unloaded a lot of things we owned but had no idea why as well as a few items that we either no longer wanted or would not be of any use to us in New Zealand.

New Zealand's power is 240V 50Hz as opposed to our which is 110V 60Hz.

The biggest complication so far and the biggest surprise was learning that I apparently have very difficult fingers to fingerprint. The FBI rejected my fingerprints. And it took them 8 weeks to tell me that they were no good. So I had to go down to the Seattle Court House and work with a fingerprint technician and a scanning machine for about 45 minutes trying to get an acceptable set of fingerprints. I immediately Fed Ex'ed them back to the FBI but I am told I will have to wait anywhere from 4 to 12 weeks for these to be processed. If they get rejected again I have no idea what I will do or what my options will be.

The good news is that I am still going to New Zealand. The bad news is the paperwork just got more complicated and I will be filing for work visas twice.

Meanwhile, Eric and I continue to madly pack, sort and pack some more. We are trying to keep a good sense of humor and not kill each other in the process.

The most difficult part of this will be saying good-bye to our kitties. Mithral and Thor have been with us for 16 years and they are family. 3 airplanes, 20 plus hours, followed by 30 days of quarantine in a cage did not seem humane to us, so they will enjoy their retirement in sunny San Diego with "Mom/Sue" There will be tears!

Saying goodbye to family and friends is not easy either and we will miss all of you.

We hope that you enjoy following us on our adventure and if you find yourself in Wellington, New Zealand please let us know.

Cheers,

Stacy & Eric