An update from your long lost friends in NZ

[Peter Hendricks]

Dear friends,

It has been a very very long time since I last wrote to you. Well, we have been living the quiet life these last few years, mowing lawns and not doing much else. Here are some pictures of our little farm: https://photos.app.goo.gl/cFqngFhcQAvDhLAk9

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Su never bothered to get her NZ driver's licence, so after one year she was no longer allowed to ride or drive here. Last year I sold my bike to a good friend (with 200000km on the clock!) and he is very happy with it. We kept Su's bike, but just about the only use it got was when I had to leave our truck in the shop for repairs, so I could get home. It is now for sale on Trademe.

Meanwhile, Su got a few health problems, probably a delayed effect from the chemotherapy. First, it was severe hay fever that went away every time she left NZ and came back the moment she stepped off the plane in Auckland airport. She was diagnosed with allergies to grass! Not a good thing to have when you mow lawns for a living! That went away, only to be replaced with an itchy scaly rash, starting on her head and spreading all over her body. At that point she decided she had enough and stopped working. We decided to sell our business and move to Thailand, to be closer to her family. It took a year for our business to sell, but in March it was all over. Since I will probably not be allowed to work in Thailand I am now unofficially retired.

Last year we bought a patch of land a few km from Su's family home. It's a 2 ha rice paddy that we want to transform into our home and where Su wants to grow fruit and veges, mostly for our own consumption. You can see it on Google Streetview here. A couple of months ago Su went for a visit and had some earth works started, which have to settle through the rainy season. The plan is to hire a container home to live there, while we build our own house from mud bricks. When Su returned she surprised me: she has inscribed herself at an open university to become an English teacher.

Now this has landed in our driveway:

We bought this shiny new container, which will become our storage shed after it has been shipped to Thailand.

A little further down the road are plans to build our own solar power supply and change our bike and car to electric. We are both very much looking forward to our new adventures.

Kind regards,

Peter & Su.