Messy Xmas!

We're off on a road trip for 11 days and will be contactable by Skype at Bernie's brother over xmas.

Here's one last (messy) video of Will

Happy xmas to one and all,
Love the Wandering Whits - still living the dream! x

From pillar to post!

The madness continues! We have had to vacate our house every day to allow prospective buyers through our house (fingers crossed still!). We have also had to organise a rental property in Kerikeri and plan for removals of all our belongings, the shipment of Bobby (our dog), ferry bookings, leaving parties (hic!) plus all of the typical admin that goes along with changing address and moving. I am entitled to a relocation package, due to being made redundant, but the Ministry of Education are bloody slow so we don't really know what's happening there...

Despite this chaos, our William is still a joy to be around and makes us laugh with tears every day. He rarely cries, he still sleeps really well and has us in stitches as he tries to imitate what we say!

Here he is eating chicken a drumstick

He always has natural yogurt after dinner and gets proper messy! His bib is a god-send and he has quickly learnt to fish around in there as the meal progresses!

I have had to sell Dorris - our beloved Mini that has not been given a huge amount of love since Will came along. She was a great car to us for over 3 years and was so cheap to run. The funniest moment was when Bernie, my parents and I were shooting around Nelson one day and we descended a really steep hill - we got to the T-junction at the end and she wouldn't stop due to the combined weight and her old, caliper brakes! I had to throw a left-hand turn and pray there was nothing coming! Needless to say, we didn't take Will in her! The new owner is using her as a project car so she should get the love and attention she deserves!

Will is sitting up now and crawling so quickly we are glad to be leaving our house with its ranging veranda.

I have dug out my SLR style camera and got some great close-ups as Will polished off marmite on toast:

Here's Will getting stuck into Flick the Fire Engine

We'll miss his aquatic nursery!

So the ferry is booked for Dec 23rd and we plan to stay with Paul, Shirley and Bradley in Hamilton over Xmas. We will do a spot more travelling and join friends in Northland for New Year before moving into our rental around Jan 3rd... they are the loose plans, who knows what will actually happen - its sure to be an adventure!

We wish all of you a very merry festive season and hope that we have even more visitors next year!

Love from Chris, Bernie and Will x x x

Moving North

I've just got back from the Bay of Islands where I've been looking at places to live and got to know my new Science Department a lot better. My new boss kindly put me up in her huge mansion overlooking the Bay of Islands. Paihia is a beach heaven and has some funky bars and cafes:

This was my view as I woke up on my 34th Birthday:

Now I'm back with my beloved family. Will is on great form and trying to get out of his cot

All we've got to do is sell our house, unfortunately we are having the worst weather of our time here and the garden is a swamp... we've had about 50 groups come and look though so fingers crossed!

What a month!

I know I sound like a scratched record, but Will is really thriving, as we all are. He is crawling now click here and talking incoherently (just like his father!) and can sit up unaided. He has never refused any food and eats all meals with us - including curry, marmite, fish, chicken drumsticks and steak - despite not having teeth! He still feeds himself, which is far messier than his spoon-fed friends, but more fun for us all! His coordination is also improving heaps as a result too.

You can watch him eat here


Quite literally living the dream! We eat our on the veranda most evenings as the weather is so good, and spillage is mopped up efficiently by Bobby! Our boy has been successfully using his potty for number two's for two months now - we're so proud of him!


In the past month I have been made redundant, got a new job in a completely new but equally beautiful part of the country and have put our house on the market. We are in the process of trying to buy a section of land on which we hope to build a house... So a month of painting, DIY, job hunting and researching parts of the country we would happily live in has kept us very busy - life is never dull in this household, but this has been a rather exhausting time. Fortunately we have got rid of Sky TV as we don't have time to watch much TV. My home brew has tasted especially nice with the warm weather and after a busy day of manual labour! Banana beer was 'interesting', but oddly refreshing!



Our new destination is aptly named the Bay of Islands and is situated in the subtropical region of Northland, at the top of the North Island. I have a permanent job and therefore stability, and wont have to teach a raft of different subjects like I do at present. We are hoping to live close to the water so we can use the kayaks and swim more in open water... it really is a sea and island paradise with a lot of bush and hills inland. We have friends in the area and we feel very positive about the move now - particularly as our only family here might finally come and visit us now (luv ya P&S! x)

Will has been swimming each week and he loves chasing after his little turtle - he kicks and splashes, but is no Michael Phelps yet!



We still have much to sort out - we just pray that our house sells quickly so we can pack up and get on the road. It will be great if we can spend Xmas with Paul and Shirley and introduce our boy to them before getting up to our new home in early Jan. School starts at the end of Jan so a few weeks getting to know the area will be excellent.

I'll try to keep this updated more frequently, but we have had so little time recently. We certainly don't have a boring life!

Love to one and all, keep smiling and keep well.
Love from Chris, Bernadette and Willsy! x x x