Thursday 9th December

Ok, I’ve done it, bought a house in Golden Bay, at Banhaim. NZD $262,500 for a 4 bedroom, 2 kitchen, 2 bathroom, plus spa bath and a 0.2 hectare section in the valley

It has been sort of set up as a B&B, but the people who own it are really a bit stuck in some other time zone. There is a lot of finishing work that needs to be done, and a lot that needs to be ripped out and redone. But as my sister has been on at me about for the last week, it means an income, that pays the main bills, and I have enough land free to do what I want as well

Good things about it, it is close, about 1 mile, from The Naked Possum and the start of the Kaituna Track, and about a ½ hour drive to the start of the Heaphy Track, so there will be the passing trade from the people walking both of those.

It’s in Golden Bay, which means the highest sunshine hours in NZ, ok, it also means that when it is winter, you see snow on the hills, the valleys and the ground. Which is also a plus as you get the winter people down there as well.

Next thing to do, is learn how to run a B&B, put up a good website advertising it, and find people able to do the stuff I don’t do all that well, like make beds, clean and have a good colour sense when it comes to decorations.

I may have to contact my ex-sister in law who runs Irelands best B&B for advice.

As anyone who knows me will know, I’m a moving target for doing things, never the same thing twice.

I’m taking a deep breath here, it’s like climbing all the way up to top of the tallest diving tower, walking out to the edge of the board, and looking down

Since Mum died, I have no back up, what I do from now on, is all my responsibility, no one to suggest other ideas. I came back from the Solomons, that was my way of clearing out all the crap that happened to me in Ireland, so now, this is me doing what I want to on my own and spending the next whenever doing what I want.

I used to have a wall hanging, a quote from Jewels in the Heart

“He took them to the ocean

and they fled in fright

He took them to the desert

And they returned to the city

He took them to the mountains

And threw them over

And they flew”

That is how I feel now, or the Fool in the Tarot, stepping off the precipice, into the unknown.

So I have 2 new things to do now, well, in 8 weeks when settlement date is, well, one new thing, run a B&B, the other is set up a nursery on the land available, which won’t take long, it’s the 3rd? 4th time now? 2 Morriefield Poly Tunnels, 8m by 2.35m for $4,000, a bit extra for propagation stuff, tubes, bags, irrigation, which I’ve not long done for the same thing in Honiara, ok, income from both.

Plus any other work available there, with the training courses, engineering shops needing qualified welders, nurseries.