Rowan and I are driving along the Lewis Pass heading to Nelson, “I had a thought. Instead of buying a camper or traveling overseas how about we walk the length of the country?” We had a brief discussion and he said “before we get deeper, just say yes or no.” Of course said yes, without thinking hard about it. Now that the decision was made, now what? How do we get to the point of putting our backpacks on and walking out the door?

At this time of our lives we were up shit creek without a paddle. Life had just been dumped on us (again) with the force of a mighty earthquake. In this pickle we were already discussing a “full out.” Out of Christchurch, out of business arrangements, out of responsibilities. This was no simple task, we had three 40 foot containers of antiques and collectibles that needed to be shipped to an auction house. A 3 car garage overflowing with more vintage goodies. Not to mention a 315sqm home with a maximalist approach to decor. Oh and don’t let me forget 2 acres consisting of 7 cows, boats, vehicles and sheds to clear. Prior to thinking about the house and begin the renovation we had all of the above too clear. I was at breaking point, we were at breaking point. Both of us on the verge of a full mental breakdown (I went numb). Somehow through this shit storm we managed to not break up, our communication is/was the strongest part of our relationship. We were both utterly miserable but neither of us was the cause. We made the decision to try our best for one another and knew it wouldn’t be easy.

It took a long time to get to the point where the renovating could begin. The day the house was finally photographed felt like a huge step forward. Our heads were full of doubt. Our home in Christchurch is located in the heart of a red zone. We had agents give us appraisals with estimates between $500k – $1.5m. There was no data for agents to go off, they could estimate it’s worth non as is and non red zone, but how much did the zoning effect the price? No one knew, there had been no open market sales in the suburb. We had purchased it in 2019 privately, our guess was we underpaid for it but wasn’t sure. Four weeks till the auction felt like it flew by but went incredibly slow all at the same time. Auction day came, it was the most nervous I have been in my adult life. Listening to the bidding was a surreal moment. Afterwards I was in a daze, it hadn’t had a chance to sink in. 6 months of battling through belongings and more things going wrong than right we had done it, we had sold our house. I don’t drink a lot but I did that afternoon, I was quite tipsy indeed. It took nearly a full week to really sink in, the week was booked up each day, family coming and going it hadn’t had a chance to register.

Our original settlement was to be two weeks after the auction, this was extended for the people who won and we had a 10 week settlement. We have been itching to go, but it has been good having the extra few weeks to get organised.