Ciao Italia

 Italy July 2021

A whirlwind trip to Italy to say goodbye to our house; 

our European summer home for the last 16 years, now sold. 

The views from the house never disappoint

Preparing it for sale involved checking everything worked, removing the contents and cleaning it thoroughly. 

As we had not been there since mid 2019, lots to be done. 

Deciding what to ship to where, had to be done ahead of our visit from guess work and photos. On arrival, we found we had more stuff to sort than anticipated, mainly boxes not opened since moved to Italy. Needless to say, Sarah and I spent almost 2 weeks sorting, itemising, packing, chucking, cleaning, scrubbing, until the house was spick and span and everything sorted. We went to the Isola Ecologica (local recycling centre) with 7 car loads; 2 extra car loads went to the clothes recycling bin. Surprising what you take with you around the world. Sarah had not had a sort out like this since she left the UK in the 90s. Evenso, professional packing and removal took 4 more days. 

It was sad to leave, but also a big relief. In one word: maintenance: no more pruning of roses; 2-3 hours mowing the lawn; tending the garden. No more negotiation in Italian with the electrician, plumber, security man, shutter man, heating engineer, gas man, WIFI provider, gardener, cleaner, DIY person; local farmer; pool man; person to mend the track; to sort out the latest issue. 

We will miss the pool, the fresh produce, the beautiful evening light, the excellent food and wine,

the cycling, the Sibillini mountains; all the characters we met along the way; holidays with friends and family. Our time in Le Marche is something we will always cherish.

We had to leave Italy via Pisa (closest place where we could find a COVID test result in English) in order to comply with UK regulations. 

This gave us a few days spare to cram in a quick visit to Sienna

 where the truffles are as big as rocks.

2 operas in Torre Del Lago (home of Puccini) 

a sculpture park outside Sienna; we met the owners and had a tour of their house. Last 5 nannies were all from NZ!

Gourmet dinners in Volterra; 

paddling at sunset on the beach at Via Reggio, after everyone else has gone for dinner

hair raising/dusty tour of the Carrara marble mines; Huge blocks cut from the side and from inside the mountains

sculpture in Pietra Santa

the garden at Villa Reale Di Marlia, now owned by the Swiss;

wall walking in Lucca;

and Pisa (up and around the leaning tower).

Not many people here.

Inside the hollow tower. 

Imposing

Sarah in her Waiheke T shirt with the famous tower behind.

So far we have avoided quarantine in Italy but had to isolate with my parents on return to UK. 

After 3 negative COVID tests in 6 days, we are now free to roam. Let the fun begin.

Happy Christmas from Jo and Sarah at:4 Ayrburn Ridge, Millbrook, Queenstown, RD1, Otago 9371 New Zealand

What a strange year.

COVID 19 has affected everyone. Government has restricted civil liberty for the common good in unprecedented ways. Staying home all day is not something anyone is used to, but many of us have learned to enjoy.

Luckily for us, when the music stopped we were in New Zealand. NZ promptly slammed shut its borders, closed all shops except for supermarkets and prohibited everyone from straying far from home. And not many people arrive here untracked/ illegally by sea. (Although some German yachties did emerge on the shore post sailing holiday and post lockdown and were promptly arrested and deported, and their vessel impounded.) We therefore only had to endure a couple of months of lockdown. We have been free, since mid- May, to go where we want, with whom we want, when we want (as long as it is within NZ). Freedoms we have previously taken for granted. Now at Christmas, with parts of the rest of the world getting hit with 2nd or 3rd waves of the COVID virus, people dying and/or getting sick, we consider ourselves lucky and privileged. But the economic consequences are being felt here as international tourism is a massive contributor to NZ’s GDP and export earnings.

This year has been sad for many other reasons too. Simon Pearson (Sarah’s’ older brother) died suddenly in Thailand on 1 August (after 1 week in hospital); two of our friends in Arrowtown and a friend from Jo’s Warwick MBA days died from cancer. Jo’s Mum, Barbara, had a stroke during the first UK lockdown in April. Being admitted to hospital and remaining there without visitors must have been a terrible experience. Thankfully she was released after only 2 weeks and her speech has recovered somewhat but not fully, and as a result Barbara is very frustrated. We are delighted we can chat to Jo’s parents by Facetime every week.

Memories of 2020 are marked by lockdown (pre, during and post). Our calendars are a scrawl of events crossed through and a pile of credit notes sit in the drawer.

Before lockdown in mid March, we cycled the Alps to Ocean route between Mt Cook and Oamaru on the East coast; played in the NZ masters golf in Taupo and Masters golf in Dunedin. We moved house one week before lockdown selling up in Queenstown (including our Air BnB business) and moving to Millbrook (20 km down the road). We miss the view of Lake Wakatipu, but we are happy we made the move.

We used the lockdown time to unpack, chuck out rubbish, plan renovations, dig up all our red tussocks and explore our new surrounds. We found out that we can get up a mountain and still be within 5km of home. We cycled to Gibbston Valley (full of vineyards and a scenic gorge) on the tracks and came back along the main road and saw no cars. We got our road bikes out too as it was safe enough to take to the roads. We chatted to everyone, and they chatted to us - when we were in the garden working every day. We enjoyed meeting our new neighbours at a socially distanced street party (BYO everything). Jo started cooking every recipe from ‘Lose Weight for Good” by Tom Kerridge with the aim of completing it by 31 Dec (almost done – and now down to the less popular recipes, like cabbage tart, sweet potato and black bean burritos) and shared some of the results with neighbours and friends. It was an interesting exercise as apart from no weight loss being noticed some of the meals were outstanding and they would never have been attempted had we selectively picked at the recipes. We are wondering whether to do this with our other recipe books – or else a new year’s resolution could be only to cook something that has not been cooked before. 

Jo also took up bridge and has taken some fabulous photos. Click on the link below to view a selection.

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipOROhG1ztz7WG45gq7ZOFOIqJjapAVyqOGgC8yfVqAEHXRq72TAdAV9n9DAnvok1w?key=YThLYmFwd2NEVWhHQUpmSE44eEJMV2laSkN6Y3ln

Sarah took up singing with Opera North and piano playing and has been attending on-line art lectures. Jo has insisted on the use of headphones when the piano practice starts. 

On-line shopping and the post became far more important – in fact, coincidentally Sarah has just received a book that Michael sent from the UK on 8 August and 6 biro refills have just arrived (from Hong Kong) in a large box measuring 28cm x 28 x 8. They would have fitted in an envelope.

We have to admit that we actually enjoyed the lockdown period as the area was so peaceful and calm, and we were forced to do things we do not normally do. We realise however that it was and continues to be, tough for many.

Post lockdown has been a blur of activity.

First priority was to build the wine cellar in the garage. We also designed and built a schist shack (workshop) extension on the house for Sarah’s woodwork and candle making equipment (and various other toys), boarded a loft, moved the sink in the kitchen, started afresh on the garden, treated the floors, upgraded the windows, replaced the carpets and “feature” painted some walls – to make the house less white.

A garden party was planned for someone’s 60th (at the end of October) but this proved too ambitious as the house and garden looked like a bomb site at that time so the party was postponed to January 2021. Coming of age was nevertheless celebrated in style with friends, good food and wine, and cards, letters and e-mails from all corners of the globe.

Even the cultural calendar has been better than usual – with a visit to a little hall in Arrowtown by Simon O’Neill who should have been in Berlin singing Tristan on the night we heard him, and a mind blowing array of online offerings from opera houses, concert halls and theatres around the world. 

Sarah has won most improved golfer of the year at Arrowtown; Jo has been drugged up on painkillers and anti inflamms with a tennis elbow and disc problem but still hit her first sub par round a few weeks ago. We both won comps in The Bay of Islands in October and at Millbrook - so the winnings tally is looking very healthy. Not enough unfortunately for either of us to renounce amateur status.

Sarah has been forced to take up bridge, and is quite enjoying it – especially if weeding duty is thereby avoided.

We have done lots of cycling and walking - cycled the Clutha Gold Trail, Gutbuster and Remutaka trails. Walked the Tora Walk, Humpridge, Dart River, Caples and Greenstone, Queen Charlotte Tracks, Catlins, Welcome Track on the west coast (which leads to natural hot pools).

The possum catch on Queenstown Hill continues to go well.

Our Christmas week is more of the same:

Golf, bridge, singing, piano practice, cycling, gardening, drinks and dinner with friends. Weather permitting we plan to do a big walk on Christmas Day and return home in the evening to a slow cooked dinner.

Who knows what 2021 will bring. No one forecast the annus horribilis that 2020 turned out to be. We dare not even whisper where we hope to visit next year – after the postponement of Glyndebourne, the Brisbane Ring, Puccini festival in Tuscany, Rossini festival in Le Marche, Morocco walking tour, golf in Spain and Portugal, visits to friends and family overseas etc etc. 

Let’s hope the vaccine proves to be the cure that we are all hoping it will be, and that we will all have learned something from the pandemic.

Wishing you a very happy Christmas and good health and happiness for 2021.

Love 

Jo and Sarah

xx

2019 Christmas reflections

Sometimes reflecting on a past year is the ultimate reminder that life is never as long as we'd like it to be.

As we write this, horrendous bush fires are raging over 2 million hectares of Australia, some very close to where we used to live in Sydney and the Blue Mountains in NSW. Our thoughts go out to all those affected in whatever way and especially to those battling the fires and struggling to save lives, homes, flora and fauna.

The summer has not yet reached us in Queenstown as strange weather hits the Southern hemisphere. Torrential rain, gales and snow melt means Lake Wakatipu has been close to record highs. Sand bags have been out, the cycle tracks flooded and jetties underwater. All this rain here, when in Australia, there are many places on compulsory water rationing. Such extreme weather patterns are disturbing; are we ruining our world for the generations to follow? We travelled north to Auckland last week to witness the fabulous pohutakawa tree of NZ.

2019 has been another action packed and fun-filled year for us. We finally made it to the homes of a number of friends, and thoroughly enjoyed the hospitality.

There have been too many great days/evenings to list all of them or everyone.  Here are a few favourites:

Hikes/Tramping
The impressive ridge on the Kepler track;.

the muddy but incredibly varied Humpridge track in the south west corner of the S. Island of NZ.

The National Parks of SW USA (Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, Bryce, Zion, Mesa Verde) which were superb and fascinating in their rock formations

Adventurous sports
Jet boating with Kjersti;

white water rafting with Tom Ryan.
Hobbit, bravely attempting a paddle boarding lesson with Sarah in 10C Lake Wakatipu (until she fell in); packrafting and camping trips for Sarah.

Cycling
The West Coast Wilderness cycle way with Marti and Robbie at the end of February.

Sarah finally bought an e bike after getting fed up being left for dust by me. Now guess who is at the front, leading the charge down the cycle trails?

Art
‘Big Mama’ - she had a long voyage to get to NZ and we are both sure she lost weight (and height) en route!

and ‘Sarah Jane goes shopping’  (13kg hand luggage from Vancouver to London)

Two new arrivals in our sculpture collection.

The Chuhily exhibition at Kew Gardens with Jude

Culture
Opera picnic in a local private garden with Diane, Krysia and Hil and Dave.

New York and London for cultural immersion (our record is 6 operas and 4 plays in 9 days including a Wagner Ring Cycle) Catching up with Kin Lam

and our regular visit to Glyndebourne, Macerata (with Monique and Robert) and Pesaro Opera festivals

Golf
Sarah won her first golf competition in Wanaka in March (along with Jo, Kath and Jill) and is still challenged by the game. Pre golf warm up...

We are fortunate to have played some awesome courses. Our favourites are Grey Wolf and Copper Ridge in BC Canada (beware the bears)

and Cape Kidnappers in Hawkes Bay NZ (windy, slopey, tricky chasms and cliffs) with Linda and Cam.


Both on Par NZ tours.









Always love Jacks Point closer to home.

Quirky and memorable places we have stayed in
La Torre in Porto Novo (a Napoleonic tower on the beach in Le Marche) with Marti and Robbie

with sunset dinner on the beach at Il Clandestino (Michelin starred chef at v reasonable price) and Il Molo.
A rooftop apartment in Florence overlooking Ponte Vecchio with Jude

Celebrations
New Years Eve with fireworks and champagne on the balcony with Mum and Dad in Queenstown.

After years of telling us that New Zealand was only for young people, they finally visited. They are still young at heart.

Black tie picnic and opera at Glyndebourne with Arild and Dorette (a belated wedding celebration)

Carolyn and Mark’s 60th party in Sydney - every year we are amazed at how quickly we are all aging!

New stuff
Despite Sarah’s NY resolution not to take up anything else, we both joined the local residents group to help out with trapping on Queenstown Hill. Sarah screamed like a baby the first time she had to touch a dead possum, so Jo chucked the first few.

Now, Sarah is an expert at servicing the traps.
Jo is learning bridge and has joined the local club and is always coming bottom or close to it.

Health stuff
So far so good. Lots of check-ups and scans. More of the same to come.
Jo is still in remission from myeloma. Sarah is fit as ever; still an exuberant, bouncy, competitive, (i.e. irritating) exercise bunny.

House stuff
A year review is never complete without a comment about our latest house renovation project.
We finally finished our Cowgill Grange house renovation and launched the property for rental.
https://www.sykescottages.co.uk/cottage/Lake-District-Cumbria-The-Lake-District-Cowgill/Cowgill-Grange-961447.html

We are both proud of how it’s scrubbed up.

Thanks to Michael and Eric for their support, encouragement, dinners and for all the plants donated to what we now call The “Austwick Hall”  bank.

What next?
Well, we like shaking things up.
We have just sold our home at 38 Edinburgh Drive in Queenstown and will move out by 17 March.

Lots of reasons why, but we are both happy with our choice. We will miss the views and the garden.

We are still figuring out where next/our options; we will probably try to stay in the Queenstown area. Q1 2020 is going to be busy, exciting and probably a tad bit stressful.
One thing’s for sure; there is never a dull moment!

Meanwhile, thank you to everyone who has made an effort to catch up with us in 2019. We love sharing great food and wine with interesting people and doing some activity. Long may it last.

Whatever you are doing, wherever you are, we hope you have a wonderful festive holiday.

Hope to see you in 2020, somewhere in the world.

Lots of love
Jo and Sarah
xxx