Early in 2004 our family disembarked in Auckland, New Zealand with all our earthly possessions in four suitcases and NZ$6 000 in our pockets. This was the beginning of a new life and adventure. We moved into a house that was part of my husband Toby’s employment package. He milked cows for a family farm, and we were dependant on the generosity of others. We got an old, rickety fold-out bench and two single bed mattresses from our employers and bought ourselves a cheap bed base with a sponge mattress from The Warehouse. I got an old double barrel washing machine. We purchased a kitchen set with all the most essential kitchen paraphernalia and were over the moon with our “new” possessions. We drove around in a slave car, which we borrowed from the person who had helped us to find work in New Zealand, until we could afford our own car. And with a mere NZ$2 800 we eventually bought our own second-hand car, with which we travelled far and wide.

June 2004 saw us doing the “gypsey run” with all the other milk farmers, and we moved to the next farm. There we once again bought a little second-hand lounge set, and at The Warehouse a cheap dining room table and chairs, which my husband assembled himself. I ventured into the Salvation Army and SPCA’s shops and bought second-hand bedlinen, clothes, plates, mugs and cutlery for next to nothing.

Slowly but surely, we transformed our house into a home, and slowly but surely, we started hoarding. After two years in New Zealand we were fortunate enough to buy our first home.  In the meantime, we got two other cars, as well as gardening tools, a large trampoline for the children and a new lounge set, to name but a few.

In the meantime, my husband had decided that a milk farm wasn’t his thing, and off he went to study nursing. After completing his studies, he decided to gain some experience in the Outback for six months. I have always been a woman who could make do without a husband, but with a teenager son in the house, I decided that it would be in my son’s survival interests to be closer to his dad’s mercy.

And so, we once again packed the suitcases and stored the furniture, because I wasn’t going to move all over again. The children and I flew to Darwin, planning on living with Tobie in Kalkaringi for the next six months. I would home-school the children. Six months turned into four years, however – of which furniture and homes were part and parcel. I taught at a nursery school and we lived happily. We got a lovable dog, Max, as well as a 2m x 4m plastic inflatable swimming pool (in summer, the temperature can easily reach 50 °C), a microwave oven, camping equipment and lawnmower – and a treadmill. Tobie loves to hunt, and got himself a few rifles and a new bakkie, with which he hunted wild camels, donkeys and cattle. And we camped out in the bush.

In the meantime, Tobie qualified as a nursing practitioner through further studies, but the employment opportunities in the Northern Territory were few and far between. He got a job in Queensland, and again we packed a truckload of hoarded “necessities” to take with us to Alpha, our new home town of 450 residents. We embarked on the 2 493 km journey from Darwin to Alpha with the bakkie, our dog, daughter and some of our earthly belonging on the back. My husband’s employment package again included an enormous old house (previously the doctor’s house and consultation rooms), complete with a fold-up couch and double bed. Yet again we bought a second-hand bed (someone had committed suicide and we got it at a very reasonable price). I bought a fold-up camping table and cheap Kmart chairs as a dining room set. Tobie bought the ever-important braai. For the first time in a long while I didn’t teach, because the school only has 35 pupils and there were no vacancies. As a result, I again started pursuing my love for all kinds of art. Paint, paint brushes, fabric, pens, pencils, canvasses and drawing boards now made up a part of the very important “necessities”.

While living in Kalkaringi, we also bought a holiday home in New Zealand (Coopers Beach). One day I saw a Cooper Beach nursery school’s advertisement for a teacher … And back we moved to New Zealand; this time the car and most of the “necessities” came along. The dog was flown to New Zealand at enormous cost, and our stored furniture were unpacked and dusted off. The house we bought had belonged to a fearless traveller, and it came with furniture and even car. Now we again had two houses and two cars.

Within two years we bought a restoration project and rebuilt the whole house. This was where I wanted to retire …

Alas! Four years later, despite a heavenly daily view of the Mangonui harbour, the grass had become greener on the other side … and we moved for the ninth time in 15 years. From the top of the Northern Island to the bottom of the Southern Island: Palmerston North.

I have a strong feeling that this won’t be the last move, however …