Settling in...

Been a week, starting to settle in here.  Been swimming nearly every day, bought a new family vehicle which we named “Lil John”, rented a house in Arorangi and picked up the keys today... all going to plan so far... here’s a word from the kids!!

Alina:  Learning to drive motor scooter. Seemed to go okay until I dropped the bike, bent a pedal and got this lovely burn on my right leg from the exhaust. May take awhile to get my license...

'Lil John'

Connor:   Is fairly certain that the humidity alone will shave the odd pound off a body down here! Dunno if I’m lighter or just light headed haha

Tere:  Chicken fights are fun. Nearly stepping on sea urchins (kina) are not.

Morganne:  Tere’s right. Chicken fights are fun. I also like doing under-water flips and fights. I do NOT like getting water up my nose ( Dunno how that works though. I mean, I’m wearing snorkel goggles for pete’s sake!!! )  

Landing in Raro...

Well, here it is, Day 3 in Raro.  We have our Cook Island driver’s licenses, bank accounts sorted, shopped for groceries and looked at a rental house.  We have also been to the beach five times, four of those times have been just across the road from our “holiday” house, Are Tupuna.  I think I must be acclimatizing because I was commenting to Ina on how cold I felt, after getting out of the water and standing in the breeze.  He laughed and said that I’m complaining about the cold while getting a tan.  That didn’t take long.  T

Landed on Mon, now it`s Wed... I could get used to this place!  Still finding our feet and the kids are loving it so far.  New record for me, swimming 3 days in a row... could get used to that too!  I went to get my C.I. drivers licence today.   I needed class A & B (Car & Motorcycle)... never had a motorcycle licence before so expecting to do a practical... clerk says ``have you ridden before`` I say `` Yes, but that was 2 years ago``... ``PASS!!!``.  Oh well, not expecting to fall off.  I 

Nuff said for now

Jumping off...

Tonights our last night in Canada.  Vancouver will be our "jumping off" point.  Found an interesting site about Cook Islanders, heres the link...

http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/cook-islanders/1

It's about Cook Islanders leaving the islands for a better life.  One of the photo captions mentions phosphate mining on Makatea Island.  Dad was one of those who went to dig "bird poo", then left for New Zealand.  I hope he found what he was looking for... I hope we do too.

This is Tania writing at the moment.  The bags are packed, the boys are snoring and I'm ready to hit the hay.  I think that once our mountain of luggage is checked in, we have gone through American customs and security, the excitement will kick in.  A bit too tired right now to feel it.  The past two weeks have been a great time to catch up with friends and family but the drawn out farewell has been emotionally draining.  Really looking forward to hitting the beach.  Ka kite til next time.

Travelling B.C.

Got a chance to update.   Arrived Vancouver Island Aug 20.  Stopped in to see Temaeu's Grandmother in Kamloops and a good buddy Dave...

A short "pilgrimage" to see boyhood heroes Jimi Hendrix & Bruce Lee...

Then over to the island to see family & friends...

Next step will be "jumping off"...

Sold!!!

Today was the possesion date and the moneys gone through.  The new owners are Ossie & Christina.  Keys were handed over at about 1:00pm and we hit the road.  "Meitaki Ranuinui" to Ossie & Christina for getting us started! (by buying the house)

Guess we're officially homeless and unemployed!  Arrived Hinton about 5:30pm, had a big steak dinner and now getting ready to hit the sack... Kamloops B.C tomorrow.  Stopping in to see a friend & "The Greatest"... kids Great Grand-Mother... shes a grand old lady.

Nuff said for now...

Last Night in Edmonton

All journeys start somewhere I guess!

Load out day today.  Right now, it's 1:30am and we're finishing up the packing... this time tomorrow, should be snoozing in Hinton!  Kids have done a great job... (mostly)

Everyones a little too tired to be excited right now... that should change by noon tomorrow (or later today...).

Next stop B.C.

All journeys start somewhere...

First Post in a new blog about our Journey.

We're the George Family currently living in Edmonton Alberta, Canada.  We've sold the house and are moving to the Cook Islands in the South Pacific.  My name is Ina & I am the father/husband.  My extended family is from the Cooks and for me, I'm going to build a house for my wife & family on my land in Atiu.  I'd be surprised if anyone reading this (who doesn't know me) actually know's where it is!

The  wife/mother in all this is Tania George (nee Davis) and she's fulfilling a childhood dream.  (Long story... that'll be another post).  Also, she has an Atiuan name,  "Temaeu O Te Rangi" given to her by my father so you'll hear me referring to her every now and then by that name.

Our children are Connor, Alina, Teremataiapo & Morganne.  They know where they come from in Canada, time to show them their Cook Island heritage...

Anyways, this blog will run a while so don't expect a post every day!... we're aiming for once a week (or there about's) if we're lucky!...

If this is something that might interest you, then follow along!... might be fun.

Heres a pic of Atiu...

and heres a pic of Edmonton

Nuff said, for now...