The 40th Kilometre

I feel as though we have reached the 40^th kilometre.

For those of you who have not taken part in the 42 kilometre stretch that is a marathon, I will explain. Hitting the 40^th kilometre in a marathon, to me, has always been an elusive place. It is a milestone where almost all the work has been done, except for a few measly negotiable kilometres that stand between you and the finish line.  It is only a short distance that is keeping you from crossing the line and entering into that amazing, hard to reproduce feeling of exhaustion mixed with gratitude; the feeling that you can finally relax after months of hard work and sacrifice.  

There are always lots of people around for support and encouragement at the 40^th kilometre; they are exactly the kind of people you wished had been there around the deserted and unexciting 35th kilometre when you actually needed the encouragement. Most are suddenly eager to be involved, screaming things like “you’re almost there” (even though you still have some distance to cover), or, my personal favourite; “only one more hill to climb!” (When in fact there were 4 substantial inclines ahead). For a spectator, this is the part where things get exciting.

People do not run marathons because they are fun, or at least I don’t. They run them for the challenge, for the competition with themselves, the amazing adventures running can take you on, and for the undeniable feeling of self-accomplishment that you feel when crossing the finish line. People don’t move across the world because it is fun either. Okay, the end result, much like the marathon, is fun. But the process of moving across the world, that is the real marathon.

And so I find us now, at the 40^th kilometre of our own 2011/12 International Relocation Marathon. Our kilometres have brought us through mountains of paperwork, stressful disappointments, exciting developments, tough decisions, sad goodbyes and happy reunions. Through it we have been fuelled by faith, hope, excitement, and deep sense of adventure. With each passing kilometre we have checked off so many significant pieces to the puzzle: selling the house, finding a job, visa applications, transporting Huff, finding a place to live, etc, etc etc.   Now we wait for just on more check on the list: A licence to practise physiotherapy.

I won’t go into the boring details of the months of stress and hard work that obtaining a physiotherapy licence has taken me. Or, that my planning and my reality of this process have come to be an ironically stark contrast. Either way, I wait for the Board to finish their assessment, hopefully only for a week or so more, but no promises.

Let me explain. My job as a physiotherapist has allowed us to apply for a work sponsored visa in NZ. However, without a licence to practise in NZ, I cannot legally work as a physiotherapist, or be granted the work visa that has been approved on the basis of licencing. It is a vicious circle, which is until now, is the only thing keeping us from relaxing on the finish line. 

And so we wait.

Until then, the 40^th kilometre has brought us to a beautiful coastal beach town on the south western coast of the North Island, called Paraparaumu Beach. With a total population of 25,000 people, it is a beautiful place located approximately 50km north of Wellington.

We have rented a furnished beach house on an open ended contract in a quiet neighbourhood about 5 minute walk to the beach. The house has three bedrooms, and two bathrooms, which is a lot more space than we need, but the circumstances and price was favourable for a short term place. The backyard is huge and has a cute little garden and some friendly resident birds. We also have a lovely neighbourhood cat, which makes her way into our backyard almost daily for a nap under one of our big shady trees. I am interested to see if Jingles (my name for her) continues to come around once Huff is home. The house leaves some aesthetic details to be desired, but we have cleaned it up and made it our own for the meantime while we wait to find a more long term place to suit our needs.

Trent doing a training run last Friday on the Beach

Overall we love it here. My favourite thing is the beach.  The weather does not exactly scream beach weather, as the North Island is experiencing a rather cool summer at the moment, but it is perfect for long runs or walks on the beach.  Due to the fact that the tide comes right up onto the beach, the concept of white sandy beach has been washed out to sea. What it has left behind is a flat and firm packed down sand, that is perfect to walk or run on, drive on or play countless games.  On top of the terrain, the beach itself stretches for several kilometres, meaning you can run or walk for quite a long time before being forced back onto the roads. All factors considered the beach has been the obvious location of all our training runs since we have arrived. On top of that, there are sections of the beach designated to dogs, meaning they can be off leash and play free in the water and sand.

This leads me to mention our darling Catahoula. It seems she is much closer to the end of her personal marathon. She will be freed from quarantine this Monday morning with the wound up energy of a dog who has not been properly exercised for almost 2 weeks. We visited her on Saturday and she was so excited that she nearly knocked us both over.  Overall, she is looking great, well rested and completely unfazed by the whole airplane experience. The past few days have been the hardest on us, slowly passing the time until she can come home. Her homecoming will be another big check on our shortening list.

 So, with the cheering friends and family in place, we cross the 40^th kilometre with a sense of faith and hope for the remaining few strides.

The race clock keeps ticking, and so do we.

N.B: I composed this blog on Sunday, local New Zealand time, but was not able to post it until Tuesday, as we were waiting for our Internet to be installed. Huff is now at home and there have been some new developments. Keep posted and I will catch you up in the next day or two.