15th February 2006

Jen is back to school and Will is back to computers and house planning. 

We've had visits from Dave and Paula who now live in Jakarta.  They enjoyed the visit so much, they've made an offer on some land!!  We've also had a quick trip to Christchurch to see Larisa who is home from South America visiting her sick dad.  We had fun going to a movie, coffee, pub, dinner and lots of chatting.

If that is not all enough, we went to the Rippon Music Festival which is held every 2 years in the Rippon Vineyard on the shores of Lake Wanaka....Fantastic!!

The house is making real progress with a projected start date of April.  We have a builder all lined up, the engineer is drawing up plans and we are ordering soil for the rammed earth, wood for floors etc.  There are many small decisions to be made daily.

Lar de Ishmael Orphanage Appeal.

Please be assured that every cent of the money donated will go to improving the children's lives.  It will pass directly from Will and Jen to Denise to Crispin, the orphanage director.

Thank you from the children of Lar de Ishmael, Crispin, Denise plus Will and Jen.

17th January 2006

Will & Jen recording podcast number 12

Happy New Year to you all.  We've had a great time so far during Jen's Christmas holidays and she still has three more weeks left before school starts back.  We've had lots of visitors including Colin & Diane, Will's dad plus Pierre & Steve. 

It's been quite windy for the last 10 days though it looks like that weather is coming to an end and the hot still days of summer are returning.  We are looking forward to Dave & Paula's visit next week though before that we are off to Lake Ohau for the weekend.  We are enjoying pottering around the caravan and garden doing odd jobs, swimming, BBQing on our new BBQ, and thinking of things to do with our growing mountain of ripe tomatoes, basil and coriander.

22nd December 2005

We are off today to Christchurch for Christmas.  Busy busy busy with parties, BBQ's, hot weather and pre-xmas work.

We hope you all have a Merry Christmas with friends and family.

Will and Jennie

20th December 2005

Will's brother Michael and his wife Sally gave birth to a healthy baby boy today named Riley Peter Whio Croxford.  A fantastic addition to the family!!

5th December 2005

Things are getting back to normal around here, though with Christmas looming, it's a busy time of year.  We both have Christmas parties coming up and we've been planning our holiday break.  Calling it a break is a bit of a misnomer as we've been planning our holiday schedule. 

Will is on "Pending Uncle Alert" as we wait for news of Michael and Sally's baby.  This will be the first baby born on the Croxford side of the family which is exciting.

Our podcast number 9 was listened to by more people than all the previous podcasts.  It's a pity it had a poor audio quality and was a bit glum.  Will has spent several hours engineering the latest podcast out today to ensure a better show.

It's been hot over the last week with temperatures in the mid 20's every day plus nice balmy evenings.  It's dry, very dry. 

28th November 2005

I updated the website today and did the first podcast in a month.  It's good to be settling down to a normal routine again after so much travel and upheaval.  We've now go a Frappr map for you all to add your location to.  It'll be interesting how far and wide you are all spread.

21st November 2005

I'm home after two and a half weeks away!  It's so good to be home as it seems like I've barely been here over the last couple of months.  I wouldn't change that time I've spent with Mum and the family for the world.

I'll tell you all about it in a few days once I get through all the bills, messages, emails and work correspondence.  So check back in a day or two for a new podcast and an update of this blog.

Thank you all for the support and messages of condolence.  I'll personally reply to all of you once I get settled in.

Cheers

Will

28th October 2005

We're back!!  We went to Tekapo for the long weekend with Rob & Mish and their boys Paddy and George (Will and his wee friend Paddy pictured). 

After that Jen came home to Wanaka and Will headed up to Chch to see his mum who was in town for an Education conference.  Will got back yesterday and things are returning to normal around here.  Both of us have been busy with work and gardening.  Now that the vege garden is plowed, we've installed the irrigation system and planted lettuce, onions, strawberries, tomatoes, basil, gooseberry, coriander and more.  Tomorrow we plan on planting a bunch more vege's, excuse the pun.

Will has 'spruced' up the website setup so that the podcasts can be longer and easier to manage.  Check out our latest podcast number 8!!!

We'd love some feedback about the website, blog and podcast.

11th October 2005

We've hired a small tractor to plow the 1/4 acre vege garden.  Still haven't posted the latest podcast yet as too busy....sorry all.

6th October 2005

Just got back from an evening tour around the trees.  No rabbit damage and lots of spring vigor.  We took this shot of the new tunnel-house while wandering back to the caravan.

5th October 2005

We got back from our trip up to Takaka yesterday.  We tramped the Abel Tasman track, visited Will's parents and stopped off in Christchurch for a few days.  There is more about the Abel Tasman Track here including some photo's.  More is coming...Will hasn't had time to compile the Abel Tasman podcast number 7....so it'll have to wait until the weekend. 

Will's Mum is the same which is good.  His Aunty Helen and Cousin Emma were over visiting from Melbourne.  It was really nice to see them!  In Christchurch we saw most of Jennie's family and went out for a meal and a few beers with Rob.

We are happy to be home and have lots to do on the land in the next few weeks.  This is a busy time of year in the garden with planting planting and more planting.  The caravan is filling up with baby tomato plants too tender to go outside yet and we have 1000's of tussock seeds on the go.

Will is working the next two days in Wanaka and then it's the weekend to catch up on Spring cleaning.  Jen heads back to school on Monday so we are enjoying the last week of the holidays. 

Here is a photo of Jen Skyping Ris today.  NZ to Ecuador for free...have you not got Skype yet?

13th September 2005

We published our 6th podcast on Sunday afternoon.  We spent the weekend doing gardening.  We sprayed the new pine trees with an eco rabbit repellent, dug the earth over for our tunnel house, planted some fantastic new mountain beech trees and re-potted about 100 tussocks.  We have lots of plans for the garden and as the days are much longer, we're spending lots of time outdoors.

Will's mum is a bit better and is out of hospital.  She's back to working full time from home and flying around the country for work.  We are heading up to Takaka to see them in two weeks which will be fun.  Will's brother Michael and his wife Sally are also heading up there and his Aunty and cousin are coming over from Australia.  It will be quite a family gathering.  Our next podcast will come from Takaka which will be fun....check it out.

If you didn't know Will's mum was in hospital or that we'd planted pines including pinus pinea for our future supply of pine nuts, that because you haven't listen to our past PODCAST's.  Don't worry...you can read it hear from now on or just download our podcast!!

9th September 2005

This section used to be called "news".  Moving with the times, we've changed it to become our blog page.

We've been regularly posting a new podcast every second Monday which is consistently downloaded by many of you.  In fact, it has reached as high as 4th in a yahoo.co.nz search for NZ podcasts.  This has caused Will a few headaches trying to manage server space and bandwidth for downloaders. As suspected from the recent feedback request in our podcast, most listeners are at the techy, connected, early adopter end of the computer spectrum.  So to reach out to the rest of you, we will enter a lot of the podcast chat here for you to read.  It's obviously a million times better to subscribe to our podcast!!

Next podcast date will be Monday 12th September.  If you've not listened to our podcast before, give it a go!

7th July 2005

Added our first Podcast.  Let us know if you enjoy it...or don't!!

4th July 2005

Welcome to the new version of willnjen.com.

3rd February 2005

Well, it took a long time, but we've done it.  We are finally living on our land.  No that doesn't mean we've finished the lodges, it means we finished the purchase and subdivision of the land.

We have sold our house and are now living in a caravan, hard awning, shipping container complex.  I'm sure recent visitors can attest to the fact it is a lot nicer than it sounds.  We have fantastic views, all normal amenities like like power, phone and water, plus all the mod con's like broadband internet, a wireless network for visitors laptops, satellite TV and 24/4 weather analysis.  We also have the beautiful Hawea river for swimming and fishing in.

We are nearing the crux of the paperwork battle to gain permission to build our eco-lodges.  We will keep you all informed with our progress.  We hope to get approval to start building in spring of this year, that's September for you northern folk.  This means we will be in the caravan for winter, a challenge Will is looking forward to!

Jen has just started the 2005 teaching year with another 1 year contract.  Will is busy setting up his weather station business supplying and installing weather equipment to vineyards, yacht clubs, tourist boards and home users.  Will is also about to start installing a rabbit proof fence around the 1/4 acre vege garden.  Once completed, we will plant every vegetable and berry you can think of that will grow in our area.  We currently have over 5000 baby tussocks growing in various stages from seed to planting.  We aim to propagate 5000 per year to plant around the land as part of our native regeneration programme.

We bought a double sea kayak for Christmas and have been on a few fantastic trips on Lake Wanaka.  We've also been doing some mountain biking at our favourite weekend get-away place, Naseby.  We've also done some great walks over summer and hope to do a lot more.  The weather has been fantastic with many days over 30 degrees Celsius.  We go to the beach most evening for a swim and relax, the perfect way to finish the day!

19th September 2004

If this is a BLOG, it's the slowest BLOG on earth, sorry.  It's been over 6 months since we last updated this page of news.  The last 6 months have had their up's and down's. 

Will's brother Peter died on the 29th of Feb (NZ time), aged 31.  He suffered a severe nose bleed in the UK which resulted in him loosing so much blood that he then had a heart attack and subsequent other organ failure.  Peter was kept on life support until Will an his family were contacted, and on doctors advice, was taken off.  We had a small private ceremony for Peter in the Kahurangi National Park where we scattered his ashes on a bush clad slope with a view of beautiful snowy mountains.  Thank you all for all your support.

On the good side, the title for our land has come through, and we now own it after so much paperwork.  We've started landscaping and making preparations for building, which will still be some months off (if not another year).  We had a BBQ on the land on a beautiful day in the middle of winter with some friends we've made around here.  We're really looking forward to getting our house sold off so we can move down to the land.  We've been trying to sell it privately, though had no luck.  So we've gone with a real estate agent and hopefully things should move along a bit faster.

Will's been busy working on a great variety of computer jobs.  He seems to have found a niche installing automated weather stations for yacht clubs, farmers and weather enthusiasts.  Jen is teaching at Wanaka Primary School and loving it.  She often heard telling people "the kids are soooo good".

That's all the news for now.  We'll update this NEWS section more often, especially with the new digital camera!

18th February 2004

We are getting there...slowly.  On the land front, we have finished the road which is great!  We are very happy with both it's shape, look and cost.  We have moved our caravan down to the land and bought a shipping container.  The two are nestled in the middle of a paddock creating a nice spot with great views.

Our house is currently on the market and we've had quite a bit of interest.  We are selling it privately and getting a lot of encouragement from all who look around.  Needless to say, we spent weeks sprucing the house and garden before putting it on the market and it has never looked as good.  We hope to sell the house in the next few weeks and move onto the land and into the caravan before Easter.  

We had quite a few visitors over Christmas and New Years and more in early February.  Jen is doing a wee bit of teaching and Will has been working on the Rippon Music Festival CD which he is helping co-produce.

We are digital cameraless at the moment so photo's are slow in coming.  Will says he will but a new one "when we sell the house".

4th December 2003

How quickly things change.  The work on the road has began and should be finished in days.  It's all very exciting because this is the first physical change to our land since we first saw it.  Up until now, it's all been paperwork.  Once the road is finished, we'll be able to move our caravan down there and get a shipping container delivered to store our furniture.

We've also added some photo's that have been collecting on a film over the winter.  They include mountain shots, some garden (which really means Will's sky photo's) plus the road work.

27th November 2003

Things are not quite moving along at the rapid rate stated in the previous news update.  We are still waiting for the road to go in.  The whole road thing got held up by engineers reports, planners, council etc.  Not in our hands so nothing we can do about it.  All it really means is the title date for land handover will move back to late Feb or March.

We've bought a caravan which we are really pleased with.  It sort of dropped into our laps and it's perfect for our needs.  We chatted to the chap who runs the local camping ground and told him we were on the lookout for a caravan.  He rang later that week to say that a nice old chap was selling his caravan that he had owned for years and looked after very well.  So now we have it sitting in our driveway waiting, waiting, waiting.  We plan to build a hard awning attached to the caravan once we move it to the land.  This is the best way for us to get around the planning rules as it will only be temporary and therefore will not need building consents etc.  We will also then have a full kitchen, office and bathroom in the hard awning so life will be quite normalish.  The caravan has a permanent double bed in it which is great cause there would be nothing more annoying than having to set-up and take down the bed every day.  As most of you can imagine, we are not really caravan people and would normally prefer a tent, but we think it will be great to live in for a year.

Jennie has been doing more and more teaching which she is happy about.  It seems she is getting more work every school term as she gets known by the various schools.  Will is working on a mix of Croxford Computer Support stuff and eco/house stuff. 

We will be heading up to Takaka for Christmas to spend time with Will's parents.  Some of you already know that Will's mum has recently been diagnosed with cancer and is currently undergoing chemotherapy.  Needless to say, we are all holding our breaths and waiting for results.  His mum is hugely optimistic, positive and healthy which is half the battle really.  No firm plans for New Years yet though we have a couple of options in the pipeline.

We bought a new digital camera recently so we could fill this website with loads of photo's.  Unfortunately  it wasn't up to scratch and Will has sent it back for refund.  Hopefully we will get another one soon and start snapping away.

15th October 2003

Things are moving along at a rapid rate.  The road will go into our land in a couple of weeks.  We promise we'll put photo's online when it happens.  At the same time we will be forming our driveway from the boundary to the place we will build our house.  We met with our Architect on Monday to plan what we are doing in the next few months.  Current best guess on 'title date' or more commonly known as 'when we will own the land' is mid January.  Only real foreseeable hold-up could be the coming summer holidays over Christmas and New Year.  Many businesses and government departments close down for 2, 3 or even 4 weeks over that time.

We are getting our house ready to sell.  It's ironic that a house looks best when selling in it rather than during the entire time we lived in it.  We are busy doing some painting, gardening, lots of weeding, cleaning and general sprucing.  After we sell the house we are going to live in a caravan despite the fact Will is 6'5" and most caravans are 6'0".  We'll overcome this problem by building a small lounge/kitchen next to the caravan to 'live in'.  We expect that this will be fantastic in summer with lots of outdoor living; winter will be another storey.

Check back in few weeks for some new photo's.

25th September 2003

Hello, and welcome to the newly revamped willnjen.com website launched 25th September.  We've moved the site from it original location in the UK to a NZ server.  We've changed the colour scheme, the font, and the content of the site.  It will still be the mix of photographs and news you are used to plus one or two new features.

So what's new?  We have made some progress on the ecolodge project.  As many of you know, we have been waiting for over a year for title (ownership) of the land to be passed to us.  There have been some important hurdles to overcome in this process including getting resource consent to subdivide the land.  All permits have now been issued and the date of ownership is rapidly approaching.  So when will we own the land?  Like many things, it's a bit like "how long is a piece of string".  We hope to own it by Christmas or shortly after. 

We plan to move onto the land as soon as we own it.  This is because we can't wait to be there and the fact we have to sell our house to pay for it all.  So we will be camping on the land for a while until we get some accommodation sorted out.  This looks like it will be either a caravan or similar temporary housing.

Jennie is doing more and more relief (substitute) teaching.  She is enjoying it and hopes to do more next year.  Will has set up a computer small business support company called Croxford Computer Support.  Check it out on www.croxford.co.nz