Hi everyone, as promised here is another status update.
Thanks for your patience and continued interest!
So many analogies spring to mind right now, but we'll spare you them! (one of them was like giving birth and Ruth my wife there was no way that should be used! so I won't! ;))
Ha!
The news is we have no BIG news to report, besides lots of emails, lawyers, phone calls, great people and commitment to the cause.
In the midst of this kind of thing, we are continually focussing back to the simplicity of our attempt - a pristine piece of beach and bush in the heart of the Abel Tasman National Park - taking off the property market and gifting it to the future of NZ for all to enjoy.
Ha! sounded so simple at first, and still is I suppose. We encourage ourselves by looking at the images and imagining the kind of care this beautiful piece of NZ could receive.
The community spirit of NZ was demonstrated to me yesterday when I went for a (bit of a) jog around our school field across the road. I saw the veggies in fine form that the kids, parents and teachers have been working with for literally months. They have been growing veggies for our big hangi next week that will feed several hundred of us.
It inspired me as to why you'd think a whole country could pull off an audacious task such as this one in front of us. When everyday people pull together, we can do some seriously cool stuff; feel connected to each other and something bigger than ourselves.
Brilliant.
This campaign on a national scale actually happens all the time on a smaller scale when all kinds of communities rally toward something they share.
Someone who pledged said to me this morn, "you guys aren't the buyers of this beach, you are just the facilitators of our dream". Bang on I reckon.
Today (with some help!) I am trying to get printed the full list of pledges and comments into a book. As i have said all along this has been a huge encouragement and prime driver for this dream. I wonder how thick it will be.
We have also been thinking about how we share the news - good or bad, successful tender or not. We want to try make it so everyone will hear at the same time, AND be around people to celebrate (and maybe a little 'commemorate') win or lose. So thinking of inviting people round to our garage HQ / house and telling everyone the news at the same time and having a bit of BBQ hangout afterwards. Thats the best idea at the moment anyway. Will keep you posted.
It's a 5 working day process so the announcement won't be over the weekend. But maybe Monday or Tuesday night. Ha! - maybe tonight, but so hard to say or predict. And besides all that we simply cannot say anything at all about the tender process till afterwards.
Monday is 5 years since the big quakes too. We are very aware of that, gosh thats been a journey and a half for so many hasn't it. Far out.
Righto, hope that gives an insight to whats on our minds today.
