I'm having a quiet internal dilemma about one aspect of pod living. There are actually three things that drive me insane about this lifestyle, but only one that really fills me with real apprehension. The dreaded 'home address'.

We have a PO box where all of our mail can go to so that's not a problem. We have the use of two addresses in Victoria which we can use as our 'home address' although until now we haven't had to use these for anything...unless Pod boy has and I can't remember. Pod boy has also changed most of his legal stuff so that the PO box is his primary address, although bureaucracy won't let him take his old address (read ex wife's house) off these documents as he doesn't have another address to replace it with. At the moment this isn't such a big deal.

However, at the end of July once I've sat my State exams I need to provide a home address to the registration board of both New Zealand and Australia as I am keeping current nursing registration in both countries. This is actually extremely important and both Nursing Councils are very strict on the home address policy and it "HAS" to be where you actually reside. This is what the Australian Nursing Council says on the topic:

Registered nurses have a legal responsibility to notify the Board of a change of address within 14 days of that change having been made. Failure to do so is an offence under the Health Professions Registration Act 2005 and may be subject to a substantial penalty.

My nursing registration is the only thing that requires an actual physical address and seems to have very little leeway in its definition of that address. Most other bureaucratic policies are happy to accept a PO box, or are something I feel comfortable stating that my address is one of the ones we can use from Victoria. In this situation however, I am nervous about the deception and wish I could explain the pod situation to the council. It wouldn't go over well and I'm sure that this lifestyle would somehow be "unacceptable" for a nurse.

What would you do in this situation? I'm pretty sure that I'm going to suck it up and put Pod Boy's Dad's address down as my residential address, but I'm still nervous to do that...not nervous enough to get a house though!

I'm hoping that when I go through the process they are happy to accept a PO box, seeing as I don't imagine they would ever need to pop in and personally visit. But everyone I've talked to back home in NZ seems of the opinion that it has to be your physical address.

We both feel so guilty for not updating this, it's been hectic busy for us both. I have two exams tomorrow, they're not really worth anything just mock exams as preparation for my national exam which is in a month. Therefore, I haven't studied and intend to use them as an indication of what I need to study and where I'm sitting at the moment. For you American's the exam I'm sitting in a month is our equivalent of the NCLEX-RN.

So I've been to Australia again, been back at home in the pod and now am desperately missing pod boy, pod dog and the pod. I can't believe how much harder it is each time to leave them all. This time it was really hard leaving because pod boy was coming with me, which meant pod dog was staying in the kennels. I cried when we left him behind, I felt so guilty. Here are some gratuitous pod dog pictures, just because he's so beautiful.

We got lots of practice with the webber while I was there, I roasted a beef roast, did numerous lamb chops, made sticky pork ribs and also roasted 1/2 a chicken. We also made some southern style fried chicken on it.

This cous cous salad was delicious! Apricots soaked with garlic, spinach, roasted capsicum (over the coals), green onions and garlic/herb infused olive oil.

We flew into NZ and met my family. It was traumatic, loud and at times very funny. Pod boy seems to really like them, I think perhaps even more than I do! They really truly like him and are thoroughly looking forward to his return in just over 2 weeks. It seems like we can't bear to be apart for more than a few weeks at a time now, so it's a good thing for Pod boy's bank account that I move over in just over a month!

I took pod boy on some trips around my favourite city, showing him the beauty that is Christchurch. I can't wait until we come over here and van dwell around the country, there are so many special spots I know he would love.

lol hia i feel like the bad perent that has forgotten there kid at the football match lol so life in the pod continues... lol still no refit. ummm ill do it soon lol
krickle came over and :)lots of :)we just hung out and did work stuff but the real funn was that i became a internasional jet setter i went to NEW ZEALAND and truck me its wikid soooo much better than the land of oz, and ive tentitivly desided to migrate there in 4 or 5 yers. the land seems almost untouched and the people there seem a bit simple lol ( i could be king there )lol
i tryed blue chese for the fist time mmmmmmm love that mold
and i got to meet all of the dreded out laws lol ( i like them a lot)
and i got to send more time with my krickle....
any way im off to rost some lamb mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

hay hay bliggers and bloggers,

blogging is hard when u just kinda crusing on auto pilot.

i got a passport today which is really cool, i can travel the world, well at least to new zealand for now. but we have been talking about a world trip in about a year and a half....

the pod's a mess at the moment cos i havnnt fited it out yet, and yes i know its been ages , just been flatout at work ( which is good for the bank acc but not so good for the pod fit out).

most days i work from dawn till dusk so i get to see the sun rise and set and damn i love this planet its so beautiful, really an amazing place, some times i think i would like to live here full time (lol) heres a piture of the moon setting ...

What's been happening to the pod people?

Well it's been such a long time since I blogged. I've been so busy and so much has happened.

Firstly, since I came back to NZ I have been working again, last week I did a 52 hour week! It's been hectic. I've also had to collect old assignments, sign papers, fill in forms and generally immerse myself in the nursing profession once more. I've also got applications and forms to fill in for the move to Australia.

I've sorted out a lot more of my stuff for the move. I gave in and took the dvds I wanted to keep out of their boxes and put them inside a dvd case thing. Pod boy has one for his dvds in Oz, and I found one here that holds 144 dvds. I was very lucky, I had exactly 144 dvds that I couldn't part with...although my friends collection is already in the pod and has about 35 dvds which I'm not counting in my allotment. I couldn't believe how much space it saves! The box of dvd covers that I threw out was massive, but the case I'm keeping is tiny and will fit easily into the pod.

I've also been and had some of my favourite photos printed. I decided to save space and had about 9 images printed per 5"x7" card. They look really cool. I organised them by person or group. I'm going to make some memory boards for the pod and display them on that. I'm very concious of space saving now, and I'm finding it fun coming up with ideas of how to conserve and best use space.

Pod boy has been very busy with work since I left him. He's been working long days and complaining about mud and raindrops. He's also taken some very pretty photos of the moon and the sky which I will try to include here. Pod boy has also been through the process of sorting out his passport! Which should be arriving today...hopefully!

I'm flying back over to Melbourne on Saturday morning and we're going to fit out the inside of the pod that day...I don't know how much help I'll be (see below). I might just snuggle up in the front of the van and keep pod boy company while he works: everyone needs a cheer squad! I don't have return tickets booked yet...because!!! Pod boy is flying home with me! We'll be back in NZ about the 16th of June and then Pod boy will fly home about the 20th. So 4 days in NZ to show him my beloved city and countryside. I don't know how much we'll actually get to see! It will also be the first time that we have ever slept in a "proper" bed together! I'm excited!

Pod boy, pod dog and myself almost had an extra member to be living with us in the pod. It's no longer the case though, I'm miscarrying at the moment. It's hard right now because I feel a mixture of relief, regret and sadness. I believe in fate, so this is obviously what was meant to happen. We only had an afternoon of celebrating as the next day I went to the dr and was told I wouldn't be able to keep it. The day we found out I had a feeling that it wasn't going to be a successful pea, but the good news is that peas are most definitely in our future! A lot of good things have come out of finding out we were with pea, and a lot of good is coming out of the losing of the pea too.

I hope you're all well, that life (whether it's in a van or not) is treating you well and that you're happy and loving the experience that is life!