Travelling with Christ - Divine protection or just hocus pokus???

 

Dang - or as our Aussie cousins would say - strewth!

It is an amazing place - New Zealand - or better Godzone!!  Purposely built by the old Dude up there to be his favorite playground - truly a paradise!  

To go from one end of the country - (yes I am excluding the 3rd Isle here) to the other - is just over 2000km.  As long and as far as it takes to swim from Auckland to Sydney - our nearest neighbor!!! Border hopping has a different meaning here!!

Since I moved here many many many years back - we have been blessed with the ability to travel - and travel we did! After all - it is my new home so it needs thorough examination / visiting / exploring! Not contend with exploring New Zealand we also had a few trips off-shore so to speak.  

Totals ---->        37670                                                      Trips in BM 1 & 2   
                                                                                                   19341    km
Euro trip        1987       17179 km         30338    In OE               7637    km
Oma/Liesl       2000        1661  km           7332    In NZ               
Euro trip        2002        5200   km                           
Euro trip        2008        4377   km                           
Doris & Co     2014        2413   km                        total all trips   
Aussie trip     2015        1111   km                           
Margit           2017        3258    km                        64648.3    km
Cook Islands 2018        100      km                           
Euro trip       2019        2371    km                            

Sorry Martina - i did not keep a log of our Trips here although I could 'guesstimate'!!  Also the trips / km's shown here do not include the various (holiday) trips in the various cars we have owned in past years gone by and B4 we owned the Bearmobile's! Certainly there were several trips to Auntie Rachel in Dunedin!! 

:P  Did you see the Cook Islands? ? ?   It has a 'round-trip' distance of 30km!! You could conceivably WALK around the entire Island inside a day!!

Suffice to say - this kiwi is a well traveled chap! Well over 60-thousand Kilometers and counting!!

The early years of our marriage were taken up with SAVINGS - house / children / car / and family trips back to Europe  - so less annual trips away inside New Zealand.  Later on it got easier and also more affordable - so again truly blessed that we can do this! You notice the years gone by - (with 2016 - that interruption with our son getting Leukemia) and of course 2019 started the china virus were EVERYTHING just stopped!! 

I used to own a mini - my first car - and promptly crashed it one night.  No harm done to life and limb - just some pride dented - oh and of-course the car needed a bit of panel beating!  That soon got upgraded to a Citroen!! LOVELY car - such soft suspension! A dream to drive long distance!!  Lots of fond memories owning this particular car!! Because I survived the Crash - I decided someone is indeed looking after me - and in response I 'decorated' the Citroen. I also had a tiny St. George Mini cross on a chain permanently hung in the car.  I had to sell it to get enough $$$ to be able to fly out to New Zealand and begin my voluntary work for the order of St. Steven. . . Imagine that - the price of the Airline tickets was half the cost of a new car!!!  (Lovely numbers to remember - am slightly number-dyslexic - so yeah)

 In between my brother had his crash which he did not survive and so his "spirit " travels with us at all times - he was the lucky sod who always found a car park right outside where he needed it no matter where or when - and ever since his passing - I have no problems myself - a change from earlier days were I struggled!!  Thanks Manfred!

Well - it is a quirk of mine and it took Mamabear a bit getting used to! Since those early days of that crash - I have ALWAYS had a cross in my vehicles!  Sometimes they were just little trinkets - and lately (seeing I am enjoying woodworking) some made from New Zealand Timber!!! 

Here is the little one that I super glued to the First Bear-mobile!!  The new owner has taken a shine to it as well - so I understand it is a permanent feature in the old Van!! 

Then of course - the new van needed one as well - so I  had it made one day (almost before we had bought the Van)  and again - it is fixed pretty good!!  

Which does go begging the question - hmmm WHAT was the question - strewth I lost my threads . . . .

 

NZ Rimu (the dark bit) and some Kauri - oiled and fixed!

Yeah - rambling along here - so urm - yeah that question! urm - does having a cross with you in your vehicle provide you with adequate protection (traveling with Christ so to speak) or is it all just hocus pokus????

Come to think of it - do I need an actual figurine on the cross, in order for it to work???   Seems very quiet (unlike Don Camillo) . . . 

Hmmmmm

What do you think????

Have fun!