Hey everyone!
We've now been here in Welly for nearly a month - arrived 25th Jan and today is the 21st February - and as usual, it feels as if we just arrived AND as if we've been here forever ... well, not really, but there is a familiarity to things we didn't have two or three weeks ago.
I'm doing this update from a marvellous place called Network Newtown, which is a free community internet access point. No fees, only a time limit of an hour. And I'm online here because we still don't have telephone or our PDQ broadband line installed at home ... which is annoying in the extreme. Seems like it's not only SA where things take forever to be achieved.
We are doing well. Livi has settled into school and is enjoying the freedom of not wearing a uniform and of starting classes at 10.20 am instead of the usual 8am back in SA. (I consciously have to think about it when I write 'back in SA' - do I mean 'back home in SA' ...??? ) Work is going well for me. I am settling in, finding my feet and the people I work with are great - warm and friendly and helpful. More on this later ...
House wise, our little flat is proving fairly small and dark, so we're going to be looking around for something lighter, brighter and airier .. possibly more central to both school and work, although I have to say the bus system here is fantastic!
Today is the Cuba Street Carnival here in Welly and we're both going off soon to meet up with new friends to enjoy the day with ... so hopefully the next update will have more pix of today and us and life here in Welly. Speaking of which, life in Welly is GOOD, on the whole!
More to follow soon!
Linda
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Saturday, February 7, 2009
A Moving Experience
It's been a long week. School. Work. Hot weather. New things all over the place ...
But now its the Waitangi Day long weekend and Welly is buzzing! The Rugby Sevens, the Waitangi Day sales, the weather is hot and humid ... and we're moving into our new house!
Friday we went shopping and came home laden down with New Stuff for our new house - pots, pans, linen, cleaning stuff ... our little room at the apartment hotel was bulging at the seams.
So we hired a car for a day, collected two chairs we'd also bought, and carted it all over to the new apartment ....
But now its the Waitangi Day long weekend and Welly is buzzing! The Rugby Sevens, the Waitangi Day sales, the weather is hot and humid ... and we're moving into our new house!
Friday we went shopping and came home laden down with New Stuff for our new house - pots, pans, linen, cleaning stuff ... our little room at the apartment hotel was bulging at the seams.
So we hired a car for a day, collected two chairs we'd also bought, and carted it all over to the new apartment ....
Looking towards the kitchen ...
Standing in the kitchen looking out towards the balcony ...
And Livi in the marvellously funky retro multi-coloured kitchenette itself ...
And Livi in the marvellously funky retro multi-coloured kitchenette itself ...Sunday, February 1, 2009
We Found A New Home!
After only a few days of house hunting, we found the rental property that we're going to call home - for the next six months at least.
Saturday was a blazing hot day here in Welly and we set out around 2pm to go to three separate viewings - according to the map, they were within walking distance of each other. Well, the first one was at the top of a very, very, very tall hill .... when we got up there, panting and sweating, we were told sorry, it's been taken already! Duh! Couldn't they have put a notice at the bottom of the path? But we didn't mind too much as we'd decided about half way up that there was no way we'd take this place, no matter how cute it was .. imagine doing that slog with your weekly grocery shopping!
The second place had potential except for one very strange thing: the floor in the lounge was concave! It curved gently up towards the fireplace, leveled off for about a foot, then curved back down again ... very odd! There was also an odd smell in one room, as if someone had kept an animal in there for a while - so we decided to give it a miss and went off hurry-scurry to the last viewing. It was a two-level apartment within a complex at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac - lovely views out over the hills, warm and sunny, french doors out onto a private balcony, wooden staircase up to the two beds and bathroom (which has a bath - about four out of every five places we considered had only a shower!) and lots of trees and greenery. We both liked it immediately and had a good chat with the owner/landlord - he called us later that evening to offer it to us, we went back today at lunchtime and signed the tenancy agreement!
Here it is - and we move in next Friday, at which time there'll no doubt be a lot more pictures to show.
Saturday was a blazing hot day here in Welly and we set out around 2pm to go to three separate viewings - according to the map, they were within walking distance of each other. Well, the first one was at the top of a very, very, very tall hill .... when we got up there, panting and sweating, we were told sorry, it's been taken already! Duh! Couldn't they have put a notice at the bottom of the path? But we didn't mind too much as we'd decided about half way up that there was no way we'd take this place, no matter how cute it was .. imagine doing that slog with your weekly grocery shopping!
The second place had potential except for one very strange thing: the floor in the lounge was concave! It curved gently up towards the fireplace, leveled off for about a foot, then curved back down again ... very odd! There was also an odd smell in one room, as if someone had kept an animal in there for a while - so we decided to give it a miss and went off hurry-scurry to the last viewing. It was a two-level apartment within a complex at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac - lovely views out over the hills, warm and sunny, french doors out onto a private balcony, wooden staircase up to the two beds and bathroom (which has a bath - about four out of every five places we considered had only a shower!) and lots of trees and greenery. We both liked it immediately and had a good chat with the owner/landlord - he called us later that evening to offer it to us, we went back today at lunchtime and signed the tenancy agreement!
Here it is - and we move in next Friday, at which time there'll no doubt be a lot more pictures to show.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Playing Tourist
Today we took time out to just see something of Wellington. The weather was gorgeous - hot but with just enough cloud and wind to keep it comfortable. We took the cable car from Lambton Quay up to the Botanical Gardens and ate ice creams and took photos.
Inside the cable car ... which is more of a funicular when compared with the Table Mountain Cable Way
Inside the cable car ... which is more of a funicular when compared with the Table Mountain Cable Way
The view on the way up ...
The view from the top!
And again ...
The view from the top! 
And again ... House Hunting in Welly
One of the hardest things about house hunting in a 'foreign' city is that you simply have no idea of what each suburb is like, or if you're going to like living there. One of the sites I have found quite useful in this regard is Tommy's Real Estate which includes some brief descriptions of the various suburbs in Wellington.
So today we went to a viewing in Brooklyn. Now, in SA, if you are interested in an advertised house or flat, you call up the agent and arrange a time that suits you, the agent and the current inhabitant of the house. The agent then meets you at the house and takes you through and answers all your questions. Here in Welly, things are done a little differently. Agents hold 'viewings' of rental properties. This is a fifteen to twenty minute time slot, picked to suit either the agent or the current tenant of the property, and anyone who wants to see the place just arrives and has a look. If you can't make it at that time ... well, tough luck. (OK, I'm generalizing. We also met a great agent who not only picked us up and took us to see the house he was renting, but then gave us a short tour of the neighbourhood too!) But speaking generally, the viewing seems to be the most common way things are done! It's like speed-dating for renters!!
The house in Brooklyn looked great - on the website! But the ad was misleading. Most of the pictures were of the flat just above - the one with the really great views and deck. The house we saw was underneath, smelled of damp and had a teeny tiny view out of one corner of the kitchen window. But the positives were that we got to see a new suburb and we used the bus system successfully - without all the trauma of the first trip we took!!! And that was a great feeling!!
The house - the rental was the small section underneath it.
The kind of view promised by the advert but sadly not delivered ...
The local corner cafe in Mills Rd, Brooklyn - known here as the 'dairy'!
Mills Road, Brooklyn - beautiful area, fabulous views!
So today we went to a viewing in Brooklyn. Now, in SA, if you are interested in an advertised house or flat, you call up the agent and arrange a time that suits you, the agent and the current inhabitant of the house. The agent then meets you at the house and takes you through and answers all your questions. Here in Welly, things are done a little differently. Agents hold 'viewings' of rental properties. This is a fifteen to twenty minute time slot, picked to suit either the agent or the current tenant of the property, and anyone who wants to see the place just arrives and has a look. If you can't make it at that time ... well, tough luck. (OK, I'm generalizing. We also met a great agent who not only picked us up and took us to see the house he was renting, but then gave us a short tour of the neighbourhood too!) But speaking generally, the viewing seems to be the most common way things are done! It's like speed-dating for renters!!
The house in Brooklyn looked great - on the website! But the ad was misleading. Most of the pictures were of the flat just above - the one with the really great views and deck. The house we saw was underneath, smelled of damp and had a teeny tiny view out of one corner of the kitchen window. But the positives were that we got to see a new suburb and we used the bus system successfully - without all the trauma of the first trip we took!!! And that was a great feeling!!
The house - the rental was the small section underneath it. 
The kind of view promised by the advert but sadly not delivered ...
The local corner cafe in Mills Rd, Brooklyn - known here as the 'dairy'! 
Mills Road, Brooklyn - beautiful area, fabulous views!
For the Watties!!
This pic is just for Trevor and Michelle - guys, the family biz here in NZ is flourishing!!!! ;-))
Thursday, January 29, 2009
The World At My Fingertips
Livi skyping with Dad and Ash early morning Welly time and early evening back home in SA - 'almost' like being there. :-))
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)