10/1/08
Aloha,
We are back in Hawaii and finally settling in. I thought I’d keep you up to date on what’s happening.
We did put an offer in on the land we wanted in NZ. A low offer. The seller replied with a high counter offer. That happened the day the US economy free fall started. So we decided not to counter-offer and just let that land go.
We feel we need to see where the economy is going before we put out any money right now.
So here is the newest and latest NZ plan:
We are going to work on all the things we need to finish from our 2007 remodel on our Hawaii house.
While we were gone, our new roof over an old lanai was mostly done. This will be our new entrance. So that needs to be completed and tiled by our contractor. This particular project cost way more than we expected and Jack and I (mostly Jack) will be doing a lot of finishing work. Jack loves to do that, and I like to be the helper.
We need to create a better yard
We need to create a driveway to the new entrance.
We need to choose colors and completely paint the house. It hasn’t been painted since the original paint job 12 years ago.
We have a bunch of inside touch ups to be done - including finishing off the living room ceiling repair (where someone doing the roof put his leg through our ceiling.)
In addition, we are going away for another 7 weeks - to Florida and to San Francisco. So nothing will be done during that time.
Also in addition, I am having surgery on Oct 7th to handle my “old lady problems” (my falling bladder, etc.) It should be pretty simple - one night in the hospital. As a nurse on a surgery floor all those years, I consider surgery as a “normal” part of life - not something that scares me. I’m not supposed to lift anything for 6 weeks afterwards, so Jack will continue to wait on me hand and foot and treat me as a queen - and then add lifting everything to his duties. I could really like this!
Also in addition, Jack has a work trip to Fiji in January, with several other trips possible this spring.
So, as you can see, there is still a lot to be done before we can move. I don’t know why we ever thought we would be out of here in January or February. As much as my plan-plan-plan personality wants to have a leave date in my mind, I guess we will just need to go with the flow. But the bottom line is that I will be surprised if we get out of here before mid summer. Part of that is if we can’t leave until at least May, we might as well stay until Elizabeth gets out of school on May 30th. Then we would go to the mainland and Marisa and the family in June before moving.
So - the house is open! Come visit anytime. We may try to put you to work. Or we may chat with you while we work. Or we may be exhausted and glad to just hang out with company.
We are coming to the mainland in early November - originally planning to spend 3 weeks in Tampa with Jack’s parents, leaving the day after Thanksgiving. His dad had lung cancer many years ago, was in remission for at least 10 years I think, but it is back with a vengeance. He seems to be getting worse quickly and is close to being terminal. However, this family has its own (military, stoic) way of dealing with things, and his mother doesn’t want us around. They are doing fine, she says. She doesn’t want a lot of people around, she says. So we told her we were coming anyway - we need to see Dad, but we won’t stay long. Our new plan is to visit for a few days, then go away for a week, then come back for a couple of days, then leave again - etc. We have a meeting in Orlando that Jack needs to go to - that was already in the plan. But in addition, we’ll visit a high school friend of mine in Delray Florida and a St. Luke’s friend of mine on St. Simons Island off Georgia. We will also drive through Ashville, NC (another visit with a friend) - seeing fall color hopefully - and go to Raleigh where Jack will have another meeting. Our friends Jamie and Greg from California just moved to an island off North Carolina last year and we will visit them too. I am hoping to get one really sight-seeing stop in Charleston. All this is a “possible” plan, totally dependent on what happens when we get to Tampa. When we get there, his mom might change her mind and we’ll just hang around there.
We’ll see my daughter Kimberly and her family when we are there as well. That is always great. The older girls are in college now, so there are the 4 kids as well as a boy-friend or two usually.
We’ll be in California for the first couple of weeks in December. This year, we will have less time than usual, because we are planning to spend more time in Fresno. We haven’t seen Jack’s daughter in two years and her daughter has a new baby we want to see.
When we make the actual move to NZ will now depend on when we get the house ready and what the financial system is here in the US. We originally planned to rent out the house for two years until we get permanent resident status in NZ. But we may change our mind on that. If the market is bad, renting this house will bring us less than we want monthly. It may be that it makes more sense to sell, even in a bad market, if the NZ dollar is weak against ours. We have a new motto that we learned in NZ: SWATU (pronounced the way it looks). It stands for Some Thing Always Turns Up.
Jack’s consulting business is starting off fabulously. We love saying he’s retired, but we knew that actually he was just retired from his USDA job, not retired from working. He has several jobs already and more in process. The best part is that he totally loves what he’s doing. He was frustrated at USDA because of all the administrative stuff and because he always had to follow the USDA line. Now his paper work is simple and he is free to say what ever he feels is best. He gets off the phone beaming because he can help solve another problem.
Now here’s a shocker - I am planning to work as a nurse in NZ !!
I thought I’d never do that again. But if we want to travel and have a nice home in NZ, it seems like a necessary idea. I am thinking 2 or 3 days a week in a clinic. Apparently, most nurses do work part time there. I will have to take a refresher course - but can do that on line, so it is really convenient.
This is the end of this blog - I will probably start another one. I really like not having to send lots of emails saying the same thing.
My closing words - COME VISIT NOW WHILE WE ARE STILL HERE!!!
Lots of love and blessings,
Lily
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Thursday, September 4, 2008
3rd Posting - with pictures
Hi Friends,
This is an add-on to my blog of a couple days ago.
I am adding pictures of the land we want and are putting an offer on.
Pictures # 5, 6, 7, 8 – neighbors
This is an add-on to my blog of a couple days ago.
I am adding pictures of the land we want and are putting an offer on.
I haven't yet figured out the picture thing - where to put them where I want them and how to make them the right size. So they are all at the end of the entire blog (ie at the end of the first one I posted) and they are all quite large. I hope that's not a problem. They are labeled to match what it says in the posting. The original pictures that I put on before are in the same place they were.
I was going to say: This is all probably unnecessary – we may not get the land. But it will give you a view of the countryside where we are and an idea of what we are looking for.
However, we just placed the offer and saw how much the land is worth per the tax base – and it is way over the asking price. We are placing a low offer, but I imagine we will end up paying full price if we have to (Please send good thoughts for us getting it at our first offer!)
We want to live in or near the town of Kerikeri, which is in the part of NZ that is called the Northland. I am not sure where the southern boundary of the Northland actually is, but it essentially the area from Auckland north to the tip of the country.
I don’t understand the blog well enough yet to place the pictures exactly where I want them – so you may have to look for them.
I want to describe our (desired) lot a little better so you understand the pictures. The main view from the front of our house would be all “house free”. The houses shown here are basically off to the side and behind where our house would stand. We could see them from outside, but not in our house view.
In front of the house, the land slopes down. Looking left to right, we would see:
1) a big pond (possibly part of the Kerikeri Marina, we’re not sure) with a large stream (or small river) running into it (Picture #1)
2) trees bordering the stream (in most of the pictures)
3) the big pond again – and to the right is the first of OUR two ponds. It’s at the very bottom of our land – our property ends on the far side of that pond (Picture #2)
3) the big pond again – and to the right is the first of OUR two ponds. It’s at the very bottom of our land – our property ends on the far side of that pond (Picture #2)
4) to the right of that pond, there is a stream that is hidden by the curve of our land. Probably we will be able to see it when the house is built (Picture #3)
5) next is the other pond that is ours. (Picture #4) In that picture, you can see a fence behind that pond. That fence is our boundary, so that pond is ours too.
5) next is the other pond that is ours. (Picture #4) In that picture, you can see a fence behind that pond. That fence is our boundary, so that pond is ours too.
Pictures # 5, 6, 7, 8 – neighbors
Pictures #9, 10 - general views
Picture #11 – This sign saying “Kiwi Habitat – Dogs strictly forbidden” is at the entrance to the little lane that would lead to our driveway.
Here is the story. Kiwis are the national bird and you are supposed to protect them from dogs that might chase and kill them. They are flightless birds and nocturnal. Almost all rural areas have a requirement about protecting the birds. However, there have been law suits about this and the end result (court result) is that as long as you can assure that the dogs can’t get to the birds, all is well. To do this, you fence the area to keep Kiwi’s out. Or you always have your dog on a lease. Apparently even an electronic fence is okay (I don’t know why, because the Kiwis could still get in). I believe there are some places where there are “official” Kiwi habitats where dogs are actually not allowed. The sign on this fence is not an official sign. There is no emblem, logo, notice that the sign comes from the state/local council. It is most likely that the local people put it up to prevent dogs bothering the livestock around (sheep, emus, cows). We will be getting a dog (or dogs) and hope that we will not have problems with our neighbors hating us. We will be getting small dogs. I use the plural because I want two – so Jack and I can each have one on our laps and so they can have each other to play with as well. My vision is to get litter mates. Jack has not yet bought into the idea of two, but I think he’ll like the idea when we get to the point of actually getting them. His rule is that the dog poop has to be less than an ounce. My rule is they have to be “fuzzy”. I already have the name of someone locally who raises Maltese/Shitzu mixes. We’ll be getting something in that size range and at least a similar breed.
Love to all,
Lily and Jack
Picture #11 – This sign saying “Kiwi Habitat – Dogs strictly forbidden” is at the entrance to the little lane that would lead to our driveway.
Here is the story. Kiwis are the national bird and you are supposed to protect them from dogs that might chase and kill them. They are flightless birds and nocturnal. Almost all rural areas have a requirement about protecting the birds. However, there have been law suits about this and the end result (court result) is that as long as you can assure that the dogs can’t get to the birds, all is well. To do this, you fence the area to keep Kiwi’s out. Or you always have your dog on a lease. Apparently even an electronic fence is okay (I don’t know why, because the Kiwis could still get in). I believe there are some places where there are “official” Kiwi habitats where dogs are actually not allowed. The sign on this fence is not an official sign. There is no emblem, logo, notice that the sign comes from the state/local council. It is most likely that the local people put it up to prevent dogs bothering the livestock around (sheep, emus, cows). We will be getting a dog (or dogs) and hope that we will not have problems with our neighbors hating us. We will be getting small dogs. I use the plural because I want two – so Jack and I can each have one on our laps and so they can have each other to play with as well. My vision is to get litter mates. Jack has not yet bought into the idea of two, but I think he’ll like the idea when we get to the point of actually getting them. His rule is that the dog poop has to be less than an ounce. My rule is they have to be “fuzzy”. I already have the name of someone locally who raises Maltese/Shitzu mixes. We’ll be getting something in that size range and at least a similar breed.
Love to all,
Lily and Jack
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Hello Dear Friends,
Time is flying – it’s almost time to come home! Our leave date is September 18th. Actually, that is our arrival date as well, because of crossing the international dateline.
Where has the time gone?
We haven’t done much sightseeing – just several days of wandering and exploring.
We have done a lot of work around Mike and Judy’s house – as a way to thank them for letting us stay here so long. That includes cleaning and organizing cupboards and making a lot of small repairs – which has required lots of outings to find what we need. In addition, Jack has trimmed or cut down lots of trees and bushes – and I have been in charge of pushing the trimmings back into the forest to mulch. It’s been hard work, but fun. I have learned to like that kind of work from being in Hawaii where Jack’s attachment to the land rubbed off on me. The yard work included being introduced to the dreaded sandfly, “no-seeums” they are called in the U.S. northeast. Before we figured out what was happening, Jack ended up with over fifty bites on both legs (mainly in a circle around where the top of his socks ended) and three nearly-sleepless horribly-itchy nights. We now use OFF repellent outside and have started vitamin B1 tablets daily. The chemist (pharmacist) told us that after about a week, the B1 comes out through the pores and repels the sandflys. The other yard problem is the ubiquitous nettle-bearing gorse – a plant whose needles scrapes into your skin. It is a noxious weed here and can take over if not removed. The best news is that there is really nothing else to fear in NZ. No centipedes, no snakes, no animals or insects that can really hurt you! Lovely!
We’ve endured what locals are telling us is the worst winter on record, with few sunny days here in the Northland and actual show blizzards on South Island. It has not been good fishing weather at all. Actually, it is very much like SF in the winter. Rainy. It is cold, but not freezing. We both like the idea of this temperature a few months a year. We’ve ended up spending many a day snug by the fireplace, relaxing & reading – but mostly talking about our goals here, what kind of house we want, etc. It is an amazingly constant and changing conversation.
We spent several days gathering information and applying to NZ Immigration to extend our long term business visa to the next level – which is to allow us to stay here through March 2011 (doesn’t that sound like a long way away!). This part of the process was all about whether or not we had actually started the business, had we made any money, had we transferred any money into NZ, what had we done that showed we were really making a commitment to NZ. That included our business and personal bank accounts here, the fact that we bought a car, etc. Anyway, they called us within hours of receiving our packet and told us the extension was approved.
Now that we know we have the full three years (which is actually close to 2 now), we are ready to buy some land here.
Land prices are high, but dropping. The common expression here is that when the U.S. sneezes, everyone else in the world gets a cold. NZ land and house prices are hitting the same wall as in the U.S., but following by about 8-10 months. Kiwis are heavily over-extended in credit and 13 major credit companies in NZ have gone under. There is no version of FDIC here, so everyone who had money in those companies lost everything. This is a very laisez-faire, buyer beware, so-get-a-lawyer-I-don’t-care kind of country (which is why insurance is so cheap!). There will most likely be a change in government here in the next elections from conservative to liberal, although the terms seem to have quite different meaning here. Like the U.S., the government here is dysfunctional, but that’s OK with us because they’re quite harmless…they screw everything up locally, but they don’t go invading other countries they don’t like.
We have been doing a lot of looking with a realtor and tomorrow we are going to make an offer for a piece we really love. It is 3½ acres, zoned rural which is important to us in order to have Jack’s woodshop and to have some chickens and a couple of sheep or a goat. It is on a hill, with a pond and a stream at the bottom. Above this land are two homes on much larger pieces of land, one is set way back, one is closer. The one that is set far back has land that borders our property – they have emus that are right there at the fence – very cool! The land to the left of us is two lots (3½ acres each) that are for sale at the moment. Then all in front of us – our view – is pastoral rolling land with cows and no houses. That is at the moment – of course this could become a housing development at some time (oh please NO!), but hopefully not.
We are going to make a low offer on the land. If we get it fine. If not, we will just wait until we come back in January and start our search over again. And if that land is still available, our low offer might be acceptable by then.
We have also talked to our bank here about loans and will start the actual application process in Auckland just before we leave the country.
The issue of what kind of house to build is very complex and time consuming of course and we’ve been spending a lot of time on that.
Here they do a lot of homes that are pre-planned and then set up on site. One company has over 45 different layouts. This seems like a feasible way for us to go. We are presently pondering the idea of a "shell house". That means we buy a house that is put together on our land - but they only put up the shell. Before that happens, we’d have to have our land bulldozed and leveled, the land study done, arrange for hill drainage, set up the septic system, and put in a water catchment system (as in Hawaii, there is not local water). The studs for the inside the walls would be in. Next would be the plumbing and electricity (friend Mike would do that for us), then we would actually move in. As we could afford it, we’d do the insulation, put on sheet rock, paint, buy all sinks, lights, etc. In Hawaii, they call this a paycheck house – every time you get a bunch of cash saved up, you add something! This means our first couple of years here would be a different kind of adventure than I was originally planning! Of course, we are also thinking we could get some of our talented friends to drop by and help us!
So that’s our story presently. Information gathering would be the theme, I guess.
In the last week we’re here, we will be going to a few areas south of here. The main plan is to go to a place called Hawkes Bay on the east coast, south of Auckland. Jack has a meeting there. He has made lots of business contacts and connections on this trip and there will definitely be some work for him here. Then we will spend our last few days in Auckland.
We will FINALLY have our favorite meal in our favorite restaurant (so far). The place is called the Occidental Belgium Café and Beer Bar. Our meal is green-lip mussels cooked in lobster bisque, with a Belgium chocolate dessert. Accompanied by a fabulous Belgium beer. Our original plan was to have my birthday dinner there, but that didn’t really fit with what was happening at the time.
Hmmmm. We end with thoughts of food. No wonder we are not thin.
When we get home, there are already lots of plans – We’ll keep you informed.
Much love to everyone,
Lily and Jack
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Hello from New Zealand Dear Friends,
We are so excited! Both of us feel like we’ve found our dream place in the world!
It is incredibly beautiful. It’s winter here – equivalent to February in the US. Part of our timing for the trip was to see if winter would be too cold here for Jack. It seems to be a good year to check – this is one of the worst winters in history here. Lots of storms and pretty cold – at least in the mornings and evenings. The temperature then is probably in the high 40’s. Where we are staying, the only heat is a small fireplace, so we use that and are also often bundled up in the house. However, when we live here in our own house, we will have actual heating – so we can wake up to a warm house in the mornings. Jack is actually enjoying it – except when his fingers are too cold to tie fishing line.
Our trip over was easy. Our flights were uneventful, and we slept most of the way. The seats were so close to the ones in front of us I couldn’t imagine that Jack could move, never mind sleep, but he did. It was 9 hours from Honolulu to Auckland.
We arrived at 6am on a Sunday and slept most of the day.
The next day was my birthday and it was quite fun. I opened all the cards that people had sent early and that I brought with me. We had a fabulous Indian birthday dinner.
That morning, we met our friends Mike and Judy and went out and bought a car. Mike knows all about cars and how to buy them here. We found a used car dealer we really liked and he took us to a huge car lot. There must have been 1000 cars there. They come into NZ directly from Japan. Apparently Japan doesn’t have room for used cars, so they send them here. We had decided we wanted a Toyota (because we love the ones we have now) and that we wanted a station wagon. We plan to have just one car here and figured a station wagon could be used for hauling some things (since we won’t have a truck) and would also be big enough for taking visitors around. We looked at about 10 of these and chose one that turned out to be (so far!) perfect. It is a 1997 with 50,000 miles (91,000 kilometers). Silver. Automatic (I don’t drive standards except in emergencies). Has a sun roof and a very nice interior. Each day we found new goodies on it – the outside mirrors fold in at the touch of a button in case you are too close to something – when you lift the floor latch in the back, there are all these little compartments to keep things in (like an umbrella, a first aid kit, flares, etc). There is a working radio, CD player. Lots of space in the passenger seat. Etc. We are very happy with it.
The day after buying the car, we went into Auckland to take care of some banking issues – including getting a cashier’s check for the car. We picked up the car and drove to the Bay of Islands where we are staying. It is a 3 hour drive from Auckland. Jack and Mike (now our driving teacher) drove together and Jack drove part of the way. The next couple of days he drove some more with Mike. Now he is quite comfortable driving on the left hand side of the road. I have now started driving as well, with Jack as my teacher, and am feeling pretty confident myself. Right now I would only want to drive alone on routes I already know – but we pretty much go everywhere together and consider driving as a “team sport” now and take turns.
We are staying in Judy and Mike’s summer home in the Bay of Islands. It is at the top of a huge hill with a 180% view of the bay. We can see fishing boats, ferry boats, the weather coming in, sparkling water in the sunshine, the little town of Russell nestled in a corner of the bay. When we first got here, we spent time morning and evening out on the porch – just enjoying. As the rains came, we have spent less time doing that! But we can see just fine since there are sliding glass doors and windows on the whole front of the house. We are actually on an island here and have to bring the car over and back on a ferry each time we go out. The exception is Russell. It is on the same island, so we can just drive there. That is where we go to use the internet – there is no connection here. The other night as Jack was walking back from fishing, he met two young (20 & 16) German girls who were totally lost, just as it was starting to get dark. They were trying to get to a ferry that went to Paihia (not the car ferry we take). That ferry was about 10 miles from where they were. So we drove them into Russell, then we stopped off at a pub for a short while. We are looking forward to going to a rowdy pub when the next NZ rugby game happens.
Judy and Mike left here on Monday the 10th, and although we had a great time with them, it is great being just the two of us.
We have been exhausted almost every night since we got here, even though we are getting plenty of sleep. I think it is the constant new mental input!
Of course there is the driving.
Then there is the phone. We got one cell phone (thinking we will always be together), but have decided to get another one so we can contact each other when Jack is off fishing. Using the phone is fairly complicated at first – sometimes you use the area code, sometimes you don’t. It depends on where you are and if you are on a cell phone or a land line).
And I learned to text! And am quite proud of myself. Judy taught me. I didn’t understand the concept – thought you had to write everything out, but it is called “predictive spelling” and is fun. Unfortunately, I don’t really know anyone who uses texting! I taught Jack to do it too.
And the language – Jack always says we are a people separated by a common language. We have to listen hard to catch the words and meanings from people. For example “Do you have a flyby?” - a card to earn air miles with. Takeaways are food to go. Eftpos (how do you even pronounce that?) is the machine to use at stores for credit or debit.
Most banking and money transactions are done electronically. If you pay your gardener, you get their bank account # and electronically transfer money into their account. If you write a check to someone, your bank charges you $3. If you make a deposit to your account (except electronically) you get charged $3. To get cash, you use Eftpos or an ATM. If you go into the bank and take out cash, you get charged $3.
Judy and Mike are constantly answering our questions about how things work or are called here.
Laundry – almost no one uses dryers. So here I am hanging things on the line (in the rain sometimes). Jack was teasing me about remembering how to do that. I actually think the only time I used a clothes line was when I was 8 or 9, helping my grandmother.
We got car insurance and AA membership (just like AAA). We pick up mail (car registration, AA cards) at the little post office/stationary store in Russell. It is all so personal and lovely.
Our realtor is a guy named Robin. He is a friend of a friend of mine from Hawaii. The other day, we spent about 6 hours driving around and looking for property. We saw several places we loved and could afford. We have also been exploring the north island by ourselves - and we keep coming back to the same conclusion – that we love the KeriKeri area. This is the original place we saw and fell in love with in 2003.
The problem is that we don’t think we can afford a house as well as land. Tenting is not really an option! We will look into “kit homes”. It is all very much up in the air and we’ll need some time (after we get home) to evaluate, to figure out our finances etc. Things are generally less expensive here (food, electricity, car insurance), and right now the US dollar is strong against the NZ dollar which is very good for us. For example – a piece of land that costs $200,000 NZ is really only about $142,000 US.
Jack has been fishing several times – he’s in heaven. He has caught quite a lot – but all of them have been too small to keep. He has only been to nearby places that are pretty well fished out. He’ll be moving on to bigger and better sites soon.
We are trying all sorts of cool foods – and eating at home most of the time. We are drinking “lemon, lime, and bitters” and “LP” – both lemony soft drinks. We’ve had crumpets (like English muffins, but they don’t get crispy on the hole-y side), meat pies (lovely for a lunch).
We did take Judy and Mike out one night to a little place at the ferry landing on the “mainland”. The food was exquisite – SF quality. Wow! On the way back, we were the only ones on the ferry – so we were waltzing on the ferry under the Southern Cross and the brightest stars I have ever seen! Magical!!!!
On one of our day trips, we saw a sign for “Historic Site”. No explanation for what it was, where it was exactly, or why it was historic.
One of the towns had a nice welcome sign as we drove in. Then as we left, another sign said “We Farewell You”. It is just so nice here – every person we meet is lovely!
More later – Lily and Jack
We are so excited! Both of us feel like we’ve found our dream place in the world!
It is incredibly beautiful. It’s winter here – equivalent to February in the US. Part of our timing for the trip was to see if winter would be too cold here for Jack. It seems to be a good year to check – this is one of the worst winters in history here. Lots of storms and pretty cold – at least in the mornings and evenings. The temperature then is probably in the high 40’s. Where we are staying, the only heat is a small fireplace, so we use that and are also often bundled up in the house. However, when we live here in our own house, we will have actual heating – so we can wake up to a warm house in the mornings. Jack is actually enjoying it – except when his fingers are too cold to tie fishing line.
Our trip over was easy. Our flights were uneventful, and we slept most of the way. The seats were so close to the ones in front of us I couldn’t imagine that Jack could move, never mind sleep, but he did. It was 9 hours from Honolulu to Auckland.
We arrived at 6am on a Sunday and slept most of the day.
The next day was my birthday and it was quite fun. I opened all the cards that people had sent early and that I brought with me. We had a fabulous Indian birthday dinner.
That morning, we met our friends Mike and Judy and went out and bought a car. Mike knows all about cars and how to buy them here. We found a used car dealer we really liked and he took us to a huge car lot. There must have been 1000 cars there. They come into NZ directly from Japan. Apparently Japan doesn’t have room for used cars, so they send them here. We had decided we wanted a Toyota (because we love the ones we have now) and that we wanted a station wagon. We plan to have just one car here and figured a station wagon could be used for hauling some things (since we won’t have a truck) and would also be big enough for taking visitors around. We looked at about 10 of these and chose one that turned out to be (so far!) perfect. It is a 1997 with 50,000 miles (91,000 kilometers). Silver. Automatic (I don’t drive standards except in emergencies). Has a sun roof and a very nice interior. Each day we found new goodies on it – the outside mirrors fold in at the touch of a button in case you are too close to something – when you lift the floor latch in the back, there are all these little compartments to keep things in (like an umbrella, a first aid kit, flares, etc). There is a working radio, CD player. Lots of space in the passenger seat. Etc. We are very happy with it.
The day after buying the car, we went into Auckland to take care of some banking issues – including getting a cashier’s check for the car. We picked up the car and drove to the Bay of Islands where we are staying. It is a 3 hour drive from Auckland. Jack and Mike (now our driving teacher) drove together and Jack drove part of the way. The next couple of days he drove some more with Mike. Now he is quite comfortable driving on the left hand side of the road. I have now started driving as well, with Jack as my teacher, and am feeling pretty confident myself. Right now I would only want to drive alone on routes I already know – but we pretty much go everywhere together and consider driving as a “team sport” now and take turns.
We are staying in Judy and Mike’s summer home in the Bay of Islands. It is at the top of a huge hill with a 180% view of the bay. We can see fishing boats, ferry boats, the weather coming in, sparkling water in the sunshine, the little town of Russell nestled in a corner of the bay. When we first got here, we spent time morning and evening out on the porch – just enjoying. As the rains came, we have spent less time doing that! But we can see just fine since there are sliding glass doors and windows on the whole front of the house. We are actually on an island here and have to bring the car over and back on a ferry each time we go out. The exception is Russell. It is on the same island, so we can just drive there. That is where we go to use the internet – there is no connection here. The other night as Jack was walking back from fishing, he met two young (20 & 16) German girls who were totally lost, just as it was starting to get dark. They were trying to get to a ferry that went to Paihia (not the car ferry we take). That ferry was about 10 miles from where they were. So we drove them into Russell, then we stopped off at a pub for a short while. We are looking forward to going to a rowdy pub when the next NZ rugby game happens.
Judy and Mike left here on Monday the 10th, and although we had a great time with them, it is great being just the two of us.
We have been exhausted almost every night since we got here, even though we are getting plenty of sleep. I think it is the constant new mental input!
Of course there is the driving.
Then there is the phone. We got one cell phone (thinking we will always be together), but have decided to get another one so we can contact each other when Jack is off fishing. Using the phone is fairly complicated at first – sometimes you use the area code, sometimes you don’t. It depends on where you are and if you are on a cell phone or a land line).
And I learned to text! And am quite proud of myself. Judy taught me. I didn’t understand the concept – thought you had to write everything out, but it is called “predictive spelling” and is fun. Unfortunately, I don’t really know anyone who uses texting! I taught Jack to do it too.
And the language – Jack always says we are a people separated by a common language. We have to listen hard to catch the words and meanings from people. For example “Do you have a flyby?” - a card to earn air miles with. Takeaways are food to go. Eftpos (how do you even pronounce that?) is the machine to use at stores for credit or debit.
Most banking and money transactions are done electronically. If you pay your gardener, you get their bank account # and electronically transfer money into their account. If you write a check to someone, your bank charges you $3. If you make a deposit to your account (except electronically) you get charged $3. To get cash, you use Eftpos or an ATM. If you go into the bank and take out cash, you get charged $3.
Judy and Mike are constantly answering our questions about how things work or are called here.
Laundry – almost no one uses dryers. So here I am hanging things on the line (in the rain sometimes). Jack was teasing me about remembering how to do that. I actually think the only time I used a clothes line was when I was 8 or 9, helping my grandmother.
We got car insurance and AA membership (just like AAA). We pick up mail (car registration, AA cards) at the little post office/stationary store in Russell. It is all so personal and lovely.
Our realtor is a guy named Robin. He is a friend of a friend of mine from Hawaii. The other day, we spent about 6 hours driving around and looking for property. We saw several places we loved and could afford. We have also been exploring the north island by ourselves - and we keep coming back to the same conclusion – that we love the KeriKeri area. This is the original place we saw and fell in love with in 2003.
The problem is that we don’t think we can afford a house as well as land. Tenting is not really an option! We will look into “kit homes”. It is all very much up in the air and we’ll need some time (after we get home) to evaluate, to figure out our finances etc. Things are generally less expensive here (food, electricity, car insurance), and right now the US dollar is strong against the NZ dollar which is very good for us. For example – a piece of land that costs $200,000 NZ is really only about $142,000 US.
Jack has been fishing several times – he’s in heaven. He has caught quite a lot – but all of them have been too small to keep. He has only been to nearby places that are pretty well fished out. He’ll be moving on to bigger and better sites soon.
We are trying all sorts of cool foods – and eating at home most of the time. We are drinking “lemon, lime, and bitters” and “LP” – both lemony soft drinks. We’ve had crumpets (like English muffins, but they don’t get crispy on the hole-y side), meat pies (lovely for a lunch).
We did take Judy and Mike out one night to a little place at the ferry landing on the “mainland”. The food was exquisite – SF quality. Wow! On the way back, we were the only ones on the ferry – so we were waltzing on the ferry under the Southern Cross and the brightest stars I have ever seen! Magical!!!!
On one of our day trips, we saw a sign for “Historic Site”. No explanation for what it was, where it was exactly, or why it was historic.
One of the towns had a nice welcome sign as we drove in. Then as we left, another sign said “We Farewell You”. It is just so nice here – every person we meet is lovely!
More later – Lily and Jack
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