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.

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)

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.

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