Paekok contd Mar 23-29

Hilary & I went to look at lots of Open Homes at Aotea on Easter Sunday, just to try & work out what you get for your money. After a very few, it was obvious that the finish on some of them was better than I can achieve, my location is all that makes mine potentially worth more. As it has always been, my problem is that I can’t really build a good enough house for the site, but does it matter? A dilemma. We had fun anyway, we really liked a couple of the homes, & learnt that those with ‘cathedral’ ceilings certainly feel bigger, even if they aren’t. Don’t think Golden Homes do any like that though.
All the family except my nephew Adam, who was working, came up for dinner, which Erola had cooked. Fortunately she really enjoys cooking & she’s better than me! I made an Easter Egg hunt for Ali & Junior, since apparently it’s a tradition she wants to keep up, even though she’s grown-up! We went for a walk along the beach (see above), weather still fantastic. Phoned my daughter Emma later, it cost almost £16, must stop it & use email instead. She seems OK about the possibility that I won’t be home till almost Christmas, just worried about the renewal of our rental lease. I’m sure we can sort out something via fax when the time comes. Her new lodger, Paul, arrives next weekend, he will help her financial situation since she can’t afford all the rent on her own.
Despite the fact that Erola said she wanted us to be independent & live our own lives, it is becoming rapidly apparent that she needs me, or at least someone, to talk to. Then Hilary invited just me to a barbecue on Easter Monday, and I think Erola was upset that she wasn’t included. I would have preferred to go to the barbecue early, to sit outside & enjoy this lovely weather which must end soon, but Erola showed me around Paraparaumu and then we both went, ended up not arriving till almost 6.30 (that’s another thing, no 24 hour clocks for Kiwis).

Did my sums & decided that I can just about afford the ‘Grace’ Golden Home, with a little contingency, so am going for it. After all, it’s what I came to NZ to do. It’s a gamble, but then a lot of things in life are a gamble. I’ll only know in a couple of years if this was the right decision or not. Mine will be the cheapest house on the block, but hopefully the spectacular edifices around will bring it’s price up eventually! My plan is to rent it out when I leave, for hopefully $600 per week, until I come back to NZ at the end of 2009. Then I will live in it for 6 months & then sell it, i.e. mid 2010, & buy a small house back in the U.K. & here if there’s time. Otherwise that will have to wait till I come back in 2011. Long-term plans have a way of being changed by circumstances I know, but those our my thoughts at present. I am using the time here to decide if I really do want to spend half my life on the other side of the world from my children & worse, grandchildren.
Friday was a busy day. After spending several hours on Trademe, the NZ equivalent of ebay, over the past couple of weeks, looking for a car, decided to go for a 1996 Ford Festiva, which has only done 62K & is a one owner NZ car. An awful lot of NZ cars are imported second-hand from Asia, but at least with an NZ car the history can be traced. Kiwis are absolutely no good at keeping service history, it doesn’t seem to be something they do, I guess because they’re so trusting. This car is from a wholesale dealer, & we all know what used car salesmen are like, but am having the car checked out next Monday before I sign on the dotted line. Car has what looks like a Maori logo/decoration on it, from new, so hopefully the ‘bros’ will leave it alone. At least I’ll be able to find it in car-parks!
Also went and signed on the dotted line for the house, deposited $6000, which is for the detailed plans. Can still pull out after they’re done if I change my mind, after that it’s full steam ahead for the build. Their promise is that the house will be completed by 9th October, I’m not holding my breath!
Saturday I had an interesting glimpse of NZ culture, which I’m rapidly coming to appreciate is very different from ours. The Taiko drummers performed at the Kapiti Coast International Food Exchange Day, which took place at Kapiti Primary School. Many ethnic groups were represented, and all sorts of free food was available, which was ‘yummy’, which against my instincts is a word I’m now using to describe food, just like a Kiwi! The Maori presence was very evident, & my sister & I had a discussion about the situation later, & our thoughts about the future. Since 25% of NZ children are Maori, & lots of ‘pakeha’ (European descent) young people are leaving the country because of the low wages here, in a few generations it is possible that NZ will be a very different place, a new South Africa? Food for thought!
There were only about 150 people at the event, but they included the Mayor of Kapiti Coast, Jenny Rowan, the NZ Commissioner for Race Relations, Joris de Bres, & Darren Hughes, who is Deputy Leader of the House, the Minister for Statistics, & the youngest MP, who was 30 today so we all sang Happy Birthday. Only in NZ!
Later Erola, Hilary & I went to see ‘The Bucket List’, a very funny but also tear-jerking film starring Jack Nicholson & Morgan Freeman, I recommend it. The cinema was lovely, all sofas, & only a couple of dollars dearer than a ‘normal’ one. Afterwards Erola came home but I went to Hilary’s for ‘fish and chips’, actually we got a Chinese take-away. Arrived home at about 11:30 at the same time as Erola, who had obviously been out too, don't know where.

Paekok contd Mar16-22

Hilary & I went to lots of ‘Open Homes’ on Sunday, to find out what I could get for around 350,000NZD which is what I’ve calculated I can afford over here (if I sell my section) and still have enough to buy a very small flat in the UK. We concentrated on Raumati Beach in the morning & then went to Waikane in the afternoon, which is even further up the coast, but gave up there after a couple because I definitely like R.B. best. Saw a very nice place for 425K, but out of my league unfortunately! At least it firmed up my ideas.
In the evening was invited to join Erola at her friend Vicki’s to see a video of ‘Maharaji’ (I told you they were into spiritual things) which was actually quite good but I am an old sceptic. Vicki also provided dinner unexpectedly & it was a nice evening.
On Monday I got the Quick Quote from Golden Homes, this is 294K approx including all the bits & pieces but excluding landscaping & ‘drapes’, since I can do them myself. Facing the way it does, I don’t think very many curtains are actually necessary, only in the bedrooms really. This is certainly food for thought. Arranged to see some actual homes on a new sub-division so I can see the finish tomorrow.

The homes were as I thought they’d be, not brilliant finish but adequate. Houses are brick & tile, which is not really what I wanted, but at this juncture speed is of the essence & I really don’t have the time to investigate other possibilities. My’ neighbours’ house was built by Rocca Homes, he used to own Golden Homes, but it took 8 months & I really need to be home before Christmas. There is at least quite a choice of brick & tile colours, so I may get my white house with blue roof almost. Not at all fashionable, they are all ‘mud’ colours, especially inside, but I want mine to be ‘seaside’ colours, at least when I come to sell it it will be different.
I am still scouring what are known here as ‘op’ shops (opportunity), what we call Charity shops, for various bits & pieces. I need plastic containers to freeze my meal portions in, a necessity when you live alone. Also I am looking for sewing & knitting bits & pieces, because if I don’t or can’t get a job I will have to do something with my time. Thought I might try making cushions & selling them in one of the local markets, I did start at home so I have some ideas.
The weather is still absolutely beautiful, went for a walk along the beach, found someone had made a sand-person, decorated it with the shells which are very plentiful & called it ‘Shelley’, very inventive!
Went into the city by train to find the NZIS (Immigration) office, to inquire about the process for staying longer than the 6 months allowed by a Visitor’s permit. This appears to be very simple, I have to provide evidence of my flight home, plus a bank statement to show I have $1000 per month to live on, shouldn’t be a problem. Only in NZ! Went to Te Papa afterwards, which is the wonderful free museum, impossible to see it all, but I ‘dip into it’ each time I visit Wellington. This time I went to the special exhibition on the Scots in NZ, which is very interesting,if small, and looked at the wonderful wool outfits donated by Mary Burgess, who used to promote NZ wool. There is a beautiful olive green fine wool evening dress which would not look out of place today on the QE2, though dates from the 1950s.
Disgraced ourselves at a quiz on Thursday evening, it was run by the girls football club in Tawa, where my sister lives. We came next to last, so didn’t even get the wooden spoon prize, but we did get a free T-shirt & some chocolate for coming last in 2 rounds! Just shows you should only go to quizzes where you have some connection, all those quizzes on the QE2 were of no use whatsoever!
On Good Friday all the shops shut, so we had a very quiet day. We did do some cleaning, I had to use Erola’s vacuum cleaner, which would not be out of place on the Antiques Road Show!

Erola runs some Taiko groups when she is not nannying, i.e. on Fridays & on Sundays. Taiko is Japanese drumming, very impressive. I only discovered today that Erola has only just mastered the art herself, the original teacher went back to Japan so the children teach each other! It is very disciplined, you have to be very dedicated to make it. The ‘Performance’ group performed at Waikane Market on Easter Saturday, they were terrific. They have several performances coming up, they are much in demand.

I then went shopping at Pak ‘n’ Save, which is unique in that the check-out person does not pack for you, just puts your stuff in a trolley. In most supermarkets, like in America, they pack your stuff into bags. I will be really spoilt when I get home! I am really surprised by the cost of food in NZ, I now realise that we have really cheap food in the UK . I do think the quality is better here though, certainly the meat tastes better. An average weekly shop for just me is about $100 i.e. £40, I think a supermarket shop for one person in the UK would be about that, but of course the wages here are a third of ours. Petrol is going up, as in the UK, it is 1.77 a litre, about 80p, but again the wages thing. Big ticket items are cheaper, like houses and new cars, though second-hand cars don’t seem that cheap to me. A decent 1998 model will cost me about $5000 I think, which is about the same cost as in the UK. Insurance is much cheaper, my car insurance will cost me approx $225, i.e. less than £100, for Third party, fire & theft on an old car, I was quoted £800 in the UK for my son’s old Ford Fiesta!
Saturday night we went to a film in the local Church Hall, made for TV by Gabriel Preston (she was there) about Rita Angus, probably the most famous NZ painter. It was a lovely film, saw lots of the pictures in close-up, & since nearly all of them are hidden away in Te Papa this was all new stuff. Also Rita herself was a recluse, but the film attempted to explain this & give some insight into her personal life. However the most interesting part for me was the composition of the audience! Erola had already explained that Paekok has a large female gay population, & I think they comprised 50%. Also, Paekok is ‘arty’ & certainly some of the clothes were unique e.g. a skirt made out of men’s ties, actually it looked very good! But I’m certain I’ve never been part of such a company!

Paekakariki Mar 9-15

This is a truly magical place & I love living here (Paekok for short). There are lots of slightly ageing hippies in the village, arty types, poets, painters & the like, it’s great for someone like me who has supposedly been so logical all my life! I needed to experience a completely different way of life for a bit, & this is it! Erola’s rented house is one road back from the beach, literally 50 yds, so it’s very easy to go for a walk on the beach every day & look at the waves and Kapiti Island, which is a wildlife sanctuary which dominates this part of the ‘Kapiti Coast’. The local surf teams are internationally famous apparently, but I haven’t seen the sea rough at all hardly, the weather has been absolutely beautiful since I arrived, about 23 and sunny with blue skies & sea.
Erola is a lovely person, a former journalist/dancer/dance teacher who now nannies for a very precarious living, she definitely needed a lodger! My sister gets cross with her because she lives beyond her means, but in her view life has to be worth living and penny-pinching is anathema. I’ve got 2 examples of opposite ends of the spectrum so hopefully I will strike a happy medium!
There is a train station in the village, the line goes to Wellington in one direction & Paraparaumu (Paraparam) in the other. I decided a car was a necessity by Tuesday so went to look at one in a garage in Paraparam. Decided against it, too expensive, & then decided to rent one long-term. Avis is much too expensive even with staff discount, & couldn’t get hold of the leasing people, so have rented an old Nissan Pulsar for $25 a day. The excess is $500, hope I don’t end up paying it, the drivers here are not too hot.
Took my neighbours advice & went to Upper Hutt to the Golden Homes office. There are no showhomes, but did discover a house plan very like the original one designed for me by David Reid homes back in May 2007. Of course it will not be the same quality, but at this stage I know I can only afford a pretty basic house. This plan, the ‘Grace’ costs 251,000 basic, but of course there will be add-ons for earthworks & landscaping & all sorts of other things. Haven’t really sat down yet to do my ‘sums’ to see what I really can afford, but it’s well worth thinking about.
On Friday went up the coast a little way to Raumati Beach for a coffee, it has a really nice feel to it & if I do buy this is where I would like to live I think. Had a big shock in the cafe, Hilary phoned to say it looked as though Ali might have had a little stroke that morning, she is only 19 but a Type 1 diabetic & she doesn’t take care of herself very well. Hilary was trying to get appointments with specialists all day but couldn’t manage it, the G.P just told her that if there were any further developments they were to go hospital straight away!
Met Erola at Lindale on Saturday lunchtime, it is a tourist village really but very nice, bought some pate for tonight’s meal, since Erola has invited her friends Ingrid & Dave for a roast. This is rather uncommon in NZ, but Erola is from Christchurch, the most English place in NZ, & her mother was English. Her father was an All-Black, J.A. Whitcombe.

Wellington Mar 7-9

Of course I drove up to look at my section on the way to Hilary’s, and took a few photos in case I decide to sell it.
Had tea with my ‘neighbours’, Linda & Rob, who suggested I talk to Golden Homes, who are cheap, & at the moment guaranteeing to complete a house in 5 months or they will pay your rent, sounds worth a chat anyway. Stayed with my sister for a couple of nights before starting my life as a lodger. All the family came around on Saturday for dinner, which was great, I met Alex’s Samoan boyfriend Junior, that is his name, who seemed very nice but very young. Earlier in the day some idiot had run into the back of the car coming up to some traffic lights, & when I returned it on Sunday I had to pay the $200 excess, I know Avis won’t get it back, because the guy had no insurance (it’s not mandatory in NZ to have it). Seems very unfair to me that I have to pay. We had a little drive around Titahi Bay on the way to Erola’s, since this is a potential area where I may buy a house if I don’t build. Went to 2 open homes just to be nosey, heard about a 2 bed in Plimmerton from one agent, which sounds like a possibility since that is a very nice area & close to a station & highway 1.

Wanganui Mar 6-7

I loved Wanganui, it is very pretty and the property is cheap! I believe this is because there has been Maori trouble in the area, but my hostess Pam was very quick to deny that there was a big problem. Her house was beautiful, sort of like 2 chapels joined together, she was English, having emigrated in 1961, I think she was a bit lonely because her children are all overseas. I went to the very interesting small museum on Friday, would’ve liked to go on the only remaining NZ paddle steamer trip up the Wanganui river but since it only went in the afternoon & I needed to get to Wellington I will have to go back some time.

Hamilton Mar 5

Drove to Hamilton to see the first day of the first cricket Test between England & the ‘Blackcaps’. There were no signs on the way in so I parked in the K-mart car park & went to the ‘I’ to find out. Felt very silly when the girl there pointed out the floodlights of Seddon park just over the road! At least it meant I could leave the car where it was. Only missed the first half-hour, & certainly felt that on that first day the honours were about even, shame about the rest of it! Highlight for me was seeing Ian Botham on his mobile phone walking up & down outside the commentary box, & Nassar Hussein giving an interview.

Had booked a homestay in Te Kuiti, so left the game about 4.30, Kiwis eat dinner early & didn't want to miss it. Homestay was lovely, high on a hill overlooking a lake, with very friendly owners, margaret & Graham. She also helped me by booking me into a homestay in Wanganui for tomorrow night, a friend of here sister-in-law. Had a very nice meal in the Riverside Lodge & met 2 guys in the homestay later who are in IT, installing systems in power companies.

Katikati & Tauranga Mar 1-5

It poured with rain all the way from Whitianga to katikati, so we went to Morton winery & bought wine & fizz for presents & for ourselves. I had spotted Katikati museum on the way, so we went there, which looked like nothing at all from the outside, but the lovely couple who run it made it such fun. It was well worth the $6 entry fee. They were dairy farmers, forced out when the Uk joined the EU, but they now think it was the best thing which happened to regenerate the region, because the agriculture has diversified & there are now lots more people in the area. Our B&B was run by an English couple along ‘English’ lines, i.e. they kept themselves to themselves, unlike NZ Homestay hosts. We were not surprised to learn that they had a guest house in Paignton, Devon, seaside landlady did spring to mind! It was very reasonable though, so perhaps we shouldn’t grumble.

I took Hilary to Tauranga to get the bus back to Wellington, & then made my way to my ex-colleagues house in Matua. Mark left Avis 2 years ago & emigrated with his family. He isn’t working in IT at all, but is taking photos for open2view.com. I think he enjoys it, but it is very time-consuming & he was hoping to spend more time with his young family than he did in the UK. We visited the Old Mission House on Sunday, which Mark & family knew nothing about, it was in the book given to me by my Avis colleagues as part of my leaving present, called ‘1001 Things to Do in NZ’, it has proved very interesting.
On Monday Tracey & I walked up Mount Manganui (I’m really not fit!), & then went to the hot pools at it’s base. I really love the hot pool experience in NZ, & it certainly prevented my legs from aching, for a while at least! We met lots of people climbing the Mount, there were a couple of cruise ships in port, & we were mistaken for passengers twice, must be the accent (&/or the clothes, Kiwis are very informal, to put it mildly!). I remember some people on the QE2 being very offended when someone told them they were surprised to see them wearing shoes, but it is a fact that a lot of children (& a few adults), do not wear shoes at all.

Coromandel contd Feb 29

Unfortunately I couldn't find anyone to propose to today!

This was a 'beach' day, we visited Hahei, Cook's Beach & walked to Gemstone Bay on the way to Cathedral Cove. We planned to have lunch in a cafe at Cook's Beach, but right until just before we left, failed to find anything except hundreds of holiday homes, all shut up again. We did find the memorial to Cook's Landing however, so duly took a photo. By that time we had decided to take the ferry back to Whitianga, so we ate there instead!

The walk to Gemstone Bay was 'intersting', lots of steps down, which of course we later had to walk up, 2 ladies in their fifties certainly felt their age! Add to that that the beach was all rocks, & really designed for snorkellers, we saw several, it wasn't the best choice. We'll know next time, & there will be a next time, I intend to come back to this area at some point definitely.

Coromandel Town - Feb 28

Hilary remembered that the road to Coromandel Town from Whitianga was gravel, not tarmac, probably the '309' we saw signposted, but a new road seems to have been built north of Whitianga which was a longer way round, winding but very scenic. The Coromandel peninsular is spectacular, I hadn't read anything about it before I came here & it is very beautiful, volcanic & green, with sometimes unexpected views of the sea. Of course, like most of NZ, it is also sparsely populated. despite the influx of weekenders. We spent a very pleasnat afternoon going up the Driving Creek railway, which I believe is the only narrow-guage railway in NZ. It was built by an individual to bring logs down from the hills to fire his pottery kilns, who then realised the tourist potential (only in NZ!). He has now used the money generated by tourism to replant his land with native trees & bushes, obviously a wealthy person with ideals.

Whitianga Feb 27

Whitianga was our next stop after Thames, Hilary didn't recognise it at all from when she'd last visited about 10 years ago. It has become a very popular 'second home' destination for wealthy Aucklanders, lots of very expensive new homes, but mostly shut up at this time of year, very sad really. Hilary had booked us into another homestay, but when we arrived, fortunately early, discovered that the guy had 'double-booked' us (in fact he'd got the month wrong!). Fortunately we were able to find a very comfortable & spacious motel room, overlooking Buffalo Beach, via the Information office, the 'i'. These are very useful places to go, and we have found unfailingly helpful. We ate out at 'Salt', a restaurant right next to the marina, which was very pleasant.

Coromandel-Thames Feb 26-27

Despite the delay caused by the others, we made good time out of the city, & decided we would go to the hot pools at Miranda to relax after our somewhat stressful weekend! But we weren't impressed with the look of the one pool available, & it cost $12 plus towel hire so we gave it a miss & drove on to Thames. We were too early to go to the homestay, so we had a very interesting look around the very small museum. You know you're getting old when you recognise the packets in the old grocery store! The lady running the museum stayed open later than published just for us, this is the kind of thing which makes NZ such a great country, so different from the UK, where I don't think that would happen.

The homestay was lovely, it's called Cotswold Cottage, it's upon a small knoll on the approach to Thames, near the airport. After being given afternoon tea & chatting with the owners, who are English (though the lady was born in Wellington),we relaxed in the hot tub, bliss! Such a contrast to our accommodation in Auckland! We had an evening meal here too, which was very good & reasonable.

I recommend the Goldmine experience in Thames, which we went to the next day. It was very good value for 410, appeared to be run by a young girl (the guide) and an older chap who may have been a relation who kept the machines running. The stamper battery was incredibly loud, it must have been absolutely deafening when over a 100 were going in Gold Rush era of the 1860s.

Auckland contd Feb 25-6

Monday effectively saw the end of my dream of building my house on my Wellington site. My sister Hilary had looked at the plans on the Sunday evening & was very sceptical that it could be built for my budget. She was absolutely correct, the architect had totally misled me and I was very angry. However, I had sort of already decided that I didn't want to put all my eggs in one basket, in view of the current world financial situation, so it's probably just as well. I hope to sell my section at a considerable profit, & buy myself an aprtment or a little townhouse, which will hopefully be easily rentable & a lot less stressful than a build. I might even be able to get my stuff shipped out from the UK, which would be great, & even though I would have to store it here (because rentals are always unfurnished), storage is very much cheaper.

Tricia & Hils had quite an 'adventure' on Tuesday! They had booked to go on the 7.30a.m. train to Wellington, stay overnight, and then Picton ferry & train to Christchurch. Unfortunately the taxi supposedly booked by the hotel failed to turn up, & by the time they themselves & luggage to the station by bus they were too late. We were very surprised to see Tricia in reception when we took our luggage down at 9.30a.m. but she was able to negotiate 2 free nights accommodation since it was all the hotel's fault, so she was happy. We rescued Hils from the station in the hire car, Hilary made me drive it, since I'm 'more used to cities', probably correct. I think Hils & Tricia might have had a slight disagreement as to their future plans, we are a little sceptical as to their ability to both manage their travels & each other for the next 6 months!

Auckland Feb 22-26

Auckland Feb22-26
Accommodation certainly lived up to its name of Princeton Budget Hotel. Really a student block, with certain rooms let to unsuspecting tourists such as ourselves. It was clean however, and on lots of bus routes, which had advantages. We had a 2 bed apartment, one bedroom with a huge bed (mine!) , the other with 2 singles, a very small galley kitchen & a shower room. Getting all our luggage up to the 10th floor was quite an effort, & we swore that the whole building swayed in the wind, quite disconcerting.

Our stay was strange, in that Tricia, from being the dominant personality in our triumvirate, became very uncertain of herself and seemed dependent on me, until my sister Hilary arrived anyway, to lead the way. She & the other Hilary (to be known as Hils now!) wanted to spend a great deal of time each day writing emails, & were reluctant to spend any money at all. I felt they wasted an opportunity to see some of the attractions which Auckland has to offer, though I understood the reasons. They have another 6 months plus ‘on the road’ & needed to budget accordingly. Apart from our trip to see off the QE2, we did nothing exciting until my sister arrived on the Saturday, in order to celebrate my birthday. We went out that evening (in the pouring rain) for a meal in Viaduct basin, which is expensive but it is the centre of the tourist bit .

On Sunday 26th, I decided I would like to see the terracotta Warriors exhibition in the Sky Tower, which we all went to, though Tricia doesn’t like ‘museums’ & came somewhat reluctantly. I think she did enjoy it, & we were all absolutely amazed at the size of the casino in the Tower. By the evening the weather had cleared a little, & although we would have liked to hear Dame Kiri te Kanawa in the Domain, as part of the Symphony in the Park, we decided, along with a great many other people, to go to the Lantern festival in Albert Park instead. We left quite early, and unfortunately missed the later fireworks, but we left because neither Tricia nor Hils liked all the crowds, & Hils’ feet hurt.