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.
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.
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