First Week!

 

Wow!,  hard to believe we have been in the house for a bit over a week now. It has been an exciting whirlwind of activity. 

Kitchen cleaned, two cabinets removed to make room for the new refrigerator, carpet removed, lounge ceiling painted. There has been a parade of contractors coming through- electrician, plasterer, the plumber called to postpone due to Covid, 3 to quote restoring the wood floors, washer and dryer delivered but fridge was damaged and had to be reordered and delivered two days later. 

There have been a few fun surprises. 

As to be expected… exposed insulation/unfinished wall behind the oven. A broken step on the staircase, and a small gas leak somewhere between the meter and the house. To name a few. -Oh joy!

But we love the house and are excited to be getting our stuff delivered next week. 

We had hoped to get a bit more painting completed before the delivery of our stuff, but it will have to wait. 

We did manage to squeeze in a fun show at the St James Theater Belle: A performance of Air -Visually beautiful show with light, smoke, mirrors and dance. 

And I started work. It was great to be back and the first week was relatively easy with setting up my desk and computer and lots of introductions. 

Here are some fun house photos 😁

The next chapter begins!

It has certainly been a chaotic three weeks… 

We loved seeing Dune part two,(How do they get off the worms?) and enjoyed seeing Rocketeer on the big screen after so many years. The Rocketeer included a fun themed dessert and beverage too. (lol the rocket was very phallic shaped)

The Dr. Who event was about what I expected. Had fun and enjoyed it, but it could have been better. The moderated questions fell short and the attempt at selling merchandise was very weak. The event was already pricey and then they wanted more $ for autographs and photos. Which we knew as that was how it was advertised, but it still felt like more could have been offered. But still glad I went, am really looking forward to the exhibition opening in June. 

I also got the chance to see Meow Meow’s Panemonium. NZ Art Festival is going on and Cassie was offered 2 tickets last minute, so we went having no clue what to expect. The seats were great and we were thoroughly entertained. Meow Meow is a singer performer and comedian and the show was definitely laughing out loud funny. 

Works has not started for me yet, but I went into the office for an induction/on-boarding session and am really looking forward to the new role. Eric is enjoying a few freelance days, before the house projects start. 😁

AND…We made it! 

This is our last night as nomads. 6 months almost to the day of selling our home in Seattle, we are moving into our new home in Wellington NZ. We are very excited and looking forward to spending the next several months, and/or years making it into “our” home. 

It has been a great adventure. And we couldn’t have done it without all the encouragement, love, and support from our family and friends both here and back in the States. 

Thank you all !!!!!

We have shared much of the journey along the way on this blog. And while it was genuinely a great adventure, it was not without a few bumps. 

We had some challenges navigating the banking/loan options and job opportunities and offers have been a little delayed. 

But the biggest bump came 3 weeks ago when we gave notice to the woman with whom we had been flatting…

Suffice it to say. Mistakes were made, lessons learned. 

“The short version”

The woman has mental health challenges. (the kindest words we can use)

She believed we were trying to short her one weeks rent. And when we tried to show her the bank statements and a calendar, all hell broke loose. We were verbally abused and threatened. In the end it was easier to pay the “extra” week than to fight a losing battle -there is no reasoning with crazy. 

(A report will be filed, but we needed to be out and away from her first)

But at the end of it all, what is the old adage?…. we refuse to let one “bad apple” spoil the lot ?

Again we were reminded of how wonderful and caring our NZ family is. Everyone offered us help, support, extra hands and vehicles and places to temporarily stay. A special thank you to Chris & Cassie, Etainia & James, Paul & Claire, Andrew & Lauren, Daniel & Catherine, Lance, Henri and Kim & Warren and everyone else. Again “thank you”!!!!❤️

To add insult to injury, our car was sideswiped/damaged while parked on the street the other night. Roads here are quite narrow, but there is enough room to get by if you are paying attention. Unfortunately not everyone does. Also auto insurance is not required here so many folks do not bother to have any. Certainly those who are already struggling to keep up with the raising cost of living. I find it genuinely ironic that in a country where I continue to tout the kindness and politeness of the community, there are still those that will not stop to leave a note on a car if they have damaged it. It is frustrating. The damage is minimal. Just cosmetic. But just like in the states, you do not want to make a claim. Between the deductible and the threat of rate increases…

We will likely get it fixed at some point, but trying to focus our current expenses on moving into the house! 

We apparently maxed out the number of items a customer can have in a single transaction at the local hardware store- lol!

And now we move in…and our belongings get delivered in 2 weeks

Stay tuned for house renovation photos- coming soon! 😁

Three weeks and counting!

Not too long now. We are excited and have been busy working on all the logistics. We have purchased appliances, gotten some quotes for initial projects, scheduled some work, and scheduled the delivery of our stuff!!!

It’s been a great 6 months of nomadic living, but we are both ready to start to put our roots back down. I am very much looking forward to setting up and having a full kitchen again. It will be about two weeks in the new house before our stuff gets delivered. And I suspect another week to get some of the boxes unpacked and the kitchen set up, but we will have a refrigerator, microwave and toaster oven to start with. And a countertop to dine on. We also picked up a couple of used plastic yard chairs from the second-hand shop and can fashion a table out of one of the many empty appliance boxes. 😁

In the meantime, we have continued to enjoy more time with friends, sunny walks, played games, and seen more movies. 

I also did a fun 5.5k walk “Around the Bays” last Sunday with my friend Cassie. It was a great day for it. Sunny with partial clouds. Not too windy, not too hot, and no rain. We actually probably walked more like 15k as we wondered back to Miramar afterwards, had a delicious meal at DVB - Double Vision Brewery and then back to Cassie’s to sit out on the deck. 

We saw the film “Next Goal Wins”, Taika Waititi’s film with Michael Fassbender about the American Samoan football (read soccer) team. 

Was lots of fun. The critics didn’t like it much but we enjoyed it. We also saw “Argyle” with Henry Cavill - lots of laugh out loud moments. Very silly and entertaining. And in anticipation of Dune part two, we went to a screening of part one so it will be fresh in our minds. 

We also watched the Super Bowl - noon on Monday here. 

We went to a local pub that was showing it on their big screen. 

And as you can see, not a lot of attendees. We were really the only ones interested in the game. Another couple wandered in about mid game. But the random others that came in, came to eat and leave.

We enjoyed the game, but not quite what we were hoping for. 

The feed was through Sky TV and was a local (NZ or Australia) ESPN station. So we had sub-par (read bad) commentators, and NONE of the   cool advertisements!!! We had to watch all the commercials on-line later on our laptop. All that said, it was a close game, both teams made errors, both teams had some great plays. In the end, I was happy for the Chiefs. 

Eric has had a few days of work at Scale Studios! (Sorry no photos)And is planning on starting work on the house as soon as we get in. Murphy’s Law says that’s when he will get other work offers. -Lol.

I have purposefully been avoiding all the “political stuff” 

But for your entertainment, here are a few photos of a local brew.

More fun ahead…A few birthday celebrations, Dune part two, a screening of the classic Rocketeer, and a Dr. Who event with Christopher Eccleston and guests!

Stay tuned…

The blog you’ve been waiting for!

Where did January go? - No really…where?

The last few weeks have been fun. Filled with a crazy mixture of activities and wrangling life. 

But alas! We can now say that we have purchased a house!!! 

We do not yet have a firm closing date but it looks like sometime between March 4th and 15th. 

The house was originally built in 1928 but has had several renovations over the years including the second story added in 1987.  It is in Seatoun/ Miramar very close to where we had lived before. It is west facing so we will get afternoon Sun and beautiful sunsets. 

Just a few photos…we will share more as we move in and transform it into our home.

And…

I have accepted a job offer from PikPok. This is the video game company I worked for back in 2010-2011. I am excited to be working with some of the same great people that are still there. And will be working only 4 days a week😁 

I don’t start until the middle of March so we get to enjoy the next 5-6 weeks playing and taking advantage of summertime here. 

Eric continues to look for work and has applied to a few jobs. Still waiting to hear. It may also workout that he spends March - June painting the interior of the house. Financially it may be the better plan. lol. 

So in between the many phone calls, emails, forms, and documentation, we have been up to Auckland where we visited with friends, got to see the Weta Unleashed exhibit, and explored the first New Zealand Costco. 

 

This is only a small portion of what is the second largest mural in the country. Created by Weta artist and friend Greg Broadmore. (Feel free to google the largest mural. It is on Huia House in Grafton Auckland)

There is so much to see, with things tucked in every corner for you to discover.

Loved seeing our amazing Smaug construct. This is the actual piece Weta created and brought to San Diego Comic Con. Eric, Cassie, Chris and several other Weta artisans and techs assembled this multiple times at various conventions during the promotion of the Hobbit films.

And lots of interactive stuff and props that you can touch and handle.

This is our dear friend Cassie who also works at Weta and helped with the creating of this exhibit. She is a Jewelry maker, costumer and multi talented artist. Behind us is a great photo of another dear friend Chris Menges (sword smith) he can be seen throughout many of exhibits.

The entrance to Costco is unique whereby you collect your cart (trolly) and proceed down escalators to the entrance. 

The food was only slightly more expensive but still quite cheap, especially by  NZ standards. And as you can see quite busy. Yes we indulged in hotdogs. 

  

While the packaging is not the same, the product is identical to what we had in the states! We bought two bags! We also picked up a few other items, filling a suitcase to bring back to Wellington. This first Costco is a 9 hour drive away or a one hour flight. They are planning to open another location in Christchurch on the south island and another in Wellington... eventually, we hope in the next year or two. I was sad that they are not carrying Triscuits! We will have to source them from another US store at a premium price. About $7.50 per box - ouch!

Back in Wellington, we also checked out the Marvel “Earth’s Mightiest Exhibition” at the new convention center - Takina, took advantage of the last of the end of year/new year sales and bought a refrigerator and washer and dryer (being held until they can be delivered) and still managed to continue to take more amazing walks along the water.

 

Our friends at Scale Studio created the giant Mjolnir hammer down by the waterfront. The hammer also lights up at night. We are looking forward to going back at night to get some more fun photos.

It was a fun exhibit but not quite structured for young kids as there was lots of reading and focused on a lot of history about the of comic book industry. Could have used more interactive activities for the kids.

We will leave you with all that good news and follow up with more in a few weeks. We are taking a breather…😁