The main reason why there has been so little written on the blog over the past couple of days is the fact that we have been really buzzing around looking at houses to rent - when here at the Motel, we have been getting onto the Internet to see what has come up in the interim in the way of houses to rent!
Anyway - to cut a long story short, we think we have found a house to rent - not the most expensive we have seen, not the cheapest either. We actually saw the house a few days ago, from the kerb - according to the rules! We managed to get our 'On Arrival' agent to make an appointment for us and visited the house inside yesterday. It's a three bedroom standard sort of house with very nice open plan living, dining and kitchen areas - all opening out via sliding doors onto a paved area out the back. The house is open onto the street, but is in the sort of corner of a cul de sac - very little traffic - but a good area, fairly new but not so new as to be full of empty houses and builders' rubble which didn't grab us too much. The present tenants have been happy there we gather, telling us that the neighbours are quiet and nice! Apparently, diagonally behind this house is a family from Natal, SA so we will probably get to meet them in the not too distant future.
We have 'applied' for the house and have been told that we are approved - whatever that means! Evidently, just applying for a house, even first in the queue, doesn't necessarily mean you get to live in that house! The 'approved' is what matters - we now have an appointment for Monday to sign all the relevant documents and do the deposit thing which is called a bond - in any event, it does all look quite hopeful! To be very honest, the Motel is all very well especially since they have lasses who do the dishes and make up beds thing, but we are finding that we are affected by cabin fever so have taken a couple of 'day trip' type drives out of Hamilton to do a bit of exploring. We had heard that Raglan was lovely so headed out to check it out - the little town itself reminds you of a small coastal town in the Eastern Cape like Jefferies Bay for example! with a lagoon and lots of holiday type homes. The sea just seems so incredibly vast and when we were there, so calm and flat. The thing that was so different for us was the 'black' volcanic sand - a black beach is something we haven't seen before! Looking at the map, Raglan is on the West Coast of NZ so the sea was the blue bit between NZ and Australia. The beach parking area was full of camper vans and 4X4 vehicles and surfers - some of whom looked very much like forty something hippies with the whole flower power and long hair thing going on. We are hoping to get the photo thing up and running properly so that you can see how spectacular it is to look at the beach from so high up - the bay is surrounded by really big hills all of which have fantastic spots for picnics and things while looking out over the bay.
Today we decided that since it is a holiday here - Waitangi Day - meaning the national holiday which is celebrated in NZ in commemoration of the signing of the treaty with the Maoris in the 18 hundreds - everywhere has things happening - craft markets and funfairs for kids and so on, we would take a little trip up to Rotorua - South from Hamilton and a town that was initially on the cards when we first thought about coming here. I took loads of photos en-route so that you can see how beautiful the countryside is - a sort of a cross between the Tsitsikama Forest route down Eastern Cape way and the rural bits of England - plenty of green with sheep and or cows dotted about. We have been struck by how brilliant the roads are - Jo actually is beginning to wonder what he will be doing here - and the incredible number of really old established trees there seem to be everywhere - oaks that look at least 100 years old, just along the main highway routes. Of course the roads are really winding and have lots of ups and downs - just pretty and rural and although they are highways, since the speed limit is 100kph, nobody seems to be speeding or doing dumb things on the roads. We are hoping that the house thing is going to happen in the next week - it looks as though if all goes according to plan, we could be able to move into the house next weekend - sometime around the 14th. Furniture shouldn't be too much of an issue until the container arrives - we have made contact with some folks who assure us that they will be able to sort anything and everything out until our stuff gets here! I don't suppose I need to mention that these folks are ex-South Africans who have 'been there and done that'! Locals also have a reputation for making new folks welcome and helping out wherever they can - so we should be fine. We want to try to post some photos onto this blog for you to enjoy so will say cheers for now and tell you that we look every day hoping that there will be at least a comment or two which would prove that someone somewhere is actually reading all this! That's all!
Anyway - to cut a long story short, we think we have found a house to rent - not the most expensive we have seen, not the cheapest either. We actually saw the house a few days ago, from the kerb - according to the rules! We managed to get our 'On Arrival' agent to make an appointment for us and visited the house inside yesterday. It's a three bedroom standard sort of house with very nice open plan living, dining and kitchen areas - all opening out via sliding doors onto a paved area out the back. The house is open onto the street, but is in the sort of corner of a cul de sac - very little traffic - but a good area, fairly new but not so new as to be full of empty houses and builders' rubble which didn't grab us too much. The present tenants have been happy there we gather, telling us that the neighbours are quiet and nice! Apparently, diagonally behind this house is a family from Natal, SA so we will probably get to meet them in the not too distant future.
We have 'applied' for the house and have been told that we are approved - whatever that means! Evidently, just applying for a house, even first in the queue, doesn't necessarily mean you get to live in that house! The 'approved' is what matters - we now have an appointment for Monday to sign all the relevant documents and do the deposit thing which is called a bond - in any event, it does all look quite hopeful! To be very honest, the Motel is all very well especially since they have lasses who do the dishes and make up beds thing, but we are finding that we are affected by cabin fever so have taken a couple of 'day trip' type drives out of Hamilton to do a bit of exploring. We had heard that Raglan was lovely so headed out to check it out - the little town itself reminds you of a small coastal town in the Eastern Cape like Jefferies Bay for example! with a lagoon and lots of holiday type homes. The sea just seems so incredibly vast and when we were there, so calm and flat. The thing that was so different for us was the 'black' volcanic sand - a black beach is something we haven't seen before! Looking at the map, Raglan is on the West Coast of NZ so the sea was the blue bit between NZ and Australia. The beach parking area was full of camper vans and 4X4 vehicles and surfers - some of whom looked very much like forty something hippies with the whole flower power and long hair thing going on. We are hoping to get the photo thing up and running properly so that you can see how spectacular it is to look at the beach from so high up - the bay is surrounded by really big hills all of which have fantastic spots for picnics and things while looking out over the bay.
Today we decided that since it is a holiday here - Waitangi Day - meaning the national holiday which is celebrated in NZ in commemoration of the signing of the treaty with the Maoris in the 18 hundreds - everywhere has things happening - craft markets and funfairs for kids and so on, we would take a little trip up to Rotorua - South from Hamilton and a town that was initially on the cards when we first thought about coming here. I took loads of photos en-route so that you can see how beautiful the countryside is - a sort of a cross between the Tsitsikama Forest route down Eastern Cape way and the rural bits of England - plenty of green with sheep and or cows dotted about. We have been struck by how brilliant the roads are - Jo actually is beginning to wonder what he will be doing here - and the incredible number of really old established trees there seem to be everywhere - oaks that look at least 100 years old, just along the main highway routes. Of course the roads are really winding and have lots of ups and downs - just pretty and rural and although they are highways, since the speed limit is 100kph, nobody seems to be speeding or doing dumb things on the roads. We are hoping that the house thing is going to happen in the next week - it looks as though if all goes according to plan, we could be able to move into the house next weekend - sometime around the 14th. Furniture shouldn't be too much of an issue until the container arrives - we have made contact with some folks who assure us that they will be able to sort anything and everything out until our stuff gets here! I don't suppose I need to mention that these folks are ex-South Africans who have 'been there and done that'! Locals also have a reputation for making new folks welcome and helping out wherever they can - so we should be fine. We want to try to post some photos onto this blog for you to enjoy so will say cheers for now and tell you that we look every day hoping that there will be at least a comment or two which would prove that someone somewhere is actually reading all this! That's all!
How exciting! We are pleased to hear you have found a place so quickly - what is the address? I would like to see on Google Maps street level search as they even have photos! It sounds like you are also enjoying some holiday time together relaxing and exploring...we hope you are having a wonderful time. When does Jo start work? Ok, catch up soon. Love Jo and Allan x
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