visitors beware... our new place is very very small...

So here are some photos of our new little apartment. It also has a one car garage that we can use for storage or a workshop.



We signed our lease today and can start moving stuff in tomorrow. Its a small place, but very well lit. I wonder if it will feel too small, but I hope that if we set it up well, with decent furniture, it will be just fine. Like a little mini hotel room, only more personable. Crazy though to think that for the same money 7 years ago you could rent a 3 bedroom house in the same neighborhood!  Reason to look at buying, but we're completely priced out of the market here too.  Traveler will soon be going batty if I don't stop fretting about the housing market.  I currently blame the banks/lending insitutions.  If they lend people 5 times their salary, the housing market suddenly is filled with 400-500k houses because average people buying such houses make 50-100k.  Granted us consumers of mortgages could say, no thats crazy, but that is hard to do when there is so much rhetoric and dreams and other strange social pressures to buy...   that is my current thinking, sure to change in the next weeks or so.  

If any one has any good information on understand real estate or any web commentators on housing stuff, I am increasingly interested in it. I just can't figure out how people afford 4-8 times their salary on a mortage. Over the next year I'll start checking out the surrounding suburbs, but who knows by then we might be priced out there too. Which is fine, but I can't figure out where all this money comes from... who are the other first time buyers, and what amazing jobs do they have.  For now, you'll find me living in a little attic room hoping to save up enough for a 40-60% deposit so that I can then afford the remaining mortgage:)





 

Domestic flights... 30 minutes of photos

Today I flew up to Palmerston North to see some clients. It was a lovely calm sunny day, at least for the landings in my plane. While we waited for our return flight, I was thoroughly entertained by the small planes trying to land in strong winds. They were dancing all over the place!


There are many differences when you fly domestically here... first off you can watch the pilots fly, see the runway as you land, and on this little plane the pilots do all the pre flight chit chat.
 
This is the Palmerston International gate, the entire thing, I 'm not sure where you can go to in the world from here, but clearly it is possible to pay your $25 departure tax and go somewhere.

And for those interested in Geography, here are some aerial shots of Wellington. The South Island looks so close from here, even though it is a 3 hour ferry ride. I'm sure Cape Cod is similar from the air.






And Lower Hutt... probably the closest to the city we could ever afford to buy, and that would be a stretch...




And Porirua just north of us




and the eastern edge of the Wellington Harbour

 

cooking...

I find it entertaining that now that we've moved pretty far south – proportionally there's really not much land mass below our current latitude – Traveler has developed an interest in southern cooking. The pulled pork and barbecue sauce get better each week, but I'm not sure about succotash and pork flavors greens... 

Ceiling...

I didn't much appreciate clouds until I starting learning to fly.  Growing up in Oregon, there were either lots of clouds or none.  They didn't bring snow or thunderstorms too often, so they seemed kindof blah.  Flying made me see clouds in a whole new way.  



While there is no money for flying at the moment, I do enjoy waking up and checking out the cloud ceiling with respect to the deck.  Something I'll miss when we move down to the flats below...

 

Botanical Garden

During the summer months, free concerts are offered at the Botanical Gardens. They light the place up too during the concerts.

I really enjoy spending time there, and the concerts draw lots of people of all ages. Kids love the playground (within ear shot of the music) and the cable car. Adults seem to enjoy picnics and relaxing. Those that want to chat during the concert can move into the trees a bit, and still hear the music in the background. And the preschool set seem to love these spotlights that are computer controlled to drift along the sidewalk. Even with my kid experience, I was surprised what a hit these lights are with kids running and jumping on the lights, only to run and jump again and again and again while their parents chill nearby, chatting away. I love that there are tons of little pathways through out the place and I feel safe walking, even once it gets dark, during the concerts.




Here is an example of the fiddle ferns you see here.

 
And we both enjoyed checking out this spiral tree

Playgrounds

I love playgrounds. I love ones where kids, adults, and those inbetween ages can all play together, but hate it when teenagers intimidated young kids... and I am happy to say that many playgrounds here draw people of all ages. I've witnessed some lovely intergenerational interaction between adults, kids, teenagers, and toddlers.

Here are the playgrounds at the Wellington Botantic Garden. Notice the height of the slide. Just behind it is a fairly long flying fox thing that reminded me of the zip line my dad built me as a kid. Its a good 4 feet off the ground from the disk you sit on and draws kids of all ages. It was great seeing teenagers helping little kids. The little kids weren't getting to take cuts, but the big kids were also making sure they got their turn – even if the little ones were too squirreling to properly wait in line.


Playgrounds are an easy place to spot Americans. We're the ones open mouth, gob smacked, staring at the 'dangerous' items. Those who aren't speechless are found muttering “well you wouldn't see this in America” over and over again. I met a doctor from Seattle in this manner. After taking turns with his preschool son on the slide, I joined him muttering about how you'd never find such fun contraptions in America. Kids do fall here. I'm sure some get hurt unfortunately. But I also see a lot of kids just bouncing up and back to play without a tear.


Here is the playground in Karori; 

its next to the field we see from our deck,

Little footpaths lead to it from different directions,  this one goes by a preschool.


Items that would easily be classified under “never to be seen in litigious America” include the 1.5 story slide, the 15 foot high fireman's pole, the splinter hazards everywhere, and the multiple places you could fall from higher than your own height. I loved it!



Another interesting thing is how adults are comfortable helping and interacting with other people's children. You often see strangers helping children on to swings, pulling them back over fences a kid shouldn't have climbed over, and reminding kids to be careful. At the bus yesterday I saw a 7 and a 5 year old running down the street from the bakery. No parent in sight. A grandmotherly figure who was chatting with me at the bus stop called after them to be careful. They continued sprinting, but stopped without reminder at the street corner. The older one grabbed the young one's hand and they masterfully crossed at the crosswalk. At least 5 adults, unbeknownst to the youngsters, were watching them ready to jump in if needed – but the kids were fine and carried on home to their parents with the bread.

Shoes...

I've finally treated myself to a new pair of shoes. In the past few years I had gotten over my issues with spending moneyon myself only to now be very aware of money again. We're trying hard to save money and the “i want a house too” bug has grabbed me. That said, it was time for some shoes that I could wear to work and not be embarrassed by.


Last Friday I took 3 hours to read/skim a stack of personal finance and real estate books at the library and then went off shoe shoppings. I must have popped into every shoe store on Lambton Quay (pronounced 'key' for my American friends; http://www.wotzon.com/profilepage.html?comp_id=1001234&CatID=2). I loved many many pairs of shoes, but took a full 24 hours before I could convince myself to just pay for a quality pair and forget how many hours of work it'll cost me. In the end, I found the last pair of Doc Martins left in my size at a little store near my office - 40% off. Those with size 8 or smaller feet, take a look at the slim picking in the sales rack in  the 10+ size shelves at the end of the sales rack – the offerings tend to be fairly meager. Although my new shoes will take awhile to break in, but I hoping that once they do I'll be able to wear them for a long time and not have to repeat my hemming and hawing for awhile. Once I fall in love with a pair of shoes it kills me to part with them, and hence why I've been wearing very scuffed clogs to work since I got here.



I don't know where my love of shoes comes from. I do know that I am constantly in search of Mary Jane shoes and kid-cute shoes, and this may be related to having size 8 shoes in 3rd grade and never being able to find cute shoes as a kid. My choices then were 80's spiked heals and ugly tennis shoes. Salt water sandals were a lovely treat when they could be found in my size. I entertain myself at the bus stop watching the shoes walking by.

 

January 24th...

never an easy day for me. I took all these photos of the botanic gardens yesterday and planned to post them, but all I feel like saying is that I miss Roy. I wish he was still with us. I know people say it gets easier, but it hits just as hard all these years later, the blows just aren't are frequent.

I will post the happy photos of the garden's playgrounds later this week.

Island bay photos are fixed

thanks to those who let me know that my photo links were dead.  
Cheers! 

My day starts with a walk...

...down this hill:


It also means I end my day with a walk up this hill.  I've learned that I can run down it in 5 minutes flat to catch the bus. Its much slower going back up it, but I think I have this hill to thank for the welcome changes I'm seeing in my fitness level (and waist line!). Wait till you see the set of steps I can do at my new apartment.  Lord help any volleyball team whose coach discover them!

 

Congradulations you own a....

... table and 6 chairs!



I thought buying a table would be a perfect chance to figure out TradeMe. Its a bit different than craigslist, probably a cross between Craigslist and eBay.



So I found a couple extendable tables I like. I know I love this type of table as my parents have one, and I love that it easily converts without having to go searching for leaves – they are built in! And I waited until one's auction was almost complete. For TradeMe you can set up an autobid and it will keep putting you in the lead until the auction closes or someone out bids you. I selected $160, and got it for $155.45.


This is my first furniture purchase, everything else I've owned has been gifted, found on the street, or acquired on Craigslist typically for free – so you are now reading the ramblings of a proud table owner. Impressive eh?

tomorrow I buy a bed.

 

congradulations to those brave souls who've...

....braved international dialing.

For those who are interested in experiencing this adventure, grab your nearest international phone card and at the prompt dial

011                        64          4                  xxx-0506
(international) (NZ ) (Wellington) (phone number)

Awards go to the brave souls Katy H. and Kate & Don for sorting out how to call us.
Kuddos to all who've managed to use Skype (I only know how to answer calls and nothing more about Skype). And those who've figured out how to text message us, you are wonderful too!

Island Bay

Island bay is a 'suburb' of Wellington about 20 minutes due south of downtown.  Its really just another section of town from my point of view, but one the appeals to me.  I spent a few minutes wandering around the area when I was apartment searhing. Here are some photos. I really would love to live in this area someday. It reminds me of the Oregon Coast, its wild and windy, and appeals to me. The boat on the horizon in one photo is the ferry that travels between the islands.  



 



I think this lighthouse might be a hotel or something, at least I saw people with suitcases getting out infront of it  (yup it is:  www.thelighthouse.net.nz)
 

I have a feeling I'll be posting lots of picturs of playgrounds here... they just strike me as cool and remind me of the old ones by the Hillsboro pool in Oregon, with lots of high places and wood and fund games to be had


 

 
Seems like I wasn't the only people thinking the playground was a good place to take some photos

Decisions decisions

So it seems to me that in selecting a rental you have a few tradeoffs... location, view, square meters, furnishings (i.e., a fridge) and quality.


We've seen good location, great price, amazing views, dogey furnishings (I wasn't sure that the fridge was a fridge) and grungy overall feel. When asked about the winter weather, I was told it gets “wild.” I'm thinking the Oregon Coast winter storms with rattling windows. But I was really really tempted by the views.






We've seen good location, ample rooms, small space, with wonderful windows. The kitchen layout was odd and the washer would have had to be used as counter space. I loved the sitting window and the cupboards all along one wall.




We've seen what was described as a “smart” flat, which seemed more like a college dorm with a tacked on kitchen... and a decent view.




We've seen small room (with a lovely sky light) in a small house where we were told that the bath is quite handy when it is too cold and no other way to get warmed up. Hmmmm and the flatmate had lived there for nearly 3 years. She was from a cold weather country, maybe that is
why she could handle it.





And we've decided on a smallish flat that is well designed with appliances. The story is that a couple owned the adjacent house, but when they started traveling they wanted to rent out the house but still have a place to stay when in NZ. So they remodeled the garage and put a flat upstairs. So it doesn't feel like a bunch of floor coverings and bits and piece thrown together to be 'good enough' for students. Its one L shaped room with a kitchen at one end and a bedroom area with a closet at the other. Sink is good, the windows are great, the bathroom has modern furnishing which means you can actually clean it, and there is a huge unfinished area for storage that probably would fit nearly everything we've shipped. Plus there is a 1 car garage space Traveler can use as a protyping/workshop area. I think he just likes the idea of starting his business in a garage! We move in the beginning of February and I'll post more photos then.




In the meantime, now I'll be trolling trademe for beds, tables, and drawers. Here are some pieces I like so far...