Week 13

Monday 25^th

I realise my sore knee is not getting any better, so I make an appointment to see a physio.  As with most of the main services, you do not have to leave Mapua. I get an appointment for that afternoon. Lisa also gets an appointment after mine.

Today is a first…..I go to a Tupperware ‘party’ in the wharfside.  It is at 11.30 am so it is a coffee morning type gathering. Lisa also joins us for coffee and admires the can’t live without plastic products, before starting work. I end up buying some vegetable storage containers which can be adapted to the type of veg you are trying to store. Different veg breathe at different rates (broccoli is a heavy breather !!)

In the afternoon, I go to physio. I get treated for a torn/ strained muscle at the back of my knee and as I suspected she tells me not to aggravate it, so no cycling or running for a few days. As it turns out I am eligible for ACC because I can identify an exact time the ‘accident’ happened during the race. This means the government subsidises my treatment !!!

Lisa gets treated for a gnarled up muscle at the front of her knee. As hers was probably a long term strain, she is not entitled to ACC, so she has to pay the full amount.

Tuesday 26^th

We go to the Wharfside and have a coffee before I leave Lisa there to work. I go back to the house and spend the rest of the day doing school preparation. I sit outside in the sunshine with my books and before I know it, it is mid- afternoon and I go to collect Lisa from work.

Wednesday 27^th

Another very frosty start to the day.

 We have arranged to meet the estate agent and a builder at a house we viewed last week.  The house is in good order, it has great views and we want to explore the option to extend the house to do tourist accommodation.

We then go for coffee to the wharf, where we sit in the sunshine and number crunch. LJ, the owner joins us and we sit and chat for a while and talk about houses and allsorts. I then head off to school to meet up with the head of faculty to discuss what I will teach to the social studies class. When I get there, I see about 12 teachers in doing school work. One has brought her cute dog, who chases his ball through the staff work area. When I come home Lisa asks me have I been missing teaching. It takes me a millisecond to answer no!

I come home and hand over the car keys, Lisa heads off to her class.

Thursday 28^th

I go to the coffee ride to try out my knee. It wasn’t long before I realise that cycling is making it sore. I turn back and when I get back to Richmond I make myself useful by going to the council offices to look at the property file of the prospective house.  I look  through the documents and plans. Nothing sinister seems to be there. I also make an appointment to speak to the duty planner to discuss our proposed plans.

In the afternoon I go to my physio appointment. I also prepare some more stuff for school.

Friday 29^th

I discuss our plans with the council official. This time the house would seem to allow us to progress with our plans.

Once Lisa has finished work we go to the estate agent’s office to put an offer in writing. The process of agreeing to buy/sell a house is quite straight forward. It is legally binding when both parties agree a price (subject to building inspection and title search). By 4pm we had our offer on paper. The vendors agent then takes it to them. They decided to think about it overnight.

Saturday 30^th

9.30am Our agent turns up  at our house with the counter offer. It is quite far away from our offer, so we counter offer their counter offer. The piece of paper gets taken away to present again to the vendors. We then head off for coffee on our way to the bike race. Lisa is racing while I help out with marshalling.. She finished 3rd Later that afternoon I get a text to say there is another counter offer on the table. When we get home the agent comes to our house with the paperwork.  Our patience is wearing thin as there is too little compromise on the vendors part. It makes us think they are maybe not that fussed if they sell or not. We give them one last chance with a bit more move on price. We are now at the take it or leave it stage. Off the agent goes to pass it on.

Lisa goes to work for a few hours and I get a dish ready to take next door to a ‘pot luck’ party. It is a gathering of 7 people and we all make something for the meal. This party is slightly coordinated  so we don’t end up with nothing but desserts.  I go to the ‘party’ and Lisa joins us an hour later. I take my phone in case there is any progress with the house. I get a text  to say they will sleep on it (no surprise). At 10pm my phone rings; its Kylie our agent. I feel like I am on a Kirsty and Phil ‘Location, Location, Location’ phone call. Kylie says the vendors have agreed our price and have signed the offer.  We have just bought a house !!!(assuming nothing nasty shows up with a building inspection and title search. The party cheer and our kind hosts (Roger and Adele from next door) produce bubbles they have bought in anticipation of this outcome.  Most of the party leave before 11pm ( late by kiwi standards) Then our hosts opened the bottle of Bushmills whiskey we had given them.  Lisa and Adele enjoyed the whiskey and before we knew it, the clock said 1.30 AM  !!! An exciting day had to come to an end.

Sunday 31^st

Lisa heads off to work at 10am. It is a lovely sunny day and quite mild. I head down for a coffee at  10.30. The wharfside is packed and I walk in to order my coffee only to be asked to serve the coffees. I stay for 30mins and get asked to come back for a couple of hours to help clear tables etc over lunch time. I return to an even busier place. I spend 2 hours doing whatever is needed.  When I go back to collect Lisa at closing time, she is very tired. She musters enough energy to cook tea, while I post this blog and get ready for the first day of a new term and my first day of teaching.

This week’s news…….a 300% increase in soup sales this week, due to the snow !! Wellington experienced its coldest day on record……+2.6°C What would they eat if it ever got to freezing point?

Week 12

Monday 18^th July

The week starts with finding some rental properties. This lovely property has got some bookings for August onwards, so we need to find somewhere else. By the second phone call I had spoken to someone I knew. This is a small place. As it turns out Debbie’s place seems like it will suit us and it will be available for as long as we need it.

I also did some of the large amount of admin I have to complete, in order to start my teaching job and, more importantly, get paid the correct amount.

When Lisa came home from work, we went out on the bikes in the afternoon.

Tuesday 19^th

Went for a run along the coast, Mapua and Ruby Bay. A cool morning with the threat of rain in the sky.

Went for a coffee at the Wharfside and got asked if I wanted to be the emergency cleaner for the next two afternoons. Sure, some easy money to earn.

In the afternoon, I went into sport tasman to get organised for a promotion event on Friday.

Wednesday20th

Went out cycling to check out some of the route for Saturdays race. Debbie, our future landlady, joined us.

In the afternoon, we went to view her rental property. It will be fine and is on a small farm, so Bonnie will have new animals to look at (pigs and ducks).

I then went a cleaned the Wharfside, before getting ready to go out to the Mapua District Business Association mid-winter dinner. We don’t have a business yet but they are very happy to include us. The dinner is a Christmas type dinner (chicken, not turkey) mulled wine etc. All very festive! Lisa missed it as she was at her course.

Thursday 21^st

Cycle with the coffee group, which is now on a Thursday as some of us race on a Saturday, so don’t want to cycle on Friday. There was a cool southerly blowing this morning.

In the afternoon we went to view two possible properties to buy. One is a possibility, one is a non- starter.

I then cleaned the Wharfside.

Friday 22^nd

A sunny, but breezy day. I spent half the day in Richmond mall, promoting the masters games.

When I got home we went for a drive up the coast to have a look a building sites, as it may become the answer if we can’t find a house that works for us.

Saturday 23^rd

A longer than usual bike race today. The race will be 70kms long so we need a coffee before we start. The weather is a bit changeable today, so hard to know what to wear in the race. As it turns out it is overcast, but stays dry. The race has a lot of uphill sections which, also means there are nice downhill sections. As we set off along the road, a woman on a huge unicycle was nonchalantly cycling in the opposite direction. Lisa and I noticed it but no one else seemed to find it odd.Lisa and her group broke away from my group. ‘My’ group has decided we will cycle together for the race. This means we have to wait when one person has a puncture.  The race for both groups came down to a sprint. Lisa went too soon and got pipped on the line, so she had to settle for second. I went too early also, but held on to finish some way back, but the first of our group.

Everyone was quite tired but happy at the end. The races always finish with a brief prize giving at a winery or pub. We couldn’t socialise too long as Lisa had to get back to get ready to go to work (with tired legs).

Sunday 24^th

8.30am the race briefing for the duathlon I had entered….went ahead while I was asleep in bed. As Saturday evening progressed, it became apparent that the bike race that day had put paid to my duathlon exploits. By Sunday morning the slight twinge I felt in my left knee had turned to a painful knee that was sore when I moved even slightly.

I did some work (for school) at the cottage while Lisa was at work all day. By evening the news was warning most of the country about the bad weather sweeping up north from the Antarctic, bringing snow to lots of places that rarely get snow. It showed the maps with Nelson missing it all. This area misses most of the storms because of the mountain ranges in the distance and the sheltered coastal bay. By 7pm Roger phoned to tell us it was snowing outside !! Unheard of, he was very excited and a few minutes later he and his family where outside playing in the snow. The snow flakes were massive, I caught one and it was half the size of the palm of my hand. It snowed enough for it to make the ground look white.  We looked at our photos of the December 2010 snow and shuddered with the memories of the cold. The snow continued to fall and we continued to put some more wood on the fire, without the worry of the central heating not coping with the extreme weather……because there is no central heating in this or any other kiwi house.

Sunday night....snow falling for the first time at Corru gate

A typical winter scene, with snow in the distance and a sunny day here.

 This week........

 The Kiwi language lesson this week emphasised the extent to which they abbreviate everything. What could ‘T sauce’ be……..tomato ketchup of course !

Week 11

Monday 11^th July

The week starts with a run along the coastline. Lisa and I then go down to the Wharfside, where she practices making coffees and I drink them !

We then go out for a cycle. We go around the course which is being used for this saturday’s club race.

Later, I start getting an application prepared for a youth coach job with a local education trust. Such trusts and jobs do not exist in the UK, but are seen as vital in helping young people connect with qualifications and employment. In keeping with N Ire tradition on the 11th night, Lisa lets me light the fire this evening.

Tuesday 12^th July

We go for a swim in the morning.

Lisa went to work for the lunch-time ‘rush’ (poor weather today, so no rush materialised).

In the afternoon we went to a meeting with a planner at the local council and our planning consultant. The outcome of which would help us decide if we should put an offer on a house. It was a long, technical meeting.

We then go to the library to think over the meeting.

Wednesday 13^th

A cold and wet day. Lisa gets a call to go down to meet the coffee rep. We go down, Lisa talks and makes coffee for an hour and I drink some. We then go up to Motueka to leave in my job application. We stop in Mot so Lisa can get a chance to have a coffee!!

In the afternoon, we go to town to meet the estate agent. We formalise an offer for the house. When our lawyer checks the title of the property, then if everything is OK, the offer will be given to the vendor. If they accept our offer the agreement is binding, unless a building report show up something nasty.

All we can do is wait and see what happens.

In the evening Lisa goes to her class.

Thursday 14^th

^{Another cold sunny day. Lots of snow on the mountain tops on the distant horizon}

 Lisa went to work mid morning and I went to Sport Tasman.

We were both back home by mid afternoon when the estate agent phoned to say our offer on the house had been.....rejected. Oh well so be it, nothing more we can do.

We go out on the bikes for a hilly ride.

Friday 15th

I go to school for a teachers only day. It starts with faculty meeting (involving coffee and cakes). Then some handover stuff with the teacher I am covering for, an IT update session for the whole staff and then the faculty heads off for lunch. A very sociable bunch ! After lunch i get passwords to get onto various systems. Before we leave I arrange to meet with the head of faculty during the holiday (The next 2 weeks) to go over the social studies stuff.

saturday 16th

We view a house in the morning.

This weeks race is only 10 minutes away. It is a circuit course which we have 6 laps to do. Lisa is leading the group until, with one lap to go, cramp strikes and she ends up on the ground at the side of the road. Meanwhile someway back I am doing battle with a couple of young ones, until with one lap to go......I, or should I say my tyre gets a puncture, so my race is also over. 

We head home without any prizes this week (this week was sponsored by a winery )

Lisa heads off to work in the evening.

Sunday 17th

A very harsh frost, but by mid morning it is a pleasant sunny day. Lisa heads off to work. I clean the car and then head off on the mountain bike. I follow an unsealed road along a ridge with great views of the local area. The roads are used by cars, but not many as they are more suited to  4x4s.

Lisa has had a very busy work shift as the weather was so nice lots of people come to the picturesque wharf for lunch.

 This week in the papers Northern Ireland is getting a mention (again)

A national newspaper described the twelfth celebrations in Ulster as a" one -sided celebration of a 17^th century victory of protestants defeating catholics, which usually results in rioting."

 I read it and thought it was one of the most succinct description of the Twelfth I had ever read or heard. NIreland has been on the news quite a lot since we left. From this distance, the future of the province seems precarious.

Week 10

Monday 4^th July

A very frosty, cold start to the week. Went for a run in the morning before heading off for an interview at Garin College. It is a modern secondary school which opened in 2002, so it only has about 400 students. The interview is a relaxed affair where the principal and VP ask questions and then ask questions following on from what you say. All very real and very different to the interview processes we have to put up with in education in N Ire. It concluded with a job offer!!!! It will be a gentle intro to NZ education as it is only 7 hours per week for one term (9 weeks).

In the afternoon we went to view another house. Then we went back to view one we may put an offer on.

Tuesday 5^th

Another cold and frosty start. I headed off to see the principal of another school that had a job advertised. I quit liked the look of the job, but decided to take the other one. Just as well as he proceeds to apologise as they have had a rethink and the job no longer exists. Relief all round as he felt bad and I felt bad that I would withdraw my application. At least another contact has been made with a local school.

After that meeting I went to meet with the planning consultant about our prospective house purchase. Lots to think about. We need to assess the possibility of being able to run a B&B from the property. We decide to set up a meeting with the planning dept at the local council.

In the afternoon I went to Sport  tasman to work. While I was in the office an earthquake shake was felt (but not by me and a few others). I was in the process of dropping a large roll of carpet when it happened and I thought that was the shudder on the floor !! Within seconds of it happening people were on the internet looking up the location etc. It turns out it came from the north island (and 150km below the ground). This area has not suffered from earthquakes, so it made the news in the local paper, as well as the national tv news. Lisa was at home at the time it happened and didn’t know it had happened, so nothing alarming at all.

Wednesday 7^th

Sunshine and not as cold as the last few days. Went for coffee to the Wharfside in Mapua (our usual place). One of the owners was working there. She asked us what we would like. I said 2 trim flat whites and Lisa said “and a job please”. The reply was an immediate OK, here are the hours we need covered. We went and sat down to have our coffee while mulling over Lisa’s career move. Lisa started training/working the next day ! Two of the most experienced front of house are leaving in 2 weeks, so rapid promotion could be on the cards !! It is an idyllic location for a restaurant/café/bar. Lisa can also cycle to work as it only takes about 10 mins to get there.

By lunchtime we were in a meeting with our lawyer, discussing the purchase of the house.

In the afternoon I had an interview with The EDA for a part-time youth advisor job. Another real interview that is more like a chat.

A busy day (and not over for Lisa as she goes to her business class in the evening)

Thursday 8^th

Lisa goes to work (10am to 1pm)

I go to Nelson where Sport Tasman are doing a big 100 days to go promotion for the masters games. Local radio etc are there. We have fun mini games (putting for prizes etc) and staff encouraging people to sign up for events or volunteering. I am amazed how generous businesses are in donating prizes (that was my job) and how keen people are to volunteer to help. I was looking after the mini games and I had so many prizes to give away, I had to award them to anyone who just attempted to have a go at something. It was all good fun, then the rain came and no one was around. We kept the rest of the prizes for the next promo event.

I went home and collected Lisa who was home after her ‘day’s’ work, we went for a swim.

Friday 8^th

Met up with the cycle group. A breezy day, but a bit milder.

Got an email to say I wasnt successful with the EDA job, but they told me to give them a call as they may know of other work options in the area. Will follow this up next week.

Lisa went to work at 5pm. I dropped her off and had a Friday eve drink (shandy) and listened to the live music. The place is usually quiet this time of the week, (what Lisa was hoping for), but it was really busy as a 40^th birthday gathering was going on. In kiwi fashion it had all gone quiet by 7.30 pm. I went bak and picked up the worker at 9pm. I had spent the entire evening on the phone trying to get my UK bank to complete a transaction. After several attempts they said they would call back.I had to wait for a call that could happen up until 12.30 that night. It didn’t happen so I had to call them and start all over again. They said they would call back. That meant it would happen anytime during the night. I didn’t sleep very well, and they didn’t call.

Saturday 9^th

7am, no call during the night, meant I had to start the process for the third time. They eventually said they couldn’t confirm the transaction until Monday. A great start to the day.

A wet day, so went and bought some groceries. We also called with a woman, Belinda. We met her last week at the Friday cycle. She invited us round to see her holiday cottage she rents out, as well as some 7 week old Labrador puppies. Their house was lovely, located right on the water’s edge near Rabbit island. They Kayak from their door to the wharf for coffee. Her husband, Graham, had designed and built the house. He is an ex outdoor education teacher! The puppies were Andrex types, black ones and golden ones. They were so cute and needed a home, so we……..hope they find good homes (with someone else). Belinda did point out that the one who cuddled up beside me was the one who really liked cats!!! As we don’t have a home (yet) we will resist.

Around 10pm, my phone started to ring. It was my bank, at last and exactly what they said wouldn’t happen. At last the transaction was confirmed.

Sunday 10^th

A wet and cold morning.  I am contemplating not doing a cycle race. Lisa opens  her emails to find that the race is cancelled due to the weather. I am happy as my decision has been made and Lisa is happy as it means she is not going to miss it as she is having to work today.

Lisa goes off to work and I do some catching up with house chores.

Late afternoon the rain stops and we go for a walk along the beach.

 It was a week of job developments.

What caught my eye this week in the press was a for sale add.

It was for a child’s bike, good order, 45 years old. !!!!! I cannot work out how that could be a typo.

Week 9

Monday 27th June
Went for a swim in the morning, then back to the house to do some job applications (for part-time teaching jobs for term 3).

Tuesday 28th
The day started with sharing the sun with Claire and Susan, as we have a skype call. I say sharing the sun, because as they sat in their kitchen with the setting sun streaming in, we sat in our room with the sun getting higher in the sky. For a while we shared it! I then went for a run before going to the local town to meet with a planning consultant to dicuss a house we might want to buy. After that Lisa and I went to the mall to help promote the Masters Games. We signed up some participants as well as signing up some very willing volunteers. People seem to be so keen to throw themselves into community volunteering. We returned home, briefly before going to a meeting in the village about the new cycle trail which is going to go through the area.
Wednesday 29th
BIG DAY, we opened our emails in the morning to find that our Portrush house had sold and the new owners had moved in. We could now move on. This coincided with notification that our container was arriving into Nelson. When it gets through customs and biosecurity we still cant get it until we have somewhere to put it. Our possessions have gone to Dublin, Rotterdam, Singapore, Auckland and now Nelson, and it arrived exactly on the date we were quoted in April...amazing. We went for a cycle to celebrate !
We went to see the ship in the port (but we didnt see our container....only because there were so many, not because it wasn't there).
I then called in to the two local schools to drop off the applications. When I callled in to Garin College, by coincidence, I met the guy whos classes the job would cover. I then had an impromptu interview/chat.

Thursday 30th
For years this has been a red letter date in my diary...summer holidays. No longer, it is winter and in term 2. The schools here have  4, 10 week terms with one or two weeks off. The new red letter day would be in December.
We went to do some more research on a prospective house at Tasman District Council. Information is very accessible. You can get a file on any property and see all the documents belonging to it.
I then went to Sport Tasman to do some work, while Lisa studied in Richmond Library.

Friday 1st July
Went cycling with the friday group and met some new people, one of the guy's grandfather had come from Coleraine and he had a company named after, Coleraine. He thought it was a small town of a couple of hundred people. He was interested to know it had more than that, as well as a university !
We treated ourselves to a house sale celebration lunch.
Got an email asking me to come in for an informal interview at Garin College, on Monday.


Saturday 2nd
A quiet coffee at the Wharfside. We were sitting there when a kayak with 2 women paddled up to the beach. We had met Belinda for the first time yesterday  and she was delighted to see us as she had paddled up here with a friend to have a coffee, only to realise that she had forgotten her money.  Her house is a couple of miles away(by sea) and she can paddle from the bottom of her garden to the wharf. We sat in the sun and chatted for a while before we went to get ready for cycle race number 2.
The race started and finished at a local pub in the country. The course was shorter than last week but it had a few long hills on it, so would be challenging. Our group split on the first long hill and Lisa cycled off in the lead. I continued in another group and when I got to the finish line I quickly was told that Lisa had won again. If she wins again, she has to move to a higher grade. We all sat around afterwards in the weak winter sunshine and then had the prizegiving....Lisa won a pair of socks, as did the winners of all the other grades. Socks dont pay the rent !


Sunday 3rd
 Enjoyed a bit of a lie in, then  to the wharf for a coffee, where lots of people were enjoying brunch. We stood beside a young boy who was fishing. We asked him had he caught much, he said not much but "it is better than sitting on a couch". That is a what NZ is about. We then helped with some gardening around the property. Lisa then did some businees stuff while I prepared for tomorrows interview.

Another week has just flown by; this one had some big milestones in it.

The news the last few weeks has had nothing to write home about and the found items are a bit boring (but still lots of them).