Jim&Karen
1st February 2008, 10:45 AM
Well, we have now been here in Christchurch, New Zealand, for three weeks.
:raebanana :raebanana :raebanana
It does not seem that long as we have been quite busy all the time. The first week we were settling in and starting to find our way round the city. We also bought a car. The second week was spent looking round for somewhere to rent as we were only planning to be in Joanne's flat for a month. However once we started to look we realised that rentals were quite expensive for the sort of place we were looking for so we decided that the rental idea was not the way to go. If we were going to have a real chance of feeling that this was "home" then we needed a place of our own. this meant that the emphasis moved to somewhere to "buy".
Our original dream location of Governors Bay was kicked out after we went to look at a house there on Sunday afternoon. The house was lovely, the views were stupendous, it was only 20 mins from town, but, every twit with a loud car or motorbike was out for a Sunday drive round the bay and the local Hotel was having a "live" music session. The noise would have driven us mad - so "computer says no" to Governors Bay.
We then moved back to looking at the Port Hills area which consists of Cashmere and Huntsbury. We found a lovely place nestled in a nook of the hills with lovely views, a nice garden and the potential of a seperate flat that could be rented out. However, it needed a lot of work to bring it up to the standard that we would have liked.
After the Gov's Bay experience we decided to park up near this house to see what the traffic was like. So we parked up at the top of Huntsbury Avenue and as we sat there, purely by chance, I noticed a woman putting up a sign for an "open house" further up the road in Vista Place. As we were just sat there we decided to go and have a look. BINGO - this is the house for us. It is in immaculate condition, has views all across the city to the mountains in the distance, a big patio, a bit of garden, etc, etc.. There are some pictures of the house in the Photo Gallery.
So, one day short of being here three weeks, our offer on the house was accepted and all being well we should move in on the 22nd Feb. The house buying process here is very much better than in the UK it only takes 10 days for a sale to be finalised and legally binding, so hopefully there will be no problems. Apart from the minor inconvenience that we have no furniture !!
The only major thing to sort out now is a job for me. I did not get offered an interview for the teaching job I aplied for - was not expecting to really as I have no qualifications. I am waiting to hear if I get a second interview at a big civil enginering firm. I feel like I need to apply for "anything" but several people have said do not take anything just for the sake of it. Better to wait a bit longer than be stuck in a job that is not really suitable as it will only make it harder to move to a better one.
So things seem to be slotting into place, we have had a couple of "emotional" days, but because it all seems to be falling into place nicely, and we can see that we will soon be in our "own" place I don't think we are doing too badly at the moment.:nice1
:raebanana :raebanana :raebanana
It does not seem that long as we have been quite busy all the time. The first week we were settling in and starting to find our way round the city. We also bought a car. The second week was spent looking round for somewhere to rent as we were only planning to be in Joanne's flat for a month. However once we started to look we realised that rentals were quite expensive for the sort of place we were looking for so we decided that the rental idea was not the way to go. If we were going to have a real chance of feeling that this was "home" then we needed a place of our own. this meant that the emphasis moved to somewhere to "buy".
Our original dream location of Governors Bay was kicked out after we went to look at a house there on Sunday afternoon. The house was lovely, the views were stupendous, it was only 20 mins from town, but, every twit with a loud car or motorbike was out for a Sunday drive round the bay and the local Hotel was having a "live" music session. The noise would have driven us mad - so "computer says no" to Governors Bay.
We then moved back to looking at the Port Hills area which consists of Cashmere and Huntsbury. We found a lovely place nestled in a nook of the hills with lovely views, a nice garden and the potential of a seperate flat that could be rented out. However, it needed a lot of work to bring it up to the standard that we would have liked.
After the Gov's Bay experience we decided to park up near this house to see what the traffic was like. So we parked up at the top of Huntsbury Avenue and as we sat there, purely by chance, I noticed a woman putting up a sign for an "open house" further up the road in Vista Place. As we were just sat there we decided to go and have a look. BINGO - this is the house for us. It is in immaculate condition, has views all across the city to the mountains in the distance, a big patio, a bit of garden, etc, etc.. There are some pictures of the house in the Photo Gallery.
So, one day short of being here three weeks, our offer on the house was accepted and all being well we should move in on the 22nd Feb. The house buying process here is very much better than in the UK it only takes 10 days for a sale to be finalised and legally binding, so hopefully there will be no problems. Apart from the minor inconvenience that we have no furniture !!
The only major thing to sort out now is a job for me. I did not get offered an interview for the teaching job I aplied for - was not expecting to really as I have no qualifications. I am waiting to hear if I get a second interview at a big civil enginering firm. I feel like I need to apply for "anything" but several people have said do not take anything just for the sake of it. Better to wait a bit longer than be stuck in a job that is not really suitable as it will only make it harder to move to a better one.
So things seem to be slotting into place, we have had a couple of "emotional" days, but because it all seems to be falling into place nicely, and we can see that we will soon be in our "own" place I don't think we are doing too badly at the moment.:nice1