[jubjub]

Well, we are in our new house, its a bit bare looking at the moment until get our container later in the week, so will post piccys when it actually looks like our home! Someone mentioned metal roofs and were they noisy, answer after last nights great big thunderstorm? Yes :yes :laugh But its not a bad noise, cant say normal rain would have kept me awake, but a hailstorm would give you a bit of a fright! the woodburner has been on every day since we got here, but thats only cos hubby wanted to play, and the previous owners had left us wood.

We are in Pakuranga, East Auckland, and it seems nice enough so far, Botany town centre is just down the road, and seems to have got just about everything, we had a quick look yesterday, back again today to get what we forgot yesterday! (Hubby was too busy waiting in line for his Harry Potter). We have a fab bakery about 200m away, not sure that is a good thing or not :nice1 , and a nice little dairy.

We have also had a note from the previous owners, that the peices of metalwork at the side of the house is actually a disassembled galvanised steel shed, so thats handy! Plus they left us loads of firewood, and a pretty coal scuttle. We also had the estate agent round last night to give us the last of the keys and she came with a foodie gift basket, so thats was nice.

Right going to see if I can tear Al away from his book and go shopping.

[bob_the_engineer]

Hi JubJub,

An estate agent with a gift, I’ve only seen them with fangs :laugh

Fires are great we have two, hours and hours of fun. I guess if you have a wood burner its one with a door, but tell Al to block the vent open the door, put a stick in it and use a sheet of news paper to control the airflow. You can make your very own blast furnace!

Yea you guessed it, I’m only allowed to play with the fire when my wife is home to supervise :no
But since you have a nice estate agent she can always get you another place if the furnace blows. :nice1

My wife also has the new potter book, its so nice and thick that I cant help thinking it would make a great source of fuel. I can always wait for the film.

Enjoy your new home and best wishes Bob

[jubjub]

Here are some external pictures for the time being,

front of house, well all that I could get in, but you get the idea...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v690/asjohnstone/IMGP0559.jpg

Back Garden, with the mandarin, lemon and goldfruit trees laden with fruit

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v690/asjohnstone/IMGP0558.jpg

Front garden

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v690/asjohnstone/IMGP0560.jpg

I too have been looking at a couple of cheap trashy novels I bought for the plane, thinking they would be good firelighting material, but not Harry, as I want to read it too.... :P

And we got most of the shopping done, even got two new bar stools for out kitchen island/breakfast bar, only $69 each they were reduced, but they only had one, but he got on the phone and found us another one from another store :nice1

[K&CS]

Looks fab, jubjub - I'm very jealous. Bet you can't wait till your container arrives - look forward to seeing the interior pics. Hope bubs is doing well too!

Kate

[Lisa T]

Morning.....

House looks great, we've looked around Howick / Half Moon Bay etc and Pakuranga is just up the road (might give you a PM when we get there!)

How long have you been over, do you like living in the area?

Kindest regards

[Smiler]

Hi Jubjub

Looks great and I bet it feels really good to have your own place. With your own stuff on the way and all that shopping to do in the meantime. :clap

What made you pick this area, had you been here before or job etc?

Look forward to seeing more pics.

Deborah

[bob_the_engineer]

Hi, Jubjub

Fantastic, I can’t imagine having a lemon tree growing in the garden.
Your house looks absolutely lovely too.

Thanks for posting the pics, I really enjoy seeing pictures from NZ, it makes me want to get on the plane now. :exit


Bob

[Kim39]

Jubjub,

I'll track your thread with interest, as this the area that we are going to,to begin with anyway. My job is down the road in Papatoetoe, so we have been sniffing around the Pakaranga district as well as others close by.

May i ask what your weekly rent is on this dwelling? Do you feel the area is what you require for your needs?

Hope you settle in well.

Kim

[jubjub]

Kim, its all ours we moved out of our slightly scabby rental last week, we paid just under $370k for this (3 double bedrooms), there are rentals in the area, as both sides are rented out according to the old owners, not sure on price though.

We kind of chose the area before we even came here, hubby spent many an hour reading the where to live in Auckland and decided that it was either here or the north shore, and we went for here as his job was more likely to be based in CBD or east, and a commute from north shore would not have been fun. Hard to describe but the area just has a nice feel to it, well looked after, a fair few high decile schools. The area is also dotted with small football clubs, tennis clubs, even a country club!

Two large shopping malls/retail parks in the area too.

Only been here a couple of days, but its much nicer here than out west in Ranui.

[jubjub]

Crown just off the phone, we get our stuff on Thursday, I am soooo looking forward to it. :clap :clap :cool :yes

[kiwidebs]

What a lovely looking house Jubjub and FG. It's so nice having a lemon tree in the back yard, just go out back and pick a fresh lemon for the ice and slice in the G and T! Now you can get on with decorating the nursery!! Bet it feels good to settle in your own place. Look forward to seeing pics of the inside.

Debs

[Cardiff Irons]

Nice one jubjub. Did I spot the obligatory barbie in one of the shots?

Hope you settle in well and keep the feedback coming. It's good to hear how people settle in, as it makes your own (potential) journey all the more exciting.

Oh, and when you get a moment, can you sweep up those leaves from the decking? ;)

All the best, Steve

[jo b]

Lovely house Jub Jub

Are you getting the nesting instinct yet, where you clean, clean and clean.

I am still waiting for mine and my youngest is 6. :laugh :eek :laugh

Take care and keep us posted on the house.

Jo

[kiwidebs]

I am still waiting for mine and my youngest is 6.


Jo, hubby is still wondering when mine will kick in. My youngest is just 2 so maybe there's hope yet!!:laugh :laugh :laugh

Debs

[jubjub]

Hmm, going to have to start nesting, Crown has just left and because we have got our own stuff and rented stuff, the place looks a bit of a dump!

Happy enough with Crown, only criticism would be the way they labelled a couple of suitcases as sports bags, this now means we cant unpack our clothes until MAF come, due to the word "sports", and some of the shelves for the bookcases are in the MAF stuff too due to a bizarre mix of items in boxes, there will be quite a bit more packaging for them to come back and collect!

So far two damages, a bent steel rubbish bin, and a smashed pestle (or is it the mortar?) anyhow one bit of my spice grinding set, still got some ornaments to do so I am hopeful of no more breakages.

The annoying thing is that Crown had been trying to get MAF without success, the upshot of this is we don't get MAF until Monday, hubby was dying to get out on his bike, and he wanted get the lawns mowed, ah well it will need to be next weekend instead. We have an area of the garage set up as a "quarantine" zone! so whoever wanted me to sweep up leaves is gonna have to wait :laugh .

[Glenda]

Hi jubjub,

Great to hear how you are getting on. :yes Very nice house. :nice1

Interesting what you said about Crown ... they will be delivering our stuff early August.

Know you will be busy for a little while now :laugh but don't stop the updates! Great reading!

[Aug & Feb]

Hi Jubjub, nice posts! Look forward to more pictures. Talking about fireplace. Do the soot dirty the living area ? Cheers

[jubjub]

Soot, put it this way it took three goes to get the windows anywhere near clean that are the same end of the room as the fire! Still need to do the high up ones, but my step ladder is still in quarantine! (good excuse eh?)

Cant see any dirt on the walls yet, but they were done only a few months ago by old owners.

[jo b]

Jub Jub

No climbing in your condition anyway.............That's an order!!!

Get 'im indoors to do it, you go and put your feet up with a non alcoholic cocktail :yes

Jo

[jubjub]

Well MAF have been and gone, took under ten mins, ripped open the tops of a the boxes, had a slightly closer look at the mower, said that was fine, and off she went..... no mention of any charges at all, was not even specially interested in my seagrass drawers.

Jo, hubby wont let me on the step ladder anyway, I mentioned the dirty high up windows and he said would do them :clap

Off to do my hoovering with my Dyson, dread to think how much dog hair is going to come up :roll: , old style cylinder vacuums just dont do the job.