We might have a house

We put in a conditional offer on a house that we both really liked, and it has been accepted! We still need to get a building inspection done and finalise the mortgage details, but hopefully there won't be any big problems. So I'm going to go right ahead and tell you all about it.

Here's the blurb:

Check the very private 930sqm section, huge garage and classic three bedroom home. In a busy world where there is little privacy, this could be your own leafy retreat complete with generous conservatory and spa bath. Finesse with a decor upgrade and a gentle touch to create your own paradise. Our owner is keen to downsize property and move on, so act quickly for this great chance.

Fabulous 3 bedroom home with super large lounge area plus gas heater, open plan through to dining and kitchen area, plus off the large lounge there is a huge conservatory with spa then from the conservatory it flows out to the spacious decking facing out to the north west - this area is absolutely private and sunny an ideal situation for summer barbeques, good fencing provides security for children and pets. To the rear of the fence there is a space previously used as a vege garden.

By fabulous they really mean "built in the 70s and never updated, but has potential". But the garden really is huge and sunny, and we're both very excited at the thought of a vegetable patch, especially with grocery prices going the way they are.

There is a really big double garage at the front, and the house front door is round the back, which is a bit strange but not a problem, I suppose.


There's a big conservatory with a spa bath built in, and a wooden deck in front of that, perfect for summertime lounging about.

The garden is huge, and very private. We only saw one two-storey house within viewing distance, and their view is largely blocked by the garage.


No pictures of the inside, but just imagine everything looking really dated looking, with lots of wallpaper and fake-looking (or indeed fake) wood, and you'll get the gist of it. If this offer goes through, we have a lot of work ahead of us!!

TranzAlpine and a night in Greymouth

After an early wake-up call on Saturday, we picked up Phil and Lou in the taxi and made it to the train station in good time for the 8.15am departure of the TranzAlpine. We had booked separately but hoped (and Lou had been told) that the two couples could request seats together when the train arrived. This was not the case - after queueing for ages, and being redirected to the station manager, we were informed that there was no way our seats could be moved, and we would be seated at opposite ends of the train. Since the TranzAlpine is split in the middle by a generator, allowing for no passenger passage between the two sections, this made it impossible for us to spend any of the journey together. It wasn't the end of the world, but it was annoying, particularly as Lou had specifically asked about this when she booked the first pair of tickets. I guess that it won't be resolved until the TranzAlpine service moves into the computer age and allocates seats as passengers check in, rather than on paper in advance.

Anyway, that's my only real complaint about the weekend. The rest of it was great. We were very lucky to get fantastic weather throughout, and the journey to Greymouth on Saturday in the morning sun was just beautiful. The temperature was chilly when we left Christchurch, and just dropped as we advanced through the Southern Alps. I spent some time outside on the viewing platform at the back of the train, and could barely feel my fingers when I came back inside, despite being fully dressed for winter including many layers of clothign, a coat, hat, and massive furry scarf. By the time we stopped for a five minute fresh-air break in Arthur's Pass, I knew enough to wrap up very well before going outside!

The train took about five hours to reach the west coast, and by the time we arrived, the snow had given way to temperate weather and lush green rain forests. Phil and Lou headed back on the return train after lunch, but Skry and I stayed the night in the Kingsgate Hotel. We lucked out with a $99/room last minute deal, and were very happy with the accommodation, particularly when we managed to get a late checkout and didn't need to leave until 11am on Sunday!

Our evening in Greymouth was mostly spent chatting over a few drinks. It's not a big town (and doesn't even have any traffic lights!) but we bounced between a few different venues and generally had fun. We spent quite a while chatting to a guy called Colin, who moved from Scotland to Greymouth when he was only a baby. Colin waxed lyrical about the west coast, and also introduced us, through the medium of the video playing behind his seat, to George Thorogood. Skry is now a fan, I think!

After a Sunday lie-in, we checked out of our hotel and had a delicious breakfast in a spacious and low-key cafe called dp:one. After that, there wasn't much to do but mooch around the town until our train left just after lunchtime. Greymouth does not have a lively shopping scene, it seems, or a very lively anything else for that matter. It's a lovely little town, and we both enjoyed our stay, but those craving the bright lights of a big city would do well to stay away. We did head towards the museum but found it shut, so we ended up walking around the virtually deserted port area for twenty minutes or so until it was time to head back into the main town. We did meet another couple who told us that there was a white heron nearby that might be worth photographing, but all we found was a big pile of ice left by a recently departed fishing boat. Also, on our way back through town, we found a shop selling golliwogs. I didn't even know they were legal any more - guess the PC brigade hasn't reached this part of the world of the world yet, or else people have realised that some things just aren't offensive in themselves.

The train journey back to Christchurch was uneventful. As the train didn't depart until 2.15pm, the tail end of the journey was in dusk or darkness, so we really didn't do much peering out the windows after the first hour or so. The outward journey was way better for sightseeing. But we did get to enjoy the views of Lake Brunner and a lot of snowy mountains and lush forests, before it got too dark to see outside the windows. For $115/return, I think the TranzAlpine was great value for money, and I would certainly recommend it to anyone. We had a great weekend.

We're off to Greymouth tomorrow

First thing tomorrow morning, we are heading with Phil and Lou to Greymouth. Greymouth is not the attraction itself - the reason that we're going is to take the TranzAlpine train from the east coast to the west coast, across the Southern Alps. (photo swiped from www.nzhistory.net.nz)

I'm not looking forward to getting up early on a Saturday morning, but we have high hopes for an enjoyable journey. A lot of snow fell over the last couple of days, so the scenery should be pretty, and I love train journeys anyway no matter where the train is going. Skry and I are staying overnight in Greymouth and coming back on Sunday, and I think we'll have a really good weekend. Check back here in a couple of days to find out what happened!

Dog food

Here's something we never saw before coming to New Zealand: rolls of dog food, kept in the chiller section in the supermarket. I have no idea if this is a good thing or not, but it seems really common.

An update on the electrics

I forgot to update about this. An electrician came around, took a quick look at the fuse board, and said that basically the entire house was running through one circuit. No wonder it was tripping the whole time. He switched something around so we are now using two circuits, and can often run a heater without problems. I say "often" because I had the temerity to use the bathroom fan while the telly was on downstairs, and it cut out after five minutes and took everything with it, but at least the situation has been slightly improved.

Looking for a new home

We'll be on the move again soon, I hope. Skry and I are currently looking for a house to buy - preferably one that can be heated! The rental place that we're in at the moment is not well insulated at all, and many of the windows are draughty, but because the electrics are in such a poor state we're unable to use our electric heaters as the fuses keep blowing. Even one single heater plugged in on a cold night will result in the fuse blowing about three minutes later, and all the plugs going dead. This is particularly annoying if somebody is in the middle of doing something on the computer and it all just goes dead. We've been so cold in the house over the last few nights that our breath was clearly visible in the living room.

We got our landlady around to the place today (after two days of trying) to see if she thinks an electrician is necessary, although since she is not an electrician herself I'm not sure how she's able to make that call. She proceeded to spend the first ten minutes whinging about the small black marks on the wall from when we had the furniture movers bringing our sofa upstairs, and was more interested in getting that sorted than in actually addressing our problem. Given that faulty electrics could result in the place burning down, I thought that might be a priority, but seemingly getting the correct shade of Stony White being applied to the walls is more critical! She also informed Skry that she's considering putting us on ten day notice to leave the house because the stairs weren't vacuumed and there were some dead leaves on the ground outside.

As an aside, the landlady is one of those women who thinks that plastic surgery is the way forward. I'd say she's about 45 years old, but has clearly had a boob job and probably some work to her face (her eyebrows are way too high), and she parades around in tiny tight tops and little skirts that barely cover her bum. It's a bad case of mutton dressed as lamb, but she must look in the mirror and see something she likes.

Anyway, Skry finally managed to convince her that an electrician really should take a look at the wiring, because there is obviously a problem no matter how well the original installation met the New Zealand code. But we are out of here as soon as we find a place of our own. The house is freezing, the wiring is obviously dodgy, the landlady is a nutjob, and we are just sick of living like this. Oh, did I mention that somebody on the same street had airgun shots put through their window a couple of nights ago, and somebody else stole a bottle of perfume meant for me from our mailbox yesterday? It's time to go!!

Operation Entertainment Book

I'd planned to stop blogging about the Entertainment Book once we covered the price of it, as everything from now on is a saving, but I've been asked to keep it going. I'll try, anyway!

Dinner in the Bog on Friday night with Fiona and Richard - saved $19, and I thoroughly enjoyed my steak melt. That's the end of our Bog vouchers but I'm sure we'll be eating in there again.

$ 3.10
+ 19.00
=======
$ 22.10 total saved

And lunch in Speight's Alehouse today with Phil and Lou - saved $19 again and we were all stuffed afterwards.

+ 22.10
+ 19.00
=======
$ 41.10 total saved

This one was out in a shopping centre in Addington so I went out afterwards and bought some woolly jumpers and (surprisingly) some The Sanctuary shower gel and body cream. I was most surprised to find quite a range of Boots products for sale in Postie+. I guess it's all end-of-line stuff that didn't sell in the UK, but that won't stop me buying it!

Snow is falling all around us

Just started half an hour ago. It was wet and windy all day - we have a severe weather warning for this weekend - and now the snow is pelting down.