Well where do I start …….
House: We are buying a house! We have been looking at houses for ages and chose one that ticked more of the boxes than any other. We then found out that there was already another offer in on it. The situation here is a different to the UK as chalk is to the board that it squeeks on. Our offer went in the ‘pot’ with very few conditions to the contract. The other people had to sell their house to become un-conditional. In the present ecconomic climate, that was going to be difficult. So we had to wait 8 working days for a clause to come into operation and then we had the phone call saying that it will be ours on the 30th May …… that’s this year …… start to finish in 3 weeks! Ths is quite normal here so why can’t it be the same in the UK? We had to hand in our notice on the rental house before we knew if we had the other one. This was far from ideal but it seems to have worked out ok.
Anyway it’s a 5 bedroom house (detatched as most are here), with a double garage. There are a total of 3 toilets which will make for an easier life with the little boys, an en-suite, walk in wardrobe and a stunning kitchen (not sure how long the images will be here for)
There are 2 lounges so we hope for an almost toy free upper lounge. There are decks front and back, the down side is a smaller than ideal garden (terraced into 2 lawns as it’s on a hill (almost all of Auckland is on a hill …. for hill read inactive volcanic field)). Oh it also has a spa pool …. HA.
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Aidan: Aidan went to Starship Hospital (he’s been there a couple of times before for the same minor problem) on Monday and was in on Wednesday for a minor operation at Waitakere Hospital. Nothing to worry about but in a very sore area!?!? He is doing very well and has been a hero with everything from the general anesthetic to the bandage changes.
Lisa: Lisa is finishing her work at the dentist. It was always only covering maternity leave but it was convenient and with buying a house a necessity. Still she has a part-time position with one of the dentists at a different surgery. Her boss will miss the sarcastic comments.
Bike: With Lisa needing a car for work, this allowed my excuse for a motorbike to get to work (more on that in a bit). I have looked for ages at all sorts of bikes. There is some absolute crap out there selling at proper money prices. In the end I bought from a dealer … the remit was ….. it had to be capable of the ride to work with not too much effort and Lisa needed to fit it too (that was the FJ1200 out of the windo …. just a tad too heavy) and of course it had to be fun. So I bought one of these:
Mine has black wheels though and a full race system with some sort of carb kit. It made the other one I rode seem like a Vespa! For those looking confused it’s a Honda VFR400R made in 1993 and voted as one of the best handling (cornering stopping etc.) bikes produced. It’s …. er ….. fun and ….. er …. sounds good too! Insurance (UK bikers wait …..) £110 fully comp with 2 riders and breakdown cover, that’s with no no claims discount as I have not had a bike for a couple of years.
Work: I have a permanent roster position at Helensville.
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This is a rural area as you can see from the map. It’s a single crewed station, so just me then and covers one of the largest areas of a station in NZ. Today was day one for me. One job ….. three and a half hours for a mountain biker in the Woodhill Forrest. Things are going to be different for me with the need to think ‘out of the box’. It will give me time to study for further qualifications and become part of the community. Role on the next 12 months (minimum roster time allowed) or more.