Rick, Nicky and Claire in NZ

This week we have been down to Whanganui to continue our house hunting. It turned out to be a much more informative and positive trip than we were expecting. We stopped briefly for a picnic lunch in Whanganui last year while on holiday, liked what little we saw, and were enthusiastic to return. We stayed in a holiday park in Castlecliff for two nights so that we could have a whole day exploring without travelling. Not only did we really like the town, but much to our surprise we found two sections which could be suitable, and a house on the same road as one of the sections. The house is in good enough condition to just move in, though if we were to live there long term we would want to make changes. However, as a house to live in while we build on the section down the road, it could be ideal. We also enjoyed our journeys to (Thursday) and from (Saturday), the whole trip being helped by lovely sunny crisp autumn weather. We encountered some entertaining toilets in Otorohanga:

The Auckland Writers Festival has dominated our week. In past years our attendance has been limited to the weekend events, so Nicky has been looking forward to this year for quite awhile. The programme started on Monday evening and finishes tonight. There are a wide range of events; workshops, readings, interview panels, speakers corner’s and book launches. 30% of the events are free and it is easy to fill one’s schedule with these events, which are just the same high quality as the paid for options. In order to run the event, around 200 volunteers are required, and in exchange for their time, they get to attend any of the events which are not sold out for free, along with sitting in on the ones they are assigned to. Nicky had volunteered her services for most of the week. She did a sort duty on Tuesday, had Wednesday at home, and then has had 4 very long days of 10-12 hours. She has really enjoyed a whole range of things, but I think the highlights were the Te Reo workshops, the

It has been a busy week. We have had a couple of days on the road to investigate new home locations, starting with Northland. Whangarei on Monday, and Ruawai (south of Dargaville) on Wednesday were both interesting trips, but we have ruled them out. Ruawai was too small (population of approx 426) and too remote, and Whangarei and it’s immediate environs is out of our price range. We would need to head further north, which takes us into more rural and remote communities. We acknowledge that we are townies at heart, but as we expect to reside in our new location for 20 years or so, we know medical care is going to be a serious consideration in the long term, and in the short term the possibility of work for me is an issue. However, we enjoyed the countryside and the the trips and feel we have gained information. I have been quite busy with work during the rest of the week, though not all of it desperately productive. I had an enjoyable discussion at my MeetUp group on Thursday eveni

It’s May already and we are still enjoying the weather. A southerly breeze dropped the temperatures for the beginning of the week, but we still had clear skies and sunshine. The last couple of days have started with fog which has taken awhile to clear due to the light winds. The only daytime rain we have seen was some showers on Monday, but it didn’t stop us changing the bed and doing the washing. It was so chilly on Wednesday morning that I started humming Christmas Carols while making the first pot of tea of the day. We have had three exciting events this week, though I use the word with caution. In no particular order they were: Sticking dots on a map: using median house price information in a publication that Nicky had been given we made a list a little while ago of all the areas in NZ where we might be able to afford to buy a house. However, most of the places we had not heard of and were really struggling to relate the information to a process where we can find somewhere