Rollercoaster

We have had quite a week, well 9 days actually. Last Saturday we set off for Whanganui again, to check that we still liked what we saw after visiting Hastings and the South Island. We started the day with scrambled eggs and bacon for breakfast, and celebrated our 34th wedding anniversary with a lunch of Whitestone Five Forks goats cheese on oat crackers and home made brioche on the bench outside the station café in Otorohanga. Nicky suggested that we should have had smoked salmon and I agreed because it would have been cheaper than the cheese! Our drive down was in lovely sunshine with crisp winter air and the view of the volcanoes were brilliant:

Our Sunday in Whanganui started wet with showers, which turned to rain. Nicky went to church and I assessed the supermarkets looking for those more difficult to get products: light blue top A2 milk and Mainland Smoked Cheese. New World didn’t have them but the Countdown across the road did. We had a drive round, having a sticky beak at four houses and a section (which was down near the airport which is cute). After lunch back at the motel we met up with the estate agent and had another look at the section which we have taken a fancy to. We still liked in and during the evening researched builders as an alternative to pre-fabrication. We had contact with one of them on Monday morning and arranged to go and see them on Tuesday morning on our way home, as they were along the coast in Hawera.

Our Monday started cloudy but brightened up. Our research went the other way. We walked into town along the side of the river and started with the council, then the surveyors. After lunch we drove over to a couple of firms who do excavations to get some idea of the cost of laying a driveway, and started to feel increasingly out of our depth. After another visit to our section we went back to our motel and put some disappointing figures together. We had already decided to go out for dinner and I had chosen a place in the same suburb as our prospective section. At Caroline’s Boathouse Nicky had chicken breast with orange and thyme, and I had battered scallops. Both were very good, but our spirits were low as we could see the prospect of building ourselves a home slipping away, due the complexity of the process, our lack of knowledge, and insufficient funds.

A foggy 1º start on Tuesday developed into a lovely crisp sunny day (which is what we have had all week since then), and we packed and left the motel. On our way to the builder in Hawera we stopped to have a look at some sections in Waverley, which were right on the coast and good sections but very exposed. We also regularly saw Mt Taranaki in the distance:

Within minutes of meeting Bert the Builder in Hawera we had been blown away. He asked what our budget was, how much the section was costing, and which of their designs we liked, and replied with “we can do that for you within your budget”. He then went onto say that they would do everything - design, driveway, groundwork, house build, project management, the lot. It was such an unexpected development, we couldn’t quite believe it. Had he actually understood what we were asking for? We finished off the meeting with a tiki tour of some of the homes they have built in the area, and liked what we saw.

We drove up to Stratford with dizzy heads, so stopped and had our picnic lunch and then tea and coffee in a café. We were amused by the public toilets:

Nicky took over the driving as we left Stratford on SH43 to Taumarunui. The 150k’s took 3 hours as it was a windy road, and in parts not sealed, but the views were just brilliant. We finally reached home around 10pm, still feeling a little dazed.

Life was more routine on Thursday and Friday, with quite a bit of work for me, laundry, shopping, ironing and the usual household duties, while at the back of our minds the prospect of receiving Bert’s email to confirm or deny that a build was possible within our budget. Nicky was at church Wednesday morning, then had life group in the evening and prayer group the following evening. She did some church deliveries on Friday and picked up The Crimes of Grindlewald on DVD from the library, which we watched Friday evening.

Late Friday afternoon I had a phone call from Bert the Builder to say the email was on its way, and his cost estimate was just $2000 over our budget. I was expecting to feel euphoric, but I didn’t. However, as the weekend and passed I have become more and more positive about our prospects.

Bert had made some changes to their design at our request, and Nicky has spent many hours with cooking parchment doing further refining of the design. How much of those changes we might be able to afford we do not know.

Continuing with our fact-finding we went to see a new development in Glen Eden on Saturday, and found it very interesting (though well out of our price range). Stella, Steve and Ros came over for Scrabble and we had a good chat about house things.

Today, with it being another lovely day, more laundry has been done, Nicky went to church, and I went to Karekare, which I have’t done for quite awhile. This afternoon we went up to Red Beach to have a look at a bach on a holiday park which is being sold by a friend of mine. It was another interesting and informative experience. Afterwards we called in on Clem and Pat and had a good long talk with Clem about our plans. He asked some very pertinent questions, offered some good advice and suggestions, and had a more objective perspective on our situation. It was very good to talk to him.

We have finished off the day with avocado, smoked salmon and poached eggs on toast for tea, followed by some tellyboxing. We finish the week and June with decisions to make.

Take care, Rick.