2019

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It feels like 2019 has been quite a year for us. We started with Nicky still working and us wondering what shape her retirement would take, and finished land owners with a plan to build.

The big challenge with Nicky’s retirement at the end of February was where do we live? To continue renting in Auckland would both slowly diminish our savings, and be lacking in the security of owning our own home. It became quickly apparent as we talked to trusted advisors about what to do that owning our own home and using our savings to purchase it was the best option. The consequence would be that we would have to leave Auckland.

So began our World Tour of Aotearoa to visit the places where we could afford to live, to see if we liked any of them. We quickly realised that small rural settlements were not going to work for us. We needed somewhere with a big enough population to require a hospital and good sized supermarkets. We also realised that living on the South Island would be colder (because the places we liked were down at the bottom) and require the use of either flights or ferry to return north for family events. As much as we were drawn to Balclutha and it’s environs, and our disappointment that we couldn’t afford to live in Te Anau, we feel very comfortable with our choice of Wanganui. To quote a couple of friends who have visited it recently for the first time, it is a pretty town with a lovely vibe.


We feel we have come a long way this year, having made a plan and lots of decisions. 2020 will see the culmination of those plans and decisions (with many more still to make). Hopefully, it will all turn out well. Watch this space…

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