A Different Christmas

The last full week of the year has been challenging for us, physically and emotionally. We have left Auckland. This is my first blog posting written from Whanganui, though not from our new home.

We made the decision to commit to moving at the end of last week. In conversations with Dawn (our landlady) we discovered that she had new tenants lined up who were currently renting a house which had just been sold, so would be wanting to move into our house after Christmas. A number of phone conversations with Bert the Project Manager also indicated that important things were coming along at a good pace. After months of delays and uncertainty we decided enough was enough and we committed to our arranged dates with just one change: we would go to Whanganui a day early on Christmas Day.

Packing of our things ready for Crown Relocations to collect on Christmas Eve continued apace. Along with this and the hot sunny weather I took all my WKDS accounts for secure destruction, we cooked meals and did laundry, had visits from a number of well wishers, donated more vinyl to Dave when Nicky discovered it, and had bread and butter pudding for lunch on Wednesday (lovely). We haven’t been this unsedentary for years!

Bert called a number of times to discuss the direction of the floor planking, and among other things to send us to Trade Depot in search of the elusive cook top (still at sea!). One of the calls was with the very sad news that one of the younger members of the building crew had taken his own life. We hadn’t met him often, but had liked him when we did and had no idea of the issues he was dealing with.

We packed until midnight on Wednesday, and were up again at 4.30am on Thursday. The team from Crown arrived at 8.20am, were very friendly and efficient, and left with the majority of our worldly possessions and a large piece of Christmas Pie at 10.30am. They said our packing was pretty good, which was nice to hear. The rest of our stuff (day-to-day things) was destined to travel with us in Luna. I had discovered a way of folding the rear seats of which I hadn’t been aware, and it provided much more space. 

The rest of Thursday was taken up with cleaning, so that we left Dawn’s house in a reasonable state. We also took a sizeable pile of old unused packaging to the transfer station, and delivered some knitted blanket strips which Nicky has been producing for months. This elicited a wee but tasty Christmas cake. By the end of the afternoon we were both feeling dead on our feet, so Nicky procured fish and chips and we had an early night before Nicky got up for Midnight Mass.

Christmas Day began with an special breakfast of croissants stuffed with scrambled egg and smoked salmon. We did more cleaning and started packing the car. By the time I was done, Luna was looking quite low on her haunches, and I was concerned that this would be problematic. I was also anxious to depart so by 10ish Nicky had to accept that my patience was at an end, and we left. We have been very happy at our home in Blockhouse Bay and really enjoyed living in Auckland. Our heavy hearts were lightened with the prospects of our new life in Whanganui, and our new and lovely home. We had high expectations. Too high.

Traffic was busy south of Auckland but soon thinned to what we usually experience on our journey south. Due to many places being closed for Christmas Day, our routine of stops for tea and coffee changed a little, but we arrived safely in Whanganui and were at our new home just before 6pm. When we open the door our hearts sank. The floor planking was down but didn’t look like we had hoped. There was cement/plaster dust everywhere and builders debris scattered all over the floor. There were doors and shelves that had been painted leaning against the walls of both bedrooms, and there was no power, and our microwave oven, fridge/freezer, warming drawer and oven had not been installed. Both toilets were fitted and working and we had running water, but this turned out to only be cold. All the concrete paths round the house and driveway were complete, the vinyl flooring was laid, the kitchen worktops, sinks and taps were installed and functioning, and some of the lights were installed.

Feeling exhausted and let down we quickly rang the holiday park to see if they could accomodate us. They could; two nights in a bunk room with no toilet or kitchen, and then a third night in a double room with a kitchenette. This we accepted gratefully as we needed somewhere to lay our heads. We agreed thankfully to join the family for the gathering in Ohakune.

With the perspective of a reasonable night’s sleep and a plan of cleaning and tidying at Tīramaroa, Boxing Day started on a more optimistic note. I set to work wiping down the shower room tiles, and Nicky started sweeping and washing the floor in the sewing room. By the time we stopped for morning tea, we were very pleased by what was revealed. The tiles looked great, and the floor was much more like what we were hoping, though still not as golden as we hoped it might be. We continued cleaning through the day, taking a break to show round some passing locals who have been watching the build with interest.

Today has been much of the same, both with cleaning and another tour for locals (a lovely young couple with a 6-week-old in a pram), plus video tours for Claire and Ryan, and Bruce and Wendy. We had our first lunch at Tiramaroa and are now feeling much happier about things. We have a positive plan for the New Year and are feeling much more emotionally connected to our new home, but are not expecting it to be finished until the end of January.

Take care, Rick