Kia Ora

Kia Ora

Interesting facts.

NZ. or Aotearoa In Maori, means 'The Land of the long white cloud'. It is quite a young country, geologically active, with tectonic faults and volcanoes, glaciers and rivers constantly building and eroding land. It consists of many islands, the main ones being the North and South island. It used to be part of one land mass, Gondwana, and split off 80 million years ago, taking with it its unique plants and bird life. The first Eastern Polynesian settlers arrived 750 years ago, and the first Europeans to settle arrived in 1769 after discovery by James Cook.

As it is a long thin country, there are several climates and micro climates within, from sub tropical in the North and temperate (similar to UK) in the South. The total population is around 4.2 million ( UK has nearly 63 million) of which 1 million are based in Auckland. Auckalnd also known as the 'The city of sails' (due to a high proportion of boat ownership) is the biggest city, though not the capital, which is Wellinton. Auckland’s weather is warm/hot long summers with mild and wet winters. (average annual sunshine hours= 2050. Manchester=1200 hrs) and (annual average rain=1240mm. Manchester=810mm!) most rain falling as heavy tropical showers in the winter months of June-July

Thursday 10 June 2010

House hunting in Cockle Bay

Cockle bay (high tide)

whilst we had use of the fleet car with unlimited petrol, from Matt's work, we really explored the area to help choose which town we wanted to live in. Unfortunately the queens birthday bank holiday meant that estate agents were shut for the whole long weekend, scuppering our plans to view some rentals.

its a real slow process going via estate agents, but eventually we did get to see some and boy! .. were they nasty!
smelly, scruffy, dirty, decor and carpets from the 60's. I (Jacqui ) had really had enough for one day, it was getting dark anyway!... when Matt got a phone call from a private landlord he had contacted, advertising on 'Trade me' (like Ebay!) and persuaded me to just view ONE more!
so off we trundled to Cockle bay, and wow what a little gem we had found. A modern, refurbished 3 bed, almost detached, with added bonus of underfloor heating. (most properties have little or no heating at all!) a small garden and decking area, (and the owners would maintain the lawns and garden!- BONUS) in a quiet cul-de-sac, 10 mins walk from the beach.

we said we would think about it and get back to them, as we had other properties to view, but i think we had both decided, that was the one for us.

as we didn't want to lose the house (you have to be quick to bag a good one around here!) we contacted the landlords, who are a young kiwi couple, the next day after viewing the area in daylight. We were relieved that they were just as eager to have a "professional couple" to rent their house.

they had planned on moving out in July, but after explaining that our apartment lease would be finishing next week, they said they would move out that weekend!
and even better, they would loan us some furniture and household items until our container arrived... how kind is that??

all we needed was a bed, and sofa... so back to 'trade me', where we bought a nice bed (which would be a guest bed when our bed from UK arrives) a vacuum cleaner and a sofa at very reasonable prices
fotos of Cockle bay and view from top of our road
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