Buying furniture

On Friday we went “unconditional” on our offer on the house at Puketotara Road. This basically means that we have bought it and will get the keys on the 6^th April.

We negotiated a further discount on the asking price as the building inspection found that some of the wood cladding on the front of the house wasn’t put on very well. We got an estimate from a local builder and then the vendor agreed to take this amount off the price of the house.

So, today, we went to Whangarei to buy some furniture. Some places have a 6 week delivery time so we thought we’d better order the essentials as soon as possible. Yesterday we went to a local furniture store and found a bed but the sofas were really expensive so we thought we might have more luck in Whangarei.

First we went to Harvey Norman (a big furniture and electrical store). We found a sofa we liked and also a dining table and chairs. They also had a washing machine and fridge/freezer that we thought would be ok.

Our Mum’s would have been proud as we spent nearly an hour in this shop – a miracle for us! J We’re not really very good at shopping around but we thought we maybe ought to look at least at one other shop, so we went into Whangarei centre and found a couple of other furniture stores. After about two minutes in each shop we both suggested going back to Harvey Norman and buying the first things we saw (now being exactly like my Mum J).

So, we bought a three seater sofa, a two seater sofa, a coffee table, a dining table with six chairs, an outdoor dining table with six chairs, a washing machine, a fridge/freezer, two bar fridges for our spare bedrooms and a George Foreman grilling machine!

We also found an oven that we might buy. There is an oven at the new house but it’s a bit grubby and has gas burners for the hob which look horrible to clean! We found one on offer in Harvey Norman which is the same size but with a ceramic hob. The oven is 900mm wide so we are quite limited in choice and they all seem way too expensive. The one we found is on offer at $2789 (reduced from $4700) so we might add it to our order.

I asked the salesman if I could take photos of the things we were buying – I think he thought we were a bit weird but he let us take the photos anyway.

The House

Today we revisited the house we've had an offer accepted on. The tenants that were living there have now moved into the house that they have bought so the property is empty. This time we took some photos so we didn't have to try to remember things like colours of carpets or where doors and cupboards are.

We're still not sure if the purchase is going to go ahead. There is some work required to the front of the house where the cladding needs replacing. We're currently in negotiations with the vendor about that but hopefully it will all get sorted.

Main lounge

Kitchen

Dining area

Master bedroom

Dining room/conservatory

Second lounge

Today we walked all the way around the property which we haven't done before. The vines cover an acre of the grounds but beyond that there is a bit more land and we even met the neighbouring cattle!

We were really checking if the property was fully fenced for when we get dogs. Most of the bamboo surrounding three sides of the property is dense enough not to need a fence but the roadside border is made up of big pine-like trees and definitely needs a fence.

Vines



Front from the left side



Back

Right side

Up to the road

Right side of garden

Kerikeri Inlet

After lunch we drove out on Inlet Road to Wharau Road which leads down to the Kerikeri inlet (see the star on the map). It’s been really cloudy today but it’s still really warm.

The road down to the inlet isn’t a made road and we were lucky that not many people were at the beach as there is nowhere to park – just a couple of spaces at the end of the road.

From this beach there’s a view to Opito bay – where we walked last weekend. You can see all the boats in the distance.

There were some people fishing at the end of the rocks and other people walking through the rock pools.

We weren’t tempted by the water as it wasn’t sunny enough to dry off today but we will go back on a sunny day as it’s a very quiet, private beach just 10 minutes from the centre of Kerikeri.

Country Fair

After walking the dogs this morning we drove into town for the Country Fair – an event organised by the Kerikeri Lions Club. This seemed to include the regular local farmers’ market and lots of other stalls.

There were lots of different stalls selling artwork, jewellery, clothes and locally made crafts. We bumped into a couple of the dogs from the SPCA kennels – wearing bright blue SPCA coats – who were being walked around to raise awareness for the dogs that need adopting.

On the domain there were a couple of bouncy castles and some local musicians playing on stage – and sounding really good!

Paihia - Saturday

This morning we went to an open home - just out of curiosity really. There are two houses in the sale and an orchid growing business.

We’ve had the building inspection report back from the house we’ve put an offer on and there are a couple of issues that need resolving before we go ahead with the purchase. We’re waiting for a builder to give us a quote for the work before we decide what to do.

The morning was really cloudy. We had a big thunder storm on Friday night with really heavy rain. We thought we’d drive down to Paihia after lunch to see if the weather was any better there.

Paihia is more of a tourist place about 20 minutes drive south from Kerikeri. As we walked along the beach the sun came out and most of the clouds disappeared.

We walked along the beach and over the rocks to the next sandy part of the beach. There were a few kayaks paddling along the coast and the jet boat (called the Excitor) was heading out to “The Hole in The Rock”. On the walk back there were quite a few people on the beach – all looking up to the sky for something. We eventually saw a small plane and then some skydivers jumping out! They landed on a very small stretch of the beach right in front of us.

Sunset from our deck

What's the point?

This afternoon we found a nice walk back at Opito Bay. It was quite a climb to begin with, up steps that those with longer legs found easier! The view from the end of the point was well worth the walk, though! Here's a video of the panoramic view:

Views from the point go almost out to Cape Brett (Hole in the Rock) and round to Russell. Over one of the nearby hills is the Waitangi Treaty Ground and beyond it, Paihia.

On the way back we walked down to a "beach" where some locals were fishing - not a sandy beach and given the size of the steps and the gradients involved, taking a kayak would be the easier way of getting there!

All this, just 15 minutes from our door... and not bad weather for Autumn, either!

Classic Cars

This morning after walking the dogs we went to the Classics on Rainbow Car Show. This was on somebody’s land on the road leading to Rainbow Falls.

It was really popular with cars parked all along both sides of the road up to the event. There were lots of classic cars parked in rows from all eras.  Most of the cars were American – lots of Mustangs and Chevrolets. There were a couple of old E-Type Jaguars and even a Capri.

Stingray

Austin Healey

One of the most interesting things was the number plates some of the cars had. An old red Porsche with the number plate “PAWSCH” and a mustang with “SADDLUP” (see photo below for the weirdest one).

There were also some motorbikes and a few bikers were there on their Harley’s.

There was a band playing music in the back of a truck and some local groups had stalls in the next field. There was a man demonstrating a 1920’s hay baling machine and also a big steam engine which seemed a bit random.

Lake Omapere, Okaihau and Rawene

We were going to the beach this afternoon but after the earthquake in Japan there had been a tsunami warning for NZ so we thought it would better to avoid the coast today.

Instead we drove to Okaihau (1 on the map). There is a big lake here – Lake Omapere  - so we thought we might be able to walk around it but we couldn’t get anywhere near it! We drove on the unmade road alongside it but there was a fence or hedging all around it.

Lake Omapere

We drove a bit further to Rawene (2 on the map). This was a tiny place with just a few buildings which seemed to be mostly art galleries. There is a car ferry in Rawene that crosses to Kohu Kohu. It was a very pretty place. We stopped in the Boat Shed cafe for coffee (for me) and beer (for James as I was driving). The cafe had a deck out over the water. The view was amazing and it was so peaceful.

Rawene

The Boat Shed Cafe