Life in New Zealand - The move has been made...

[silvrav]

I am at work, physically but maybe not mentally  I am sore in places that I haven't been sore in ages...

See, the plan was to move in time over the weekend as I took the friday afternoon off. A major reason was actually that they were coming to deliver most of the new furniture on Friday afternoon, and the bed being the one I was after.

So Friday I collected the keys from the agent, drove to the property, did a 10min video and walkthrough for the wife and waited for the delivery guys. Most of them rocked up between 2 and 4 and delivered most of the stuff....in flatpacks  and I saw my future for the weekend right there and then.

Got everything in and locked up at 5ish heading back to the airbnb. Just as I got there a chap phoned asking if I was home as he wants to deliver the fridge, and upon questioning him, he indicated he won't be back in the area until the following weekend. A week without a fridge wont work, so told the gent to just leave it on the outside porch, I will be back later.

And then, me being me stripped my moer and decided I am moving, a decision I would regret later....

Took me about an hour to pack everything, and get it loaded into the car, and dam glad I got a station wagon as it was FULL!
Luckily only one trip would be needed.

As I got to the new house I unloaded everything (it is about 20h30 by now) and decided to first move the fridge in, and have supper.

House with a view!



Funny how things sometimes just fit!


move move move

[silvrav]

So this time of year the son only goes down at about 9 with pitch blackness way past 10. I still had daylight so got working.

First thing first, got the fridge up and running so I can get the food in before is spoils

Second thing, I need a place to sleep. Got going with the bed and within 10mins realized I don't have the tools to make this easy (no drill and bits) and tackled the assembly by hand with my screwdrivers and the one bit I got with the bed.

working hard and furious the bed was up and in about 60mins. I plonked down the mattress, grab a sheet, 1 pillow, and the duvet. I will now be able to sleep eat and sleep.

The last thing for the night was the TV... So i got the 3 things any man would be happy with, eating, sleeping and watching TV 

I couldn't sleep much so had a shower, tried to unwind a bit by watching relaxing TV and proceeded to pass out on the carpet where I was lying. No idea what time I woke up but zombied to the bed and passed out.

[silvrav]

I woke up on Saturday at about 9am feeling refreshed and ready for the day. I decided to head to the local hardware store (mitre10) and check on tools. I got a cheapie drill ($20  vs nromal $69) thanks to the local sale person and some bits.

Getting home and starting to assemble more pieces of furniture I realized the bits the sale person gave me was incorrect fit and stupid me didnt look properly either. I decided to mission on and just use my trusty screwdrivers.

At about 3pm I decided to head back to the hardware store and get those bits  as my hands as already started blistering. One thing I have noticed in NZ is that one off purchases are cheaper vs where in South Africa its more expensive than monthly expenses

I proceeded to finish assembling some chairs, the coffee table, tv stand, and the 2 flo seater couches.

Well at least the lounge is done, for now, now its just the bedroom stuff remaining, which will have to wait until next weekend

[Mr Zog]

Good job Hannes 


Get yourself a decent battery powered driver. Has a 1/4 inch hex drive and then you can get all the bits your heart can desire. You can even get drill bits with a hex drive, spade bits, and adapters for all sizes of sockets. Makes loosening and tightening things, making holes, and a whole lot of other stuff a whole lot easier. Get a good one, not the super cheapie crap, and it will last you for many years. 18Volt or higher 

[Sardine]

Good going! 

Looks like a beautiful spot!

[Fudmucker]

What is that field you are looking out onto?
Cricket pitch?



Sensible timber fence there with a gap at the bottom so the weedeater can clip underneath.

[Splash]

Well done. Getting settled is a huge task. No IKEA furniture. Easier to assemble?

[silvrav]

@Fudmucker Yip its a big local park with playgrounds, picnic area and in the middle is a cricket field. Schools often use it to practice and on Saturday was a full-blown 25/25 over friendly school match, with parents pitching their umbrellas and camping chairs. I stopped for about 30ish minutes and just sat and watch some cricket 

@Splash no direct ikea unfortunately. There are some furniture shops that sells it but with the middleman, price added. Most of the furniture I got I got through black Friday as well so relatively cheap.

[silvrav]

So I drove to work yesterday as I had to finalize some more home stuff and after 8 the bus intervals becomes 30-60mins apart depending on the area.

We had a stop and go where we stopped for about 10mins while a crane hoisted some roof sheeting and i spotted @Christian Kuun south island girl 

Then this morning I took the bus and found the park I was looking for. Now my son can play while I watch some school cricket and mommy can take a nap 

[silvrav]

I was walking around town yesterday doing some laptop shopping...my boss found out I know a thing or two about computers and is now the non-official/official IT guy as well.

Work is going well and the work ethics and "easyness" of doing business here in NZ and the amount of work per staff member.

Then I thought I spotted Dwerg walking around NZ, but in the end it was just Peter Dinklage 

[onderbroek]

Every time the page loads, the pictures disappear after a second, anyone experiencing same issues?

[woody1]

Lekker Hannes.  Hierdie storie van jou laat my weer dink aan ons 5 jaar "Europese vakansie" toe ons in Holland gebly het.
Ek het ook eerste oorgegaan.  Alles in plek gekry vir die familie wat my 3 maande later gevolg het.
Kon darem met die kontrak wers se geld 'n huis koop al was hy 100 jaar plus oud gewees en glad nie op standaard nie.
Maar ek het nuwe matrasse gekoop (sonder beddens net so op die vloer vir die eerste paar maande), nuwe kombuis goed en so het ons begin.

Ek onhou die winkel KIJKSHOP.  Wat vir my 'n lekker plek was.  Alles uitgestal in sulke glas kaste.  Elke item met 'n prys en 'n nommer.  Dan skryf jy die hoeveelheid en die nommer op 'n papier, gee dit in by die KASSA , betaal en kry jou goed.

Ek hoor Kijkshop bestaan nie meer nie...jammerte.

Lekker bl doer onder..

[Christian Kuun]

Haha, loving your thread.

My passport left today for work visa. Lets hold thumbs I can have a beer with you shortly- its only a ferry away. Cool thing I only figured out now is that, being on the "immediate skills shortage list", potential employers need not prove they cant find or train a local. Problem is that I bet they dont know it either…

See you in March… .hopefully

[silvrav]

Every time the page loads, the pictures disappear after a second, anyone experiencing same issues?

mmm, not sure. still happening?

Lekker Hannes.  Hierdie storie van jou laat my weer dink aan ons 5 jaar "Europese vakansie" toe ons in Holland gebly het.
Ek het ook eerste oorgegaan.  Alles in plek gekry vir die familie wat my 3 maande later gevolg het.
Kon darem met die kontrak wers se geld 'n huis koop al was hy 100 jaar plus oud gewees en glad nie op standaard nie.
Maar ek het nuwe matrasse gekoop (sonder beddens net so op die vloer vir die eerste paar maande), nuwe kombuis goed en so het ons begin.

Ek onhou die winkel KIJKSHOP.  Wat vir my 'n lekker plek was.  Alles uitgestal in sulke glas kaste.  Elke item met 'n prys en 'n nommer.  Dan skryf jy die hoeveelheid en die nommer op 'n papier, gee dit in by die KASSA , betaal en kry jou goed.

Ek hoor Kijkshop bestaan nie meer nie...jammerte.

Lekker bl doer onder..

haha ek onthou sulke winkels in namibia snaaks genoeg. Ons het dit altyd besoek net voor hulle 12h30 toe gemaak het vir lunch!

Haha, loving your thread.

My passport left today for work visa. Lets hold thumbs I can have a beer with you shortly- its only a ferry away. Cool thing I only figured out now is that, being on the "immediate skills shortage list", potential employers need not prove they cant find or train a local. Problem is that I bet they dont know it either…

See you in March… .hopefully

Noice!  This is awesome news. Do take note that ferry is a 3-4hour trip  Will have to be a weekend beer 

That is how i understood it as well, and visa's generally goes quicker for your lucky guys on that list. Is it just you coming over for now all you planning for the entire family?

[silvrav]

Did a site visit today and decided to do a walkthrough parliaments grounds. Love the look of the old style buildings

Then yesterday on the bus ride home I had to just snap this. So the queue on the right is the turn onto SH1, and was a good 1-2km. My immediate thought was we will get stuck in the front as someone will try to skip the queue and push in front, nope, not a single car tried it.,, still trying to get used to not being in a SA mindset.

Then I realized again that people here, although labour is expensive, in general prefer to still phone contractors to do stuff. So the house I moved into's fuse box in the garage keeps tripping a fuse on the garage motor. I pulled the same rating fuse next to it, to test. All good, so the old fuse has reached its age and the rating has dropped. I then also discover the 9V battery in the garage remote is dead so will need a new one.

As a courtesy, I just phoned the Property Manager and let her know I am replacing one of the fuses and the 9V battery. oh no sir please don't, we will call someone out. I try to say no worries but nope, she is adamant the landlord must fix it.

I send her photos of the fuse, the make and ratings thinking the landlord will just pop out and buy it.

But no, an electrician phoned me today to state he is on his way to come fix it and 10minutes later all is good in the world. Will most likely charge the landlord $100 + parts 


Parliament




Clear roads

[TeeJay]

Nice - thanks for keeping us updated 

[Fudmucker]

SR, you are in a nanny state now...  you are NOT ALLOWED to change the fuse !
That would be tampering with the electrical installation and Occupational Health and Safety issues would arise.
You probably already broke some law or other with what you did... 

Don't they have trip switches like backward South Africa?

[Christian Kuun]

I will have to take the ferry, just to say I have done it…

It will just be me for now until I have found something more permanent and have set up camp. Going to be long and hard without the family but then again, I dont have to tell you that.

Looking forward to it though

[Buff]

Wow, it's all so clean 

[Sam]

Those old buildings look fantastic!

I visited the parliament buildings in Auckland many years back. They took us down into the basement / foundations - the whole building is suspended on massive rubber "shock absorbers" in order to withstand all but the worst of earthquakes. Quite amazing to see.