The BIG MOVE

Well, we made the move safely on Friday 19th June to our new house in Stanmore Bay. A new friend of ours kindly watched Molly and Caitlin for the day while Crown arrived to deliver our long awaited containers of furniture.

I arrived at the new property (after dropping the girls off) to find Mark armed with the itinery ticking off boxes as they were marched into the house. It certainly took fewer hours for the delivery compared to the pick-up in Rangiora.

The guys were amazing...carrying couches and t.vs on their shoulders. Only one piece of furniture was slightly damaged in transit,,,so we were pleased with the result.

I decided not to take photos of the boxes...we have all seen enough of them.

But I made sure to get shots of the beautiful bay which is so close to our new home.

Although I miss aspects of Canterbury and sooo many people I am astounded by the beauty of this wonderful peninsular I am living on. Surrounded by water I feel very calm and happy when admiring it. If I ever feel lonely or nostalgic I certainly get some warm fuzzies from the beautiful views!! lol

Unfortunately the same weekend we moved, I caught some icky virus that gave me terrible

headaches and vertigo so the unpacking has been a slow process. Phoebe is teething again and daily mother duties continue of course. I have given myself until the end of this coming week to have the house in order.....nearly there.

About the house...it reminds us of a bach, and is nestled into the hill with other bach-like houses. Most of the bay is like that. In fact the whole township feels very relaxed, despite having a lot of houses all perching together over the hills. But the place we are renting is hilarious. There aren't any nurtains in our curtains, but it makes me giggle all the time.

Our landlord has done a great job tidying the place up,,,renovating inside and out so it feels clean and fresh. A wonderful environment to find for my children, especially floor travelling ones.

However, the building reminds me of a Dr Seuss book. The floors slope, window frames don't sit in line with walls and floors. Our dining room table is leaning on a downhill slope and Phoebe's toy balls roll across the lounge floor. It makes the place quirky and is giving our middle ears a real work-out. It is the funniest building I have lived in for a long time!!!!

Mark and I were chatting about how it reminded us of our first flat,,,Burke St, Sydenham, CHCH. Although this Stanmore Bay place is much bigger and far more sanitary lol.

Our first flat in Sydenham was a a very old cottage, split down middle, sloping floors, doors would never stay open because everything sloped all over the place. When you jumped out of the shower you had to stand, squeezed into a small gap beside the washing machine to towel dry yourself and it was so cold in winter we would sit in the one bedroom wrapped up in a duvet watching the snow outside.....the good old days huh!

I'm quite sure it has contributed to our characters or at least made us appreciate how far we have come. It is a little strange to be renting after owning two homes, but in some ways nice to not have the responsibility and to simply RESIDE.

Once the unpacking is over,,,our weekends will be ours to explore again....in fact we still have boxes lying around and the bay is surrounded in fog, but we couldn't resist popping out for a drive today! Got some great snaps, but you will have to read about this over the next few days.

Tomorrow I must tell you about Caitlin starting her new school. More emotional for me I think.

Until then....the unpacking continues :-)

Day four: The search for a suburb continues....

Today Mark trotted off to work and us girls hit the North Shore once again armed with our map and morning tea.

Yesterday we "did" the mall. (As only four girls can :-)

Today we started with a trip up through Dairy Flat, beautiful rural country which reminded me of home (North Canterbury) and up north to Red Beach and Orewa.

I remember Orewa well from my early high school days up in Warkworth. It's very touristy but a gorgeous beach,,,in summer! It has a quaint little village centre with beachy shops and two fantastic playgrounds, so the girls inform me. Pohutukawa grow all along the beachfront, which I absolutely love. I can't wait when the are in full bloom to show the girls our native Christmas Tree.

Despite being a dreary, grey day it was warm enough for a few snaps against the lovely view. 

You can certainly see more of Whangaparaoa on a clear day.

Looking down over Orewa beach

I have decided that if we were to live north I would definitely consider Red Beach. Has a 

very forward thinking and innovative primary school too which is a bonus.

After a break and play at these coastal locations we ventured back to Albany for lunch. I managed to find the worst coffee in North Shore. At least I found it in the first week and got it over and done with. LOL

I will be on the search for the best coffee, as I promised my best friend from Rangiora that we would have a coffee date when she visited me. Anyone out there know where I an find it???

Caitlin did a brilliant job for the next hour co-piloting with the map as we checked out the following areas for housing consideration. Glenfield, Bayview, Windy Ridge, Birkdale, Marlborough and few others forgotten.

With a final bribe of an ice cream we managed to get back to our Albany accommodation exhausted.

As the evening approached we were pleased to see  a little sun. Knowing that Canterbury was shivering in the cold we took the opportunity explore the facilities available to us while we stay at "Cassa Bella". We found the playground, Tennis court and playground and even a gym to get my post baby figure sorted out....................yeah whatever!!!!!! LOL

If it was summer I know we'd be using these facilities!!

I will be pleased when this driving around is over. 

I'm sure we will do lots of driving as a family over the next few months, but it will be for a different purpose and we'll have settled into our own place by then :-) 

Once we know which areas we prefer or "feel good" to us we can then get some real estate agents helping with the actual house search. Rental properties to start with, and then we can look for properties for sale at a more leisurely pace.

Keeping oneself busy is a good way of avoiding homesickness. 

Tomorrow the driving must continue. I will be searching the "Bays".  Not sure if we can afford to live on that side. But I will search high and low cause it's gorgeous over there!

I have promised the kids that after a morning of driving we will do something exciting  .............................Chipmunks was Molly's request. 

A massage and facial would suit me.... :-)