At last it's moving day! We spent the morning packing our things and putting them in the car ready to take them over to the barn. Stripped the beds and put the washing in the machine and cleaned the flat. Jill's sister, Ngaire is moving in there for a few days. After lunch Jill had everything packed and ready to leave and the house ready for us to move into. Although the flat is adequate it is so nice to have so much more room and finally be able to unpack our suitcases and store them out of the way for the next 5 months. Ngaire was taking Jill and Jess into Auckland to meet up with John so we said our goodbyes to them and wished them bon voyage. Strange to think that they will soon be in our house.
The property here is extensive as apart from the flat there is a big house, sleeping 8 people, with frontage over the estuary. Jill lets both the house and the flat. Then a couple of hundred yards away, at the end of the drive is the converted barn which is now our home. Downstairs is a double garage, bed sitting room, laundry and bathroom, ideal for when Danni and Jonny are here. Upstairs we have a large open plan sitting, dining, kitchen area, bedroom, spare room (in which Jill has stored all her things) study and bathroom. There are 3 large French windows, one in the bedroom and two in the main room, opening out onto the deck which runs around 2 sides of the house making the whole house so light and airy with stunning views over the paddock and bush.
We have two forms of transport, Jess's car, an elderly Toyota Corona, which needs an outing every now and then and Jill's Honda SUV which is great on the many gravel roads in the area. Both cars are automatic which is the norm in this country.
I had done a big shop yesterday so it took quite some time to unpack it all and find a home for it in the kitchen cupboards. Finally we were done and we were able to settle down in our new quarters, pour a glass of wine, have a meal and relax.
Rob had picked up Danni and Jonny on Friday afternoon and they had stayed overnight with him and Julie. The plan was for the boys to go fishing on Saturday afternoon and for Danni and I to go riding. Sadly, for the boys, the weather was too windy to take the boat out. N and I went over to Snells Beach in the late morning. We had hoped to go to a car boot sale at the school there but it had been cancelled due to lack of support. For lunch N and the children walked down to the bakery to get some pies – such a novelty for us to be able to do that both pies and takeaways not being abundant in France.
Back at Rob and Julies we all had a meal and then we left to come back here bringing Danni and Jonny over for the night. After exploring their new quarters, having a cup of Milo and a biscuit they were soon ready for bed.
I left milk and cereals out for Danni and Jonny and by the time I woke up they had helped themselves to breakfast. We left here about 11am and drove down to Orewa, a seaside town between here and Auckland ,which is a popular tourist resort as well as being popular with retirees.We had hoped to have a beach day but although quite warm it was very windy and the sea was rough. It was a perfect day for the kite surfers and wind surfers who were having a great time. We spent a few hours looking around, having lunch and Danni and Jonny had a great time at the playground there. I walked up the road with them to get ice-creams (N sat in the shelter of a tree and watched the kite surfers) and as soon as Jonny got his he fell over with it!! Luckily I had lots of tissues so, after I had wiped it clean, he was able to eat what was left of it. Back at the car we headed south and dropped Danni and Jonny off at Rob's work as he was going to take them back home from there.
Then came the deluge!! It started raining heavily on Monday, a slow moving sub-tropical low apparently. It carried on raining, at times torrentially, until Wednesday morning when after a brief respite another low, fast moving this time passed over bringing more torrential rain. It seems that we escaped the worst of it as there was a lot of flooding both further north and south of here. There wasn't a lot we could do apart from sit it out. We did go into Matakana on Monday afternoon, to the cinema, but I had got the wrong day and time. We made another sortie on Tuesday afternoon, right day, right time, to see “We need to talk about Kevin” a very good and thought provoking film.
We had a chat on skype on Wednesday evening with Jill and John who had arrived in Castandet the previous day. They had a good journey, no hiccups and love the house. It seemed strange to see them sitting in our sitting room! Our friends, Jane and Michael, had opened up the house and put the heating on which really did need doing as it had been empty for 6 weeks and then Michael had picked them up, in our car, at the station in Mont de Marsan. It's pretty chilly there at the moment but it is forecast to warm up by the weekend.
Ngaire left on Thursday afternoon and in the evening we met up with Rob and Julie at the Rusty Pelican – why the pelican is rusty I don't know!- for the curry evening there. A good and reasonably priced meal and good to go out for the evening with Rob and Julie.
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