I’m happy to announce that we finally found a house and have officially moved in after a few months of looking! Not being able to find a suitable home in Hastings or Napier due to the outrageous prices, we looked to the country instead. We found a more modern (80’s) home with a view as opposed to a 40’s or 50’s home with a view of fences and neighbours on each and every side. A majority of homes here and in Australia are built on large sections that are split up in odd shapes that share a driveway. The largest one I saw had 19 houses in one section. This means that you will be VERY close to one another which was not something we wanted.
That being said, we actually ARE living on a subdivided section now, attached to one other home and 2 others down the way, which I haven’t even seen yet. However, we have incredible views and are at the front of the section with very quiet neighbours and we have one garage space. The views really sold us, with the master and my office having the best and the patio also looks onto the rolling hills. The town of Waipukurau (I still have no idea how to correctly pronounce this) has about 4000 people. Now that’s small. Thankfully, Hastings is only a 35 minute drive from here when I need to get out of the Wop Wop, as they refer to it here.
The fog is thick in the morning usually and the scenery changes constantly. I’ve seen a few huge rainbows, usually ending near the cows.
One funny side note was after we got the house, I saw a listing on the local trading site for this doll house:
There’s the blonde me, up on my balcony. We even have those bay windows and a small patio area that wraps around two sides of the house. Kinda strange! It was nice living in Napier for a little while but the traffic and sometimes rude people were getting to me. I’m pretty sure I would go into shock if I moved back to the U.S. Having lived in the slow lane for so long, I can’t imagine road rage, crawling traffic and scowling faces. This is home #32 since 2013 and thankfully, it looks like I’ll be here a while!
I find it interesting (though not surprising) that you are so content to settle down now – you have lived in many, many places. I am wondering when the wanderlust part of your adventure peaked and if there was some thing that changed. Did you just get tired of moving around and/or scrambling for another opportunity, or did you come to a realization that New Zealand was where you were meant to be and you needed to look no farther.
Right now I watch my contemporaries flee the DC area, while I still feel at home. For the most part they are going to quieter places. I remain, touting the advantages of suburb living near DC museums, and concert venues, but truthfully we go there less and less. But I do enjoy both the convenience of life here and the ease of leaving for short vacations. But there is certainly not the same thrill as there was when in my mid 20’s, I saw myself living close to the action of the nation’s capital.
I wonder if the world is changing or if all of this is a predictable age/stage thing. My kiddos are still nomadic, but even they have decided to spend the summer in the northwest and winter near ski areas, so after 10 months on the road, they are slowing down a bit.
Happy for you in your new abode!!
Hi there! Well mainly, it’s because I met Andy which is why I stayed in NZ. Otherwise, I would have kept travelling. It was starting to wear on me though…never really knowing where I’d be next and trying to line up house sits along the way ahead of time. Once I started settling in, it was time to go again. Personal relationships were taking a toll..as I could never actually have a boyfriend or anything serious. It was nice to settle down finally but I still have that urge to get out there and travel. I don’t really want to stay in NZ as it’s way too cold for me and it’s also expensive. However, like I alluded to, ‘busy’ life near a city is overwhelming for me too.
I think it’s great that Carey has gotten out to do this, if only for just a while. People need to see more of the world and other cultures. I do miss a lot of the friends I made and the countries themselves, but they’ll always be there to go back to eventually. The other problem with travelling the world is being limited by the tourist visa and having to jump around from country to country every few months, if not sooner. Then there’s the money….oh the list of cons goes on and on but in the end, it’s worth every penny!
I didn’t see that coming! Thirty-two homes over four years. Yikes! Love the Stephanie house. Much love!
Hehe love the Stephanie house too!!
32 homes! Oh my god, you have me beat. I believe my whole life was 45, have not counted lately. You wrote “eluded to” in your comment. The correct term is allude. Elude is to evade. Allude to refer to.
*Love, Camille*
Thanks for the correction. My mother was mortified, I’m sure!