It has taken longer than expected to get back on here, our apologies...
We have now moved into our 'new' home, it's big brick place on the side of the small mountain called Mount Ngongotaha situated right beside the small city of Rotorua. We have great views over the city and part of the lake and farmland. Behind us is nothing but bush (forest) on the mountain and we are visited by many birds. We moved in on the 18th of June with the hugely appreciated help of friends Max & Gary and Colin and Kent's brother Darren and his friend Ross who came all the way up from Napier and stayed the weekend continuously lifting, carrying, sorting. We just would not have made it without them. We thought we as we had given away most of our stuff that we didn't have that much left - wrong! We already need to have a garage sale lol.
Within the first few days of being here we had 2 Argentinian
couchsurfers come and stay which was great, we have so much to repay for
the wonderful generosity of those couch's we met while travelling in
the Americas. We also had a visit from a friend we stayed with in
Santiago Chile which was excellent.
The house is pretty much in good order, Kent has spent some time getting a few odds and sods sorted out. We got some good curtains from the Op Shop for a couple of the rooms that needed a refresh. Kent and friends spent last weekend cutting down a pine tree and chopping it up, it yielded about 5 m3 (5 small trailer loads) 3 of which came to our place to be stored to dry out and use next winter. There are another 11 trees to come down, a lot of work but each of the workers will get a good few loads and we will be able to sell some as well. In the meantime whilst next year is sorted we have to buy some for this year and boy it is not cheap! NZ$75 per m3 for gum it's a bit cheaper for pine but pine is a soft wood and burns fast and not as hot.
We have a Korean couple living in a self-contained flat downstairs and a
Canadian couple renting a room upstairs with us. We hope to get one or
two international students also and it all helps with the mortgage we
now have around our necks. It took a while to organise the internet
(hence the delay in writing) but now all is up and in action. The house
is throwing us a curve now and then, just breaking us in, but in the
main it's all good.
Kent finished the repairs to our rental property at the end of May it it's now rented out again to a great tenant. It'll be a bit different being landlords in-situ rather than overseas ones.
Carol is just about to have her 3rd chemo session tomorrow, only 1 more of the strong stuff after that and then onto the easier weekly sessions. Well that's what they tell us. We were prepared for the worst reactions to the poison they inject but actually things have been fine and she is very well.
We are both still working part-time jobs and our remaining hours are filled up with this and that, never a dull moment. We miss travelling of course but over all everything is great.
Yes, life is good!
