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| We are still living in our beautiful bay by the sea. As we love it so much it was only natural to see if we could buy a property here. In fact there is a batch for sale just up the hill from us. On our next trip into town we visited the "land agent" as they are called here and we had a chat with one of the agents. Colin agreed to come out the next day and meet with us to show us the house. Of course we could not wait to see it and we decided to have a peek view of the outside. The property is built on a hillside making it very steep and lots of steps everywhere and every bit of land is covered in native bush. However when you get to the top of the property the view is lovely, not as good as we have here but very nice indeed. The next morning and another stunning day we met with Colin and we had a look at the house. It smelled damp and obviously no one had been there for a while. However the house was tidy and well organised but I think a little too small for us. Also there would have been no chance of building an extension to make it bigger. Then came the price NZ$630,000.00 which is about almost as much money we have in total. The valuation of the property is actually only NZ$320,000.00 which would be a much more realistic price. Because of the location the price is highly inflated and location is everything. The property has been for sale for 6 months and obviously there is no great rush on this batch. So sadly we had to say no to this one as it is out of our price range and too small. | |
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The Gate at start of the drive at 7th Heaven |
Having
started to look we had of course the "property news" and as we
were browsing through the paper we found another interesting property to
investigate. This one is called "Seventh Heaven" and is set in
26 acres of New Zealand bush land and 5 km away from the sea. It also
looked like it had a villa style house on it, but there was no mention of
bedrooms, living rooms, kitchen or bathroom. As we obviously have missed
the boat for a house on the beach we decided to have a look at this one.
Fergus was particularly interested as it had a stream running through it,
so that Fergus could produce our own electricity. The price seemed very
good too only NZ$285,000.00 and with all that land one might be able to
sell some off to help pay for the repair of the building.
We met the agent and he was investigating if we were suitable people. "There is no electricity and no indoor toilet" he explained. This puts most people off and he was not going to take us there if we needed electricity. Fergus said: "That is not a problem so long as there is a stream running through it". Peter the agent confirmed that there was indeed a stream in fact there were two streams. He also explained that the house was sort of liveable in and is being lived in at the moment. Well we got very excited and asked if we could have a look at it. To us it seems a very good price for all that land and it has a house of sorts on it that one could possibly live in. So let’s go and see it! |
| The drive to the "Seventh Heaven" is lovely. The countryside has contented cows, gracing and wandering about making the place looked like Switzerland. Then you turn off on a "metal road" (Finely gritted but unpaved road and very common in the countryside), up a hill and into the New Zealand bush. The light filters through the tree ferns, giving the land the appearance fairy wood. There are fantastically tall and very old trees and in between bushes and ferns are lots of lovely green plants. The bird population is also very large and you have to be careful not to drive into the birds as they dart across the road from tree to bush to tree. As we came to the top of the hill there is a gentle bend in the road and we turned right into a drive and parked the car. We walked expectantly along the drive and approached the dwelling from the side. A simple wooden structure built on stilts out over the valley, with a 12-meter long veranda along the front of the house. The veranda looks across the valley to the neighbour, called Tim and he, by the way is Scottish. What a view and listen to all the birds singing and flying around. We were sort of taken aback by the sight. Peter took us over the property, showing us the little sheds and exploring the paths leading off into the bush. All this could be ours for just NZ$285,000.00 = £120,000.00. We realised that you could not buy a garage in Brighton for that. Fergus and I kept looking at each and I was wondering what he was thinking, but we could not really talk because of the agent Peter being with us. | 
The house is just visible near the centre of the photo |
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Then we had a look at the
"house". Well it is just a big long room, with a sort of camping
kitchen but it has running water. The so-called bathroom is off to the
left, and has a new shower in it but we can not tell if it is connected to
the water. However the shower was graced with a dead mouse!!! Never mind
we can probably do something about that. The ceiling is covered with white
and blue tarpaulins. The walls too are unfinished and partly covered in
hardboard. The remains of a single bed stands in one corner and as you
pass through a beaded curtain hanging across a door less frame you enter
the master bedroom. It all looks a bit like a hippie pad. But it has
definitely possibilities.
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 The kitchen |
 Master Bedroom |
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| Fergus went off with Peter to find the streams and I hung around at the house taking photographs from every angle so that we could discuss it all later. I could tell that Fergus was defiantly excited as this place has great possibilities. I was wandering what we should do? We have only been here three weeks and if we agree to buy this property then on one hand our income will be reduced but we would own a piece of New Zealand which is very much part of the plan. On the other hand we had only just arrived and buying this property would possibly put an end to our travels and I have not seen very much of NZ yet and would I get the chance later? My head was spinning and I wanted to be alone with Fergus so that we could talk about it. |
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The house and part of the overgrown garden plot |
The agent drove
us back to town and as he dropped us off we promised we would be in touch
with him one way or the other very soon. We picked up our car and drove to
the centre of town. I tried to find out what was going on in Fergus’s
head but he was very quiet and over lunch we started to talk. It was clear
that Fergus was very keen and I was a little apprehensive. I wandered if
it would be a good idea to drive back and talk to the Scottish neighbour
Tim. Fergus had been thinking the same thing so we decided to drive back
and talk to the neighbour.
Tim was very positive to meet us and talk with us. He is in his mid 40’s and has been living here for the last 16 years. Tim seemed very much in tune with his surroundings and explained that all his land, now lawns and trees, was solid bush like the land we were about to buy. He also offered to come and help as he had the correct machinery to clear the land and help us to get to a stage were we could establish a vegetable garden. He also has a great interest in making electricity out of the streams but it turns out that Fergus has the better "know how" on this subject. There seems to be a community up here, working together called "the locals" if one is a local, help is at hand and everyone mucks in to help each other out. Well that sounds interesting. We would not be completely alone up here and Tim is an expert in controlling the numbers of possums, which still plague this bush. In other words we got on with Tim, like a house on fire. He suggested that we should return on Sunday and he would come and talk with us and take us over our land and explain how one dealt with the bush to make it habitable. |
| We thanked Tim
and drove home. I think we had sort of both decided that we would like to
have a go at buying this plot of land. The question was what would we do
about our travelling plans. Over dinner we dreamed on about all the
possibilities and decided that we should go ahead and simply buy the
property. We could then leave it for the summer and return in the autumn
and start putting our new home together then.
The next day we were off to town again to contact the agent and possibly start proceedings. On our way we dropped in on our new friends Robin and Janie. We were dying to share our plans with someone! Robin and Janie were very pleased to see us and also got very excited for us. "You can not possibly loose" they said, "the property and land prices are rising all the time and investing your money in land is a good move". Great, so we can go ahead and have a go! Our friends insisted that we would come to dinner this weekend and so we agreed to be back in the evening to celebrate our purchase. By the end of the day we had the beginnings of a contract hammered out which depends on various facts having to be proved. These are to numerous to mention but one of the most important once was that "The HOUSE" has no building permit for it. In other words it has been built with out building consent and may not conform to current building standards. Which means we are only buying the land and the house is free. It can also not be insured unless it is brought up to building standards and if we ever want to sell the land, the house would still be worthless even though we have done all that work on it. We needed to find out if the building is safe, and can be brought up to current building standards. We also needed to know how much that would cost, as our funds are also limited to a budget. With that in mind, we started to draw up a contract, made "the positive building report" to be part of the conditions. The Agent even had a solicitor for us and the agreement would be sent to the solicitor on Monday morning. All we had to do is ring the solicitor, then go and see him and make sure everything is in order and then in the afternoon go and sign the contract and the searches could begin. |
The Garage
The living room |
Lemon & Guava Trees
The "Long Drop" (lavatory)
The water tank, filled from the roof and also by a hydraulic ram in the larger stream |
All excited we
arrived at Robin and Janie’s. Robin was in the garden barbecuing our
dinner and Janie had prepared a mountain of different roast vegetables. We
had a most lovely evening with them and then drove back very tired and
fell into bed.
Sunday morning started early and Fergus got talking to one of the other batch dwellers. His name is Rod and guess what, he is a builder. We started to tell him about our plans and tried to suss out from him what he might think of the building we are about to buy. We invited him up onto our terrace for coffee and his lovely wife Karen joined us too. We talked at length about the house and what we did in England etc. Karen is a sports Physiotherapist and of course I had to tell her about my pointe shoe work. Karen is the organiser of a group of sports medics in the area. They apparently meet once a month to find out what everyone is up to plus they invite a speaker every now and then to tell them about their special projects. She was very interested and asked if I would like to give a talk about my work to her colleagues. I would jump at the chance and perhaps it will happen early next year. Then it was time for a proper breakfast and Karen and Rod invited us up to their batch so we could see what sort of things he built. After breaky and showers we trooped up the hill and got to see their batch. Rod built the most heavenly bedroom at the top of his land. The craftsmanship is obvious but he is not interested in regulations, especially when they would completely spoil the view from their bedroom. Then he showed us a plan of the current house he is building, designed by a very famous architect from Auckland. Up the hill we trotted again to see two other houses Rod has built and they are all fantastic and very expensive indeed. At the top of the hill Graham and Beth have their batch, also built by Rod. Graham is an architect, and simply the nicest man you could possibly want to meet. He felt just like a father to me and his wife Beth reminds of my favourite aunt Diddle in Switzerland. Both are the most delightful people. The sort which like people as much as they like their animals. They have 5 dogs of which three are border collies. Beth sat on the deck, with one of them lying across her legs being lovingly groomed by her. There was so much wool or fur next to Beth and the dog, that one could have knitted a scarf out of it. Both were delighted by our visit. Rod introduced us to them and everyone talked all at once. When it was established what we were doing, buying a house just after three weeks of being here Graham decided we should celebrate and opened a bottle of lovely white New Zealand wine and drink to new friends and new homes. Beth asked him to dig out the nibbles and the second social occasion of the morning got on the way. Graham got a map out to find out exactly where we are going to buy our house. I asked him if he would like to come with us this afternoon to have a look at it. He and Beth were delighted to join us and so a little later in the afternoon we re-grouped at our new place. Graham and Beth must be in there seventies. They have grown up children and grand children. They are a very happy couple full of energy and good humour. It was great to show them around and while Fergus and Graham explored the underneath of the house, Beth and I mused about all the things one could do with the house and garden. Graham and Beth pointed out all the different trees and fruit trees and we must definitely invest in a book on NZ trees. Graham was very positive but felt that the roof was defiantly "shot" and needed to be replaced very soon indeed. He sort of totted up all the expense of putting the house in order to make full building registration possible and came up with a figure of about NZ$100,000.00. We realised that what we should do is sell off part of the land to make the rebuilding more affordable. With that Graham and Beth left us and we went off to find Tim for our Sunday afternoon appointment. Tim was delighted that we are going to proceed and he asked again how much we had to pay. When we mentioned the NZ$285,0000.00, he was surprised and said that he was worried that we were being stung here. He thought NZ$185,000.00 was a much fairer price. We explained that our friend Graham was an architect had just been to see this place and thought we should go ahead. We were also set on buying this place and we did not want to risk loosing it by arguing over the price. With that Tim and Fergus got started on the hydropower and all the other things we would do once we have got the place. Tim also confirmed that he was the person that originally divided up the land into eight equal shares all about 26 acres in size. We found the other stream and met Tim’s wife Helen. She too was simply lovely and very chatty. She works at the flower farm, where they grow coloured lilies, cut them, bunch them, box them and send them off to America for sale. Helen said I could have a job as soon as I wanted it. The women form this hill work the farm and there is always a job for a local girl. There we are, I've even got a job already. We left Tim and Helen and drove down to the beach, which is only a 10-minut drive from the house. Well it took more like 20 minutes, but again a beautiful drive. The bottom of the hill opens into an inland harbour, covered in mangroves and in the evening light and a full tide it looks simply lovely. The road runs alongside the estuary and when you get to the sea there is the surf beach for Fergus on the left and the safe estuary for me to swim in on the right. Perfect! We went and had a look at the coast, which is a large 5km golden sandy beach, with rocky outcrops across on the horizon. |
| We drove home
really tired, cooked a meal, said goodbye to the stars and fell into bed.
The next morning another glorious day we got woken up early by Graham. He
said he was very worried about us and felt we were making a mistake. The
fact that we might have to sell land to rebuild the house worried him.
Also he and Beth had been thinking about it all last night and come more
and more to the conclusion that we were being had.
1:Land with out electricity should not be so expensive. 2: There could be trouble with dividing the land and one has to pay a land maintenance fee to the council, which could be quiet steep. 3: Are you really sure you want to be here forever?. You have only just arrived and there are so many other beautiful places around. 4: I think you can do a lot better than that. Well I said before he is just like a father and if as an architect he has to say no then we should listen. Besides I really trust him and it turns out that both of them Beth and Graham had a sleepless night about us making a very big mistake. Considering everything Graham has said there is now no alternative we have to stop the process. There are too many unknowns and we also remembered that Tim thought the price was much too high. On top of that I had a terrible nightmare about the place and all in all there are too many things against it. I am so grateful Fergus was able to see that it might be a huge mistake. Sadly we phoned the solicitor and asked him not to proceed. The agent was very disappointed but it was better this way then finding out later. We are sad and Fergus is simply totally exhausted from all the driving and endless dealing with new situations. We have made 4 sets of new friends and I think Graham and Beth will be very good friends indeed. They have invited us to their home in Auckland and asked us to stay for a few days. Robin and Janie have also invited us and are equally disappointed for us. Rod and Karen we also will keep in touch with. I asked Karen to look at the web-site for more information about my work and I hope we will be in email contact. Tim and Helen will be disappointed and we still have to contact them. Fergus consoled himself with still being able to play hydropower with Tim and I know Tim will like that too. We are back where we started and just hope we will finally get our motor home later this week. |
Esther & Peter on the veranda
View up the drive with old car on left and skiff on right. Its about 400 metres up to the gate. |
