rachel.blog

I am very excited. We have been looking at houses for about a month now and it just seems to be one boring box after another. At last this week we found something worth getting excited about. Even if we don’t end up buying it, it’s a relief to find something worth buying. We are […]

The other night I made gnocchi for dinner. Daniel was not impressed and steadfastly refused to even try it.  We told him he had to eat some of it if he wanted ice-cream to which he replied, “Don’t eat gnocchi. Gnocchi comes from cows. Don’t eat cows”.  We have to give him 10 marks out […]

It’s rugby fever here at the moment with the Rugby World Cup starting tomorrow. They are telling people in Auckland that if you want to get home from work tomorrow, leave before 3pm. Ben has decided to work from home all day. A very wise move, I think. They were talking about the rugby with […]

It is now one year since the September 4th Canterbury earthquake. Here’s my account of that event. Ben and I were fast asleep in bed at 4.35am that Saturday morning. In an instant we were awake and leaping out of bed. My thoughts were with our chimney which was in a crumbling state of disrepair […]

We visited the dormant volcano of Mount Eden today. It is the highest natural elevation in Auckland city with the summit at 196m above sea level. The last eruption was some 15,000 years ago and it left an enormous crater that’s 50m deep and very steep. There’s a pathway around the top of the crater […]

We went to an interesting place today: a huge yard with second-hand houses. They buy old houses, transport them to their yard then on-sell them to house-hunters like us. I’ve found a gorgeous old house that I want to buy. We just need a block of land to plonk it on. Here it is – http://www.cwbr.co.nz/buildings-for-sale/63-vintage-glamor-property-no-11036.html […]

Sunday marks the anniversary of the September 4th Canterbury earthquake. If someone told me this time last year that within a year, I’d be living in Auckland, I’d have choked and died. I have never wanted to live in Auckland. Why? Because I always thought it was a rambling, urban sprawl with too much traffic […]

The earthquake commission has been squirrelling money away since 1945 to pay for a disaster such as the one that hit Christchurch this year. The money is now all gone. If there’s another disaster tomorrow there’s nothing left to pay for it with. Given that it took more than 60 years to save the money […]

We had a delightful picnic lunch at French Bay, Titirangi today. I took some photos: I just love this photo: a boat with legs I love that you can’t see my frown lines Hard to get both kids in the same photo The village of Titirangi We saw this weird concrete tilt-slab mosque-like building being […]

We have started house-hunting in Auckland and yesterday went to three open homes. I limited it to three because I thought that was probably about as many as my husband and children could tolerate in one day but how wrong I was. Daniel just loved it and begged to see more. Elizabeth spent most of […]

We have had a great week with Di here but sadly she leaves this morning. Ben is arriving this evening though, yay. Yesterday we went for a walk around Meola reef which is 10km long lava flow from the Three Kings volcano. It’s the longest lava flow in the volcanic field and was created about […]

Today marks the 6 month anniversary of the February 22nd earthquake that stole 181 lives. Christchurch has had a shaky few days too. Two Mag. 4s hit on Saturday then another Mag. 4 this morning and another this evening. There was an article in the Australian magazine about the Christchurch earthquake last weekend. It’s really good […]

The two exhausted travellers arrived this evening to much excitement. Here is a small selection of photos from their trip. The Kaikouras Kaikoura Marlborough Sounds Marlborough Sounds Mount Ruapehu Lake Taupo

When you drive around New Zealand, something you can’t help but notice – apart from lovely scenery – is vast open spaces. New Zealand is sparsely populated which is what draws many people to its shores in the first place. Why then did they choose to build the biggest city over an active volcanic field […]

The Government red zone payouts have started to arrive and a new deal for Kaiapoi residents was announced last week. What is the red zone deal? For people living in Christchurch and surrounds with severely damaged homes and land, the Government is going to buy the entire property including land for the value of the […]

I took the kids on the bus into town today to the new waterfront development: Wynyard Quarter. Under normal circumstances I think it would be a great place to visit, but these are not normal circumstances for me. Before the earthquakes I used to wear rose-coloured glasses wherever I went in this amazing country but […]

Everyday I am amazed by how well Daniel has taken to his new kindy. The drop-off in the mornings is easier than it has ever been. In Christchurch I always had to pair him up with a teacher and there was still noticeable anxiety. Here he’s always eager in the mornings and then happy to […]

We have the worst dogs ever. They hate other dogs and Freud has declared war on all the cats in the Universe. The problem is that he’s going blind and anything from a distance at his eye level is a potential cat including children and witches’ hats so he barks uncontrollably and tries to strangle […]

Whenever it snows in Christchurch I get depressed. I realise I’m no longer living in the climate I like best. I miss the cold frosty mornings, the views to snow-covered mountains, the crisp air and visible breath, the warm woolly hats and scarves, the warm fires, the proximity to ski-fields and ice-skating rinks, the deciduous […]

We are in the midst of the “snow storm of the century” but the sun is shining here in Point Chevalier and Ben’s flight has not been cancelled. Will we wake up to a much desired winter wonderland tomorrow? Daniel and I hope so but I sadly doubt it. It’s possible snow will fall on […]