Well in all truthfulness, it went well. The events leading up to it were a little frustrating however. Carly's school has a very tight parking lot. on the edges of said parking lot are posts that are meant to remind people no to park their cars so the noses of said cars are over the sidewalk. Doing so makes it difficult to get kids and supplies in. Sadly, those posts are not particularly well anchored and have a tendency to fall over, leaving their anchoring point (a tube anchored into the concrete that sticks up about a foot from the surface) at the perfect height to slide undetected under a bumper and get hooked. The result can be seen here:
Suffice it to say I was not a very happy camper.
The move itself was largely uneventful. As is the case with a lot of rentals here, several appliances were missing. We jumped on Trademe to find a fridge and washer (we're still looking for a dryer). Once the items were won, we arranged to borrow a car with a towhook from our good friend Alan. Herein lies one of the nicest surprises so far for moving in New Zealand. Getting a trailer is a) easy b) cheap and c) very low on hassles. Every gas station has a few that you can show up and grab. Nice ones too, with a wire cage around them for tall items, in relatively good repair etc.
Wes and I headed off bright and early to get the washer. I had googled the address and thought I knew where I was going. Turns out I didn't. Long story short, 2 1/2 hours later and we finally managed to pick up the washer. The fridge was easy to find, difficult to retrieve. We managed however. The fridge itself is HUGE. It's a design I've never seen before, a 3 door model. The freezer is at the top, the fridge in the middle and there's a dedicated crisper drawer at the bottom for veges etc. About 15 years old, it's not going to be winning us any energy conservation awards but it was cheap and it works.
Now, our new place is a split level townhouse. The kitchen is unfortunately at the top of said house. The fridge was large. You can see the problem. The solution was fairly straightforward. Raw Strength. We got a few friends to help us and we managed to get it to the top. We promptly celebrated by cracking a few beers, waiting for dinner to be cooked (Rachel had brought us a wonderful mexican casserole) and slapping ourselves on the back.
We're still unpacking now, but in the end, it was totally all worth it. Island Bay is shaping up to be a very cute neighborhood, the townhouse so far is working out and this is what I get to wake up to every morning. (click on the photo for a full sized view)
That view is stunning!
ReplyDeleteA few words about the appliances ... an old cheap fridge is false economy since anything you save in the initial purchase you soon spend on higher electricity bills (if it's not energy saving for the environment, it's not energy saving for you either). A similar argument for why not to have a dryer. D and I have lived sans dryer for 4 years now. Our clothes are happier, our pocketbook is happier, and so is the environment. Hanging clothes to dry is not that big a chore and dryer's are very expensive to run. Think about it before you assume it's a necessary item.
Happy nesting!
Aye you're absolutely correct about the fridge. However, the price difference was 800+ $. I simply can't afford to drop 1200$ on a fridge that's 1/2 the size. The dryer is not a huge priority. Our clothing is already entirely done by hanging. The big problem is sheets. Neither carly or I like having our sheets dried outside. they don't get dry enough here (humid country) and they just aren't soft enough for our tender faces.
ReplyDeleteWe N.Americans do like our big fridges. It would be a real adjustment for me to have an under-counter fridge like many in other commonwealth countries have.
ReplyDeleteWe double our sheets up and hang them over a big rack or two chairs. Not sure that makes a difference for the texture. I don't mind crisp sheets though. :)