s e v e n i s a j o u r n e y

Sometimes things work out.

As I mentioned earlier, I have found my US banks to be a bunch of primative screw-heads. This was causing me addition grief because we needed to have a deposit check to go in with the Tender offer today. Tam had a brilliant backup plan, we write a check against the unmoving US bank, and attach a note saying “sorry, we will get you NZ funds first thing next week”. But lo-and-behold, I checked the bank this morning and last night the money came across. Halla-freaking-lua! So anyway, we filled out the papers, I got a bank check, and took the train up to Porirua to drop it in the box. Some time in the next 24-48 hours we will hear if we have made it. Fingers crossed.

So, tomorrow morning I take the train up to Porirua to stick the tender offer in the locked box. We did all the research we could, and are making an unconditional offer. Tenders are these evil silent auctions they run for houses here. They are especially popular during a strong sellers market- curse them! Basically you write down a price and a list of conditions (inspections, financing, closing date, etc) and hope you get picked. We did as much investigative work as we could before hand(a combination of going through public records and fee-for-service stuff) so we could be sure of ourselves. Oh, I failed to mention the really evil part of tenders- there is no listed price! It is up to you to come up with your own “fair market value”, and the seller can pick whatever they want!

So it goes in tomorrow, and some time this weekend we will hopefully get a call that we have gotten the place. That would be nice. We are trying our best to send out positive vibes to the Universe, while at the same time not over-investing ourselves (with the associated danger of crushing despair if we don’t get the place). We figure with a good unconditional offer we know that if we don’t get the place then an offer WAY above ours came in, one we could not afford anyway, so we should not feel bad. Well, not too bad.

We did get to meet the seller today, and we did our best to hit it off with him. A very healthy and vital 70-year-old, but with Parkinsons disease setting-in the property was just too much for him to manage. He did have a very friendly indoor cat, following us around the house, desperate for love. It was quite old, with one eye all milky with cataracts. He also has two outdoor cats, and told an amusing story of how one night they were on the ledge looking in through the kitchen window when a possum came up on the ledge behind them. They did not hear it (so much for keen feline senses!), and it sat behind them watching them as they looked through the window. When they did notice it they were off like a shot! Hee!

Besides that the weather has been normal Wellington spring. Rain, sometimes heavy, mixed with periods of brilliant blue sky. It can switch back and forth between sun and rain a dozen times a day. Except Tuesday when it rained all day.

I have gotten back into playing with my dolls again. Went down to the local Games Workshop store and played two battles with my Wood Elves on Wednesday night. It was fun, and it might be a way to meet some fun gamer freaks. My current record is one minor victory against the orcs and goblins, and one minor defeat against the Slann/Lizardmen. Hopefully as I get back into the groove and learn 6th edition rules I can up my kill ratio.

Okay, we’re a little sparse on the posting now that I’ve gone back to work. Still going for the house, which is an involved and complicated process.

Stephen has been doing the Money Dance to try and get his (our) money transferred for the theoretical down payment (and to, you know, put some money in his new bank account). Brookline “Customer Service” is made up of, as near as we can tell, either a pack of slack-jawed morons, or a series of automata incapable of conscious thought. So he’s treid shifting a bunch of cash to his Waterhouse account, since they seem to have at least encountered the concept of International Banking. They *have* however indicated that the transfer request needs to arrive as a signed notarized letter, which leads us to Complication Two. Okay, you know how if you want a Notary Public in the States, you pretty much just have to wander into any post office, pharmacy, insurance agency, my Mom’s house, whatever ? Over here Notary Publics are, like, White Rhinos. Rare, elusive. Near as we can tell, there’s maybe four in the whole city, and if you want one to sign something, you need to track them down and make an appointment, for somewhere between $20 and $60. It’s insane. Why are they so rare ? Apparently if you want to become a Notary here, you have to petition the Archbishop of Cantebury. I kid you not. So Kiwis generally use a JP (Justice of the Peace) for the sorts of things we’d use a Notary for.

All fine once you know all this, but less fine when you’re wandering around the city on foot, getting different info from different sources — “Oh, try over there…”, “Notary ? What’s that ?”, “Oh, I think Gimbal and Frank have one; they’re over on Willis.” Some nice receptionist at one of the law offices spent a good 15 minutes phoning all the other law offices for us, to save us more hiking.

So the letter’s been sent off, anyway. I’ll explain how houses are sold later.

Stephen and I climbed Mt. Vic. None of these pics really conveys just how steep these tracks are.

And, the view from the top. Passing clouds did weird things with the light while I was taking these, so there’s some weirdness where they didn’t stitch quite right.

Some shots taken on the way back down, which may look a little familiar.

A Shortcut to Mushrooms:

Get Off the Road ! (There’s a Shadowy Stephen Coming For You !)

After our hike, we trooped back up to the farmlet we’re interested in, which was having an open house. We hoped the listing agent could give us some more info & indeed she did. Took the opportunity to tramp around the pasture a bit more & here’s a photo. For reference, the house is on the other side of that rise with the power poles on it, and this photo is taken from somewhere in the middle of the property — it continues quite a ways behind, down into a gully with another stream and then back up to a higher ridge.

And here’s a closeup of one of the pukekos hunting down near the stream in front. Aren’t they the *wackiest* ? Check out those feet.

We were supposed to go up to the realtor to have her go over some of the Kiwi legalese with us tonight, but are staying in on account of we had to take the door handle off. Stephen says I should maybe give a little more info than that, so I’ll explain that the handle was getting kinda tough to turn, and finally got to the point where it wouldn’t draw the bolt out of the jamb no matter how hard we leaned on it, effectively trapping us in the apartment. The landlord came over right quick and since we luckily had a Leatherman sort of thing in the Drawer Of Random Stuff, we managed to get the handle off and force the bolt out to open the door. The landlord is going to buy and install a new bolt assembly tomorrow AM, so in the meantime we have stuff piled against the handle-less door. Woo.

Well, today marks one week in-country. I sit at home with Slow Top clinging like a furry limpet, watching the rain come sheeting down in front of Mount Victoria. It is now starting to feel like New Zealand. You have to understand that during the first week my brain was having trouble processing what was going on. It knew I was in a foreign country, which means Sweden, right? This default mode is because I have spent so much time in Sweden over the last 3 years (about 8 weeks in total) that it had become the default “other country”. The fact that I was in Sweden the week before didn’t help this perception, either! But my brain is finally starting to prcess the fact that (a) people are not speaking Swedish, (b) everyone drives on the wrong side of the road, and (c) the architecture, flora and fauna are all very definitely not scandanavian!

So, much of the last week was spent in neighborhood familiarization, meaning we drove all over the place. Some of the roads up to the neighborhoods clinging to hillsides are truly special. As in “oh my god we are all going to die!!!” special. A road I would not feel compfortable driving down every time I needed a gallon of milk. We have found one place we are quite interested in (see previous Blog posting), and tonight we drive up to talk to the relator to find out just what all the legal stuff means regarding putting in a tender offer. If we get the place we will certainly have plenty of crash space for anyone who wants to come and visit!

As for Wellington, it is an interesting city. The apartment is in the middle bit of the city, about a 3 minute walk from the main museum (Te Papa), and only a 10-15 minute walk from the CBD (central business district) where Tam works. Lots of ethnic food available, especially south and east asian. There are some european food places too, with an Italian and a French restaurant around the corner. It is all small enough to be walkable. But Wellington city itself does spread over hill and dale. The city is both crinkly and knobby. It has all the ins and outs of the harbor, plus the steep hills. We are in the central basin, but other valleys full of houses are over the hills. And due to the many bays a place that is onyl 3 km away as the crow flys will be many more by car or foot. And the airport (on the other side of Mt Victoria) is so small and cute! One runway, rather short. And the control tower is amongst the houses on a hill next door. All very amusing.

Today I begin work, sorta. I told the fellows in Sweden that I would not start working on the writing projects until mid-September, but I have to call Clive up in Auckland to talk about money, and I promised I would send some info to Sweden regarding the papers I am planning to write. I don’t mind. Keeping the Swedes happy keeps me employed, and money is useful.