The year is officially half over, which is pretty hard to believe. As far as we know, they haven't actually started building our house yet, Apparently it will still be complete and out of the factory on time though. We have continued to clear weeds off of the land, and now we have a huge pile of green waste to deal with. The plan for this weekend is to hire a mulcher and get rid of it. Then we are free to get our earthworks booked in. We have resource consent, we just have to arrange for a council inspection. So that's the plan for July. August is supposed to be delivery. September we'll be moving in.
The big new for June is that my poor old car died.
I had really been hoping that she would last another year or so. Buying a new car just wasn't part of the plan for this year. But there had been more issues cropping up in the last couple of warrants, and we knew she was reaching the end of her life. One day at the start of June we saw there was smoke coming from under the hood, and there was a smell of burning rubber. We hoped it was not big deal, I thought it was just out of oil, but after a top-up it kept happening, and we realised there was oil leaking. The mechanic confirmed that the head gasket had blown, and it would cost more to fix than was worth spending on that car. We had to buy a new car, but to do that we had to keep driving the broken car, hoping it would just keep going long enough. It would have been nice to have a bit more time to think about it and find the right car, We pretty much had just a single day. Drive out to the car yards in Lower Hutt, look at cars, and make a decision. I wanted to spend more money, and hopefully get a car that would last us a good long time. But in the end we found a very cheap station wagon with a big engine, it will do what we need and hopefully will last longer than expected. We have added a tow bar so we can hire a mulcher, tow a trailer full of furniture, and fit loads in the boot.
It would have been nice to have some time for second thoughts, but driving home from car shopping that day, with night coming on a rain pouring down, the window wipers jammed up. One got stuck on the other, and bent out of shape. Luckily when we turned up the speed they started again, but jamming with every swipe. We managed to get off the motorway and find somewhere to pull over, but we couldn't really fix the wipers. We managed to bend the broken one in such a way that they didn't jam so much, and we could safely drive home. But that was really the last straw. Luckily the next day wasn't rainy. We got the new car checked by a mechanic and went ahead and bought it. Got more than expected when we traded in my car for scrap. And now we have this huge beast of a car. It's automatic and I miss having gears. It's a lot slower to handle, there's so much more of it to move. And it will cost a lot more to run. But it will do what we need and the price was right. Maybe in a couple of years we can upgrade properly.
That's all the news. It's really cold here in Wellington right now, but overall it's been OK. Work is the same old, same old. It's a shame there are no more public holidays for awhile. I'd really like to come down south for a visit, but I missed my window to get cheap mid-year flights. Now I need to wait until I know for sure about the timing of the house. I can't risk missing it being finished, being delivered and of course, being handed over to us. So sometime after September I guess.
By this time next month I will have more land photos for you. The earthworks will be done, we'll have a clear building pad and driveway. And hopefully we'll have some photos of the house in the factory.
The big new for June is that my poor old car died.
I had really been hoping that she would last another year or so. Buying a new car just wasn't part of the plan for this year. But there had been more issues cropping up in the last couple of warrants, and we knew she was reaching the end of her life. One day at the start of June we saw there was smoke coming from under the hood, and there was a smell of burning rubber. We hoped it was not big deal, I thought it was just out of oil, but after a top-up it kept happening, and we realised there was oil leaking. The mechanic confirmed that the head gasket had blown, and it would cost more to fix than was worth spending on that car. We had to buy a new car, but to do that we had to keep driving the broken car, hoping it would just keep going long enough. It would have been nice to have a bit more time to think about it and find the right car, We pretty much had just a single day. Drive out to the car yards in Lower Hutt, look at cars, and make a decision. I wanted to spend more money, and hopefully get a car that would last us a good long time. But in the end we found a very cheap station wagon with a big engine, it will do what we need and hopefully will last longer than expected. We have added a tow bar so we can hire a mulcher, tow a trailer full of furniture, and fit loads in the boot.
It would have been nice to have some time for second thoughts, but driving home from car shopping that day, with night coming on a rain pouring down, the window wipers jammed up. One got stuck on the other, and bent out of shape. Luckily when we turned up the speed they started again, but jamming with every swipe. We managed to get off the motorway and find somewhere to pull over, but we couldn't really fix the wipers. We managed to bend the broken one in such a way that they didn't jam so much, and we could safely drive home. But that was really the last straw. Luckily the next day wasn't rainy. We got the new car checked by a mechanic and went ahead and bought it. Got more than expected when we traded in my car for scrap. And now we have this huge beast of a car. It's automatic and I miss having gears. It's a lot slower to handle, there's so much more of it to move. And it will cost a lot more to run. But it will do what we need and the price was right. Maybe in a couple of years we can upgrade properly.
That's all the news. It's really cold here in Wellington right now, but overall it's been OK. Work is the same old, same old. It's a shame there are no more public holidays for awhile. I'd really like to come down south for a visit, but I missed my window to get cheap mid-year flights. Now I need to wait until I know for sure about the timing of the house. I can't risk missing it being finished, being delivered and of course, being handed over to us. So sometime after September I guess.
By this time next month I will have more land photos for you. The earthworks will be done, we'll have a clear building pad and driveway. And hopefully we'll have some photos of the house in the factory.
