Once again a long overdue update :-(
We could make up the excuse that we were too pre-occupied with our House built, but that would not be entirely true.
Although we are finally making some real progress, later more in that topic, we just have been enjoying our life over here. Sorry...? Enjoying in the Wintertime?? Well yes! Although most Kiwi thought it was a crappy winter, it was not that bad at all. OK, it was a bit wetter than it was last winter, but we did not have any snow at sea-level. It did not freeze for days or even weeks at a time as it sometimes can in some parts of Europe.
Being here now for just under 2 years, it was a good time to stand still and evaluate; our general conclusion is that we have been very fortunate. We both have had (and still have) jobs very similar to the ones we had in The Netherlands. We are building our own house on our own piece of New Zealand. And our quality of life has certainly improved with a significant amount. Not that we were (financially) worse off in The Netherlands, but living among the New Zealanders has given us a refreshingly new look upon life.
Their way of life has some downsides (which I will not be discussing now), but the one major advantage is that they still try things even though they know they might fail.
A good example is the starting/running of your own business. In The Netherlands there are a million rules and regulations before you can start (and even end) a business. While the subsidizing schemes are a nice way to get started, they also bind you to following certain rules to the letter. I can imaging they tend to suffocate a starter. Over here starting or running a business seem to be a far easier. We read about people who have run their own business in their early twenties and when they failed, they still are eager to try again. I guess NZ is not as over-regulated as The Netherlands are.
Part of that 'positive/easy going' attitude certainly is rubbing off on me (George) as I have become a bit more mellow ;-) ...much appreciated by Esther!!
Now for the promised bit: The House!
On the 5th of August we finally received building consent from the Waimakariri district council. This means that the builder can finally start building.
The following pictures show some of the preparation work (driveway, pump shed, pumps, electricity water testing and water tank) we and some contractors have done during the last couple of weeks:
Driveway has been formed
Concrete slab for the pump shed
Pump shed tied down to avoid blowing away, we couldn't fix it yet to the concrete slab as there is no power on the site...
...hiring a portable generator the next weekend solved that problem.
25'000 liter water tank, should be big enough!!
Our well holds a submersible pump, going down 40 meters
Fuse box in the pump shed
Pump with pressure tank between water tank and house
Our way of how to get a water sample...MacGyver would be proud
Building site on 30th August 2009
Finally George won something for the first time in his life: a snowboarding jacket from Burton/Speights (local beer brand)....No picture yet as it is still in the mail. As the beer slogan says ; Good on ya, Mate!
cheers
George and Esther
