Where I lay my head is home...

Ok, we've been living here about a week now so it's probably about time we filled you in on the lovely place we now call home. Like our cars, this is the third place we have rested our heads since our arrival in New Zealand.

Our first week was spent in a serviced apartment in the city centre. Very convenient for all the errands we had to run and for wishing in the New Year down at the harbour. But, a tiny kitchenette and poor internet, not too mention relatively pricey rates meant it was time for a move.

Unfortunately being the holiday season there was not really any rentals or flatshares available - thankfully Amanda's cousin Diana and her partner Rob put us up for a few days in their spare room. Lovely house and lovely couple; this also gave us a base to start looking for our own place and start getting used to life in the 'burbs.

This proved harder than expected. We had decided to only look at flatshares as this would save us money and allow us to meet more people. Both very useful during our first few months here. Problem, lots of potential landlords were still on holiday or did not acccept couples.

Still a couple of options presented themselves and we were able to view them both on the same day; one in Mount Wellington and the other in Onehunga. Both are suburbs in the south of Auckland and with a similar demographic.

The properties were anything but similar however. The first in Mount Wellington, had only just been moved into and had no furniture and smelt like it had been shut up for some time; the kitchen was also tiny. While the live-in landlord was nice enough we felt a little underwhelmed.

The next place in Onehunga was the complete opposite. When we arrived the front door was open as were all the windows and a strong waft of incense greeted us shortly before our soon to be French flatmate and landlady did.

This property is a gorgeous 1920s wooden villa with polished wooden floors and high ceilings throughout. The garden is very spacious, well kept with potted herbs and a very large decked area which is a great place to have an al-fresco meal. Having breakfast here in the early morning sun is a particular treat - just a shame the papers are not that good here! There is also a hammock and swing chair for relaxing and of course a nice gas fired barbie.




The house is spacious and full of light, but the icing on the cake is how our flatmate, Emilié has made it her own place, despite only living here for 9 months. The whole house has antique furniture and little decorative touches, all finished off with a piano in the living room. The cherry on top would be her impeccable taste in music - a mix of little known modern tracks and golden oldies ensuring the house is full of soul.







Location wise we are less than 15 minute drive to both the city center and Amanda's work, while a similar time will find us at a nice beach; and like most of Auckland we are only 30 minutes drive from the nearest spot of wilderness.

As for Onehunga, it has a mall, a café voted one of Auckland's best 3 years running, not to mention several more, a recommended Indian restaurant, supermarket, well stocked library and just about everything else we could need. The only real thing it is missing is a good butcher but one of those is just 5 minutes drive away :0).

The icing on the cake or both of us was finding a friendly local bar which has an open mic night and (for Rich) serves a scrumptious pork belly dish. The standard of the music is not quite what we have come to expect in Brighton, but, we have been promised that it will get better; the night we visited being the first night since the Christmas holidays. The cherry on top would be our housemate's taste in music, chilled and soulful; perfect on an lazy sunny afternoon...

The only downside we have discovered so far is the oven - its possibly as old as the house itself, but at the very least, older than both of us and makes cooking a bit of a chore.

More pics soon!