Monday morning we met Roland at his office and he took us all over New Plymouth. He showed us a very lovely, brand new, but “in the city” house in the Merrilands area. It was mere blocks from the beach but had no yard and was on a busy road. The house itself would accommodate our family and the idea of being walking/biking distance from the beach was rather appealing. The modern kitchen was great and had a wet pantry (pantry with an additional sink). The house was set higher than the surrounding houses and the view from the large balcony was stupendous!!! Suddenly I saw the beauty of having everything so close and I had a revelation… 1) If we are going to make this major life change, this is part of it. Living in the city will be such an different experience for all of us and in a good way. 2) The kids have frequently expressed interest in living closer to other people so that they could have nearby friends to play with. While I think they’ve enjoyed living on the farm, it is, for the most part, MY dream, not theirs. 3) Finally, if we were not going to be able to be on a couple of acres farther out, we may as well take advantage of living in town and all of the conveniences that entails.
The simple fact that I was remotely interested in this house about knocked Billy over! It was not our style. Very contemporary. However, it would suit our needs and finding homes that could do that could be few and far between.
The garage of this house was at the top of a steep hill and we had concerns regarding the kids riding their bikes down it to the sidewalk. Roland pointed out that at the street level was an additional garage that could store our bikes and kayaks so Billy and I headed down to take a look. The view, however was more than I bargained for! While Billy was filming the view of the house from the street and the surrounding area, I squinted for my eyes to adjust from the beautiful, bright sunshine to the dark of the inside of the garage. Once I could see, to my horror, I saw one of the construction workers relieving himself in the corner!! He probably wondered why I was staring for so long when, in fact, it was only because it took me that long to actually see him!
From this house Roland drove us to one of the pony club locations where horses may be boarded. This was actually close enough to bike to! While there, we chatted with a girl and her mother who were visiting their horses. They told us that the girls would meet there and all go riding together, even down to the beach!!
Roland drove us around some more and I was becoming more and more oriented. We had a quick bite at a local café then headed to the house on 6.8 acres in Oakura. Again I’ll stress how incredibly gorgeous the property and views were, however, once inside the house it was clear that it would not suit us very well. The master bedroom and three other bedrooms were all upstairs and shared only one bathroom while there was a fifth bedroom on the first floor with its own bathroom. No matter how beautiful the land was, I just could not imagine sharing a bathroom with 4 kids!
From there we dropped Billy at the hospital for his meet and greet and Roland and I continued to tour New Plymouth. He took me to several spots that provided awesome views of Mt. Taranaki for photographing. When Billy was finished at the hospital we went to one more house in a very American style subdivision but were unable to see the inside.
Billy and I went back to Jeremy and Elise’s for a wonderful lamb dinner, exhausted, overwhelmed but more open minded. Sleep , however, for us both, was restless.
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