The boys get to see their new home

Wednesday, 14 November
Up to now I haven’t really been able to talk about our new home. First, Liam and Colin hadn’t yet seen it, so I didn’t feel it was something all of us could celebrate together. Second, this home is absolutely perfect for our family. Doug and I were hanging out on the couch the other night sharing a bottle of wine and watching the sunset. Doug said, “You know this could be our forever house.” I had actually been thinking the same thoughts but had been afraid to say them aloud. The implications are tremendous. The wild traveling adventure is over and now we are thinking about setting down roots…who knows what will happen. The wanderlust may hit again, especially someday when the boys are off to school. In the meantime, I will have hills to wander on foot or horseback. The boys will have enough space to get lost. Doug can learn to fly fish.

For friends who have stayed with us at our Alma cabin, the house has a reminiscent feel with lots of exposed wood beams and open space, except it is constructed of mud bricks, similar to adobe, which are a meter thick. All the wood in the house is recycled, with wood beams salvaged from dismantled bridges and double doors from an old bank and an old theater. I don’t think there two walls that come together at a right angle, all the walls curve from one space to the next. There is a spring-fed pond outside and the pond water is used in some heat exchange process to heat the house through an in-floor heating system. This is the first house to use this newly developed heating system designed in Auckland from what I’ve been told. Across the pond is a barn for play space and with two stalls that could house an equine friend someday.

The property borders reserve, for US people think National Forest land. The house looks out over the reserve land to Lake Wakatipu and is surrounded by dense native bush, including Manuka. The bush reminds me of the chaparral in the hills above Ojai, but darker, taller and denser. There are so many birdcalls, but none that I can recognize yet.

Strangely, New Zealand does not have any native land mammals. All of the land mammals were introduced over the last couple of centuries by European settlers. Without predators, extraordinary bird life developed. We haven’t seen a kiwi in the wild yet. Colin wants to go to the North Island and search for them. We have seen a Kea, an alpine parrot up at Mt. Hutt near Christchurch on a ski trip several years ago. Seeing a big greenish parrot strutting boldly about in the snow made us all laugh. At first we thought it was someone’s pet. Then, we realized there were several hanging around scavenging lunch scraps under the picnic tables.

I have digressed from the house visit. We had a much more successful visit than last week. I brought snacks without nuts, which helped start things off better and nobody vomited. The boys were thrilled to explore their new home. They quickly chose their rooms and found the “secret” mini firewood door next to the fireplace that opens into the laundry room. After a quick look through the house, they headed for the barn. Liam wants to set up his electric train in the loft, where he says it will be safe from people in the house. Then both disappeared down the path to dig in the stream behind the barn, while we talked with the current owner and our realtor.

We are scheduled to close on the house Christmas Eve. We have thought about camping out in our cotton sleep sacks in our new home so that we can wake up there Christmas morning. We probably won’t have movers available until after New Year’s Day, at the earliest. I have even considered renting camping gear at one of the outdoor shops in town. We have to move out of the shoebox apartment before Christmas. None of us wants to take a trip or get a hotel room; we all just want to settle.