Oct 27th

Oct 27th

(photos take forever to upload here, so working on it best I can in the previous posts!)

Today turned out to be pretty freakin productive for a chill day.  I cancelled a couple of my appointments to see more apartments because they were very very small (from what we heard) and of course, expensive.  After having dinner with Ngaire and Chris last night (which was awesome, I definitely think we’ll be good friends), they suggested HEAVILY that I take another look in Ponsonby or Kingstown.  They said it would be cheaper overall, or at least that I would get much more space for my money.  Not to mention being more quiet on the outskirts of the city.

So, this morning I went to do some research.  Went out on a limb and looked for a shared place, and found one out in Grey Lynn, right off Ponsonby road.  10 minute bus ride from work, maybe 20-30 min walking.  There’s essentially two units attached to one another side-by-side, across from another unit with a courtyard in the middle.  Each with their own full kitchen, living room, and 4 bedrooms.  Interestingly enough, one of the units was completely vacant, because the owner was going to sell it as a whole.  Fortunately, they decided to continue renting, and are replacing all of the carpet in the whole place.  Therefore: I could be the first renter in one of the 4 rooms of that unit, with brand new carpet!  Also, everything is included in the rent: water/power/internet/tv.  Pretty cool!  The rent is extremely good, about $190 for one person, and the bedrooms are big.  Kyle and I could be in a room together no problem, and for two of us it would be $250/week.  That would save a decent amount of money, not to mention the cost of commuting to work would definitely not be a factor unless it were a rainy day.  Plus, the initial down payment is only $600, rather than the $1800 most places in the city were asking for.

I’m thinking about it over the next day or so.  I can rent it month-to-month too, in case I decide I don’t like sharing the space with other room mates, or if I find another location that I like better.  It is an old place, but that’s ok reminds me a bit of our house at school.  All the people in the other units are 22 – 27, studying or on work visas, and it sounds like they spend a decent amount of time hanging out together, which could be cool.  I could make new friends.  Ngaire and Chris said that would be good for me, and that a lot of people do this kind of thing in the area.  So I think I might.  It’s quiet too, which is stellar.  Where we are now, is proving not to be.

I sent Matt, Carla and Levi an email last night mentioning the other vacant rooms, to see if they might be interested in filling the unit.  That could be cool.  We all work together, and know each other a little bit, plus I know the others were all looking for affordable housing.  We’ll see what happens.  I might take it regardless of them coming or not, but it’s a cool thought.  We’ll see!

The rest of the day was pretty chill.  We started out the morning heading to Mission Bay, a beach about 15 minutes by bus down the East coast.  The water is SO green, and the views spectacular.  I think I will hang out here, at least until I find another beach that suits my fancy!  Haha.  Very excited to already be finding parks and little spots that I enjoy being in.  We had a delicious lunch (Hawaiian burgers with a massive thing of fries), and enjoyed watching little kids feed the masses of seagulls in the area. 

We headed on back into the city, and hopped onto a Link bus, to see where that takes you.  This one goes in a circle, all the way from downtown, out to Parnell, New Market, around to Ponsonby, Freemans Bay, and back.  This is what I would take to work regularly, and probably to go grocery shopping as well.  We hopped on and literally went around the whole circle.  It was nice to see Parnell too since we hadn’t been over there.

After taking the circle on the Link, we stopped in Ponsonby to explore the strip there.  Its definitely a great little area.  Lots of restaurants, bars, coffee shops, and then as soon as you leave the strip, its residential.  This is where I looked at that place in Grey Lynn, so this would likely be my main hang out for a little bit.  We also opened a bank account, right there on a whim.  I went with ASB, who Ngaire and Chris also recommended on a whim.  We went in to find out some information (we had already collected it about ANZ and Kiwi Bank at this point, but made no decisions), and it ended up being PERFECT for me.  I can avoid all charges, I can bank online, get alerts for when balances are low, I have a savings account, and wire transfers are relatively low cost, though there is still a cost.  Anyway, it ended up being great, we sat down with a very very nice guy named Sean, young guy, who helped us out.  We were sitting goofing off, telling jokes, and he was telling us about the city.  He even invited us out that night to stop by this local bar that does a Bingo night that his girlfriend leads.  He said its actually really fun, and pretty hilarious.  We had planned on going, but after we had viewed the rental property and handled a couple of other errands, we had completely forgotten about it and it was over L.  I’ll have to check it out next week. 

So yea, overall, pretty good day!  OH, and I talked to Kyle for a couple minutes!!!  We finally figured out how to text message / call one another via my phone.  Unfortunately, it costs a ridiculous $3.00 / min on his end with Verizon to accept my phone call, and $0.50 / text message, but it was nice to hear his voice for a little bit at least.  We’ll figure out how to communicate eventually.  Haha.  I’m excited too, because he said he’s almost 99% sure he’s coming over!!!  * excitement *  But who knows what will happen in another month, so keeping fingers crossed.  I feel bad though, Zoey isn’t doing well, and of course she needs somewhere to stay if he leaves to come here.  I dunno what to do about her.  He said she seems happy still, but is ending up with less and less ability to walk around on her own as time goes on.  Not good.  Hopefully we’ll figure something out, and find someone to watch over her when he leaves, but I’m not sure we will since she needs quite a bit of attention.

Time for bed.  Later!