First Bit of Hard Work on the Land

The new 5lb mallet is put to good use along with the jemmy bar. Here am I on a beautiful Wairarapa spring day earlier this month, down to my thermal vest and starting a suntan, jemmying off the fence palings at our proposed new entrance.

The ground has dried out a lot, and we have been up with our three 8 metre tape measures and measured out the house and hammered in corner pegs after multiple checks that we are far enough back from the boundary fence to satisfy the Council. We have met with 5 driveway contractors and learned heaps about fill and lime chip; selected one for the job, and we are removing the fence palings in order to both save money and hopefully, with care, salvage most of the palings. (We did split the odd one or two). We leave the hard work of removing the posts to the contractor.

Things are starting to move. At this stage, we were advised because of weather hold-ups, the house would probably not move up until the end of September.

The willow trees are starting to green up. The ground has dried up somewhat, but there are still some areas of surface water. Note, the little building still on the land. Quite a fascinating little structure - the whole length of the roof is a hinge, and apparently it all folds up flat and is transported on the back of a truck.

We found a House ...

So, having secured the land, we went searching on the net for a house, both near and far afield. We found one not too far away from us being put up for sale by a specialist building relocator.

You will agree it doesn't look too bad on site as we saw it ....

Inside, a completely different matter. I think Denise was rather appalled at first, but very quickly (sparked by my fertile imagination) came around to thinking outside (or rather, inside) the box; and the possibilities of more windows, a sunny kitchen, AND a separate laundry became very appealing.

Very high studs; you can see the roofing iron from inside; two holes in the floor where the chimney was removed - to name a few horrors. Flooring in the main front original house (it has been added to at some stage at the back, and we intend to add another room) is native matai, which we would like to maintain and use in some parts of the house.

With the house purchase came the services of an architect, and after a brief meeting with Willem and several emails; we came up with the following for the purposes of submission to the Carterton District Council for building approvals and permits :

So, the plans were churned out in the matter of a few days, then we had to meet with Willem on site so he could place the house on the site plan. We knew the Wairarapa, like Wellington, had had its fair share of rain over the winter, but we were not prepared for the small craters and lakes dotting the pasture right where we had envisaged locating the house, near the south line of willows ... and the locals tell us it wasn't TOO wet a winter ...

Surface water on the proposed relocation site. Google Earth shows a diagonal natural depression. Note the small building from previous owner still on site. Too wet to remove it.

The previous owner had many horses on the land until we bought it; hence the bad pugging.

So, common sense prevailed over disappointment, and we resigned ourselves to the house being positioned at the north end of the property (to the right of the above photos, down near the letterboxes in the photo on the first blog).

The plans were submitted to Council, and after a small hefty fee of around $3,500; the plans were all approved in a remarkably quick three weeks. Then we had to wait until the wet weather stopped and the ground dried up ...

Looks like it's back to Country Living

Wow, SIX MONTHS since I set up this blog. I didn't realise I was THAT sad a correspondent.

Hope to be a bit more regular. Sorry there's been a gap in news for so long.



Just after the initial post, in March; Denise and I, tired of looking at over-inflated small rural properties in the Wairarapa, decided on the alternative option of looking at bare land and then a relocatable dwelling. We found 7 acres in Carterton, which is the town I lived in before I went to the USA.

The Wairarapa is a rural and wine growing area north east of Wellington comprising four main towns, reached by a notoriously windy and winding hill road called 'The Rimutakas' (which, incidentally, was closed by snow and sleet just six days ago - and this in spring!). It's exactly one hour's drive from where we are living now in Lower Hutt, a large city north of Wellington city.



Anyway, at the end of May, we put in a fairly cheap offer on the land and to our delight, it was accepted.

Joined photo of proud joint owners of 7 acres - note - the small building is not part of it and was removed by the prior owners

It really is a very pretty plot, with five paddocks and a water race giving stock direct access to water from all but one paddock. The fencing is not half bad either with a set of small yards needing finishing. Plenty of immediate firewood too. Just 3 minutes' drive (15 mins' by pushbike) to the nearest dairy on the main road south of Carterton. The larger house in the background to the left is a relocatable dwelling on similar acreage. These owners only come up weekends and holidays. Up to the right are a couple more houses on small acreage and we have already met these owners. All the rest is lovely dairy pasture. That road to the left services only two houses, as does the one to the right.

The next step was to find a suitable relocatable house ... watch this space ... but you might like to check in every few days because I actually have more photos ready.