We’re in!

Well, it got done!  Here we are in the new house, and very relieved and happy to be here. The entry day was thoroughly chaotic and down to the wire, and a hot day as well, but it all went well in the end.  Since then we’ve been sorting through the pile of stuff and throwing a lot of it out, which is always liberating, I find.

There are various house functions still being bedded down–inevitable with a construction out in the country, where everything has to be put in place–water, power, etc. The week before we moved two pumps broke down, bees moved into the chimney box and were removed, and so on. I thought I knew all about pumps, but now I know more!  On the other hand we had good luck with some important bigger things, so we came out in front. And we’ve had more luck since we’ve been in–including resolving an intractable matter with the phone company which had been going on for a year–achieved with one call.

Here are a few pics to give you the flavour of it.

This is moving day: it was interesting bringing the furniture in through the east gate up the hill and maneuvering it through the door! I can see we are going to get very fit. Nanks distinguished himself by throwing the sofas on his back one at a time and marching up there, before I could intervene. That trailer might be the best piece of equipment we own, however–rides beautifully, very useful.

And here is the first lunch after the entry–Lesley happy–and all the stuff piled up in the background.

This is the first evening: the lovely lights on in the main room, with Lesley waving. . .

. . .and a new moon and evening star in the west.

Lesley is only wanting pictures of the inside of the house to go up when she feels things are ready to be shown. Here is an authorised picture of her kitchen, from the front door. The painting is by Loise, done at school, representing all the members of the family.

So all is going well. The next main project is to landscape around the house. We are hoping to use lakestone, which is a unique local stone that turns up on the floor of wetlands. The next door neighbour seems to have some, so we’re hoping we can get it there. That will go out a couple of metres from the house, and then the idea is to plant native, water-wise shrubs and ground cover–there are some lovely aromatic native plants with beautiful flowers that we have our eye on.

Thank you all for your support! I’m sure your attention held the project together, through its many ups and downs, and finally ups!  More pics to come soon. . .