Having marked our 6 month anniversary in New Zealand, and making the decision to apply for visas to stay a while longer, we thought it would be time to make ourselves a bit more of a home for ourselves.
After a few fruitless viewings around the area we had been living in, we realised our desired standard in our desired budget were not compatible so we cast our net a little further.
A lot of the lovely folk I work with suggested looking “over the Shore”, as in across the harbour bridge to Auckland’s North Shore. And slightly curious about the options, we had a quick look on trade me and instantly realised our budget and standards aligned a bit more closely.
Having seen a beautiful looking flat, we headed over to Devonport on a rainy Sunday for a viewing, conducting a little reccy of the neighbourhood before hand.
We had been to Devonport before, when we first arrived, again on a rainy day and having read and heard lovely things about the neighbourhood, we were distinctly underwhelmed. However retrospectively, it was the week just before the tourist season kicked off, and I think it was the villiage’s opportunity for a collective break before six solid months of mania.
Anyway, the flat lived up to it’s online profile (a rarity in all things online) and we were lucky enough to be offered it. So two weeks ago, we rented a van, collected a fridge, a washing machine, a couch, a table, six chairs, a bed, a desk and all our other belongings and made the move to our new life as Shoreys.
We’ve been made very welcome by our new lovely neighbours, checked out the new cinema (the Vic), some brunch spots, our new local beach and enjoyed our new commute to work by ferry, which I must say is a daily joy!
Despite my trepidation about moving away from Ponsonby, it really does feel a lot more like home.