A New Direction

“But I don’t want to live in the paddock with the sheep.” Tori is not too impressed with the prospect of moving. What she fails to see, not surprisingly, is that a} we are planning on building a house, not actually going to live in the paddock and b} some would say that we are currently living in a paddock with sheep anyway. It’s an interesting dilemma for a 4 year old – she can’t see how us walking around a paddock measuring the distance from the boundary fence (we have to be 25m), the distance from the water race (10m), and talking about moving the existing track could possible become a house. But that is the plan.

Early discussions have ensued regarding getting power to the site, getting an easement across what was, before now, believed to be public access, but is actually crown land, figuring out where the actual access to the land is, working out who could give us a quote for the drilling of a bore (actually there is only one outfit that does this in Central Otago so the quote will probably be high), and having a draughtsman come out and take down our requirements. By our requirements, I mean the requirements that Terry and I expect from a new house AND those which Jack and Claire (Terry's parents) expect from a new house going on their farm. It’s an interesting dilemma – however we’ve got rats back in our current abode (I hesitate to call it a home) and after discovering a rat nest of shredded plastic bags in the wall of our kitchen after a suspicious sound coming from the plastic bag cupboard, I can put up with whatever anyone decides!

We've been living in the second house on Terry's parents farm now for 2 and a half years, and it has been a struggle. Rats, stoats, a leaky roof, no inside toilet or shower or laundry for six weeks, holes in the walls, around the windows and doors, and numerous other housing disasters. Things that should have sent me screaming from Terry's family farm down here in Cromwell and escaping back to the North Island to my family. Instead I've stuck it out and only complained to my family and a few close friends, while also bursting into tears and confronting Terry about how I just "cannot do one more winter in this house." We've suffered Terry losing his job, and the stress of starting our own business just so we can keep ourselves afloat, but we haven't had to pay any rent... which is why the initial move into this 100 year old house (which was only ever going to last 3 months) has elongated out to almost 3 years. On top of this we moved in with two children aged 1 and 2 and have since had 2 more children - but it is now looking up...

If I think too much about managing a building site as well as looking after 4 kids under six years I might freak out so I'm taking things slowly. Little steps. And it's a new direction.

The great thing about the living in a small community is that invariably you end up being friends with builders, plumbers, painters, and plenty of people who have gone through the process themselves. So calling on some favours I've now got a time line of the process and my aim is to be living in a new house before next April because I am NOT living in this house through another winter.