Sam’s unit is on the 15th floor. In the photo here it is on the right hand side just above the roof line of the building next door
The building is located on Lorne and Kitchener Streets right in the middle of Auckland’s business, shopping and entertainment precincts.
As you can see from the photo the building has views overlooking the city skyline, Albert Park and Waitemata Harbour.
I guess Sam’s apartment will have views of Albert Park and downtown Auckland.

The hall all decked out with ballons and streamers. Thomas and Deb worked hard on Friday afternoon to get the hall ready.

Adele chatting with friends ….

Friends & relations.

Supper.

Supper.

Supper.

Thomas must have said something really amusing.

Deb, Warren (Thomas’s uncle) & Oly.

Boys and their undies - not much you can say.

Kelsey, Ben & Sarah.

Guests mingling.

Ben & Kelsey.

Looking down the hall.

Family & friends.

Oly & Fraser.

Dancing the night away.

So where are we exactly?
We are near the bottom of New Zealand’s North Island in the Wairarapa.
Tucked between mountain ranges to the west and & hills to the east. A long way from city life - very much a rural lifestyle.
To get to our place from Wellington requires a journey across the Rimutaka Ranges via a very windy road with big drops off to the side for drivers not paying attention - hard on both the driver & passengers!
The train journey is a much better option and that is how in the future, we will get to and from Wellington during the week.

We are down there somewhere - This is the Waiohine River viewed from the Reeves Track in the Tararua’s. We are on the left side of the river on the pasture land near the top of the photo.

Isn’t this is a great photo? - an aerial view of our property with some of the surrounding countryside features.
Our house is one of three grouped together. We are on the south side of the road with the other two opposite.
Our land is in an ‘L’ shape with the house and a small paddock taking up 1/2 an acre. Another paddock of an acre extends from the road through to the native bush.
The Tararua’s to the west have a major influence on the climate of the Wairarapa with their ability to capture north-westerly rain coming off New Zealand’s coast. The rain falls on the mountain ranges and when the nor’wester wind reaches the Wairarapa plains it is dry and warmed up producing the ‘fohn’ wind that gives us warm temperatures in winter and hot, hot days in the summer and autumn (30 degrees Celsius plus). The effect is too produce a climate similar to the South of France.
The land here is river silt that is very fertile & free draining. We have our own water supply from a bore.
A small railway station (a platform) 4 kms from our house provides train services to the city of Wellington taking just over an hour.

Approaching our property. You can see our house tucked away in amongst the trees and gardens.
All the paddocks you can see on this side belong to the dairy farm that surrounds our property. Ours are on the other side.

Here’s a look at the outside of the house. (L to R) The front veranda covered in a very old wisteria. Looking at the lounge and third bedroom.

Round the back. (L to R) Sleepout and the old washhouse & dunny. View of the back of the house from the small paddock next to the house.

These pictures were taken before we purchased and features the previous owner’s furniture & possessions. (L to R) The hall. The living room.

(L to R) The lounge looking out to the road. The living room looking out to the sleepout behind the house.

Our 1970’s kitchen - something will have to to be done about this! View from the kitchen window to the garden and fruit trees outside.

(L to R) Bathroom and main bedroom.

(L to R) Bedrooms two & three.

The garden. (L to R) From the veranda looking out to the road. Garden in front of the house.

The garden. (L to R) Around the back. Japanese maple, ferns & azaleas. A stunning climber beside the veranda. This climber is usually only seen in the sub tropical climate of the upper North Island.

The garden. (L to R) We have a little garden nook tucked away around the back of the house with a standard weeping tree providing a focal point in the middle. The two girls, Deb & Kelsey enjoying the dahlias on a hot Wairarapa summer’s day.

The garden. (L to R) A pond hiding away behind the garage. A mix of herbaceous, various bulbs & roses in the front garden.

The garden. (L to R) Summer flowers. A shady pathway.

Springtime. Flowers in August.

Dahlia heaven! A look at some of our dahlia collection.

Rose collection. This is just of few of the many roses dotted about the garden. We both love our roses and will be expanding our collection. We have some lovely scented David Austin roses at our home in Tawa that we will move out here. The climate is so much better on this side ‘of the hill’ for roses.

Shades of pink. Three of our late winter flowering camellias.

There are quite a few really nice trees around the gardens. Mostly exotics. We will have to plant out some natives, a kowhai & a kaka beak are two trees that we would like.

A selection of fruit from around the property.

This is our ‘back’ paddock with an orchard of older fruit trees. Apples, peaches, plums and maybe a pear. We will have to wait until spring 2008 to find out.

The back paddock is divided into two paddocks. This is the smaller one looking towards the road.

This is the paddock beside the house. Our orange tree is bottom left & the splendid oak tree centre back.

Our orange tree. The variety is a Carters Navel and the oranges ripen at the end of winter in August with picking going through to the early summer.

Springtime daffodils amongst the fruit trees. The local town, Carterton just down the road from us is known as the daffodil capital of New Zealand and has a big daffodil festival every spring.

The smaller paddock looking towards the road with a couple of apple trees (cookers).

This photo looks across our orchard paddock towards the smaller paddock & house. The oak tree in the centre is surrounded by other trees including a massive conifer to its right.

Our oak tree in winter.

Sheds & Outbuildings. (L to R) Tool shed with a dovecote above. Barn/Implement shed.

Sheds & Outbuildings. (L to R) Woodshed and shelter for animals.

Sheds & Outbuildings. (L to R) The old washhouse & dunny. The ‘new’ washhouse and toilet at the back of the house.

Sheds & Outbuildings. (L to R) The bore & pump. Chook house & run.

Chooks accomodation & facilities. Lots of yummy free-range eggs for us.

Sheds & Outbuildings. A nice size glasshouse near the house - Peter’s hideaway?

A nice wooden framed house. Basically sound, just a few broken panes. Waiting for this summer and restoration and then yummy tomatoes.

Outdoor seed raising house and a hardening off house.

Looking towards the house with all the various structures - dog house, potting on shed, chook house, wood shed. the grassed area here is where we plan on putting in a vege garden.

A magnificent view of the Tararua’s from the bottom of our orchard paddock. The perfect spot in the shade for a summer’s day.

Another peaceful view of the countryside from our boundary.

(L to R) Looking back up the road towards the Dairy farm milking shed. Looking towards the Tararua foothills. This is as far as the road goes …. just the farmers house a bit further down the road.

A typical New Zealand rural landscape - rusty old farm buildings, lush green grass and dairy cows grazing. This view was taken from beside my glasshouse looking east.

The area behind our orchard paddock is a strip of native bush with many splendid beech trees - this land is part of the dairy farm that surrounds our property. This area takes the overflow from the river when it is in flood. You can see here how there is a channel to take the water (fingers crossed!). The previous owners have only seen the river flood towards the house once in all their time there - but it is in a 50 year flood zone so …. which year is number 50?

Here is the area on the other side of the stand of native bush. The river is nearby here, about a 10 minute walk from our place.

The Waiohine river directly behind our place looking out to the Tararua foothills.

Looking east, the Main Trunk railway line bridge crossing the Waiohine river.

Sun showers coming over from the Tararua’s. Looking towards the dairy farmer’s house from the paddocks beside the Waiohine river.

This is the Waiohine river a bit further upriver from our place - just before it exits the Tararua mountains at the Waiohine gorge.

The Waiohine river at the gorge. An area of outstanding beauty.

The Waiohine river is not always as placid in the previous photos. These two photos were taken when the river was in flood (not my photos, sourced from the web). To give you an idea of what these rivers cope with, between November 1997 and April 1998 4,000mm of rain fell at a site in the Tararuas, while only 103mm fell near Martinborough (near our place) - 4,000mm is 157 inces or 13 feet! All that water gets channeled down the mountain and rivers before snaking its way across the Wairarapa plains. The rivers go from a trickle to a torrent a number of times a year. Summer can be worst with January recording some of the highest river levels. There is a lot of flood protection on the plains but even with this, the risk of flooding will always in the back of our minds.

Here’s where we catch the train into Wellington, the Matarawa Railway Station.

And if we take the car to Wellington, this is the way. Up and over the Rimutuka Ranges. This is looking down from the summit with the road snaking its way down to the Wairarapa Plains.

From the summit looking down towards the Wellington side. This is not a great piece of road to negotiate. Not many weeks during the year when someone doesn’t come astray and crash into someone or worse, goes over the side!. Quite often closed due to either wind or ice & snow.