Life can take one by surprise… and that’s not a bad thing. We came to NZ looking for a simpler life, with animals, SPACE and the opportunity for starting a business on our land. The more we looked, it became apparent that on our budget, this simply wouldn’t be possible – or so we thought. Enter property #2 for which we sign a contract on this evening! Now, signing a contract means a lot less in NZ then it does in Australia – Firstly, the contract goes to our solicitor and gets drafted, finalised and signed by us before the vendor even sees our offer. Also it certainly doesn’t mean you’ve purchased a property or even need to pay a deposit – basically it means that you have the right to do your due diligence (building reports, renovation estimates, Meth testing etc) before the contract becomes “unconditional” and you pay a deposit. So, tonight we sign and then we have two weeks of hard work in front of us as the seller gets the contract after we do in NZ). After we get that work done and if it all looks good, we then go to an “unconditional contract” and move into our new home and project at the end of February.

I never thought that I’d ever be writing about renovation in addition to life and cooking but that may well be on the cards – and we’re looking forward to it. I already know what walls we’re going to knock out and where I’ll plant certain trees but that’s the easy part – the hard part will be doing the work and having chaos while we make our lifestyle work in a new town and situation. Fresh air though will be amazing and I look forward to seeing the stars at night.

Photo: The photo was taken on part of the 6 hectare block we’re looking to purchase – and can’t wait to explore more