Since we were not able to ski the last time we went with Ingrid's company, I jumped at the chance when I was once again invited by Richard. The last time I tried snowboarding and wasn't half bad, but I thought I would stick to skiing for a while. Well that was a good thing because I went from amature to better than average overnight. Having only spent my time on the lower mountain slopes, when we left on Sunday, there was only one ski-lift I had not gone up (on the far west side) and I went down some slopes that when I looked back, I was quite shocked that I had actually come down there. We had two awesome days for skiing as well, so needless to say, I had a great time and can't wait to get back up there!
A friend of mine from work, had tickets to go see Snow Patrol and his wife could not go, so I went in her place. Kevin runs the band we play in at ASB and we do some Snow Patrol songs so it was quite cool seeing them live. We also do a song from Op Shop (who were the support band), a local NZ band that is doing very well on the music scene here.
We have always kept our eyes open for a possible property investment here in NZ. We figured that whether we end up being here temporarily or on a permanent basis, we stand to benefit by investing in a house, one way or the other. We have looked at numerous different areas, and there was always something not right like, too expensive, too old, too small, too far away, in a "bad" street, etc. etc. Now although I wouldn't call this the perfect house, it had a bit of everything we were looking for - 3 bedrooms, a study, 2 bathrooms, 2 living areas, a double garage and a nice private garden. Albeit of a smaller size, it is very cosy and we managed to get it for a fair price (which would buy a mansion in South Africa). So far we have been very happy. A lot of time now goes into the house, especially when it comes to the garden. There is quite a bit of garden that needs to be maintained, which has already kept me busy for a number of hours.

Have a look at the photos, The photos are were taken when the previous owners were trying to sell. I will take some more soon of the house now, to give you a better idea, so look out for those...
 
Photos