The Vizsla Newzsletter Pages
What's happened to us?

We were set to shift out of our house on the 19th of December into a rented house near Taupo just down the road from our new 14 acres of paradise, fully deer fenced and containing a pond for the dogs. Came the week of the shift and our carefully laid plans started to revolve in a clockwise direction and disappear down the hole.

Problem 1 appeared as a phone call from Budget rental cars who advised us that the truck we had arranged to have for the shift was not going to be available as the people who had it for the day before us wanted it an extra day. No amount of foaming at the mouth and yelling obscenities down the phone would change that.

Budget did advise us that there was another truck that we could pick up in Rotorua. This turned into another problem however, as this truck was found to be considerably smaller than the one we ordered leaving us with heaps of stuff we couldn't take and we had to make further arrangements.

While this was going on, we had a call from our solicitor stating that he'd been advised that the contract on the property we were buying was signed and the other party's solicitor would send it on to him. Problem 2 came later when we had another call advising us that the seller had changed his mind and that the sale was now subject to him selling another property next door. Currently, the position is that the sale has fallen through and we are in a waiting position, looking at other properties as they come available. Luckily we have this rental house for as long as we wish.

Problem 3 arrived in the form of a little miniature poodle that ran out onto the open road just meters from Jenny's car. The result was a dead dog and Jenny in complete tears trying to find the owners. Although the owners could not be found, she left the dog with one of the neighbours who promised to try to find the owners when everyone came home from work.

Problem 4 was a call from Telecom. The phones we had previously arranged to be installed at the new house the day before we moved in, could not be installed until after Xmas, possibly even not until the end of January. Problem 5 was that we found there was no cellphone coverage in the area we were going to live.

To add to the list, problem 6 appeared when we had another call from Telecom on the big day advising us that, although both Jenny and I checked twice with Telecom to ensure that it could be done, Telecom rang our cellphone to advise us that they could not redirect the fax to another location and that our business faxes can now no longer be answered until they had set up our new phone system at the new house and we had advised all our clients and friends of the new fax number - our cost of course. Telecom advise us that this is our fault entirely as we chose to live in an area that had none of the phone services that all other parts of the country had.

Problem 7 was found when we tried to switch on the TV to find that there's little to no reception without a $600 satellite dish (although not a problem to Jenny or me, it seems to have troubled the kids somewhat).

Xmas shopping in Rotorua was disastrous on Xmas eve with fifteen squidzillion other last minute Xmas shoppers sharing the "joy" with us. This eventually led to problem 8 when it was found, at the end of the day, when Jenny tried to pay for the Xmas groceries in the supermarket, that her Credit and EFTPOS (debit) cards were missing. Imagine our joy while travelling around Rotorua through all the shops and other places where she had been on the day to try to retrace our steps to find the missing cards. This proved unsuccessful so it was off to the bank to cancel them.

Which accounts for problem 9 when it's found that my cards were also cancelled as these were the same accounts. Problem 10 finds us living in a new area with no credit or debit cards to buy petrol or groceries in a country that won't take a cheque unless accompanied by a credit or debit card ID.

Well, home on Xmas morning we were finally starting to relax when Problem 11 was found by the tell-tale flow of water coming out from under the washhouse door. Jenny had flooded the washhouse. On the positive side, we now have a phone installed and the fax line will be installed next week. We are on one of the newest exchanges in New Zealand but it's a Toll call to our normal shopping city of Rotorua and the price of short distance phone calls will be rising drastically shortly.

View from our deck

We now find that we are in an old, but wonderful home on a 5,000 acre sheep and cattle station. Wild deer are available in the hills around us and no neighbours are visible.

Our next door neighbor is the wonderful Orakei Korako thermal reserve and, although we can't see it, we can sit on our deck in the mornings with a cup of coffee and watch the steam rising from various parts of the bush just a few kilometers away.

Our view from that deck is nothing short of spectacular, from the vast, bush covered peaks of the hills to the clear sidings filled with sheep and cattle, to the newly planted eucalyptus forest on the other side of the road (the road is hidden from us by a spinney of trees below the house), to the wonderful gardens so carefully laid out by the previous owners, to our loving Vizsla dogs playing on the lawn, and finally to the six playful vizsla puppies attacking blades of grass, any vizsla or person that comes into attacking distance or a handy brother or sister.

Christmas is over, we have had more friends visiting us here in our new home than ever before, the good wine has been enjoyed (and then onto the "just ok" wine, then later onto the not so good wine - it gets a bit fuzzy after that).

Have a wonderful new year with your dogs and family.