The House

Our breakfast the next morning was pretty awful. We had ordered it for 8.30 and when it arrived it looked as if it had been hanging around for a couple of hours and the bacon could sole your shoes.

Mark and his wife, Val, picked us up at 10.00 and took us to the supermarket to get some basic supplies but we couldn't get any cold stuff as we couldn't go to the house until 2.30 so after a quick visit to the supermarket we set off on a tour of Tauranga which is very pretty and there seems to be water which ever way you look and if not water lovely green hills. The city itself is not too big and very well planned and the roads are very well marked. In fact driving is very nice, no horns, no road rage or people shouting at you, they do talk on their phones while driving though.

We went to have a look at Jon's new office and met some of the operators, they look a scary bunch but I was assured they are "all good blokes"and then we met up with a friend of Mark's who was over from NY for a holiday with his family here. We drove out to the restaurant and guess what it was where we had eaten, or not, the night before and I then had to tell Mark we had not had a good meal there but as it was too far to go back into town and find somewhere else (the centre was busy, too as they had the Ironman competition on so lots of roads were closed) we said we would give it another go. When we got inside the food in the buffet was exactly the same and the piece of gammon looked more tired than the night before! So we decided to go into the bar for a snack meal, wish we had been told about that last night! Jon had a steak sandwich and I had a toasted cheese sandwich which was fine.

At 2.30 we set off for the house and drove to a very nice area. After Googleing it I knew exactly where we were going.

First impression of the house was not brilliant as they are all crammed in together with not much space around and you are very close to the neighbours.

We met Ross at the house (Mark's son-in-law who has been coordinating all the move and found the house) Inside the house is a dream. Very clean and ultra modern with a ducted vacuum cleaner and a huge TV with surround sound all state of the art stuff not at all like Jon and I. The kitchen is beautiful in grey, stainless steel and black granite work surfaces and very well equipped, better than mine back in England. We won't need our boxes when they get here. It has an open plan living room with a wood burning stove, kitchen and sitting area at the end of the kitchen leading onto a terrace/balcony with a bbq all on the first floor. Our bedroom also on the first floor is huge with a walk in dressing room and en suite shower room and separate loo. Downstairs are two more bedrooms the main bathroom and an office and hallway leading into the garage with a laundry area at the rear.The colour theme throughout is pale grey and black all very tasteful.

Seleena showed us round and after a all the explanations she left. Ross had brought Jon's car over for him which is a very bright red sporty Holden of some sort and goes very fast and he explained what was what with that and then he, Mark and Val left and we were on our own and it was quite scary.

We had to go out to the supermarket again to get some fresh things so we bit the bullet and set off to see what we could find. We did really well, found a supermarket did some shopping and got back home without getting lost pretty good for the Trevennas to do that. The staff in all the supermarkets are so pleasant and always ask how you are, how your day is going and pack your bags all with a smile and they don't talk to the cashier next to them, take note Tesco and Asda.

Back at the house we unpacked and made ourselves feel at home. As it was our 29th anniversary we pushed the boat out and had a nice bottle of wine with some lamb chops for dinner and salad followed by fruit and cheese.

It was strange going to bed in a new house and it not being a holiday home or hotel, lets see how I sleep here!