A Video Tour of Christchurch

While looking on youtube, I stumbled upon this video tour of Christchurch - enjoy!

Pegasus Town is coming ....

One of the things I have come to admire about the kiwi's is their ability to 'think big and make things happen'.

Due to an increased demand for housing, a property company is currently developing a complete new town for 5000 residents about 20km north of Christchurch. The town comes complete with restaurants and cafes, boutique shopping and larger-scale retail stores, a resort hotel, yacht club, swimming bay and aquatic centre, a golf club and community course on the beatiful Pegasus Bay coast.

The plans look fantastic and I am sure the whole project will be a huge success.

http://www.pegasustown.com/

Hamner Springs Thermal Pools & Spa

Situated 90 minutes drive north of Christchurch you will find the Hamner Springs Thermal Pools and Spa. There are many different pools for adults and children alike with different mineral content and temperatures. The complex is currently undergoing a major expansion due to increased visitor numbers.

The thermal water originates from rainwater that fell 180 years ago, which seeped down through fractured rock in the Hanmer Mountains, to a depth of about two kilometres below the Hanmer plains.

When the springs were first discovered, the hot water rose to the surface under its own pressure from a depth of 10 metres. Today, the water has dropped to some 28 metres below the surface level and is pumped to the surface from a borehole. The water is at a temperature of 52˚C when it is first pumped up and the heat is extracted out of the water using a series of heat exchanges until it reaches bathing temperature of between 32-42˚C.

The complex is open all year round even during winter. We have been before when there has been snow on the ground, and I can tell you, we didn't take much time moving between the pools then!

It is another 'must do' and it is a great day out.

http://www.hanmersprings.co.nz/

Waipara - Vineyard Country

Travel approximately 60km north of Christchurch and you will come to the Waipara. The Waipara is currently the fastest growing wine producing region on New Zealand producing some outstanding wines from around 80 vineyards covering more than 1,200 hectares of plantings. The views are simply stunning.

http://www.waiparawine.co.nz/

Christmas Berries

Kiwi's not having freash berries for Christmas Day is a bit like the POM's not having roast turkey, chestnut stuffing or Christmas pudding. Everybody in New Zealand goes to buy fresh berries to enjoy over the festive period - over the years it has become a real tradition. They are usually bought from a local pick your own outlet or from a local farm.

Kirsty, pictured above, is certainly looking forward to having them for breakfast on Christmas morning.

2007 House of Travel Golf Tournament Champions

House of Travel is a NZ travel company. They believe in making work as fun as possible and they go out of their way to make sure we (their employees) enjoy ourselves during the festive period and many other times besides!

Last Wednesday afternoon, we left work early and made our way to Avonside Golf Club to play 10 holes in the annual House of Travel Golf Tournament. There were 9 teams of four/five players from across the business - a mixture of developers, accountants, customer service, service delivery, infrastructure, project managers, business analysts, outlet operators, travel consultants, senior management and representatives from some of our business partners. It was a really fun evening.

Above is pictured the winning team (from left to right) Andrew, Ian, Grant, and Niall. Rik, the fifth member of the team, took the picture.

So how much does it cost to build a house in New Zealand?

I am not going to state how much it has cost us to build our house as it is not off the plan. However, I am going to direct you to our builders website so you can see first hand how much it costs to build a house in New Zealand.

http://www.peterrayhomes.co.nz/single_storey_homes.html

We have incurred additional costs relating to resource consents, power to site, heating, sewage treatment, floor coverings, water pumps, solar panels and the land to build on which are not insignificant.

It makes you start thinking, huh?