We got the last bits of exterior complete. It was done over three days.

On Thursday we had two helpers from Skevingtons. I did a lot of raking and got numb arms on the compactor. Rowan got to do all the wheelbarrow loads. All the paths and driveway look great. We put heaps of soil in and then seeded it for grass.

Friday, one small job left. A screen and planter to help soften the utilities. It really finishes the place off. We meet Anna a property manager down at the house to do a rental appraisal.

Screen for the utilities.

The rest of the week is a blur! We get a bunch of jobs done in order to get away. Here is a photo of Rowan on the roof installing another solar panel! Monkey man!

Code compliance got stopped as there was two pieces of information missing. We quickly resolved that and now it’s back in their court.

Paint touch ups – tick

Rowan put in all the posts for the fences while I spent the time inside doing touch up paint and cleaning. It is great having the inside complete.

Fences – tick!

Rowan and I got the west and south fences in today. It took some mahi but we are very happy with the results. We couldn’t find our for sale sign, Rowan had tied it to the hot water cylinder. You get some strong winds down here at times and it went into the creek. At least it was pretty easy to get. I

may have moaned about this before but I am doing it again. That silly letterbox is a $400 letterbox. For a bit of sheet metal that is made in a factory. Insane! This sort of bullshit is why it costs so much to build. Of course we paid $30 on clearance at Placemakers. It probably cost the company $2 to make in China.

In the weekend we didn’t have any down time. We helped plant 400 trees at Jimmys place. The views are spectacular!

On Sunday we had a long but fun day on a motorbike training course. I really enjoyed the day, it was in Dunedin. A bit of a hike! We went right through the back of Dunedin all the way around to Palmerston. Some of the roads had heaps of grit on them and were quite treacherous. We took our time going through those parts. Rowan and I headed north from Palmerston rather than going all the way back to Dunedin then coming back. There were two others on the course, a very small group. It was a real benefit as I learnt so much more. Absolutely shattered when we got back.

Monday was a day off, I need some recovery and with bad weather it is a great excuse. We really have had minimal rain this winter. Very lucky indeed.

We are still having some frosty cold mornings. But it has some advantages like the weeds and grass are dormant. We also got a fantastic moon halo on Tuesday night.

Wednesday, today is our final inspection. Fingers and toes are crossed that it goes without a hitch. Dave arrives to get that toilet fixed. After closer inspection there is either a manufacturing flaw or maybe it’s a fine crack in the cistern. Either way it can’t be used. Luckily we have an extra two toilets for the other house so we just steal one of those. I will worry about warranty issues later. Our council man arrives and everything is easily ticked off the list. I just need a little paperwork and then I can apply for code compliance certification. Feels great to have the council part done.

I got a layer of stain on the deck, I put an additive in that makes it non slip.

Last coat on the deck! We won’t be staging the house AI will do that for us. Here are a few fun ones I have played with.

A digger came to site to bore our holes for the fence posts. About 60 holes in total.

Saturday we had a pj day. It was wonderful, I feel like I need another day off, but we got one at least.

On Sunday we went up to Jim’s farm for lunch and got a load of wood for next week winter. It has already had a year of drying so it will be perfect next winter.

On Monday we went down to site to do some tidying so I can update photos. I have a few hours of touch up paint to do and Rowan has a bunch of fencing. I really want the driveway completed so it looks more tidy outside. It also means I then can put a screen up to hide the utilities area.

We found our awesome green basin from Till St at the local tip shop, almost bought it back, almost haha.

Herbert has an egg processing place for quite a few farms. We got the smaller tray for $5 and the larger tray for $12. They are yesterday’s eggs and last up to 5 weeks so we have a lot of eggs to get through haha. You’re not allowed to take photos in the processing area and I can see why. There must be 7 different companies they carton up eggs for. Bowalley, Pams free range, sure as, new day etc. Bowalley is their own brand and the farm is in Herbert. I think there are 6 farms in total in the area so not a small operation. The lady who helped us told us if you need to buy eggs in the South Island always buy Pams. All of Pams eggs for the south come from them and they are generally the cheapest to buy in the supermarket. So folks buy the cheapest free range eggs you can get your hands on, because all you’re paying extra for is marketing and branding!

This didn’t come as a surprise as Rowan and I had noticed these sort of discrepancies with other products. Like the fresh pasta, you read the back and there is the exact same ingredients the same weight even the same packaging minus the pretty labels. I also know if you buy Pams Camembert and Pams Smokey cheese it is actually Whitestone cheese.

Kitchen saga continues, the response we got from Placemakers and Peter Hay was abysmal. Pull apart the broken pantry or get your builder to drill more holes. We went and checked the broken pantry which has 3 holes for adjustment and our kitchen only has two that are not matching up. So we cannot replace one side to fix the issue. We asked if they were going to pay for our builder to come to site to drill some holes because we don’t need a builder on site anymore.

Electrical is done! Glenn has to come back and do a little bit of work as one switch needs to be a 4 gang and he only had 3 gang switches in him. But he says that he will take his hot rod for a drive and come do it for free. What a gem! It is really nice having the lights and a heatpump. I played unskilled apprentice and made decisions, held things, grabbed things all that fun stuff.

Lance is here to put down the underlay all ready for Monday. The yellow underlay is definitely reflecting off the walls haha.

We have Johanna stay with us Friday night on her way up north. She is going back to Russel to work, her working part of her visa runs out in October.

On Saturday we had a real day off. Haven’t had one in a long time. Leona took a couple through our house. They appear to like it, so we shall see.

Vaughan was called from Placemakers to fix our kitchen issue and offered a few extra hours at our cost if we wanted it. Yes please! After fixing the pantry he cut the hole for the hob and holes for appliances like the dishwasher and washing machine. We finished off the morning with finishing the rear fence. We kept it open for ease going to the container and getting onto the site.

Happy Monday, Lance is here to finish the flooring. The house looks complete now it has the carpet. It really removes the building site feel.

I noticed some moisture outside on the blocks coming from the ensuite. We work out it’s that toilet again giving us grief. We remove the water and Dave will be down Wednesday to fix it.

Waiting for the builder to be available to install the kitchen we had some progress in Herbert. Got those two Kaihua jasmine climbers in the ground. Rowan has upgraded our exterior lights, we now have 4.

Rowan’s mum has her 70th Birthday this week. Happy birthday Joanne!

Installing the kitchen takes more than half of the day. There are things I feel are design flaws and to be honest the attitude I got from Shannon is unacceptable. I tried calling her and in the end I got a lot of text messages that were quite harsh. Placemakers do not have good customer service at all and they prefer to blame each other and not take responsibility for their own actions. First the sink meant we had to remove the top bracing from the cabinet. Apparently you chop it out, but the way it has been placed would mean there is really no support whatsoever. Vaughan gently removed it and turned it to make it work. There is no cabinet to the left or right to screw into for support and it needs to be solid for the benchtop.

Second issue is the gap between the corner cabinet and the sink cabinet. In the design there is a a fairly large gap, which they provided a standard 18mm spacer, we needed more like 2 and a half. Vaughan ended up having to cut it to fit and turn it, which has made it work. This kitchen was sold to us as a pre built just put it together like Lego. It is supposed to be fast and easy. Well it definitely wasn’t that. I still have the handles to put on and Rowan has to finish off fixing in the upper cabinets, screwing the benchtop down and adding in the weird corner piece.

Rowan got the frame work on the step/deck laid. Vaughan got the kickboards and vanity top done. I polyurethane the first coat onto the vanity. It is an American oak plyboard. I also did a lot of touch up plaster and no more gaps. We did a bit of damage getting the benchtop in.

In the weekend we had a picnic at a lake on Devils Bridge Road. It was very nice and peaceful, we sat under a kōwhai tree. It felt good to have a little down time, I miss the simplicity of our hike.

On Sunday we went down to Palmerston to get another layer of poly on. I also did the first coat of grey on my picture window and plastered the walls where the benchtop damaged it. Rowan got the concrete slab into place for the hot water cylinder and put the edge of the deck in.

On Monday Dave completed the second plumbing. I painted and did touch up work. Rowan focused on helping Dave and completing the front step. Rowan noticed when putting the pantry shelves in that the muppets haven’t lined the holes up. You literally cannot adjust the shelves and every shelf is like this in the pantry. It doesn’t end with this kitchen! Of course the last job Dave goes to do, putting in the toilet doesn’t go straight forward, it is leaking and it takes Rowan pointing out they manufacturer has put one of the bungs in the wrong way to work out how to fix it. It’s like that “you had one job” moment.

Rowan’s grandma Bette has a big 95th Birthday today (15th July). Rowan keeps telling her she has to make it to 100!

We popped down to Dunedin as I had a load of clothes to pick up from the Recycle Boutique. I cannot recommend them enough, if you have clothes you want to get rid of, you should definitely look into it. Super easy and if you want the unsold items back you can or you can get them to donate whatever doesn’t sell.

While in Dunedin we ran around and did a load of jobs as well as the op shops. I called into Blueskin Nursery to pick up two Kaihua climbers for the moon gate. Also known as NZ Jasmine, Parsonsia Heterophylla. They have a lovely white flower and a beautiful smell.

Waiting for this kitchen is very frustrating, we are filling in our days with upgrades to Herbert.

I was so set on my paint being wrong we headed to Palmerston on a special trip to check. It is slightly different to the swatch from Dulux but not enough for it to be a major. It said this was a nuetral white with complex pink tones and sure it looks great in bright direct light but in the southern part of the house it is throwing a lot of grey. Anyway once the carpet is in I am sure it will be absolutely fine. I am just probably being fussy as per usual!

Friday afternoon our kitchen is ready for pick up. Shannon, the kitchen lady tries to get us to pay for and buy the corner cabinet that was made for the other house. We decide to give it back to them as I am not sure I want to use them again and we may have changes after we get this one put in.

We have had more time on our hands to get ticking off jobs in Herbert. There is now a spot to hang clothes in the house truck. I got this free trampoline months ago to create a moon gate. I will get a native climber to grow along it. I did think wisteria as I love them, but natives are always better.

Thursday it is all go, Dave is here to finish the stormwater and a few other bits of plumbing. We need him back one more day to do the last few things once the kitchen is in. Graham and Vaughan worked over at Brough St, they finished the cladding and the scribers (the window edging).

Rowan spent the day making a garden edge around the house and also the driveway. I got the first coat on the trim/doors.

Power pole is here! They replaced the one on the other side of the road too. They gave us the old wooden pole and will bring us another to create a way to get across the creek on Brough.

I did a bit of painting while Rowan did a good site tidy. Removing a few loads of items onto our resource recovery field.

I freaked out a little about the colour of the paint as it doesn’t look like it matches the wall. I talked to mitre10 about it and it is not a miss tint. I am still unsure about it. I don’t want to lighten it and create a colour I cannot replicate.

Paint saga continues… I can’t shake the “it’s not right” feeling. I got a couple of paint samples to look at, now I am sure the enamel paint is not right. I will check it when we next get to Palmerston.

I decided to create some stepping stones for Herbert with beach found pottery that I got for $1 at the Hampden dump. Yes those are my old cake tins haha

On Friday arvo the kitchen arrived at Placemakers. We headed in to pick it up. Then spent Saturday painting the trim and Rowan was setting up fences.

We shave used the next two days doing some jobs around Herbert. Rowan has sorted power and lights in Bette Bedford. The new pump works well in Jo, also the solar appears to be working well. In Camele we also have a solar system too. Lots of annoying jobs now complete! Here are a few AI pictures of potential paint options for Jo!

We had the builders one day this week and they did some tidy up work for us. Finishing off little jobs and starting with the decking step to get into the house. At a bit of a loose end with the major delay from the kitchen. It won’t be here until the end of the month, there is little to do.

On Thursday we had Dave our plumber come and install the showers and vanities. He will be back next week to finish off the stormwater and do a few other pieces. Then we wait for that kitchen.

I have prepped with filling in all the nail holes and no more gaps for all the trim and now I can paint it all. I am in no hurry but I will get that done next week.

In Herbert we have been getting a few things in order. I painted under the bench seat and I want to make the back cupboard more useful. Currently it opens at the top, but I want to change it so I can put more kitchen stuff in it like the picture attached.

Rowan has been getting the water system ready, waiting on some parts to complete it. The gas hot water arrived and now we are still waiting on a pump and solar panels to arrive.

I got through the last two books of the Lucinda Riley – Seven Sisters Series. I enjoyed them but didn’t love them. I had to pretend it was more like a fantasy novel otherwise it would have done my head in. The last book is written by her son as she passed away. There was an outline of the story already made so he completed it for her. You got to get past the discrepancies to finish it.

We have been keeping up with our 5am starts and really enjoying having a fire in the morning before doing any work. Today the vinyl got put down in the house. It looks like it will be at least 3 weeks before we get the kitchen cabinet remade. Incredibly frustrating, we were so close and our plumber and electrician cannot finish the job without the kitchen in place.

I filled in all the nail and screw holes in the trim. I was able to sand towards the end of the day but I didn’t want to create dust for the vinyl.

The builders worked on the cladding for the other house.

A mid week break, no contractors on site until Friday. Rowan and I tackle the Herbert list. There are a multitude of items to tick off. Some of these jobs take a lot longer than we expected. Here is a photo of Rowan precariously on the roof putting up flashing tape and metal flashings.

On Thursday we help out Jo from Hospice Timaru with her jewellery. We end up spending most of the day there putting aside items that need to be valued by a jeweller. Rowan and I buy a bunch of gold from the cabinet that was already priced. A bit of a haul indeed!

Excuse Rowan’s hands, he used a glue yesterday and it ain’t coming off without a few days to shed it haha.

On Friday it turns out we don’t have builders. But the Skevingtons team turned up to change our swell into a culvert. Much better indeed!

We have guests with us for a few nights. James, Kate and Connor are here from Picton on holiday. Kate is pregnant so we weren’t sure if she could handle our glamping amenities. Kate lasted two nights. On the third night they booked a hotel haha. It has been extremely cold. Negative 6 degrees was the coldest. We have had hoarfrost, and frost so thick that it hasn’t disappeared through the day. We have got ourselves a new fireplace for the house truck, that was good to hang out in. We will be selling the truck later and we are making sure we make it comfortable for us now and more sellable.

The irony is the third night was rather mild with no frost. Typical! We managed to get all three of them in the bath on Tuesday night. Connor played this the rubber ducky and really enjoyed it.

It was great to see them. It was a rather busy week but we managed to be available Monday and Tuesday for them. We showed them around the place and went out for lunch in Moeraki.

Wednesday/Thursday the services are going in. It doesn’t take long at all to do all of the council side of things. It is complete except the dirt needs to be raked out nicely from the trench.

Rowan had a follow up for his finger on Thursday afternoon. It is healing really well and now he only needs a splint when working to protect the tenderness. It is not considered a wound anymore and doesn’t need to stay dry. The physio was really impressed by his movement and said he didn’t need to come back. Rowan has been regularly making his finger bend and exercising it. Well before he was asked to and it has gone in his favour.

I spent the time at Bunnings getting supplies while he went to his appointments. When we got back to Palmerston the boys had gone for the day.

Matariki, we planned to get down to Palmerston for the last coat of paint in the bathrooms. But I was too tired and Rowan has come down with a cold. Instead we sat around the fire until we were due at Waihaorunga farm to meet Jim for lunch. Gratefully he has let us but our GIB waste at his farm and has given us some black polythene pipe for our drainage. Not a bad swap for lunch!

Saturday/Sunday was a bit of a write off with Rowan being unwell. I did get a few jobs achieved like putting floor gaps into Bedford Bette to stop draughts. There is still a lot more to do to the doors and luton to really make it better. We just don’t have the time so it is far down on the list. Thankfully we have great feather blankets and sleeping bags to keep us toasty.

Back on site with Graham and Vaughan. The boys get most of the trim and skirting in. When we turn our attention to the kitchen we realise we have a few problems. One whole panel is missing and the corner cupboard has been made the wrong way around. The pantry broke in transit to Placemakers so that was already being replaced but now we have these issues too. Very annoying as we can’t put it together unit we have these two issues sorted. I am not dwelling on it as there is no point.

We had our council inspection at lunchtime and Skevingtons came back to fill in the trenches. I am missing my downpipe from the roof supplier and the next job is to get the stormwater done then it is just the internal plumbing with the hot water cylinder being external.