Living The Lifestyle Dream

Labour weekend has arrived and the 3 day long weekend has given us the first opportunity to get out and explore the region we now live in. It has been so busy with the build, moving house, starting a new job we've not had a chance to really get out and explore the area, and start actually living the lifestyle dream.

Being such a beautiful day today, we thought we would head out to explore Waipu, about a 20 minute drive from Kaiwaka.

After a well deserved and much needed sleep in, we headed firstly to the Piroa Waterfalls. About 7kms off SH1 on the northern side of Brynderwyn Hills. It was an easy 10 minute walk to the waterfalls, and on such a stunning day, the falls were at their best... although the water was perhaps still a bit too cold for a dip, but in the heart of summer we will return for that dip in the pools.

After the visit to Piroa Waterfalls we headed onto Waipu Caves, about another 10 minutes drive down winding country roads both sealed and unsealed and well signposted from SH1. 

Just beautiful on a day like today, a beautiful sunny spring day. "Flush, Lush Green Grass". On the way we had a conversation about the word "Flush"... I can't recall how that came about but I digress.

Waipu Caves would be a perfect place to have a picnic on such a great day. We should have been a little more prepared and brought along our lunch. The caves are about a 5 minute walk from the car park. You can't miss the sign, it is rather large.

The caves are large, and you just need a good torch and footwear that you don't mind getting wet. It is a little slippery inside as there is a small creek that runs through the cave. There wasn't a lot of the stalagmites or stalactites, but the glow worms are very impressive! Well worth the visit.

Also located at Waipu Caves there is a walk that you can do... up a hill... for about 1.5 hours (the return trip). We weren't too sure where the track was heading, but well why not... it was such a awesome day, it would be silly not to see where the track leads too, we're always up for a little adventure.

Well the track went up... and up... and up some more.. such a big hill through bush and farm land. But reaching the top the views where impressive, I'm sure you could see Whangarei from the top.
 

But as they say, what goes up.. must come down. This wasn't a loop type of track, you had to return back down to the Waipu Caves the same way you went up.

By the time we reached the carpark, it was time for a well deserved lunch, so we headed into Waipu township for a bite to eat. A quaint little village with a hardware store, a couple dairies, museum and some cafes & bakeries. 

We decided that we would take our lunch to the beach to eat.  Instead of returning back home they way we came on SH1, there was a back road that loops around to Mangawhai and onto Kaiwaka. Just a few km's down the road from Waipu you come across Langs Beach a beautiful beach on a beautiful day, the perfect final stop before heading back home!

 

Letter Box - RD 2

When building a house there are many things that you don't initially think of, until it comes to the time when you need it, and then it takes time to organise it. For example, what is our postal address and how do we get mail... so we can redirect our bills to our new home.

To start with we purchased "Lot 7 Wattle Lane", but we had to pay a small fee of $25 to the Kaipara Council to apply for our "Road Number" I think they call it a RAPID Number.  Which is kind of interesting... the number allocated is calculated from the distance from the main road down to our plot. So we are 560 metres from the main road, so we are 56 Wattle Lane.

There are a couple of options for mail delivery, organising a PO Box rental in Kaiwaka or installing a letter box.  I did pop into the Kaiwaka Post Office to ask about a PO Box rental, but they didn't have any available, and they don't seem to ever become available as people hold onto them (which is surely a good sign as to what a great place Kaiwaka is to live),  but learning that the cost was around $150 a year for the rental... installing a letter box seemed the better value option long term.

We then filled out a form at the NZ post office so we can receive the Rural Delivery Mail, and it was just a matter of installing a letter box down on the main road at the entrance to Wattle Lane. Obviously installing a letter box to the NZ Post specifications (height/size etc), although I think we stretched those rules a little... hopefully they are more guidelines rather than strict rules.

The mailman does not actually come down Wattle Lane, he only delivers mail to mail boxes located at the entrance of the lane. My neighbour mentioned something to me once, that when all the sections have houses built, the mailman might service the lane, but that might take some time, but that's no issue as it's a nice walk down the lane to the letter box, to which I'm yet to complete.

I found this nice letter box on Trademe... an American import for about $60, but what I liked mostly was the lack of the envelope hole in the front. The main road is a dirt road and I can only imagine the mess the mail would end up in with all the dust blown up into the letter box with the traffic travelling past.

I purchased a pole for it to sit on from Bunnings, although perhaps it was a little too short... but hopefully it is still an easy reach for the mail man.

The letter box was level and forward facing when I installed it... but when compared to the other letter boxes, the photos below would suggest otherwise... but I'm happy with the overall result. I hope the mail man is happy too.

Ours is the "All Black" letter box.. so kiwi :) I can't wait to get our first bill! :)