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.
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