Kathy Goes Kiwi

One thing I’ve been wanting to do is show you a little snapshot of our life here. Pictures of our house, the schools, and stuff we see day-to-day. Unfortunately, my old iPhone 5 doesn’t have a great camera, so I can’t really capture the street scenes like I’d like, but I can give you a taste of what we see here.

To start, here are some shots of the outside of our house.

Walking down the street, this is the first view of our house. All of our windows are on the other side.

This is as you’re walking past our house. I guess the group of homes is considered the Palazzo. We’re the front unit, so that wall is part of our courtyard.

The view of our courtyard from our front door.

View from the front, just on the other side of a huge hedge inside the courtyard gate.

View from the corner of our backyard.

And some of the inside. I’m not including the girls’ rooms, because they’re usually not fit for public consumption. Maybe if they can get them clean before we go, I’ll show them to you.

The lounge, taken from the stairs.

The lounge, taken from the kitchen (my usual view).

The lounge and stairs, taken from the kitchen.

This is our second floor terrace, perhaps my favorite space in the house.

Upstairs, on the third floor, there’s another terrace, an office space and the master bedroom.

The office

The terrace

The bedroom

And here are some of the views, mostly from the office and the bedroom. Love them. They make me smile just about every time I look out the window.

And – just to be obnoxious – I’ll include my favorite sunrise pictures from these same places. You’re welcome!

Here’s a couple of Gracie’s school, St. Mary’s College, which was founded in 1850 by the Sisters of Mercy and is the oldest existing school in central Auckland. I wish I could grab some pics of the girls streaming out when school’s over or when they’re changing classes – I love it when the school is swarming with the girls. But to take those pictures would be a little creepy.

And here’s some of Tate’s sweet Marist School.

And here are some of our favorite places. Mary’s is a little cafe very near Gracie’s school, where we like to grab a coffee or lunch. And the Bakery Lunch Bar (which Tate refers to as Lunch Bar Bakery) is actually the Herne Bay Bakery, where we stop every morning and get Tate a Ham and Cheese Bun for NZ$2.80 (about US$2.10) for lunch. Can’t beat that price! They also have a bunch of different pies (savory meat pies, which are delicious!) and other sweet treats. We love it.

And one day, Tate and I saw this guy on the way to school, too.

This coming weekend, we’re heading down to Wellington to visit my old teacher from Marist in Atlanta and have a look around the capital city. Monday is the Labour Holiday, so the girls have another day off school. When we fly back into Auckland Sunday night, instead of coming home, we’re going to drive down to Matamata to visit Hobbiton, the movie set of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. Tate cannot wait since she’s the big LOTR fan in the family.

As of today, 18 October, we have 83 days till we leave, 56 calendar days of school left for the girls, and 39 actual school days. This adventure is flying by and the thought of it being over makes my heart ache. It has been the grandest adventure and the most fun ever. Truly a dream come true.