Things have certainly picked up for the Mellos during the last three months. We finally found a house, took a little trip to one of the Pacific islands we had never visited before, and then made the big move. It has been a very exciting time for us and, of course, our animals!
We searched for months and months in the Waikato area where we have lived for the last ten years or so, but weren’t having any luck finding what we were looking for. One day we ran into one of our neighbors, a farmer from down the road, and while explaining our dilemma of loving the beautiful green hills of the area but having just gotten tired of them, he said, “You need a view with water… it’s always changing.” We thought about that and decided he was right, so we changed our search criteria to include water views and that lead us to a house in the Hawke’s Bay region that we liked and decided to buy.
Our New House
But before making the move we had some time to kill, so we took advantage of a bargain online ticket fare for a week on the island of Niue. We had heard of this island because it shows up on the nightly weather forecast on the news, but that’s about all we knew. It is not a highly-traveled place… it came as quite a surprise to learn that there is only one plane a week that makes the trip to Niue… not just from New Zealand, but from anywhere! The airport opens for the arrival and departure of one plane – and that’s it. Our flight was nice and short, it took about 3 1/2 hours to fly from Auckland to Alofi, the island’s only real town. It became apparent to us that the Niueans on the flight were fluent in 2 languages, their native tongue as well as English. They even seem to mix the languages within sentences, for instance the person sitting behind us was rattling on in Niuean then all of a sudden “Chief Medical Officer” came out in English… sort of “Niuenglish.” But this does make sense because all Niueans are also dual citizens with New Zealand and hold NZ passports.
The rocky coast of Niue.
We could see as we were coming in to land that Niue is very flat and covered with green vegetation. We later learned that it is a coral atoll that sits atop an underwater volcano. If Jim had known that before we left he might have decided to go elsewhere! Most of the perimeter of the island is made up of low, rock wall cliffs. There are many caves and chasms available to explore if one is game enough to battle the rocks and sharp coral at low tide. Jim and I were not. We saw several other visitors with cuts, bruises and bandages and decided our time would be better spent sitting on our deck sipping rum punches. There are only 2 beaches on the island, Avatele Beach is made of coral and sandy Hio Beach, which is quite small but very picturesque. It was very hot and humid with very little breeze and we were grateful for the little bit of rain we got while there. Of course with the rain comes the threat of mosquitoes and we also learned that while we were there, the island was experiencing an outbreak of Dengue Fever! The disease had been brought back to Niue from Tonga by, of all people, the Chief Medical Officer!
Hio Beach, the only real sandy beach on the island.
Niue is very small and very laid back. You can travel around the island, on all the roads, in about four hours. The crime rate is generally very low, in fact, there are currently only 2 occupants in the prison, one is an arsonist and the other is his victim – who was arrested when he assaulted the arsonist! They are also in-laws. We were told they now get along very well in the little ‘big house.’ They play cards, eat their meals together and on Sundays the guards take them out to play a round of golf together since the golf course is right next door to the prison. Like I said, very small and very laid back.
One of the prettiest places on the island, Limu Pools.
For a very quiet, no fuss holiday, Niue is a not a bad destination, especially when you live as close as we do. If you like a lot of activities and night life, it’s probably best to keep looking! We had a nice time and it was a good sunny, warm place to go for a little while before starting to pack up house… again.
A Niuean Sunset
It really seemed like forever between the time we got back from Niue until it was time to move to Napier, but it was really only a month. In that time we packed up our rent house, said farewell to our friends of the last ten years and got all of our stuff moved to our new place. It took us about a week to get everything from one place to the other… two rental truck loads, four station wagon loads, one trailer load and one car load – all packed to the gills. It’s a 375 mile round trip from Te Awamutu to Napier and we did it 3 1/2 times. Two people, two dogs, one cat and one goat and we all made it with relatively few scratches. I’m sure we looked like a bunch of hillbillies as we pulled into the driveway!
Jim and Julie at a farewell lunch with our good friends and neighbors, Ross and Maisie.
That’s something I have to mention… the goat. When we left Old Mountain Road back in November of last year, we left our goat Harmony with the people who bought the house. We didn’t have a place to keep her and they were happy to have her. Now that we have some land again, we asked if we could have her back and they said yes. Jim said the funniest part of the entire move was watching me pull out of the driveway of the rent house driving the station wagon packed as full as it could be, pulling a trailer stuffed with dog houses, saw horses, gas cans, a wheelbarrow, miscellaneous ‘stuff,’ a black Labrador and a goat! It may not have been the most pleasant ride, but I think Harmony is glad to be back with us and she seems to be quite relaxed as she sits out in her paddock gazing at the Pacific Ocean.
Our girl Harmony relaxing in the back garden.
We’ve only been here a few weeks and have a lot to learn about our new surroundings… who’s got what and where things are… but that’s all part of the fun. Our new home will be a challenge, too. While the house is certainly sufficient as it is, we intend to make our mark on it and change a few things. In fact, we’ve already pulled up some carpet and torn down a wall! When we found this place we knew the daytime view included Hawke’s Bay, the city of Napier and Cape Kidnapper’s peninsula quite clearly from our vantage point. On a clear day we can even see all the way to Mahia peninsula, which is the other end of the bay. What we didn’t even consider was that we would be able to see Napier at night. Seeing the lights of town from our house is a very pretty sight.
Our view of Hawke’s Bay including the city of Napier on the nearest point, and Cape Kidnapper’s further out.
So the Mellos, complete with Harmony, bid farewell to the Waikato – we certainly enjoyed our time there, and embark upon a new phase in life here in Hawke’s Bay. The one thing we know for sure is that the view from the new homestead is hard to beat and we feel like we are going to get a lot of enjoyment from our new location. After feeling like time was almost standing still, now we don’t know where it goes… the days are just flying by! And for the first time in a long time, we look forward to each new day with anxious anticipation, with new plans and ideas. A good move.
What’s Next?