060919 – Tuesday – about New Zealand

When we were in New Zealand, at the end of August, we spent a lot of our time in Christchurch and only a small amount of it was spent exploring the rest of the South Island.    One might have concluded that this was because we really liked Christchurch – and, in fact, we did!   But, there were other reasons for the time we spent there – we were looking for real estate.

I haven’t said anything about this until now because we wanted to make sure that the real estate deal we finally engaged in actually succeeded.   Well in the last few days, we’ve heard from New Zealand and the deal is good – the property belongs to us (and a New Zealand bank).

So, why real estate in New Zealand?   Well, partly as an investment (their real estate market is really hot) and partly as a retirement hedge which we might use at some relatively distant point in the future.

We bought a small apartment overlooking Hagley Park in Christchurch’s Central Business District.   It’s a one-bedroom on the 6th floor of a ten story apartment high-rise.   It’s a very pretty and modern place and we expect it will be an excellent investment – given their market and the unit’s location.

Most winters, I go off on retreat to read and write and in previous years, I’ve gone out to La Push on Washington State’s Olympic Coast.   This year, however, I’ll be returning to New Zealand in November to stay in our new apartment.   I’m very excited about the prospect.   The idea of leisure time in a foreign society is really appealing to me.  Luckily, for me, Sharon has a huge amount of frequent-flyer airline miles stacked up from her many years of flying the world on international business so the trip down and back won’t be expensive.

So, come November, this Blog will be posted from Kiwi-Land.

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