Vast

When Darren and I decided to move to New Zealand, one of the big questions we had to answer was "do we bring all of our furniture, or sell everything and replace it in New Zealand?" I think many people moving across the world struggle with that question.

In our case, we did have some very nice furniture that we definitely wanted to bring with us - our bed suite, a chaise lounge and our coffee table/trunk. Other items were older (my 10+ year-old couches and dining room table) or too large/unstable to move (IKEA desk).

To get an idea of the kind of furniture in New Zealand, we did a basic search for furniture stores online. We found very few sites, as bandwidth in New Zealand is quite expensive. Since we were also looking at Real Estate listings for places to rent, we began to use those listings to get an idea of how people were furnishing their homes here.

We were frightened! We saw big fluffy flower-patterned couches, and cheap dining room tables. (And no, sadly I cannot find examples now. Guess you'll just have to trust me!).

Knowing there is no IKEA here in New Zealand (and there may never be...), we decided to go ahead and bring the old couches and the assembled entertainment centre. And they have served us well over the past two years, allowing us time to explore the furniture stores in Wellington. The one glaring exception has been what Darren has been using for a desk: an old dresser I bought for $50 when I was a poor university student. The drawers were quite useful for storing desk stuff and other random bits and pieces, and the top was spacious enough for his computer and peripherals. You can imagine, though, that it was in no way ergonomically pleasing for him to sit there.

Said dresser was kept in the dining/kitchen area, as it wouldn't fit anywhere else in the apartment. Yep, it looked a bit strange, but it was useful. More useful than a dining room table? No...we haven't actually eaten at a table (other than the aforementioned coffee table) in our own apartment since we moved here. We sold the one we had in the US because we didn't love it enough to ship it here, and most of the dining tables we've come across were cheaply made, very expensive or both. Not that one would fit in the dining area with the dresser, anyway.

Then Darren found Vast. It's not on our usual walking route through town - it's pretty far down a road that leads out of town. One that we only see from a bus window as we make our way North to the Hutt Valley. There are heaps of furniture stores on this road (Thorndon Quay, for you local readers), and Darren decided to check them out one day. Turns out most of them are quite expensive (read: Freedom)! But Vast was different.

Vast is an Australian chain, although each store is independently owned by franchisees who can buy from whichever suppliers suit them (which explains the less than robust website).


So, you're thinking we found a desk, right? No, but we did fall in love with a gorgeous solid mangowood table, and four matching leather chairs. The salesman was very friendly, and gave us very detailed answers to all of our questions. (Turns out he is the owner!)


Luckily, we have a Mac, and it looks great on the table/desk. And Darren finds it much more ergonomic!




The story doesn't end there, though. Once we had cleaned out the dresser and moved it to the garage (hey, anyone need a dresser?), we found we had some desk 'stuff' that we needed to store...somewhere close to the table/desk. Back to Vast we went! Mainly because they were having a one year anniversary sale.

And we found this beautiful side table sourced from India. It is solid wood, with old shutter doors that have been refurbished, then treated to look "old" again. It was more than we wanted to spend, but I stared at it until it said "take me home". I'm not about to argue with a cabinet.


Here it is!

The detail on the doors -

Even the inside of the door is beautiful!

The best part, is that the side cabinet works well with the table and holds desk stuff (for now). If we ever find "the" desk, the cabinet can easily be used for dining room 'stuff'.


Oh, and we can't have a vase without any flowers! Darren found this wild bouquet at the supermarket. For $4! I love this country.

Oh, and if you're wondering about prices, just send me a note through the blog. I don't mind spilling since I feel we got a great deal on both pieces, but thought it would be a bit brash to state the prices in the post. And if you are really interested in the store, make sure you pay them a visit during their sale, which is on through the rest of January.

So this is was Christmas

This past Christmas was our third here (third! can you believe it?!), and the warmest year yet. It was so (unusually) warm, that I just couldn't bring myself to decorate the house in the typical holiday fashion. We lean more towards the pagan celebration of winter solstice than the religious holiday of Christmas, so it was a bit weird for me to think about putting up a tree, furry stockings and greeting cards with snow scenes when summer was just beginning.

Darren and I thought we could perhaps put up more of a 'summery' tree (which still is against the whole point anyway), and did manage to find some cute summer-themed ornaments and fake Pohutukawa blossoms.

Pa-hoo-a-wha? Right - the Pohutukawa tree. Also known as the "New Zealand Christmas Tree", as it is endemic to New Zealand and the bright red flowers bloom right around Christmas each year. From a distance, they bear a resemblance to Poinsettias. Up close, however, you'll see that the flowers are made up of lots of little hair-like strands that definitely look like hair when they fall to the ground. Our friend Arthur highlighted these beautiful trees in a post/video(around minute 2:10) on his blog.

The trees can be found all over Wellington and gave me just one more excuse not to decorate. Instead, we took heaps of pictures:

Not so pretty once the blooming period is over. Luckily, the tree is just a large green tree the rest of the year (it is an evergreen).

We spent part of Christmas day with our friends Darrel and Merrin, playing Apples to Apples and eating a large BBQ'd dinner. Sorry there is no photographic evidence of the lovely day - we were too busy eating Merrin's yummy food!

As usual, most of Wellington shut down (especially restaurants and shops) and buses and trains were free to ride all Christmas day. Even though we are a week into the New Year, many restaurants and cafes are still closed while their proprietors are taking holidays overseas or just out of town in a bach. And while it is nice to live in a country that doesn't frown on any holiday over 2 weeks long, I really reeeeeaaaally miss my favorite sushi place!

Some cafes won't be opening up again, sadly, due to the difficult economic times. I saw this sign today while trying to find a poor substitute for my beloved sushi:

Happy New Year!

Hi everyone!  Just a quick note to wish everyone a happy 2009 and to make promises of future posts.  I have a couple in the works about our 2 year anniversary here (as of 28 November), the lovely city of Wellington, as well as our holiday in Kaikoura and Picton last week.

As a teaser, here is a picture of gorgeous Kaikoura -