Pg 8 - Apartment - as of 16 March 2013

Well, we've ended our mission and here are shots

of the walls at the time we ended...

This is the Missionary Education board

Here's the Kitchen Board

Wow, the Family Photo Wall has grown

The Single Adult photo wall has nearly 90 photos

The Missionary Photo wall has grown with over 100 photos

Everything below posted pre-2013

Just what can you do with the place???? 

Nothing new since the November posting!

We were able to pick out some new (used) furniture and appliances for the appartment.  They've worked out really well!  The old couch and recliners had the seats broken out of them probably years ago and the refridgerator would not defrost.

Had to give the new recliner a go!

In our flat we have a number of large walls that we didn't know what to do with so we decided to put happenings and pictures.  All our visitors love to look at the photo arrays!  They are depicted below...

This is a picture of our bulletin board with old Christmas cards, calendars, conversion (US to KIWI) charts and much more.  It's about 5' wide by 4' tall and is located in the kitchen.

There are two large walls in the dining area and on one of them we have pictures of all the missionaries we've had over to join us for dinner.  Many of them have come over multiple times.  The actual photos are about 5" x 7" so that gives you an idea of how large the wall is.

Between the kitchen and dining area there's a small wall next to the bulletin board where we have a large map of New Zealand.  We've marked on the map in different colors all the trips we've made across this land.

In the living room there's a valance that comes down from the ceiling separating the kitchen from the living room.  There we have 3" x 5" photos of all the single adults we've met and worked with.  

Then most important of all is the family.  On the largest wall in the dining area we place new updates to our array of family pictures.  Send more and we'll fill the wall.  Visitors really like to gaze at this wall and see if they know anyone.  The wall is about 10' x 8' and should be full prior to us leaving.  We're about 1/2 way through our mission and the wall is about 1/2 full.

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(all below this line was posted pre-January 2012)

Well, there's really not much to tell about the apartment with this update.  It's worked out beautifully for us!  Just before Christmas we determined that we should have a tree and here's what we ended up with:

We found a Christmas Tree in a closet in our flat and put it together.  It's all of about 5' tall.  We went out and purchased some decorations and took some time setting things up.

I even got involved in the set-up of the tree.  After all, it's got to be just so if you know what I mean!

I got into the spirit of Christmas and made colored paper chains for all around the flat.  We had about 80' of red and green, 20' of red and white and 10' of green and white.

Here we are in front of our tree with all the trimmings both on the tree and hanging from the ceiling!  It didn't end up too bad did it?

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Everything below this line was posted prior to 2012

An update on our apartment...all things considered, this place is great!  It's close to downtown, it's 10 minutes drive time from The Archive and 10 minutes from Church.  Lots of room and other benefits.  Somethings are different, but all in all, we're really blessed.  Here are some additional photos...

This is actually looking at the building from across the street.  Quite "Art Decco" wouldn't you say?  The garages below are used for storeage.  The front floors are:  1st - Church Institute/Family Home Evening, 2nd - Church Institute, 3rd - Church Facilities Mgt.

This is a closer shot of the corner of our upper "flat" or apartment.  That rounded piece sort of in the middle is actually a balcony you access from our front room.

Here's the back of the building.  Ann is standing at the middle floor.  Ours is the top floor and our bedroom is the top right window.  The 2nd floor is the Wellington New Zealand Mission Office and the bottom floor is used for Church Seminary.  Given the location, this piece of property is valued at a few million dollars...YES, no kidding!  A small home up the street is listed at $750k.

This is an example of the homes in the neighborhood.  Three stories with most likely six apartments for college kids.  The University is just behind our apartment and this is kitty corner across from our building.

Now I said that all things considered, we have it like a life of luxury!  Heating in the apartment is another topic.  There is no central heating.  You place portable heaters as seen here and turn them on.  Generally we're at about 66 -68 degrees so it's not to bad.  This is a small heater used for bathrooms and other small type rooms.

This heater is more standard and what's used to heat larger rooms.  You'd be suprised how much heat these put out.  They plug right into the wall and have timers and temperature gauges.

Another item that lacks a little is the size of the refridgerator.  Ours is rather small, but we don't complain because it's large compared to others we have seen.

Below this point everything was

posted prior to 17 Oct 2011

We are very blessed in the apartment that we have. It's above the Wellington New Zealand Mission office, the LDS Institue Office and the LDS Physical Facilities office. It is three flights of stairs up and down but that's managable and helps the leg strength. Early morning seminar is also taught here for the Wellington Ward (about 4 youth Monday - Friday). They also hold about every other youth gathering you can think of here so there is lots going on.  The building was built in 1917 so it's getting close to 100 years old.  It's been owned by the church since about 1950.

Views of and from our apartment

From clear across the city and up on the top of Mt. Victoria,   the light greenish building in the middle of the picture is our apartment.  Shows up very nicely!  We're on the top floor at the back but our front window is the one at the top on the far right side next to the trees.

Here's the view from are apartment facing east and viewing part of Wellington.  All of downtown is to the left and we'll have pics of that on the "Culture" page of our blog.  This is quite beautiful though.  Notice the cars going the wrong directions! 

Here's the southern view from the apartment.  Still rather metropolitian for the area.  Ten miles or so over the hills you see in the distance would be the southern coastal edge of the north island.



This is the view of Wellington from atop our apartment the day we arrived (August 15th, 2011).  Yes, that is snow.  Remember that we're in the southern hemisphere so the seasons are reversed to the USA.  This was the first time in 50 years that it had snowed.  It was called a "Once in a lifetime event".

Below is a pictorial review of our apartment

This is our front room.  Although the couch and two chairs look very inviting, once you sit in them you'll be in them for some time before you climb out.  The two windows look out on Ghuznee Street in Wellington...very nice.

This is the back half of our front room.  We've added two desks, bookshelves and a printer and can operate here very nicely.  It's right next to the kitchen and the kitchen wall has a hugh see-through space so it appears as though it's all one room.

Here's our spacious kitchen.  We've got a large pantry with good sized refrigerator.  The oven lacks a little, but it works.  Of the top four burners, only one really works as it should.  The hot water has it's own five-gallon water tank and when it's gone it's freezing.  Again though, this is about 3 times as large as the average kitchen.

Here's our dining room.  You'll notice the heater in the bottom right corner of the photo.  It can get pretty cold in this room and there is no central heating.  We've removed the bookcase and are using the wall for a picture arcade that we'll add to each time we get photos.

Here's the start of our picture arcade.  It's started off slowly but should start gaining speed as we get photos from the family.  Should be fun!  We'll also take photo's of all those that come and have a meal with us so that should have a very international appearance.

Here's our bedroom with a very nice double bed.  It gets so cold in the room that we have a heating pad under the lower sheet below the mattress protector.  Keeps things nice and toastie on the cold evenings.  You can't see it, but the wallpaper is purple.  At first opportunity it will be gone...sorry Mollie!

We're lucky in that we have a second room.  It's not much, but not always found in apartments in Wellington.  It's open to all those that want to come on over.  We'll even put a heating pad on the bed.



Here are some random pictures that have to do with living here....

Here's Tom hard at it in his Rockies jersey surrounded by computers and printer.  We have a wired broadband connection that works pretty well.  It's pigtailed from the Physical Facilities offices below so it's a free internet.  Not too bad! 

Here's Ann putting out the sheets.  She's atop our apartment.  The washer and dryer are up on the 4th floor of the apartment or should we say the 3rd floor.  In New Zealand it's:

1st Floor = Ground Floor
2nd Floor = 1st Floor
3rd Floor = 2nd Floor
and so on.....