Our new digs
Since housing in Queenstown is so expensive everybody shares apartments and houses with each other. For this reason, all the local papers and magazines have large sections of "Flatmates Wanted." Because finding a suitable place can be pretty time-consuming, we started looking right away. Most nights during our second week here we had 5-6 different appointments to meet various occupants and their rooms to rent. The whole experience was tiring but also very entertaining. We met creepy old Canadian and Brazilian men who specifically requested 'females' in their ads, masses of hippies sharing old houses, recent college grads looking for more people to party with, retired couples looking for 'quiet professionals' to rent their room and full-on Kiwi families with kids just looking to liven things up a bit and make some extra cash.
Katherine, Amy (a neighbor) and Andrew
Along with meeting heaps of new people, room-hunting also taught us a lot about the area and how to get around. We saw places in Queenstown, Fernhill, Goldfield Heights, Kelvin Heights, Arrowtown, Arthur's Point and Franktown (all small neighborhoods outside of Queenstown). The price to rent a room varied according to location, amount of sunlight in winter, proximity to bus stops and supermarkets, number of bathrooms and other flatmates and what bills were included. For a single, one could expect to pay around $140 USD/week and for two people we are paying about $170/week which doesn't include monthly expenses like electricity and internet. (Everything happens by the week here - everybody gets paid weekly and pays rent weekly)
Views from our bedroom window
Luckily, after not too much searching, we met Andrew (33) and Katherine (27), a Kiwi brother and sister who had moved to Queenstown to escape Christchurch (where they grew up) and the earthquakes. They were renting a house with three bedrooms each with their own bathroom and had one room to fill. Although they both seemed really nice, it was the view from our room that clinched it. We both left feeling like that's the place we wanted to live, but had to wait for their agreement as they wanted to show it to some other people too. Fortunately, they chose us and we moved in to 10 Goldleaf Hill a few days ago.
Last night Andrew and Katherine took us out to celebrate being "new flatties". We had dinner at a Mexican restaurant and then had drinks at an American Texas-style bar called "Cowboys". The Kiwis thought this bar was hilarious and were particularly fond of the mechanical bull, the bartenders in cowboy hats and the saddles as seats everywhere. I swear, there's some kind of fascination and mystique that every American and non-American alike hold for the Wild West cowboy image. Regardless, it was a fun night. And in other news, I got a job as a housekeeper at the Hilton where Sean also works. I start tomorrow - wish me luck!
Sounds like lots of great things happening for you guys! I'm glad that things are coming together for you :-)
What an amazing view!!!
Wow, looks like a great place to live, glad things are working out!