Well, as much as I enjoyed my old apartment, I decided it was time for a change and so far I have been quite pleased. Although I really enjoyed living by myself and being centrally located downtown, I found a great place with a couple of my friends / co-workers. I moved into a 5 bedroom, 3.5 bathroom house in Orakei (suburb of Auckland) with friends Alex and Steve who you have seen in other posts.
The place is not right downtown but is only about 5 Km from my building. The added benefits are that 1) it is a very big house with plenty of space, 2) We have great views of the city and the ocean, 3) it is just a quick walk to the local park and beach, 4) I have a couple of good flatmates that I get along with well and 5) I finally have a balcony (2 balconies actually).
The house is 4 floors with the first floor consisting of the garage (with lots of storage space), laundry, and foyer. The next floor has 4 bedrooms and two bathrooms. We use one of the rooms on this floor as the spare bedroom / ironing room. We each have our own bathrooms as well. Alex and Steve have nice rooms with a view but I have a huge ensuit bathroom.
The third floor has a large living area, spacious balcony with great views, and the kitchen/dining area as well as a half bath.
The top floor was previously used as a bedroom but we are using it as the Movie Room with a huge TV and my couch and recliners from my old apartment. This floor also has a full bath, walk-in closet and another large balcony with even better views.
To top it all off, the house even has an elevator! The original owner had it installed as there was an elderly woman living here. We don't use it much but it was great when we had to move everything in.
Yeah, I'm really enjoying it here.
The new house!
Ha! - this is the lift (elevator)
My bedroom (blame my parents for the mess as they were here visiting). Sorry the picture turned out blurry, I'll try to remember to replace it
My bathroom
The dining area
My mom visiting and put to work in the kitchen
View from the living area into the kitchen
The third floor living area with the balcony
View of the city from the balcony
Non-zoomed view of the city and a bit of the water from the third floor balcony
Non-zoomed view of the ocean from the third floor balcony
The fourth floor TV lounge
My dad relaxing in the Movie Room
View out to the ocean from the fourth floor balcony
Auckland sunset from the 4th floor balcony