At the bottom of the valley there is Tunnel Gully Recreational area. It’s about an hours walk along the Rimutaka Trail to get there and a welcoming picnic area to rest before starting the hike back up the hill.

Bob and Sheila did this walk a week or so ago and took a picture that shows a completely new view – our house with Mike and Andrea’s. Admittedly you need a good telephoto lense or bionic eyesight to see it but thought it was interested neighbourly views.

There’s been plenty of progress on Mike and Andrea’s house and it’s almost watertight. Not too soon given the way the weather has been but it’s good for them that things are moving along as well as they are.

There are the usual homeowners grumbles – they’ve put the wrong handles on the windows we understand – but they do at least have a roof and windows and their cedar garage and front doors (even if this pic shows them open!).

I’ve never been hugely lucky with neighbours apart from a lovely older couple in Ouston, Chester-le-Street, who had the downstairs flat. Although they fought all the time and I could listen to what they watched on TV they were really friendly and always concerned for me. I like to think that I reciprocated this neighbourly friendship (well not the arguing and loud TV).

Here in New Zealand I think we may be luckier with our neighbours. Last night we held a neighbourly get together with 10 of the neighbours around for drinks and a nosey in the house.

Here’s the roll call so you know for future:

• Jim and Kathleen – the people who sold us the land, a wonderful Irish couple . Jim is a self confessed nosey neighbour when it comes to house building and kept a close eye on development during the build. Kathleen is a very useful person to know, she works at the local council!
• Ross and Janet – the people who own the first section off the road, parents to our immediate neighbour Doug. They keep sheep that keep escaping and the beef cattle that lived in Doug’s paddock for a while.
• Mike and Andrea – he’s from Essex and Andrea’s a kiwi. Their house build is underway on the middle section of the sub division.
• Doug and Shilo – Doug’s a real country boy and spends hours hunting wild boar in the Rimutaka hillsides. He’s currently living in a bach (looks more like a garden shed) until he starts building his house at the end of this year. Shilo is is long suffering girlfriend who puts up with his wild hunting ways.
• Lee and Keith – the neighbours whose trees set on fire a few weeks ago. Keith’s parents are British, from Redcar and London.

Jim and Kathleen took some pictures of our house from their section and brought them with them to the neighbourly soiree. I thought this was a deeply thoughtful thing to do as it would be rare that we would otherwise be able to see this view.

I know I am biased but I do think the house looks really cool – nestled amongst the landscape in a sympathetic way. Good to know that they can’t see into our bedroom windows!

Mike and Andrea’s house is growing but I regret to say not every day. We had a spurt of framing and then nothing. Now the roof rafters have gone on but the builders seem to only work every alternate day.

The roofers were due on site last week and now they’ve had to go and do another job as it looks like the builders are going to take another week to get the final purlins in place.

Framing and roofing is a critical time in a build. You need to get the lid on top at the earliest opportunity. Whether it’s rain or sun the effects can be equally devastating to timber that can swell, warp and generally misbehave in ways that home builders don’t want to happen.

As I look out of the window of domestic executive HQ I can see the top of the roof and chimney which in some ways is a comforting sight and not too intrusive. Let’s hope the builders get their fingers out otherwise the handover date in May will certainly be a challenge.

I couldn’t resist checking out what the views will be like from our neighbours house so went up to have a peak at the views. They have some awesome views of the valley and hills and a splendid view of a fantastic house built close by!

As part of the visit we decided to introduce Fortnum and Mason to the steers which are living in the paddock next door. After much fuss about what they were the bassets finally decided that it was safe to look, sniff and maybe make friends.