The Nat in the Flat

Day one of flat-hunting with our new flatmate Nat commenced with a viewing in some student accommodation. The flat itself was lovely, spacious and airy, with a lot of natural light. However, the bedrooms were only singles, without much privacy, so we decided not to apply, although it was nice to know that there were flats out there that weren't as heinous as the ones in Zest. En route home, G grabbed a take-away mushroom and walnut burger, and we both grabbed a smoothie.

Later that day, we had a 1630 viewing at a house in Grafton, so we filled the time until then arranging more viewings! The house was a 20 minute walk away from the hostel, past a Jewish cemetery, over a motorway, to a part of town we'd never visited before. The house was quite old, and had a very wooden demeanour. For a house, it only had two cookers, and there were cobwebs and dust everywhere. There was very little natural light, and the beds were singles in massive rooms. The sofas were ripped and faded, and N declared that we could get a lot better for the same money. However, we were almost convinced to apply for the place as the agent was named “Fab Wang”.

Together we walked to the next viewing, but arrived there with half an hour to spare, so we went to “Columbus Coffee” which was just closing up, but G got an ice coffee with cream, and C got an ice coffee. We hung around on the steps outside a local church, drinking our coffees and chatting. Eventually it was twenty-five past, so we headed down this incredibly steep hill to the next flat.

The flat had a lot of natural light, and a balcony, it was by far the most pleasant place we'd seen so far, but again the rooms were only singles, and there were only two cookers. We mentioned this to the agent, and she told us about a flat which met our criteria and told us to come for a viewing the following day.

N invited us to a gathering of the mini queers at “The Eagle” on K-Road. We went down, and passed a very pleasant evening with some local Kiwi students. The guy sat on C's left was an hilarious barista who spent a good while explaining where all the good coffee beans could be found in the city. That coffee grinder we brought over needs putting to good use! The guy on G's right was an accounting student, and we had some good chats about the university of Auckland's support network.

We passed a very delightful evening, and left on a high after having persuaded the room of students that pandas are a conservationist's nightmare (sorry Ling-Ling!), and that millions of pounds would be better spent on saving species which are vital to the global ecology / food production systems, such as bees. We grabbed dinner at the Chinese food court, C had a very intense discussion with the nine-year-old behind the till about the best dinner to have (eventually deciding on a dish we can't pronounce), and G opted for veggie satay.