House Hunters Success

OK, OK, OK...now that our HHI episode has officially aired in the United States, I can give you an even more behind-the-scenes look at our experience! In order to protect the integrity of the show and keep some things in life a mystery, I won't tell you all of the details about the show...but if you have any questions, feel free to send me an email or post a comment and I'll get back to ya!

Anyway...

So the filming in Raleigh was relatively quick and painless...again I say it was not our best decision to spend 8 hours filming all over Raleigh & Wake Forest the day after our first transcontinental flight home, but such is life! We started out at 8am at the Peters' house and did our 'formal' questioning back and forth...and back again! From there, we drove (and got lost) all over downtown trying to get to the FBI headquarters to reenact getting our fingerprints done for our NZ visas. That afternoon, they filmed me chatting with Becky and Drew chatting with Charlie about what it's like to move abroad. Sadly, I don't think Raleigh (our dog) made the cut in the actual episode, but obviously leaving her behind was a huge deal...for Drew.

Skip ahead to mid-January here in Auckland...

Keep in mind that January here is the equivalent to July back home so it was very warm and sunny (as you could probably tell if you've already seen the episode.) Traipsing all over Auckland and in and out of various apartments with NO air conditioning was a fun treat!

So we met our film crew out at Mission Bay on Friday morning and filmed out there with our awesome realtor, Wayne. We got lots of stares from passersby when the camera and sound guys were shooting from every imaginable angle. It's funny things that we didn't think about ahead of time...like I had to take off my necklace (which was really cute, I must say) because it interfered with my microphone, they had to make the cafe turn off their music because it messed up the sound, we had to keep recreating conversations to the best of our ability so they could film Drew talking...then film me talking...then film Wayne talking. And that was just the first 30 minutes!

After that segment was done, we had to change in the car before heading over to film at the Auckland Museum. We got to sit through the Maori cultural show and then wait while the crew got every single performer to sign waivers to be on TV. Then, we changed again and did some driving around the city with the Go-Pro camera attached to our car on our way to see the first apartment. It was lots of talking, filming, talking, filming and then our first day was finally over.

For Day 2, we got up early and headed just down the street to Wynyard Quarter to film us walking by the water and 'exploring' the area.



Then we drove up to the North Shore so they could show us purchasing our car from the auction lot. After that, we grabbed lunch with the crew and then headed off to the 2nd house (which we've been told so far was everyone's favorite!) We were definitely in shock with the awesomeness of the second house, but it was sadly too far outside of downtown. We had fun shooting over there and then headed back to our actual apartment. We had asked a few of our good friends here in Auckland to make cameo appearances and pretend like we hang out in our tiny kitchen all the time! It was lots of fun to have them be involved...and hopefully they like it, too.

 

Then on Day 3, we did all of the filming at our apartment. We had to open up all of the blinds, keep everything very clean and think of all of the things that we absolutely LOVE about our apartment so people would know why we chose it :)

After all of that was wrapped up, we grabbed lunch again and then headed out to Mt. Eden to film our decision scenes. It was suuuuuuper windy out that day, but they were able to get all of the shots they needed.

On Monday, Drew had to head back to work but I went out with the crew to film some final scenes in and around our apartment as well as me walking around getting used to the city. The last thing they did was drive around to various parts of Auckland to really capture the essence of New Zealand.

This really was an amazing experience and one that I would imagine most people wouldn't get to have. We feel really lucky that we got to do this and that we'll have this as a living memory for years to come. Now...we just can't wait to actually see the episode!

Cheers,