Complete Update (by Mindy)

Read on ONLY if you want a detailed writing of life (OUR life) in New Zealand!! We are staying in a motel room that has a little sitting area and kitchen. We bought groceries at Foodtown, which is your regular, run-of-the-mill grocery (except that there are no recognizable brand names other than Coca-Cola). We were intrigued by the fact there is no grape jelly and there is a kind (not brand, but type) of cheese called “Tasty.” We also did some more experimenting in the cookie, or should I say biscuit, area. This time we tried Nice (a sweet cracker with chocolate on top) and Afghans (taste like chocolate covered gingersnaps). Both were tasty, but Timtams are still the best in our opinion. It is funny to shop on the cookie isle because most are advertised as “digestives”—meaning they are made with fiber (I may be WAY skinny next trip home since my favorite snack is a laxative!). We did buy a loaf of bread from a bakery b/c it smelled so heavenly. There are little specialty stores—fruit/veggie shops, butchers, and bakers--that we will probably use once we find a place to let (rent). The weather was “maddening” today (according to locals). B and I just thought it was great blustery winter weather—windy with on/off drizzle. This is evidently uncommon weather for Auckland because it blew out electricity in many parts of the city. (We couldn’t buy our car b/c internet connection to the capitol was down!) The South Island received 2 feet of snow (that was the count this morning and it was expected to continue throughout the day!). It blew our minds a bit when the news played “Walking in a Winter Wonderland” and showed pictures that viewers had sent in of the snow—in JUNE!! The song had a bit of a Pavlovian effect on us b/c we both wanted to run out and buy a Christmas tree.

As I mentioned before we bought a car! It is a 1997 Mitsubishi RVR. We looked on-line (www.trademe.co.nz is the NZ equivalent of E-Bay) and found that most of the cheap cars were located on lots, so today we headed out to look at nearby lots. The first thing that amazed us was the response of the salesmen. We were on lots for a full 10-15 minutes (even walked through the main office!) and were not form tackled by salesmen trying to get their next paycheck!! After leisurely touring the car parks and deciding which cars we wanted to enquire about we simply walked in to the office and up to the desk of the owner and talked to him. The second surprise (which B has written about previously) is that none of the salesmen were out to screw us!!! They gave us honest, professional opinions--even talked us out of a more expensive car for a less expensive car b/c it was more appropriate for how we wanted to use it!. When we decided on a car the guy simply gave us a quote, lower than sticker price, and that was it. No negotiating with the “man upstairs” that you never see but whom magically provides approval for your purchase price. The owner who worked with us sent the car back to the “main garage” to get cleaned and serviced.

We learned several interesting facts about autos in NZ. They have a huge used market thanks to Japan--Japanese only buy new autos and generally trade every couple of years. NZ exports Japan’s “used cars” so most of the cars here are Japanese. This actually just happened within the past 15-20 years. Before that cars were VERY expensive (or so we were told) and you had to pay extra for each upgrade you wanted—power locks, windows, a/c, etc.. Since they are Japanese exports, Kiwis have to “expand” the radio to receive all of the channels—before expansion you only get like FM 76.0-89.0. So my RVR is getting its radio expanded as we speak. It has CD and cassette AND a remote control! My particular car was “used like a what-you-call rental” so it has very low kms [Question: would you call that kilometage?—we’re getting a crash course in the metric system -- we went to buy an elementary “how to measure” workbook, but couldn’t find one to our satisfaction] and thus should have a high resale value.

Last night we were entertained by watching “Meerkat Manor”. A comedy type documentary that follows a meerkat family in a desert and adds its own witty commentary. In last night’s episode the family had had a fight and had split into 2 groups. One group only had 8 members and their leader was very “nervous” and the adults were not providing well for the 2 babies. The other group was well fed and one of their babies were being spoiled and running from adult to adult eating everyone’s food. One meerkat was on her own because she couldn’t decide with which group to go and live. We had to change the channel when she went back to her hole hungry and flea-ridden because of her deep depression of being alone and there was a rattlesnake in one of the tunnels with her. There have been some VERY interesting shows on TV here!

I think that has everything up-to-date. We have two properties to look at tomorrow afternoon. The one we are most interested in doesn’t seem to be too interested in us b/c the owner feels it would be too small for a couple. However, when informed that we only had one car and no furniture at present [We did get a free pillow from a bed store today b/c we were quoted a price -- we are thinking of going to a different branch and giving another name so we’ll each have a pillow! J] the owner seemed much more interested. We are not sure if it is really THAT small or if the owner is just worried about his off-street parking. We will let you know when we find a place and hopefully send some pics of me in my new car! J

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Well, we had difficulty posting this so I’m adding more information! Yesterday (Tuesday) we found TWO properties we liked. Our favorite is VERY small—one bedroom, one large sitting area and kitchen and bathroom. HOWEVER, it is VERY cheap AND in a BEAUTIFUL spot. It is really just a back house of a larger home. The other is larger—2 bedroom—AND it comes with all new whiteware (appliances). It is a little more, but still well in our price range, BUT it is in a bit more residential area. We have a third property to look at today. At this juncture we are trying to decide if we continue with dream (and get the smaller, but better located house) or add a dose of reality and get the one with white wear. We’ve pretty much decided—any guesses of which way we are leaning?!!

Also today, we are going to an auction we discovered happens every Wednesday night to see if we can find anything to put in our new place. We will let you know how that goes!!