How long have we been here?

It seems like ages. I know I’m about a week behind on the blog now, having ended our second weekend here, but my memory of our first few days has already faded. Maybe it’s because I have learned so many new things, I have lost other memories?

In any case, after the crazy storm that first week, I stopped in my new workplace to make sure I knew where I was going, and to meet some of the people I had talked to on the phone or via email. The people were nice enough, and I remembered almost none of them by the time I started on Monday. Haha!

The next night, the sky looked a bit scary, and I was afraid the storm was back! Luckily it was not...


On Friday that week, we decided we needed to look at cars. We started at the Nissan place, as we had seen the cute Micra all over town.
The coolest feature of this car is that entry is truly keyless – as long as you have the remote in your pocket or purse, you can just open the door and start the car! To lock the car, all you need to do is push any of the buttons on the door handles or the trunk hatch.

Next was the Toyota dealership, where we looked at the Yaris.
It was even cooler than the Nissan Micra! The back seats fold completely flat – the bottom of the seat moves forward, and then the top part folds down. There were also tons of secret compartments and cup holders. Handy, but a bit more expensive (unless we were to buy a used one).

Of course we also had to check out the Honda Jazz, which is known as the Fit in the US.

As a professed “Honda girl”, I know I can always trust the value and gas mileage of a Honda. The Jazz has some very cool features – not only do the back seats fold completely flat, but the seat part can also fold up against the back.
And it was very simple and fast to do! Oh, how I love Hondas. Not to mention the gas efficiency equivalent is approximately 63mpg! And the price of the car reflected all these things – it was by far the most expensive car we had seen that day (and the one we loved the most). Ah, did I mention that the Honda allows for standard driving without the need for a clutch?

We decided finding a place is a bit more important, and depending on the price we end up paying for an apartment, we will then decide how much we can spend on a car. (Well, that and Darren’s test drives.) Used cars are quite popular here, and relatively inexpensive compared to new cars. From what we are told, it is rare for a Kiwi to buy a new car, as buying a used car is easy and hassle-free. All used cars are also held to certain standards by the NZ government.