Barely Scratching the Surface: My New Baby!!

This morning I bought a car!!! I know, big deal, right?!?! Well since I arrived in NZ I have kept going back and forth on the car idea and when I arrived in Auckland 3 days ago I was once again "off" the car idea. Terry, however, has been working very hard to reconsider. I decided there was no harm in looking at a car so we went to the Ellerslie car fair this morning. (The car fair happens every Sunday morning and anyone can buy and/or sell a car there. A lot of people at this fair are people like me - traveling NZ - who need to get a car or get rid of their car as they are coming into or leaving NZ.) We walked around a bit and as we went around I was thinking it would really be sweet to get an SUV - I've never owned an SUV but always thought they'd be fun - so I kept my eyes peeled for one. We looked at lots of cars, SUVs, and vans but I wasn't finding anything I was in love with. Finally I did see a car I liked and so we went over to have a peek. Thank god for Terry, he was able to really help me make judgements on the cars - if they would be cheap or expensive to run, how they will do on the mountain roads of the South Island, if they'll pass the Warrant of Fitness. (The Warrant of Fitness is a yearly inspection that all cars have to pass in order to be on the road. You don't want to buy a car only to have it fail the Warrant 2 months later and need hundreds or thousands in repairs). The car I liked passed Terry's initial once over so we (Terry) took it for a test drive. I hadn't yet driven on the other side of the road and I wasn't about to start in some stranger's car. All felt good on the drive so I made the seller, Nathan, an offer of $2000 NZD. He was asking $2400 but I though it would be good to try. He accepted my offer so we had a deal. They do inspections on the spot there (for $140) so I had one done and all checked out so we got the money all sorted and I am not the proud owner of a 1992 Nissan Terrano. Here I am with Nathan and my new car:

I cannot tell you all how excited I am to have a truck so I can take full advantage of NZ! I am actually super excited to simply have a car. I'm free!!! I can do whatever I want whenever I want and change my mind on a dime without any problems! Yay! I was going to write the on my blog earlier today but I was just too excited to do it.

There are a few things I need to get fixed on the car but they should be cheap. I need to get it registered tomorrow which costs about $10 and then get insurance which will be about $200 - $300 for the year. Then fill up my diesel engine with fuel, about $100, and I'm good to go! AHHHHHH!!! It's just too exciting! Yay!!!!!

Here's a video of me driving for the first time on the left side of the road/right side of the car. I really think this is going to be one of my favorite cars of my entire life. I can just feel it!

Now onto other things like yesterday.

Terry and Mimi took me on a full-on sightseeing tour of the city yesterday. We went all over the north and south sides of the harbor. We started our tour in an area called Takapuna. We went for a walk along the coast where you walk in front of these gorgeous homes on the rocks. The tide was in so there wasn't a lot of room to walk in some areas we be did fine. Here's a photo:

We walked down the shore on the rocks and then walked back on the road. On the way back we walked past a street with a very Minnesota name. Check it out:

Minnehaha Avenue in the middle of Auckland, NZ. Crazy isn't it?!

After our walk through Takapuna we went over to Devonport, also on the North beaches, where there are a bunch of old bunkers from WWI and WWII that we built to defend Auckland/New Zealand in the event of an invasion by the Japanese. I'll be very honest, it never occurred to me that NZ would be involved in either of the World Wars but it was. It's probably a good thing Japan didn't try to attack, however, because I'm not sure how well NZ would have been able to defend against a large attack. (I really shouldn't be so judgmental but when I think about what America would've put together, NZ's small bunker system just doesn't seem all that grand.) Walking through the bunkers, however, was really cool. They are in a park but you don't have to pay to go in and anyone can just wander through. It's really cool this bit of history is so easily accessible to everyone. Here are a few photos:

Terry walking through the bunker.

It was great vantage point of the city there as well. Here's a few photos of that:

The city.

The CBD on the right and Mt. Eden on the left.

Rangitoto volcano.

After walking through the bunkers at Devonport we went into the city, to New Market, for lunch at a Malaysian restaurant. I order what the woman at the table next to me was eating and it was delicious. It was easier to order that way than trying to actually figure out what to eat from an entire cuisine I've never eaten. Lunch was delicious and I got the story of how Terry (a Kiwi) and Mimi (and Edina girl) met. Quite a long and interesting story that started in Mexico, south of Tijuana.

Lunch was delicious and we were all quite full afterwards. We got back in the car and headed out to the south side of the harbor to Savage memorial, the Silos, and a marina. At the savage memorial two wedding parties were doing photos and no one looked very happy in either party - hope that's not a predictor of the marriages. At the silos we got to see a lift bridge go up as a few larger boats came through to a small part of one of the marinas and also went to a cool art show. After this amazing tour of the city I was totally beat and had a nana nap for about 30 minute before heading over to Rosie's place for a party. I got to the party about 8:30 pm but was totally exhausted by 12:30 and went to bed in Rosie's bed. The party went on late into the night but I had to get up for car shopping this morning so I needed my rest.

Back to today:

After getting the car all sorted out around 1pm Terry took me out for a bit of a driving lesson. (Foreigners are legal to drive on New Zealand roads for up to 12 months on their foreign license). I did pretty well, it just takes a lot of though, especially when turning. It was easier than I was expecting, however, and I think that's because between Aus and NZ I've been riding on the left side of the road for 3 months. It's not totally natural but it's not that hard. More difficult than driving on the other side of the road is driving a vehicle that is so much larger than anything I've ever driven in the states. I just have to give myself room and I should be okay. No narrow alleyways for Annabelle for quite a while!

This afternoon Heydon took me over to the Western beaches. It was very windy but a nice day. On our way we stopped at Karekare waterfall. Beautiful!

Can you spot the eel?

After the waterfall we headed over to Piha beach - a "black" sand beach that's great for surfing. It's crazy how you cross the isthmus and the Pacific Ocean on one side is so calm and the Tasman Sea on the other side is so rough. I did not go swimming at Piha beach, the surf was just way too dangerous for someone like me from the middle of the North American Continent.

We walked down the beach a bit and then went on a hike over to a secluded little beach as well as a rocky cut out that Heydon referred to as the blow hole. Here are some great photos from today:

Looking down to Piha beach.

Lion Rock on Piha beach. I don't see it... do you?

Piha beach.

A small beach you can see from the trail.

Piha beach. Check out those waves!

A small shell shaped beach.

A rock wall we had to scale. There's no one in this picture for scale but The area from the bottom of the rock wall until the grasses start is like about 20 feet. It is almost straight up and down and you just have to climb. It's like true rock climbing, only without the harness. Coming down wasn't bad but I was not a fan of going back up. It wasn't bad until you almost reach the start of the path and there' a big area with nothing to grab onto and the wind was blowing really hard. Heydon had to help me.

This is the blow hole. The water rushed in through a very narrow cut out in the rock (see below) and comes onto this small beach. If the tide was out we could've gone down there but the waves were very strong and the tide was in so it wasn't very safe to try to make it down in between waves. Looked like a good was to drown.