On Saturday, we had an appointment with Kiwibank to officially open our bank accounts. Since we opened them before we got here and even transferred our money, she basically just gave us our EFTPOS cards and ordered Visa Debit cards for us. EFTPOS cards are cards you can use at any point of sale in the country and in ATMs, but they can't be used online as they don't have a visa or mastercard link. A few people in our hostel opened bank accounts with banks other than Kiwibank before they came, which turned out to be frustrating for them. Though they had the account already open, they had to provide proof of address and wait then wait 7 business days for any card; with Kiwibank we provided the proof in advance (they wanted proof of our US addresses, for whatever reason) and so we didn't have the waiting period. I recommend them highly.
But NOW onto the fun stuff!! Saturday after the bank, we decided it was time to get serious about the car. Our hostel has a connection with a guy named Mike who runs a used car lot, so we figured what-the-heck and called him. I made a terrible mistake though- he asked our budget in advance, and I told him the real number. Whoops. We got to the lot and he had a few cars-- at 1998 Volkswagon Passat and a 1998 Subaru. They were pretty gross, to be honest. The upholstery hadn't been cleaned and they were all cob-webby. Still, by all accounts Mike is a trustworthy guy so we had faith that the car innards would be good. He told us to test-drive the car and we decided to, even though Kara and I were both pretty terrified of driving. He didn't come with but he told us (extremely quickly) where to go and how to get back. We were too terrified for it to sink in.
I drove the first car- the Subaru. Driving on the left isn't so bad, actually, when you're just going- but it's little things that trip you up. Remembering to look the other direction first when making a left turn (as left turns into the far lane...) is hard, and trying to keep to the middle of the road and not too far over to the left has been tough.
It will not surprise you to learn that we got totally lost on the way to wherever Mike told us to go, so we just pulled over into a side street and I drove back. SUCCESSFULLY. I SUCCESSFULLY DROVE ON THE LEFT SIDE OF THE ROAD. Kara drove the Volkswagon, also very successfully. We didn't like either of the cars as they were not clean and were dented from accidents and Mike was, how mysterious, asking exactly our budget for them. We decided to pass and go to the Ellerslie Car Fair on Sunday. Mike was gracious about it but did tell us specifically to watch out as there are a lot of scammers at the fair- particularly the Arabs, LOL. I did not mention my Lebanese background as I wanted to make sure we got a ride home. :p We're really glad we went to see Mike though as it gave us a chance to drive and see that it wasn't as scary as we thought, and also gave us an idea of what we were looking for (and not looking for).
He also explained what we needed to look for at the fair. Very important are the Registration (licenses stay with the car rather than the owner, and you pay each year to update the registration. Ours is good only until December and then we'll need to renew it- some were good well into 2015) and Warrent of Fitness (a lights and breaks check that ever car needs to keep current- it does not check the engine though). He is overall a good dude and would have tried to sell us a better car if he'd had one, I think.
Since we were going to the car fair, we needed to have cash on hand. Kara and I went to the ATM Saturday and each took out over a grand . It ended up coming out in $20s. You've never lived until you've played look-out on the side of the road as your friend counts $1000 in 20s. I was readying my kung-fu moves against everyone who walked anywhere near us, but sadly they were not needed.
The car market was super cool! They were tons of cars in all sorts of price-ranges, and there were great deals to be had. We were hoping for a small hatchback as want to be a little higher off the road when driving. Luckily we had tons of options! We were immediately drawn to a beautiful old teal volkswagon. It was a ridiculous looking car, which seemed fun for our year in NZ. Alas and alack, we test-drove it and it had a hard time starting up. It was kind of a junker, so though we were sad we moved on. Quality over color, as we are logical ladies.
We then test drove a silver Peugot hatchback and decided it was just right, although the heat didn't work. We haggled the price down to a really wonderful number because of that (though ask me why I will now be making fun of Kara forever), and sent it off to get examined before finalizing the sale. The Ellerslie Fair has guys who will do a full check of the car before you buy it, and thank GOD they do. If we knew enough about cars we'd probably have realized that the heat not working was indicative of a bigger problem- which in this case was a blown head gasket. Apparently it would have cost $1500 to fix it, HA. We didn't buy it! But a very nice man who works with the guys who do the checks introduced us to Rocky, who is from Fiji and who was pretty great. He had a little green Daihatsu Storia (which is basically an off-brand Toyota Duet) that I had noticed earlier when we were test-driving the first car.
It was in pristine cosmetic condition, and the reason we didn't go to it earlier was that it was $500 more expensive then the Peugot. Now we knew why! We talked with Rocky for a while and test drove it and haggled the price down and got it checked out. It has only a few minor problems- we might need to seal a few oil leaks and get a new cam belt, and the drivers side window is sticky. But overall it was great, and in beautiful condition for a car form 1998, so WE BOUGHT IT!!!
Rocky took us to the AA to get the title changed, and we got to hear about his life. He left Fiji 13 years ago and hasn't been back since, though he says it's hard to find the opportunities he wants in New Zealand. He has a brother in Australia and another in California, and they haven't been back yet either. He loved Fiji and still has tons of friends there, but wanted a better chance. He worked for 3 years to get his visa to New Zealand, and he was rejected once. It definitely reminded me to not take coming from a country like the US for granted. After we changed the title, we counted out all our 20s again and he sent us on our way.
I DROVE US HOME. SO SUCCESSFUL. Kara and I celebrated by having a much much much needed stress-gelato at an adorable place on Ponsonby, which is the main road near us.
I think we can safely say of the past few days: VIC. TOR. Y.