Monday and Tuesday we went looking for a car to buy. When I first visited New Zealand back in '92 cars were very expensive. You could buy a banger for a hundred dollars but a decent car cost a fortune. Since then the government has scrapped the duty on importing second hand cars and the country is flooded with 2nd hand japanese cars (fortunately the japs drive on the left). There are so many car dealerships here and competition is so fierce that you can get a great deal. We took several for a test drive (including a skyline which is a real boy racer car that I was so tempted to buy) before settling for a 93 nissan bluebird with electric windows and mirrors, CD player, air-con and automatic transmission (it is almost impossible to get manual jap cars). The car has 70,000 miles on the clock and a two year warranty on parts and labour and cost us just over $7000 which is about 2300 stlg! The car is being valetted and getting a service so we> are picking it up this afternoon.

Also on tuesday we left our nice expensive hotel (valet parking!) and moved into a bed and breakfast which is clean but very basic, more like a backpackers really. Oh well it is an incentive to get a job I suppose. We also got quite a lot of official stuff sorted. We have a PO box address and my mobile has a new lease of life with a Vodafone New Zealand pre pay sim card so you can phone me (though it might cost a bit) . We also have a bank account and I have a contact at an IT recruitment firm who is trying to find me work.