Darrel and I have spent the last week getting reacquainted with New Zealand. We flew into Wellington, Sharleen (Darrel’s Sister) picked us up at the airport. We made one stop on our way to Sharleen’s house; Darrel got out of the car and took two steps before we heard someone exclaim “Darrel, what are you doing here.” It was his good friend Kate. Small world down here!

We are currently staying in New Plymouth at Darrel’s parents place. We have been walking on the beaches, exploring art galleries and gazing at the huge snow covered volcano just to the East. Darrel and I couldn’t bring our snowboards with us (they are coming with our shipment in a month or two), so it is a bit bittersweet that NZ has more snow from last weeks storm than it received for the entire 2005 winter season- and they are forecasting more to come. Despite the snowy mountain, New Plymouth is quite warm, not T-shirt weather or sunbathing on the beach, but sunny and nice for walking, biking and knitting on the deck.

As you may have guessed, our roughly laid plans are changing fast. Our dreams of owning a trustworthy diesel have been shattered and our interest in living in a city has blossomed.

Our current destination is Christchurch; we just have to get there somehow. Christchurch is the third largest city in NZ. It is on the South Island and is an hour or so from ski areas and the Southern Alps.

We are in the process of finding a car to drive south, and it is not really all that fun. The problem with cars here, especially in our price range, is that they are imported used from Japan and likely “clocked” during the import process. Also, the manuals are in Japanese and it's harder or more expensive to find parts. So we are on the lookout for a NZ new hatchback or station wagon for our Tiki Tour to the South Island. We are chillin’ in New Plymouth till we sort it all out. We hope to be in Wellington by next weekend.