Feb 2

Friday, February 2

Friday was our day to get a car. It was our mission. We caught an early bus at 9:15 am up to the Warehouse and walked down to the used car lot where the Maxima and Bluebird were still available. We took the Bluebird for a test drive first and it seemed like a clean, quiet ride. Graham took a look at the motor, however, and said it might be hard to find parts for that car. We thought it might use less gas than the Maxima but he thought it would not be that much of a difference. That said, we went back to the used car lot and picked up the Maxima so Graham could look at it.

Except that Graham had a meeting and his co-worker Scotty was going to looking at the car when we came back. When we got back, Scotty said his parents were selling their 1990 Honda Integra because they were retiring, moving up north, and just bought a new sports car. The car had 188,000 kilometers but cost $2500. You never know what you're getting with a used car so we thought at least Scotty's parents had owned the car for the last 7 years (it was imported in 1999) and kept it well maintained. Scotty ran up to his parent's house and drove the car to the shop for us to have a drive in it.

While Scotty looked at the Maxima (theoretically, we don't know if he really did) we took the Integra for a ride. It was a smooth ride and for the price, it didn't seem like it could be beat. It was half the price of the other cars we were looking at. We figured, even if we have to put some money into the car, it still may be cheaper in the long run. It has a new battery and belts too.

We came back to the shop and told Scotty we'd take the Integra but we needed to return the Maxima. That meant I GOT TO DRIVE THE INTEGRA!!! while following Josh in the Maxima back to the used car dealer. I didn't get off to a good start when I opened what is the passenger side here and the driver's side back home! After returning the Maxima, we met up with Scotty and worked out the banking details, picked up the keys to the car, and got change of ownership papers from the Post Office.

When we were at the bank, we told the teller (who we'd spoken to earlier in the week) that we were withdrawing the $2500 to buy a car...and she said we must not be getting anything flash for that price! We took care of the paperwork (really easy...just two forms you pick up at the post office). Then, we returned our form to the post office, paid $9.00 and Scotty's parent's will mail in their form and we'll get our ownership papers in about a week. It was around 1:00 so we grabbed a McDonald's lunch to celebrate. The McDonald's was insanely crowded, too. Lunch done, we went to the Woolworth's across the street to buy sunscreen. So, even though we now had our own car, we still were riding to New Plymouth with the Collis's.

We made it home in time to finish packing and then Bernice was here at 2:00 to pick us up to go to a Rotary weekend trip to New Plymounth (3 hours northwest on the coast). We had to swing by the farm to pick up David and their suitcases. The night before David had told us to pack light because he and Bernice would be bringing birthday presents for their grandson Angus's first birthday. After we loaded up the car, we were heading down their road when we came across cows crossing the road. The cows are really big! I had to take a picture or two. Josh later said make sure I don't come off as being retarded and like I've never seen a cow before as we do have cows at home but I contend we never get this close to cows at home!

On the road to New Plymouth, we stopped for ice cream (I had the local hokey pokey flavor which is vanilla with hard caramel candy bits and Josh had bosenberry and hokey pokey). We sat at Virginia Lake in the town of Wanganui (Wan-gah-new-e) eating our ice cream before heading back on the road. I don't know if I'll ever get over looking at the sheep every where. I just want to hug the sheep they look so cute! We pulled over once to look at the ocean and the cliffs.

We made it to the town of Inglewood which is just outside of New Plymouth. We went to the Collis's daughter and son-in-law's house (Sarah and Andrew). They live on a dairy farm at the base of Mount Taranaki (Tar-ra-nah-key). And again, by dairy farm I mean really nice, big modern house with a view of the mountain out one window and an ocean view out another window! We chatted for a bit before heading to McFarlane's restaurant in town. Josh had the pork tenderloin and I had a chicken burger with fries. We tried Monteith's beer. It was good food but the restaurant (like the Verdict the night before) was hot. I don't think central air conditioning is common here. Sarah and Andrew brought baby Angus and he was a well behaved and happy baby. Sarah is pregnant again too.

After dinner, the Collis's took us to the home of Anne and Ross Smith in New Plymouth. They were going to have us as guests in their home over the weekend as they are fellow Rotarians and the Collis's would be staying with Sarah and Andrew in Inglewood. We reached the Smith house around 9 pm. We saw the dramatic coastline as we came into New Plymouth and as we drove up the Smith's driveway, we realized their house had a bird's eye view of the coastline.

Upon entering the Smith home, we were shown to our guest room which was right off the front door. Ross and Anne asked to have coffee and "biscuits" which we would call cookies....they were Mellowpuff cookies and were really good. We had coffee while sitting in an L-shaped window seat where two large panes of glass made up the corner window on the house. This window takes in the ocean view during the day light hours. David and Bernice stayed and chatted awhile and then when they left, Ross and Anne said we should get some rest for our big day out tomorrow.

Well, Josh and I had learned about this trip to New Plymouth the first day we arrived in New Zealand, however, we didn't really know what it was all about. We were told to bring comfortable walking shoes and a windbreaker or sweater...but we didn't really have an itinerary for the weekend.