Getting Settled

Wells and I certainly hit the ground running getting ourselves set up so there hasn't been too much writing time; this will cover our first couple of days.

I arrived at 4:15pm (16:15) Thursday and by 4:30 we were in the local mall, super conveniently located just down the street, starting our new joint bank account at Westpac.  Next we went a few doors down to get, what else, cell phones! We are now new members of 2 Degrees mobile.  Since Wells can change the sim in his Blackberry, he still has his phone, and I have one of his old phones since I cannot do the same with mine. Goodbye iPhone :( 

We got dinner in the mall (as we have no food yet) then headed back home and greeted Oswald, the little tabby cat that we are taking care of while we rent our flat- I'm sure there will be pictures of him to come!

Day 2:

Okay, so we have a back account and cell phones, now what? Food and a car!

Luckily, the grocery store is also in walking distance, but as we learned on this trip: Food is expensive! I guess they are on an island so many things are shipped, but still. $8 for a cheap frozen pizza, and over $3 for a head of iceberg lettuce. Plus, everything is in cost per kilogram, which is something I am definitely not used to... We'll see how this goes. 

When looking up information on working holidays in New Zealand, it was great to hear that since a lot of people take a gap year, there is a lot of 'recycling' that goes on in terms of jobs, lodging and also cars due to the transient nature of these particular people.  We had found a great place online where you could buy a car, get the insurance, mechanical check, etc and they would also buy it back from you! So we take our walk from Riccarton, through the park- where signs of spring were showing:

                                          Wild tulips!

And then to the center of town. Soon, the destruction from the February earthquake was evident.  Buildings showed signs of damage, some lots were leveled and streets were closed, but it really wasn't until we got the the car mart and found an empty building and empty parking lot that it really hit us.  Businesses were closed, even ones that didn't look damaged.  We went next door and a man told us that the center of the city, cathedral area, is still closed off. And it is, with a chain link fence. And this is 8 months later.

Luckily, the same man was able to point us in the direction of the one backpacker car mart he knew was still open. It was, and the selection was... Interesting. Mostly old vans and station wagons (so that a bed can be made by folding the back seats down for camping/traveling) and the newest ones were from the late nineties.  We managed to get a good deal with a Subaru station wagon, that we now affectionately call 'Betsy'.  She is a 1997 with over 200,000 miles, but the mechanical check proved her to be in very good health.  We paid about 2500 and then had to buy the vehicle history and some insurance.  They don't buy then cars back, but we can leave it in their parking lot to sell ourselves when we are done. Although the test drive was pretty terrifying- they drive on the other side of the road!- we made it home safe and sound and are very happy with our choice: