We bought our first car!

We now are officially a grown up couple because we bought our first car together this week! Our new plan is fully in motion. We spent our last days in Christchurch applying for jobs and then rejecting said jobs. We had offers coming out of our ears and it was so very overwhelming, when we were not fully ready to travel anywhere. We decided we need to buy a car first and then seeing as there is plenty of work out there we will apply for jobs when we have the transport to go anywhere sorted. We went to visit both the museum and Quake City, an exhibition created about the earthquakes. Quake City was very impacting as an exhibition and it's hard to even imagine that the stories happened in the city you are standing in. I don't think until you are there while an earthquake is happening will any tourist ever be able to comprehend just what that means and involves, certainly when you're from a country that is blessed with pretty much zero chance of natural disasters occurring to any sizeable level at least. New Zealand battles with being sat right where tectonic plates meet and if that wasn't enough it also has volcanoes up north. It's the price you pay for some of the best mountains and scenery in the world. The next day prior to going to the museum I treated myself to my first hair cut since leaving the UK and although it was the quickest hair cut I've ever had I'm actually rather pleased with the result. Quite conveniently as well, Ben and Jerry's has only just come to New Zealand and are setting up a shop in Christchurch before launching products into the supermarkets. That meant they'd set up a pop up ice cream van with free ice creams for promotional work. Not only this but the two best flavours of cookie dough and chocolate fudge brownie were on offer. It's amazing how excited you can get over ice cream especially great ice cream that reminds you of home. When we finally did reach the museum, after visiting a shopping area made from shipping containers, we spent the rest of the day soaking up knowledge about the history of New Zealand and the Maori people. I think we are a little like my Dad, we read everything which meant that in one 4 hour period or so we'd completed 3 museum rooms... 3 out of about 25! It was so interesting that we have already decided when we return to Christchurch we will have to pick up where we left off. I'd also like to point out one room was a National Geographic exhibition of 100 of their best all time photographs. So even with just looking photos and reading a small caption about them it still took us that long to do 3 rooms! The stories behind some of the images were incredible and it's amazing the lengths photographers have to go to and the situations they put themselves in to get the shot. I found it most amazing because some just happen by chance and it's not about whether a "perfect" photo is captured it's the story behind the images even if that image is pretty poor or blurry. It's about capturing animal and human behaviour, personalities or a feeling behind an event and I did find it very inspiring. We came back from Christchurch and moved into Bruce and Candy's spare room. Nick set to work straight away earning our keep by digging up potatoes with Cassidy for Christmas lunch. It's quite hard to believe it's Christmas when it's so hot. We went car hunting the next day and found a garage that sells cars for under $4000 and had amazing reviews online and every car comes with a warranty so it was all rather perfect. That's where we found our little gem, Emmy, a 1996 Nissan Sentra with only 94000kms on the clock. After a WOF was done the next day she was ours for the taking. Nick went and helped out at the shed one afternoon, I think he's been missing it and the guys definitely appreciated it! The rest of the time has been spent helping prep Christmas lunch and playing with the girls. It's rather nice being within a family unit for Christmas and it certainly does make being away at this time of year a little easier.En savoir plus