Car!

It is my car! Yes, I know it is tiny. Even with the seat all the way back, I have to turn my legs sideways just to get into the driver's seat. It is a 1989 Honda Civic 36i Special Edition with 290,000 km on it (~180,000 miles). It has tons of kms on it, but is in great shape and runs really well. Because of the special 1.6L engine it has, it rockets up hills but still gets great gas milage (~36 mpg). It should be nice and cheap to run for the 3 months that I need it, and hopefully will still have decent resell value. It cost me $800 USD, and with car insurance and a tune-up will still be under $1,000 USD.

And already in the first week of owning it, it has more than paid for itself. Kristin missed all of her plans for the second half of her break due to her illness, so we decided to go out for a couple of days to make the most of the last 4 days of her break.

First, we drove to Hanmer Springs for the night. There is a lovely little hot springs there, and so the day was spent walking around and sitting in the hot springs... a nice way to unwind from the stress of the last week.

Next we drove to a beach on Pegasus Bay and camped just off the beach. It got cold at night, but it was fun exploring the ocean during the day. Kristin and I even managed to accidentally go wading in the ocean! It started off as a "Lets go exploring over there!" and ended with us standing on a tiny little rock as the tide came in and the waves got bigger. The only way out was wading!

The rest of the day was spent doing wine tastings and nature walks. Another night was spent camping on the beach... Overall a nice relaxing couple of days.

And most importantly, something that would have been completely and utterly impossible without my own car. :)

So, my car has an appointment to get a checkup and oil change tomorrow. After that, I leave Kristin and head south. I have a meeting in Central Otago with the viticulturist at Felton Road Winery (http://www.feltonroad.com) to discuss employment! Wish me luck!

~matt