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Published: December 4th 2006
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Remember, remember the 5th of November,
Gunpowder, treason and plot,
I see no reason why gun powder treason,
Should ever be forgot.”
The Gun Powder Plot was foiled on November 5, 1605 but the memory of Guy Fawkes lives on as the single biggest kiwi fireworks event, next to New Year’s Eve. Our best local information sent us packing on a 7 km walk to Mission Bay where we learned on our arrival that all fireworks are outlawed. We did find an excellent Indian restaurant and enjoyed a scenic stroll along Auckland’s picturesque harbour front. The second denial on our efforts to see the public fireworks displays saw us bundled up in Albert Park just off of Queen Street, downtown. There were no fireworks from the Sky Tower as promised but the unofficial show put on by the neighbourhood kids was well worth the price of admission. They fired sky rockets at each other while running through the park holding roman candles and sparklers in their hands. “Mayhem in the Streets!” read the headline in the Auckland Herald. This just seemed all the more authentic and true to the character of Guy Fawkes.
We got out of Fiji just
prior to the evacuation order for all Kiwi’s. The coup was expected any day and travel advisories recommended all tourists depart. While I’m sure our safety and best interest was the motive for the warnings I seriously doubt that the effects of a coup, master minded and implemented on classic Fiji Time, would have had any adverse effects on our time at the Funky Fish Resort. The sting rays would still fly gracefully past us while we snorkelled, the waves would still have been surfed and the tiny hermit crabs, with numbers inked on their backs in black magic marker, would still be racing out of the sand circle to their hearts content. The whole event really just made for interesting reading from our new base in Auckland.
We arrived at the airport with no accommodation arrangements but the information centre attendants were charming and extremely helpful in getting us a reasonable place. They even bartered down the price of our room by 30% and a short shuttle ride later we were settling into the newly opened 5 star Quadrant Suite Hotel. About $40 kiwi more than a downtown hostel the Quadrant offered us two bedrooms, in room laundry,
harbour views and wireless internet. We unloaded our multitude of bags and settled in. There was business to do in Auckland and the Quadrant was to be our base of operations.
We cracked open the school books, got reconnected to the world and set our sights on the prime directive; to buy a vehicle. We started by checking the notice boards at the many downtown “Backpackers” also known as hostels. We were pleased to see that a variety of cheap vehicles were available and we quickly learned of the public used car markets that take place weekly in Auckland. These weren’t scheduled to happen until the weekend so we bought the kiwi version of the Bargain Finder. This led us to a few used car lots that looked worth checking out. Our first stop was quite promising. The dealer sent his “man” over to our hotel and drove us to his lot. We saw several cars in the Under $5000 lots that would meet our needs. We took a van for a test drive, while out we noticed another used car lot so we stopped in. That salesman, not typical by North American standards, gave us great advice on
where to buy a car. Specifically he told us that we certainly did not want to buy anything he had since they were all over priced and not suited to our needs. We thanked him for his insights and returned the test car to the more typical used car dealer. On our arrival back to the lot, Angie noticed a nail protruding out of one of the tires. Mr Cheese casually pulled it out to obvious air loss and told us that it was nothing to worry about and promptly whisked it away to the shop.
While waiting for our ride home, we met a most friendly guy named Zee who was buying a two door Ford that he was planning to gut and use for dirt track racing. His opinion was that you can’t buy a decent bike for $3,200 so the Ford would likely not disappoint him in the long run. He gave us his number and invited us to dinner and told us to call him if we needed anything. (In case you thought you missed something, you didn’t. Yes, this is the guy we met for two minutes at a used car lot!) We got
a ride back to the hotel, tired by the hassle of car shopping but encouraged that we would be able to find something that suited us without paying through the nose.
Saturday rolled around and we arrived at the Downtown Car Market early as vehicles were still rolling in. The market caters heavily to the backpacker market and each vender was keen to show you how easy it was to set up a foamy mattress inside the car for camping in. Here too we saw a few rigs that we felt suited us. We stood by as the venders slashed their prices as the morning wore on. We learned of one objective man at the entire car market, this being the independent mechanic that provided on site vehicle inspections, safety check and clear title certifications. At $120 per, he made at least a grand while we watched. A likeable guy, Bevin was his name, he gladly answered all of our questions and he was not shy about giving us advice. We again passed on a few prospects knowing that Sunday held the largest car market in all of New Zealand.
The subway train had 12 people on it;
all backpackers, all heading to the car market. This market had hundreds of cars of all qualities and prices. We fancied a Mercedes Benz and a mini van and test drove both. We staked our claim on the van by sitting inside of it and deliberated over what price we would offer. Just then our man Bevin shows up and says he’s found us the deal of the show. Hidden away in a corner was a 1999 Toyota Previa van, grimy and dented but very sound. The kids who were selling it were not veterans of the market; they hadn’t Armour-All’ed the tires and spray-painted the engine parts in an effort to make the car look good. The most common vendors were licensed “dealers” who bought wrecks, lubed and groomed them and flipped them the next week at the markets. The boys gave us the keys and we drove into town for a test drive. While not dressed for the party this vehicle seemed of good quality, spacious and quiet and a reasonable price. On our way back into the market park we ran into the auto mechanic from the UK that we had met in Fiji and he volunteered
to inspect the prospect. He told us it was a sound vehicle so we took it to Bevin and paid his rate of $120 to do his thing. He determined the rig needed about a grand worth of work to be ship shape. We offered $1000 less than the asking price and after a $100 back and forth the deal was struck. In the end the repairs and roof rack installation cost us $1000 and came in right on budget. One quick, three-hour trip to the car wash and we were in business!
The real test came on departure day as I threw the bags in, there still seemed to be heaps of space. We hit the road for Wellington in air conditioned comfort which was more than we needed cruising through the rain and snow of the north island’s high country. We spent one night in Rotorua, the hot pool and hot mud capital of New Zealand. We strolled the park in centre of town which steamed and bubbled . . .
We arrived late in Wellington to stay the weekend with Laura Adams who had recently arrived to NZ from Nelson B.C. Angie got registered with the Nursing Association and Laura, her partner Scott and son Micah proved excellent tour guides for our weekend.
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