A legend rides into the sunset

Today we say goodbye to our faithful green Nissan Bluebird which allegedly has become something of a legend among our friends back home, and has taken us all over New Zealand since November.

Goodbye lass, hope you like your new home.

I put the car on sale on TradeMe, which is a NZ online auction/selling site, and 20 minutes later I got a phone call from a girl who wanted to come and have a look at it! She turns up 45 minutes later with her dad, we take the green beauty for a 10 minute spin, and a few minutes of negotiation later, we have a deal! Painless! And we thought it'd be a real ordeal to sell the car this time of the year. Just shows that we picked the right kind of car to buy seven months ago; one that we'd be able to sell without effort, and get our money back. In fact we did a little better than just getting our money back, but not much. The surplus won't cover the $750 we've spent on oil changes and repairs and registration renewals, but then it doesn't have to either.

We've driven 16,000 kms with the car since we bought it, which is bound to incur some maintenance costs. However, per 100 kms that doesn't surmount to more than $2,34 per person. Add fuel costs (which are pretty cheap over here) on top of that and you still can't find a cheaper way of travelling around the country and seeing as much as we have seen. All in all, our Nissan Bluebird was an excellent investment. We're sorry to see her go, but it's also a relief to not have to bother about the selling anymore. It's also nice to have some pocket money for our coming adventures within the next months :-) Sparkling wine for everyone!

Now all of you who are tuned in to this channel: say your farewells to our little green gremlin and give her a wave!

Giigan: haluatko kirjoittaa kommentin kohtaamisestasi pensa-asemalla tällä viikolla? Osaat varmaan kertoa tarinan parhaiten itse :-D

Blue birds and Guinness lambs

While we're waiting for our Guinness and lamb stew to cook, I'll use the time to tell you about our most recent investment. A car! We are now the proud owners of a 1996 Nissan Bluebird SSS. Green in colour it is in very good condition except for a small dent on the left hand side. But that's just aesthetics and we don't care about that.

Our new ride

A funny thing happened when we were finalizing the deal. Turned out that the seller was a good friend of my flatmate Matt! None of us knew that until the seller Sam turned up with the car at the house the day the deal went down. Sam stepped out of the car and said "This is my mate's house! I thought 23A Valley Road sounded familiar!"

What a coincidence! Anyway, we were all the more happy to hear this. Now we can ask Sam for help if a problem arises (he's an amateur car mechanic).

Of course we had to take the green lady for a spin this weekend. In fact, we took her for several spins as the weather has been absolutely fantastic! The summer really is here now, and what we've seen so far promises some scorching heat-waves later on. We reckon it should be quite cold, dark and miserable at home in Finland right now... Anyone jealous?? :-)

Rarrrrrrrrrrr!!! What a monster!

Those wheels are gonna take us around NZ!

Yesterday evening we felt like eating out. Matt recommended a restaurant called Zeytin in the Mount, so we headed there. Zeytin proved to offer excellent mediterranean cuisine at even better prices! It was a true joy to enjoy a beer each, starters and main courses knowing it only cost $63! We'll have to go back there a couple of times at least, because the menu held several dishes worth trying (they have a wood fired oven!). The evening was rounded up by going to the movies to watch the new Bond - Quantum of Solace. Wish we could say it lived up to our expectations.

Today we cruised to a small town called Katikati. Wasn't much to see there except some nice murals, but the drive was lovely. The whole Tauranga area is actually an ancient volcanic crater. Mount Maunganui is one of the lava domes. The mountain rim to the south is the remaining crater wall. In Katikati we drove up to a lookout situated on the crater wall and had a fine view of the greater Tauranga area. It's not hard to understand why a lot of people retire here; the climate is one of the warmest and most pleasant on the North Island.

Snow, rain and freezing temperatures? Quite the contrary!

The green and fertile Bay of Plenty area

Mural art in Katikati

Stay tuned for a story on the farming from Giigan!

Oh, our stew turned out extremely well. Appetizing?

Lamb and beer stew according to Jamie Oliver "The Naked Chef"