Stubborn Little Subaru

As you know we were sooo excited about going to WILD FOODS!!! But our sassy Subaru had to get in the way of things. We woke up early and picked up Irish and Chicago at the hostel. We were ready to rumble and eat some weird shenanigans!! We had our new CD playing and nothing but smiles as we traveled down south J!! However, it was about 20… 25 minutes into the trip and the temperature gage started playing with our hearts. Long story short, the car was over heating. And therefore, we had a situation….It was about 9AM and it would take us about 4 hours to get to Hokitita! What could we do?? We had already paid 40 bucks for the tickets. Our options: rent a car, go to a mechanic, take a painfully slow bus, go wine tasting or call AAA to get the car. Keep in mind we were running on little sleep and were overly anxious about this Wild Foods experience. We collectively decided that taking the car to a mechanic was the best decision. Another odd thing about New Zealand is that nothing is open on the weekends (or 5 o’clock week days)--we are still trying to understand that, but that is beside the point. So we headed back to Nelson, dropped it off at the only mechanic open, and went to the Saturday morning market while we were waiting. The mechanic called us an hour later and said that the car was good to go. For you car people, the mechanic had replaced the thermostat and a rubber hose that is supposively important. Therefore, with new spirits, we collectively decided again to continue the journey to Hokitika. But just as we had made it passed the original troubled spot, our bad fortune was once again upon us. Temperature gage extremely high, weird noises, and smoke coming out of the front of the car typically, are not good signs we have now learned. Long story short, we missed the festival and instead wound up playing charades on the side of the road wearing our wigs while waiting for the tow truck.

The final diagnosis for the car was a cracked head gasket. We took a cab back to Nelson and left the car in Wakefield, where it was towed. We went a week without the car, confused about what our best options were to do with it. The mechanic at the tow place said it was done and we could try to sell it for parts. However Marcus, the owner from the hostel we stayed at before moving into our apartment, believed he could fix it with a bottle of $20 adhesive stuff. With nothing to lose, we went with Marcus to Wakefield the next weekend to witness his resurrection attempt. With careful hands and a little bit of luck, Marcus worked a miracle. The car is now up and running, although our day drives are motivated by skepticism. We are planning on keeping the car as long as it is drivable. Marcus believes it will work for another thirty years. We will see. Until we got to Nelson, there were no problems with the car. After careful observation, we believe we have the answer of why this is happening: hills and boys in the car. We can avoid the boys but hills in the south island may be difficult to avoid. We will keep ya’ll posted.

Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, it is has been a while since our last blog session. Therefore, in order to more appropriately summarize our recent endeavors and adventures, I am going to briefly change the grammatical style from first person to third person. As you know from our last entry, we arrived in Nelson tired, hungry, and jobless. The hostel we checked into was called the Custom House and was about a two-minute walk to the crystal blue water of the Tasman Sea, as we found out the next morning. We had moved to Nelson because it had been advised to us from the BUNAC office that apple-picking jobs would definitely be available in the upcoming days and weeks. With this advice in hand, we jumped in the car on our first true day in Nelson and drove up the coast to Motueka, where the apple picking jobs were said to be plentiful. The drive to Motueka was filled with breath taking scenery and inspiring music such as Miley Cyrus’s “Party in the U.S.A” and the celebrated “Colors of the Wind” from Pocahontas, all courtesy of a new CD made by Em. We arrived in Motueka and basically went from orchard to orchard asking for jobs. However, to our dismay, there were NONE. Thus, the drive back to Nelson was filled with a little discouragement. We had moved to Nelson because we had been assured that apple picking was a go to job. We had just bought a car (a major expense) and our funds were depleting faster than originally accounted for due to the cost of food. Trying to keep a positive attitude, we went to the grocery store, cooked dinner, and made a plan for the next day. Day three in Nelson came with positive spirits. We all three dressed up to hit the town of Nelson strong with our CVs and charming personalities. Naturally, we all went in different directions in order to cover the entire downtown and to not counter each other. While there were a few promising restaurants, no one could give us a definite answer. Also, the phone problem again came into play being that the businesses wanted a direct number to call us back. Thus, the next day we got a phone. Our phone number is 0278565301 in case any of you want to call us. However, I do not know how much it will charge you, so be careful. We then proceeded to go back to the promising restaurants and gave them our new number. We woke up the next day to a phone call. Emily had been offered a job interview that morning by a place called Bardelicious. She got the job. The restaurant happen to have two openings and Katie happened to get the other opening! With two of us with a job, we decided to start looking for a place to stay. We celebrated Lindsay’s birthday on Tuesday, February 23, 2010 with beach activity during the day and then a wonderful dinner at a restaurant downtown. Our friend Nate, who we met at the hostel, joined us for dinner and to our surprise, paid the entire bill!! The next day, Lindsay was offered a job trial at a restaurant called Hopgoods, which is right next door to Bardelicious and one of the most acclaimed restaurants in Nelson according to Lonely Planet. Despite her lack of experience in the service industry, Hopgoods took a chance on her and gave her a job!!! All the while, we had been searching for a place to move into for the two-two and half months we planned to live and work in Nelson. The difficulty with finding a place came in three areas: the length of time we intended to stay in Nelson, our age, and the majority of rentals came unfurnished. After about a week and a half of searching and living in the hostel, Emily found a place right downtown near our jobs. Our current apartment originally came unfurnished but due to the generosity of our landlord, not to mention his friend’s across the hall needing to get rid of their stuff, the place came with a rap around couch, desk, flat screen TV, refrigerator, two coffee tables, several chairs, a washer and dryer, and a few other things. As if things could get any better, Emily served a couple at work that were from Atlanta. Their names are Lane and Mark, and as it turns out, Mark went to the University of Georgia. They have been living in Nelson for about thirteen years. After talking with Emily and hearing about our situation with the apartment, Lane brought over an entire car’s worth of items she had in storage, including linens, a microwave, china, and some pots and pans!!

Therefore in conclusion, life is good. We are really starting to adopt the philosophy that everything will work out the way it is suppose to. I mean after all, four weeks ago we arrived in Auckland without a clue. Now we all have jobs, bought a car, have a great apartment, and are living in a town that is amazing. We have also made several friends, both from the hostel and from work. This weekend we are attending the Hokitika Wildfoods Festival with our friends Irish and Nate. Irish is obviously from Ireland. He has one of the most positive and genuine attitudes towards life and those around him. It should be a fun experience!!! Until next time…( and we promise to try to update the blog more frequently so our readers do not have to deal with a short story.)