Heading South

We got a car! We woke up early Sunday morning to take the bus to the Auckland Car Fair--determined to find a car. There was a lot larger selection than the day before, and we test drove a handful but each one had some small issue and for the price we wanted something reliable. Finally we found an old 1993 Honda Ascot a man was selling--he bought it for his 17 year-old daughter, but it was too big for her so he was selling it. He came down on his offer a bit and while it was a little more than what we were hoping to pay for a car (NZ$1500--which is $1,133 US dollars, so $566 a piece) but it was a good quality car, no problems, clean, and so we took it! Very exciting and it's a good little car from what we can tell. Here is a photo:

So we purchased it, headed back to the hostel, and set out to Palmerston North to go see John's cousin Alice who has been in vet school there for 5 years.
The trip down started out very rainy, cloudy, and dark. But there was still pretty mountain ranges covered in clouds, with the hills dotted in cows and lots and lots of sheep. Even so, it was still picturesque but when we reached a certain point the clouds began to break up, the rain stopped, and it was a beautiful sight. Here is the first thing I saw:

How perfect. John made fun of me over my excitement. It was a full on rainbow!

From then on the scenery was just beautiful--green, rolling hills and a setting sun made the rest of the drive pleasant and peaceful. John, in HIS excitement, took a few photos for your viewing pleasure:

First, here is me driving the car on the LEFT!

And here are some of the sights. One we stopped at a scenic view to get out of the car to stretch our legs and take a picture.

(the little white dots are sheep)

So, getting out of Auckland and taking the drive down definitely introduced us to the beauty of the country and we are excited to discover the rest!