Another update...

My unprolific posting continues....

You would be shocked how many vocabulary and pronunciation differences continue to crop up. Car tires being spelled "tyre", seeing "learnt" appear in many a newspaper article, Herefords being spelled (Hair-eh-ford), etc.

An update from the immigration related files. It took a meagre month plus for the finger printing unit to reply via email that they haven't yet processed my application- apologising for the delay in responding. Current wait times are apparently 4 months. I'm over 3 now. I have put in an application for a general work/ visa. I've also recently submitted my residency form missing the record check; I'll have to forward that when I get it. I'm only 1 month away from my current visa expiring, so here is hoping I hear something back on this front soon!

The days are getting shorter here... and colder. My flattie was scraping her car wind shield (wind screen as they are known here) with a credit card. I can't seem to track down a real ice scraper. Blenheim does get frosts so it would come in handy. Now I've finally tracked down a pressure guage for my car tires at the car stuff store, only to find out that the guages are at all the air spots at the gas (err, I mean petrol) stations... :) Gas prices, for your interest are currently in the neighbourhood of $1.51 for regular. I can't recall offhand the diesel prices.

In the news, there had been several earthquakes overnight in the region. They didn't wake me up so I'm unaware if I felt them.

I can't recall if I've posted much about the vehicle rego process. Things are interesting here. Insurance is not mandatory (although there have been recent discussions about whether making this mandatory would help crack down on the "boy racer" problem that has been rather prevalent in the papers.) There are 2 types you can get, basically- 3rd party, and full. I've had various friends have trouble as they weren't covered by full insurance. Insurance discounts at the company I'm insured with (AMI) can be as high as 60% based on your driver record. I wish I had one here in NZ to save some cash...

When you get stopped by the police here you don't get asked for your registration - because it sits attached to the wind screen. When you sell your car- the plates are attached to it and you simply pay a fee of something like $10 to change ownership. The actual reg. carries with the vehicle. (I was lucky- my reg on the car I bought goes all the way to Jan 08!) Reg's are typically renewed for 6 month periods- luckily my car owner predecessors appeared to have gone for the one year option. The other thing mandatory here is a WOF (warrant of fitness). Depending on the age of your vehicle you have to get these every 6 months or year. They are mechanical checks for safety- and again these are attached to the wind screen for all the world to see. There are quite a number of foreign (esp Japanese) imports on the road here. The used car market seems much larger than back home- maybe because leasing/buying new cars just doesn't seem to happen as much here.

If you drive diesels, you also have to get RUCs (road user charges)- kilometers- which you can buy by the thousand at the post shop. The diesel price is lower than petrol- but it is partially offset by this charge...

In new and exciting news, the day of the Marlborough great treature hunt is quickly approaching. It should be great fun!! Hopefully the weather cooperates...

Until next time.