My brand-spanking new car

Here she is in all her heavenly beauty - the 1989 Mitsubishi Galant:

With a special $40 ski rack. It was a bargain but unfortunately, doesn't fit quite right. Duct tape wasn't the answer in this case - beer carriers were:

It is also not made for the new really fat skis - so they had to be strapped on with NRS straps. Worked just marvellously. I also got a set of snow chains off of TradeMe for really cheap. TradeMe is like Craigslist and eBay combined for Kiwis - and only for them! I had tried to sign up while still in the US (it's never to early to start shopping!) and they nonchalantly deleted my account when they noticed that the IP address wasn't in NZ. They also contacted me here asking why it appears that I am signing in from the US. Better save those good ol' cookies as long as I can. Already noticed that there are some websites that I can only access from my personal laptop but not from my work computer.

But back to the incredible car... It is one of those cars that made its way over from Japan in 1998. It's very interesting to me to see in how much better shape it is for its age. The Fairbanks cold really seems be killing things way before their time. It is a very fancy car with automated temperature regulation, an air purifier in the back (!), econo and a power mode switch (no idea what that is for), an OD button (anybody?), a really nice stereo with an iPod adapter (too bad I don't have an iPod) and a Pat Benatar tape! That tape was the highlight of our trip last weekend - we could barely believe our luck. And ended up doing a 2-hour sing-along. The good old 80's - sorely missed by all.

The absolutely worst part of the car is a musical chime. Which comes on (and stays on!) as soon as the speed of the car goes above 105 km/h. I have already spent an hour on Google trying to find instruction on how to disable that thing - no luck. It will eventually drive me insane. I am sure of it.

This next picture is a Kea - an alpine parrot that only exists on the South Island of NZ:

According to Wikipedia they are mostly encounted in ski areas - trying to steal food from rich white people :) They are very pretty and behave like ravens - fighting over food scraps. The underside of their wings is really colorful - the rest of them is just green. And they are so cuuuuuuute!

And in conclusion the obligatory beautiful scenery shot:

Days are getting longer now - and according to the newspaper "Spring is on it's way - already" (They do need a spell checker - that's for sure. Hope they are as wrong about the weather...)