Our first week in New Zealand is done. It’s been a bit of a blur.
On the first day, we headed in to central Wellington to organise our bank account and getting Kiwi SIM’s for our phones. We went with Spark, so far the signal has been great.
Cat had to register with a doctor that afternoon, her breathing was getting harder and her inhaler running low. Luckily for us the doctor had a space, so we registered her and got it sorted. Because we had a visa over 2 years, she got it subsidised so it only cost us £30 to be seen. They looked after her really well.
The next day we had to put out the bin bag. In Wellington, the system is a little different to the UK. You can buy “authorised” yellow bin bags for around 50p per bag. This funds the bin service. Recycling is free, but you need to apply for a special bin. The bin lorries are specially modified lorries that only require one man to operate. They hurtle down the street, the operator jumps off (their driving position is standing only) and throw the bags from the kerb in to the back and on they go. Because there is a strict 15kg limit on the bags and no glass etc can go in them, your overall waste output is quite low compared to the UK. I quite like it. Especially since if I need to use more I can, but I have to pay for it per bag. In the UK where you have one giant black bin to fill, it encourages you to fill it since you can at no cost to yourself.
We spent the rest of the week, endlessly test driving cars. We want to spend as little as possible on our rental car and it turns out cars in New Zealand are really cheap compared to the UK. We are looking at family SUV’s and decided on the brand new Toyota Rav 4 Hyrbid. In the UK, there is no way I could afford it its the best part of £45K. In New Zealand its £25k.
Excitedly, this means, next week we are off to put a deposit down on a brand new car!
Tags
Likes
