Phonetically Challenged

Woke up at 8 this morning. Wooo! Finally getting the hang of this time zone thing. Kids woke up at much the same time so I guess they're getting there too. I was looking for my mobile phone last night in order to extract its number and enter it on various forms but was unable to find it. I still couldn't find it this morning, even when ringing it with Di's. Hmmm. My cunning plan of buying a jurassic Nokia in the UK was apparently coming to pieces. Thinking it through I'd used it to find Di's number in one of the rental agent places yesterday. I waited until just gone 9 and rang it again. This time I got an answer - I had indeed left it in the rental agent. We drove down to the Mount to pick it up.

We rang up about the house recommended by our hotel proprietors, and went round to have a gander. The tenant wants out because she's bought an Auckland business which her husband is running on his own and she only sees him once a fortnight. It's certainly got enough room and there are some brilliant views, but it's a little out in the stix, not in the right school zone (although the schools would be OK) and the kitchen is a disaster area. However, it's on the short list and we'll have to make a decision in a few days come what may. The rent's OK at $400 too.

We drove into Tauranga and went to the AA shop again, since they are able to issue NZ driving licences, and also IRD (inland revenue) numbers which we will need if were going to work or claim any child benefit payments. As UK licence holders, we are able to simply convert our existing licences over without taking any tests, practical or theory. However, they do administer an eye test, which both Di and I had trouble with. The test comprises sticking your face into a microscope like device. The problem was that neither of us could figure out where to focus, and the three sets of four letters that we were supposed to read looked like 8 with half of them overlapping each other. Eventually it all comes into focus and it's easy enough. There's also a peripheral vision test built in to the microscope thingy and on the first attempt I could only see one of the lights. This turned out to be because I was taking the instruction to "press your head on this bar" far too literally and my moosh was up close and personal with the device. Easing the pressure a little revealed all sorts of flashing lights and I passed. Huzzah. We'll have to go through all this malarkey again in 10 years time, since NZ requires you to renew your licence every 10 years. We left with something looking like a "with compliments" slip, claiming to be a temporary copy of our NZ licences. At least if we hit anything we can now claim to have NZ licences and avoid the $400 foreign licence excess.

Back home, a little more googling and lurking on tradme revealed another 4 bed house in the right area and we're looking at it tomorrow.

We used the AC on the Mirth Mobile today, and sure enough a puddle developed underneath. Interestingly the AC itself wasn't really doing very much which makes the think it's knackered. Turning off the AC but leaving the blower running provided a modest amount of not-quite-as-hot-as-the-inside air and no puddle underneath. We did however drive with all the windows down, which reveals a peculiar scraping sound when braking. Hmm. I wonder if the pads are down to the metal. The warrant of fitness (which over here is every 6 months for cars over 6 years old) doesn't expire until mid Februrary, so it wasn't issued that long ago. I guess I'll have to roll underneath it tomorrow.

Di had her first drive in the Mirth Mobile this afternoon. She's not driven an automatic before and the first few hundred yards were painful. She got the hang of putting in in drive, but sadly when we'd reached about 30 KpH, she decided to "change gear" and pressed the "clutch" down. The ABS does indeed work, very nicely. Alas my face will take a day or two for the "adnoH" logo to fade from my forehead. Having explained AGAIN that you just press and go we got back to the hotel without further incident. I did however have a vice like grip on her left leg .