Blue Betty Blue

Now, getting on with things.

Bjorn and I became proud parents yesterday. We are the new owners of a baby blue 1994 Mitsubishi Magna station wagon. Betty, as we have named her, is a good car. Gooood car, we tell her, as we pet her. (Okay, that's just me.)

We got out on the streets of Auckland early yesterday morning to get ourselves down to the City Car Fair, which occurs every Saturday from 9 AM to 1 PM. People pay a small fee to park their cars in a big parking lot and let people like us come look at them. It was a small showing. They had one row for cars under $3,000, one row for cars over $3,000, and one row for camper vans.

Bjorn fell in love with Betty at first sight. He truly did. She had a sticker in her front window that boasted an economical $1650 price, she had a stick shift, she had curves and a big, round, station-wagony bottom, and the killer, she was a shiny baby blue color. He walked around her, asked the owner a few questions, but I could see in his eyes - he was a smitten kitten.

Let's walk around and look at the other cars, I said. And we did, half-heartedly. That one's too expensive, Bjorn said. That one's too white, Bjorn said. That one's missing the driver's side mirror, Bjorn said. Bjorn looped back around to Betty. This one is just such a nice color, he said.

I rolled my eyes and said, super. Fine. Let's take her for a drive. So we did. The owner made me sit in the passenger seat in the front, much to my dismay. They drive on the wrong side of the road here, and well, it's scary. And with Bjorn behind the wheel of the car... It's not that I don't trust his driving skills, but he hadn't driven on the wrong side of the road since the last time he was here three years ago. But I fastened my safety belt and dug my nails into poor Betty's seats and hoped for the best.

Bjorn did very well. But it was quite funny to watch him reach for the stick shift with his right hand and grab the door, only to realize that, oh yes, it's on his left side now. And every time he tried to turn his turn signal on, he flicked the windshield wipers. They're on opposite sides, too.

We drove her around the block a couple of times, and then out onto the interstate, across the bridge to Devenport and back. And well, we were sold. We pulled back into the lot, shook hands with the owner, then went to the cash machine to get out an enormous wad of twenties. Done deal. We paid $1600 NZ, which is about $1100 US. Not too bad!

She was Betty from the moment we saw her, but Bjorn's calling her Betty Blue and I'm calling her Blue Betty. Can't agree on everything!

So. This afternoon after lunch, Betty is taking us to Wellington. It's about 9 hours south of Auckland, on the very southernmost tip of the north island, but we are going to stop about halfway through tonight and camp...somewhere. Ohhhh boy! Then we will hopefully settle ourselves down in Wellington, assuming we can find a place to stay and jobs. Hopefully, hopefully.

It's been a hectic few days here, lots of odds and ends to get tied up before we can work and own cars, but we are getting there, bit by bit. And now that we've got Betty, good things are surely ahead. More soon. Much love.