Rainy Day Walkies

"If you don't like the weather in Auckland, 

just wait 5 minutes."

Such an infamous quote and oh so true.  Winter time in Titirangi... reminiscent of Seattle... but warmer... and ALWAYS subject to change :)

Beau had a Plunket (free check-up) visit today at the Titirangi office for the first time instead of at the house.  Weather.com said 70% chance of rain, but they are just guessing from their office in Atlanta!  We (Beau and I) decided to take a chance and walk.  I mean, by the time you load up the truck, find a parking spot, unload the car seat, etc. it's just not worth it for a 1.1km drive.

I only needed to pick up a few items at the grocery for dinner, so Beau and I set out with the Buga-boo in the sun for a nice walk to the village.  Just in case, I made sure we had the rain cover....

Groceries secured... starting to get a bit dark and windy...

Plunket visit went great!  Beau is healthy and steadily gaining weight.  He weighs 5.88kg or 13lbs.  Nurse was very happy with him.  We are in the middle of talking about sleep patterns, teething, etc.  and....

DELUGE!  

It didn't just start drizzling, it started the kind of rain that causes people to leave their attics in kayaks!

Walk back was a bit less pleasant but the rain cover did its job keeping Beau nice and dry and warm :)

rainy buga-beau

nice and dry inside

not so dry mommy

Time to dry off, let Beau take a nap and get to cooking some yummy NZ lamb shanks with a Mexican-American twist - ancho chiles!

braised lamb shanks with ancho chiles and cumin

El Jeep-o for the Peep-le

"Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date"

Long lost love.

On November 20th, 2011 my darling Jeep was packed up into a container in Atlanta and, alone, made the long journey to New Zealand. The journey was not without peril. As any lad with google knows, New Zealand is most unkind to importation of older vehicles. They have strict vehicle standards which must be met to allow one to drive on their roads. To give you an idea of what it took to get fair-Jeepo over here allow me to outline:

1. Cost to transport in container
2. Concession fees in L.A. and Auckland ports to remove Jeep from container and "inspect"
3. MAF (Ministry for Biosecurity protection) fees to fumigate Jeep to eliminate any critters
4. Jeep inspected at importers location and deemed rusty = charge to sandblast and paint underside of jeep
5. Jeep still rusty, one month of Panel Beater work to cut out rust, replace steal, and have an "Engineer" certify that it was done properly....this took 1.5 months....
6. Significant monies to repoint headlamps, new driver-side seatbelt, new front brakes, grind rotors, patch small chip in windscreen, etc.
7. Compliance fees. You MUST receive a compliance certificate before you may register your vehicle to drive on their roads. After compliance for general import health, a WOF (Warrant of Fitness) must be obtained. You must get a new WOF every 6 months to drive. Luckily you must comply only once. 
8. Rego fees which gets us, finally, the tags....

My precious Jeep entered the container Nov 20, 2011, allowed to drive in NZ April 20, 2012.

Absence does make the heart grow fonder...

Jeep was, of course, taken straight to Muriwai Beach

Never again....never.

All that trouble to allow to drive on the roads.....nah..

Li'l Ella missed it too.

Bottom line is DO NOT try to bring any car to this country. They have plenty of suitable off-road vehicles for you to choose from with air conditioning, navigation, and heated seats. Try to figure out how to get the doors off of your CR-V!

Unfortunately Jeep did not get to enjoy a brights Summer's day... this year....