Well after a rather raucous weekend and a bit of the old booze and very little sleep, Stuart and Ellie came to pick me up in Sunday morning and off we went to get me some wheels! We went to the Backpackers car market and looked at a rusty Volvo, then to the huge Car Fair at the racecourse and i fell in love with a banana coloured sports coupe which was $1600 - WAY over budget. However, the angels guided me away from the temptation because just as i was deciding that i really could find the money somewhere and, food? who needs food? a little Japanese man came and bought it from right under my nose.

So off to the motor auction but everything there was too shiny and expensive. We drove around the streets for a bit down at Mission Bay (the habit here is to sell your car in the street with a sign in the window, in certain areas). But no luck there either. So Stu and Ellie dropped me back at the hostel empty-handed and i think they were as gutted as i was. Sleep was in order and i konked out. Not 2 hours later Stu was back on the phone - "we've found something!" and back they came for me.

On the street near their house was a little white Toyota Corolla and the man was coming to give us a test drive. It all seemed fated when Gary arrived - what a lovely man. Stu and i had a drive each and everything seemed fine. i had drawn $900 out of the cashpoint in the previous days in preparation but the car was $1100. But me old feminine wiles seemed to work on Gary (or maybe he wanted to get away from my booze breath) and he accepted the cash. Yay!

I drove Ollie (OL9177) back to Stu and Ellies and put him in the garage and they took me all the way back to town. Stu managed to convince me to sort some insurance out before heading out on the open road back to the city.

Sunday night was mainly taken up with sleep and coping with some unbelievably rowdy french tosseurs in the next room. So no sleep in fact. Monday saw me walk in a trance to the Auckland museum in the wind and rain. It was nice to see the antiquities but they were wasted on me at that precise time.

Stu and Ellie had invited me to stay as long as i need to and i was pretty much on my last legs when Stu came to pick me up. And basically they've fed and watered and looked after me ever since! What a couple of stars you are Stu and Ellie. and Coco the house rabbit too.

The rest of the group have dispersed but Liz is still in Auckland so, after sorting my insurance out (90 quid for 9 months) i decided to drive into town. Scarey! But it was fine and i've been bombing round ever since. So tomorrow i will be hitting the open road proper and have booked ahead at the Mousetrap Backpackers at Paihia inthe beautiful Bay of Islands. So photos from now will be very beach-orientated! x