More NZ tidbits ...

Here are a few more random facts and stuff that happened that make you smile/wonder/frown about living in a different country.

• The people in NZ without a doubt are the nicest, most social people in the whole world. They are super friendly, always helpful and honest. Even the used car salesmen are quite nice and dont try to push you to buy a car immediately :)
• There are playgrounds everywhere. The quality is quite high, overall much better and more varied than the US ones. Most of them seem fairly new
  
• The Kiwis have inherited the crappy bureaucratic traditions from the British (and India). Hence there is a line pretty much for anything and everything all the time (post office, atm machine, fish market etc).
• The weather in Nelson is quite variable and very much like San Francisco. A typical day has rain, wind and sun combined and significant differences in temperature
• I had funded my BNZ account from my US Bank. My online statement showed I had the money, however I could not withdraw it nor do any electronic transfers. A trip to meet real people at the bank was needed. Someone, somewhere had put a hold on the account for no reason, which prevented any and all transactions. Took the bank 60 minutes or so to figure it out. Overall, quite frustrating ...
• The used car market is huge here. Most of the cars are imported directly from Japan.
  
• Trademe is a pretty good alternative to EBay in NZ. We've used it successfully to buy a bicycle for Maya and nearly managed to get a car on it. More car stories coming soon as we try to close the deal today ...
• Visited Cable Bay and Kaiteriteri beaches over the weekend. The kids had fun and was great to get out of the city. Amazing how close all these spots are (or how small nelson is)
• Morrison Street Cafe is still our favorite cafe. We are pretty much regulars there now :)