Thursday 9/23/10 Our first joint bank account!

It was another action packed day for Paul and I. We headed from our hotel in a new direction to find this great breakfast place that our budget NZ book raved about.  We ran in to Karangahape Rd.  K road as it is called because i have no idea how to pronounce it! We found a great place that very much reminded us of the portland trendy scene. We had a huge breakfast that came with sausage, bacon, eggs on toast with roasted tomatoes, potatoes, and mushrooms! Paul and I cleaned our plates. At the breakfast place we had to wait until a table cleared.  After about 5 min. a lady and her daughter offered to share their table. We graciously accepted. She said we did not have to converse with them but could take a load off. They went on about their conversation and us ours.  This is the friendliness we have encountered since day one on our trip.
On K rd we converted some cash.  The exchange is working in our favor, we exchanged around $300 us dollars and received $430 NZ. Yay we are rich! The nice soft spoken teller said we should consider opening an account in NZ. We said we would think about it...
Onward down K Rd we turned left on East St and found our buyback lot. Lena (who has worked there for 18yr has extensive knowledge, she told us about 20 times) showed us the ropes. Lena also talked some trash about the buying habits of cultures from around the world. The Germans and other Europeans only want stick shift with diesel gas, and low miles. She told us this is not how Kiwi's roll and they always end up screwing themselves when the try and sell them back. The SouthAmericans and Mylasians are just shady and is why the work with cash only. Luckily Paul and I looked neither German or mylasian so she liked us! We found a van we really liked with low miles and very clean. We did find out that they work with cash only (that bank account is looking good about now) and she also told us what vehicles would sell the fastest for the most when we are ready to leave NZ.  Wanting to purchase the van right away we were a bit discouraged that we did not have our finances in order, so we went back to the bank we exchanged money earlier and opened an account.
Paul and I now have a joint bank account in NZ! It is funny that we went around the world to do it.  We are now working on wiring funds from US to here from Paul's BofA account. It was not working (not surprised since It is no Wells Fargo!) So we called in a favor to good ole Dana and Shari! They thought they got a break from helping us, guess again! We hope to have our van in the next two days.
Paul booked our hotel in the best area, we have been able to walk to accomplish all of these tasks.

That's it for today. Love to you all! The Miller's