We bought a car. I'm not going to talk about it much at the moment as car ownership is not an easy ride - forgive the pun. Culprit number one is the dodgy clutch which causes us to stall occassionally. To Dan, who is driving as I am a useless 32 year old who can't, this is a constant underlying fear even though it has only really happened at traffic lights in one-horse NZ tows and in supermarket carparks and so is not really a life-threatening issue. Oh, and it's a bit of a concern when trying to park in a very small parking spot, say, in the backlot of an inner city hostel. If you've seen the Austin Powers movie where he does a 250 point turn in a corridor you might have some idea of the spectacle we made in Auckland last week. I personally know the clutch is tricky after the two driving lessons Dan gave me in the Old Man Mountain orchard. An interesting way to pick fruit. Don't be alarmed, though. It's a 100% safe way of travelling and significantly cheaper than getting the bus. We bought the metal beast for 300 pounds and we'll hopefully sell it for the same. It seemed too much of a bargain to put aside. Isn't it alarming how quickly you can jettison your environmental ethics for a cheaper ride? We are intermittently ashamed of ourselves. George '3 allotments' Monbiot would scoff at our half-heartedness. We've vowed not to travel by plane for the next five years to make it up to George and the planet (we've just got to jet half way round the world first). Have also vowed that next trip to New Zealand will be undertaken entirely without the aid of air transport. Making plans for the great adventure of 2013 already. Should anyone want to join us on this epic journey, start saving now.

We made a relatively epic journey from the South Island to the northern part of the North Island this week - three days in the car with our dodgy stereo. This was a little too intense for our 1987 Honda Integra (not yet old enough to be a classic car and certainly not pretty enough), and for the driver and navigator. Some good landscape sped by - Mount Ngauruhoe (or Mount Doom for LOTR afficionados) and the Rangipo Desert that stretches from the shadow at its feet across the middle of the the North Island. We've been hiding in the bush for weeks with the manuka trees and the sandflies, so it was wonderful to see this strange expansive New Zealand landscape and all the evidence of impending geological meltdown. We may or may not go to Rotorua to see the bubbling mud springs and other thermal spectaculars. It costs $50 to get near the bubble and trouble and those in the know have told us of similar natural marvels elsewhere that are, goodness, free. Even flashpackers have to stick to their budget and we've just decided to go to San Francisco for a week and will need the cash for that and a week in relative luxury in Fiji - coup permitting. Maybe the yanks will have a coup too and we could get a prize or something for visiting three countries undergoing some sort of military junta situation. We must be careful what we wish for.

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