It's never too late to teach an old dog a new trick.

It happened a couple weeks ago, I bought a new old car! This was a long time coming, as it is near impossible to get around in Delaware without a vehicle. I really needed a car, and it just so happened, a neighbor had a car he really didn't need. And it was a nice car; sunroof, power windows, CD player, all the important things I look for when I'm purchasing something to drive. The only problem was it had a manual transmission.

I was never against learning how to drive manual. When I was learning to drive we just didn't have one I could learn on. In fact, I was basically the only one in my family who didn't know how to drive stick, and this bothered me. I needed to know what the big deal was and why people still drove a manual when they could easily drive an automatic.

On the day I bought the new old car I had my dad give me a driving lesson. It was like I was back in high school again learning all over again. We started by just getting the car around the block, which in my parent's neighborhood means going up and down a fairly steep hill. Then it was out into a larger connecting neighborhood with right and left turns, stop signs, and irritated drivers. (I'm happy to report I didn't completely piss any one off enough to receive the passing finger...just a glare here or there.) I felt pretty confident after an hour and a half of driving around the back hilly roads of Hockessin, only stalling out occasionally at a merge or red light. I was nervous, but knew it was time I had to go out on my own...I had to get myself to work anyway.

Wouldn't you know I hit a problem as soon as I left the house? With my heart pounding and my dad's instructions running through my head, I coasted up to the red light with my foot on the clutch, then tried to put the car into first gear. Only the car wouldn't shift. Nothing I did got it into first gear and the row of cars was growing behind me (Who pulls up to a car with their flashers on anyway? Really people, flashers have a meaning and when the car is stopped it usually means it isn't going anywhere.). Dad to the rescue, who gave me a quick scare that I had burned out the clutch (Thankfully, not true, as I've heard this is an expensive repair.). Apparently, the clutch got stuck, making it so you couldn't switch gears, easily fixed by manually pulling it out of engagement.

It's been two weeks since that day. How am I doing? I think great! I stalled a few times at red lights, but have gotten better at preparing to drive. Reverse was a disaster at first (It is not like the other gears, I learned it is more like first.), with a lot of jerking back and forth into a parking spot. But after two weeks of driving, I really feel like I've gotten it down and know what I'm doing. I'm a natural!

Way to Give Way!

The New Zealand people are so nice. They will go out of their way to help you find a pair of boots you know are not in the store. They start up conversations just because they are friendly. They will let you go before them when you are making a right hand turn and they are coming the opposite direction. Yea, that’s how nice New Zealander’s are.

But no matter how nice it may be to have oncoming traffic stop so you can make a turn, it just doesn’t make sense as a driving rule. And so, this past Sunday, that rule has now changed so that it is the same as with the rest of the world. That means cars will no longer be giving way when you are wanting to make a right hand turn and they are driving in the oncoming traffic. Drivers will not be waving you on you turn in front of them at a T intersection.

This has been a much discussed topic in the past few weeks, going so far as to have a tv campaign to make sure everyone knew what the changes were and when they were going to be taking effect.

I had heard these changes were going to be happening when I first arrived here in New Zealand. When I had first heard about the rules I thought the person telling me was joking. They weren’t, but I still thought it a strange rule. And since I knew I wasn’t going to be driving that much before the rule change, I decided it wasn’t worth learning (sorry New Zealand). And I didn’t find that it hurt me, or anyone else for that matter…though I’m sure there are drivers out there who think I am incredibly rude for not giving way. I do think of it that I was practicing for when the give way rule would change, helping others become accustomed to this new selfishness they were going to have to practice out on the road. My plan worked, the people are fine.

Though I do think a little kindness has died this past week with the giving way rule change.

Stay to the left, stay to the left... Opps! Stay to the left!!

I had to get out of Auckland, out of the city, and wasn’t ready to get on a bus and travel with other people. So I hired a car (because that is what they call it here) and then worried for a couple days about driving on the wrong side of the road.

The night before I was to leave I packed back up and said bye to my new friends then was a little melancholy about leaving my hostel…which I thought was strange and bizarre, since just the day before I was saying how much I couldn’t wait to leave. But I had started to enjoy looking out my window and watching the cars drive along Queen Street and the people coming and going. It was my own private TV.

But Monday morning I was up and out waiting for my pick up from the car rental, nervous about not really knowing the driving rules and such. I ended up paying the extra insurance per day on my car because, one I didn’t know exactly how I was going to do, but mainly because I didn’t want them to charge my credit card and then have to pay the fee at the end of the month (I’m trying to be frugal with my limited funds at the moment…). So they packed my things in the car, I adjusted the seat and creeped out onto the road, then onto the SH1 north.

After about 30 minutes I was fine, driving along with everyone else out of the city and out into the country. What was I worrying about?

I stopped for coffee, at a park with a settler’s house, and a couple beaches along my way, never really getting lost, and only once did I pull to the wrong side of the road. All in all I think that day of driving was a success.

This one's for you Antoinette!

Ha! How cool and random?

It was a couple days later when I traveled to the west coast to the Kauri Forest that I ran into a bit of trouble.

Care free tracking through the Kauri forest...

I drove out of town with a little more than half a tank of gas, thinking it should be enough to get me by for the day, or I would stop and get more. No. One thing I learned about New Zealand and back roads is that there are not a lot of gas stations around. There I was after visiting the Kauri Forest, thinking I was driving the right road to get back to Piahia when the “I need gas” light blinks on. I started praying to God, blessing myself and telling him I will never leave town again without a full tank of gas if he would only help me find a station. I kept driving until I came across a truck picking up the mail on the side of the road and when I asked where the closet gas station was I was directed in the opposite direction of which I came. A few choice words popped into my head at that moment. If not for the kindness of this Kiwi woman and her children, who took pity on a stupid American girl, I am sure I would have had to walk quite a ways just to get to the closest station.

So the lesson I learned that day? Always know where your gas stations are, know how much and fast your car guzzles gas, and never leave a town without filling up if you plan to drive aways.