The Hideg Family Returns to NZ

Well, it is time to crank up the old southern hemi blog!
We finally returned to New Zealand after a 4 year hiatus from the southern hemisphere. A lot has happened in that time. First, Alisa got diagnosed with breast cancer just after our return from Australia in 2011…the 8 week trip to NZ and Oz that was supposed to be our "rest" from the ordeal we endured adopting Maia. That entailed a year of chemo, surgery and radiation therapy. After 10 months of leave, Alisa returned to work half time and also took up a position with the University of Washington Medical School startup in Spokane, WA. Maia then started kindergarten. Then, George got a nasty injury by a skateboarder while riding his bike on the Fish Lake Trail (broken collar bone with a plate and 8 screws!). That led to this trip being postponed for a year so that George could undergo intense physical therapy. Needless to say…we are finally here in NZ again, our 4th trip in 10 years!
We arrived in Auckland on January 1st in the evening only to wake up on the morning of the 2nd to find it is STILL a holiday in NZ. Yep, they take their holidays seriously here. The day after Christmas AND New Years is a holiday here:)
So, getting any banking done on the 2nd was out of the question. We went and looked at cars and found the only car dealers open on a holiday were all owned by Indians (from the sub-continent). Well, we were told there were good car deals there but all of the prices were sky high…I got the impression you were supposed to haggle, but the price gap just seems way to unbelievable between what they were asking and what I knew the cars were worth. We ended up buying a VW Passat Wagon from a private party and got a great deal. It was in much better condition than all the other cars we looked at and ran very strong…so it was a deal and we completed the transaction the following day with a sweet VW Passat in deep electric blue (Maia's FAVORITE color!)
Immediately after acquiring our "Blue Beauty", we headed NW of Auckland to Piha Beach for our first "beach" adventure.
Stay tuned for more…Cheers!