www.fidius.org/quiz/pirate.php

quite amusing questions.

i am “iron” jack kidd

julio

thanks for the email mama! i hope cleaning my room won’t be too stresfull. do i have a new bed yet?

julio

ahoy! i believe i knew about the sand/planet thing for many years. and in related news: the saying “splice the mainbrace” is a noutical command meaning a tot of rum to all hands.

liv: read you mail and the tale. good stuff, i will get cracking when i have a lesure momant. probably in about 3 days time.

we are in kuta feeling very sunburnt after an ill advised noon beach session. oh well. the day before yesterday we went to a nifty clifftop temple near the bottom most part of bali. we pottered around for a bit accasionaly fending off monkeys who will steal any thing not nailed down. speaking off monkeys: when we were in ubud we went to the monkey forest there, strolled aroung maveling at the wierd humanlikeness off the monkeys. they were quite unafraid and will sit on you and demand food. one enterprising chap sat on my shoulders and searched my hair for ticks and lice, finding none he sttled on consuming my golden locks.he had to be prised of like a limpet!

our days are lesured when not traveling. we go to the beach, read and play cards. we bourt two fresh packs, nothing wrong with mamas but we needed more to play a strange version of Happy that annika knows. this game is interesting as it cannot end. asfar as i can tell it is impossible to finnish the game. we played it for four strait hours when i padanbai andgained no headway. good fun though.
we will probably go to lovina instead of that island place as annika wishes to see the mountains and stuff, and stay at bedegul.

of to see annother temple tonight, one in the middle of the sea!

julio

Apparently, according to a report I read recently, there are as many planets ‘in space’ as there are grains of sand on earth. Consider that next time you’re lolling on the beach.

Hi dod,

THanks very much for the info/tips.
Hopefully our instincts will be working on “the day”.
Buying from a traveller about to leave NZ is what we are hoping to do so we should be able to get a better deal.

Geoff

Hi Geoff,

First and foremost, don’t go within a million miles of a car auction place, with Tan around! I did, and bought a heap of junk just to stop her insane twitching. Mind you, she was half her current age then.

I’m not sure if you’ve got the Rough Guide to NZ but when I took it out of the library it said under ‘cars’ be sure whatever you buy has its warranty of fitness certificate, valid for up to six months. This needs renewing every six months so you obviously don’t want to buy something with only a couple of weeks validity left. Also, check it’s been registered recently. Registration costs $110 every six months. It said you can get an AA vehicle inspection for $100 or so; and that reasonable cars start at $1500 …!

Also, if you’re buying privately, they suggest calling Autocheck debt check on 0800 658 934 to make sure the seller doesn’t owe money as you the buyer will become liable to it!

Finally, they mention having a fitness check done by the AA.

Well, that’s the Rough Guide.

Personally, I’d suggest checking the tyres to make sure they have some decent tread on them – ie, not shiny and bald – and asking the seller to show you where the jack is and where the specially strengthened places are for jacking the car up. Also, find the spare tyre and give it a prod to see if it’s not flat (and bald).

Apart from checking the oil, water, and brake fluid, etc, there’s not a lot you can do unless you take it for a test run and see if it changes gear okay and the brakes don’t pull. Also, not too much exhaust smoke (burning oil). You might cast a glance at the radiator for obvious leaks …

Buying a car off a traveller who’s leaving NZ (hopefully within a few hours, and therefore desperate) would probably be best because the price should be low and – presumably – the car’s done okay for them.

For insurance, we just took out the basic state insurance company third party policy.

Good luck. Trust your instincts and you should be okay.

Ah, the joys of car purchase!

A NZ rule you might not be familiar with although it sounds like the French priorite de droit is you’re expected to give way to traffic crossing or coming from your right. So, for example, if you’re pootling along and about to turn left into another road and a car coming towards you wants to turn right into the same road, he rather than you apparently gets to go first.