$16/day Rental Cars, and Other Things to Love About NZ

NZ $ are trading at 2:1 vs US $. If you think this makes living in NZ half the cost of living in the US, some might accuse you of being a little fast and loose with your numbers. Yea, well… whatever… you’re exactly right.

Pictured to the left is our sweet North Island rental car. We’re paying US$16/day with unlimited mileage (per day cost includes all taxes and fees).

Our beauty is a new car with fabulous stereo, nice suspension, A/C, great interior, corners well, has four doors, and includes the much sought-after “Ho, ho, ho… Green Giant” color -- how can $16/day be fair?

At lunch today Andrea and I ordered kumara (NZ sweet potato) pasta in a red sauce, an omelette, and a steak(!). The price for lunch was US $8.

Don’t get me started on how much we pay (or don’t pay) for lamb.

When we visited the butcher a few towns ago, we paid US $1.40 for enough basil/tomato/lamb sausages to feed 4 people – an oink-fest of sausage eating followed; my colon may never be the same.

Our first night in Auckland, Andrea and I sought out the oldest pub in town to enjoy the much publicized ambiance and groovy architectural details. Our bartenders were delighted to welcome two Californians, and posed enthusiastically for photos. I want to be clear -- this is a top-end venue in the largest and most cosmopolitan town in NZ, downtown, in the highest rent district, with all the historical requirements and 4-star service.

Our two drinks cost USD $4 (happy hour pricing, your mileage may vary).

Why does “getting a good deal” give me so much satisfaction? Is it a) my Scottish ancestry, b) I'm just a cheap guy, or c) the natural outcome when your investments take a bath following the worst market dump in 50 years?

Ahhhh well, at age 44 I’ve reached the point where asking additional questions doesn’t provide additional clarity. Why not sit back and enjoy?!

One glorious day after another here – can life get any better? When it rains, Andrea and I are delighted to be on the road in our rental car, or impressing natives as we complete our most recent macho-bike excursion. It seems unfair to be enjoying so much when so many others are suffering from the downturn. As I said during an HP Christmas shut down when Andrea was working like a dog, and I was visiting the country club her company paid for – life can be very unfair.

For those of you who missed the US$:NZ$ exchange rate back story, a brief review:

1. Under Clinton’s watch, US legislators and lobbyists enact the commodities modernization act, led by Phil Graham and supported by both parties.
   
2. W pressures banks to increase homeownership (translation: W pushes banks to approve mortgages to marginal applicants).
   
3. Bankers, enabled by asleep-at-the-wheel regulators, approve loans to people who will likely never pay them back.
   
4. More people than ever before buy houses; home prices rise (and take out home-equity loans to buy big-screen TVs and gargantuan SUVs)
   
5. Momentum helps loans get approved with no down payments – often the net worth of loan applicants is less than a 20% down payment.
   
6. Even more people buy houses; home prices rise again
   
7. Bankers bundle these loans into commodities, rated AAA by regulators (see above), then sell these bundled loans as commodities to every sovereign nation.
   
8. The global pool of money, hungry for investment, gobbles up these commodities and wants more.
   
9. Return to numbers 5-8 and repeat. Repeat again and again.
   
10. People realize no one will repay these bad loans; the bottom falls out of everything
    
11. Sovereign nations sell mortgage commodities and buy US Treasury Bills in a “flight to safety”
    
12. The value of the US $ vs. NZ $ increases