I'm going to be able to call you a kiwi soon. Yay.

Auckland isn't representative of NZ, remember that. A lot of Kiwi's say that New Zealand stops at the Bombay Hills (just short of Auckland) and call Aucklanders (jokingly) 'JAFAs' - just another fucking Aucklander =P.

It's our big smoke but it's a bit different from the rest of New Zealand in terms of culture.

As far as supermarkets go if you want to find the lowest prices go to Pak'n'Slave but the other supermarkets are a bit more nicely presented (same stuff though).

Also there should be no complaints about the food, especially if you like meat. Especially if you like lamb.

New Zealand is like a slightly less socially conservative version of Australia, with a generally cooler climate, especially in the south Island.

They do some things better than we do here.   And some worse.  You would probably disagree with some of their social policies based on my understanding of your previous posts, but by and large, all their public services are quite good.

Cool.

And yea, some of there programs are not what I would want, but in a country with almost no corruption. and around 4 million people, they execute very well.

I would rather pay 10-20% in a tax for social programs that I don't agree with but are run well, then 10-20% in waste. In the US, we have a lot of waste.

Right now the plan is to rent a car, and then take it day by day. We are not making hotel reservations. We will just find something each night, and travel the country as we wish.

I have a close friend that moved to Palmerston North, so we will spend a few nights with her. Other then that and some job interviews, I don't expect to have any hard plans. I would like to see the south island as well.

Can you ferry a car from one island to the other?

Yep, you sure can. Although you may be better off flying and rent a new car on the other side than taking the ferry.