My first impression of New Zealand was quite negative. I left my waders and wading boots at home cause i knew they are strict, but they even took my brand new and still originally packed fly lines and most of my flies. Even my leaders/tippets got taken and thrown away. I did protest but he gave me the choice of staying in the country and losing my stuff or to keep my stuff but the entrance will be denied. Nothing much i could do at this point...
I spent the first week in a cheap hostel in the city centre, whilst looking for a car to buy. After around 4 days i was really lucky and found a nice Nissan Vanette (kinda like a VW bus size wise) in Hamilton and bought it the very next day.
I did decide to spend more time in auckland to find some work and earn a little bit of money. I got a job for 4 days on the back of a garbage truck, something i wanted to do since i was a kid! And it was a really fun job to do for a couple of days. Afterwards I found a job as carpenter/transportbox builder. 
And there it happened. A coworker shot a nail straight through my lefthand thumb. I had to get a small surgery and spent two days in the hospital. The healthcare system in NZ is really amazing, apart from the X-Ray for 35$ i didn't have to pay anything out of my own pocket.

Due to my injury i did stay an additional week in Auckland visiting many parks, museums and trying to spend my time as good as possible with a freshly operated thumb.