It’s not 100% apparent, but that is my rear passenger tire (or ‘tyre’, as they spell it here in NZ), flat to the ground. ARGH. Found it today after pruning raspberry bushes – it likely had picked something up on my drive to the black sand beach the day prior. Driving on gravel roads is a common occurrence here in New Zealand, it was only a matter of time that this happened. I found the jack and got to work on putting on my spare tire. Considering I had never had to change a flat in my life, I was quite pleased I succeeded in changing my tire without somehow causing bodily harm to myself or the car!

SUCCESS! Well, I managed to drive into town to the local auto-shop, if you consider that success. I certainly do. The shop found the nail that did the damage, however both rear tires were cracking in several places and wouldn’t pass the government inspection each NZ vehicle undergoes every 6 months (mine is coming in October). So instead of paying for the tire to get fixed ($40NZD), I replaced my rear tires. $280 (ACK!), but I was back on the road.

It was a necessary evil. I knew when I bought the car the rear tires were getting close to bald – but had hoped to keep them until I took my car in for inspection in October. Either way, the tires will last me well for the year ahead and realistically won’t cost me anything extra this way. If I had repaired them I would have spent the money and then just replaced the tires 2 months later anyways. So it didn’t work out badly. My front tires are a different set and in much better shape, I believe they’ll last the year as well (fingers crossed of course!).