you can pick up an e30 bmw for quite cheap nowadays .. would be a nice daily car during your studies here. The next meet is this coming weekend at Kyus cafe in Penrose.
http://bimmersport.co.nz/topic/49568-auckland-monthly-coffee-and-cars-meet/
Depending where you stay, you may be able to get a ride from someone who is passing close to you on the way to the meet ..
The culture here is a bit more mature than some other car clubs in NZ. Granted that usually the purchase price of BMWs and European cars are higher than Japanese cars, and also maintenance costs are higher as well means that the general level of maturity is a little higher than your average import car club. Most/all of us really love our machines, and keep them legal and tastefully modified. Many of the members are older than your average 'young boy racers' and own great new machines, new M3s, M5s, 335s, restored e30s etc.
This is all a generalisation though! We've had some silly things done on some of our meets but we're trying!