Advertisement
Published: October 19th 2008
Edit Blog Post
Auckland Airport
Relieved and happy to be at our destination NEW ZEALAND 11-09-08
We flew into Auckland with our friends Jason & Maria whom we’d met again at the departures lounge in Tonga. They had flown to the Northern Island and had been Kayaking with the Hump-Back Whales while I near death. They had some really nice photos, this was the final kick in the nuts from Tonga.
We said our goodbyes at the airport and caught our bus heading to Parnell via Auckland city centre. We met a couple on the bus from Holland, Trisha and Baz, they were staying in a hostal just down the road from us so we agreed to meet up later for a beer and some food.
We stayed at a place called Lantana Lodge on the outskirt of the city. The place was packed with backpackers; a large and varied selection of footwear surrounded the large doorway.
Our room was in the basement of the building, it was very clean with a large double bed, plus a single, toilets and washing facilities. We even had WiFi in our room, we were very pleasantly surprised with the place.
We showered, sorted through our crumpled clothes and set out to meet
Lantana Lodge, Parnell, Auckland
Our home for two nights.
With our new friends from Holland, Trisha & Baz our new friends for beers.
After a 40 minutes walk (we got a little lost) we found the hostal Trisha & Baz were staying at. We set out to find a suitable bar and to start looking for a van rental place. Within 10mins we stumbled across a row of rentals businesses so we casually enquired about the cost for a 2month rental. Depending on the requirements prices start between $37- $50 per day. With this knowledge we refocused our quest for Kiwi booze.
We headed towards the port and found some very expensive looking bistros and bars which we avoided obviously. Eventually we found a suitable hostelry and quaffed a couple of cold ones then sauntered out to find a local purveyor of mystery meat, chilli, thrown into a pitta bread (kebab), we kind of succeeded in our quest, though it was a little bland, but it filled the gap.
Back at the hostal (Trisha & Baz also came back) we sat and chatted and Baz donated a half bottle of whiskey to toast our travels, which went down very well. We decided that we should combine our rental contracts as they also wanted a van
Pili Killing Time
We're waiting for a van, Pili's not a happy bunny! for a month, this hopefully would give us bargaining power.
12th September 2008
The next morning I rose early and stretched my legs outside the front of the building. The owner (an Indian gentleman) was out feeding the birds, mostly beautiful but noisy Myna birds and house sparrows. I asked his advice on rental vans and he offered to look into getting us a deal, "give me an hour" he said, so off I went smug to tell Pili who was still snoring in bed.
An hour later my new Indian friend had sorted out 2 vans from Jucy rentals for $22.00 a day, FANTASTIC!!!!!
We met with Trisha and Baz and went to the airport to pick up the vans. After a small volume of paperwork and a cup of coffee we prepared to drive into the unknown with our funky green vans as our homes. 1st PROBLEM!!!!!!!
Our van had a flat battery, Baz’s exhaust was rattling also. These things happen we concluded and a JUCY mechanic quickly rectified the problems. We finally headed back to the hostal to celebrate with pizza and a pint of Guinness at an Irish pub I’d spotted.
Viewing Point overlooking Owera Beach
Happy to be on the road, this is our first stop since driving off with the van The real bonus was at the pub we caught a brilliant Blues band and heard one of the best renditions of the classic ‘Mess O’ The Blues’ I’ve ever heard.
Well, where do I start? The van had the DVD player missing, we were told at the airport to pick it up from the city office. This was at 5:15pm, I told them to call for us because it might be a little after they closed when we arrived because of us finding the place and contending with the rush hour. We arrived 5 minutes after closing and the place was empty, therefore the reason to pick up this morning. I’d also noticed my front driver side light wasn’t working which made last night journey from the airport illegal!
When we arrived the office knew nothing about the DVD player but they suggested we go back to the airport to pick one up!!!! I DON’T THINK SO, I told them they'd better get one delivered and in the meantime sort out my light. After an hour and a half waiting around (we told Trisha & Baz to carry on) I was informed that the driver had got lost
Owera Beach
Not a piece of litter along the whole length of the beach. coming from the airport!!! HOW IS THAT, they were 30mins away? Another player was on the way and the van was going to be replaced, we were told. At this point I didn’t care about the DVD player but it was a principle, I paid for it so I expected it, plus I’d driven illegally the night before without the headlight. The attitude of the supervisor was also pissing me off, it was like ‘what do you want me to do about it’ I had several suggestion but all would result in prison!!!
Anyway we spent the whole day sorting this crap out; a new van arrived with a very stoned surfer dude & no DVD player!!!! The van also had no bed so they stole one from another rental van in the car park. We then found out the heater didn’t work, we’re going to a fucking GLACIER!!!!!!!!!!! “New van please”, and another hour passed. The next replacement van arrived and they checked listed it off and told us it was ready to go, “sign here please”. Pili went over it with a fine tooth comb, she found the engine had no water and oil, we would have
blown the van up if Pilar hadn’t been so diligent with the inspection. By now I was loosing my cool at the total incompetence of the service and the arrogance of the guy I was dealing with. I decided I wanted to speak to the MD, I was told he was away on vacation in Australia, this was a bare faced lie as another member of staff who was a little concerned suggested I talk to her and told me that this was not the case. I think the rest of the staff could see that Chris the supervisor was about to get a good Pommy shoeing. She managed to reach the MD on the phone and I told him of my woes, we agreed on compensation and finally people started jumping around to make sure we were happy campers. Finally at about 4pm we left the rental office with a fully functioning van, or so we thought
TO ANYONE THINKING OF TRAVELLING IN A CAMPER, NEVER USE JUCY RENTALS………….PASS THE WORD ON!!!!
Relieved we made our way north in the search for a supermarket and somewhere to camp overnight. I needed a beer, food and sleep, we
Handsome Mr Tui
This is the bird that brought tears to my eyes when I heard his morning song were both exhausted from our day trials.
The nearest town was a place called Owera, we found a supermarket and did our first shop. I asked the guy at the till if he knew of anywhere local to camp. He asked if I like birdlife as his father was a warden at a near by Nature Reserve called Wenderholm. GOLD, our luck was changing. A five minutes drive and we were there, the sun was setting and we met another English couple Neal & Louise. We cooked our first road meal (bacon sandwiches) and shared beers and conversation with our new friends.
Another first for Pilar was the bush toilets, basically a festival type set up, a plastic toilet over a large hole, if you’ve used them you don’t need anymore detailed descriptions, if you haven’t experienced this be happy in your naivety. A full moon was overhead and the stars were brilliant, it was cold but we slept like babies.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.118s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 13; qc: 67; dbt: 0.0807s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Neil Jones
non-member comment
Arrival in New Zealand
Hi Guys You are both looking well and relaxed, glad to hear you are having a fab time. John, the birds look great in New Zealand!!! When are you coming to share a coffee and a cognac or 2 in Tokyo? Take care and enjoy. Neil Nicki and Sophie XXX