Searching for a passion wagon

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First impressions of Auckland having gotten through a strenuous visa and baggage check are pretty positive. The bus from the airport is speedy but pleasant and takes you through a range of motorways, leafy suburbs and then into the city itself. Auckland is not really somewhere for us to come to so as to spend time here, it is simply the cheapest place to fly to and more likely to possess a suitable van for us to travel elsewhere.

A short amount of looking around in the hostels and its simply a case of waiting for responses to SMS. Off to the Backpackers Car Market for a mooch about. Very little on offer and our price range is on the low end as money has run out quickly lately. A test drive in a Toyota van owned by a German couple proves to be a positive one as Liza is friendly and informative, he boyfriend seems to have little idea about the van what-so-ever. Definitely we were keen as it was pretty decent looking, for a converted van, and it comes with all of the relevant gear to allow us to camp out in style i.e. its got a bed, pots and pans and a small stove.

As were walking around looking at hostels and car yards were actually taking in the sights of AUckland. One striking thing about the place is just how quiet it all is, on arrival in Sydney, Bangkok or London you will always marvel at the traffic yet here you really could use a zimmer and amble accross the road without any great fears for your life, trully bizzare for a capital city on our journey as everywhere else has been sooo busy.

Anywho, midway through an early evening kip, still thinking its Friday and not Saturday, I am woken by two succesive text messages. I asked one guy what he'd take for his van, later I'd find out its called Smurf, and he said $1900. however, the second message says that they would take $1400 and can we view tonight. A lengthy test drive of the Mitsubishi Delica and we are happy that it is OK mechanically. It comes with a full range of camping gear and overall the owners are pretty genuine and friendly. The owners, Andi and Nicola have enjoyed using the van after a 10 week honeymoon! Quick negotiations and we bring the price down to $1300. A reasonable price for a nice van, OK the body is dented and scraped but its not the end of the world. Apologies followed from those two for being such sad losers, their words, as to having named the van like they promised not too!

An excellent feature of buying a car in NZ is that it is very easy to carry out a complete check on the history of the vehicle for a small charge. As it turns out, Smurf has had 7 previous owners in the last 21 years, only one of which has been a backpacker so they were indeed telling the truth. Also no outstanding finance, I should hope not after 21 years!, no accidents and no speeding fines.

Less than a day in and were buying a van, not bad for us as were so lazy in Asia. Sunday is a day to relax and plan. As it turns out we fail and just chill, no idea where were going and of course, we encounter problems with the bank again. Good to know that things wont change depending on the continent.

Monday, the adventure will begin.

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