My new mattress on wheels - the "Ben-Van" if you like (Auckland, North Island, New Zealand)

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(Day 618 on the road)I am on the move again. After taking it easy for the last few weeks in Australia with good friends of mine, I have finally arrived in New Zealand. I haven't been so excited about any country in a long time and am thus very happy to finally be here!

After a considerable hold-up at check-in for my flight from Sydney to Auckland (I was not allowed to board the plane as I only had a one-way ticket to NZ; they made me purchase a completely unwanted ticket out of NZ) I soon touched down in Kiwi-land. And being upgraded to fly business class on the new Airbus A380 was an unexpected and much welcomed luxury compared to my usual mode of travel: Freshly squeezed celery-apple-carrot-ginger-detox juice, delicious canapés on free-flow, quality noise-reduction earphones, fully reclining seat ... you get the picture).

In Auckland I went straight to what I had been dreaming about for a while now (after eating a kilo of delicious kiwis first of course): Purchase a cheap but reliable van. The idea was to get one with a mattress in the back and lots of camping equipment to travel around NZ for the next few months. Oh yes, and of course I had to cancel the plane ticket they had forced me to buy at the airport. And yes, of course there was a penalty to be paid for that - what a seriously misguided policy by the NZ government and what a complete waste of money for me. Seems like the only party benefiting from this silly bureaucracy are the airlines.

But back to my soon-to-be-had van. It was actually a lot more complicated than I had anticipated and took me a full three days (and I was not even picky at all). Some were nice but too expensive for me, some were within my price range but had no camping equipment, some were not yet available, some were already sold etc etc.

But to cut a long story short: Three days, some expensive pre-purchase repairs and lots of paperwork later, I am now the proud owner of - drums please - a 1989 Toyota Liteace diesel van! Best of all it comes complete with a comfy double mattress in the back, lots of stuff that is great for my purpose (blankets, pillows, camping gear, solar shower, large organiser boxes, 20l water tank etc) and some stuff that I don't really need at all (i.e. snow chains or a fishing rod). But anyway, I am happy. And lacking any imagination whatsoever I have decided to call it "Ben-Van" (until somebody comes up with a better name for me). Now I am just hoping that Ben-Van will not break down on me and that I will be able to sell it again at the end of my trip across New Zealand.

Let the journey begin!

Next stop: Trekking - Kauaeranga Kauri Trail (North Island, New Zealand).



To view my photos, have a look at pictures.beiske.com. And to read the full account of my journey, have a look at the complete book about my trip at Amazon (and most other online book shops).

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Comments

[Arjan and Albertine]

Great van! We miss ours. It's on the road in NZ.

[Mathias Leiner]

Meet in NewZea?
Hi Ben, Mathias hier aus Mainz. Bin vom 8.1. bis zum 6.2. in Neuseeland. Vielleicht schaffen wir es ja auf nen Kaffee? Gruß aus dem kalten Mainz Mathias

[Suzanne]

Hi Ben! Whoohoo, ur in Kiwiland! Wish I was there with you. Its soooo cold here and I got my first job rejection already... Doesn't hurt too much, enough fish in the sea. If I only had a fishing rod... ;) I actually have no nicer name for u, but maybe u can come up with a nice contest? The winner can earn Kiwi's.... ha ha!

[liliram]

Wow
Hey, that sounds real exciting. Drive safely and enjoy NZ!

[karen]

Toyota what....?
Well Benjamin, your standards have dropped somewhat since our Borneo days. Toyota Hi-lux out of reach was it? You could have put the tent in the back... And you could have picked up hitch hikers :)

[Jawad]

I LIKE :) just get some air freshners :)

[Patricia Johnson]

Did you see the metorite shower over there? I'm watching it now.

[Talita]

Ben-Van
Congratulations! It's a good feeling having a home on wheels! Perhaps if you come to the far ends of NZ which is Karamea, we can point you in the direction to put that fishing rod to good use.

[Harriet]

Ben went to a sauna... there's a surprise! I'm in Dunedin, but hitting the north island in the new year! Have you got any thoughts on where you're going in the van, or you just following your nose?

[Mar che]

Awesome
Im'a have to get me one of those!

[Peter Schönhofen]

Weihnachten und Neujahr
Hallo Weltenbummler, ich darf Sie doch noch so nennen ? Jetzt als Pensionär hätte ich mich eigentlich schon früher einmal melden können . . ., aber Sie wissen ja, Rentner und Pensionäre haben extrem wenig Zeit. Ich habe Ihre Route weiterhin mit Interesse und auch mit etwas Neid verfolgt und hoffe, dass Sie noch viel Schönes erleben und Interessantes kennen lernen. Zunächst wünsche ich Ihnen ein fröhliches und besinnliches Weihnachtsfest und für das kommende Jahr viele schöne Erlebnisse, vor allem aber viel Gesundheit und möglichst keine Enttäuschungen. Vielleicht finden Sie ja auch im kommenden Jahr eine neue Perspektive für die Zeit danach; aber Nichts überstürzen. Für heute seien Sie herzlich gegrüßt Ihr "alter" Exkollege und junger Pensionär Peter Schönhofen

[Agustian]

Guest Blogging?
Hi Ben, I came across your pictures on flickr and ended up reading your blog. Your surely are living the dream! and I envy you for that. The reason for my email is to ask if you would be interested in guest blogging for http://turisku.com. It is a Indonesian Informative site that I'm working on and I'd be honor to have you share your Indonesian trip experience with my readers. You got great stories to share and I'm so excited to have as turisku.com guest blogger! I look forward to hearing from you! Agustian Hermanto

[Benji Mac]

another ben
how about the kiwi cruiser? just a thought.

[anna]

excited
thank you ben, for reminding us what we have to look forward to. we are new zealanders who have been living in the UK for the past four and a half years. in two weeks we are packing our bags and heading home for good. (we are spending five months traveling back and taking in many of the places you have covered in your blog.) we are feeling a bit nervous about heading back but seeing your blogs has reminded us what a beautiful country nz it is, and how spectacular the trekking opportunities are. funny, you really have to leave NZ for an extended period of time and then see it through fresh eyes to really appreciate it. thanks for showing us! Chris Anna