Thursday 12th April – Picking up the van and getting hair dyed!

---

We wake to a frosty welcome by the receptionist in the hotel. We have over slept, it’s 10.15 and they want us out in 30mins! We are both a bit grumpy and tired and we drag ourselves out to get a taxi to go and pick up the Camper Van.

An hour later we arrived at Backpacker Camper Vans just near the airport where we pick up a rather old and tatty campervan. It’s basically a converted Mercedes sprinter Van with lots of dints and scrapes but with a cooker, fridge, toilet and shower.

After a heated argument over directions (Kirsten was right I hasten to admit!) we make it to a suburb of Auckland called Grey Lynn where we meet Gareth (one of Kirsten friends brother) to get our hair cut.

I feel quite at home as its pouring down with rain and very cold and damp. An hour later we leave (having both had our hair cut and coloured; yes me too!) with the keys to a holiday cottage on the Coromandel Peninsular that Lyntons (Kirsten Friend) parent have kindly let us use for a couple of days.

3 Hours later after a brief stop off at the harbour in Auckland we arrive in Wangamata on the coromandel peninsular. The drive was tough in the dark with the roads not great and very twisty. Just before Wangamata we stop as the road is blocked by a traffic accident. We park and wander down to see the carnage. One car was off the road in a ditch and the other was really smashed up in the road. We were shocked but relieved that nobody had been seriously hurt!

Wangamata was like a ghost town with not a soul to be seen. We eventually find the hotspot in a saloon bar with about 20 locals singing karaoke badly!

We stop for a few drinks and chat to the locals before heading back to the batch; meat pie in tow (A batch in NZ is basically a beach holiday cottage).

Ta Ta for now K & M

---

Comments

[Priscilla]

Coromandal
Bloody hell!!! Coromandal in the dark!!! I'm glad it wasn't you two in the ditch. Now that I have finished being my mother, sounds like you two are having a great time. Hmmm... How cool is Gareth with sorting out the hair aye? xxx p