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Published: January 22nd 2008
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We arrived from Fiji and after faffing at the airport a little and then we checked into Base Backpackers in Aukland. After a little look around the town we went to our hostel bar for a few drinks then went out on the town with some people from our room - one guy was only 16 and most peculiar - trying to get into bars with a fake id that said he was 28! We later returned to our room to find him getting it on with the 17 yr old German girl who was also from our room - very amusing for the rest of us! The next day went to the top of the sky tower which is the tallest buiding in the southern hemisphere - it has a glass floor in some parts which was frightening to say the least. We then headed to Aukland park where there was a Christmas party (Coca Cola Christmas in the Park) going on with New Zealand celebs all for free - was really good and unbelievable that it was free - that sort of thing would cost a fortune in England. So we sat there and had a picnic and 3
litres of wine!! We then drunkenly ambled back to our hostel before going to the club underneath our hostel. There were 2 Canadians in our room who were also in the club - they came home a little bit after us and were battered - one of them fell out of his bed in the night and tried to get into the bed of the girl in the bunk opposite him! Needless to say Jon slept through the majority of this whilst Debbie was listening to the Shenanigans.
Generally Aukland seems to be quite similar to any other large City, there is a shopping area, Parks, quite a nice Port, Parks and lots of skyscrapers etc, not somewhere to stay for too long so we booked a campervan for the following week.
The next morning we picked up our Campervan, who goes by the name of Brian (Debbie names all of our vehicles)
Unfortunately for our Campervan week the weather wasnt brilliant which hindered what we could do so we'll just give you some of the highlights and not let you know precisely how long we read for each evening, or what we had for dinner or how
many times we stopped like an old married couple for a cup of tea in a nice spot!
We visited a town called Waitangi which is where the treaty was signed in 1840 ensuring that Europeans and Maori could live in peace together. We watched a Maori show here which explained their beliefs on the creation of New Zealand and viewed the treaty house and Maori meeting room - really incredible room with really ornate wooden carvings. Later on that day Brian had a little adventure. We were driving North towards the ninety mile beach peninsula which is a stretch of beach at the very top of the North Island. The roads were gravel and full of potholes so not ideal for a camper van but we wanted to see the beach and the northern most point. When we got to the beach it was very windy so Jon suggested we sleep in a sand dune crater to give us some shelter so in he drove us however it was a little wonky so he decided to move to a different one - except we couldnt move! Eventually he reversed us out of the hole only to accidentally reverse
us into another (deeper) one. Whilst this was going on it was pouring with rain. We struggled for a good hour trying everything to stop the wheels from skidding and various different techniques for edging forwards so we could get out of this hole. Eventually we spotted a car coming down the road so began signalling wildly to them, these two Germans saw our plight and went to get some rope. An hour or so later they returned with the owner of the motel they were staying in in his big Toyota 4x4. He used the rope he used to use for drowning sharks(!?) to finally pull us free from the hole - all I can say is thank goodness as I was beginning to worry about what our options were - quite an amusing little tale though - sadly we didn't get any photos!
The next day we drove up to Cape Reinga which is the Northern most point of the North Island which is marked by a lighthouse and a signpost detailling the direct distances to towns including Cardiff and London. It was incredibly windy here and obviously very exposed so after a walk, few photos we
jumped back into Brian and carried on.
On our return back down we stopped at the giant sand dunes and went sand boarding - which was really good fun - particularly as we started on the psycho slope! Jon somehow managed to go further down the dune than everyone else - they were all quite astounded - we also ended up completely covered in sand and found a large amount of our skin had been sand blasted off but it was worth it for the fun!
- We braved the sea which was absolutely freezing - we went purple and i'm fairly certain Jon mentioned 'Inverted' something or other!
- We went to Trounson Kauri park and saw the biggest kauri tree in nz standing at over 50m high and 13m in girth (similar dimensions I am told to Jontys private area!) We then attempted to walk to the lookout of the park - cue another Jon and Debbie debacle! 2 hours later the hour walk to the lookout was bearing no fruits so we hitched a ride half way back on the back of a forestry truck sitting on top of some tankards - some of which were
unnervingly marked poison!!
- On our return to Aukland we drove to the summit of Mt Eden which is the 2nd highest point in NZ (after the sky tower) and was once a volcano. Rather oddly there was a herd of cattle at the summit along with the large number of tourists who came and went with their cameras. Next we returned the van - (for which we only paid for 1 day and insurance rather than 8 due to an error on the hiring peoples fault for mischarging us!) before drinking far too much before bed.
The next day the Broadest family were due to arrive in the afternoon and we were due to spend the morning on a free tour of Aukland - however we missed it! Instead we went to Kelly Tarltons Aquarium where we went on a snow track and saw penguins, saw some rays being fed (they were huge - the biggest called phoebe was 3m wide) we then went through an underwater experience and saw sharks & turtles before looking at some little tanks where we saw nemos (Clownfish) and friends! Returned to town, then got changed before going to meet Mummy, Daddy
and Joe Broadest. The new arrivals were quite tired after their trip around the world and few days stop over in Hong Kong so after a delicious kilo of Green Lipped Muscles each on the Harbourside, we left them to go to sleep.
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