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Published: March 26th 2007
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Safe arrival in Auckland gave us a night in the hostel (ooohhh hot showers and a bed to myself......ahhhhhh!) before picking up our new car and man, was Jen looking forward to watching her DVD!!! Off we tootled heading North out of Auckland without a care in the World! Music blaring and sun shining with destination Cape Reinga and all the little hotspots along the way! First stop was Orewa for a spot of lunch and a bit of food shopping, then it was onwards - aiming for the Bay of Islands in the sunshine we had woken up to!! All was going splendiferously......until the CD started skipping! Ooooooh Jen's face was a picture, 30 seconds later the CD player conked out completely - the anger was oooozing out of her ears! The next town we hit, we had to stop and get on the phone! She was not a happy bunny!
The spaceship rep was hugely sympathetic - having heard our sob story about the South Island and giving us our 2 free days! Fortunately we could return to Auckland on our way through and get it repaired.....until.....duh duh duuuuuhhhh........I started to feel a little bit of knocking
in the steering - Dexter had taken an instant disliking to us! Or spaceships had given us the dodgiest car they had as we weren't paying!?! Back on the phone - take it to a mechanic, see what they say - so backtracking to a mechanic also on the cards! GREAT! Arrival at the mechanics highlighted that most mechanics would be reluctant to work on a hire car as they maybe held liable for any damage! Things were going well!!!! Anyway, he said, you should be alright I can't see any problems - this was from a brief glance under the car! My sort of mechanics!!!! A quick text to my dad confirmed it shouldn't be too serious but to get it looked at! More ear burning for spaceships! And a date made for getting a new one!
Sights wise, we had arrived in the Bay of Islands - to a faint grey misty rain that got everywhere - so somewhat damp we had a spot of DIY dinner and resorted to reading - well Jen did - by 9pm I was fast asleep! 7 am the next morning I was looking at a not very happy Jenny! She's
Through the drizzle
Quite a cool shot - except for the power lines! Wouldn't have got that in the South (or electricity for that matter!) not the most 'morning' person I know! May even beat my little sister! That's saying something!!! Anyway, she got up somewhat quietly - seemingly simmering to herself and off we tootled! (she told me later she doesn't simmer, she is just quiet!!! Yeah yeah!) That morning saw a yomp up to a view point which looked out over the spectacular Bay of Islands which still looked magnificent despite the rain, then it was Northwards to drive Cape Reinga and see the massive sand dunes! That night was spent at the beginning of the Cape Reinga road close to civilisation and with another campervan we had bumped into with me hitting the sack at around 8 - ooooppps! Well it was dark! May as well get up early and make the most of the sunlight! At 6am Jen was NOT of the same opinion and somewhat silently awoke and got dressed scowling throughout! Tee hee! Unfortunately with dodgy steering I was quite relucatnat to go too far into the middle of nowhere so we didn't quite make it to the Cape, venturing only as far as the sand dunes - which were massive and allowed for some venting of early morning
energy (mine, not Jen's!) tootling about and surfing the dunes! Cool or what!?! From there it was down the east coast to see some Kauri trees! Which were awesome! The girths on them were HUGE! Bigger than I could reach by about 6 times! Getting to them was a little interesting to say the least! Going along a windy dodgy gravel track up a mountainside - all sign posted though with speed limits of 50! 50 I ask? i daredn't go above 30! Those seen and photographed from some very interesting angles - to get the whole tree in, we were off again! Striving to get hold of a new car!
By this point Jen had cottoned on to the idea that it wasn't a good idea to let me go to sleep quite so early, so we took things slowly and made the most of all the light we had to sight see before meandering around Warkworth to keep me awake! It worked I didn't wake up til 7 the next morning - plenty of time to get to Auckland to trade the Spaceship in for a shinier and newer version!
Or so we thought.....despite 4 calls
over the weekend, confirming our arrival on Monday morning and our desire to swap vehicles they still knew nothing of our intentions! Honestly, ignorance is no defence!!! it wasn't on! This is the main reason that I am now up to date with blogs though we won't tell them that! It does mean that we were able to get another free day's hire! We have however had to spend a day in Auckland - and screw up our itinerary - giving Jen some serious ammo to burn ears with later on in the day!!! Thoughts so far on the North Island - sooo many people! Got caught in a traffic jam with more cars in it than I saw whilst driving the WHOLE of the south island (except Christchurch!) YUK!) The scenery here isn't quite as breathtaking, alhtough having said that it is as good if not better than some of the beautiful hotspots of the UK - like the Cotswolds, it just isn't as rugged! Amenities here are definitely more accessible so blogs should be more up to date!! The people are still incredibly nice (oooh except the spaceship reps but thats not their fault!) Also it doesn't help
Not far from where the Waitangi Treaty was signed (1840)
Check out my Haka....and Jen's.....surfing?! Who knows? that the weather hasn't been that great!
From here it all depends on the weather, which I shall look up now! Who knows when the next blog'll be!!! TTFN xxx
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