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Published: November 29th 2008
Sunset over Picton
The ferry across from South Island to North Island.After last months BIG blog including all of South Island I decided to do the same for North Island. Be warned - it is a monster!! Here it is..........
Tuesday 28th October Up early to check out at 1000. Breakfast is included! We haven't had that for a while. Eight slices of toast later and we're ready to go. First on t'intenet to do our South Island blogs. Job done, it's time for a chippy lunch. Mmmmm, fresh fish and chips! It was then up to a look out point above the harbour where we sat down and roughly planned out our North Island route. It was now time to board the ferry. The sail over to North Island had some FAB views! As we sailed out of Picton (at 1900) we travelled down a thin channel of water, weaving between the rocks and land mass. This took about 1½ hours and coincided with sunset so we had amazing views of the sun setting behind the hills of North Eastern South Island. As the sun went down it got a litle chilly so we went inside - where we were immediately harrased by a couple of (seven year old) Kiwi
girls. I think kids can tell Aimee is into childcare! Once in Wellington we had to find somewhere to stay. Lonely Planet states, "camping grounds are scarce around Wellington.......head to Hutt Valley." We drove around for about 1½ hours and actually found quite a few cheeky places but they seemed to have "doggers" or druggies on them. Finally settled on a street in Wellington centre. It was pay-and-display from 0800-1800 so we have to be up early to move on. No toilet either! But FREE so we can't complain!
Wednesday 29th October Up at 0755 to move Timmy. Went to the Leisure Centre which offers two hours of free parking. Had another hour sleep, then went in for a toilet and shower (only 1.50NZ$ each). Tourist Info is the next stop. Trying to park in Wellington is either impossible or expensive! Most places are 4NZ$ per hour. Not a lot at first but when you think we want 8 hours or so, it soon adds up! There is an all day parking place for 5NZ$ but they're full! Drove around a bit but couldn't find anything. Went back to the all day parking dude to ask if he knew
of any others. Sadly they didn't but as we were leaving Aimee spotted a space. We pointed it out and he let us in! Bargain! As it's a rainy and dull day - and already after lunch, we decided to spend the rest of the day in the Te Papa museum. It's huge, very hi-tec and interactive. Wellingtonians (and all kiwi's apparently) see it as a National Symbol and have affectionately dubbed it "Our Place." We also made a dentist appointment for Aimee tomorrow. Spent the night street-side again. May as well - it's FREE!
Thursday 30th October Took Aimee to the dentists. Had a check up and a filling for 275NZ$. Then went to see "The Beehive" which is an office block that looks like it sounds. It's apparently the architectural symbol of the country. It's next door to Parliament House and the Parliamentary Library Building and adjacent to the Cenotaph. We popped up to Wellington Cathedral as well but there was a funeral on so we didn't get too close. We also saw Saint Paul's which used to be Wellington's Cathedral (opened in 1866). It was then time to leave and head off to see the rest
Castle Point
Taken from Castle Rock of North Island. Just a short drive to a place called Featherston. We started off on a real-life motorway with three lanes in each direction and everything. On South Island there was no such thing. Most roads just had one lane in each direction, and bridges usually just had one lane for sharing! Arrived at about 1600 and made the most of the late afternoon sun with a stroll down to the river. It was so nice I even managed a "skinny-dip!"
Friday 31st October Awoke and went down to the river for an early morning dip. It's a bit chilly so only went in up to my knees. Had a bit of a sunbathe before setting off. We're heading in the general direction of Napier (on the East Coast) but taking our time over it. We have some "family friends" who live in Palmerston North but they're on holiday in Europe at the moment. They get back on the 8th November so we're kind of waiting around and killing time till then. Stopped off in Masterton to use their information office and got quite a bit of decent stuff. We continued on our way and stopped just outside
Castlepoint Lighthouse
with Castle Rock behind. Castlepoint at a (FREE) cheeky roadside.
Saturday 01st November Down into Castelpoint this morning. Did two short walks before brunch (i) Went up Castle Rock itself, giving views back down to the bay/reef/lighthouse - by 'eck it's windy, and (ii) Castlepoint Lighthouse which is a recognised icon throughout the shipping world as it is the first sign of landfall for Wellington-bound ships since Panama/America. Quite a long drive followed the walks. We're continuing towards Napier but we've taken a minor detour from the main route so that we could see Castlepoint and also, "The World's Longest Place Name," which has 92 letters. The signpost has the abbreviated version which is a whole seven letters less (that's 85 letters long, maths lovers). Check it out:
"Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaurehaeaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu" It translates as "The summit where Tamatea, the man with the big knees and a circumcised penis, the climber of mountains, the land-swallower who travelled about, played his nose flute to his loved one!" Such a nice story!!!
We're running
way short of petrol. Just managed to get to a town/village called Porangahau but the petrol station closed at midday on Saturday and wont re-open till Monday morning. The next
possibility is 40km away and there's no way Timmy will get that far! We decide to go anyway and walk from wherever we run out. Apparently there are lots of farmers who might even offer to give us a lift or maybe lend us some petrol! We set off, extra slowly and made sure to "roll" down any slight downward slopes. They were anxious times, but he actually made it all the way! Filled with petrol then continued toward Napier. Stopped at a roadside just outside Pukehou for tea and sleeps. We had lamb and mint sausage with egg and beans, followed by Rhubarb and Apple Pie with custard! Aimee's getting quite good at this outdoor cooking!!
Sunday 02nd November Drove up to Napier and went to a leisure centre for a shower -
and a shave! First shave for 40 days! Went for a look round town. At 10:47am on 03rd February 1931, Napier was hit by an earthquake which in turn led to fires. The centre of the city was all but destroyed. It was rebuilt within a couple of years or so on typical 1930'a Art Deco style which remains today and means that Napier is
an International icon of Art Deco sophistication and style. Spent the night on the seafront in the pay-and-display car park. It's free 6pm till 8am!
Monday 03rd November A glorious sunny day today. Took a stroll up Bluff Hill, 102m above Napier with a sheer cliff face down to the port. Continued up the seafront North of napier before heading back into town. Decided to go "off the beaten track" tomorrow and find some Hot Springs that a farmer told us about while we were in Featherston. Got some very basic info from the Tourist Info but nothing more than, "Yes, they exist. They're North West of Napier somewhere!" Decided to slum it in the sea view pay-and-display again.
Tuesday 04th November Took a shower in the sea front showers. 1NZ$ for 7 minutes. Took the journey to Mangatutu Hot Springs. There is a DOC campsite by the springs, which is described as "47km from SH5." We eventually found them, 85km away! It's a glorious sunny day again so I drove shirtless. Just as we were setting up to cook some lunch it started raining. We're not going to let it spoil all the fun though - we're
Hot Water Waterfall
The pained look on my face is due to the fact I'm having my ass burned!! British! We cooked out of the back of the van (lamb curry sausage and eggy bread). We haven't seen a soul for at least 50km and we went to find the hot spring. It is 100m away from the campsite. There is a steep stream next to a muddy path and I wonder if it's thermal. Only one way to find out, so I put my hand in. It is WELL hot! It's quite bizarre to see/feel what appears to be a normal stream that you would find anywhere in the world, but it's
hot water. Just a little further down the path is a large bathtub with a drainpipe running into it. The other end of the drainpipe is in the stream and it constantly pipes the hot water into the tub. As soon as Aimee jumped in (I hadn't even had chance to get in yet) a family turn up! What are the chance of that? We are in the middle of nowhere, haven't seen
anyone for hours and yet here they are!!! We offer to get out and let the kids splash about. We're spending the night here so we can come back later. The day get's
Private Hot Tub
Mangatutu Hot Springs worse. Aimee get's the gas burners out to cook tea whilst I light a fire. All of a sudden a strong wind picks up which whips the fire into a frenzy and blows the glowing sparks into the surrounding bushland. It's so bad and shows no sign of stopping that we decide to put the fire out completely. It's quite a small fire so I just spread it out a bit and let it burn out. Shortly after this our gas runs out and tea is still not ready! I try to resurrect the fire which I manage after about 30 minutes. We then finished cooking on top of that. The wind is still blowing and the sparks are still going into the bushland. I decided to put the fire out before we settle down to eat. It's a bit more of a substantial fire now so water is needed. The nearest source is the hot water spring about 50m down a steep, muddy path - and it's dark. I only have a small pan to put the water in because the big one we are using for the food. Not fun! It takes about six journeys all in all
Woodville
Aimee Wood's town. but eventually the fire is out. Midway through eating our tea we see that the fire has somehow got itself going again and is still sparking into the bush. We have to interrupt eating to go and get more water. FINALLY we have it all sorted out and we can resume eating our (now lukewarm) tea! Later, in the dark, we decide to go back down to the hot tub. We want to see a kiwi bird, watch the stars, and just chill out in the great outdoors whilst soaking in a red hot natural spring. Trouble is it's still blowing a gale and it's really cloudy as well. Because of the lack of moon/stars it is literally pitch black. Then it started raining, which is actually a good thing. It was so nice to be relaxing in a hot tub, (naked) in the dark with a few cold beers and getting rained on. And it was FREE! You'd have to pay an absolute fortune to stay somewhere with it's own, private, outdoor hot tub, in the middle of a kiwi forest. It was bliss! Once we were thoroughly cooked and pink we made our way back to Timmy for
sleeps. It continued to rain all night.
Wednesday 05th November Got up and it's still raining. Drove back to Napier, did a big shop, and chilled in the sunshine - that's right folks. It's only been raining at the hot springs. It's been gorgeous all week back in Napier! Early evening we went for some gas so that we could cook our recently bought food. We tried at least six different petrol stations and they either didn't do gas, or they stopped serving at 7pm. Why does nobody tell us these things? So, fish and chips it is then. Back down to our usual pay-and-display to eat/sleep. It was PACKED!! People, cars, and families everywhere!! It appears that everybody in Napier's surrounding area heads down to the beach for their own little fire and to set off some fireworks. Obviously when we asked in the Tourist Info about firework displays or anything special for Bonfire Night they decided we wouldn't be interested in anything like this and so neglected to tell us! We took a stroll down the sea front and watched the fireworks and the little fires. There must have been a different group every 10 metres or
Flying Fox
Will I plummet to my death? so for miles. We loved it. It was too busy to spend the night in the car park so we found a quiet corner behind the Theatre. God we're pikies!
Thursday 06th November Bit of a lazy day/morning round Napier again. Got showered, did washing-up, filled water bottles, got gas and hit the road. Heading back South West toward Palmerston North. I've also just got telephone numbers of some other family friends (two girls, Kylie and Sarah) who live in Levin, just South of Palmerston North. We're going to spend tonight in Woodville because Aimee's surname is "Wood." As we approach it starts to pour down. And I really mean tip it down!! I need to use a phonebox to call the girls but there's no way I'm getting out of the van in this! We sit it out for about half an hour till it slows a little, then off I go. As I get in the phonebox I see it is a Phonecard only box! I don't have one of those - I'll ring tomorrow! It's raining so badly that we opt for a campsite - well, it's only 4NZ$ for the two of us and that
included hot showers. It is a cold and windy night!
Friday 07th November Had a lie in and a hot shower. Went to info centre to find out about Levin. Took a stroll round Woodville which is bizarrely full of second-hand shops. It started to rain about 1800ish and even included patches of hail.
NOT normal for this time of year! As we began cooking it turns out our gas bottle hadn't been refilled at all. We've run out - again. That's not great when there is nowhere to refill till morning. We got talking to a mother and son (Maureen 71 and Wayne 42) who are also on the campsite. They are "ash scattering" tomorrow. They suggested a food share. Basically we could finish off doing our veg on their gas and they would provide the meatballs. It was very nice, and good to chat to someone. We phoned Kylie and arranged to meet for coffee tomorrow. She's not sure what Sarah is up to so we'll see what happens. It's another cold night, but a lovely, clear, star filled one.
Saturday 08th November Phoned Kylie again for meeting up arrangements. We're meeting at Sarah's house for
Flying Fox
We survived!!! lunch. Sarah's son's are out so the house should be quite quiet. Showered and shaved and off we go. Arrived Sarah's about midday. The boys (Cyle 6, Mark 5) were at a friend's birthday party so we had a civilised lunch before they came back at 1400ish and turned the house upside down. We ended up spending the whole day with them all (playing at being silly boys) and went to the local organised firework display with them in the evening. It was really nice to catch up, despite us not knowing each other (I've never met Kylie and only met Sarah once about ten years ago and before the boys were even thought about) - they are my parents friends' kids. We'll try to stay in touch from now for if/when we come back or if they/their kids come to the U.K. Spent the night on the driveway outside Sarah's house.
Sunday 09th November More family friend meeting today. We've arranged to meet up with Allan and Rosie (friends of my parents) at their place in Palmerston North. Set off early-ish and had a quick look around the square. Decided the weather was too nice to sight see
Waikatu River
Where scalding hot meets freezing cold so we had lunch on the green which has a clock tower, duck pond, Maori carvings, statues and trees of all shapes and sizes. Quick shower and shave at the leisure centre (got to look presentable) then round to Allan and Rosies. They live in a big, three bedroom bungalow on the top of a hill in the countryside overlooking the valleys and hills, and the towns in the distance. Surrounding the house is five hectares (or acres, I can't remember which) with two sheep (mother - who is pregnant, and first son who doesn't know it yet but will end up "in the pan" when his brother is born) and two calf's (they did have three up until recently - read on). We arrived early evening so we met and sat on the timber decked patio overlooking the previously described view with a can of cold bbeer or two. Dinner was a barbecue cooked on the patio with chicken burgers, lamb sausage and home grown NZ beef steak - which it turns out was cow number three, recently deceased. This was followed by the traditional kiwi dessert, Pavlova and also a homemade cheesecake with crushed gingerbread biscuit base. We
are
really getting spoiled! As I'm sure you can tell - we thoroughly enjoyed it!
Monday 10th November An early start (0700) to watch Blackburn vs Chelsea on Allan's Sky TV. A trip out with Allan and Rosie followed a nice, cooked breakfast. We went into Palmerston North to run a few errands, then out to Foxton Beach to see their Beach House and the resort. It was then back into Palmerston for a look round Victoria Esplanade - a riverside park with Aviary where we could stroke parrots, and a rose garden voted among the world's top five gardens. It was here that our camera finally gave up the wil to live! Great! We've just shelled out 120 quid on unplanned dental work and now this! We need to think about what to do! Can it be fixed or should we buy a new one? Back to Allan and Rosie's for a tea of slow cooked beef stew and bread to dip in, followed by more pavlova and cheesecake. We then had a night in front of the telly (that bloody CSI thing)!!
Tuesday 11th November Another cooked breakfast and then off. We've done all our laundry
as well. We're off to the camera shop! Diagnosis is not good. It's terminal! (Sony actually said it is probably a recognised fault. If we send them 200$ they will look at it and if it
is the recognised fault they would fix it and return the 200$. If it isn't then they will fix it and keep the 200$ plus charge us for whatever work they do). Taking this all into account we decide we're better off buying a new camera - we wont be in one place long enough to wait for Sony to send the camera back anyway. So, bought a camera then headed off North on SH1 towards Taihape. We're staying at a FREE DOC site on the Kawhatu River Valley in the Ruahine Forest Park. It's very isolated, 15km along a dirt track. It's a nice flat field surrounded by hills and forest. There is a DOC hut on the site as well which has two fishing women in it. They kindly let us use their electricity and charge the new camera for an hour. We spent the evening in the great outdoors with a fire. We even had toasted marshmalllows this time! Aimee got
a little (extremely) tipsy (drunk)!!
Wednesday 12th November Had a lie in. It's another nice sunny day so we went for a walk through the forest and along the valley to a "Flying Fox." This is basically a means off crossing a canyon. It is a wire attached to both sides of the canyon with a tray hanging from it and a pulley system to pull yourself across. We said our final goodbyes (just in case it snapped and I fell to my death) and off I went. Gravity takes care of the movement for the first half of the canyon, then you have to wind yourself up to the other side. After a little bit of persuasion and proof that it was safe(ish) Aimee had a go as well. We then sat in the meadow in the sun with our books. Set off late afternoon for our next stop. Heading North along SH1 which turns into "The Desert Road." It comes on you quite quickly - one minute you're in a town (Waiouru) and the next minute you're in a grey dusty/sandy scrubland with small canyons and unusual rock formations with the very snowy "Mt Doom" from Lord
of the Rings, on your left. Our campsite is just off this road, 15km South of Turangi in the Kaimanawa Forest Park. It's another FREE DOC site. Once again we're the only people around and so we make camp, make tea (Thai green curry and quinoa) and light a fire. No marshmallows tonight though - just banana's and custard.
Thursday 13th November Up, breakfast, then a short walk to something signposted as "The Pillars of Hercules." We've never even heard of them till we saw the sign! We come to a rope bridge which states, "The Pillars of Hercules View Point." We head across but see no sign of any pillars! So, we're still no wiser as to what we were supposed to be looking at! It was a fun bridge though. About 350ft over a river and made of rope! Drove up to Lake Taupo. Lake Taupo is NZ's largest body of water and I believe is actually a water filled volcanic crater. First job on the list is to go and see the Aratiatia Rapids. It's a part of the Waikata River (NZ's longest and Taupo's only outlet) which has a Hydro-electric dam across it. At 4pm
today they're going to open the floodgates and let the water flow down. A few warning sirens later and here comes the flash flood! After that we go down to our campsite. This is actually a FREE site called Reids Farm. We have a spot right next to the river which has dramatic water level changes due to the aforementioned dam. Sadly, fires are not permitted here but it's warm enough to sit out with a few beers.
Friday 14th November Did the walk to Huka Falls today. this is where the Waikata River is slammed into a small chasm (15m wide, 10m deep) and then drops into a surging pool. On the way we came across a hot water river that flows into the Waikata. After our walk to Huka we return to this spot for a swim. The Waikata is
freezing but where the hot water mixes it is quite warm(ish)/ It's bizarre really as there are patches of really hot water and patches of really cold water - it's not just a plain warm mix! Odd!
Saturday 15th November Quite a few "views" today. We saw the Craters of the Moon, the Wairakei Geothermal Power
Project which uses the natural heat/steam from the ground to make enough electricity to power 5%!o(MISSING)f NZ (that's 205,000 people and 2 million sheep). We then jumped North on the SH5 to Rotorua where we went to the info centre. First impressions are that it's another over-priced, rob-the-tourists-for-as-much-as-possible, commercial, hell hole. They even charged us for a street plan of the town! Rotorua is very thermal and it stinks of sulphur (rotten eggs). There are the usual offers of Bungy jumps, rope swings, river rafting etc. All for over 100$, plus the thermal areas which are all private and cost a minimum of 70NZ$. it's strictly "No Overnight Parking" as well which means we have to pay for a campsite! Found one for 21NZ$ a night with good favilities and kitchen. It has it's own natural hot pool as well.
Sunday 16th November A day of sightseeing. Well, by the time we're up, showered, shaved, breakfasted and been distracted by the shops (Aimee, not me) we hit the sights! Walked around Sulphur Point which is part of a bird sanctuary and where the Lake is on an active geothermal area which makes it milky white and very eggy
smelling. We then went inside the Government Gardens where they have the Museum of Art and History, bowling greens, crooquet lawns and more boiling pools and steaming holes. Next on the list is Kairau Park which has another crater lake, pots of boiling mud and more steamy holes. It's most recent eruption was back in 2003. Time for a relax in our Hostel's own hot spring bath thingy! We have a nice, juicy steak for tea with jacket spud , veg and gravy. Very nice.
Monday 17th November It's rainy and dull today. Went to watch some zorbing (a plastic sphere with a body and water chucked in the middle and shoved down a hill). It was a bit cold for us to have a go (and 50NZ$ which soon becomes 100NZ$ for the two of us). We continued our journey northbound to the Coromandel Peninsula. The DOC sites here are 18NZ$ and that's just for a place to park - nothing included. We therefore find a cheeky pull in at the side of the road near Whangamata.
Tuesday 18th November Big, busy day today. Firstly up to Tairua for some info at the info centre. Then up "Paku" which is the tip of a volcano giving 360 degree views of the peninsula. Legend has it that climbers of Paku will return seven years later! Next we're off to Hahei for a walk to Cathedral Cove which is a white, sandy cove with unusual rock formations and a famous limestone arch. Then we went round to Hot Water Beach. This was
very cool. It's another beach that has geothermal activity just below the surface. You hire a spade for 5NZ$ and dig a little hole. The hole then fills up with hot water which you sit/lie in. Occasionally a big wave comes along and cools everything down. The first hole we dug was too hot! We had to move out. I burned my foot. The second hole was too cold, so I cleverly dug a channel from hole 1 which brought the hot water into our cold hole. This worked perfectly! We then had to leave to find a bed for the night. Oops, I forgot to give the spade back! Nevermind - we can sell it with Timmy! We settle down at a picnic site north of Whitianga on SH25. Again it's FREE!
Wednesday 19th November Driving day today. We're following SH25 around Coromandel Peninsula. It's a lovely journey that takes us on many winding roads, through forests, up and down steep hills. It's about 3km inland so from the high points we can see across the tree filled valleys to the odd shaped coastline. We stop in Coromandel Town for their famous smoked mussels. And very nice they were too! (It's actually the first mussel Aimee has eaten). From there the road hugged the coast all the way around the Firth of Thames towards Auckland. The last 50km or so were on a real motorway with three lanes in each direction. No pottering along at 60-70km/h here, I had to
really put my foot down and nudge the needle up to 90! Auckland is large. It has 1.2million population (that's a quarter of NZ's population) and the city centre reminds me of driving in big cities like London or Barcelona. It's all six lanes of traffic and one way systems that are more-or-less constantly grid-locked. Camping is non-existent and parking is expensive. We eventually found a small park where we could stay for free till 10pm so we cooked and ate there. We then found a view point overlooking the (extremely busy) port. The view point said that the gates would be locked at 6pm (though they're still open now at 10pm) and will be unlocked at 6am. Fine by us if they lock us in. We're not going anywhere before 6am. So we stayed there for FREE.
Thursday 20th November Up and down to "Tepid Baths" for a shower. 6NZ$ to park and to have a shower each. It's all about selling Timmy now so we went to take a look at the competition at the Auckland Backpackers Market. (As a reminder, Timmy is a 1990 Toyota Townace DX van. We bought him for 1500NZ$ and spent around 200NZ$ kitting him out). In Auckland Backpackers Market there are older, less kitted-out and (in our opinion) crapper vans than Timmy, selling for around 3500NZ$ to 4000NZ$. We weren't even expecting to get anything over 1500NZ$ for him, and probably expected less! This got us thinking though. We popped into a few Hostels to ask about work and to see how much rooms cost for when Timmy is gone. We also had chance to look at the Hostel noticeboards to see what sort of vans were for sale on those. It appears that Auckland Backpackers Market isn't the only place where crap vans are expensive! The plan is to make a poster, pin it up in some hostels, then take Timmy to the Sunday car market, which costs 40NZ$ to book a spot. If we have no luck at the market we can take him to Auckland Backpackers Market at 90NZ$ to show him off for three days. We put our poster together and thought, rather cheekily that we would ask for 2750NZ$ and if we have to lower the price a bit then fine - we expect to! We put some posters up and got chatting to a guy in one of the hostels who told us about a car market on Saturday morning. It's 20NZ$ to show your van at this one. So tomorrow we'll spend the day making him look presentable ready for Saturday. Back to our FREE harbour-view car park for food and sleep.
Friday 21st November Up we get and head off to th park to clean out Timmy (it's free parking in the park). At about 1230 when Timmy couldn't possibly look any worse - dirty washing up everywhere, carrier bags full of rubbish, piles of random camping stuff etc. etc. we were approached by an American couple, "How's the van been running?" was the question they asked. In my little head I took the
"Rep's Guide to Selling Manual" from the shelf, turned to the
"Buying Signals" section and double checked it. Yes, that seems to fit in with the general buying signal characteristic. I came right out and told them how good Timmy was and blatently asked, "You interested in buying?" They were and we got chatting, me doing the "selling" thing to the lad, Aimee chatting about clothes, food and storage space to the lass. About one hour later, lad and lass had become Morgan and Danielle, and they want to head off and get some lunch. They seem interested and ask if they can call us in an hour or so. Sure they can. We don't expect anything to come of it so we continue to clean up, ready for the market tomorrow. An hour and a half later and still no call. Not to worry! Then, out of the blue, quarter of an hour later the phone rings! It's Morgan, "Can we meet in half an hour for another look and a chat?" Gee, let me think..............OK!! We're thinking, surely it can't be this easy? We haven't even tried to sell him yet, and we're asking 1000NZ$ more than we payed for him! So we meet up in the park and get chatting again - they're really nice people, and a test drive later Morgan offers us 2500NZ$ because there's a tyre that might need replacing when it has it's WOF (which is similar to our MOT) in January. Obviously, in true bartering style there's no way I can accept the first offer (and there's no way that Morgan expects me to). I can't be too cruel though so I raise it to 2600NZ$. "OK, deal" came the reply.............It
really was that simple! We arranged to meet at 0800 tomorrow so we still have time to get to the market if the sale falls through. Done! We took Timmy to the car wash then celebtrated with a 12 inch Pizza Hut pizza and some beer and wine. Then bed, ready for tomorrow!
Saturday 22nd November IT'S MY BIRTYDAY!!!! Up at 0700 to get ready and meet Morgan and Danielle. Got lost in one-way traffic and arrived 15mins. late. Luckily, Morgan was still waiting. We decided that whilst they moved into Timmy, we would take their room in the Hostel and move our stuff in, so it worked quite well. It's 60NZ$ per night with shared facilities, kitchen etc. and it's slap bang in the middle of Auckland! Paperwork for Timmy sorted, cash paid, receipt issued and that was that! We no longer own Timmy and we made 900NZ$ profit which is awesome! We don't feel too guilty either because when you compare Timmy to other vans on the market at the same time, Morgan and Danielle got a bargain as well - so much so that they can probably sell at a profit when they leave. With a tear in our eyes we waved Timmy off and went up to our room. Took a quick look around downtown Auckland.
Sunday 23rd November Up earlyish to check out of the Hostel at 1000. Walked up to our other hostel which is about 25 mins walk away in ponsonby - the posh end of town! It works out at 46NZ$ per night for a double room, shared facilities, kitchen, lounge, TV room, barbecue area etc. It's a nice place. Went food shopping and bought some live mussells. they're only 1 quid for 100 grams! Managed to cook them and eat them and I didn't die so must have done it right! Chilled out a bit this afternoon then socialised in the hostel TV room.
Friday 24th November to Monday 01st December We have time to spare now because we thought it would be harder to sell Timmy than it was. I wont bother telling you exactly what we did on each day of the week. We had some nice weather days and some poor weather days. Changed our flights around a bit, had a hair cut, saw the sights, visited the fish market, went into museums, had picnics in the parks, and even watched football on telly. Our hostel has Sky Sports so caught the Champions League matches. Barnsley vs Burnley was on Monday night, but in their wisdom, Sky NZ decided to broadcast the Everton vs Portsmouth game instead - gutted! (mind you we got beat 3 - 2 so it's not too bad that it wasn't on here).
It's a barbecue at the Hostel tonight, then Santa's Christmas Parade through the streets of Auckland tomorrow. Monday we fly to Sydney. It's all very exciting!! We'll blog again soon from Oz-land! Have a good one!
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grego
non-member comment
enjoyable read
We hope to follow a similar route, thanks for the useful tips Regards Grego