30th October - NZ Wilderness

And so, as one chapter ends (america), another begins (new zealand). We join our two intrepid explorers in the romantic setting of hahei beach in the rainforests of the coromandel peninsula. They sip wine and eat luxurious delicacies as they pontificate over all things bright and beautiful. All creatures great and small. All things wise and wonderful...

Yeah, right. Okay, the scenery is amazing, and jo has cracked open a bottle whilst i'm laying into NZ's finest Steinlager. We have just finished our first campervan dinner of lightly sauteed beans and toasted sliced baguette with fromage cheddar and sauce de tomato. Beans on toast. The conversation is restricted to campsite toilet etiquette. Okay, just toilets in general.

The van is 'cosy'. I can't stand up straight in it so already have a stiff neck. We don't have an obscene amount of stuff, but already it's pretty cluttered. I can't imagine what it'll be like after a week, let alone five of them... My brand new bbq (the first i've ever owned) is all boxed up waiting for tomorrow night to arrive. I just hope I don't need too many tools to get it cranked up... I'm not sure my fisher price 'my first toolset' is going to be enough.

And the van? Like a bloody great transit van with a mfi kitchen unit and some ikea-esq shower-cum-toilet unit. And it's a mercedes as opposed to a ford. Some would say it's the mercedes-benz of it's class.

Today has been an arse. We left the hostel early doors (about ten thirty after brekkie) and got a cab to the airport. Of course, we had the kiwi equivalent of a london cabbie. He had an opinion on everything and was very amusing. However, he spent more time chatting and less time avoiding traffic jams, and so it took an hour to get to the airport to pick up the van. The tools at the van company very kindly took three hours before our van was ready (most unhappy) and by the time the food shopping was done it was gone four and we got here by seven.

It is however stunning here. Incredible white beaches with rocky outcrops and rain forest behind. Gnarly.

So that's where we are. Where were we between the 25th and today? Auckland:


25th - arrived in nz. Had a shower and nap. Uneventful. Explored town and had a stir-fry. Job done.


26th - Explored the suburbs. We walked all day (maybe 10 miles) in aucklands hilly central suburbs. Parnell, ponsonby and newmarket. All very nice. More to the point, we discovered the delight of the pie. Of course, we have pies at home, but they're obsessed with them here. All shapes and sizes and all manner of fillings and toppings. I feel a piewatch starting...


27th - Mount rangitoto dominates the auckland skyline sitting in the hauraki gulf. It's only 600 years old, 250m high and uninhabited. The mission, if we chose to accept it, which we did, was to walk/hike to the top. So we did. The ferry from auckland lands at the pier on rangitoto where your given a warning - the ferry leaves at 3:30 prompt. Miss it, and you'll be sleeping rough! Got to the top in about 50 minutes. Quite hard work and bloody hot. The island is essentially black lava (mostly forested) and gets really hot. Consequently by the time we got to the top we were a little sweaty - oh sorry, I was a lot sweaty and princess joey was full of freshness and smelt of the prettiest flowers. The views from here were pretty spectacular. I got to look into my first ever volcano crater too. Here we met florian (if spelt correctly). A french guy who was in NZ for a year. He was a nice chatty chap who then accompanied us back down. On the way back we diverted to the lava caves which were pretty cool though a little dark. Considering how popular they are, they should install some strip lighting, give them a little clean and flatten out the potholes. Don't worry, we made the ferry back.


28th - Devonport - in Aucklands North shore. A ferry ride to this delightful suberb and a lovely sunny day spent watching the world go by. White sandy beaches over looking Rangitoto Island - sweet!


29th - mission bay:- I (Joey) will write this bit! Met up with my friend Lititia (who is a New Zealander), she took us to Mission Bay, which is a lovely suberb of Auckland. Despite the rain we had a nice lunch together after which we drove further round the bay and saw the boats out on the water and caught up on all our news...


30th - pick up "The Beast" (mark 2!)
Joey's musings:-Am loving the Kiwi land....Good food (fresh and organic as they can afford not to participate in intensive farming in light of their small population), nice people..(am looking forward to learning more about the Maori people - Rotarua where we are now staying is the Maori heartland) and beautiful scenery. I enjoyed meeting up with my friend Lititia who I used to work with in the wheelies, there's something so nice about hearing about NZ from the locals. I can certainly see why the brits love it here, it's clean, underpopulated and beautiful....(don't worry we will come back to Blighty though!). The Camper van is fun, if a little "cabin fever" inducing! Matt is a little tall to appreciate it but hopefully he may either shrink or aclimatise! I write this message on a full tummy as Matt has just completed his first BBQ of the trip, he is feeling very masculine after such a stirling effort and his chest is puffed out almost as far out as his tummy (on account of the 2 months spent lording it round the USA!)....seriously though, he has done very well, a success all round.

Camper van etiquette is as follows:- book a van with a toilet and shower (so you can be self sufficient in either the hood or the back country) and then refuse to use it as the thought of emptying 5 wk old poop is not pleasant! The W.C makes a useful storage cudboard instead and campsite toilets here are both flushsble and clean! The Kiwi's take their camping very seriously and so far all facilities have been delightful!

That's all from me for now, off to cosy up in my sleeping bag with the van doors open looking out to the stars in the dark night Kiwi sky - beautiful........

P.S forgot to tell you about "Shorty and his wife".....Shorty is an American we met at the hostel in Auckland - the funniest man ever! He has never left West Virginia and has decided to randomly fly to NZ to live in a van for a year. Unfortunately I think he was expecting a U.S style R.V. (and has shipped his own 10ft raft, diving gear and house contents accordingly) unfortunately his face was priceless when the van turned up at the hostel looking more like a Ford Cortina Estate with a bolt on roof extention! - he was dressed like the next Crocodile hunter - with an emergency whistle and everything! As Matt would say......What a tool!

PPS, Unable to update this or read emails very often at the moment due to lack of internet infrastructure here (in the middle of nowhere)... Very poor! Thankyou and good night.