Tuesday 4 November 2008

Angels great Campervan adventure


Internet is few and far between in remote areas, so writing details in word and uploading when I can..

CAMPERVAN ADVENTURE

Day One:

Picked up campervan from depot- scared shitless of driving it, but it was totally fine and easy to drive, manouvre and park, amazing. After getting lost in Auckland, after 45 minutes I finally found the motorway heading north and my journey began. Driving across harbour bridge was awesome, but hard to take in the views whilst driving also I couldn’t remember which one was the slow lane, so I kept to the middle, but people passed on both sides so it took me ages to figure out is was the slow lane was left. I drove up the coast, in the first sunny weather Id seen since being in NZ. As my phone had been stolen, Id arranged by email to meet Lara and Heather in Paihia ar their hotel around 5pm I left Auckland around 12.40pm so this gave me time to stop and meander along the roads. The roads were hilly and twisty with some awesome vistas and after 2 hours I finally stopped in Whangarei (pronounced Fangarei) This was the first place Id applied to do my course, so I took a drive around the quaint little town and drove up to the waterfalls.

At around 5 I arrived at my destination of Paihia, found the girls in their hotel (Scenic Circle- a VERY nice hotel) and we walked into the small town to grab a bite to eat. That night they let me stay on their bedroom floor (the rooms are huge) and in the morning I got to take a shower in the beautiful bathroom before heading off on my own ….


Day two:

I headed out of Paihia in the rain, to the nearby Waitangi, site of the signing of the famous treaty of Waitangi , it was 20 dollars to get into house and gardens, so I snapped a couple of photos and gave it a miss, driving past and up the same roads to a natural reserve area, where the scenes over the Bay of Islands was gorgeous. Heading back on myself I drove some long and winding roads in the rain to Kerikeri, another quaint little town, where there is a big organic gluten free shop. Needless to say I picked up some food (GF beef and garlic sausages) some soup, and at the local supermarket sme potatoes, and then headed to the tourist sites, the stone store (built in 1833 by the first missionaries working with the maori tribes) Kemp house (also missionaries) Rewas village (a replica maori village) and finally Rainbow falls. I stopped for ice to fill up my campervans icebox at a small butchers shop where the butcher was a proper butcher cutting meat on a sanded tree trunk and covered in blood! Driving further through winding lanes and down a death defying mountain trail, I finally arrived at Matauri Bay, where I entered into Matauri Bay Holiday Park paid 12 dollars, and parked my campervan on the beach overlooking the ocean, and the sun came out! Its absolutely beautiful here and great to be so close to the ocean, I can hear the waves roaring from inside my van. Theres a few people around, but not many, theres a kitchen, a laundry, showers and lots of nature. I cooked my sausages and potatoes and ate them by the side of the ocean. Then I put together the bed inside the camper (which I may just leave up now) Plugged in, set the heater up and lamp up ready for darkness and now writing this, whilst watching the ocean. Whilst I was eating one of the local maori boys came up and asked me lots of questions, I was pretty afraid, as Im in the middle of nowhere, but I was friendly and he seemed ok, but have now locked all the van doors! Its 18.30 I will do some reading and then sleep. This camping lark is easier than I thought J

Having not be able to blog awhile I have lots of thoughts building up… about me, new Zealand… The New Zealand People see very nice but dim people. Both new Zealanders and Australians call bed linen “Manchester”

Im amazed that I have ended up in a campervan touring new Zealand. Who am I?? But I am glad Im doing it, its always been on my list of things to do, I guess I am lucky to have a chance to do it!

New Zealand looks like North England, so I am not too impressed by it.. yet. Prefer Perth…

Day 3

the night went ok, a couple of noises but was cool. Woke up early, had a shower in the hot showers had brekky with an ocean view and went for a wander.. Packed up the van and headed off on teh winding scary coastal roads looking at the bays before heading off to the other side of North Island accross gravel roads heading to Dargaville... Right now am stopped briefly in a small town, and luckily picing up Wifi from somewhere!!!

Day Three Part two:

Finally got to baylys beach around 4.30pm.. found the camp park- not as nice as yesterdays and parked up and plugged in.. wifi doesn’t work, but the lady was a lot nicer than yesterday and I booked an hours horseride on the beach for tomorrow.. made my dinner and now rain coming in and bedding down for the night

day four:

RAIN RAIN RAIN! met some interesting Germans, one a young one learning english and planting kumara, and an older one who recently married after 10 years together and heavily regretting it, shes in togo hes travelling nz... weve spoken about that kind of situation before..

Drove coast road back to Auckland through forests of giant trees and amazing coastline, dropped van back and finally made it to my cheap and yet amazing hotel: formule 1.. great place!

4 comments:

Doc Nielsen said...

dammit, now i wish i'd done the same ;)
Sounds like you're really enjoying yourself over there.
Thank the IT-gods for open wireless hotspots :D

Anonymous said...

Er sgu misundelig - hvor blev invitationen af? ;-d

/M

Anonymous said...

Well all I can say is you guessed correctly, yo are very lucky o be able to do this, I wish I had the opportunity to join you or do it myself, alas, I will most probably never leave the UK again. Make the most of it as it will not last forever and you may never have the opportunity to ever do it again.

Nice to know that WiFi is popping up all over the world, comes in handy at times, keep yourself safe & keep posting.

Steve.

Anonymous said...

angel--post some pics of your travels...we want to see what you're up to.

dex