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Cruising in the North Island
Entry 25 of 94 | show all | print this entry |
Where to start? I'm getting slack on the blog I know but you know what?
Who cares. I'm far too relaxed at this point to care too much about
accuracy.
We bought a car on our second day in Auckland at the
Backpacker's Car Market for $1100, then spent $350 or so on some
preventative bits and bobs, and lots more money on insurance, a lemon
check (to see if the car's stolen or what have you) and a mechanical
check. Then we got some camping gear (stove, pots and pans, etc) and we
hit the bloody road, eh bro! So maybe the car started leaking
immediately, but we got that sorted pretty quickly too with a new hose.
And maybe the car was totally dead when we came out of the mini market
the other day too, but a kind Maori gent soon sorted that by pointing
out the loose connection to the battery. And maybe we got a windscreen
guy to do a job in a pebble crack in the windscreen too, just in case.
But the car's a beauty, a red 1991 Toyota Corolla 5-door sports car
with a measly 340,000 odd on the clock!
So we've been up around
the north in the rain up there, didn't head to the far north because of
near zero visibility, but stayed in some nice hostels and camped a few
nights as well. Spent a day sandboarding which was excellent, who knew
that throwing yourself down a sand dune towards the water could be so
much fun? Two to a board was even more fun (bloody terrifying actually)
and trying to surf down (i.e. standing) nearly impossible. Hands-free
on the knees was another good one. A productive day that one, even got
to see the locals doing their line dancing at the hotel afterwards!
Camped in a kauri forest part that night (Sunday night) where we saw
the god of the forest, the biggest Kauri tree in NZ. It is a very large
tree, there's no denying it.
Yesterday was a very lucky day. We went
to goat island after camping illicitly at the beach, where we rented
snorkel gear at the black sand beach and went in for a look. Very murky
water, so we made our way to the island, where we realised there were
dolphins on the other side being watched by a boatload of folk... So we
legged it (well, as much as you can leg it wearing flippers, the nasty
rock was too coarse for my nice soft feet...) and in we went and next
thing you know, we've got four (count'em!) FOUR dolphins swimming
around us, under us, playing with us really, just out of reach
constantly. Fantastic. We stayed in as long as we could stand the cold
(water's not that warm without a wetsuit) then dragged ourselves out
onto the beach clumsily to shiver and shake there for a bit, and shake
our heads in amazement. Then back in the car and on the road again!
All
the way down through Auckland on the motorway again and all the way to
the Coromandel peninsula, where we camped last night and we'll spend
the next couple of days. There's hot water beach where at low tide you
can dig a hole in the sand and it'll fill with volcanic hot water, and
loads besides. Our coin-operated internet access is about finished now
so gotta go, will update more at a later date...
Latest Comments (1)
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ooh ya bloody bastuds! (reply)
Jan 19, 2007 18:36 EST by aletcharetal
We played wi deed fish in a muckle great puddle ootside, its been pishin so much, no fishin, and snowin! ya bloody bastuds!
DOLPHINS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nice one Bro' or 'poof' as Rhona would say! Eh wee baws!
3000?? how much on the clock? Think ours hada coupla thousand clicks on the clock too! Marvelous! Cars eh?!
Anyhoo keep it up
Char would write yous but... show all
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