Day 79 - Auckland - Whangarei
Trip Start
Nov 29, 2007
1
51
70
Trip End
Mar 27, 2008
Whangarei,
New Zealand
Monday, February 11, 2008
We were both so pleased and we went to have a walk about for a few hours - mission accomplished! We first went to a cafe for a cup of tea and to study our maps and decide where to go. We agreed that we would head North towards the Bay of Islands and see how far we get. Next, we went onto the quayside to have a look at the boats. There was a huge cruise ship docked there - the P&O Aurora. I have never seen a cruise ship up close before, it is beautiful ship, absolutely massive. Dean took a picture of it. We headed onto Princes Wharf to try and find a bar called Minus 5 which I have seen a picture of in the Lonely Planet. This bar is a copy of the Ice Hotel which can be found in Sweden. The whole bar, all the fixtures, seats and even the glasses you drink from are all made of ice and it looks like a really cool place to visit (excuse the pun). We went to a reception area and it costs you $35 to just go in there. This includes one drink and hire of the thermal suits you need to wear to sit in there for 25 minutes. I would have liked to have gone in but Dean was in his flip-flops. He needs his feet to drive so was not a good idea for his toes to drop off with frost bite, better to leave it I think.
By now, it was time to make our way back to Spaceships to go and get our van. They were very busy when we got there so we had to wait for a bit. There were a couple in their 60s just picking theirs up and Dean remarked that if they can manage to live in it for 52 days, we should be okay.
Someone showed us around our spaceship, it is a weird looking thing. It's not exactly classed as a campervan as such, it is basically a people carrier that has been converted. This is a good thing for the ferry across the Cook Strait as it is classed as a car and therefore considerably cheaper to take across. It seats four passengers - two in the front and two in the back. The back seat swivels around to give some seating in the back area when it is parked up. It has a DVD/MP3 player and screen pulls down so you can watch DVD's in bed and we get two free DVDs with the rental. We can swap them at various space stations around the country or with other spaceships we may come across on the road. The bed can be made two ways - either inside the van (with the boot door shut), or there is an awning that clips onto the boot door at the back. To make it the inside way, the passenger seats need to be swivelled forward and there is a board that fits snugly in and you put the mattress cushion here, it velcroes to the main mattress. To make it the other way, the boot door is open, you slide out a metal frame and put the board on top with the mattress cushion at the top end. The awning clips all the way around and is like a tent, canvas and waterproof (we hope) with a little window you can zip open. Having the bed this way gives more ventilation and of course, more space. Underneath the bed is a large storage area, one at the top of the bed and one at the bottom. Just lift the board up and prop it open with a metal pole that is attatched. Inside there is cutlery for four, a breadknife, peeler, corkscrew, tongs, flipper, a large cooking pot, a frying pan, cutting board, washing up bowl, scrubbers and detergent. There is a tiny fridge (not much cop really) and a five litre water carrier. There is a gas cooker which is clipped to the back of the front passenger seat. This swivels outside so you can cook safely. There is also a gas bottle (of course) and a gas detector for safety - it makes a loud noise if it detects gas. They have thrown in two chairs, a camping table and a chilly bag for free. We paid extra for an awning to clip to the side of the van (where the side door opens) so we can still cook and sit outside when it is raining. There is also a large 'moon roof' which you can open and stand inside the van with your heads poking out of the top to look at the view. And that is about it - it will be a bit cramped but nowhere near as bad as the tent. Oh, and we get a sheet, duvet with cover and two pillows with pillowcases.
We sorted out the paperwork and paid for 42 days (they gave us a free day). We have arranged to drop the van off in Christchurch which is where we fly from on March 24th. All the spaceships have a name and ours is called 'Alpha' (I wanted Mr Spock or Moonraker) but we can't choose and we're lucky to have one at all today.
Just before we got in to drive off, one of the spaceship staff backed another spaceship straight into the front of ours and hit the front bumper. Great start! Luckily, there wasn't a mark on it so we got in and went to pick up our backpacks. Packs in, we went to the supermarket to stock up on supplies (loads of beer and wine). Great, lets go camp! Luckily, it wasn't such a nightmare as Sydney and we found Highway 1 easily enough and headed north. We weren't even out of Auckland and we saw another spaceship coming in the opposite direction. They flashed their lights at us but Dean hadn't yet figured out where ours were. We travelled for a few hours and ended up in a place called Whangerei where we had no trouble finding a campsite. We then had to take everything we needed out of our packs and find a place for it inside the van, neatly packed away. This is now our home for the next six weeks. It took us about an hour to get ourselves sorted then we went to cook some bacon and tomatoes on the barbeque.
Campsites here are much nicer than English ones and most of them have free gas barbeque's, kitchens with hobs, microwaves, kettles, fridges and toasters. They also have laundries with coin operated washing machines, tumble dryers or washing lines (some of them even provide the pegs). There are TV lounges where you can watch TV while you plug your mobile or your camera in to charge them up. Alternatively, you can plug them in in the kitchen while you cook your dinner. We don't have a power hookup so we will need to do this from time to time. We have lights in the spaceship though and it runs on a dual battery so you don't have to worry about the van not starting up if you watch DVD's all night. The fridge, lights and DVD player runs from a seperate battery which charges as the van is running.
It was dark by now and we sat under our awning drinking and chatting, reading the Lonely Planet. It is much cooler than Australia but much warmer than our English summer (no need for the woolly hat just yet). It was very, very dark though and we wished we had bought some candles, we will get some tomorrow. It was a clear night and our bed was all made up and looked so lovely and cosy in the van. Dean laid back on the bed (we had put the awning on the back) and discovered that you can see all the stars through the back window which is obviously above our heads. He called me in to look and I laid back with him and looked up, it was so beautiful (there are no streetlights on this campsite). There were thousands of stars and it did feel like we were in outer space (I wonder if that's why they call them spaceships). I felt like Sigourney Weaver in Alien or maybe I just drunk too much wine. It was getting a bit cool outside so we decided to get in and watch a DVD.
We laid back in our bed and were amazed to find that the picture was better than our TV at home and we have Dolby surround sound in the van, there are speakers right by our pillows, it is amazing - although the film was crap (there wasn't much to choose from). Afterwards, we snuggled under our duvet and the bed is so lovely and comfortable. There are curtains all around that velcro together even on our star-gazing window above our heads so we don't get sun-blasted in the morning. We both slept like babies, we were warm and comfortable. We are looking forward to orbiting New Zealand in our spaceship. As soon as we had left the crappy city, there is a gorgeous view around every corner. We've already fallen in love with New Zealand and we have only been here two days. I know now that we are never going to want to come back down to Earth.
