Planes, campers and strollers: coming to NZ

  Auckland, New Zealand
Monday, March 24, 2008

We finally left Malaysia on Thursday, 13 March, flying on Malaysian Airlines, and the magic that we've always known was waiting for us in New Zealand began right then.  When we got to the check in counter I asked for extra leg room (it never hurts to ask!) and was told that the plane was full, so there was no exit row or front row seats available.  Then we noticed a rolled up map that the passenger ahead of us had left behind at the counter.  When we showed it to the clerk, she didn't know how to get it to him.  We offered to carry it to the gate and pass it to him there since he was on the same plane as us.  She thanked us profusely and then got all excited, went running over to talk to a supervisor, and then came back and gleefully clicked a few buttons and informed us that as a thank you for our help, we were all upgraded to business class!

On the plane

There was my extra leg room!  It was amazing to me; I'd never flown business class before, and it made the 11 hour overnight flight from Malaysia to New Zealand MUCH more comfortable.  We got all kinds of freebies - free toys for Girija, free leather ditty bags filled with toiletries for us, and of course, free champagne.  And the seats were great - we could sleep nearly prone, and while I'll never call it comfortable as a bed at home it was WAY more comfortable than it would have been scrunched into economy class.  Girija, as she almost always does, took to it like a trooper, toddling up and down the aisles charming half the passengers and all the crew before succumbing to sleep in her throne-like bed.

We landed in New Zealand in the early afternoon local time on Friday the 14th,

Back to Vermont?!

and wound our way to what they call here in Kiwiland a backpackers - kind of a cross between a hostel and a B&B - and managed to stay up until dark before collapsing into jet-lagged sleep. It took Girija a few days to adjust to the local time,

Girija's first horse ride

which meant some middle of the night sojourns for Lalitha and I, but after a few days we were all more or less back on an even keel.

Corby & Girija at play

While we orientated ourselves, we started looking for a vehicle to buy for our travels - we decided that we'd vacation for a little while before I start looking for work, although I did peruse the help wanted ads just to see if the perfect job was waiting for me. It wasn't so onward with the fun! We found out about a car fair that's held every Sunday where people go and try to peddle their vehicles. We knew we wanted some kind of camper van, preferably a little bigger than a regular van so we could at least stand up in it. We wanted it to save money on lodging, because for the three of us we'd be paying $50 - 100 NZ ($40 - 80 US) per night - and more than that in some places without budget lodging. So we went to the fair and found the PERFECT home for us - and ancient Bedford campervan that had been owned (I'm not joking) by a Gypsy woman who used to travel around to NZ faires and do tarot/palm readings and channelings! It's decorated with pseudo-stained glass and handpainted cabinets, it has a working gas refrigerator and stove, and electrical power hook-up (for when we're in a motor home park), a huge double bed over the cab and a bunk in the back, a remodelled engine and a great 'vibe'! The brakes work fine but are a bit squeaky, so I'll get them checked out at some point. We paid only $7500 NZ for it, and we'll get that back if we sell it later on, but we're already thinking of keeping it for guests when they come to visit - so keep that in mind! So we bought it on Sunday, but it took us a couple of days to get the money all together, so we wound up taking it on Tuesday. We spent Wednesday getting it fitted out for us (buying food and other necessities),

The travels begin...

and then took off for the Northlands on Thursday - only to discover that we were travelling to a major holiday destination on one of the most popular long weekends of the Kiwi calendar - Easter Weekend. But our luck held; we pulled in to a motor home park in a place called 'Sandspit' that night and got the last space available - and were told in no uncertain terms that it was ONLY for the night, as it was booked for the rest of the weekend. No problem; we didn't want to stay any longer in that place than absolutely necessary. It's never been my idea of camping to park in a site six feet from your neighbours on three sides. In fact, Lalitha and I have both decided that while we need to go to such places once or twice a week (hot showers are nice, as are laundry machines), for the most part we want to 'free camp'. Yet another wonderful thing about New Zealand is that there are loads of places all over the country where people allow tenters and campers to pull up and stay overnight for free. And that's what we did the next night - on Good Friday we pulled into a field right on the shore of a beautiful bay just outside the town of Opononi. Loads of space for Girija to run through the field, a nice beach right around the corner, and gorgeous views. In olden days they milled the Kauri wood (I'm not sure of the spelling) right where we were, and on the shore you can see loads of non-indigenous rocks that the old sailing ships had used for ballast, as well as a few of the pilings for the old piers. Now, of course, the hills are grasslands, home to the ubiquitous sheep and cows of New Zealand. But 150 years ago it was all dense forest - amazing to contemplate what it all must have looked like back then.

We had meant to stay only a day, but it was just too beautiful to leave so soon, so we left on Easter Sunday instead, driving to a small town called Rawene to take a ferry across the bay to Kokukohu, and thence on to Ahipara, the beginning of New Zealand's Ninety Mile Beach. Girija's in heaven here - beach for as far as the eye can see! We got some great photos of her last night at sunset. Truly amazing views, complete with a partial rainbow that truly looked like it was pointing to a pot of gold just north of us. Magical.

Everything is going so magically well that it just feels like we're right where we're supposed to be and doing what we're supposed to be doing. I'm trusting that. While I was in Malaysia I kind of lost sight of the fact that life is meant to be an adventure that one embraces, but I'm starting to remember that now. So I'm just looking forward to the next magical mystical memorable experience - and when it comes, I'll tell you all about it.