Judencharlie's travel blogs:
- USA 2008 2008
- To the States - taking in Grand... 2007
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Kerikeri, New Zealand
Entry 36 of 41 | show all | print this entry |
Well here we are in New Zealand having arrived at 0600 and one day out of our lives gone. What happened to the 11th! Weird feeling to have gone to sleep on the 10th and wake up on the 12th in a different country!
We have organised for a motorhome so a quick phone call to the company - Affordable motorhomes - saw us collected from the airport by the friendly and efficient staff. What a pleasure to be dealing with people who are keen to provide great service. A no fuss handover of the motorhome and we were on our way heading up towards the Bay of Islands. Took some doing get out of Auckland and finding the Northern motorway particularly in peak hour traffic, however eventually we were headed North. Had to stop and get some supplies in the way of food and were absolutely horrified at the cost. We bought next to nothing and it cost a fortune! Hopefully this was not going to be the pattern for the rest of the trip!
Feeling a little groggy, but not jetlagged - probably due to having been an overnight trip - we stopped for a cup of coffee and something to eat a little north of Auckland. So good to taste coffee that is only sweet if you add sugar to it! No such thin in USA where all coffee - and we use that word lightly - seems to have every sweet flavour already added - vanilla, mocha, english toffee, white chocolate caramel, etc etc etc. Eventually you get to the point you want to pukejust at the thought of having a cuppa and such large ones at that! And that is saying a lot from me (Lynne) who LOVES sweet things. Even I couldn't handle it in the end!
New Zealand is so green. Lots of green hills, sheep (of course), cows and trees. Clearly a shot of greenery when living in Oz can do wonders for the soul so it might mean an occasional trip over here for that injection!
Got to Hawakawaka where they advertised the world famous toilets. Yep, you read right - TOILETS! They are known as the Hundertwasser toilets and they are somewhat of a sight to see. Apparently there was this architect by the same name who was commissioned by the town to design these toilets so they are very unique. Did we use them? Of course!
Whilst in the town we saw this sign for 'rolled ice cream'. Well, here is an experience we thought we would have. We rushed off to the place where we could get this 'rolled ice cream', full of expectation of something new and yummy. Well, wouldn't ya know it - rolled ice-cream is just that - a scoop of ice cream on a cone! Why rolled? Well that is what you do to get a scoop, right? Uh doh! Disappointment!
Getting to the Bay of Islands, Jude was wrapped with the place. On a beautiful day, with the sun shining, no doubt it is spectacular, but with a cloudy day it really did not do the area justice. It is certainly worth bearing that in mind when raving on about the beauty of the place. A pity because we had in mind finding ourselves a spot to camp and just chill in the area, but ended up pushing further north until we reached the Kerikeri surrounds. We could see the bays and possible camping spots but the area is really so built up that free camping is actually quite difficult. It seemed every road we went down heading for a bay ended up in someone's backyard. Very disappointing. Eventually we were so tired we just camped in a layby and hit the sack. Noise was actually very minimal. Possible because we were so tired we heard nothing anyway but at least we did manage to get a decent sleep.
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