February 9, 2013-
After an umpteen hour long flight (actually I think it was around ten hours long…so not really umpTEEN hours) we made it to Auckland!
{insert HUGE SMILEY FACE}
A few months back, after doing lots of online research, we booked a VW bus camper(van) from KEA Campers in Auckland. They told us that they had a shuttle bus that would take us from the airport to their office. So nice not having to struggle trying to figure out where to go! The driver was at the airport waiting for us. (huge sigh of relief for us). KEA Campers shares an office with several other campervan rental companies (I guess it's a rather recent change). There was one minor hiccup in our reservation in that they didn't have any VW busses available….so we ended up with the next size up campervan at no extra charge to us. :-) Since it took them a while to get it ready for us they lent us a small car so that we could buy groceries at a near-by grocery store.
AND we didn't have to worry about finding SIM cards for our iPhones- KEA gives you one that you can then add money to. VERY NICE and EASY.
{Hello, USA??? Are you listening to this???? Do you see how easy it can be for getting cell phones and data plans set up??? Why the heck do you make your customers jump through all sorts of friggin' hoops and make them pay astronomical monthly fees????? And, by the way, you're the ONLY country that does this! Maybe you'll figure it out some day and join the rest of the MODERN WORLD. Okay, rant over.}
After a few hours of waiting here's our home for the next two weeks:
After learning the ins and outs of using this camper from the KEA representative (who, was extremely helpful and kind) and getting the GPS set up (our package came with the GPS) and getting set up with maps and loads of brochures …after all that we got help figuring out where our first destination should be- Orewa Beach on the east coast (just north of Auckland). Yes, we've decided to skip seeing Auckland. I know, I know. I'm sure there are lots of things to see and do in Auckland BUT we *really* want to get out of the city!
View from the road….passing by Auckland:
Bye bye, Auckland! Hello ocean!
It's mid-morning and we're running on adrenaline and jet-lag. Since the road maps they gave us weren't very detail oriented we're relying strictly on the GPS to get us to our destination. I'm a map-lovin' kind of gal so it was hard letting the GPS do all the work but in the end it got us to where we wanted to be! Aaaaa!!! Did I mention that they drive on the wrong left side of the road???? No???? Well, that took some getting used to! LOL! Thank goodness Mark has rented cars and driven in New Zealand and Australia on his business trips- it meant he got comfortable with the changes quickly. I am SO GLAD that Mark is doing all the driving! (I can't drive it anyway because it's a stick-shift and I'm too much a weenie to learn how to drive a stick!)
After we checked in and got our camper parked in our assigned spot we went in search of food. The folks managing the campsite recommended that we walk down the road to a place called Captain Kerrs. So, what are we hoping to find???FISH and CHIPS! Fish & chips seems to be quintessential New Zealand food.
We ordered whatever the fresh fish was for the day (honestly can't remember what it was). We ordered three orders of fish and chips (we figured one for each adult and the girls could share an order).
Well….ummmm….I think THREE orders was two orders too many! We felt terrible as there was no possible way to eat all those chips! I think we ate most of the fish but we barely made a dent in the mountain of fries.
I discovered another favorite: Hokey Pokey ice cream! I tell you what- it was instant love between us!
How about we walk along the beach instead of the road to get back to the camper??
Our camper site:
Inside our camper:
