In The North

Sunday we picked up the campervan. We've given it the name of "Bongo". Its a gutless 4-cylinder van that struggles with all of the stuff we've loaded into it. haha! Off we went to the northern tip of NZ. The weather was fantastic. We camped at Otamure Bay DOC site the first night. I slept outside and stared at the stars for a long time. The milky way was clearly defined. Its nice that there is not much light pollution out in the rural parts of NZ.

Monday morning I had a nice long walk along the beach and did some exercises. We started off on the road with Liz learning how to drive manual transmission. It was a good place for her to learn as its a country road with little to no traffic. She did well and drove the 10 miles back to the main highway. We arrived at Tapotupotu Bay mid afternoon. Such a beautiful place. A small bay of aqua color water surrounded by steep hills on 3 sides.

Tuesday morning I managed to rouse Liz early and we left camp and went up to the light house (Cape Reinga). I wanted to get there before the lighting changed and all the tour buses arrived. It was perfect as we pretty much had it for ourselves. We drove a slightly different way back then coming. We took highway 12 which took us past sand dunes and through the Kauri forest. We saw there largest tree which is called Tāne Mahuta, but nothing like the Redwoods and Sequoia's though. We got back to Auckland at 9pm, and went to Shaun and Katie's place to spend the night. They helped us figure out other places to checkout on the remainder of the trip. (Thanks guys!)

Wednesday was spent at Hobbiton movie set. Liz has read the books and has been looking forward to the tour. Even though I haven't read the books or seen the movies, I enjoyed looking at all the Hobbit homes and mostly enjoyed pinching things from the garden there around the set. haha! We went on to Rotorua afterwards. Liz ended up working on the Big Lake brochure at the Library (wifi) while I ended up roaming the town looking at smelly thermal mud pots and walking the Queens Garden.



Thursday we drove down to Wellington, stopping at a hot spring off of Waiotapu Loop Road that Shaun had recommended. It was fantastic and I ended up sitting in it at least a hour or more. I was talking to a local guy that said there was a bunch more hot springs off of that road. They will have to wait until next time I visit NZ.

Tomorrow we catch the Bluebridge ferry to the south island for the next 2 weeks. I'm sure it won't be enough time as the south is suppose to be the best.

The Long Way Down

The best part of the trip besides being on an exciting adventure was my b-day was the day I left.  Liz and her sister Shelley were so nice to bring Indian food to the airport for me.  We checked in Liz's enormous 5 suitcases, and then things became a blur of activity as we had to walk to the International Terminal to get to our gate.  The security line was extra long and Liz was getting worried about making the flight. We had just gotten through security and I was putting my clothes back on when I heard my first name called over the intercom for boarding. (Such a lovely name ;)  We made a mad sprint for our gate and made it in time.  Good thing as Liz probably would't have let me live. haha!

To get somewhere awesome, you have to be willing to go through some uncomfortable spots.  The first leg of the flight was from Los Angeles to Sydney Australia, which was 15 hours.  I've made this trip many times while in college at Avondale.  However this trip was extra uncomfortable as my injury on my left leg was hurting, and I was unable to relax.  Anyway, I made it through and was able to sleep a few sporadic hours as well.  The last hop over to NZ was not to long, as everything is relative :)

Friday was spent shopping in Auckland and buying miscellaneous things needed.  Yes, ice-cream is a need :)

Saturday was a fantastic day as we went to church at Papatoetoe.  Jean, a good friend of Shaun Hurlow (friend from Avondale) picked us up from where we were staying.   We had a lovely day spending time with Shaun and Katie's family.  Everyone is super nice and likes to take fun pics.  I discovered that Jean is a huge trail runner and I would have gone on a run with him tomorrow if I wasn't recovering from own trail running injury.

Tomorrow we pickup the campervan and we're off to the northern tip where the beaches are suppose to be amazing.

Anyway, I guess I've said far more words that I anticipated I could come up with, and so ends my first post :)