Land of the Long White Cloud

 

 

Friday 13th – Tuesday 17th February

Well we got here and as I write this I am sitting in front of the Camper Van anticipating my impending evening meal. Its the 17th February and unseasonably warm, even for Auckland where this is our last night

The holiday started with delays on the M4 travelling down to our hotel where we spent the night prior to our Saturday departure. The flight was a long one (or two to be more accurate) 12.5 hours to Singapore and a further 9.5 hours to Auckland. The LHR to Singapore flight was delayed by around 45 mins – not much on a flight that long but it did mean that we had to run to catch the connection at Singapore.

After a day seeing some of the sites in Auckalnd we collected the Camper Van at around 4.00pm. Strange isn’t it how the vehicle seems much bigger than the photographs. After a slight problem with the central locking we got way and found reaching the first camp site a little challenging as the site was not marked at all. Needless to say we were rather tired when we got to the site we had slept for about 8 hours over the last 2 days  and the time difference made us a little tried and miserable.

So off to bed at around 9.00pm and awoke around 3.00 am this morning. Sorted out all of the clothes and stowed the suitcases and prepared for the day. What a difference a day makes – more to the point a nights sleep. We really enjoyed today. This morning we went for a sail on an Americas Cup boat the Team NZ’s 1997 boat. This was fantastic and even Carol enjoyed it. After a break of an hour or two we went Dolphin and Whale watching and saw two types of Dolphin during our 4.5 hour trip. To finish the day out we stopped at the lovely town of Devonport and sipped a beer (For Carol read wine) whilst watching the boats in the harbour. Tomorrow we are off, travelling north to Russell and heading for the bay of Islands.

18th February

Actually no, we decided that we would cut short our trip north and stay at Whangarei for an extra day. It’s a great little town and there seems to be some interesting activities so it’s likely that we will stay here for 2 nights and then move back down the island to Rotorua.

The weather today has been really hot and a little humid which apparently is characteristic for this part of the country. Both Carol and I have been catching up on some well earned rest and seem to be sleeping a lot at the moment!! The beer is good and (according to Carol) the wine is fabulous especially pinot noir that Carol is drinking at the moment as we eat our tea. So tomorrow its going to be taking a look at a Kiwi or two, climbing a hill for the view of the bay and visiting the local quarry that has been converted to a craft shop and gardens.