We woke up early and headed for the ferry terminal, dropped off our bags, and returned the car. We boarded the boat for the third time. It wasn't very full so we got a couple decent seats. In Wellington, we went to the train/bus station and figured out what bus we needed to get on to make it to the airport. Once there, we called the car rental company to retrieve us.
We had a couple days until we needed to be at the Auckland airport so Ryan could fly home. For the trip there, we decided to book a relocation rental car. Rental companies offer free or very cheap rentals for people who will drive their vehicles for them from one of their branches to another within a certain number of days by a certain date. All we would end up paying is the fuel for the trip. This turned out to be a great choice since rentals this time of the season range from $35-$50 a day.
In the confirmation emails, we were told we'd have a 12 seater passenger van. We weren't exactly thrilled with this so once we were at the company, we requested a different vehicle that would be better on gas for the long trip from the southern tip to Auckland, which is on the northern part of the island. The employees thought about what other one we could take and kind of made it seem like there weren't any other options. Then one of them realized they did in fact have a smaller vehicle for us to take to Auckland. He pointed out the window and said, how about that utility truck. Ryan and I, not really seeing what he was pointing at or knowing what a "utility" (a New Zealand term) was, looked out the window. We then realized he was pointing at a mid-sized truck, a nice mid-sized truck. Me, being a truck person, and Ryan, who likes the New Zealand-type rigs, were pretty stoked.
We had completely upgraded from a huge, boring passenger van to a 2016 diesel truck. This thing had all the bells and whistles. A tonneau cover with rack, heated leather seats, plentiful cigarette lighters (to charge our many devices), a touch screen (in English this time), steering wheel button controls, and many other features. Not to mention the powerful diesel engine that was amazing. I was so impressed how it could zoom up steep hills and we went a long distance on only one tank of gas.
We drove out of busy Wellington and got on Highway 1. We headed north until we stopped in Otaki so we could check out an Icebreaker outlet store. We shopped for a bit and both bought a few things. After, we got delicious burgers at a food kart and continued driving in our sweet rig. We drove a section of the highway called Desert Road which was windy, narrow, and the fog made it difficult to see. We passed Turangi and went around Lake Taupo as it got dark. I remembered from my visit to Taupo earlier, a campground on the river that was near the Huka Falls. We drove to it and found that it was completely packed with young adults who were playing music and having a good time. We drove around and miraculously found a spot to park and another to put our tent. Bedtime.
