Auckland
We arrived in New Zealand in the middle of a torrential downpour that didn't really stop all night. Already feeling slightly anxious about the campervan I had been talked into hiring for our three and a half weeks travelling through the country, the grey skies and rain did little to appease these feelings. Matt, on the other hand, was feeling thoroughly pleased with himself. He had got chatting to the woman sat next to him on the plane, while I watched Mama Mia, and it turned out she was Dan Carter's aunt (He is a New Zealand Rugby player for those of you that don't know – of little interest to me but very exciting if you like rugby apparently). Or so she said, she may just have been a crazy lady, but she did give us some great tips for our onward journey.
Only having an evening and half a day in Auckland meant that there was little time for anything other than a quiet dinner that first night and picking up few bits and bobs the next day before heading back towards the airport to collect the campervan. I therefore can't say we were overly enamoured with the place but we did meet some incredibly friendly New Zealanders in that short time, which was a sign of what was to come. The campervan.
Ah, the campervan. On first sight of what was to be our home for the next three and a half weeks my spirits were instantly lifted. It was REALLY clean, inside and out! It had everything you could possibly need, all crammed into the back of a ford transit van – quite amazing really. There was a sink, a grill, two hobs, pans, plates, glasses, a loo and a long seat that opened out into a bed. The bed was actually bigger than those in lots of the hostels we've stayed in so Matt was overjoyed. So, after a through induction on how to use everything, a discussion over insurance (we didn't go for full windscreen cover – why would we......that decision was going to come back and bite us....), a final check over the vehicle and a “honk honk”, we were on our way to Bay of Islands!
Bay of Islands
We arrived in the little town of Russell in Bay of Islands for our first night in the 'Turnham Team Bus' (Turnham over equals Matt's football team, the name was somehow derived from that....!). Russell is gorgeous! It's a really quaint little town with a great pub, pretty houses and buildings and a really friendly atmosphere. We were staying in a really spacious campsite, about 5 minutes drive outside the town, which was virtually empty whilst we were there so it was very peaceful.
The scenery as we drove up to Bay of Islands was stunning and gave us our first real taster of the sights we would see as we travelled through the country. Russell is set in beautiful countryside next to the sea, but unless you're doing a tour there's not much to do. We did go for a walk past a flagstaff that had some interesting history.....but it escapes me right now. Russell is one of the many places in NZ that offers 'swimming with dolphins' or 'dolphin spotting' tours. We both really wanted to swim with dolphins but decided to wait until later in the trip. Instead we decided to do a boat tour that takes you round the sights, but will veer off to see dolphins if they get a radio announcement to say they've been spotted – which luckily for us did happen on this trip.
We boarded the boat, on what I must say was a fairly grey and chilly day, with about 30 OAPs. Now I don't want to be rude about the older generation because, although slow and dangerous behind the wheel, they do still serve a purpose, but please picture this scene every time it was announced that there were dolphins visible: hoardes of old people pushing and shoving their way to the side of the boat, pretending they don't know they've stepped on your shin, whilst loudly discussing the merits of their different cameras or shouting words of encouragement to each other such as, “wonderful Elsie, aren't you good at this” or “Did you get it Gerald? Oh you missed, try again”. Not quite the serene experience I'd had in mind.
However, luck was on our side. Matt and I, by chance, went and stood at the back of the boat where there were about two other people. All of a sudden we realised we were being followed by a pod of 3 dolphins, two big and one small (I like to think it was a family). These dolphins were literally surfing in our wake, it was incredible. They had no reason to be doing that other than for pure fun. So much fun in fact that the little one did this amazing dive out of the water, made a huge arc, before giving a little flick and going back in. Somehow Matt managed to catch it all on camera using the flicker device – he was really in the good books! I should just mention the 'hole in the rock' which is literally a giant hole that has been naturally created in the rocks. It is big enough to fit a boat through, although this was a slightly hairy experience.
It wasn't all plain sailing in Russell however. On our second night in the bus we were settling ourselves into bed for the night when a loud, flushing sound started emanating from the 'bathroom'. I stood stock still in my customary panic mode whilst Matt made a heroic leap from the bed to attend to the situation. The loo was basically continuously flushing itself, for no apparent reason, which would ultimately result in the holding tank overflowing. You can imagine what that would look like. However, Matt rescued the situation with his quick thinking by jumping out of the bus and removing the holding tank, trying not to get covered in wee in the process.
Meanwhile .3,000 mossies saw the light and decided to make a break for it and started dive bombing into the loo cubicle. At this point I finally gained enough composure to slam the door on them. To receive the final feather in his cap, Matt Dundee returned to the bus and set about decapitating those suckers with a tea towel. It was a total massacre. So, slightly earlier than we would perhaps have liked, we left the lovely Russell to get the van fixed en route to Taupo, our next destination.
I should just mention 'Sheepworld', our campsite for the night. It's a working farm – sheep shearing demos being a popular favourite – that had some very cute camping spots, each with its own bathroom. There were lots of random animals everywhere, many of which are tame. It was lovely.
