Our 18 day New Zealand Trip

We arrived on time at Perth international airport (western Australia) and spent the 2 hours or so there reading and walking around the duty free (not that cheap anymore). We got a good seat on the plane next to the exit over the wing, this means that you have far better leg room, Air New Zealand minor down side is that the movie screen (old style) is at an odd angle and obscured by the people queuing for the toilet, but the leg room is worth it.

We landed in New Zealand at Auckland about 15 min's ahead of schedule. and had to wait from 5:45am till 8am before we could contact the camper van hire company to come and collect us. We spent the time eating a Mc Donald's breakfast, exploring the terminal, found a free internet terminal and had a quick look at the reports of snow in the UK. Finally we called the van company and they picked us up.

Then things went a bit "pear shaped". The camper van wasn't quite ready when we arrived at the depot, so while it was being finished they kindly lent us a courtesy vehicle and we did some grocery shopping.

The supermarket was large and well stocked with everything we needed. We made our way back to the Van centre and it still wasn't ready.

We sat around and waited yet another hour until it finally arrived. We did the compulsory tour of the van to agree on any existing damage that might be picked up when we handed the van back at the end of our trip. I spotted that the step into the van made the floor come away in quite an alarming fashion, the main touring batteries are stored under the step and they looked just about set to fall onto the road. So the company rep got a fella out of the workshop to take a look. The mechanic crawled under the camper scratched his head, hit the step with a large hammer a bit and said "no it's a panel beaters job".

After a few phone calls they took the van (containing our groceries and luggage) around to a panel beater. The panel beater reckoned on an hour to fix it, which as I told the lady at the van centre and proved to be correct meant 4 hours.

There were several serviceable looking campers standing around in the yard but we were told that they were allocated. We were quite tired by this point not having slept for about 24 hours. So they put us up in a day room and promised a half day van hire rebate and the cost of that nights camp site rental, which they paid off Jackie's credit card (confirmed later).

The Hotel was basic but it was clean and had a bed and a nice shower, we slept till 2:30pm. At 3:30 the van was delivered to the hotel and we were finally on our way.

Jean Batten Auckland is quite a bit bigger than we had expected, it's hard to say but I suppose it would be comparable in size to Birmingham in the UK or maybe Melbourne in Australia, it has several large freeways one of which we needed to take us to the Top 10 Caravan park in North shore. We asked the camper van lady to give us directions to the freeway which she did. After she went we departed and I made my first mistake, by using her directions as a guide but changing it a bit (my mistake) meant that the 2 min's to the freeway became 20 min's.

By this time traffic was heavy and in a new (to me) vehicle it made things interesting, it took me a few miles to realise that 1st gear is a creeper gear and you generally have to start in 2nd. The syncros are non existent on the first three gears and the clutch is pretty fierce, you get used to it but in traffic when jet lagged it proved a little challenging. It's a long time since I've had to double declutch.

We drove North up Highway one through the city over an 8 lane bridge and into Takapuna. Unfortunately we took the junction before we were meant to off the freeway and this got us in to trouble. An hour latter and totally lost we stopped at a Mitre 10 hardware shop (Northcroft Rd) and Jackie asked directions, the guy in there was great and not only gave directions but photocopied appropriate pages from his map book, meaning we could find our way to the site. Without his help I doubt we would ever have found it.

The camp is a bit tucked away anyway, but if we had taken the right junction it wouldn't have been a problem I could blame Jackie for that and I think I might have at the time (sorry Jackie) but the atlas the camper company provided just wasn't detailed enough for Auckland.

The North Shores park is really very nice, at this point we aren't qualified to make a judgment but it had very good facilities, a shower block, kitchen, BBQ area, TV room, Swimming Pool etc etc it does show some signs of wear around the place but boy it was clean I have never seen a used BBQ hot plate that you would quite happily eat your dinner off before cooking on it, the cleaner must have previously worked in an operating theatre or something as it was mirror finish stainless steel. That standard was the theme around the park.

Dave Driving We had a powered site in the middle of the park next to a friendly young couple from London (didn't get their names), he is an architect and she a nurse and they are traveling NZ for 3 months with a possible view to emigrating.

We had a Steak dinner (cooked on spotless BBQ) and watched a DVD.

End of the fullest day I can remember and that said after we moved house only a week ago.

18 Day trip around New Zealand 9th February 2007 Day One
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We arrived on time at Perth international airport (western Australia) and spent the 2 hours or so there reading and walking around the duty free (not that cheap anymore). We got a good seat on the plane next to the exit over the wing, this means that you have far better leg room, minor down side is that the movie screen (old style) is at an odd angle and obscured by the people queuing for the toilet, but the leg room is worth it. We landed in New Zealand at Auckland about 15 min's ahead of schedule. and had to wait from 5:45am till 8am before we could contact the camper van hire company to come and collect us. We spent the time eating a Mc Donald's breakfast, exploring the terminal, found a free internet terminal and had a quick look at the reports of snow in the UK. Finally we called the van company and they picked us up. Then things went a bit "pear shaped". The camper van wasn't quite ready when we arrived at the depot, so while it was being finished they kindly lent us a courtesy vehicle and we did some grocery shopping. The supermarket was large and well stocked with everything we needed. We made our way back to the Van centre and it still wasn't ready. We sat around and waited yet another hour until it finally arrived. We did the compulsory tour of the van to agree on any existing damage that might be picked up when we handed the van back at the end of our trip. I spotted that the step into the van made the floor come away in quite an alarming fashion, the main touring batteries are stored under the step and they looked just about set to fall onto the road. So the company rep got a fella out of the workshop to take a look. The mechanic crawled under the camper scratched his head, hit the step with a large hammer a bit and said "no it's a panel beaters job". After a few phone calls they took the van (containing our groceries and luggage) around to a panel beater. The panel beater reckoned on an hour to fix it, which as I told the lady at the van centre and proved to be correct meant 4 hours. There were several serviceable looking campers standing around in the yard but we were told that they were allocated. We were quite tired by this point not having slept for about 24 hours. So they put us up in a day room and promised a half day van hire rebate and the cost of that nights camp site rental, which they paid off Jackie's credit card (confirmed later). The Hotel was basic but it was clean and had a bed and a nice shower, we slept till 2:30pm. At 3:30 the van was delivered to the hotel and we were finally on our way. Auckland is quite a bit bigger than we had expected, it's hard to say but I suppose it would be comparable in size to Birmingham in the UK or maybe Melbourne in Australia, it has several large freeways one of which we needed to take us to the Top 10 Caravan park in North shore. We asked the camper van lady to give us directions to the freeway which she did. After she went we departed and I made my first mistake, by using her directions as a guide but changing it a bit (my mistake) meant that the 2 min's to the freeway became 20 min's. By this time traffic was heavy and in a new (to me) vehicle it made things interesting, it took me a few miles to realise that 1st gear is a creeper gear and you generally have to start in 2nd. The syncros are non existent on the first three gears and the clutch is pretty fierce, you get used to it but in traffic when jet lagged it proved a little challenging. It's a long time since I've had to double declutch. We drove North up Highway one through the city over an 8 lane bridge and into Takapuna. Unfortunately we took the junction before we were meant to off the freeway and this got us in to trouble. An hour latter and totally lost we stopped at a Mitre 10 hardware shop (Northcroft Rd) and Jackie asked directions, the guy in there was great and not only gave directions but photocopied appropriate pages from his map book, meaning we could find our way to the site. Without his help I doubt we would ever have found it. The camp is a bit tucked away anyway, but if we had taken the right junction it wouldn't have been a problem I could blame Jackie for that and I think I might have at the time (sorry Jackie) but the atlas the camper company provided just wasn't detailed enough for Auckland. The North Shores park is really very nice, at this point we aren't qualified to make a judgment but it had very good facilities, a shower block, kitchen, BBQ area, TV room, Swimming Pool etc etc it does show some signs of wear around the place but boy it was clean I have never seen a used BBQ hot plate that you would quite happily eat your dinner off before cooking on it, the cleaner must have previously worked in an operating theatre or something as it was mirror finish stainless steel. That standard was the theme around the park. We had a powered site in the middle of the park next to a friendly young couple from London (didn't get their names), he is an architect and she a nurse and they are traveling NZ for 3 months with a possible view to emigrating. We had a Steak dinner (cooked on spotless BBQ) and watched a DVD. End of the fullest day I can remember and that said after we moved house only a week ago.
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