On the road at last

So having finally got our van up and running we, well, got up and ran. Mission Bay first, a favourite Aucklander's haunt not far from the city, where we ate ice creams (Hokey Pokey, a NZ special which consists of vanilla ice cream with bits of crunchie in it - very very tasty) and paddled along the very picturesque beach - Isaac had apparently never heard of paddling before. Next we found ourselves heading to the North Shore of Auckland to see John Bedford, a kiwi guy we met at Sunshine Village. John took us to Piha beach on the west coast, a famous surfing haunt. We did the kiwi thing and went into the sea for a swim despite the less-than-inviting temperature of the water - I'm glad I hung back a bit because when John asked Isaac if he'd heard of rugby, Isaac really should have known this was a pre-cursor to being heavily tackled and
taken under. We thought the waves were huge and pretty strong, though John later dismissed them as pussy waves, and when I saw Isaac disappear under them I had a sudden panic that I hadn't told him I loved him before he'd gone in! We had fush and chups on the beach, along with a few beers - yes, even me* - that John had brought. Home to John's where we headed into the hot tub, a bowl of our new favourite Hokey Pokey ice cream, and an early night sleeping in the van parked up in his driveway.

Early the next morning we got up to go and watch the rugby. Now, neither Isaac nor I are interested in team sports, but the chance to watch England vs. All Blacks in a Kiwi house was too good to pass up (the offer of free breakfast helped) and much to our surprise we both really enjoyed the game. Shame England were trounced, but it seemed to keep our hosts happy and I wasn't that bothered so no complaints. Afterwards, armed with plenty of maps and leaflets courtesy of our hosts, we headed to Takapuna, a small town on the east coast north of Auckland. Here we found a lovely campsite, a decent set of shops to explore, a cinema, where we saw Quantum of Solace**, and a very nice Belgian restaurant, where we had Jamaican curry of all things, which was absolutely delicious.

We took our van in the next day to South Auckland to a mechanic who put 2 new tyres on her, changed her oil and filters and adjusted her brakes, pronouncing them 'mint'. Thereafter we began our trip south, properly out of Auckland for the first time, stopping at our current location in Port Waikato, at a campsite which we appear to have to ourselves pretty much. After our walk on the immense sand dune formation nearby this afternoon we arrived back to see one other campervan - another Toyota Hiace - had arrived, which made us a bit cross, but otherwise we have the tv room, the very clean and well equipped kitchen, and the very clean bathrooms to ourselves.

So, to recap, so far sleeping in the van has been going very well indeed. I've slept like a baby every night, Isaac less so but who cares about that? Oops, sorry Pixie. The campsites are nice, friendly and, so far, very clean. And it's lovely to think that we can up sticks and leave for the next place anytime we want. So pretty happy all round with the whole buying a van business.

I'll upload some pics to this post when I have a moment (they're still on my camera which is in the van, I'm in an 'internet room' at the campsite, my laptop is nearly out of battery and I'm paying through the nose for the use of the internet, which is pretty much de rigeur over here it seems). In the meantime did I mention that I saw Christopher Ecclestone in a bookshop in LA while we were there? Thought not, thought I would.

*well I managed half a bottle, which I thought was pretty good for me
**disappointing, mainly because I still have absolutely NO idea what the bleeding hell was happening at any point