It's Tuesday evening here and we have officially left the UK for 7 days, and been in NZ for about 6.
Since Meg last wrote, we have explored Waiheke a bit more. Heidi has driven us around the western part of the island which is more habitated than the east. She showed us the cool little beaches and cool campsites.
We have been for a good 2 hour walk in some sub-tropical bush-forest in a bird and nature reserve by Onetangi bay. This walk was cool, but it did chuck it down for the 2 hours so we were completely soaked and quite ready for some grub and drink as we reached the cafe by the beach when we finished. And then the rain stopped.
Being an island, there are beaches everywhere, and the island is also very hilly, which makes for some good vantage points and nice enclosed bays. There are only 8000 people that live on the island (making it the third most populated island in New Zealand, after the North and South), but apparently it swells to 45000 in the summer! So there are lots of posh expensive pads in gorgeous beauty spots that people flock to for their holidays. We have come in the off-season, but it's still beautiful and at least doesn't feel crammed full of tourists.
We spent yesterday walking around Auckland. We tried to unlock a phone that we had brought from the UK, but it turns out that it couldn't be done, so we have had to buy a simple cheap phone and are now on the Vodafone Nz network. Our number is 0064 (0) 210672905. (We had our first incoming call today from the bank. It was incredibly exciting.)
We thought Auckland was pretty cool. We have got the impression from other people that it wasn't that great, but on first impressions we thought differently. It is really clean, modern, tidy and had got quite a lot of cool buildings and green areas.
After sorting our phone out, we got a bus to posh Ponsonby, one of the nearby suburbs. We had arranged to see 3 Campervans there.
The first one was a Nissan Homy, owned by a german guy called Matt. He was very nice, but the van wasn't. Although the van was very big and had lots of space, it was a bit battered, and didn't look very loved. Not what we want.
The second van was owned by Eli and Sarah, 2 American dudes. It was a Mistubishi Delica - a people carrier that had been converted to a camper-style van. The van was really cool from the outside and had a mostly-see-through roof, which would be really good, but then we realised that it would make the interior unbearably hot in the summertime. Eli and Sarah had converted the car themselves to a camper-style set-up (i.e. ripped out the back seats and put wooden blocks in the back to support a bed. It wasn't actually that comfy and Eli and Sarah hadn't actually used it that much (they'd stayed in hostels and in farm accommodation mainly), so we weren't convinced.
The Third van was another Mitsubishi Delica and was owned by Michelle and Paul, a Czech couple. They were still living in their van, so it was very messy, but gave us a good idea of how living in a van would be. This was the best van to drive (i.e. smoothest), and had a VERY thick mattress in the back, so would be very comfy to sleep. It also had loads of added extras (cooking stuff and camping equipment). We liked this van.
After Ponsonby, we headed back into town and got another bus to Mission Bay which is another posh suburb to the east of the centre. Cleverly we got on the wrong bus so meant we had to get off and walk up a big hill for about half an hour. At the end we met up with Grant who showed us his truly rubbish Toyota Hi-ace. It was really terrible. We didn't stay long.
Then we had to wait for another bus BACK into town. Even though we are in a major city, at 8pm it turns out that there is still only 1 bus an hour running through a posh suburb a couple of miles out from the centre. This gave us the idea that the public transport is rubbish. Heidi and Kirby have confirmed this suspicion.
This therefore made us late to get a connecting bus out to Castor Bay, which is on the North shore (the city centre is on the south shore). Castor bay also seemed full of big houses, big cars, and yachts. We so far haven't seen any of the less-privilidged areas of Auckland. If there are any.
Castor Bay contained Barry. He wanted to get rid of his Toyota Estima - another people carrier converted to a van. This was ok, but by this time it was pitch black and not the best conditions to see much. This van was ok - better than all the rest except the czech guys.
After getting back to the city, we ended up having a beer on Vulcan Lane in the city centre before catching a late ferry back to Waiheke. We got home at about 11pm, and were very tired. Therefore we went to sleep.
So, in conclusion to the campervan situation: the Czech guys have got the best one. However, they want slightly more than we can afford. So i've told them what we want to spend and am leaving it with them to think about. I don't think they really want to lower their asking price, but there are not too many buyers around at the moment (it being the end of the season), so I am hopeful that they'll see sense and agree to what I'm offering. In the meantime, we are gonna hopefully see some more in the next couple of days. I am keeping a very keen eye on trademe (NZ's version of eBay) and the backpacker's website for any new additions.
Today we have set up a bank account!! This is good, although we have yet to find out how long it's going to take to transfer funds from our UK accounts.
It is our first ever joint bank account, which apparently is a stronger commitment than marriage. There is no going back.
We have also set up a meeting on Thursday with Mr Tony Gray. He works for the inland revenue, and needs to meet us in order to give us an IRD number - we'll need this if we want to get some work later on in our stay.
Heidi and Kirby continue to be incredibly kind to us, and are putting up with us camping in their garden and being around their house. They are both very cool, and been very helpful in every way. The kids are good fun too, and Elizabeth is obsessed with the film Mamma Mia! For those that haven't seen it, it is exactly as annoying as you imagine. I have had ABBA songs in my head for the last 3 days, which must be unhealthy. There was a brief reprieve when we got to watch Finding Nemo. But now it's back to Mamma Mia!.
Here we go again. My my.
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