Back in black

[We’re back at Tuesday, 31^st July...]

49 A.D. 

Our flight was at 23:30 so we had plenty of time to bum around downtown. Speaking bums, I packed up all of my six weeks worth of pennies into a see-through bag and decided I'd give them to the first bum who asked me. Okay, so altogether there was maybe 50 or 60 cents, but it looked like a decent gesture. Sure enough, bum asked, I handed over. And what did he say? "That all ya got?"
Never again.

[Check out the funky duvet cover!]

It was time to get rid of the Bible. It's teachings had looked after us for some time and I was sorry to see it go, but it was just too heavy to carry around or send back. So I took it to The Last Bookstore and traded it in for the Gospel (see below). The store owner was keen to hear our tale and very impressed that we'd made it via Greyhound. He suggested we write a book about said bus service and one day I just might do that. 

We'd been wanting to send some stuff home for a while and this was our last chance to use the US Postal Service. Our package weighed in at around three pounds, consisting of city maps, travel passes, entrance stubs from attractions, New Orleans beads, a few gifts and other assorted keepsakes and reminders. Tim wanted to send a pair of shoes back, but they tipped the scales too much. Fingers crossed the package makes it home! 

Its suddenly got very hot in LA on our last day and I think that's a good thing - the temperature drop in New Zealand should be quite refreshing. Ahem. There'll be no more slapping on the sun cream for a while! It's apt that we're spending our last few American hours in Starbucks. As loathed as it was back home, over here it has become like a second home to us. So many times we've arrived in a new city, drained from an overnighter, too early to check into our digs, and in need of wi-fi and refreshment. That logo, over-familiar to some, is like a beacon of relief to us. Bless ya, Starbucks, and all who work for ya!

We caught the train to the airport in plenty of time. The last day of any holiday is unsettled and no one feels like hanging around any longer than they have to. We changed train lines in South Central LA, one stop down the line from the infamous Compton, but I didn’t get to photograph any gang members or video a drive-by shooting.

We were flying with Air Pacific, bound for Auckland, but with a transit in Fiji, unfortunately unable to leave the airport and “do” Polynesia (or it might be Micronesia, I forget which). There were two babies near us as we boarded, one of them screaming at the top of their lungs. This was to be a ten hour flight! But the little darlings pretty much quietened down after take off and the big darlings (me and Tim) were able to sleep most of the way, given that the in-flight movies weren’t up to much. Breakfast consisted of a yoghurt, a cereal bar and a banana-and-nut bun...I’m missing my Cheerios already!

We arrived in Fiji under a full moon but I’m not sure if that’s a good or a bad thing. A traditional Micronesian/Polynesian band greeted us, still playing away at five in the morning. As well as the extra time zones, we have also crossed the International Date Line and the 1^st of August has been lost to us forever. How was it for you?

[Nadi airport by night...not much to see here!]

In the terminal we sat by the window so we could catch the sunrise. We nearly missed it! I now know why many countries are envious of the slow sunrises/sunsets in the UK – over here you blink and they’ve happened. It’s no fun being starving hungry in an airport lounge and not possessing any of the local currency. Not much point changing a US five dollar bill for a quick snack!

[Nadi airport at sunrise...not much to see here!]

Our flight from Fiji to Auckland was uneventful, largely involving more sleeping. I couldn’t work out if that was good or bad for jetlag.

We arrived in New Zealand around midday. Some of you may think us crazy, but we’d decided to see this country which everyone raves about from behind the wheel of a camper van. We booked it through STA, who we also booked our round the world ticket through, but when Tim phoned the company they said they had no record of our booking. Oh dear – someone hadn’t shuffled the paperwork correctly! Fortunately they had enough camper vans on the front yard to accommodate us because, let’s face it, who wants to drive around New Zealand in winter???

Rob came and picked us up from the airport. Rob is British, has been over here for about six months and is applying for permanent residency. That’s a good sign. I asked him why he was so attracted to the country and he told me that two weekends ago he went skiing and last weekend he went surfing. He didn’t have to book anything, he just got in his car and went. Difficult to beat such diversity! He also told us that in the north the days are currently either wet and warm or cold and clear. That’s not bad diversity either.

Our chariot is a 2.4 litre petrol Toyota something-or-other, referred to in the catalogue as the “Hi Top” for obvious reasons. There are two sleeping berths, one in the roof and another below. The vehicle comes equipped with a fridge, a sink with running (cold) water, two gas hobs, plenty of bedding, all of the pans and cutlery you could need and no shower or toilet. We decided against the last two options because the vehicle would have been twice the price. Are we mad? Yes, we are. But we’re also Grayboys, and we’re out to prove just how tough we are! (And how long we can hold our bladders for, which as some of you may know, is not long in my case).

Rob described the Hi Top as his favourite type of camper van because they just keep on going and going. Our chariot had already done 200,000 miles, but some of those in the yard had done 500,000. We’ll be taking ours all the way to Christchurch on the south island. The only downer (so far) that I can see if that we only have an electric heater to keep us warm (besides the gas hobs) and that will only work if we’re hooked up at a proper site. But let’s not worry about that now. At least we’re equipped with snow chains if the weather gets decidedly cooler!

The good news is that they drive on the right (left) side of the road over here! We drive for about ten minutes and arrive at Warehouse – allegedly New Zealand’s equivalent of Primark. Here we both buy some tracky bottoms each, as well as the same black jumper. We look the same to most people, why not dress the same! Next door is Countdown, a supermarket, which sure as hell ain’t the Netto of New Zealand. My order clocks in at 70 dollars and I shudder, before remembering that it’s 2 New Zealand dollars to the pound, so it’s not so bad. I also take advantage of the customer toilets while I can.

By now it’s quite late in the afternoon and we realise that it’ll be getting dark soon and best to get on the road north. The further north the better, because that’s where they supposedly don’t really have winter! I’ll believe it when I see it. First we have to navigate our way across Auckland and, without GPS, we’re back to the ancient art of map reading. Rob had said the signposting in this country was terrible and sure enough we turn left too soon and take the western highway 20 instead of the northern highway 1. Only we don’t know it’s highway 20, not until we come to the end and it empties out into the suburbs south west of the city centre. This area is not shown on our city centre detail in the atlas and so we have to navigate on instinct alone and one or two sense of humour failures occur as we go around in circles. It’s night, it’s raining, it’s the southern hemisphere and we are clueless in the busiest part of the whole country!

Eventually we do the sensible thing and retrace our route back from whence we came. It adds extra time to the journey, but at least we know we’re heading north on highway #1. By the time we get past Auckland, we realise that it’s a long way to the campsite we wanted to touch base at. Therefore it would be best to pull off somewhere along the road...but nothing is signposted and by the time we see the turnings it’s too late and we’ve passed them! These roads are very quiet, but also largely unlit.

We end up driving down a country lane, passing a couple of farmhouses and coming to a dead end. In no mood to keep looking for somewhere better, we turn around and park. We’re on an incline, but at least we’ve stopped for the night. In the back we have rucksacks and supermarket carrier bags everywhere. So where do we put all of the stuff? Who cares – just open the damn wine box!

I start to scribble notes on the day’s events in my notebook, getting to the last page, which is quite apt given that our American adventure just ended. Tim makes the mistake of lying down on the other side of the table in the back. I hear him go very quiet. Suddenly he splutters.

JAMES: Were you dozing off then?

TIM: (groggy) Not sure...maybe...  

JAMES: I wasn’t sure whether to give you a nudge or let you sleep.

TIM: There’s no point going to sleep...

[At which point he lies back and goes to sleep.]

We don’t get through much wine until Tim finally takes the hint that he’s asleep and we go to make up our beds. Tim takes the top “bunk” and I the bottom, just in case I need to nip out in the night. Unfortunately I do, but the annoyance is cancelled out by the intense countryside moonlight illuminating me in my intimate act...right before a goods train hurtles past on the nearby North Auckland line.

Zzzzz...

Not sure if I had a bit of jet lag, but I awoke an hour or so before sunrise and was ready to get up and go. Tim was the same, informing me how any tiny movement I make down below is amplified in his sleeping space up above. That’s what he gets for taking the top bunk! Despite the strangeness of our surroundings, we rose in good spirits, reminding ourselves that it was all part of an amazing adventure. And the scene outside was a beautiful sunny dawn, though the frost still on the ground explained why it had been so cold. I found out later that it was 4 degrees overnight...4 degrees? That’s like English summertime!

Staying on our incline, we sat down to a civilised breakfast of cornflakes and cocopops, happy to have our own kettle for a change. Once ready to go, we got back onto highway #1 and continued the trail up the country. Now it was time to see some sights and we took a left down to the small settlement of Pahi on the Arapaoa River. The mist here was like something out of a horror film and, given that on the river’s edge was a resort where no one was staying out of season, there was a real eerie, ghost town feel to the place. By later in the morning I imagine the mist shifted and the place looked lovely, but right then I wondered if I was still back in a dream on the incline.

We continued up the road and stopped off at Lake Taharoa, once again deserted, though come summer there would be plenty of frolicking picnickers, paddlers, swimmers and boaters. But for now, there was only us (and some herons). It wasn’t much further to the campsite we’d selected. Prices and facilities vary greatly from site to site, some being totally basic and free to stay at, others costing a pretty penny and providing everything you could want. We mainly wanted some hot showers (a lot of places only provide `em cold) and a bit of wi-fi to let the world know we were still okay and having fun. We arrived at our place to find it closed for maintenance. There was another site further down the road, but first we’d have a bite to eat. The weather now was warm and sunny and we even left the side door open while we chomped away.

Trounson Kauri Park is in the Top 10 sites of the Northland region and I can understand why. It ain’t cheap, but it’s in a real picturesque setting by the river and it’s incredibly clean and tidy (probably because there’s hardly anyone staying there!) Parking up at bay 12 we immediately hooked up the electric cable to The Chariot and started charging all of our electrical gear. Then we went for a walk along the river and found a dead cool zip wire (“the flying fox” – strictly only one person on it at a time or no one gets to use it! Harrumph!)

As we strolled, we had to keep reminding ourselves that we were in New Zealand. Though there are obvious scenic differences, in many ways this country (or this part, at least) looks just like England! But with a few more kiwi birds. We are now geographically the furthest we will ever (and could ever?) be from home.

I wisely took my waterproof with me on our walk, but we only felt the first spots of rain as we headed back to base. Tim had a go at organising his things in the back of the van and I went to have a shave at the shower block. Then the heavens opened and I was trapped. Still, Tim may have had the food, the drink, the bedding, the laptop and the means of driving out of there, but I had the toilets. And I was prepared to wait that rain out...