New… Country, New… Continent, New… Zealand!

Ok, so the bus journey from Mendoza to Santiago may well have included the most horrific border crossing to date, but the road cuts like a bullet through the Andes, and I can’t recall enjoying a more scenic bus journey. Santiago itself only gained around 36 hours of our time, but they were well spent musing the markets, climbing to vantage points and eating hotdogs (clearly a big thing in Chile). We also entered into a fun game of ‘Spend the Peso’ at Santiago airport, trying to eek every last drop out of our money in the minimarket when we bought dinner. We got down to 30 Pesos, which will buy you nothing when you consider you get around 800 to the pound. Gratified with our achievements, we tipped this to the girl in the shop who had to put up with us asking ‘how much is this… and this… and this…’.
The flight was certainly less dramatic than our last, and we were once again very impressed with the service we got (Newspaper, earplugs, pillows, blankets, eyeshades. GAMES CONTROLLERS BUILT INTO THE SEATS FOR THE ONBOARD GAMES!!! Oh yes, we managed little sleep).
We arrived in Auckland at about 4 in the morning, thinking it was midday, so bounded about and took full advantage of the unattended Toblerone samples and the plethora of brochures and pamphlets available to us. Never have we had so much information at our disposal! This country is just made for travelling, and knowing we had a car, we got the lot. Gaining our wagon was the next task, and we were greeted with a ‘98 Nissan Sunny saloon (See photo of the moment). A bit battered, as we expected considering how cheap the bugger was, but in grand shape really and doing a fine job. With jetlag and tiredness mixing with the unusual state of having to drive on the left again (actually confusing after nearly five months on the right), we set off into town and found out about all the other ways the car differed to what we were used to. In particular, I kept turning on the windscreen wipers to indicate, and Stu kept washing the windscreen every time he went to flash someone. We made it to our hostel though and caught some sleep in the car outside (now a fantastic ploy to save money as you can still usually get in and use the hostel facilities!!).
We spent a couple of days in the Auckland area nosing around the city, popping up Mt Eden and also exploring other mounds in the volcano field which was all very pleasant. Secretly we both wanted to hit the road though, and just needed to feel rested and loose the jetlag, which was duly completed on the morning we met two 18 year old Dutch -suspected- lesbians who had also just flown in to start their gap year travels. We figured we all wanted to start by going north, so by 9 the next morning we were all strapped in Sonny (no typo) and on the road. We went up the west coast of north island, stopping off to appreciate some Kauri trees for lunch, sand dunes and other scenic delights. We made it as far as 90 mile beach before we concluded we could go no further if we were to reach our planned night stop in Paihia in the Bay of Islands.
90 mile beach is perhaps the best thing I have ever seen to involve sand and water. It literally stretches as far as the eye can see (and further), and the best bit is you can drive on it!! Much fun was had…
We stopped at some more beaches on the way over to Bay of Islands which were simply beautiful, with Paihia completing the trend. We enjoyed some lovely fresh fish and chips for dinner to round things off. A good nights sleep was then taken before a nice early start to get hold of the free Kayaks the hostel had on offer. We took a double for the girls and two singles for us down and out to some of the islands in the bay. Stopping off we spotted some interesting stuff in rock pools and I got harried by seagulls when I got too close to a nest! A big bonus though… I spotted cave I fancied exploring, on initial inspection it looked empty, and also stopped after a few metres, but as my eyes adjusted I realised I has stumbled upon a penguins nest. Mummy was there, and huddled over babies. A truly awesome extra, we really hadn’t figured there would be any penguins up there!
Stu also found some fishing gear in the hostel (but no bait), but still proceeded to catch what I understand to be some sort of snapper and a mackerel. Indeed, this success planned the rest of his day, returning and using the little guys for bait, he hauled in three more fish which we cooked up for dinner that eve! That certainly helps keep costs down! While he was out catching said fishies, I went for a wander along the beach. Very nice indeed. That eve we bombed in back down south to Waitomo Caves and slept in the car park of a hostel, managing to pop in in the morning for a shower and breakfast. A very reasonable place to stop considering it cost us $0. This morning we visited the caves themselves, taking in the famous Glow Worm cave and also Ruikuri caves which was pretty damn good. The plan from there was to get to Roturua, but I’m currently in a hostel lounge in Tauraunga, which just shows how much flexibility the car has afforded us!!!!