We climbed the hill, lost our condition along the way, and admired a great sunset.
Sunset Hawkes Bay After we were back down, we headed back to the campsite. The cool thing about Gisborne District is that it has many free campsites with flushed toilets. On the site, we met a German couple who had parked next to us. They bought a car and sleep in it. They have been on a 4-month work holiday. Camping Site Mahia The next morning, we drove towards Gisborne. On the way, we made a stop at the hot springs in Morere and enjoyed a relaxing hot sulfur water bath. Of course, with cola and burger, NZL style :o).Private Pool Morere Hot SpringsBurger, what else The bath felt really good after the long Great Walk. Since I noticed on the last campsite that the battery wasn't charging and the charger was on fault, I called the hotline again. I tried to explain to the man that in my opinion, the charger overheated. He reported that we can go to a Benson Car Electric in Gisborne the next morning.But first to a pier where you can stay overnight, and then off to the city. First of all, to a cafe (the obligatory Flat White Medium :o). Unfortunately, the shops there were soon closed (from 5 pm) and the city very deserted. Oh yes, the internet was no longer working, so we went to the Vodafone shop. We got a new SIM card. We've been lucky so far (Murphy's Law in the technical area).They have a Bernina store, lol When we were back at the pier, we decided to drive to another free spot by the sea. There we got the last available spot. And who did we meet there? The couple from yesterday :o). Dorian was fishing there and actually caught a small shark Oo. He let it go again. He told us that the little guy wanted to bite him. We spent the evening with them, wine and beer until late at night. The next day, first coffee and then off to Benson. The technician, Shane, said that the battery was too flat to recover (it had been flat since Auckland). This often happens with motorhomes. The AMG battery with a capacity of 100Ah is okay. He just took note of my remark about overheating. Well, we had to turn off all consumers (the fridge!) and try to recover the battery. Said and done, we drove towards Tolaga Bay to a powered camping site. We arrived there around noon. After about 20 minutes, the charging current was gone, and the charger was on fault. At least now we could fry eggs on the charger if it wasn't installed vertically... So we unplugged it, waited. Left the flap open and created a draft by leaving everything open. Luckily, it's a very windy area. And behold, after an hour, the charger was still charging. A fan could help. Since the battery area is completely sealed off, it can only overheat. And charging with the flap open is not very convenient. So off to town to look for a fan. The town has three markets, at least 3 cafes, and a bakery. But no fan.... oh well. Another test: Just closing the doors made the charger fail. I quickly called Benson and talked to Shane. He agreed with me but had no idea what to do. So I called the hotline again. They said we should call again in the morning. We agreed to drive to Gisborne again. To let the charger cool down, we went to admire the longest wharf in the southern hemisphere.Longest Wharf The next day (Sandra's birthday!) we treated ourselves to breakfast. We went to Stefan's. A German chef who got fed up with the stress in Germany 10 years ago and emigrated to NZ. He made us a delicious GB breakfast with everything it needs. Pancakes with syrup and bacon. Sounds strange, tastes delicious. Off to Gisborne again, to Benson. This time, Shane said that many motorhomes had overheated chargers. Ah, thanks Shane, that you noticed that yesterday, not. Well, when we went to town and waited for a call from Shane. Since that damn Windows 10 consumed >1 GB of our traffic with updates, and this despite me postponing that shit until mid-March, we went to a Spark shop (formerly NZ Telecom), as we only get 1GB per $20 from Vodafone. There we got 4.5GB for $40, without calling, of course, but we still have the Vodafone SIM. Thanks to the dual-SIM mobile, we now have two providers with data, and I soon realized that Spark has better reception outside of villages/towns. It doesn't always have to be 4G.Sanda tried a different wine (tasted like cat pee [if you ever want to try that :o)]) Shane didn't respond anymore, so I tried several times. Only after 2 pm he said it was working on his end, and Apollo said not to do anything at the moment. But we would have priority with the next call, and they might do something about the ventilation in Auckland. Great, did I mention that the battery was already full? No comment... Well, we steered towards the nearby Warehouse and bought a USB fan for $5. We will put it in the battery/charger compartment, and I bet you a case of beer that it will be enough to prevent the charger from going on fault. So we decided not to drive along the coast anymore but inland towards Opotiki. There, in the middle of a beautiful valley, there is a DOC camping site. There are even glowworms! First, we fried a sirloin steak and toasted to Sandra. She had what she always wanted: Celebrating her birthday at the end of the world in summer and eating seasonal tomato-mozzarella salad :o).Birthday dinnerDOC camping siteOn the way to the glowworms, we saw a live possum for the first time. Raptors aside, they are cute.NZ glowwormsMilky Way and stars without any light pollution So now we are in Opotiki, writing our blog at a site before we head back into the wilderness. There will be no reception there, 100%.So long-Philipp
Ahhh wie wunderschön ist die Natur von NZ, da fühlt man sich dem Himmel gleich ein Stück näher, darum geh ich jetz auf Rothwald Schifahren😍😍😍Ich hoffe Fan und Apollo harmonieren Liebe Grüsse
