Back to the roots

Day 75

Blue sky. Around me, grass and people of all ages, concentrated or completely absorbed in their smartphones. Palm trees, a few birds flying from tree to tree, and seagulls circling above me. In the distance, the noises of cars, in front of me, the skyline. I am in Albert Park and we are back in the city where it all began. We are in Auckland.

We were once again drawn to the metropolis in the north because we had a fixed goal. We wanted to sell our car before Christmas so that we could relax and enjoy the last few days in New Zealand without stress. So we planned a little buffer because we assumed that some potential buyers would definitely back out and there could always be complications with the registration and possible AA inspections. We knew this from our own experience. Of course, a few people who wanted to see the car canceled at short notice, but we still managed to sell it. As stressful and complicated as the sale of the van may have been, the actual sale was relaxed. Today is Monday and on Friday, two German backpackers took over our faithful vehicle and decided to continue driving it on the same day. That happened much faster than we expected, so we have actually been staying in hostels since Friday. For us, however, it is the best thing that could have happened because we wanted to get the sale over with as quickly as possible, and now we have achieved that. Accordingly, we are currently very relaxed. We have decided to spend a few days in Auckland after the exciting last weeks and months, where we can take full advantage of not having to cook or wash dishes anymore. This time is now over. The chapter with the car is over, and from now on, we no longer live and sleep in our two-square-meter mobile home. It is liberating and sad at the same time. On the one hand, the time is over when we have to look for camping spots every day, when we complain about high fuel prices every few days, when we wash our dishes in the smallest and dirtiest toilets, and always have the worry that we will have to visit a workshop again because something with the car is not as it should be. On the other hand, we are no longer as flexible. Sleeping in the car was incredibly cozy, and we will miss heating our noodle boxes on the gas stove proudly and exhausted after a long day. We traveled with the car in 12 different districts throughout the country. We conquered 17 percent steep roads on Arthur's Pass. We had five different problems with the car and went to eight different workshops. We refueled 13 times and drove a total of 6100 kilometers. That is the dry summary of our 10-week time with John, as we named the van after visiting our first workshop, where a guy with the same name helped us fix our taillights.

Tomorrow we will leave Auckland for now and head to the summerly Northland, the part north of here, to spend a few more days on the Coromandel Peninsula afterwards. Now that we are no longer traveling by car and are staying in proper beds again, and after having had exciting and varied weeks behind us, we are going to have a little summer vacation around Christmas before we continue across the Pacific to the east at the beginning of January.

In the last few days before our arrival in Auckland, we had a few "revivals" because after leaving Rotorua, we were in Paraengaroa within half an hour, where we worked on different kiwi plantations weeks ago. It had been our goal for a long time to make a detour to these kiwi fields at the end of our trip if we found the time, and that's what we did. Unfortunately, there were no backpackers working there at that time to whom we could have given a tired smile, but it was still fun to see the old workplace again and see how the kiwis have grown in our absence. They have actually grown quite big and will soon be ready for harvest. On Thursday, we were at none other than the jungle reserve campground "Hunua," where we spent our very first night in the car on 12/10/2018. Not only the proximity to Auckland was crucial for the choice, but we also wanted to see if everything in the small town was still the same as it was. And it was. The same service at the gas station and the grumpy John in the workshop next door, who, of course, did not remember us. We spent the night alone at the campground, just like two months ago, and it was just as quiet and peaceful as it was back then. Hunua was the first campground, the first night in the car on the trip, and as we could not have guessed, but later found out through the quick car sale on Friday, also the last. A perfectly closed circle.

And now we continue by bus and stay in hostels. Just a few more days in New Zealand that lie ahead of us, and later in South America. We now only live out of the backpacks that we carry with us every day. That will be quite different and a completely new experience. Whether with or without a car, I cannot say yet which is better. But what I can say is that the time with the car was already very nice.