16/11/2017 - Out of the city

The day after buying the car, we spent our time figuring out how to fit our belongings under the bed. It quickly became clear that plastic boxes offer the best organization and we could fit some of them in the car. So, off we went. 'The Warehouse' is an absolute all-rounder. It's a mix of supermarket, drugstore, hardware store, and camping outfitter. In a few words: exactly what we needed.
Unfortunately, we didn't have a measuring tape with us to measure how high the bed would be installed in our car. But necessity is the mother of invention. Before we could buy plastic boxes for Sam, we first had to put other necessary things in the shopping cart. From a whisk to cling film and bed linen, there really was a bit of everything. Of course, a fancy, sturdy wooden cutting board also couldn't be missing. ;)
The said board has a length of exactly 40cm and just fit under the bed. So it was clear that our boxes can't be any taller than that. After briefly parking the newly purchased things on the bed in the campervan, we went back to the Warehouse. We decided that four boxes would be enough to start with and then went to the nearby supermarket to stock up on food for the first few days.

The next morning, on November 16, 2017, the time had come - we still used the last hours of stable WLAN to Skype with family and then started packing and setting up our campervan. It should be mentioned that neither of us has any experience in camping. We've talked at home about the adventure of New Zealand - now we want to experience it. ;)

Our goal for the first day of the road trip was Whangateau Holiday Park, which is about 90km north of Auckland. The route took us past Auckland's skyline over the Harbour Bridge to Orewa Beach. There we took a first, short break and walked along the beach. It gave us a small taste of the dimensions of the beaches in New Zealand. The scenery was huge, expansive, and almost deserted. We enjoyed the sunshine on our skin and the fine sandy beach under our feet.
Then we continued. We had planned the 'Parry Kauri Park' as our next stop. On site, we were greeted by 'Mc Kinney' - an 800-year-old Kauri tree that can't be compared to any German tree. These dimensions are simply overwhelming and impressive. Kauri trees are the largest trees in New Zealand and are considered sacred by the Maoris. Besides Mc Kinney, there was also a beautifully landscaped path through the adjacent forest. When a storm approached, we headed back to Sam and continued on to the campground.

The reception at the campground was very friendly and we were shown in detail where we could find everything and park our van. Upon arriving at the pitch, we were greeted by a wonderful panorama with a view of the sea.

Sam, our red Mazda, in case someone didn't catch on ;), ran very smoothly on the first day. He doesn't have a lot of horsepower, but he doesn't need it. In New Zealand, the maximum speed on motorways is 100km/h and on country roads it's 80km/h.