Impressions of Auckland, first hurdles and Lisbeth

So now we finally have the first blog entry. After a very exhausting flight, we unfortunately ended up in a very unpleasant Air BnB. Fortunately, we were only there for three days, but it was a bit difficult to arrive. Well, despite the first hurdles, we were able to see some beautiful things in Auckland.

On the first day, we visited the city itself, but it wasn't worth mentioning...just a city. On the second day, we went to Cornwall Park, One Tree Hill, and the crater at Mount Eden.

On the next day, we went to the French Market and immediately bought two whole grain breads, who knows when we'll get the next ones.

We got a tip from a local at the market, so we decided to go to Mission Bay, which was definitely worth it. Here, we were approached by several people again, asking where we come from and what we're doing here. The people here are very open and very very friendly. Here we also met Mona. Mona is Indian and told us about her backpacking adventures in Europe (she's a bit older). She even gave us her phone number and offered us a place to stay for next time we're in Auckland.

We happened to come across the Michael Joseph Memorial by chance. A very beautiful viewpoint from which you can overlook the entire Mission Bay.

On our last morning in Auckland, we treated ourselves to a small breakfast and then headed to Kaiwaka. We had an appointment with Carmen, where we rented our camper. As promised, she picked us up from the bus. And there it is...our camper and at the same time our new home for the next few months. After some paperwork and a short test drive, we headed to the nearest supermarket and then to the first campsite. On the way there, we passed by a very beautiful stretch of beach, so we decided to stop. Luckily (as we later found out), we came across a campsite right on the beach.

After our first night in our camper, we got up early to see the sunrise at the beach. Then we had breakfast on the beach. Today's plan was to stock up on groceries, do laundry, refuel, and then continue north. Everything worked out, except that we couldn't find a campsite anymore. It turns out that almost all campsites close at 7:00 p.m. Well, no problem, we'll just sleep on the side of the road in a residential area for one night. We drive and drive and drive...and nothing comes up. On a sign, we see that the next town is 90 km away. So, we decided to drive to the nearest campsite and park there if necessary, at least to sleep. When we arrived at the nearest place, we happened to run into someone from the staff. This very nice man allowed us to park there (we paid the next day). Since it was already late, we only had canned sardines and bread.

The next day, we set off to see the Waipoua Forest. A nice little forest, but unfortunately only paved paths. Here we looked at the Big Tree, 51 m high and 13.8 m in diameter. In general, the area here is very beautiful and reminds us of the jungle from Jurassic Park. You always think a dinosaur is about to jump out of the bushes, but then a flock of rabbits or a few sheep hop by.

And finally...a few pictures of our Lisbeth. That's what our car is called now, short for 'Lizzy'. We haven't had time to do a room tour yet, but maybe there will be one later (maybe not, sorry).

Update: Since we are currently in a public library and I don't know when I will have Wi-Fi next, I'm including today's blog post as well. We are now continuing north to Cape Reinga. On the way there, we enjoyed the view of the Hokianga Harbour and made a little detour to the Koitu Boulders (or something like that).

Postscript: I still haven't quite figured out how to upload pictures, I think you can now see all the pictures and not just the ones I used for the blog post.

Well, that's enough for now.