12.1.20 Bye-bye Aotearoa - after 4,807 km on the North Island

The weather couldn't be better on this Sunday: blue sky, sun, light breeze. I sit on a bench on the promenade with my colorful breakfast leftovers, while the campsite behind me is already bustling. I can stay until 12 pm, so I sit there relaxed and watch the hustle and bustle. Then the camper has to be brought back to its original state, remove the bed, set up the table, put everything back where it was at the beginning. I donate food leftovers that need to be refrigerated to the camp kitchen, as the collection point at the rental place is only one shelf and people will take leftovers from there again tomorrow. Some things go in the trash and others I put in my old day backpack to bring these things to Andrea, who lives in Auckland and kindly washes the clothes and then brings them to a clothing donation.

I arrive at Bayview around 1 pm, one of the northern districts of Auckland, and first go to Manuka Bay, where a few fishermen are returning with not only flounders in their net, but also a stingray!

Shortly before half past one, I meet Andrea and we could certainly have chatted for longer than an hour and a half. It is particularly funny that we realize after an hour that we are both from Hamburg, and from almost neighboring districts Berne and Volksdorf 🤣

I navigate through a maze of motorways with exits on both the left and right, find a petrol station and spend another 80 dollars before I arrive at Wendekreisen at 3:45 pm.

I get a refund for the day I had to wait in Okahune because of the broken alternator, and the hotel I needed that evening will also be reimbursed.

The odometer now shows 631,004 total kilometers. I have driven 4,807km of that in 26 days. 😱 It didn't feel like that much since I often only drove less than 100km. But it adds up, and the views were almost always fantastic. Everything is fine, and I chat for another round with the cheerful lady from Tonga who is on duty here today. Since another van is being returned that will arrive almost an hour after me, she doesn't want to make me wait any longer and orders a taxi for me, which Wendekreisen will pay for, and I arrive at the airport shortly before 5 pm.

Air China is not checking in yet. So I sit outside in the sun for a while before I put on warm clothes and won't need shorts and a T-shirt for a few months now.

The check-in for the business class at Air China is quick and easy, I walk to the security checkpoint and officially leave New Zealand at 6:20 pm. I have a feeling that I will come back 😉. I still want to see a kiwi in the wild, explore more of the northern part of the South Island, and finally visit Stewart Island. But that will have to wait a bit longer. I'm now heading to Beijing at 8:20 pm. And I don't have to drive 🤣. I browse through a few more shops, which there are plenty of here, and feel ashamed of our pitiful capital airport Tegel.

I soon sit comfortably in my seat. My seat neighbor moves to an empty row, so I don't have a neighbor until Beijing.