We are slowly settling in.

Today was an eventful day. On the one hand, because we finally had the chance to buy a prepaid card from Vodafone NZ and on the other hand, because we found a much shorter way to the harbor today.

In New Zealand, there are 4 major mobile phone providers: 2degrees, Spark, Telecom, and Vodafone.

They all have their advantages and disadvantages, but in the end, we decided on Vodafone because it was best suited to our needs. Lots of data volume to choose from every month and few minutes of phone calls and text messages. Exactly what we need at an affordable price. To sum it up: 2GB data (4G), 50 free minutes, and 50 free SMS. And changeable every month. Perfect!

But enough of that. Today we went to the harbor again, this time using the navigation system, and noticed that there are faster ways than our previous one. And it was a dream once again. Clear views of other parts of New Zealand, mountains, ships, and nature, nature, nature. A paradise on Earth! It's no wonder that most good movies are filmed here: Narnia, Avatar, Lord of the Rings, etc.

But the mentioned nature is far away from Auckland. Which in turn means: we have to get out of here. Go further north or head straight to the South Island, which is much more beautiful anyway. But for that, you need a moving home. After all, you don't always want to commute from hostel to hostel, that's not why you came to such a beautiful island. If you have a self-contained van, you can camp almost anywhere in the wilderness for free. It doesn't get any better than that!

So it's time to find a van. But it's not that easy here in Auckland. Most backpackers who sell their wheels because they have to leave again are on the South Island. And that's not just around the corner. It's an 18-hour car ride from Auckland to Christchurch.

But sometimes you also get lucky. We found some who are in Auckland right now and want to get rid of their car. Tomorrow is the viewing appointment. Fingers crossed that it's the right one for us! If so, it won't be long until goodbye hostel, welcome wilderness...