Auckland

With New Zealand soil under our feet, it is still difficult for us to realize that we are really here and that we now have 3 months of adventure ahead of us. We postpone the anticipation for now, buy a SIM card and hope for the best for our luggage and customs control. We're lucky and only have to show off our hiking boots for a moment. There are very strict entry requirements here because they want to prevent parasites and foreign plants from being introduced. Shoes, camping equipment, etc. must be clean and are usually checked once. Finally leaving the airport, we are greeted by bright blue skies and sunshine. We take two different buses to the hostel and can leave our backpacks there. In order to defy the jet lag and not allow ourselves to get tired, we leisurely walk through the city for the next few hours. In the afternoon we drive to a camper market just outside, but unfortunately we can't find anything. At around 7 p.m. we fall into our beds very exhausted. Accordingly, we woke up early again and started jogging through the ultra hilly city very motivated. Everything felt great going down the mountain, but going up the mountain was a bit too much for me. At the end of the round we stop at a small shop and ask for coffee, but unfortunately it doesn't have it. He must have seen my red face because when we had walked a few meters further, he waved a bottle of water after us. How nice! But we're almost at the hostel so we politely decline. After acclimatization, we continue with great hope for a large camper and car flea market that takes place every Sunday. For the first hour it doesn't look like we'll find anything. But little by little more campers arrive. We meet a Jimmy, he has a company with which he expands many buses. We particularly liked one and it also fits into the budget. Maren can hardly contain her enthusiasm and emotions. We walk up and down a few times, but always stop in front of the bus and look at it, try out the bed and chat with Jimmy and his colleague. We are then allowed to test drive the bus and, half thirsty, we stop at a café and get water and coffee. I drive off and Maren spills the good coffee all over the guy, herself and my bag. Driving is a lot of fun and we don't hear any "unusual noises" at first. Back at the market we think again and decide that this will be our bus! We try to withdraw the deposit at several ATMs and set a time for collection the next day. They want us to install a second battery and it should be finished by 11 a.m. A big relief that the camper topic was cut off so quickly. We cancel our two further visits and want to drive out of the city to the beach. Because of the big Christmas parade, the buses cannot run regularly and we have a very long wait. So we walk towards the city, load our bus cards and spend the time until the next bus. On the beach we treat ourselves to a really delicious lunch and a glass of wine to celebrate the day. It's really cold and yet you can feel the power of the sun. I hide under the hood and in between I can convince Maren for shade. However, we can't stay there for long because it's just too cold and windy. Well... the result is a serious sunburn on my face. Luckily Maren had a makeup powder with her, which I applied generously to my face the next day. In the evening we go to a Thai restaurant around the corner and at this point a big cross comes into the calendar. Actually, we're all used to the fact that I can't eat spicy food. But Maren even less so. And so it happens that we swap our dishes and I eat the spicier of the two and without any sweat on my nose. X