Third time lucky and I finally boarded the Jetstar flight bound for New Zealand – I realised whilst flying that this was the first new country I would be visiting on the trip. I got the unknowing adventure backpacker feeling again :) Instead of the intial burst of humid temperatures hitting me when I walked off the plane I was greeted by COLD. A shock to the system not having considered the change in climate, winter is approaching in New Zealand and the weather is similar to home.
My first impressions of Auckland weren’t great – frankly the place looked like a dump, lot’s of litter about, old run-down looking buildings and there was a grey gloomy feel to the city. Not a problem though, I didn’t come to New Zealand for the cities.
Now pros of the backpacker van industry Will and I soon had a shortlist of vans using Gumtree, Trade Me (NZ’s answer to eBay) and various hostel notice boards. That evening we looked at two of them. After seeing the first we new it was a killer deal so we went for it. The new van is not quite as pretty or well equipped as our Australian van was – Toyota Hiace LWB, previously owned by a chinese tradesman. We named the van ‘Conrad’ after Conrad Jupiter Casino.
The following day we picked up the keys and made tracks for Piha.
Piha was the birthplace of New Zealand surfing in 1958, and has been the scene of both New Zealand national and international surfing championship competitions. Well known for it’s huge and dangerous surf – of course is was to be our first destination!
It was a sketchy drive to Piha, lots of hills and winding narrow roads. After an hours drive we discovered the beautiful beach town. Breathtaking scenery, a lot more imposing than anything we had seen in Oz. We rolled up to the main beach carpark to find another 6 vans parked up for the night – bumville! Great :)
Having no boards the next morning Will and I couldn’t go for a surf, instead we ran the length of the beach – we probably didn’t miss out it was bloody freezing!
After our first taste of New Zealand and having heard great things about the country from many people I’m looking forward to the coming weeks.
