After Kimmy's episode with Ro & Basher's cats we agreed it was best not to spend the night at the Roach's, however, a number of factors forced the issue:
1. The 10 year storm bashing the coastline had now cut power to most of the North Shore (about 15000 homes) and would have made our bus ride back into Auckland unpleasant to say the least.
2. A 3 hour time difference between Sydney and Auckland meant the 1st game of the Bledisloe cup would only air at 10pm.
3. Steve was adamant that we were going to 'dop' in preparation for the Aussies giving the Kiwi's one up the.....eeeh!
A celebration was in order after the game and it seemed that the cats were not having the choking effects expected - PHEW!! We crashed in Torbay and woke the next morning to go and collect the camper that was to be our home for the next 3 weeks. A huge thanks to Steve and Steph - will remember your laughter at the preposition joke for many years to come (where are Big Ben at, P.....!?)
Our first camper-van provided by the touring company was called 'Bunny'. She lasted all of 2 days, 200km north to Whangarei (pronounced 'fangarei') and 200km back south to Auckland via an overnight stop at the Mahurangi Regional Park. The brakes on poor Bunny were 'metal on metal' after 50km out of Auckland and were giving way rapidly! Having been warned about the treacherous roads in NZ and the mother of all storms still persisting overhead we thought it best to put Bunny to pasture. A brief explanation (with a few expletives and Polish diplomacy stirred in) did the trick and Bunny was quickly exchanged for Foxy, equipped to the brim with bedding, crockery, cutlery and a DVD player! The latter has come in seriously handy as we've seen buggerall sunshine since arriving in NZ. We've made a few trips driving south and the most excitement we've had is cuddling under the duvet watching 'Gangs of New York' and 'the Lord of the Rings'. NZ has been a disappointment to date but we've been told the South Island has a lot more to offer so we're pushing on slowly in the rain towards Wellington and the crossing over the Cook Strait.
Latest news reports have shown a P&O ferry battling 8m swells with amateur video footage capturing flying objects in the passenger hold. One guy broke his arm and an elderly lady lost her finger in a closing cabin door....... Going to be interesting?!
1 comment:
Kimmy!!!!!!!!!!! Pete!!!!
I haven't read your blog in quite some time .. If jealousy makes me nasty, then I guess I am nasty! I am soooo jealous of your trip!~ You guys are really doing it right!
Hope all is well! My parents are up in Mammoth Lakes, CA for the week ... WE still talk about you guys often and I was watching a thing on South Africa the other day. I really need to get over there.
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