Back in NZ... 16th September

Day 1... searching for our van, our home on wheels to be for the next three months. Arrived in Auckland an hour early at 3.30am to the beginning of a beautiful sunny day. First task – find a suitable van within the budget, and after an early morning Starbucks coffee and pie, began the search with the backpacker traders places in town. After a day of looking at a lot of very tired looking vehicles (full of character no doubt), soon realising that our budget would need to be stretched a little if I didn't need to also bring along a comprehensive toolkit. In the end we settled for our little Toyota Townace ex-rental camper from a rental company in town. A lot newer than expected (1996!) and with a snip of 148,000kms on the clock, would be the suitable vehicle for our NZ adventures.

Back up to Rod and Rosie's to reaclimatize with NZ after a month in the Cook Islands and prepare the van for the travels, only a few modifications required, including raising the bed for some storage space. After a good team effort, the van was ready and prepared for the journey ahead! Cranked up the volume listening to Steppanwolf all the way to Auckland!