Our First Camper van trip

29th August 2010
It's Monday, one check around the hotel room, now off to Maui Camper-vans. Welcome great, offered tea, coffee as well as an apple if we needed it. We were given a DVD to watch about the camper and it's features and how to use them. Filled the forms out, then checked out the Camper, with the help of Agent, he is French, Maui Campervans have taken on a few french speaking agents to help the french rugby supporters that are coming over!!!!!
 Shock horror, what a beast, really very very very long at 6.6m, 2 berth baby, with shower toilet combination, 3 ring gas hob and sink. Plus our GPS.

Sunset First camp site

Still in shock, asked the agent to book the ferry crossing, as they said they could from the prevoius days phone call, not realising that a they will charge commission!!! Now off we go to find the nearest supermarket which is a Woolworths, bought snacks for the trip plus bread tea and milk.  On our way!!! the plan, to head to Wellington with 2 stops down the west side of the north Island, we bought a great Road Map called the New Zealand Motorhome & Camping Atlas,      ( By Hema Maps,)  IT has the complete guide to:

• Short Term Parking
• Camping Grounds
• Caravan parks
• Rest areas
• Motor-home dump stations. Clear the doo doo out.

Jet Black Sand

Driving out of Auckland is pretty straight forward, the GPS loaded with are aiming point "Awakino,"  a campsite close by called Sea View Holiday park.
First Impressions, "Grim" an old site with very old touring caravans set up static site. old toilet and shower block that came out of my school days, It was clean though and the owners have been painting, It needs bringing  up to the 21st centry. We arrived parked up with a sea view in time for the  Sun to set only if the coulds can hold off a little longer, Walk to the beach approx 15m, oh my god! "Sand as Black as the ace of spades."was not expecting that!!!
That night was really noisy with the sound of the sea and the rain, it was also cold. The next morning we decided to get up early and leave,
had a shave and a shower, jeannette didn't shower, because the showers were crap so she opted to just a wash. Our plan was the to stop within 50 -70k of Wellington, so we drove for about 2 hours through winding roads, tunnels, the scenery was fantastic, up high & down low, sun and rain greeted us.
We stopped in a small town Inglewood for breakfast at the cafe' called Mcfarlanes, I had bacon and mushrooms in a cream sauce on toast, Jeannette had scrambled eggs on toast with a drizzle of pesto around the plate, very nice and friendly place.
We then got back on track and headed for our next camping site,  the Paekakarki  Holiday Park, an excellent place, modern toilets and shower block, tv lounge and kitchens, set with the Queen Elisabeth Park approx 200m from the beach,  the sand here is grey. The park setting is great, a nice quiet place to relax in the summer months. We set up our van and walked into the town which was about 1k distance, on our way there up above in the hills behind the campsite we could see 2 para gilders very calming, pity it was cloudy the pictures would be very good, Sun, Sea and Mountains.

View out of Wellington

 After a good and quite nights rest we set off in the direction of Wellington, being careful not to go too early and hit the business traffic. After a 45 minute drive we were heading into Wellington, missed the turn off and headed for the wrong ferry. It's pity they don't dock both company's ferrys at the same place, after asking directions we turned around another 2k drive we made it to the Interislander Terminal. We parked up and waited for the ferry, which was 3 hours (yes we were rather early) decided to visit the cafe' near the terminal for a coffee. Eventually after our wait we were able to drive on and get parked on the ferry found the onboard cafe' and seating we managed to get the seats looking to the front, A calm day with sea haze, pictures not to good, but how exciting to see albatrosses on the wing, seals swimming around, the scenery sailing down to Picton was topped off with a school of dolphins around the front of the ferry, the 3 hour crossing went very quickly. For you guys that might want to know the onboard services are, lounges, gift shop, children's corner, observation decks, cafe's and bars, cinema, wi-fi plus sky tv.
4 random photos from the ferry as we sailed down to Picton.


In Picton we decided as it was 6pm or 1800 hours we decided to stop here we found the "Picton top 10 holiday park" it was small but very

good well worth the 5* it holds.
We took a walk into Picton, after being given a short cut, which took us behind the boat sheds and over a huge coat hanger bridge..steep.. The town of Picton is small but beautifully formed and is quiet  this time of year, but seems to have lots for the travelling tourist coming off the ferry, we ate at a local bar 'Mikey's Bar' it was a really good atmosphere, good food, and that night even musical entertainment..a local playing guitar (very well). We walked back and had a very peaceful night.. The showers next day were a treat, hot and powerful, warm room...real comfort, even a hairdryer in the mens room too!!!!
Note the picture of a white hygiene
hand pump, this is for you to spray on toilet
paper and sanitise the toilet seat.

We started out from Picton at 9am filled up with fuel with an estimated travelling time of 4.5 hours with a comfort break halfway.  The scenery was more impressive than the drive down from Auckland, over mountains along winding roads on edges that just disappeared from sight, the mountains looked like a ruffled carpet green and lush, full of bumps, this is the main road and we also had huge lorries travelling on them too!! Pity most of the day was cloudy, as we rounded a corner on the peninsular  the real big highlight of the drive....finding seals in their natural environment, not having to pay to see them. "Outer Sight"

A second look at Jet Black Sand