The Lands of the North

We set off north from Auckland just after 2pm on what was a cloudy but dry afternoon. After picking up Marv and filling him with supplies from the local Pak 'n' Save supermarket we set off over the bridge at into The Northlands. A few nervous and jolty gear changes later (to say the least) we were on our way (just about). If driving a vehicle of Marvs height weight and general size was daunting at least driving on the left was a welcome relief.

Our aim was to make it up to the Bay of Islands before nightfall, approx 200km. Feeling quietly confident in our own abilities and knowing it was only 200km we made a few stops at some stunning locations along the way, including the beautiful Mangawhai Heads and Waipu Cove. (Although the British influence is massive a lot of the locations outside the big cities have retained their original Maori names). Our over confidence and lack of appreciation for smaller NZ roads had us struggling in the darkness around 8pm still looking in vain for somewhere to rest. Around 9pm, after an hours driving in the darkness (no street lights on these roads) and in the now thundery rain we made it to Puriri Bay and our first nights resting point. To make matters worse we hadn't unpacked our backpacks yet or made the bed up before so it was a bit of a first night struggle. We vowed not to undertake the small NZ roads in the dark again after our first night baptism of fire.

When morning came things were looking much rosier and we could at least see where we were, and awoke greeted by a rainbow across the bay. We set off though in search of the nearby Bay of Islands and visited Russell before taking the ferry over to the stunning Paihia. Here we filled the van up and Marv really got his name as Starving Marvin as he guzzled 50 litres worth, where it costs $2.20 NZD (£1.15) a litre, we had a realisation that it will cost us a few quid more than we first thought to get around the country.

From the East coast we cut across country to the West and made our way along the ocean roads. Driving alongside the beach lined coast was a great experience but the strong winds needed two hands on the wheel to keep from veering off to one side! After a short while we entered the forests where some very narrow and windy roads had us literally slaloming through the trees. We arrived at the (aptly named) Kauri forest, home to the Kauri tree. These trees are absolutely humongous and we checked out the largest tree in NZ, over 2000 years old and with a girth of 13.8 metres (that's some big girth).

This was Day 2 in the van, and on animal watch we had seen hundreds of cows, nearly as many sheep, and an untold amount of little birdies, along with a multitude of various roadkills. We saw our first kiwi, as it went darting across the road (lucky spot for us as their numbers are dwindling and are nocturnal animals), had a falcon fly out the forest and into our windscreen (luckily he bounced right off, and we're pretty sure he was alright), and had to pull over and wait for 200 cows to meander slowly across the road.

The following day we took in the sights of the Kauri Museum to get a better understanding of these ridiculously oversized trees. Many of them were cut down a century ago but fortunately they now have a preserved status. From here we continued South back past Auckland at it's four lane highway mayhem and out the other side to the sleepy town of Huntly were we spent the night at a nice campsite beside a lake.

These first few days have given us a chance to get use to the intricies of our campervan, but also a very different form of travelling to which we undertook in South America. We are out on the open road driving ourselves with the freedom to go and stop where we want, but also the privacy that sharing a 12 bed dorm just doesn't allow for.