On the road again....

Wo hoo!!! I am the proud owner of a third of a van. After leaving Paihia and the bay of Islands, myself and my friends headed back down to the big shmoke in search of the dream van. It didn't take long to realise that cars, even absolutely rubbish cars can be pretty pricey around here at this time of year. Apparently had we been looking during the winter time we could pick up a car for over half the price that people charge for one come Summer time. So with our tails between our legs and broken hearts the horrible thought of travelling around in a bus started to enter my head and I could have cried. From the day I started thinking about coming to New Zealand I had always envisioned myself seeing the country from behind the wheel of a wee camper van. I am absolutely landed that that has happened now. I still can't believe it to be honest. We ended up coming back up to Paihia to buy a van that Dianne had heard about. What a steal! Only $500! It is a rust bucket and one probably couldn't give the thing away at home, but for here, the land of the bangers, a place that makes the cars on Cape Clear look posh, it's a relatively good price and one that we were happy to pay.
We were a sight today, scrubbing and hoovering every inch of it. We started with such eagerness but of course this quickly wore off. However some parts of the former plumbers work van will have to settle for being permanently covered with a blanket or stuffed with tissue and never looked at again. eg. the patch of carpet by the door absolutely caked in dirt, or the many holes home to even more spiders and various creatures. It all adds character. Or so we keep telling ourselves. No, seriously it isn't the nightmare I'm making it out to be. After the cleaning earlier it looks a damn sight better. The fun is in the driving though. I know many of you posh people at home won't remember or may never even have experienced it before but having absolutely zero power steering makes for an interesting trip. Wo, you have to be strong. I tell you now, I'll have some guns at the end of this tour. I feel like we should devise some system for the tricky corners in which we each have a rope to pull just cause some bends are too much for one human. It's all good fun.
So, we went to the N.Z. version of Lidl today to pick up some basics, including dirt cheap sleeping bags, fleecy blankets, curtains and of course the all important spray paint!! Don't worry, much thought will be put into the designs for the exterior of our new home and each country will be properly represented. Needless to say, the shamrock will feature many times, along with other flora and signs of peace, after all what is the point of having a van if it isn't spreading the message of love.....? And spreading the smell of another certain flower (just kidding folkes). We will stay one more night in The Bay and move on tomorrow. We're gonna treat ourselves to a final night of hostel luxury and dive head first into the probably very smelly, often uncomfortable but wonderfully liberating world of campervaners tomorrow. We will head to Cape Reinge, the tip top of the country, and on the way take a few wrong turns, meander down a few intriguing looking dirt roads and definitely get lost a few times, just because we can.

I'm so excited. Please check out my photos of the last few days in Auckland. You can access them through a link here on my blog now. I will put up pics of the van soon. Bye for now.