Day 45: New Zealand!

Everything went very smoothly in Sydney this morning.  We got up, got to the airport without trouble, got through check in, customs, and security very quickly, and after an hour taking brekky in the lounge, we were in the air.  Once again, the flight went well and quickly.  I watched some Top Gear and slept a bit.  I knew when I filled out my arrival card that I would fail the quarantine, as I had food and I had been in a forest or on a farm in the last month (Who hasn’t been in a forest or on a farm in the last month?).

Sure enough, when we went through customs I got a “D” (for dangerous) and had to go into the quarantine.  Luckily the airport was practically empty, and customs, baggage, security, and even quarantine went quickly.  My shoes had to go to the “workshop” to undergo cleaning, as they had a few bits of mud on them.  Luckily, they made it out alive and we were off.

We are renting an RV while we are here, so we took the shuttle over to the rental building.  They had just run out of the cheap RVs that morning, so we were given a free upgrade to one that costs three times as much.  The whole process of renting the vehicle took a long time, as we had to watch a 20 minute instructional video on the caravan, and do all sorts of paperwork, as well as get campsite advice from the staff.

Finally, we were off, or so we thought.  It seems not one of the six keys they had given us would start the engine.  After trying for about five minutes, Greg went in to ask for help, when he realized that the remote had a built in key that flipped out.  So, we were off.  We needed to go to a grocery store, but I had a bit of trouble finding the way to the highway on the map.  Thus, Greg got to turn around in a tight cul-de-sac while trying to get a feel for the 7m (23ft) long, 3.3m (11ft) high vehicle and its manual transmission.

Our RV, quite large I'd say.

Don't we look happy?

We finally made it and got the food we needed and hit the highway.  The inside of the RV is quite nice.  It sleeps six, so there is plenty of room for both of us, with a sitting area, kitchen, shower, and three beds.  It is a 2008 model, so it is still in very good condition.  I found walking around while Greg was driving to be a bit like being on a plane in turbulence.

After a while, Greg was getting a little sleepy, so we stopped at McDonalds and grabbed some ice cream to wake us up, and then I drove for a while.  This caravan is definitely the biggest vehicle I have ever driven, beating my dad’s truck.  It is also a stick shift, the only I have driven other than my car.  It was night time on a winding, hilly road, with tractor trailers passing.  Oh, it was raining off and on, too.  All things considered, driving on the opposite side of the road didn’t bother me too much.

After many hours, we reached the campsite we were looking for in Tongariro National Park, just outside of a ski resort.  There were some patches of snow scattered about the campground.  It will be interesting to see what New Zealand looks like when we wake, for all we could see was darkness.

Fervently working on my blog post.