Auckland, New Zealand
Friday to Sunday, 8 - 10 February 2008
This will probably upset the locals and Australians alike: Auckland looks a bit like Sydney. It lies around a large harbour and even has a bridge that looks like Sydney's "Coathanger". Claudine, a friend of Dara's from Macquarie, lives in Auckland so we meet up with her and her husband Dave who give us a few tips on the city.
We want to go to the top of the futuristic Sky Tower, which at 328 metres is the tallest structure in the southern hemisphere. From there you can do the Sky Jump (a "controlled freefall" from the top of the tower). At ground level, there are a few dozen people gawking upwards for the next victim to jump. It's a suitably steep NZ$25 per person just to get to the top of the tower, not to mention doing the Sky Jump. High petrol prices and peak season rates have meant that campervan-ing in New Zealand has not been as cheap as expected. On top of this, we are suffering a few aches and pains from sleeping in the van for the last month, and Leahanne the Arch Financial Controller has allowed us to blow the budget by staying at a harbourfront hotel on our last night. So we give the Sky Tower a skip and use our last few Kiwi dollars on our last meal back in the hotel - a Burger King meal-deal!
Before we fly out, we meet Royden from Sunrise Holidays at Auckland Airport, to hand over the campervan. He has flown to Auckland from his home in Nelson. He will now drive back to the South Island overnight. After a few hours' sleep, he will get on a plane to Invercargill (the very bottom of the South Island) to collect a van, and do the 1000 km drive back up to Nelson. We tell him that he is a lunatic and he agrees cheerfully. We show him the dent to the van and tell him about the freak picnic table accident (see "Wanaka" and "Rotorua"). He is unperturbed and is more interested in hearing that we enjoyed our time in New Zealand. We said that we would plug his company so here goes: if you are ever planning to do a similar trip, and want to avoid using the higher-priced Maui, Britz, Apollo etc., Sunrise Holidays are a good bet.
If you want to see photos, click here.
We want to go to the top of the futuristic Sky Tower, which at 328 metres is the tallest structure in the southern hemisphere. From there you can do the Sky Jump (a "controlled freefall" from the top of the tower). At ground level, there are a few dozen people gawking upwards for the next victim to jump. It's a suitably steep NZ$25 per person just to get to the top of the tower, not to mention doing the Sky Jump. High petrol prices and peak season rates have meant that campervan-ing in New Zealand has not been as cheap as expected. On top of this, we are suffering a few aches and pains from sleeping in the van for the last month, and Leahanne the Arch Financial Controller has allowed us to blow the budget by staying at a harbourfront hotel on our last night. So we give the Sky Tower a skip and use our last few Kiwi dollars on our last meal back in the hotel - a Burger King meal-deal!
Before we fly out, we meet Royden from Sunrise Holidays at Auckland Airport, to hand over the campervan. He has flown to Auckland from his home in Nelson. He will now drive back to the South Island overnight. After a few hours' sleep, he will get on a plane to Invercargill (the very bottom of the South Island) to collect a van, and do the 1000 km drive back up to Nelson. We tell him that he is a lunatic and he agrees cheerfully. We show him the dent to the van and tell him about the freak picnic table accident (see "Wanaka" and "Rotorua"). He is unperturbed and is more interested in hearing that we enjoyed our time in New Zealand. We said that we would plug his company so here goes: if you are ever planning to do a similar trip, and want to avoid using the higher-priced Maui, Britz, Apollo etc., Sunrise Holidays are a good bet.
If you want to see photos, click here.
P.s. A few days later, we get a disturbing email from Sunrise Holidays - the dent in the van is in a fairly awkward spot that will not be repaired by straightforward panel beating. We are kicking ourselves now for not paying an extra bit on the insurance to reduce our excess.
posted by leahdara at 5:51 p.m.
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