VictoriaApril 14
Today we began our 15-day journey driving around Northlands on the North Island in a motorhome. We wanted to get a taste of this very iconic Kiwi experience and also get a chance to finally unpack our stuff for a while so we don’t have to move every few days.
In the Uber on the way to pick up our motorhome, there was a rainbow out my window to the east. What a good sign!
Wilderness Motorhomes is where we rented our home on wheels for the next fifteen days. Our baby, Harmony, is 22 feet long and 7 feet wide. She’s a beaut.
After a very thorough briefing by Autumn at Wilderness HQ, we hit the road.
First stop: the only Costco in the entire country, just outside of Auckland, and I’m pretty sure half the city’s population was shopping there. Big mistake to stay. They definitely had some interesting products that we don’t have at home so we got a few things and left as quickly as possible.
We had to stop at a New World grocery store to pick up the things Costco didn’t have. Just like at home, running around on a Sunday going shopping. Fun!
From there we headed north to a pretty village called Matakana.
We walked around, bought some chocolate covered Hokey Pokey from Honest Chocolat and figured out where we were parking our home for the night.
We tried to book a spot on line at Mangawhai Heads Holiday Park, but the website wasn’t accepting our credit card and no one answered the phone when we tried calling. Reception closed at 6 p.m. and it was now 5 p.m. It took 40 minutes to get there. We jumped in Harmony and made our way as quickly as possible, which isn’t very quick considering the heft we were hauling and the two very winding mountain passes we needed to drive over.
We drove through what reminded me of the English countryside – verdant rolling hills with sheep and cows dotting the landscape.
We saw two more rainbows on the way. Good luck for sure!
We arrived with 15 minutes to spare and snapped up the last beachfront spot at the holiday park.
We plugged in and set to work unpacking and organizing our stuff. We made a quick dinner and relaxed for the first time all day.
My evening activity was killing the gnats that managed to sneak in every time we opened the door. Seems as if we traded them for the sandflies. At least they don’t bite!
