Our epic kiwi campervan adventure was to begin in the afternoon of boxing day. We packed our bags and cleaned the house we had called our Christmas home for the past few days. Four of the group (Louise, Brendan, Mike and Jayne) headed out the door. Their mission: to pick up their bigger, meaner and far more structured motorhome to hold their group of 6.
Katy, Rachel, Annie and myself stayed a while longer at the house, leaving the others the time and space they needed to sort out the rental (how noble of us). Enjoying a few beers leftover from the Christmas Day on the sofa, we planned to head out to the scenic mound we had spotted from the sky tower the night before. Two of us in an Uber, two in the van (to keep things road legal), we made our way across town to see the mound up close.
A short sunny walk from the car park and we had made it to the top (honestly, within about 10 minutes, it wasn’t much of a hike). However, the views from this vantage point were great and provided a much more scenic perspective of the city than the tower did (perhaps because the tower was in the city it didn’t provide the same perspective of the buildings around it). We messed around for a little while taking the typical tourist photos until more than enough time had passed for us to ponder on the fact we hadn’t heard from the group who went to pick up the van….
We checked our phones and got a stream of messages through about the current situation. It had turned out that boxing day was the busiest day for the van rental companies, and the one the family had hired from was inundated with new renters to the point the waiting time was over an hour. However, on the good news side, the wait was nearly finished by the time we had finished with the mound and so we arranged to meet at a sushi place which seemed to be well located between the two groups.
Turns out where we had chosen might have appeared like any other shopping mall in map view. In fact, this is one major downside of google maps in that an arial cartoon view of a location looks no different to any other. However, the mall we parked at seemed like a down and out location which had feral children running about with nerf guns amongst abandoned stores.
Slightly joking here but it certainly felt like the run down part of town. We can however, recommend the sushi joint hidden amongst the bargain shops (seriously, if you need cheap care/beauty products then this place is really good) which catered all of our group once the van had been successfully picked up from the rental location.
Walking out into the carpark I was hit with envy. The rented motorhome looked the business and had complete cooking facilities, bathroom and shower and space for 6 adults (if the two sharing the sofa bed got along well). We all talked through our plan and Brendan then unveiled the secret gadget all group activities need, the walkie talkies. Banter could be wirelessly shared between vans on the MHz (check this) spectrum!
Given the time of day we decided the best course of action would be to hit the road all the way to Cooks Beach in one go. A fair few miles in between we got on with it and made way*. The highway started like any urban road you would expect. Straight and easily signposted with turnoffs at similarly distanced points. However it wasn’t long before this road turned into more of a backcountry lane affair. Still well paved the road began to twist and turn and ascend the sides of rather large looking hills (We were nowhere near real mountains yet!). Speed limit signs for the turns appeared to ensure vans like ours didn’t accidentally plough off the side of the road.
*Definition – Making way: Abiding to road speed limits and sticking to them no matte what to ensure that you sufficiently pass a HGV test and/or demonstrate value added to a logistics operation without shortchanging your employer. Not to be used in a campervan on winding mountain roads with passengers who suffer motion sickness in the back!
We pulled into Cooks Beach campground and spotted a few green faces emerge from the van. Turns out that making way on the winding roads eastwards did not sit well with the passengers on board. Thankfully we had arrived still in daylight and with a few moments of the day left we wanted to do something. To stretch out weary travel legs, we walked out the campsite and headed to the nearby beach. A leisurely stroll along the sand and the enjoyment of sunset was had before heading back to camp for some grub.
On the way we passed a liquor store and could not resist a few more drinks for the camp. Once we got back we settled down for some dinner of leftovers from our Christmas. We headed into our vans and enjoyed our first night of campground sleep!