We returned our rental car 2 hours before we departed from the airport. The rental company provided a shuttle, that was pretty cool. When we arrived at the airport, we wanted to get to our gate. We couldn’t find it. Such a small airport! They just controlled our tickets, and then we were on the runway. No security check! Though it was forbidden to take pictures.
Not even 2 hours later we were in Auckland. Just like 3 months earlier, but a bit more familiar. We took the Skybus to the CBD. On the way we booked a nice hostel for the next days. On the next day we both bought a laptop. From now on, we don’t have to stare on our mobile screens anymore. The search for a mobile home has already started weeks before our arrival in Auckland. We had found a great green van. On the next day we met the owners and had a look at their van.
The van is self contained, which we thought is pretty good to have. With the certificate of being self contained we can freedom camp in a lot of places. The van has a sink, a portable toilet. It also comes with a canoe and 2 bicycles.
In many vans you can build the bed to a couch, which is quite cool, but therefore you can’t store a lot of stuff under the bed. With all the mountaineering stuff we have at Denis’ place and all the stuff we still want to buy, we need space! And probably we would be too lazy to rearrange the bed to a couch each morning anyways.
All together: The perfect van. Is it a mistake to buy a car without even looking at another? The answer should be yes, we knew that but we didn’t want to hear the answer. We had been 3 days in Auckland it we had enough of the city life.
On the following morning we made an appointment at a garage to get the van checked. For 50$ the mechanic made us list that included some stuff that needed to be done with the van. We could negotiate the price again with the list. In the end we could agree to a price.
We bought a car! It was part of the deal, that the previous owners still use the van for the last two days and we go to the airport together. We had two pretty lazy days at an Airbnb in a suburb of Auckland. Denis brought us the luggage. A huge thanks to Denis at this point again! Without your help it would have been a lot more difficult!
On the next morning we loaded the van with all our stuff and we drove to the airport. We wished them a good travels back home to Italy. They want to start a Europe trip with another van back home.
We had heart that there is a lack of seasonal workers for the kiwifruit picking season. Next destination: Te Puke, self proclaimed kiwifruit capital of the world.
It was a huge mess, but we could sleep in the van. With an app called campermate we searched for the next parking lot where freedom camping was permitted.
