Activity Summary
Thursday 24th November - Day 84
Travel to New Zealand
Friday 25th November - Day 85
Car shopping
Saturday 26th November - Day 86
Car shopping
Sunday 27th November - Day 87
Luke belated birthday surprise
Waiheke island
Cycle hire
Mudbrick vineyard & wine tasting
Monday 28th November - Day 88
NZ camping shopping
Tuesday 29th November - Day 89
Hostel transfer pain
Wednesday 30th November - Day 90
Early morning pub football
Car pick up (finally)
Final road trip shopping spree
Thursday 1st December - Day 91
On the road
Summary
Auckland
‘A bit of a shithole’ is what we would use to describe Auckland and pretty much what most of whom we have met has said as well (especially New Zealanders).
It seems to lack any kind of soul or edge about it that other cities have, while housing an incredibly vocal and eclectic mix of people - we encountered rascists, drug addicts and many people just shouting abuse at everyone they saw. Was all just a bit weird.
Spending 6 days here waiting for international bank transfers and car deals to happen was pretty annoying and we would have spent less time in Auckland if we could.
Accommodation
Newton Lodge - 5 nights - £24/n/p
So began the significant increase in accommodation costs. All the hostels around the Auckland CBD are very expensive and all terribly reviewed. It was quite challenging to pick one out of the expensive bad bunch but we’re pretty happy to luck out on Newton Lodge.
Clearly some of the reviewers has never stayed at hostels before because it was perfectly comfortable. Decent living room area and rooms were comfortable and clean. The kitchen was tiny but that could be managed and beds were so soft they ended up hurting Luke’s back after too long but it was great for what we needed, which was a place to chill and research boring care things. The WIFI was pretty bad which made watching the World Cup a challenge or writing the blog but again, manageable.
Surf n Snow Backpackers - 2 nights - £17/n/p
This place was truly terrible and certainly understood why it was the cheapest and worst reviewed place. Guy who worked at the reception desk was a dick, the place was grim, the rooms shit and the kitchen had cockroach warnings everywhere.
We had to stay here as Newton was full when we tried to extend last minute and we certainly did miss it.
Travel
Auckland
Auckland Airport -> [trains / busses] -> Hostel
The transport system in Auckland is pretty decent. The Auckland app has nothing on Citymapper and is a pain to use, but Google maps did us just fine. We got an AT HOP card from the airport, set up and online account and were able to use and fund much like an Oyster card. Then got trains and busses everywhere until the car was ours.
Rest of New Zealand
Whipping around the 2011 Mazda Premacy affectionaly know as ‘Chopper’ or ‘Chops’ for short
Diary
The flight to Sydney was pretty uneventful, both of us trying to get as much sleep as we could given we were going to arrive early in the morning. We were fortunate enough to be sitting in the aisle by ourselves, so naturally we parted like the red sea and then Nicola claimed no woman's land for herself. Luke, being his usual submissive self, didn't put up a fight as Nicola tried to lie down as best she could, citing it would have been more comfortable for the whole of the 3 seats. Sadly there’s an inconvenient space taking boyfriend in the way that was unable to move.
The flight food service was delivered just as we were trying to get to sleep which was a little inconvenient but not the worst. Then ensued hours of broken sleep, drool and full body convulsions from Luke.
Once at Sydney airport we went through the transfer gate and queued for the Qantas ticket desk given we had no onward ticket (as we were told to do in Bali) to then be told we were morons and needed to go to the desk of operator, Latam. Given we booked directly through Qantas to avoid this hassle it was rather annoying. We dawdled through the airport, customary mcds breakfast quaffed and then over to the gate with plenty of time to sort out any potential ticket palava. This got more and more stressful as no one from Latam turned up for the flight and required Luke to frantically pace from person to person to work out where to get our tickets. Finally someone with some knowhow rocked up but was only identified through incessant badgering of people, because there was absolutely no organisation from their part.
Stress over, flight boarded and it was a relatively short flight (comparatively) to New Zealand. Luke felt very sorry for the young EY auditor sitting next to him trying to work while on the flight. Let’s just say he’s been there a couple hundred times (much to Nicola’s deserved annoyance).
Welcome to New Zealand! We had a passenger entry form to complete centred around biosecurity and given our hiking boots meant we had to declare and have further checks. The queue was pretty substantial and took some time to get through but everyone was nice and helpful. You could pick out the backpackers pretty easily as their hiking and camping gear had to be sterilised, while there seemed to be a mass of people importing what looked like the entirety of a supermarket in their bags.
Given the ‘no food’ part of the leaflet we were baffled how people were getting through this but it certainly wasn’t going to be quickly.
Our usual lack of internet in a new country was fortunately resolved from Luke’s phone contract although it was quite slow and he now feels a bit mugged off that he'll end up getting a NZ sim anyway and the sole reason he signed up to this contract is 75% let down. But this meant we were able to find our route to our hostel in the Auckland CBD using google maps pretty easily, and after purchasing a HOP card (Auckland's Oyster card equivalent) from a local vendor in the airport. This took an absolute age as we both couldn’t work out why our chip and pin cards weren’t working but contactless was. Little gem of advice - our UK bank cards work off the “credit” function rather than savings or cheque. Found this out 4 days later…
Once at Newton Lodge, we checked into our 6 bed mixed dorm room and went straight out for some food at Lord of the Fries - tasty vegan burgers. First take - fucking expensive. But we have doubled our SE Asia budget for NZ and it will take some getting used to for these prices. We had next to no plans to eat out for any of our meals going forward however.
We had a quick walk down to the main street to get out cash which, much like Thailand in its additional costs, charged us 3% to take out cash. Fortunately New Zealand has very much got with the times and card is the main method of paying (although not always available so cash is needed). Another top tip - draw cash out of BNZ (bank of New Zealand) which doesn't charge anything. Found this out a month later.
Back at the hostel we were greeted to half the room already either being asleep or trying to sleep. At 8pm. Us not being dickheads, tried to be as quiet as possible so barely unpacked before crawling into our different bunks (having the one top and bottom makes it so much less awkward) and switching off.
Our first day in Auckland was expected to be one of the more stressful periods of our trip. Trying to buy a car. Nicola had done a ton of research while in Indonesia and the gem that she is was armed with some knowledge of where the car dealers were and what vehicle we were going for. Luke simply read through her hard work, pointed and simply said he liked that one. Fortunately this was also what Nicola liked and then we started our search for a Mazda Premacy at around NZ$7k.
Nicola, now armed with a NZ Vodafone sim (sim cards were in the hostel and made the set up very easy) had managed to set up a couple of viewings for the day. The annoying part was these were all over Auckland and would require us getting copious amounts of public transport back and forward. New Zealand's buses and trains operate to time, clean, comfortable and are easy to use. This made pleb wagoning for the next 4 days getting a car manageable although annoyingly long.
The first car we saw was a 2004 model so it carried a lot of years but was relatively low mileage and well within budget. On paper it looked good.
The car dealer however just seemed ropey. We had arrived earlier than they wanted (missed their message due to the wonders of junk email filtering) and therefore sat around for 45 minutes while they opened up shop. Eventually the car was pulled out and we were left to our own devices to check out the car in an incredibly hands off experience. The car was in a bit of state and looked like it had been sitting in the yard for years. After taking it for a test drive, it was ok but it didn't fill us with confidence. It did however offer valuable experience for us working out how the Premacy worked, what to look for and become a lot more confident going forward as we were both a bit nervous about the whole experience.
We practically ran away from the dealer before going down the road to another we had lined up. This car was much nicer, more miles but was in much better nick and the dealer was much more hands on trying to get a sale (with tact) as we would expect and therefore trust. The boot however was fixed firmly shut and the car battery was dead and buried. We would have likely taken it were it not for these pretty major flaws and were hopeful they would fix it and give us a call - this however didn’t come through.
Pretty disheartened from our first two showings we decided we needed to bump up our budget and go for a newer model. An ideal 2008 model was listed on Turners, a reputable company, but we had to make a 2 hour journey across the city there. Luke was pretty upbeat about this potential however Nicola felt something was off after having to call and reconfirm her attempts at an appointment. The sun was a nice addition for our journey across the city however.
Finally at Turners, Nicola quickly ran into the toilet while Luke eagerly discussed the car we would be viewing. Turns out they had sold it either as we were travelling or were too stupid to tell us it had gone when we called. Either way, Luke was exhausted with the drama and when Nicola returned we were taken to some other cars which didn't cut the mustard. Pissed off, we called it quits for the day and commuted back to our hostel.
The evening was spent having a home cooked meal for the first time in 3 months of super noodles (nutritional - but the kitchen was small and we were both frazzled) and spending our free time researching a plan of action for the next day.
A similar issue to the room tapping out at a ridiculously early time meant we had to spend the evening in our respective bunks in silence. Was growing quite wearing but the accomodation in Auckland is ridiculously spenny and this place was both decent and reasonable (by Auckland standards).
While we both slept like absolute logs the night before as a result of flight induced sleep deprivation, Luke didn't have quite such a good great time the following eve as a result of Nicola’s bunk mate. Nicola had the bottom left bunk while Luke had the top middle. At about 1am he was woken up to the sound of intermittent wet fapping, heavy panting and actual moaning. The dude above Nicola’s bed was whacking one out in the middle of the night in a room full of people, above Nicola and next to Luke. To try and stop this Luke went to his phone to indicate that this guy was not stealthy and hoped he would stop. This did seem to work but took a few attempts. Nicola heard and felt nothing.
The England USA World Cup game was on at 8am so was a perfect time for us to watch. What wasn’t great was the WiFi in the hostel. We managed to make it through the first half before the ITV player and VPN collapsed in a heap of fire and we gave up. Fortunately it was a crap game.
Another day, more car shopping. We were incredibly determined to get this wrapped up today and Luke was armed with a full on day of Premacy’s to view and then fall back if we had to deviate from the plan. The change in plan was to spend more money on a newer model.
The first car lined up was Mazda Premacy 2011, a decent amount of kms at ~120k and was in incredible condition. The only problem that we had with it, was that it was built for very small people and that the tires were winter based so would need to be changed at our own expense. The front seats would not go further back than what we would drive at which meant it lacked a lot of comfort. We were very tempted but the next car was very similar.
Portage cars and Chopper (the dealer) was our guy. A Mazda Premacy 2011, ~120k kms and although far more worn, had all the space and movement we needed. The car set us back NZ$9,000 but it came with 1 years warranty and breakdown cover which would really put our mind at rest for the next 3 months.
Slight problem, we couldn’t pay for it. Chopper didn’t have a credit card machine (which would charge us an extra 2.5% anyway) and preferred a bank transfer. International bank transfers were a problem given it was Sunday and the UK markets wouldn’t open until Monday (so a day and a half). We tried to push the credit card option but despite trying to do this over the phone it wouldn’t work. Therefore we had to try the international transfer.
Chopper was incredibly chill about all this despite us frantically trying to get payment in. Luke went full accountant mode, calling up portage cars accountants, discussing IBAN and BIC numbers with a boring fluency he hasn’t tested for 3 months (still got it). By the end of the palava we had all the paperwork signed, account details lined up and Chopper holding Luke’s passport for the registration with the understanding that the car was reserved minus payment. We then went away to decompress, with the initial plan to make the payment on Monday.
We decided to go for a walk around the Queens Wharf but before we could go particularly far we found a cafe in the maritime museum and had a much needed coffee. Now having taken a step back, Nicola started doing some research on international bank transfers given the concern it could take 5 days to arrive. In a moment of genius she had found transferwise that would speed this up to within a day. We therefore sent our testing payment ($10 out of the much larger total) that afternoon and waited for confirmation from the dealers accounts team.
A renewed sense of achievement (and caffeine / sugar) gave us some renewed energy and continued our harbour walk and loop into the city. We had reserved a mega tent from Kathmandu worthy of a 3 month camping trip around NZ and had to pick up this day. Armed with the 25kg behemoth, we got the bus back in an effort to preserve Luke’s weak wrist and shoulders.
In the evening we cooked and spent some time watching a film together in the hostel room, asserting a small measure of dominance over our room mates who still persisted in going to bed early. Suppose that’s what ear plugs are for.
Happy birthday to me (Luke) again! With the car dealt with for the time being, it meant we could have a day off relaxing and Nicola had planned a belated birthday surprise for Luke given his 31st came around pretty early on in our travels (Ayutthaya). As a surprise, the only clue given was that he was required to dress for a sporty activity.
Once at the Auckland harbour it became a lot clearer we were heading to Waiheke island, just off the Auckland mainland. The ferry is first come first served, so although we had tickets we had to get in the queue fairly early but it was pretty uneventful getting aboard.
The ferry itself was a pretty substantial vessel and there was little risk of Nicola feeling ill which was a lovely change. We sat on the top deck for a while to take in the views but after 20 minutes of being wind battered then rained on we had to bail. The grey weather didn’t bode well for our day.
By the ferry port we approached a shack in a car park (planned by Nicola), and it was run by a proper hippy character - long hair and beard, barefoot, chill and massively into biking, kayaking and the environment. Here we picked up some rental bikes but had a great chat with the guy.
We were then on our way round the island according to the map given to us. Turns out Waiheke is pretty hilly and it was quite a slog to get to the other side of the island and the forest park. Nicola had problems with her knee so made the wise decision to turn around and take her time getting to our lunchtime date, while Luke carried on over to the remote forested area.
It was a good idea Nicola did. The hills got worse and the offroad track Luke attempted was slippery and too difficult for the crap “mountain bike” to handle so he ended up having to push when face to face with any form of off-road hill. The views over Waiheke were pretty good however and once done with that route, no attempts of the bike park were made given the expected failure.
Sadly for us both, the heavens opened up while trying to get our lunch date at the Mudbrick Vineyard and Restaurant. Nicola was running pretty early so had a chance to hide under a tree to wait out the worst part of the flash rain but still got soaked. Luke didn't have this luxury and got absolutely soaked and was pretty tired by the time he arrived. He did however have a change of clothes so made him look less dishevelled.
The restaurant was nice but the service was shocking and in being so slow, we were unable to order the tasting menu which Luke loves so much. Slightly disappointed, we went off the main menu but with a free cheese board from the manager to say sorry. Made the experience less punishing to Nicola’s wallet at least, and rather than the wine pairing Luke was able to experience his first cellar door wine tasting next to the restaurant.
The cellar door was run by a guy who just seemed overly unwelcoming and snobby. Luke enjoyed tasting the wine, but the host seemed to be overly judgy and sassy so that element wasn’t quite so fun. Cellar door tastings however are pretty cheap and are great for trying many wines to work out a fave. Luke definitely recommends doing as many as possible.
Now fed, wined and having done plenty of cycling already, we sauntered back to the harbour via a few sites and back on the ferry. Once back at the hostel we chilled and crashed out.
We were overly optimistic when booking our hostel days in Auckland partly because it was expensive and we had no idea how long it would take to get a car. We managed to extend our Newton Lodge booking by a day but it involved us moving rooms. Nicola was lucky enough to keep her bed while Luke ended up moving to an 8 bed dorm with no natural light. Not quite so great but we had little choice.
Once the great move was complete we decided on a day of camping gear shopping. There were a few main shops we had planned our shopping from; Torpedo7, Warehouse & Kmart. Kathmandu sadly is far too expensive.
Our first stop was Torpedo7, followed by a great roast dinner lunch to treat ourselves in the lobby of the mall and then on to Warehouse. Given we didn't have the car just yet, we decided window shopping was the better idea.
Once back at the hostel we spent the evening ordering everything online to make use of the black Friday deals to collect over the next few days. There was no news of the international transfer to Chopper but he was expecting this through the next morning.
Again we had to extend our accomodation bookings but were unable to do this at Newton Lodge so our morning was spent packing up our stuff and waiting to the last possible minute to move to the new hostel as it's a pretty comfortable set up. We were however greeted with the positive news that the international transfer had been successful so we arranged the full payment with the expectation everything will be sorted the next day.
We opted for Surf N Snow backpackers because it was the cheapest and we hoped to only be there 2 days max. It was an awful place. It was full of weirdos, falling apart and the kitchen was actually disgusting. No place should be able to get away with cockroach warnings on the fridges and manage to stay open.
The reception operator was a tool, and because of their ID policy Luke required his passport to check in. Chopper was however in possession of this in order to register the car and as we were refused the room key he had to trek a 2 hour round trip to get his passport, leaving Nicola twiddling her thumbs for a long time. Best part - in this time they had checked in everyone else and put us in separate rooms but because it was later in the day he couldn't fix the shit system the hostel operated. Once we were finally in our rooms we just left straight away to get some air. Funny but not funny, Nicola ended up pouring orange juice down herself which pushed her 1 step too far and had a full on meltdown and needed some alone time.
With Nicola’s rage levels downgraded to defcon 5 rather than 1, we braved the hostel kitchen for a super noodle dinner to allow the least use of the shit hole as possible and then went down to a bar to watch away the evening and avoid spending any time at our hostel.
Being in Auckland and the new hostel closer in town had only 1 benefit. We could stroll across the road to the diviest looking bar at 8am to watch the England Wales game. Pretty sure the morning gamblers on the slot machines outnumbered those watching the football. But there was zero issue with wifi buffering and it was free, bar the orange and lemonade Nicola felt obliged to buy.
After a sufficiently entertaining game we got the call that the final payment had gone through for the car and meant we could head to pick it up. Once with Chopper, we grabbed the keys and were on our merry way to the various malls and shopping centres to pick up all the camping gear we had ordered, or thought we had ordered.
Because every car needs a name (RIP Toothless, our previous Ford Focus we both loved and had to part ways with in order to leave the UK financially more liquid), we fondly named the car “Chopper” or “Chops” for short after the very helpful and nice car rep who saw us through this tomortualous time. That and his name is absolutely amazing so we stole it.
Nicola collected the Warehouse shop with little problems, minus a few items that weren’t ready but we found another store nearby that did have those items. Luke on the other hand wasn't so successful with his Torpedo7 online shop, in that none of it was ready even though we knew the items were in the store as we found them a few days before. After protesting this with the cashier, he managed to pick the items from the store and purchase them for the same price as he did online. More baffling was the inability of Torpedo7 to cancel the order or issue a refund until it was a) delivered and b) we had gone in store to pick it up. As we wanted our camping gear now we just ignored this problem for the time being.
After further shopping in Warehouse and Kmart, the most challenging decision being whether or not to get a really expensive, really big but uber comfy moon chair (we didn’t in the end), Luke managed to convince Nicola to get a nandos. Luke was pretty impressed with it being much cheaper than the UK (oddly) and even Nicola slightly enjoyed her meal.
We had debated sacking off the second night in the hostel once we had the car and would book a campsite because that option was much more appealing than the cockroach infested dive. We however ran out of time so decided the best thing to do was park in a residential street a bus ride away and suffer it for one more night.
Once back at the hostel we chilled as best we could in the horrible common room and planned our early escape the next day.
The plan in the morning was for Nicola to grab the car and Luke somehow move our backpacks and the tent to the car as quickly as possible, given we didn’t want to pay for the parking.
While waiting at the side of the road, packed with both our big bags, Luke looked a little ridiculous and this unfortunately drew the attention of one of the many cretins that frequent the Auckland streets. In previous days we have seen and heard a whole host of people shouting at each other, nearly fighting and off their nut on drugs and alcohol. Overall it’s a pretty horrible place and we were so excited to leave. This guy however took a liking to Luke, starting the conversation with “you packed ready for Siberia?” This would have been a pretty witty comment had the guy not appeared to be drugged off his nut and looked like a stereotypical crack-head. Luke wasn't particularly happy with his timing given Nicola was 2 minutes down the road but in this time the conversation went through a whole host of fun topics such as the guys family history (something about him being descended from the first white European settlers), how Auckland is shit (agreed on this one), apparently Australia is better, what Luke’s job was, whether Luke was paid a lot (at this point going crap is he gonna try rob us), and then the creme of of conversation, "how black Maoris are all of New Zealand's problems" and how he just goes around fighting them. An abhorrent individual and fortunately Nicola had pulled up in this time so Luke could get away easily with “my rides here” and thankfully he didn’t follow. Luke however did need to go back to the hostel to get the rest of our stuff and this time saw him squaring up and shouting at a harmless guy walking down the street simply because he was black (nothing came from this confrontation thankfully).
With our wonderful Auckland send off complete, we got the fuck out of there as quickly as we could. We also found out the following day that Nicola had lost basically half her used underwear. Our agreed theory was that the absolute weirdo who was in her hostel room above her bed stole it.
Auckland out.
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