Back in the SF Bay Area

So I've made it back to the Bay Area and fortunately I'm staying with a good friend, which is helping me adjust to reality. I've sorted out my apartment and now I've managed to get my internet connection I feel more connected to the world!!

Life's been fairly good and I can't wait to get my new place and get on with my normal life (I'm actually yearning to start doing some work - Hmmm, I must be sick!). Overall the experience of traveling has really done me a lot of good. I've met lot's of great people, had some mishaps and have seen a different part of the planet. One conclusion that I always come to after traveling is that people are the same no matter where you go. I guess there's some solace in that! They have the same issues and complaints! It makes me feel a whole lot better since my problems seem minor in comparison to other things going on in the world.

My next plan is to visit friends on the West Coast whilst I try and sort out a job/work.

Auckland - final days

So this is probably the last blog entry for NZ. I've basically been doing the city stuff with some really cool people here at the BK Backpacker. I've been out for a meal with Ben (a Doctor on a placement at Auckland Hospital) and have been out on some major drinking sessions with Aiden (Irish) and the Brazilains! The Brazilian guys and girls are studying English here and we all decided to go out for a lot of beer in Auckland on the water-front. The Brazilan guys were such a laugh (and very drunk!) and really showed up their true flair! A great bunch of people to be sure.

Auckalnd - Sky Tower

Today I decided to go up the Sky Tower, which is the largest structure in the southern hemisphere. I got a ticket to the observation floor and the higher lookout and the view was just amazing. It's actually pretty damn frightening when you look out since you are 220m above the city and you're looking straight down towards the city below.

Sky Tower seen from the Park


View from the Sky Tower



Another view from the Sky Tower

Auckland

Today was spent sorting out my Passport and then just hanging around Auckland. Later on I hooked up with another Car Seller (Christin) and we decided to go to see an iMax 3D movie of U2 in concert in Argentina. Brilliant! I would strongly advise going to see one of these 3D movies. It felt like Bono was right in front of you and you get a really intimate experience of the band. You could actually see Bono's stubble close-up!!

Auckland

So I arrived in Auckland on Monday afternoon (lunch time) and had to navigate my way to the Backpaker Car Market from where I bought my car. I've heard horror stories about people not being able to sell their cars/vans due to the low season demand being terrible for vehicles. Anyway after finding my way around (actually it was surprisingly easy) I took my van into the Backpacker Car Market.

I've been thinking of selling strategies and whether I could donate my car to the Salvation Army if I don't manage to sell or put it on consignment somewhere.

After a few hours we had a couple of people come through and I felt a bit better. No buyers though.

After closing time I found BK Hostel on K Rd. Great place. Good people and clean and cheap. I was recommended this by Steve and Katie (another couple who were selling their van and had just got a buyer!).

The next morning I headed out and made my way to an Internet Cafe and decided to make some flyers and to highlight the selling points of my Van. Later that morning I had a buyer! And in the afternoon I managed to sell and finalize the transaction. A relief!!

Sandspit

I spent the last couple of days near Sandspit which is near Warksworth north of Auckland. The main reason for this is that as I am leaving New Zealand on the 15th May is that I have to sell my car and sort out my US Passport.

As it happens Sandspit beach resort was closed on the Sunday night. Since there was a car park near by I decided to take refuge there for the night. That night there was horrendous rain and I had to wear earplugs since the noise on my Van roof was too much to bear.

Whangerei

I spent a lot of time driving up the Coramandel. Unfortunately the weather wasn't on my side and since the season is low season, there activity centres are now closed. Up here in the summer there would have a lot of things to do and probably the main event would be surfing or sea kayaking. I would have loved to have tried the Kayaking.

Coromandel Coast

I drove up the Coromandel coast today and headed to Hot Spring Beach. This is a place where there are natural hots springs that permeate the sandy beach and get washed into the ocean. If you dig a hole in the sand you will have a hot water pool which you can sit in (or boil in). Apparently you add ocean water into it to cool it down.

Unfortunately due to a storm a couple of years ago the sand had been washed out to sea and as a result the hot water is diluted straight away so there's no way of collecting it in a sand pool as there isn't enough sand left. Shame. I'm sure another storm will put the sand back. The hot water is only accessible during low tide anyway.

On the Friday I met up with a French Couple who've I've met a couple of times at various locations (Monkey Island and on the ferry to Wellington). Anyway we decided to find somewhere to stay like a parking lot etc. Since it was Friday night we decided that staying in Thames wouldn't be a good idea since it would probably be busy with the Friday night crowd. We found a DOC campsite on the map and decided that that would be a lot quieter (OK, it was my call to go there!). The place was 14km outside of Thames and we made our way there. As it turns out, most of the road is a wash-board road and it was awful to drive on at night. We got to the campsite and it was deserted. Pretty scary. We actually pulled in at a trail head and the French couple had decided that we weren't going any further.

We pulled over and parked up. I commented that usually places are literally around the corner when you end up making decisions like this. Anyway I got my flashlight out and took a walk up the road. Low and behold 2 minutes walk away was the entrance to the campsite!! So of course we ended up staying in the campsite.

There were a few cars that sped by (which was weird since we were very remote). I looked at the map and it turns out that the road (even if it's a washboard road) is actually a shortcut across the Coramandel peninsula.