AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND

Okay, so I’m writing this way after my trip ended, but I have a bunch of kick-ass photos of New Zealand and Tahiti so I need some text in order to have something to put the photos between.

I arrived into Auckland’s airport and wasn’t sure what to expect. Auckland is home to about one million of New Zealand’s 4 million total residents, so it’s a pretty big city in an otherwise fairly empty country. Flying over you see the giant harbor and whatnot, but it’s hard to get a gauge of what the city is like from the air. I landed and was soon on board a bus that conveniently stopped at about 15 downtown hotels before looping around back to the airport. Mine was the very last hotel so I got a pretty good tour of the downtown by the time I was dropped off. I had reserved a cheap room for one night at a hostel-type place near the edge of the main downtown section. Rooms aren’t as cheap in Auckland as you might think, so I settled for a room without a bathroom or even a sink, but I was only there for one night (more than likely) so it was not a big deal.

I checked into the place and it was quite nice. My room was upstairs so I marched up there and put my bags away before heading back out into the Auckland afternoon. I was a little shocked seeing downtown Auckland close up. I never really pictured it in my mind, but I assumed it would be small and laid back like the country itself, but it’s not. The core is pretty dense and even more surprising was the fact that I kept passing many “massage parlors” and whatnot. I never really thought about massage parlors in Auckland, but they are pretty easy to spot, especially near my hotel.

My plan was to rent a campervan (motorhome) for a week, hopefully beginning the very next day. I had done a lot of research and found that prices were really cheap this time of year (May) and fortunately the place with the best deal was a short walk from my hotel. I headed over there and discovered they only had one van left in the size I wanted. Not only do larger ones cost more to rent, but they go through gas like crazy so with all the miles I planned on driving it was important to get one just big enough, but not too big. Gas is really expensive in New Zealand, but for some reason diesel is about 30% less. Diesel vehicles also get better mileage so I wanted to get the smallest diesel one I could find.

Backing up just a bit, my original plan was to stop in New Zealand for 3 days or so on my way to Tahiti and then Los Angeles. I didn’t know much about New Zealand really so I thought I would just stay in Auckland and make a few day trips. This would have been a nightmare compared to what I ended up doing. Due to the weird airline schedule, I had to spend 2 days or 9 days in New Zealand and fortunately I had the sense to stay 9 days. It worked out perfectly since most companies offer good deals on weekly campervan rentals and that gave me one day on each end to spend in a city.

The other uncertain thing at the time was whether or not I would go to the South Island. In case you don’t know, New Zealand is made up of two large islands. The north one has Auckland in the north and the capital, Wellington, in the south. It’s lovely and the scenery is varied, but everyone says the South Island is much nicer for scenery. The problem I had was that the ferry that goes from one island to the other costs about $30 for a passenger and over $100 more for a vehicle! Ay caramba! Renting in the north and driving to the south and then back again would cost a fortune. I was still probably going to do it, but I noticed at the last minute that the rental company I intended to rent with had a “coupon” for a free trip for the van on the ferry this time of year, going north to south. Since winter was approaching I assumed more vans would be needed in the warmer north, but evidently winter sports are big on the southern island so they need the fleet down there.

I checked out the lone camper available in my size and it looked just fine. It was actually bigger on the inside than I thought it might be. Just behind the driver seat there is a short hallway with a toilet/shower stall across from a kitchenette (including a microwave) and behind that is a bench area that folds down into a king size bed at night. The camper comes with sleeping bags and sheets and plates and glasses and pots and pans and everything. This is possibly the most common way for people to see New Zealand so these companies really have their shit together.

I signed the contract and told them I would be back the following morning to pick up the beast and then headed out for a walking tour of Auckland.

The most striking feature of downtown Auckland is their tower. I seem to remember it was really expensive to go up and I wasn’t really in the mood anyway, but the interesting thing is they have a bungee jump platform (sort of) on the top. Bungee jumping was supposedly invented in New Zealand, but having a downtown version reminded me of the slot machines at the airport in Las Vegas (exploitation).

There is no way in the world I would ever go bungee jumping even if the harness was safe for my dimensions, so don’t think you might keep reading on and find that I broke down and tried it, because I didn’t.

Auckland is a decent city, but there really isn’t much to see in the city itself. New Zealand is about the great outdoors so I was anxious to get out on the open road the following day to explore. I walked up a hill to a famous used book store looking for a guide to Tahiti, but there were none and the new copies were outrageously expensive (around $40). I cruised around for a while longer and noticed another huge difference between Australia and New Zealand. Australia has its aborigines, but if you are in the populated areas in the south you never see a single one all day. New Zealand, on the other hand, as its Maori people and they are everywhere. Maori people are Polynesian and arrived by boat only about 1,000 years ago. They look like Hawaiians and they are fully integrated into Auckland society, or the other way around actually.

I went to a place supposedly owned by Neil Finn from Crowded House, but they told me there was a private party and beers were super expensive anyway. I found a sports bar nearby and had a few pints alongside the locals as we all watched rugby on the telly. I didn’t stay out too late since I wanted to get an early start on the road the next day so I went back to the hotel and went to bed.

The next morning I checked out and walked over to EZ Car and Truck Rental to claim my camper. I did the paperwork and was soon underway. Since I had driven 1,000 miles in Australia on the wrong (left) side of the road this was less terrifying, but still, this is a small motorhome that takes up every bit of its lane so I knew it would be a challenge. I asked for directions onto the freeway and fortunately it was very simple. Within about 2 minutes of pulling off the parking lot I was barreling down the freeway heading south out of town. I reserved the camper for 7 nights and was scheduled to return it to their location near the Christchurch airport, Christchurch being the largest city on the South Island. I only had to call the agency to reserve my passage on the ferry and they would take care of the rest.