New Zealand...4 wheels good, 2 wheels better?

The black art of moving from A to B on foreign soil
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OnHellas
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New Zealand...4 wheels good, 2 wheels better?

Post by OnHellas »

On Monday the 7th of January we returned to our bikes that had sat in the warehouse of ACME packaging, I kid you not, in Sydney to retrieve the gas canister that we had forgotten in the JetBoil and also our sleeping bags etc.
According to info found getting secondhand camping gear into NZ can be a pain so our tent was given away.
A new one had been ordered from a store in Auckland for us to collect once there.
On the 9th we flew to Auckland and picked up the very latest Adventure Travel vehicle to come out of Japan....a prototype Yamaha 700 Tenere you ask?? No, a blue Toyota Corolla Estate type thing. Automatic, not presented very nicely but as cheap as we could find online.
Hence the 2 wheels good bit in the title. We’re out there and on the road despite our bikes being in ??? Sydney I think. Hopefully we’ll have news early next week as to a time scale re the shipping. It seems as if the earliest they’ll be here is the 26th. Add customs clearance and quarantine inspections......
So a car seemed to be the way forward. We can go explore. Our new tent has been collected, erected and slept in.
It’s bigger, in side at least, lighter and brighter. Better ventilated and free standing. We’ve bitten the bullet and bought an MSR Mutha Hubba. Fingers crossed as it wasn’t cheap!

Our first couple of nights we spent in a B&B type place found via our old friend Booking.com
Lack of reviews should have made us look elsewhere but hey, give ‘em a chance right?
Two nights on a sofabed feeling grateful that there aren’t poisonous spiders in NZ while counting webs and their inhabitants whilst trying not to moan about our poor backs, told us that elsewhere may have been better.
Never mind, the stress of putting up a new tent and sleeping on the ground will help.
It has so far after the first of three nights booked at a campsite just outside of Paihia. Near The Haruru Falls. Nice.

For now then it’s:-

Two happy people, two longed for bikes.
I hope that they’re OK. We like our bikes.
OnHellas
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Re: New Zealand...4 wheels good, 2 wheels better?

Post by OnHellas »

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OnHellas
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Re: New Zealand...4 wheels good, 2 wheels better?

Post by OnHellas »

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The BAW...Blue Adventure Wagon.
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Nice tent......hopefully.
diggermanbob
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Re: New Zealand...4 wheels good, 2 wheels better?

Post by diggermanbob »

We saw loads of young folks sleeping in estate cars when we were over last year , mostly Toyota previa I think !!! They would rock up last thing at night on the campsites , enjoying the write ups good luck.
steve the grease
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Re: New Zealand...4 wheels good, 2 wheels better?

Post by steve the grease »

For cheap camping gear in Nz.
" Kiwi Camping" have their warehouse/factory quite near "the base" in Hamilton ( 17 Mainstreet Pl, Te Rapa, Hamilton 3200)
we had 2 tents, airbeds and loads of other stuff from the Factory shop / returns , you know the crack the, box is ripped etc, so sell it cheap. The Warehouse is good too pots and pans, sleeping bags etc Have fun................
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OnHellas
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Re: New Zealand...4 wheels good, 2 wheels better?

Post by OnHellas »

With a bit of luck the Blue Adventure Wagon part of our time in NZ will be just until the end of January.
Then it’s back on the bikes, all being well.

The other day we bought the following for our car camping days.

Hammer £3...for tent pegs
Saucepan £3...for cooking..in case you were wondering.
Camp chairs £6 each....go on, take a guess.
Ground tarp thing £1.50....for tent vestibules....Fail!

All bar the hammer is until we are reunited with our other stuff that’s in the bikes. Then we’ll try and give away the excess items.
I can’t believe how cheap the bits were, they’re crap, but will do for a few weeks.

The tent on the other hand needs to last a long time!!!
OnHellas
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Re: New Zealand...4 wheels good, 2 wheels better?

Post by OnHellas »

Exciting news, if you’re us anyway...the container with our bikes in is in New Zealand. Wahoo.
Now it needs a train to take it to Auckland, have some chaps take our crates out of it and take them to our shippers.
Then a, fingers crossed, nice government agency type person will have a look and say ‘wow, these bikes are REALLY clean’.
Then we can go and get them....maybe next Friday. The 25th.

In the meantime.....the BAW has taken us from the Bay of Islands (see above where we camped) to Whangaroa Harbour. An absolutely stunning place on the east coast. We stayed at a motel recommended by our mate Guy from Australia. He is over here too on a mates Harley.
His recommendation was spot on. All sorts of smoked fish was served up in theBBQ area whilst we drunk to much bubbly wine. An extra night had to be tagged in due to a hangover.
We spent our time walking some coastal paths and climbing to the top of the rock that overlooks the Harbour. It’s 212 meters high according to one of the quiz questions during our last nights entertainment.
We, along with BM rider William, Egyptian Siad and his Crazy partner Rosie.

From the wonderfully clean motel we ended up at campsite disappointment. The site itself was OK but the shower/toilet blocks....oh dear.
One night it was then.

Today is the 18th, it’s a Friday. We were packed up and gone by 8.45 and headed for the top. Cape Reinga the northern tip of the north island.
Stunning views and an early enough arrival to not be caught up with the maggots.
A sign post told us that we are three times further from London than we are the South Pole.

A stop of a Te Paki sanddune and Couple of lovely bays at the ends of gravel roads saw spirits back to their normal levels. We still moaned of coarse but as Brits of a certain age what else did you expect....

I wanted a motel room tonight really, but we came to a campsite at Ahpara and it’s great....it’s quite, organised and the shower blocks are spotless.

Two happy people, two soon to be collected bikes (all being well) and one happy Blue Adventure Wagon.
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Re: New Zealand...4 wheels good, 2 wheels better?

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Re: New Zealand...4 wheels good, 2 wheels better?

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Re: New Zealand...4 wheels good, 2 wheels better?

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