Setting up base camp

Well, I have arrived in Auckland with no dramas (many thanks Julia!). Met up with Femke who was extremely happy to see me!

Have not taken any photos yet, the first few days have been just setting up, doing some shopping and getting some much needed rest and down time.

One of the things I have been up to was looking for a car and some hiking clothes for me. I had incorrectly assumed that the big and tall shops in Auckland would have lots of hiking clothes for bigger guys as there are a lot of “Big maoris” here. This is unfortunately not the case, so after spending all of Sunday afternoon going to all the general hiking shops in the city and finding most jackets and pants are just too small I was wondering if I would be able to find something that would fit me! On Monday, I found (according to them) the biggest big and tall shop in NZ, where I found one jacket which would be just suitable for hiking. So that issue was finally solved.

On the car front, we are still looking. We went to a backpacker car mart and out of about 25 vehicles, found one Nissan station wagon that would be suitable. We were just not sure about the engine so we wanted to look a little further just to get some comparisons. Turns out there is only one other car mart, but it’s out in the suburbs and we would not be able to walk there. So I am going to scope out the second hand car dealerships in Auckland CBD and see what options we have there. Failing that we’ll have another look at the car mart and maybe even get that Nissan if it’s still for sale and after a good mechanical check.

Fem finishes her work tomorrow afternoon and we will be leaving Auckland to go south on the 29th.

So that’s all for now. I am certainly getting a good taste of the Auckland weather (hint: it’s rainy and windy). But I am definitely not missing the humidity of the Brisbane climate!

Til next time!