Our NZLD Adventures Begin

We woke up this morning at 3:30 am in a parking lot in a van. We have a lot to learn about van life. I’d been awake for a while needing to pee but knowing that the bathroom was quite a ways away and that I would wake Graham with the door opening. Finally I couldn’t wait any longer. I opened the door and Graham said he needed to go as well. After that I woke again at 6am when someone parked next to us and they were talking as they locked up their car. So odd to be sleeping so close in a parking lot. Thank god for the curtains. We are feeling a bit discombobulated. We arrived in Auckland and took an Uber for the 1.5 hr drive to the van which was at the marina. We threw our bags in the van and then went to meet our friends on their boat Mojo. We proceeded to have an awesome evening catching up with them and a few drinks before heading back to the van exhausted and a little tipsy and in the dark. It’s going to take a bit to get in the groove. Our stuff is all everywhere and no order at this point as we dig for our toothbrushes and try to figure out where the pillows are. lol. In the morning after a hot shower I am now faced with figuring out how to drive this very cool van which is a stick shift but the stick is on my left and I’m only recently use to the turn signal stick on my right lol. It feels like such a long vehicle compared to the small car we just rented. It’s a bit overwhelming getting use to all of this. Somehow over the past few years I have become the driver in all the countries where we drive on the left side of the road 😂. Graham’s the navigator. It didn’t take long to get in a groove. The hardest part is not being able to soak in all the amazing scenery. New Zealand is so gorgeous. Rolling green hills with cloves of green green trees of various types and heights in amongst the greenest grass. The road is lined with wildflowers along the sides. Yellow buttercups and these tall purple and white flowers. It feels like we are in a magic place. I keep thinking it’s like we are in a painting. Cows and sheep and beautiful homes here and there on hills. I concentrate on staying in the lines on what seems like a narrow road and gear up and down as we climb up and down the hills. In my head I’m telling myself how awesome I’m doing and then telling myself not to jinx it lol. Our first stop was at Opua Marina. 13 years ago we arrived in Opua being towed in by a friend’s boat after our engine stopped working on our passage from Tonga. It brings back so many feelings being back in Opua and seeing the dock that we lived on as Graham rebuilt our engine and we sold Artemo. Next stop was Keri Keri. By this time it was pouring rain. I said to Graham it’s like I’m playing a video game and the levels keep getting harder. Roads narrower. Steeper. Wetter. lol. 😂 in Keri Keri we bought some groceries and decided to grab a pizza for dinner. We made it to the campground. It’s smaller than we remember. Only a few spots and raining pretty good now. Hmmm this isn’t like the van life Instagram I follow. While I drink my little bottle of bubbles in the bed with the comfy comforter on, Graham makes me the best salad to go with the pizza. Tomorrow when the sun comes out we will get organized and figure this van life out. Oh and I forgot to mention the long drop toilets here are fly infested. Oiy. It’s super quiet though. So quiet. Feels so weird to be off the boat. Last night when I was sleeping I still felt like I was on the water. I feel a pinch homesick for Salty.