The Final Word

Love at first sight.....again. Morgan only bunny hopped the van a little bit going up the drive.

We've now been home for 4 months and life has fairly much returned to "normal", whatever that means.  Contrary to expectations the transition has been fine, smoothed along by friends, family and a lovely autumn.  In no time at all we have returned to being functional members of society, with bills, jobs and chores!  Sometimes the whole trip has felt a bit unreal....so it was a strange feeling when the van finally arrived in New Zealand.  The van smells and feels so familiar- it seems wrong not to be starting every day in the van.  In fact it was only really when we got her back did we realise that our trip was finally over- she would never be in Europe again :(

It was a relief to see the van in such great condition.  We owe a huge debt of gratitude to Paul Graveling of Castle European for the fabulous job he did in helping us buy and import the van.  We picked the van up from Paul just out of Tauranga and spent our first night back in the van in Mt Maunganui.  The campsite was great- just under the mount and by the sea- and we'll definitely be back there when we have a chance.

Mt Maunganui campground. It looks like our van is being spied on by a smaller version of our van.

Thank sweet baby Jesus she fits in the drive.

After checking that the van can indeed hold 3 children in the top bed (Calum gave a very round "No" when asked if he wanted to join Jack, Izzy and Peggy up there!) we headed off on our first weekend away in the van, with Pete and Barb.  We went in convoy down to Miranda, just over an hour south of Auckland on the Firth of Thames.  The Miranda Holiday Park was great with fabulous facilities, including their own thermally heated pool.  We spent a lovely weekend playing cards, drinking wine and indulging in some great food from nearby Kaiaua.

The Miranda Holiday Park

Chillin', van styles

If you're ever in Kaiaua eat here- seriously, it's awesome :)  And they do great coffee. Hot food cares - good to know Tikapa Flavaz cafe, good to know. Also, Tikapa Flavaz is my new rap name.

The world's biggest corn fritter!

Convoy!!! You can tell our van is newer because it has swooshier brown stripes. 

An hour and a half away from Auckland. Pretty special.

Our second weekend away was a long weekend down in Awhitu Peninsula.  We stayed in a magic spot at the tip of the peninsula, called Orua Bay.  The campground was deserted and right by the beach.  We had gorgeous weather and went for lots of walks on the beach.

Orua Bay

Morgan does his best Daniel Craig-James Bond expression.  Look at the DVD cover, you'll know what I mean.

View from Manukau Heads

The Manukau Heads Lighthouse 

Toasted sammies at the Golf Club.  Oh yeah baby.

Awhitu Reserve

Some carved rocks we found.

And a tree full of jandals. It had real, bona fide Auzzie battlers hanging out next to it, leaning on thier utes and drinking bear. There was also a small mulleted child wearing AFL shorts - just like being back in Brizzie.

And so the sun finally sets on our adventure....or something lame like that!

So it's great to have the van home with us.  We're really excited about exploring our own country and so far there seems to be so many fabulous places just close to Auckland that we've never visited before.  It's going to be great to make the most of long weekends - and hopefully keep our itchy feet under control!