Fill up!!

First fill up... Now no one complain about gas prices at home... This is about $6 a gallon. :)



We have found everything to be quite expensive here, like a cheeseburger & fries $15-$18, a bad cup of coffee, $4... (& the exchange rate isn't so much in our favor to justify it...


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Location:Simpson Rd,,New Zealand

At the BOP...

My mother would be very proud...I am waiting for our washing to be complete. We chose to treat ourselves after a long day of crazy mountain pass driving to a "Top 10 Holiday Park" which are NZ's commercial campgrounds w/ like a AAA rating kind of thing. Anyways, cost was much higher... But w/ it comes laundry facilities, flushing toilets, immaculate restroom, free HOT water shower (a cold one today & a cold river wash yesterday am... We're ready!!) & a beach view just over a small knoll...sleeping to the sound of ocean waves.....



Today was a lot of driving to get us down to the Bay of Plenty, nicknamed, the BOP!! ( yes I've sang, " meet me at the Bop, Bop, Bop" more than a dozen times to Scott now!!
We were hoping to catch up w/ friends of Scott's here in this area but haven't gotten a he of them successfully yet....
Pasta & sauce w/ NZ red wine for dinner tonight...



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Location:Jellicoe St,Te Puke,New Zealand

Coromandel Coast

We toured up the Coramandel Coast yesterday, such winding, narrow roads & we're driving on the left side of the road- holy smokes!!! I've let out more than a few yelps to be honest!!
Beautiful though, just stunningly gorgeous!!




This picture does no justice to it!!
We settled in at Waikawau Bay Camp reserve. A neat grassy area ( paddocks) bordering a desolate beach which we made every attempt to harvest muscles from for dinner...with no luck! We'll try again...
I made my first attempt to hold a sheep last night ( as they are across the way on campground property- they rotate the herd of sheep from paddock to paddock to trim the fields!!! :) anyways- of course they all ran away the minute we came slight close!! Holding a sheep is going to be harder than I expected!

Went shopping a bit- Scott was tempted, but knew it was premature...



A.M. Wed (NZ) He is now hard at work making me "creamy porridge" to go w/ my morning camp coffee!! Life is good!!


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Location:Seddon St,Waihi,New Zealand

Shag Creek

well this day was a bit of an adventure!! We picked up our van from Escape rentals, selected an older Toyota over a new Nissan, better mpg & automatic trans. Headed out of town, after our 3rd stop to sight see, Scott couldn't get the key to turn in the ignition... I played w/ it & got it started... We drove up the road to a store to buy Hokey Pokey ice cream, most popular ice cream flavor in NZ. We again could not start van...key comes out full of grease....hmmm...long story made short, we make a call & agree to meet rental lady 1/2 way back to Auckland. (1h maybe)....to switch out & get a new van.... We parted by saying, " don't turn the ignition off!!" she, " I'm SO sorry" ... Oh wells!!!
We stopped at the Pak n' Save to get some groceries....interesting....



Fish counter @ the cheapo grocery store looked amazing!! Above are Green Lipped Mussels. Scott promises me we'll dive for some while here.



Above whole Red Snapper! ( not seen @ Hannaford- EVER!!!)



Scott found a beer named after him...



& Sarah, Lindt chocolate has made it to NZ too!!

We're set up for our first night of FREE camping, next to a stream Scott will fly fish in the a.m.



& hopefully catch us some dinner for tomorrow night! ( did I tell you I love this country yet!!)





A bit of fishing pre 6 PM bed time!!! We are wiped!!



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Escape....

so we are here in NZ... safely!! It was a long flight for Scott, as he did not sleep much!!! Myself however, nice dinner (yes- on an airline!!! Including free beverages, app, entree of choice & dessert!!!) a clean blanket & pillow, 2 Dramamine, glass of red NZ wine & goodnight.
We took showers at the airport upon arrival ( free & clean) I love this place already!!!
We have exchanged our monies for awesome NZ dollar bills & Scott easily able to activate his old bank acct.


Their money is so much prettier than ours!! & in our favor...
I am about to attempt my first coffee experience, A " flat white" ( Scott warned me the coffee is very different here..) which is why we bought a camp coffee maker, but we are in the city of Auckland



waiting for our camper van to be ready & then our adventure truly begins!!


Proof already that a flat white is not an "American coffee".. I've got to figure this out!! :)

Time to pick our camper van






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Location:Beach Rd,Auckland,New Zealand

Off we go....

Enjoying a bit of fresh air & sun outside the San Francisco airport in between flights. We had a 6 hour layover, our heavy bags we had to collect due to long layover proved to be too encumbering to lug into city or anywhere. So we hung out & time went surprisingly quickly.



We'll be boarding shortly for our 13hr journey in about 30 min. You blog fans, I ( non tetchy) managed to find an app to supports blogging & pics from afar... So as long as wifi is available we'll share our adventure!!! :) Cheers!!



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Location:International Terminal Departures,San Francisco,United States

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