"Can Anything be too Sesame Street?"

Sorry for the long wait... but we can now present to you our 1992 Toyota Estima....

                                                       ALBERT (aka Bert) the campervan!

               Scott: Copycat!
               Nikki: I was just trying to make you feel better about not looking like an idiot.
                         Beat this one...

                             

This weekend we took Albert on his first New Zealand adventure. Or... I guess Albert took us on our first New Zealand adventure. I am guessing Bert has seen it all already in his 19 years of life.

Bert is now a fully equipped campervan. It has a semi-comfortable bed in the back (needs maybe a little more cushioning) but it surprisingly is quite roomy (or as Kiwis would say, it has HEAPS of legroom). Scott almost has enough room to stretch out fully. It also has a sunroof and a moonroof.

It has curtains covering all windows, which is more for privacy than to keep the light out because it get really dark here really early. We also have a duvet and a wool blanket, which kept us really warm considering it fell to almost zero that night. Brrrr.....

It is equipped with a bunch of camping gear, including a stove, a table, chairs, a bunch of cooking and eating utensils, a water jug, and a chilly bin (a cooler). Pretty much everything we will need for our weekend trips on the north island. And I'm sure that by the time we are ready to live in it for the month of November, we will have campervan living down to a perfection.

We struggled with finding the appropriate name for our van. Thanks for all the suggestions Nichole and Sarah! we thought about Albert with a nickname Bert. Nikki questioned whether it was too sesame streety. But Scott does not think it is possible to be too sesame street. So... with that issue resolved... he was officially named Albert.

Raglan: July 16-17th

We drove to Raglan on Saturday morning. Hamilton to Raglan is about 45km and take about 45 minutes to an hour to get to. The roads are very narrow, with no shoulder and probably the most windy roads we've ever been on. And... the speed limit was still 100km/hr. uh...YIKES!

It is a good thing Nikki was distracted by the beautiful scenery along the way. Lots of people say that New Zealand is a lot like Alberta. We have to disagree with that with what we've seen so far.

Yes, there are lots of farms... but the farms here are on huge rolling hills instead of flat land.

They both have lots of cows... but here they have SHEEPIES!!!!

Alberta has the rocky mountains....  not volcanos!!

And... Alberta has lakes... not OCEAN!

                      If you look real close in the picture above you can see Scott surfing.

On our way to Raglan, we stopped to see one of the most spectacular waterfalls on the North island called Bridal Veil Falls, which was just a short 10 minute walk from the road.

It is an amazing 55 meter high waterfall that shoots straight down from a cliff that was carved out by lava from a nearby volcano many years ago. The water has eroded the soft sandstone creating an impressive pool at the bottom that is said to be 5 meters deep.

The native Maori people refer to this waterfall as Waireingo, meaning leaping water.

We arrived in Raglan only to find out that they have a ban on freedom camping (which means you are not allowed to pull over anywhere you want and spend the night, like we were planning). Luckily we found a really nice hostel, Raglan Backpackers.

            Scott outside Raglan Backpackers, with Albert in the background where we 'camped'.

Here they were great about explaining what was going on with the camping bans. There are certain places in New Zealand that freedom camping is still allowed, but in other places, like Raglan, a few irresponsible campers have ruined it for everyone because they were leaving a mess behind. The hostel allowed us to park our van in their parking lot for a reduced fee and still use their facilities. So... we like to say that this was just a way to ease ourselves into the full campervan experience. It was great though because they rented us surfing gear and a kayak. And when we came back from a tough day of surfing and kayaking, they had a hot tub for us to relax in. (I think I could get used to this kind of campervanning!)

We can now say we have gone surfing in New Zealand in the winter! When we were driving out to the beach with our surf gear, it was sunny and blue sky. But soon after getting in the water, a storm came through and we surfed in the rain. And by we I mean Scott kept surfing while Nikki huddled behind a shelter out of the wind and took pictures. It was freezing. As you can see, the storm brought in some nasty waves that are not great for surfing. The waves were all over the place.   

The next day we kayaked from the hostel, past the Raglan harbour, and into a small inlet where we found another waterfall. It took about an hour and a half of hard paddling to get to. The way back to the hostel was a lot easier as we were coming back as the tide was going out, so we just sat back and let the tide take us back. That was until we had to turn into the inlet where the hostel was, where the tide was bringing the water out of the inlet and we had to paddle hard against the current. If either one of us stopped paddling for a second, we started going backwards. The lady at the hostel told us that we are now one of a very small number of people to go see that waterfall.

View of Mt Karioi. An ancient volcano. We didn't have time this weekend to hike it, but maybe next time.

Poor puppies!

                                             Kiwis will play soccer even when visibility is poor