Specs In The City

We were in Auckland again and knew that we wanted to get in to see the city and get out before rush-hour hit once again. All we had to do was cross the harbour bridge into the city centre, park up and wander round to see the few things we knew were to be found there. There were many places to park but with the height of our camper we would be restricted to the few that we could navigate into/under the barriers. After a few minutes touring round the city and finding that every single one had a height clearance of about 50cm less than we could manage we headed towards Auckland Domain (big park near the university campus) where we thought would be open-air and allow us to park up. When we did eventually find a place we were limited to 4 hours parking time, and without knowing how long it would take to get from the park into the city we thought we would have to risk it and leg it back if we had to. The trip to McDonalds to leech their wi-fi for emails etc was to be aborted as we wouldn’t have time to squeeze it in.

Amazing Auckland

Twenty minutes later we were back in the city centre of Auckland and on foot this time, without idiotic Kiwi drivers edging us out of our lanes. We knew of the Sky Tower (that tallest tower in the Southern Hemisphere) as we could see it for miles around, but other than that we were open to whatever we came across. Queen Street is where it all happens in Auckland, apparently. We didn’t find much to do there unless you wanted to eat a Subway, drink a coffee in whichever multi-national coffee chain you prefer, or buy some cheap tat from Japan (don’t ask). We arrived at the Sky Tower just as man came hurtling down from the rim of the tower some 197 meters above (possibly, I forget the actual distance). For lunch we found a nice little park nearby and ate our sandwiches well away from the crazy old Japanese lady drunk at the entrance. And she was a woman, although James (for the second time that day) had thought she was a “he” as we had walked past. We saw a few other little bits and bobs around the city, but there didn’t seem to be a huge amount to sight-see. Probably because it is by far the biggest city in the country (every third Kiwi lives there) and it is the centre of commerce and residences.

Well he's brave!

Once we had “done” Auckland we set off south down Highway 1 towards Rotorua, where we would be free-camping in or around the area. As the light was fading by the time we got near we took a snap decision to take a left onto Highway 29 rather than Highway 28 as it seemed like the best place to find a quiet spot. It didn’t look good. We weaved up a hilly, busy road which seemed to contain no trees or side-roads whatsoever. As we decided to turn around and go for Highway 28 we pulled in to a side road and James started to turn the wheel round. But then we realised that we were actually on a small and quiet side road so we could follow it and see where we turned up. It was another gravelly road but thankfully not as rough as in the forest in Northland, and there were signs for the school bus (which are frequently dotted around in the most random and inaccessible of places) so it must lead somewhere where there was civilisation. As we weaved around the small track we came across a few possible places but they were all too near the road and would mean that the school bus wouldn’t be able to get past. And then we came across a small “cul-de-sac” with nice rocky ground and nobody else around. A perfect place to stop, and even better was the noise from the river and waterfall right next to us that would send us to sleep perfectly. Before then though we would have another few glasses of wine and continue developing “Jim-tim” – the best card game not invented yet...