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Chris and Charly Down Under

a travel blog by chrischarly

Bye bye tuk tuks
Bye bye negotiating
Bye bye, 'Hello Mister'
Bye bye long bus rides
Bye bye heavy backpacks
Bye bye savings...
And G'DAY 'down under'!

After plenty of time spent in South East Asia, we have just left Australia after having an amazing time driving around for almost 3 months in a camper and are now in New Zealand doing the same :)


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Anyone want to buy our van???

Huia, New Zealand


Forest walkway
We figured that in order to be able to sell our car before flying out to Fiji that it would be best to get a WOF done which is a New Zealand version of an M.O.T. We were taking some risks by getting this done as it doesn’t run out for another month and the chances are that there are quite a few things wrong with it, but who would buy a car without one we thought. So we booked it in, kept our fingers crossed and luckily it passed after adjusting and replacing a couple of lightbulbs! So we were really happy. Now for selling the car! So we hit McDonalds to drink lots of coffee and use their free Wi-Fi and to start advertising. We then headed west to stay in another nice beachside campsite, and yes you guessed it, it rained, so we did bugger all once again. But does anyone reading this want a Toyota Estima ???

permalink written by  chrischarly on March 12, 2012 from Huia, New Zealand
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THE BIGGEST TROUT IN THE WORLD!

Kai Iwi Lakes, New Zealand


Sunset
We were so excited today to get our first text about the car! So we went and found a café to sit and email them, only for it to dawn on us that this is an obvious scam. What a waste of time. Idiots.

Chris going for a swim
No other emails or phone calls for the rest of the day, but I suppose there’s still time. So we got in the car and drove for about 4 hours North of Auckland in search of a campsite and managed to find a great one alongside a beautiful lake where Chris went for a swim.

Chris' monster of a trout
After dinner he decided to try his luck at a bit of fishing although the water was Crystal clear and very shallow. I have to say that I did doubt his luck so waited behind tidying and washing up. Then just before the sun set I heard footsteps walking towards the van and was amazed to see Chris holding something huge. OMG it is a fish! The biggest trout I have ever seen and Chris was so happy it was hilarious. Shame we had just eaten, but with a bit of re-organising and pushing managed to fit it inside our chilly bin. Look forward to breakfast in the morning!

permalink written by  chrischarly on March 13, 2012 from Kai Iwi Lakes, New Zealand
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Yummy brekkie

Rawene, New Zealand


Brekkie

Chris cutting the fish into steaks

Rainbow trout and scrambled eggs… What a perfect start to the day! And there is plenty more trout for another few meals yet. Probably get sick of it by the time we’ve finished it! Spent far too long sitting in a library trying to post adverts about the car everywhere we could in the hope that someone might want it. Then we headed to a free campsite to eat yet more tasty trout, this time in a curry.

permalink written by  chrischarly on March 14, 2012 from Rawene, New Zealand
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The tip of New Zealnd

Cape Reinga, New Zealand


Chris driving on the beach

Driving on 90 mile beach

We decided to drive to the top of mainland New Zealand today and luckily the weather was nice. On the way we took the car for a quick spin on 90 mile beach before driving as far as we could to Cape Reinga and had a nice walk to the lighthouse, and whilst not the furthest point North, it was pretty close.


Coastline

Views from the lighthouse


Lighthouse walkway

Lighthouse


The view down

The top of mainland NZ

Then we found a really nice campsite, which is supposed to be the most Northern one followed by a nice walk on the beach and yes you guessed it, more trout for dinner.

permalink written by  chrischarly on March 15, 2012 from Cape Reinga, New Zealand
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Nurse Chris

Te Hapua, New Zealand


Sand dunes

The beach


Beautiful beach

Beach


River inlet

The beach

I have a stinking cold, and everything aches and hurts, so Chris is busy looking after me and doing a great job of ‘playing nurse’. We headed out of our campsite and straight to another, with an equally nice beach to walk on, which we did.

permalink written by  chrischarly on March 16, 2012 from Te Hapua, New Zealand
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Purple jellyfish

Maitai Bay, New Zealand


From our campsite to the beach

Nice coastline


The sea

Jellyfish

Enjoying the camp we are in and the sunny weather, we decided to stay another day and did bugger all except another walk on the beach. We were planning on a swim but the beach was covered with purple jellyfish so decided against it, so just plain sun-worshipping it was.



permalink written by  chrischarly on March 17, 2012 from Maitai Bay, New Zealand
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Another huge storm...

Kerikeri, New Zealand

Once again we woke to pouring rain, packed up and headed out. Found refuge at a café in Keri keri and worked on our onward travel plans for a while before driving to Paihia to find a campsite with a lounge and a kitchen inside away from the weather. We found a nice one slightly outside of town and settled in for the storm.

permalink written by  chrischarly on March 18, 2012 from Kerikeri, New Zealand
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A T.V. and sofa day

Paihia, New Zealand


Relaxing from the rain
The big storm hit overnight and was very wet, we left our cool box outside and open and when we got up it had around 25cm of water inside. Glad we chose the camp we did, as the one below us on the River was flooded and everyone had to leave! We settled in front of the TV and didn’t move all day.

permalink written by  chrischarly on March 19, 2012 from Paihia, New Zealand
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Severe flooding

Northland, New Zealand

Still bad weather, did nothing once again. The whole of the North Island has been hit really badly, especially where we are in [[New-Zealand/Northland]], severe flooding and roads closed everywhere. So we are stuck where we are for the time being! Which, to be fair is a good excuse for us to do nothing as no one wants to face the outdoors in this weather.

permalink written by  chrischarly on March 20, 2012 from Northland, New Zealand
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....

Paihia, New Zealand

See Tuesday 20th March!

permalink written by  chrischarly on March 21, 2012 from Paihia, New Zealand
from the travel blog: Chris and Charly Down Under
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