Our First Week in NZ
- Becca Wilson
- Jan 16, 2018
- 7 min read
Well...where to start.
I still can't believe we're actually in New Zealand.
We've been pretty busy so far and we've only been here a week. I'll share how our first week in NZ has looked.
I guess I'll start with our flights. I was anxious travelling as the longest flight I've taken is 8 hours to New York when I worked at a camp in Carmel for Camp America. Looking back, we were very lucky with our flights. The flight from Edinburgh to Istanbul was slightly delayed but we had a 2 hour stopover so we weren't too nervous. We travelled with Turkish Air for the first two flights. I had pre ordered a 'special meal' in advance for the flights. The only option for a veggie GF was a fruit platter. So I ate five fruit platters over the duration of the flights. I was glad of a refreshing snack during the flights, but I was looking forward to something more substantial once we landed in NZ. Once we got to Istanbul we had to search for our next gate. We were expecting it to be on the other side of the airport but it was only a few gates down. Lucky. The 10 hour flight to Hong Kong was ok - we watched films and tried to sleep as much as possible. We had a short wait and then, again, our gate was nearby. The 12 hour flight to NZ was a bit tougher. There was a lot less leg space and we really struggled to sleep. With both of the long haul flights we did get a pillow, blanket, ear plugs, an eye mask and slippers. That was a nice surprise. I can't even describe the feeling of landing in Auckland. We both couldnt stop smiling at the thought of what was to come. I was, however, a little nervous about going through customs. We had copies of all of our documents and no dodgy stuff to delcare apart from hiking boots which we'd cleaned thoroughly. We showed the officer our passenger arrival card and passport, mentioned the walking boots and then our bags went through x-ray. That was it. 35 hours later we'd arrived and got into NZ.
Our first stop was our air bnb in one of the suburbs. We are staying in Remeura which is only a 10 minute drive from the CBD. We are staying with a lovely couple and girl. They have all been so helpful. That first afternoon a shower was the first thing on the cards. Oh man, I will always remember how good that shower felt after travelling so long. We then went to the local shop to get some food and water. I think I slept for 10 hours that night.
On Wednesday we spent the morning checking out campers online, looking up how to get a NZ bank account and tax number, and where we'd like to visit around Auckland. We then walked to the local wetland reserve. We were on the hunt for any wildlife, kingfishers especially. We didn't see any kingfishers but we did spot a bird of prey - we think it was a swamp harrier. That night we chatted to our roommates and cooked up some pasta. We've got pasta, rice, veg and some herbs/chilli sauce/garlic paste and passata to keep us going for a while.
On Thursday we walked along to the local Westpac to try our luck at opening a NZ bank account. We'd heard mixed things about their willingness to give out bank accounts, obviously without a permanent address. Luckily we had paid for a Backpacker post service that we can use for sending mail to, and you can also use the address for registering cars and setting up bank accounts. After an hour, we came out with a NZ bank account. Sorted. We then bought a local travel card and got the train from Parnell into CBD (past some lovely houses by the water). We were amazed at the sheer vastness of the city coming into the centre. A lot of high offices, so high that the Sky Tower isn't always in view. We wandered along the main shopping street 'Queen Street' and headed up to Backpacker Car World on K Road. They had a few campers for us to look at, however, they were pretty expensive and they didn't come with any extras like cutlery, a chilly bin, pots and pans etc. We walked back to the centre to get some maps from the Info Centre by the harbour. You can walk right along the harbour and there's a lot of bars. We had planned to meet a German guy called Viktor who was selling his Mitsubish L300. It came with everything you'd need but it needed a really good clean and there was a fair bit of mould. We weren't feeling it. That night we treated ourselves to food (it won't happen much) at Elliot Stables. This is a perfect place if you're with friends who fancy ddifferent food or even have different dietary requirements. You choose a table and then choose your dinner from whichever restaurant you fancy. There was Italian, Spanish, Mexican, Japanese, Burgers, Indian and Seafood. I went for vegetable teriyaki with rice, salad and miso soup. It was amazing, and I couldn't even finish the portion it was that big. Both of our phones had died by now so we had to try and remember one of the many routes home and wait an hour for a bus. Woops. It's all experience eh?!
On Friday we ventured out to Traveller Cars where we found a 4x4 Hiace, however, again it didn't come with any extras so we would have to spend a lot kitting it out. We kept it as an option. We then wandered up to Auckland Domain. It's amazing how many open spaces are in such a busy city centre. Here there is a beautiful botanical wintergarden and many ponds to look around. This is also where the War Memorial and Musuem is situated. The building is very impressive to look at and if you make it up to the museum, you get great views of the surrounding city. That night a Swedish couple drove round their Hiace for us to look at. We had a look around and instantly we feel in love. It's from 1991 but it's in great order, it's clean and it's well kitted out. We could have started living in it straight away. It was a good price and we didn't want to miss out so we took it. We were so chuffed. All evening we kept on checking it was still there.
On Saturday we went to the local post office to change the registration of the van to Scott and then our roommates had invited us to meet their Scottish and English mates at a local beach. This was the first drive for us in our van. It was only a 10 minute drive to the beautiful Kohi Beach. Their friends were so helpful and it was nice to relax (in the shade) and have our first dip in the sea. The water was so lovely and refreshing. That night Scott's mate took us to Ponsonby for some dinner and cocktails. We ate out at BurgerBurger and their veggie burger was amazing.
On Sunday we took the van our for its next trip to One Tree Hill. Here you can walk around and up an extinct volcano which has a maori memorial statue at the top. It was pretty open up there and you get a 360° view. 50+ sunscreen every 20 minutes! That night we had a go transferring money from our UK account to NZ account using Transferwise. It's all these initial things that you've just got to do.
On Monday Scott drove on the motorway for the first time to take us to Auckland Zoo. Scott's brother in law had bought us tickets for my secret Santa which was very kind. The zoo does a lot of conservation work and it is laid out so well so we knew we'd see every animal (unlike Edinburgh zoo where we always end up missing out a few animals). My highlight was seeing some of the Korora penguins (I can't wait to see some in the wild) and the kiwis. That night we sorted our IRD tax numbers (you need a fully functional NZ bank account to do this) and then I drove for the first time (woohoo) to St Melliers Beach. We both swam in the warm sea and played backgammon.
On Tuesday we checked out a local Marine shop, Kmart (Primark/The Range) and the local huge shopping centre. We needed to buy a few bits and bobs like a battery-powered fan, flip flops, a skipping rope (fun exercise), batteries, a litre of 50+ sunscreen for £8, fully waterproof over trousers, a solar shower and then poles, tarp and rope to make our very own awning so we can attach it to our van and sit out in the shade. Very cool. It was a cooler night so I managed my third run of the week.
So that's us been one week here and we've already checked out the city centre and surroundings, swam in the sea, bought a van, set up a NZ bank account, kitted out our van, moved over our money, got an IRD number for tax, visited the beach, local park, One Tree Hill and the zoo and we've made some new friends. Not bad eh?! We've also planned out the first few days of our journey up north. We've pinpointed free campsites and the spots where we want to find. I think we'll plan a few days ahead as we go. The couple we bought the van off told us about a fruit farm that is always looking for work, you get paid well and you meet a lot of people. I think we'll check that out on the way back from the north. They ended up staying there for 3 months they loved it that much.
So we're doing great, missing our friends and family, but we're living in the moment and taking each day as it comes because we know this adventure will mean so much to us. Living off rice, pasta, rice cakes and vegetables can't be too bad right?!
I hope to write to you as much as I can (not this long a post every time I promise).
Thanks for now x gf v x
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