First Days in NZ

Our first day in Auckland, we set out to find a van .... and here's what we got: A Nissan Vanette, complete with built in bed frame and bed, bedding, and all camping supplies - including a gas stove! We are calling her Vixen. Ain't she sweet?




The bed. With plenty of storage underneath for all supplies and our bags!





We drove north from Auckland to "camp" in our van for a few nights before heading to our first volunteer place. We saw some beautiful scenery along the way....









We stopped for lunch along this coast... parked the van so the back faced the bay, with a beach right below us! We just opened the back and sat there making sandwiches with THIS view! In February!!




As we drove we discovered that Kauri trees grow in the area and are protected and HUGE. Not quite the redwoods, but we had never even heard of these trees and they were very cool. This one above is called TE MATUA NGAHERE, the Mauri (indigenous) name, which means "father of the forest" this is the second largest Kauri tree in the world.



This Kauri is called TANE MAHUTA, or "Lord of the Forest", and is the biggest. As you can see, the biggest is not the one with the greatest diameter, but with the most mass. This one's taller, but we found the TE MATUA NGAHERE more impressive.



A new fern frond....... so cool! The fern trees here are really cool, like palm trees but more
Jungly.



We stayed at one campground right on the beach. DJ is starting dinner on our gas stove that came with Vixen the Vanette!



And here's the beach! Kathy got to swim for her birthday.... a first for having a February birthday!



We saw the craziest little eel-like organism swimming here. Wish we had a photo! He was very tiny, maybe 2-3" long, legless, and had a head that sort of looked like a sea horse. There were fat, nut-like pieces of seaweed floating around which he loved -- he would circle around and around it and then grab on to it with the end of his tail and hang on for the ride!!
When we tried putting a finger out... it swam away or even dove down under the waves.