We hadn't even landed and I was already bowled over by NZ, the views from the plane as we were flying over Auckland were absolutely insane, I couldn't wait to get on the road… but first we had the absolute pleasure of being picked up from the airport by Nick and Beth. I met Nick and Beth in 1991 when I was only 9 years old. Nick was working in Canada with my Dad for the RAF and they have both since been the best friends of the family, although they have spent many years living around the world in some incredible destinations (including South Africa) we have still managed to keep in touch.
Nick and Beth really did spoil us and gave us a great introduction to New Zealand with many tips for our trip, they even made up a food pack for the van including a bottle of wine and some beers - 'sweet as bro' (as the Kiwi''s say)
After a great weekend touring around Auckland taking in Piha beach and Auckland centre with Nick and Beth it was time to head off, but not before heading back to Piha beach to meet up with some more good friends - Smithy and Lindsey. We met these two legends in Morzine on our ski season, they've spent the last ten months working and touring around NZ so we had more tips to take in over a BBQ in true brit style… in the rain!
As we said our good byes the rain started to get heavier and heavier. We made our way to the Coromandel Penisula, straight away the views kept on coming and coming and even with the rain the views were still outstanding.
We found our first camp site of the trip and settled in. We were woken in the morning by a knock at the window, a park ranger was doing the rounds and said the weather was so bad we might have to turn around as all the fords would be flooded in the next hour or so. We quickly put some clothes on and headed out, good job to as we crossed a ford which was just getting to road level.
We spent the next three days seeing a lot of rain, until we got to Rotorua!
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