Hi all!
There’s so much to tell, cause we’ve done a lot this past week. We hardly have time to write updates! 🙂
However, here’s a little blog update to keep you posted. I (Judith) am now (9.30 pm) typing this, while sitting outside on the patio of the hostel in Paihia (Northlands). There are about 10 people here, playing guitar, singing and drinking wine/beer. Very relaxed crowd! Great weather (+20 degrees Celsius). Having a great time. Today we went sailing. A photo update of that adventure will follow later this week, but here’s an update of the past few days.
The day after we went to Waiheke Island, Judith worked all day and Bas sent out another application. The next day (Wednesday) we took the ferry over to Mirjam and Marten (friends of a former colleague of Judith’s, who are living near Halfmoon Bay – in the Auckland suburbs). The provided us with a lot of information, since they’ve lived in New Zealand for 5 years now. They also generously showed us around their place and their ‘private beach’ across the street. Plus, we had dinner with them, before we headed back to the city centre by bus.
On Thursday we mostly stayed in the hostel to arrange stuff and give Bas’ leg some more rest, before heading out to Paihia on Friday. Friday morning we picked up our car. YES, we were VERY happy that our creditcard was working again, after calling with the ING bank at least 5 times over the past week to straigthen things out, because they totally messed up!! Thank god for Ginie, our very helpful call center lady! She deserves flowers! 🙂
So, there we were on Friday with our car, in downtown Auckland… scary stuff! Driving on the ‘wrong’ side of the road for the first time of our lives, trying to get out of the city! Fortunately, TomTom was helping us out 🙂 and I (Judith) did the rest.. the actual driving. Sweaty hands and trembling legs, but we made it to our first stop, just outside the city. We took it slow and kind of drove all day to get to Paihia (which can be done within 3 hours) with several nice stops (beautiful views) on the way. We arrived in Paihia, a fun beachtown, north of Auckland, around 5 pm. We were pleasantly surprised with the hostel here. A very cosy place and we have our own bathroom en-suite. And there is LOTS to do around here.
Since we have a car now, it’s easier to get around and to get groceries and such, so Bas has been cooking good stuff over the last couple of days. On Saturday, we went to the Waitangi National Reserve, where the Treaty was signed, which signifies the ‘birth’ of the country. A very interesting and historically important place. See the pictures below.
I guess, this is it for now. Time for another glass of wine and some fun with new friends (a lot of Dutchies by the way – not what we expected).
Cheers mate and till next time!