Kiwis and Fairy Bread

13 December 2023

Upon exiting Auckland Airport we found our way to THL, a large agency for renting Camper Vans, the New Zealand term for RV. This Maui 3 berth camper van is much bigger than we expected, but well suited to our needs. And Mike is driving it like a pro! We’ll take you on an official tour of it in a future post.

Soon after leaving the city we were in the country side. It’s easy to see why the British claimed this land as their own: it looks so much like Northern England. There are meadows of grazing cattle and sheep, fields of growing crops surrounded by green rolling hills. It reminds us so much of The Peaks that surround Glossop, Derbyshire, where Mike’s parents live. The exceptions being that the hills are more cone shaped, where eons ago hundreds of volcanoes erupted and formed the landscape. The trees are a fascinating mix of deciduous and tropical, the flowers in bright reds, yellows and huge purple blooms that look like bursting fireworks.

We stopped at a roadside cafe where we enjoyed a Flat White coffee made by a made Allister, a man who witnessed the invention of this coffee drank back in 1985. Yes folks, The Flat White (a shot of espresso topped with a healthy dose of foamed milk) was invented right here in New Zealand (there’s an anecdote with which to impress your barista!). The air surrounding this open air coffee shops smelled of Japanese sandalwood. It was enchanting!

And then we arrived a Miranda Holiday Park. Holiday Parks are nothing like the state and national park campgrounds we are familiar with. In those, you park or set up camp in an area of several hundred square feet where you are surrounded by trees and wildlife. At a Holiday park one is given a parking space which is then surrounded by other campers vans, cars and tent. It has an electrical outlet to plug the van into. The real attraction of these places are the facilities. There are playgrounds, laundries, large communal kitchens with washing stations and dining areas, banks of toilets and showers, rec/TV rooms, BBQ grills and fields for athletics. There are bungalows and rooms and small dormitories. And at Miranda Holiday Park there was also a Hot Mineral Pool!

Oh, the pleasure of soaking in that large, hot, buoyant, sulfurous water! We spoke to interesting people as we wandered around the pool. When the wind picked up and a cool drizzle rained down upon our face, it was pure pleasure.

It’s no wonder that on our first sleep in New Zealand in our campervan bed was such a deep one.