Big Town
Zepher
Chris & Lyn Darch
Sat 29 Nov 2008 08:05
|
Hi Folks,
We are back in the bay of islands after a
successful trip to the big city ! Auckland looks like Southampton with a touch
of Northfield's thrown in for caricture , well in the area we stayed it was very
turn of the century architecture.
We left the Bay of Islands with Dave,Joe and
Beth ,on Tuesday sharing a vehicle as we intended to return with a car/van ,
after trolling the internet we found a few dealers in Hiace vans , there is so
much more choice in the city that the outlaying regions, we had already checked
out Whungari the nearest town some 50mins away.
We located a suitable vehicle by 16:00 but were to
late to get back to the city centre so we booked into a motel for the night,
strange to have a flushing loo on tap, along with continuous hot running water
in the shower, we have grown so used to just going on the back deck and using
the shower there, you defiantly wouldn't here as the temp is still in the low 18
deg C range with daytime temps reaching 23 deg C , this is a culture shock were
has the avg of 26 deg gone , north I suspect , and the cries from most yachies
of " take me back to Tonga" have been heard on more than one occasion recently
about the marina!
Anyway after a disturbed night sleep ,partly
the wailing city sirens of various emergency services and myself waking at
1:30 am to call the bank in UK to sort out the money transfer for the vehicle,
we awoke showered and set of to the centre , HSBC bank was our target , we found
them and using the premier service they offer
was second to none , the only problem being that
the UK side didn't have a 24 hr manager to approve money transfers, so we had to
wait till the next day.
Whilst in town I got my UK phone unchipped,
which was great as all the service providers only want to sell you a phone. a
very nice chinese man did the buiss for a small fee and hay presto we are back
in touch with the world after nine months of hap hazard comms
.
That night we changed accommodation and ended
up at the same place Joe,Dave and Beth were staying, great 1900 large house, we
managed a great nights sleep , Lyn was reading a book about corrugated sheet
steel ! its on most of the roofs here and this book was the full history from
1860 onward till the early hrs , I did get sleep !
Back to the bank the next day to pick up the cheque
then of to the van sales to pick up our pride and joy , a silver Hiace van, 4 wd
, Ac, ABS,power steering, rear seats, and much more.
Off back up to the Bay of Islands we went in
our trusty steed, arriving at 18:00 via the supermarket, steak salad for tea ...
great !
Rob and Ruth had been out on the road too , they
had been to Cape Reangi in the far north , its 400k there and back
!
A few beer later and another dire move from our
Tonga purchases put us all to sleep ........
A well wheeled crew
|