Well we made it to New Zealand, safe and sound. It's been a busy few days, and we're looking forward to a rest already!

As soon as we got into Auckland we had a sleep (a long sleep) as we didn't get much on the overnight flight, and the clock went forward 3 hours too, so we were wrecked (we're now 13 hours ahead of you guys). After our beauty sleep - we decided to consider what the heck we are going to do for the next 7 weeks. And to cut a long story short, we decided not to get public transport or pay to go on an organised tour bus - and decided to go it alone. So, we hiked around the town looking at notice boards in hostels to see if anyone was selling a cheap car. We had a look at one and took it for a spin, then decided we should actually get a station wagon type car, that we could fold the seats back and maybe sleep in it if needed......and then this progressed a little.....and we actually ended up buying a van! It's a bit random really - it's not the typical backpackers campervan with all mod cons, it's a workmans van with a mattress in the back, ha ha! The guy we bought it off is a builder/mechanic and has just bought a bigger truck and wanted rid of the van - so we ended up taking it off his hands. We looked at a proper converted campervan for backpackers and it was good, but it was a lot more money and with it coming to the end of the season it may be hard for us to sell on again, without making a huge loss, so all in all our van is the safer option - even if we are sacrificing a bit (a lot!) of comfort for the pleasure! It was so easy to buy it - you just fill in a quick form in the post office and pay 4 pounds and it's yours! And it is actually registered in my name - so now I am a proud owner of a van! Awesome. I might bring it home with me. As you will see from the photos, it is blue and white, so we have called him Smurf. But to be fair it's that old and rickety, it's more like Grandpa Smurf!!! However, we are open to suggestions, so I am now please to say that I'm officially opening up the competition lines, so anyone with a better suggestion please feel free to note your name ideas on the message board. If anyone is lucky enough to come up with a better name that we like, you may indeed win a prize and we'll also honour your achievement by holding a renaming ceremony (i.e. a party in the back of the van) and be sure to post the pictures!

We haven't really done anything else in town (apart from watch more cricket!!!!!) as we've been trying to kit out Smurf. We managed to get a couple of folding chairs, pots, pans, knives, forks, plates etc, as well as a gas camping cooker and an esky, from a guy who was selling off his stuff as he's leaving a in a few days. We have to give it a good clean out tomorrow (as it was a work van so it was really dirty) and I've to try and make some curtains and attach them somehow! Can't wait! It'll be like home in no time! So that's why we're blogging now, cause we're up early in the morning and after we've finished our 'make over' on Smurf we're going to hit the road and head north...somewhere! No idea what we're doing or where we're going, but that's the joy of living in a van, we'll just see where the road takes us.

.......However, we have to be back in Auckland in a week or so ....for .... you guessed it .... more cricket! But in the meantime, we start our adventures in Smurf tomorrow...or whatever he may be called....get those names suggestions in - closing date for the competition, is 12th Feb 08.