Arriving in Auckland earlier than planned gave us more than a week to sell our wonderful camper. We'd grown quite attached to her! Our first two nights in Auckland were spent in a campsite near Devonport. In order to sell the van we had to get a Warrant Of Fitness (W.O.F.) so we found a place to do that and then began to pack our things and clean up our mess. Early the next morning we drove to the test centre and waited while it was carried out. Sadly the van failed due to a faulty horn (probably caused from scaring all the sheep too much) and brake fluid was leaking out and effecting the efficiency of the brakes. The van was a 1997 model and had been driven around New Zealands crazy roads a few times so we didn't expect it to pass but we were still disappointed. We left her with a mechanic who was pretty hopeful that she would be mended by the end of the day. Armed with posters we walked around the cold city in the rain advertising our van. Our feet hurt and we were cold, wet and grumpy! Back at the mechanics we were given more bad news - our van couldn't be fixed so we were homeless for the night! We'd already paid for a site at the campground and couldn't get our money back at such short notice. Luckily the mechanic had a car he could lend us so we could sleep in that. To make things worse he also told us that our phone number wasn't working - it was one digit short! Instantly we realised that the phone number on every single poster we'd handed out in the rain was wrong! We had to retrace our path. A small part of us found it funny - but thinking of the money we had to fork out as well as spending a night in a cold car and then the potential problems of selling the van made it hard to see the funny side. We spent the next morning online putting up internet adverts and around midday the van was ready to be re-tested. Thankfully it passed. We paid the $500 damage and went in search of a hostel as we couldn't stay in the van and keep it in a good enough condition to sell. There were three hostels in one area so we went checked prices and availability. The first was too expensive and the second was closed for lunch. As we headed to the third, Si reversed off the driveway and managed to hit a big chunky lamppost creating a big fat dent in the van. It was the last straw and his ginger rage made a brief but dramatic appearance. I swear I saw steam coming out of his ears!!!! The third hostel had space so we parked up. I breathed quietly and tiptoed about as we moved our stuff out of the van and into the room. Thankfully it didn't take too long for Simon to calm down and we went in search of food and cable ties to fix some lose bits in the engine that Si had previously tied up with a shoestring. That evening we had our first enquiry and we arranged to show them the van early the next day. The van got a wash and we got a good nights sleep. It was a little bit of a rush in the morning but we managed to get to the hostel of our first potential buyers. After the test drive the guy inspected every thing. Feedback was positive but they had one more van to view before they made up their minds. They also wanted to do an AA check on it - which we knew would find numerous faults and then they'd want discounts. We made our way to the car market which turned out to be a complete waste of time and money. Its basically where mechanics came to buy bargains off people who were desperate and leaving the country. They then either put the vans up for sale on the market at a raised price or drove them off for storage so they could get a better price in the high season. Our van was one of the smaller, quirkier and cheaper ones but there was sadly no interest. After a day at the market and hearing no response from the couple who viewed it in the morning we weren't feeling hopeful. We got back and went to check our emails at the library. Whilst there we got a phone call from a couple wanting to see the van immediately so we drive into town. They were very keen after a test drive. They also knew there was someone else interested so within five minutes they decided to buy it. We sold the van for the same price that we bought it! We were given the deposit and arranged to meet three days later for the full exchange. Although we spent money fixing it, it worked out miles cheaper than doing a bus tour and living in hostels so we were very pleased. We celebrated with a few drinks that night. In the following days we got our yellow fever injections for South America (from a very odd old and poor-sighted doctor). We also booked ourselves into another hostel that did cheap weekly rates for a double room with free wi-fi. The place was awesome. We managed to use the van to do a food shop and drop off all our bags before handing it over to the new owners. It was sad to say goodbye to the van but we couldn't take it with us. The few days we had in Auckland were pretty lazy. We looked around the city and harbour and uploaded photos and blogs as we hadn't had Internet often. It was a cool city but in comparison to the beauty New Zealand has to offer, it wasn't amazing.