Up early, with high expectations and forever hopeful that we would actually get a camper van. We did not actually believe that we would be picking up a van and so had decided not to plan where to drive to as this may have been a jinx on the van ever materiallising. Anyhow, the bus to the airport took about an hour and from there we were collected by the nice lady from Freedom Campervans. And there it was, our not so shiny, not too new, but very reasonalbe looking little van. We both kept grinning as we were shown how all the bits and pieces work. I think we were expecting it to vanish into a puff of smoke!! So, onto the open road and the big adventure begins. Nic had not got her driving licence, so at the moment I am the captain of the magical mystery bus and Nic is the navigator, which works out well as I like driving and she doesn't. First stop - the supermarket, to stock up on the essentials - diet coke, coffee and wine, as well as a few necessities - food. We decided to head north and see how far we could get by dinner time, as we definitely want to see Cape Reigna on the northern tip. We set off up the no1 highway, only stopping at Kawakawa to visit the public loos. These are famous in NZ for having been designed by Friedrich Hundertwasser and in 2000 the toilets won the Premier Award for Urban and Landscape Design!! The toilet block is exuberant and is decorated with ceramic tiles, columns, curving walls and a roof garden. Onwards up the coast and the navigator did us proud. We parked the van for the night at Pakiri Beach and the sea was actually visible from my upper bed in the van. Dinner consisted of steak and salad cooked in our little home, washed down with very cheap (and not too bad) wine. We had a wander on the beach and a swim and the place was beautiful. I even managed to figure out how to plug the van into the mains and turn the gas bottle on - not bad for a novice. The van can sleep 3, 2 down and 1 up, but the up bit is pretty claustrophobic and you have to slide in feet first, as there is only just enough space to lie on your side and even then you do tend to hit your elbows on the ceiling when rolling over. Goodnight S xx