In the air heading for New Zealand, eta 22:20, actual time of arrival surprisingly enough 22:20 New Zealand time not Oz. It didn't take us long to collect our bags and clear customs and passport control, which was quite a novelty. Now in the arrival lounge we looked for a full set of seats to get comfy on as this was to be our home for the night, we had decided because we were arriving so late we didn't want to pay for an expensive hotel when we could go true backpacker style and rough it on the airport seats.
By arriving in NZ we had gained 3 hours so didn't feel tired at all as our bodies were still at 19:30, so we sat up near the arrival doors watching plane after plane come in, followed by the passengers streaming out. This was an interesting experience seeing the reactions and greetings of both the passengers and their families/friends/chauffeurs; it was made even more bizarre knowing we are so far away from seeing anyone on arrival, anywhere.
After the planes stopped landing only the security and people waiting for the next plane or sleeping until morning for transport remained, so coffee and breakfast were had to try and keep us awake as it was the early hours, but this was all in vain as soon enough our eyelids were dropping. We fastened our bags together with our locks and the stuff next to us and nodded off for a few hours, the remainder of the night entailed several wonders around the airport, noisy cleaners and a bit of blog writing. It was soon morning and time to call for a free pick up from the campervan company.
At the campa company checking over our van, it was obviously an older vehicle than the previous vehicles we'd had but the set up inside was actually better so we were more than pleased. The usual routine followed of getting food, and then a campsite for the day/night to get stuff set out in the van, as this was vehicle number 4 we have this down to a tee! Now as for finding the said campsite that was a different matter, this been due to the fact we had an idea of where we wanted to start our first full day trip which would put us in the middle of the top part of the North Island. As we hadn't got any idea of distance and road conditions in New Zealand it was guess work as to how long it would take us to get to our spot. Thankfully we managed this in good time and decided to stop in a more scenic area of the route called Waipu Cove, the site we chose we actually found by accident but it was cheap and really nice due to its location, literally on the beach. After the unpacking was done we opted for a walk on the beach before tea, then settled in for our first night in the new (to us) campa ready for the start of the New Zealand adventure!