Report from 20 January to 7 February 2024
From: New Zealand
We said goodbye to Karli's parents and are travelling in pairs again
We buy a van
Workshop adventure with our van
Karli's parents have left and we are on our own again ;). Stranded in a hostel in Auckland, we are thinking about what to do next. Discovering New Zealand by public transport is immediately out of the question - if you think German public transport is bad, then never come to New Zealand, here you can multiply that by 100. So there are three options: 1. buy a van, 2. buy a bike and go bikepacking, 3. hike in combination with hitchhiking. After much deliberation, we decide to buy a van. The other options really tingle me too, I really want to go bikepacking, but right now it feels right to make it a bit easier for us. In the van we have a familiar environment around us, a place to retreat to and can stock up a bit more.
Buying a van and the WOF
So we look at a few vans, research what you should check when buying second-hand (the vans here are often pretty rattly) and think about what is important to us in a van. And then another backpacker, a Dutch woman, offers us her van for a very good price (3,000 euros) because she's flying home the next day and needs to get rid of it. That's about half the price of comparable vans in New Zealand at this time of year. But the whole thing is also quite risky for us because the van only has two weeks' MOT left. We take a look at the car and take the risk. We are proud to present it: Günni, our van.
The next day, we check out of the hostel and drive to a camping site and start by taking the van apart. Give it a good clean and have a look at everything. Unfortunately, our risk purchase is no 8 in the lottery. The interior (walls, bed, kitchen) is of poor quality. I'm afraid that the kitchen will tip over soon. The kitchen and bed were put together by someone who has never held a tool in his hand. And the materials are not good either. All the walls are badly scratched. Under the plastic floor is a millimetre of earth, the floor was simply laid over it. And last but not least, the car wasn't well looked after. Small things that were broken by our previous owners were either provisionally patched up or not repaired at all. For example, the sliding door window could simply be pushed open because the catch on the inside was broken. A nice feast for a burglar. Slide open the window, open the door lock and rob!
So much for the adventurous inner workings. We know less about the technical side. The engine is dripping oil. We were able to buy the car really cheaply. Nevertheless, we are very doubtful whether it wasn't a bad buy. But the most important thing is what the WOF (the New Zealand equivalent of the MOT) says. We were dreading this appointment a little.
Well, but what can I say. Günni was at the WOF and went through the WOF without any problems. We only had to replace the windscreen because of a stone chip and a rear light. The WOF is much more relaxed than the TÜV in Germany. The gearstick wouldn't survive the German one. Nevertheless, we gain more confidence in our Günni. We then drive to a garage to make an appointment for a service and oil change. In the course of this we asked the mechanic if he could have a look at the car to see if he could find any major defects. In short, his opinion: fine. Nothing he's worried about.
We are slowly gaining more confidence in the car.
We have two appointments at garages in 5 days - one for a new windscreen and the second for a service and oil change. Until then, we just don't want to do anything. On a campsite by the sea and enjoying the sun and life.
Do nothing
We move from pitch to pitch. Here in New Zealand, there are quite a few such "freedom" camping sites. This means that if you have a toilet, water canister and, in particular, a special certificate, you can pitch up for free in many places. That's what we do. And because New Zealand is so long, the ocean is never far away. We enjoy the sea and the beach. Cooking. Eating. Doing nothing. Long series nights on our laptop in the evening. Coming to rest. Process thoughts. Sometimes it works better and sometimes worse.
A short dialogue on one of these days:
Janine: "I'm completely overwhelmed with this time right now"
Karli" should I tell you how I do it?" I look for a project and think about it and then don't do it"
So we don't just manage to do NOTHING and we drive to the northern tip of New Zealand. This is where two oceans meet and there is no mobile phone reception at all - a breathtaking place.
90 Miles beach
Here in New Zealand there is the "90 Miles Beach", which is actually ONLY 88 kilometres long. As Karli has already told us, New Zealanders also drive along beaches. And then this crazy idea came up in the back of our heads that we could drive along 90 Miles Beach for a while. After thinking about it for a long time, we said to ourselves "screw it, let's do it!". It was funny and totally crazy. We were worried about getting stuck, so we didn't drive too fast (but not too slow either). Always where the sand was wet from the previous tide. It was mega funny. We were overtaken about 6 times, 2 times we had oncoming traffic, and once we overtook someone else (*cough* maybe it was just a cyclist).
And then, as we were driving out, our nightmare came true - we got stuck in the sand. As soon as our van touched dry sand, it went on strike and there was no way out. So we had to get out and dig under the tyres until the sand got wet again. A girl who had been relaxing on the beach came to our aid. It turned out that she was also German and from Limburg. Coincidences do happen.... Shortly afterwards, the first car that also wanted to leave the beach arrived. As we were blocking the entire exit, they had no choice but to wait behind us. I got really nervous and expected to be snapped at at any moment, along the lines of "always these backpackers, nobody else would think of driving onto the beach in a van without a 4-wheel drive." To my utter amazement, the response was instead "you're not the first and you won't be the last" and the woman also had to help us in our predicament and looked for driftwood to put under the tyres. The next car, which also wanted to go through the narrow passage, came from the front - where we wanted to go - and pulled us out of the sand with a dog lead. What an adventurous drive! And so many nice people!
Off we go into the next round of workshop adventures
The next morning we discover that we have a hole in the tyre. Karli sets about getting the spare wheel out. In addition, our sliding door no longer opens. We spend the whole day taking the car apart. However, we find ourselves in a beautiful spot - a meadow right by the sea.
One of the captains we met on our sailing adventure once said that sailing is very different from what you imagine it to be "sailing means travelling to beautiful places to repair things on your boat". We have to think about that while we take our car apart in this dreamy place. In the evening, we meet Oscar, a German mechanic, who takes another look at our car from a mechanical point of view. I am so grateful for the great and helpful people we meet on our journey. So far he hasn't seen any defects, but has given us a few tips on where we should have another look at our car in a workshop with the appropriate machines. Good that we have a workshop appointment for a service tomorrow.
In the workshop the next day, we have the hole in the tyre repaired. A hole in the cooling system and two or three other minor issues are fixed. All that's missing now is a new windscreen and then we get a new WOF (equivalent to the TÜV) and can drive on. So nice and simple. Unfortunately, things turn out quite differently again. The appointment at the windscreen repair shop, for which we had been waiting a week, was today. Yes, "was" - past tense - but we missed it due to a scheduling misunderstanding. The garage can only offer us the next appointment after the weekend. Another 4 days to wait. Our fate was "still too easy". On the replacement date, we went to the garage, which then realised within 5 minutes that we needed a body shop because there was rust on one of the A-beams under the windscreen. It turns out that tomorrow is a public holiday in New Zealand and almost all garages have a bridge day. We travelled to 5 body shops: all are either closed or fully booked until the end of the week. Then we found a workshop that could repair and paint over our rust holes today. But for an abnormally high price. And another problem arises: after the rust has been removed, the area has to be painted, which means it has to dry overnight. A night in which we can't sleep in the car. Because of the public holiday, it's actually two nights. Where will we sleep for those two nights? But we want to have it done now because we want to drive on FINALLY.
And then several miracles happen - our windscreen repair shop finds a retired bodywork mechanic who does the work for us for a third of the price. And the second miracle: we find Andrew very spontaneously via couchsurfing, who is happy to help us out for two nights. He even picks us up from the city as he lives just outside.
We feel super comfortable with Andrew and his mum Cintia. They have a large, beautiful property outside the city, with lots of big trees. The property is a bit like a labyrinth. Somewhere hidden away are two huts that Andrew rents out on AirBnB. There are a few chickens clucking around everywhere. There's also a great outdoor shower. Mum Cintia cooks for us every day - that woman can really cook delicious food. As a thank you, we try to help here and there with little things. Tidying up the barn, cooking and washing up. We feel so comfortable that we pick up our car from the garage on the third day, but stay an extra night with Andrew and Cinita. Cintia is actually surprised when we leave after three days - she would have liked to keep us! We are also sad to leave.
What a mess with our car.
And what a happy ending at the same time. We had a wonderful time with Andrew and Cintia. We are very happy with our new windscreen and the rust repair. The WOF agrees and our Günni has been approved for another year!
📷 here are more great pictures:
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