22 October 2007 - Roll on Fiji

We woke up to a phone call bearing great news. Matt's parents had managed to get us an extra-two weeks of timeshare luxury in Fiji. We were both over the moon and extremely relieved to have been free'd of accommodation costs in our next port of call. We now have 3 weeks of timeshare in Fiji and a week in Hawaii-Thanks so much guys!!

We were both anxious when we woke to get to a screen to watch the England v France match. All we could find showing the game was a petrol station of all places! The Kiwi owner seemed less than impressed at our enthusiasm for the English team-clearly still bitter at the All Blacks departure. Rugby is absolutely massive over here-more so than we expected. Literally every form of advert is sponsoring or backing the All Blacks and even when you think you've found an advert that doesn't there'll be some random slogan at the end like "Use new Colgate Extra-Be an All Black!"

Anyway we were delighted to win and were quickly back on the road. Kaitia was a naff place that seemed so old fashioned and dull so we moved on and basically ended up on the way back to Whangerai as we'd run out of road to drive! We had a good few days to kill before we were meeting Rob to sell the van so we spent the next 3 days in Whangerai, spending two nights at the same motel we'd stayed in before. On the last night we drew up a budget for our money over the last few months of our travels and also sorted out accommodation for the last 3 nights in New Zealand for after we'd sold the van. We booked ourselves 3 nights in a kitchen cabin at Avondale Campsite about 10k north of Auckland. Vick had a bit of a shocker in the morning when she locked the keys to our van inside it.. Kevin the owner gave us a coat hanger and luckily for Miss Barret the lock popped up.

We drove into town to use the internet and when we got back found we'd been given a parking ticket. We were a little peeved and then realized there was no way we'd ever have to pay it-not only do we not have an address for them to get us at but we would be leaving the country in 4 days anyway! And what a lame ticket it was-$15! A nice hefty one would have been far more satisfying knowing we'd never have to pay!

Anyway we drove on that night and stayed in Orewa, as indeed we had on the way up. We did a tourist walk called the 'Millennium Walk' which took about 2 hours and totally knackered us out. We were watching a film afterwards with a bit of grub in the car park of an Information Office and a young boy ran over to us and banged on the window. Clearly panicked and distraught he asked if he could just talk to us and pretend we knew him. It then emerged that he was being chased by a gang hell bent on beating this poor chap to a pulp. We could see the gang in our rear-view mirror scouring the landscape for their prey and so bundled him into the front seat and sped off. We drove him home by which time he'd finally stopped shaking.. What good Samaritans we are!

We pulled up in Shakespeare bay for the night which is a short drive away, in an empty car park. There was definitely something strange going on-we kept noticing cars coming in and out suspiciously. One car pulled up right in front of us, despite all the room in this huge car park. They waited for ages and then suddenly both doors flew open and what looked like a firework went off right outside their door. One chap got out with two long poles and ran off into the bush. We were taking no chances so clambered over into the front seat and sped off. We have no idea what it was about but it was pretty scary stuff. We stayed that night in a much more lit up car park down at the Gulf Harbor.

The next day we drove to Avondale Campsite to make sure it was alright. It really was, so we kept our booking. We stayed in a supermarket car park (Pak'n'Save) that night just round the corner for our last night ever in the van!

We woke up very excited to have 3 consecutive nights in a cabin and to be selling the van for a hefty profit.

We checked in early and got the van emptied/tidied and then filled with all the things we were leaving to Rob. We had a phone call from Rob just before we left to check we were still coming which was re-assuring. We met him at 12pm and did the deal outside his hostel. We had all the paperwork ready which we'd got from the post office, to make it official and gave him the keys, shook his hand and we were gone. $3,250 is a lot of money in cash and we couldn't get to the bank quickly enough to pay it in, luckily there was an ANZ bank nearby. Deep Joy!

We had wanted to check out the sky tower you may remember. We went over to it but the admission was ludicrous so we gave it a miss. $50 just to walk to the top of a building and look out..no thanks.

The next few days were nice and chilled out. The room really was awesome-a log cabin style room, warm and cosy. The onsite playground was amazing too-a huge trampoline and a pulley swing thing that goes for about 100m! The night before the world cup final we got a little patriotic and created some home-made St. George's Crosses for the window using a blank sheet of paper and some tomato ketchup for the cross (Vick played no part in this she wishes to add). Unfortunately as I'm sure you already know, we lost the game and so we were just left with a ketchup smeared window to gaze through for the rest of the day.

We did a bit of research into hotels in Fiji for when we arrive-we have 4 nights before our 1st timeshare begins and we found the Newtown Beach Motel not far from the airport which we'll probably go for. Some awesome films we watched over the weekend: 'The Rainmaker', 'Planes, Trains and Automobiles', 'Oceans 13' and 'Bridge to Terabithia'-Check them out!

Its the 22nd today and we're now in the onsite internet room awaiting a shuttlebus to take us to the airport for Fiji, a little nervous but extremely excited. New Zealand has been amazing, its been great to work here and also travel. It's felt more like home than any of the other countries we've been to. But all good things must come to an end.. Roll on Fiji

xxxx