Puhinui Reserve

12th December 

At Auckland Airport I got a bus to pick up my car/camper.

The lady at the place - Travellers Autobarn -found me a mattress, pillow & bed sheet so I didn't need much from Kmart - just got a solar charged lamp & a couple of storage containers, plus treated myself to a towel.

After sorting out the car then shopping,  and only having 3 hours uncomfortable sleep on the plane, I didn't drive far.

I parked up at a nature reserve - found this from wikicamps - and it was lovely - except that it was on an Industrial estate....

I organised the car so that I had a bed & places to put stuff, then went for a walk, had some food & an early night.

I couldn't be bothered to cook so had bread & peanut butter plus this - New Zealand's attempt at marmite

It's the same weird consistency as Vegemite but tastes closer to Marmite than Vegemite does. I had to leave my large jar of Vegemite and the honey back in Australia - donated to the airbnb. The guy there, Arpit, said he gets a lot of stuff left.

New Zealand are extremely fussy.

After sunset I moved away from the spot next to where they were loading lorries. There was a portaloo there, which I used, but there were people still working and playing music so I moved around the corner.

I slept OK but in the morning, it got busy with lorries coming past so I left pretty early and had a stop for coffee and brekkie in a picnic spot by the side of the road

The trees were absolutely teaming with birds - it was quite loud but wonderful - as was the scenery. 

Extremely lush and green, with rolling hills and mountains in the distance.