Kelly, Dan and I left our parents in Sydney to sell their Land Cruiser as we flew to Middle Earth. Or at least that is what you are led to believe when you fly in to the Auckland airport. I bet most Kiwi's cringe a little bit when they see all the LOTR/Hobbit paraphernalia, but as a fan myself, it is sort of cool.
We rented a car for two weeks then headed off to explore the North Island on our own for two weeks when we again reunite with the parents. We headed north out of Auckland as soon as we could, and followed the first tent sign that we saw when evening was nearing. It was a small, unnamed campground sign pointing down a gravel road, which turned into what looked like a farm. Well, in fact it WAS a farm. As we pulled up to the driveway, we noticed a man walking around, so Kelly hailed him, asking if this was where we were supposed to camp. "Yep". Anywhere? "Yep". Do we pay? "Yep". To you? "Yep". How much? "Ten dollars". Turns out the owner of the farm/campground, Laurie, was actually a much more talkative fellow once he got a few rum and cokes in him and started talking about how obese American women are"you two are the thinnest American women I've ever seen!"
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| New country, new car, new campsite! |
After some final chats with Laurie, and watching his dog Ben round up the calves we headed to Waipu. Waipu is a very interesting little town, settled by a group of Scotsmen who left Scotland due to religious persecution then moved to Novia Scotia for a few years. Not liking the climate there, they set out on boats looking for "paradise". They found it on the east coast of the north island of New Zealand. They are very proud of their Scottish heritage, especially interesting because it sounds like they were sort of kicked out.
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