So Long, Meyer-well
15th April, Auckland to Taihape, New Zealand
After our brief stay at Cook's Beach, we returned once more back to Auckland to arrange transportation down to Wellington (south of the North Island) or Christchurch (north of the South Island). If it seems like we were back-tracking, having already gone south from Auckland, you'd be right, but this was a deliberate plan - we wanted to get a 'relocateable' camper van or car to get to either of those places. Basically this means that for a nominal fee - $1 per day - we are driving a vehicle all the way down the country taking it from one place to another so that the company can rent it from there; all we pay for is petrol. It's a cheaper way of doing things but it's not always available, and if it is going to be available, it'll be from a major base like Auckland, not somewhere in the middle of North Island. So, hence the back-tracking.
We managed to secure a relocateable on Tuesday morning for pick up on Thursday - that's today - which would get us as far as Wellington. We wanted to get to Christchurch if we could as it would then cover the cost of getting the Interislander ferry across for one of us, but that was not to be. As it was, it would be a long drive.
We said our goodbyes to Ted before he left for work but then said our goodbyes all over again a second time, as we dropped the car off for him at his workplace. Barbara then took Manda and I to the Maui van rental depot and after an hour or so of waiting around and the staff there trying to get around some kind of software problem that was preventing the booking, we had the van brought around for us. Then we had our third round of goodbyes as we hugged Barbara farewell. Given the time we'd spent with them both, this might have been a sad moment, knowing how far away they live from us in the UK, and how unlikely it is that we'd ever meet again. But that's not the case! They are both coming over to the UK for 6 months next year, shortly after we return from our globe-trotting, so it was more a case of 'until next time' rather than a final 'farewell'. Still, it was strange to be saying goodbye to our 'surrogate parents' (Barbara can be very mumsy!).
For the rest of the day, it was a case of drive, drive, drive. We went all the way through the places that we'd seen before, continuing past lake Taupo, past Waioura and alongside Mt Ruapehu (otherwise known as Mount Doom from Lord Of The Rings) before settling for the night in a campsite at Taihape. It was a pretty uneventful drive, all things considered, mainly because neither of us were in the sight-seeing frame of mind - this was simple, straightforward A-to-B travelling. We had a package to deliver in the shape of a camper van. The only concession to sight-seeing we made was in trying to get a photo of Ruapehu.
Mt Ruapehu, otherwise known as Mount Doom.
However, the clouds conspired against us, clinging like glue to the massive volcano (and seemingly nowhere else), only occassionally showing a teasing glimpse of the the snow-capped peak. We pulled over and waited for the clouds to dissipate, but they never did. It just got darker and darker, and as it did, so it looked moodier and I could easily see how Peter Jackson came to choose that location for Mount Doom.