Lemon and Paeroa

Tuesday, 17 January 2012

Monday was a pretty full-on day as we had to drive the rest of the way to Auckland, fill the BCV with gas and diesel, empty it of wastewater, luggage and rubbish, drop of the bikes in Mission Bay (they're travelling separately to catch up with us in Rotorua in a few days) then pick up cousin Helen's car from Onehunga, load it up and drive the 2.5 hours back down the highway we'd come in on to Mt Maunganui. Phew. Happily our BCV landing was softened by lovely cousin Helen who provided lunch and a break and I also should mention that when we arrived in Auckland last week she'd baked muffins and biscuits for us to take with us on our trip and she also provided us with all the other little things we needed in the camper van (washing stuff, wine glasses etc).   Fantastic!

But aside from lunch and the general hospitality from our Auckland clan, it was a pretty gruelling day for everyone.  The one driving highlight was the stop in a town called Paerora which is where the kiwi soft drink that Jon and the kids have become addicted to originates from..