New Zealand

I arrived in New Zealand on the night of the 14th of January after literally skipping the 13th of January by flying past the date line. Once we landed I could feel the beautiful summer temperature on my face and I knew I had finnally made it! It was a surreal feeling. I really could not believe my eyes were looking at the actual island of New Zealand. Rob and I hopped in a taxi van and drove to meet Collins at our hostel in Auckland named Ponsenby Backpacker. We ran in to some cool people on the taxi who were traveling as well and this would be the start of many short but great rendezvous of fellow travelers on our trip. So far the night in Auckland has been the only night we have paid for a place to slaeep.. We have camped on the beach of the Wahiki island just north of Auckland ( $32 ferry) where local Maori walked up to our fire drunk and ready to fight, we have slept in our van on the side of the road only to be waken up by a police officer writing us a ticket, to even sleeping in someones back yard! I have no clue where I will sleep tonight but that's all part of the fun of a New Zealand road trip.
The missin the first day was to buy a car or van to tour the country in. This was by far the biggest unknow of the entire trip. It was quite the make or break situation. As we wake up on the most beautiful day heaven has ever seen, we were on a mission. We found our way through the streets of Auckand to the "Backpacker's Car Market". Summer is most definitely a sellers market so we knew the prices would be higher than usuall and we were not sure if we would have any selection at all. As we rounded the corner and walked into the garage it was full of old vans and cars. We test drove a few we liked. Most vans had built in beds in the back and some even had shelves for cooki g and shades for the windows. As we looked we spotted the coolest van I had seen yet. It was a 1991 Mitsubishi Delica "Star Wagon"! It had 4 wheel drive and was a GLX turbo diesel. The coolest part is it was named after the mountain town in France, Chamonix! We were sold and we completed the process of buying and everything that that co
We with in about one day, which was what we wanted but I never thought that it could have been done. It was great.
That night we went to the island of Wahiki island and found a great place to sleep, only to be disturbed by the local Maori drunks.
(I have to go as of now. I will try to update this as I am a couple days ahead of this but the Internet is miserable in new Zealand. It is just such a rural place so keep checking back cause I already have so many stories from the land of The lost Garden: Eden!!!!!)