Stay lift!

They drive on the lift side here. They also pronounce left "lift".  Here is our home for the next two weeks. It is large. It must be driven on the opposite side of the road .. right turns are like left turns here.

We had an idea for the day. We wanted to drive out of Auckland and get to one of the most northern parts of the country. Unfortunately, it took three hours to get the campervan. We'd thought it would be two. When we were doing the inspection of dents and such, Ryan noticed there was a nail in the tire. Good catch. That also tells you how well these vans are cared for.. basically not very well. Tensely, we drove out of town. Then we noticed that the rear camera didn't work. The toilet didn't flush. We've also found the gas for the stove doesn't work. At least we didn't get a flat tire on the New Zealand interstate. We drove for a while but it was past lunch time and we had not eaten since breakfast. 

I had asked Ryan to get cash early in the morning but he told me we wouldn't need it. As we drove into more rural parts of New Zealand, we were hungry. We wanted to stop but the first time we tried, Ryan couldn't find parking for the enormous RV. The second time we stopped, the only store in town DID NOT ACCEPT CREDIT CARDS. Now I was hungry and pissed off. I could not resist saying I TOLD YOU THAT WE NEEDED CASH. So that was fun. 

At 230 or so, we stopped in a town called Waipu. Several restaurants had just closed and we walked into one with an open door and they too said they were closing. I begged them to sell us food. I told the owner? my tale of woe. She said we could take the food to go. She also suggested a campsite on the beach nearby. She said all would be healed by a swim in the water. Then she told us we should go to the Pizza Barn for dinner. We did all those things. Very good tips.

At the very popular Pizza Barn. Sonia declared the pizza was not that good because the cheese was low quality. I introduced them to the idea of low quality food when I explained why I don't eat at Jack in the Box. We have better pizza in Seattle but it was a fun spot. Great beer and kombucha! Kombucha because they are cool here.

Everyone in this town seems to descend from Scotland. They are also into fishing.

 We were home before the gate of the camp closed at 9.

This is Sonia in the morning. We slept listening to the waves nearby and woke up to lots of singing birds.