Our New Zealand Home

The past week in New Zealand has been a roller coaster of excitement and stress. We initially stayed in downtown Auckland, at a hostel for four nights to get things set up. The first day we accomplished so much in terms of setting up accounts and planning the following days. We knew that finding our camper van was going to be a trying task. We stopped at a garage that sold camper vans and they were actually very helpful, even though we weren't interested in their vans. Their advice helped guide us into finding the right van. At this point Michelle and I were very anxious about getting our van. All the vans that we showed interest in were either too far away, or they were sold. A few days have passed and we've seen about 4 vans, but they weren't what we've wanted. The other problem, and kind of a big one, is that we didn't have any money to buy a van! How are we supposed to buy a van when we don't have any money? I could just imagine the conversation," Yes, we'll take the van, but your asking price is a little too high." 
Actually, the bank transfer takes multiple days and we knew that our money wasn't going to come in for a while. So the searching continued and we found the perfect van on an auction website. The seller would not reveal the reserve price, but we had a rough idea of what it should cost. 
"Okay, lets bid on it"
"We don't have any money"
"Lets at least go see it" 
"We don't have transportation"
"Would if somebody else gets it?"
"Call him again"
The games continued for a few days. We needed to wait 2 days until the auction was over. Every hour checking and hoping nobody else bids on it. Every few hours checking our bank to see if our money transfer went through. Finally, the bidding closed and the van wasn't sold. Jeremy has some friends that live just North of Auckland and they were able to put us up for a couple of nights, drive us around, and help us with getting our van. We scheduled a meeting the next day with the seller, but those plans fell through and had to reschedule for the following day. A half hour before we met up with the seller we got our money! The van was everything we hoped for, and it has nearly everything we would need; chairs, table, grill, water jug, pots, plates, glasses etc... So we got it! A 2000 diesel Nissan Caravan. 

 

              

The price was great too. We are thrilled with our new home and to make things even better..... we got our first job! Starting this Friday we will be doing a farm stay for two weeks. We will be working on somebody's private orchard/gardens for 4 hrs a day. In return, we will stay in the private guest house next to the pool, and get 3 meals a day. 
After a couple stressful days, things have finally settled down and the excitement is building again. We are ready and equipped to start our New Zealand journey.